Inch by Inch

The three of them were early for the dog track the next day.

Not that the area outside the bureau was empty. Carts took up a lot of space now, the food stalls and betting booths busy setting up. A quarter of yesterday’s adventurers took up the rest, standing in loose huddles. The air felt cleaner without the sticky smell of fried foods and the sour press of runners. City air still smelled stale, but the fresh ingredients being carted around helped.

It was a pleasant surprise for Jay how little trouble it had been to get his team ready. Instead of the complaints and shepherding he’d expected, Ana and Kane had been... eager? The two dressed quickly and efficiently, Ana ducking out to the bathroom to do so. Not once did Kane doze off — or pause halfway with only one leg in his trousers as he had yesterday. Both seemed to approach the run with determination.

Determination to get it over and done with, that is. Ana’s face was as drawn as a man staring down a cavalry charge and Kane looked ready to sprint the entire way to finish sooner. He was a little exasperated by them both. This was as important a part of adventuring as any other, but he wasn’t about to weigh a gift and price it. The two of them would get used to the life, and come to enjoy it. At least he hoped they would.

A free spot opened on the road for them, towards the back of where the running group would be and on the Pono embassy side. They settled in to wait there.

“We’ll start off slow today. We did some stretches last night, but it’s been a while since our last run, and we have a long way to go.”

Ana relaxed, nodding an agreement. Kane looked a little upset, but with a glance at their teammate, he seemed to understand the necessity.

“We seem to have some time, so I want to limber up a bit and do some stretches.” Jay continued, rolling his shoulders.

“I saw something I wanted to check out...” Kane said, voice trailing off while he turned towards a crowd gathering around the bureau.

Jay must have made some odd facial expression as Kane walked away because Ana started smirking. Shaking it off and holding back his complaint, he rolled his eyes and ankles. Stretching wasn’t something they’d discussed doing as a team, even if it was implied. Besides, Kane was the fastest and fittest of the team. Jay couldn’t exactly show him what to do.

Ana didn’t stop smirking, but she did join him.

As the minutes passed, more and more adventurers filled into the street. The noise grew, and the fresh smell disappeared under frying oil and sweat. He and Ana were well into their stretches when the crowd parted to the south.

Four soldiers marched in perfect sync, not slowing a step as the crowd dispersed like smoke in the wind before them. Here, surrounded by adventurers, Jay had no idea how he’d ever mistaken them with the Empire of Pono’s soldiers. Where the adventurers were life, energy and excitement as they readied for the run, the soldiers were sterile. Cold.

Some of it was what they wore, the metal plates that covered their chest, thighs and upper arms clicking with each step. It wasn’t the armor’s design alone. Some adventurers used heavy armor, a few even wore more than these soldiers, covering themselves head to foot in metal — not that they’d bring all of that to the Dog track. It was the Pono armor’s style. An adventurer’s armor was their life. They invested their savings into it and wore it with pride. A crest at the breast might represent their guild or hometown. A scratch left unpolished was a reminder of a close call, a triumph. Names etched in the metal were failures, motivation to do better and persevere. The soldiers’ armor was dull and flat. Barren. It showed in how they wore it. It showed in how they walked. There was no history, no individuality. It was buffed, drilled and trained out of them.

Jay stopped his stretching, stepping to the side with the rest of the crowd to let the soldiers pass. Today they were escorting three figures, two wearing Pono style ponchos but adapted to the local Lauchia style. The other wore more local attire. Another four soldiers followed behind the three.

“...and the view of the race is spectacular from the front offices...”

To his surprise, one of the men wearing a poncho met his eyes as he passed. There was a faint glint of something, judgment perhaps, before he was gone. The crowd swallowed the free space behind the escort of soldiers.

“What next?” Ana asked.

Jay shuddered, letting that watched feeling go, and switched to the first stretch he could think of. He rotated his upper body, fixing his hips in place and came face to face with a sandy-blond haired man with big ears.

“The new faces!” Peter called, waving both hands in greeting. He wore the same guild livery as the previous day, a long tunic that reached his knees. “How’d you find the city’s walls? What a run, huh?”

