She chuckled in the moment, holding her large feathered hand over her open beak. "Madam! Politeness will get you far, great fighter." She suddenly stood up after saying that and nudged me with her staff. "Off with you; you are dirty and in desperate need of cleaning and lichen, no doubt." There was that word again. Lee-chen, it was pronounced. I saw the clinking of coins and the speech saying that word over and over around me. It must have been the money of this world I found myself in.

  I stammered up and stuffed my hands into my green pants and pockets, feeling around, seeing one pocket had a hole in it and nary a Lichen to be found. A pauper I was, and not even one worthy of begging at that. I frowned and felt dirty and dusty in the moment standing next to this large creature who spoke to me and nudged me along.

  "Find yourself a bath at an inn, then you are to report to a sword shop. All will become clear in due time." She leaned back down and reached inside her robe, pulling out ten coins that bore a symbol of an L with two straight lines perpendicular to the length of the L. She dropped them in my hand, and I could hear them grind and clink against one another, only to have one fall from my dirty hands and along the edge of the fountain. I quickly reached and grabbed it, stammering to get myself back up.

  "T-thank you! I didn't catch your name! And, uhh, what are you?" I looked up at her and darted my eyes back and forth as if I were in trouble, somehow. "I am Kaal-sa, great fighter," she smiled through her beak and looked down, then looked around her as if she had her own goals in mind.

  "I am a magi, and you are a human, honored among my kind, possessing six golden feathers, and recognized in valor by the name of the Tribunal." I didn't fully understand what she said in that moment, only that she was a "magi" and others who looked like her were magi as well. I suddenly became very aware of the crowd, the occasional magi walking along, and even the trading amongst humans and pointy-eared humans alike. There were other creatures whose names I did not yet know, but magi was enough to think of for now. I felt dirty in the moment, and my hygiene compelled me forward.

  "I must go to my party, Navin. Good luck to you and your adventures." She gave me a quiet and soft wave and then turned to walk off amongst the crowd. I held my 10 lichen in both hands and then quickly stuffed it into the only pocket without a hole. Just as soon as she came, she left, without nary a thought. She must have done this before, or she had to have been busy. I scurried and looked around, a pauper, and attempting to avoid knocking myself into another soul, I slid along the crowd. There I found myself having crossed a bridge over the river and alongside a brick building, with reddish-orange color and white pillars around me. I saw well-kept shrubbery and even smelled apple tarts being sold by a local merchant.

  In the moment I exhaled, enjoying the momentary smell, hoping others would not pay me mind. I looked up at one of the signs hoping that it would say "Inn, All Welcome," only to find the sign above me had a picture of an anvil with letters I did not recognize. I looked up at it for a moment and then turned my head to look at the shops around me. There I saw more signs, people holding signs of runic symbols, others pointing, and others haggling. I pulled out one of my lichen coins and witnessed it was indeed in the same runic lettering. I couldn't read!

  How am I to find an inn when I can't even recognize what the signs even say? I thought and walked. I slid alongside, seeing another yet 3-foot-tall creature with huge long ears and a splendorous robe of purple silk being escorted by three in black. Better not pay them any mind, I thought. I slumped along the shadows, feeling somewhat like a criminal in this strange land, yet I, Navin, have yet to do anything to anyone!

  I saw what appeared to be two sharing a map pointing in different directions, one of them with the same type of ears as the little people I've been seeing, except this one was much taller and in some sort of leather armor along his head and shoulders, a chainmail chestplate, and a bow and quiver holstered to his back. They were sharing the map alongside another who was a person with a wooden mask around their face; I could not see their face through it. They possessed the legs of a fawn! I looked at them for a moment as the two shared a map.

  "We don't have money for you, peasant. Do you mind not staring?"

  I looked around, realizing they spoke to me, specifically the satyr-like (man with the legs of a goat) creature with a mask. The mask had no eyeholes but simply a symbol carved through the mask to allow them to see, I presumed. I stammered and spoke: "Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stare; I just got here, and I don't know where I am. Vuuhkrai, was it? I am trying to find an inn to clean up, you see." I spoke thinking of advice given by Kaal-sa only a moment ago. "You wouldn't happen to know where an inn is, would you?"

  The satyr-like creature turned his head to look at the man in leather, with a moustache of orange and brows that extended past his head. He looked like a weathered traveler and a skilled archer. I could see the gnarled look in his eyes, tired from long adventuring, but yet a smile across his visage and even a battle scar alongside his cheek up to the edge of his eye. He looked over and pointed at a nearby building, which was visible. It was tall and white with brown wooden braces alongside the building. It was sandwiched alongside a red building on the right and a tan building on the left. I saw tables alongside the front, indicating they offered food as well.

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  The gnarled adventurer looked and pointed with a thick finger, smiling. He turned his head, and I could see the sheer length of his ears, as long as my forearm, furry at the top. I could only stare for but a moment at his incredibly large ears as he spoke resolutely: "You will find there is the Inn of Pottage Green. Me thinks that they will accept you as long as you have money to show for it, human."

  "Human? What does that make you?" I looked and witnessed he had long ears, furry at the top. I even reached at my own ears to check, and indeed, they felt like human ears, no longer than anyone else's.

  The gruff, orange-mustached man in leather armor and chainmail rolled his shoulders around and stretched. "I am an animal sapien, quite skilled at hearing, smelling, and seeing in the dark, unlike you humans..."

  The one in the mask then spoke, interrupting as he began to fold the map. "...and I am a forest imp. I jump much higher than your kind and am quite agile too. " I looked at them both in a bit of amazement, thinking how I really had been somehow transported to this place, which lay completely unfamiliar before my eyes. I could only be so grateful that I at least understood what they said. I shook my head, waved them off, and began running to the inn.

  Why am I running? I thought. The sooner I could get into a bath, the sooner I could keep my head straight. I began to feel a bit dizzy as I ran to the white building sandwiched between red and tan. As I approached, I witnessed rectangular stained glass windows. There was a series of weathered steps, three in particular, with two potted plants with well-manicured bushes on each side in front of a pair of wooden pillars, which held a small and makeshift portico. On the portico itself was what appeared to be small embroidering of leaves and a carving of a stone in the center. There I saw the sign dangling along the side of the portico.

  It was in the shape of a bed, accompanied by a carving and paint to feature a blanket and pillows. It sure looked comforting just by the sign. I exhaled and clutched the coins in my left pocket, the only pocket my green pants held without a hole, fiddling with them. I opened the door slowly and slid inside. I saw what looked like another one of the short creatures with a rather uncomfortable and tight corset on, holding a large server's plate of 6 beers and waddling along the floor, delivering to a table of 6 strong and cunning-looking adventurers, male and female alike. (In the moment, I believe I counted 2 males and 4 females by the looks of it; for whatever reason, this world didn't seem to distinguish strength and genders.) The short woman placed the 6 beers on the counter despite her tiny size and held onto the server's plate on the side once it had been relieved of the beers.

  I watched her serve the beers for a moment, seeing delicious soups on the countertop with large hunks of bread. It sure looked tasty. I could smell sage, pork, and cardamom filling the inn. It was lit by the multicolor of the stained glass windows and flicker of candles peppered throughout the room. I then looked to my right to see an old creature who sat in a rocking chair smoking a very exaggeratedly long stem with a bowl almost reaching to his waist. He seemed quite happy despite his gruff, beastly demeanor. I didn't get a good look at his face in the dim light. Underneath me was a blue linen tapestry that had the shape of many leaves in a pattern through stained paint.

  As I was looking down, I saw the little creature with huge ears and an empty server's plate under her armpit, almost the size of her body, rush on to me. She was fast, and faster than I could have sprinted! She stopped right before me: "Ah, dirty dirty peasant! We have no rooms here unless you're here to buy something!"

  What was with these people and their rudeness to call me a peasant? I thought. I chose not to pick a fight in this moment as I clutched lichen coins in my good pocket. Certainly not a good time to start, especially looking at and feeling the crustiness of my arms and hands. What a bath would do if they would only take me! Do inns offer bathing without a room? I thought this for a moment.

  "Helloooo! What in May-She-I are you spacing off about, how to rob me blind?" she spoke in a louder tone, almost shrill. She had big giant ears, as did many of the other short three-foot-tall creatures, but whatever she was, she certainly was capable of speech.

  "D'do you have a bath available? I have this much!" I quickly rifled the 10 lichen coins out of my pocket, with no idea how much it would cost me for a simple bath. Do they even have running water here? The location appeared medieval at a glance. The woman leaned on her server's plate, which was particularly large for her tiny frame, having rested the plate on the floor and held it up sideways and under her arm as she leaned on it.

  "Bah, 12 lichen for a bath, now, out with you! You will dirty up my inn with boots like that!" She pointed rudely at my boots, tattered and scuffed, larger at the ends, and with a wide rim around my shins. Somehow they held in place and, oddly, felt quite comfortable.

  "Aah, c'mon, Shanice!" I turned to hear one of the 6 adventurers.