Jay found himself nodding before he really had time to think about it. There had been plenty of time to take in the sights on their lap around Lauchia yesterday. He’d been impressed by the wall when he first saw it as the caravan arrived, but only after spending an hour running around it did he really appreciate it.

Like the rest of the city, the towering walls were made from a mix of stone. What made the defenses different was that the stone wasn’t laid in patches but layers. They wrapped around the city, sometimes a single brick of color, others in slabs taller than he was, but always a complete layer. It reminded Jay of the side of a cliff that appeared outside Kavakar several years back. That and a fancy cake at his neighbor’s wedding.

The only place these rings of teal, silver, plum and a dozen other colours were broken was at the giant keystones. These were a dull gray, huge shards carved from Lauchia’s Wonder to help support the height of the structure. The entire wall was a feat of engineering and human understanding of magic.

“It’s nearly a Wonder on its own," he said, finishing the thought aloud.

Peter beamed. “I know, right? My family helps build it. We can trace back to the fourth layer.”

“Did you have to build it so wide?” Ana asked, bitterness cutting into her voice.

The blond man laughed. “The city was planning on expanding it until the end of last year actually — don’t worry, it’s been put on hold for some reason. Maybe in a year or two you could help set a stone yourself.”

“Up there?” Ana asked in horror, staring behind her at the shadow cast by the towering structure. “I’d rather cut it do-”

“How did you do yesterday?” Jay blurted, interceding before Ana put her foot in it. Volunteering to destroy the symbol of Lauchia would not go down well, even if it was a joke.

Ana wasn’t usually so offensive. Not to strangers. Surly sure, but not offensive. The upcoming run must be putting her on edge. It wasn’t the suggestion, anyway. He quite liked the idea of placing a stone, leaving a mark on the city forever. It was clear Peter meant nothing by it.

“Not as well as I’d hoped. I messed up the timing with leaving the group and Jason’s Lead boost. I couldn’t keep up with the Word powered forerunners after that. It... I think I need to stop relying on the boost. Jason won’t be around when I’m a scout anyway.”

“Your Word doesn’t boost your speed?” Jay asked in surprise. Given all Peter’s talk about the job, he’d assumed. Dog track prizes aside, scouting was a dangerous job, and the adventurers that did it were always those who could outrun whatever they might find.

“No,” Peter said, lips pursing as he fell into a familiar explanation. “It helps with other parts of scouting, though. I’m hoping to build the speed myself. I have a training plan that I hope...”

He trailed off as the crowd began to stir. As with yesterday, two groups were moving through the crowd to the front. The Bedrock and Marching Orders guilds had arrived.

“And it’s time to go. Maybe I’ll do better today.” Peter muttered the second half under his breath as he rolled his neck. He stepped forward into the crowd, only to jerk to a stop. He spun back around. “Actually, most of the other new adventurers in the city are getting together later — at Peak, the adventuring tavern near the base of the wall. We’re all from the city, but you guys should come say hi.”

Then he was gone. A few minutes later, the crowd set off.

Jay and Ana stood waiting until an embarrassed Kane made it back to them through the now empty road. He didn’t have any excuses, just a curt apology. They set off already behind.

As they ran, Ana began to mutter ‘Two bronze’. She continued to say it as they circled Lauchia. It became a mantra. It was a curse, a promise and a reminder. The endless repetition bugged Kane, but he was easily distracted by the spectators and their surroundings. The annoyance never built long enough to become an issue.

Jay was just happy she wasn’t cursing him anymore.

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

Kane disappeared right after they finished an early lunch. To Jay’s surprise, he headed into the city, not back to the dorms to doze.

Ana on the other hand, was walking stiffly back to the dorms. He caught up to her before she went further.

“Have you a plan for the day?”

She eyed him suspiciously, and didn’t slow her juddery steps. “I thought we agreed midday was free time?”

“It is, but we also talked about armor and I can’t get yours without you.” Technically, he could, but after watching her pack, he knew better than to make that mistake. That it avoided a conversation about her measurements was another plus.

Ana looked at him, then at her trembling legs. “Do we have to do it now?”

“It’ll actually be better for your legs if you keep moving...”

“Fuck.”

Lauchia’s trade district was in the west, the opposite direction to their dorms, which prompted more swearing, but it didn’t take them all that long to get there. Given how tired and grumpy Ana was, he expected it to be a quick trip. Find a shop that sells armor. Go in, choose and pay. Instead, he got to see for himself something he’d heard of before, but considered myth or base exaggeration — the perils of going shopping with a woman.

They found a perfectly good shop, stacks of hardened leather vests, greaves, bracers and gauntlets. All reasonably priced too. Ana took one look and sniffed at it before turning to limp on. All she’d say when he asked was ‘terrible quality’. When he kept asking, she turned over the latest thing she’d examined.

“It’ll fall apart under pressure,” she snapped, thrusting it at him. It was a reddish leather arm bracer with a crisscross pattern drawn on the top. With a poke of her finger, the threads keeping it together frayed a little. There was another layer of leather underneath the red and the two separated as the thread loosened. “They’re making as much as they can to meet demand and skipping steps to do it.”

Ana dropped the bracer into his chest, and he scrambled to catch it and place it as she left. She had a point, but... Suko had never been this bad. Was it just Ana? He’d never been shopping like this before. Not that there were that many shops in Kavakar to be dragged around...

That was the first of many shops. Tradesman after tradesman was inspected and dismissed when found wanting.

They made only a single purchase, and not of armor. Ana led him into a general clothes shop and, with a challenging stare, presented him with a thick roll of plain cloth.

“I don’t think that will be thick enough to stop any-“

“It’s not armor,” Ana explained slowly, challenging stare becoming withering. She seemed to be more frustrated with him than the lack of good armor. “It’s a curtain for our room.”

Jay blinked. “Oh.” A curtain. So Ana wouldn’t need to go to the bathroom to change. But that didn’t look like a curtain. It was more a bolt of fabric for tailors to... ah.

Ana wasn’t always supposed to be an adventurer. Some of the day’s hassle was making more sense.

“You want to make curtains with that?”

She nodded. “It’s the cheapest they have. We won’t find anything better.”

“Ah.” That was sensible. “Do- Do you want to buy another kind too? For your... sewing?”

Ana blinked, the question surprising her as much as the subject had Jay. She chewed on her upper lip as she thought.

“No. Not now. Not yet.”

An awkward silence followed, ending only when Jay grabbed the roll and slipped away to pay for it. Then it was back to the task.

In Ana’s defense, most of what they found wouldn’t have worked for her. The majority of the mass-produced armor was designed for bigger people. Adventurers. The closest thing they found to her size had been for kids and wasn’t designed for combat. It was more of a safety thing or for children to dress up and play with. He’d winced when the shopkeeper explained it, half expecting the tired Ana to snap or make a fuss. She didn’t, but he kept an eye on her as they left anyway.

After nearly an hour of further fruitless searching, he spotted a sign — ‘Stock fitted in store’ — in a window and leapt on the opportunity. It was a small shop. They displayed only a single set of hard leather on a mannequin outside. Ana didn’t look happy as she inspected it, but she did give a reluctant nod of approval and agreed to go inside, which was a positive. His feet had started to hurt.

There was armor inside, but unlike the mannequin outside it was still in pieces. Strips of leather hung off hooks, large curved panels were stacked in corners. Counters displayed half assembled pieces, the front of a brigandine or the upper half of a skirt.

Ana busied herself inspecting the work while Jay approached the shopkeeper. A quick negotiation later, and a payment of more than he’d budgeted but less than he’d feared, and they were ushered into the back for a fitting. Jay went first and was done in a few minutes. He had a normal enough build, and they had a vest that would only require a slight adjustment. It was nothing special compared to Kane’s, but it would protect his vitals.

Ana on the other hand...

“Why are we doing this again?" she complained, looking at the leather worker’s apprentice with distaste as he fumbled with the measure. “I thought we were trying to save money.”

“We are,” Jay agreed, rolling his neck. Standing in one position for the measurements had made him stiff. “Getting fitted armor is much cheaper than a healer.”

‘And we could find nothing in your size,’ he finished in his head.

Ana scoffed — more at ‘fitted’ than the mention of a healer. “Template armor is cheaper. And not all that different.”

This was a dig too much, and the apprentice left the measure alone for a second to scowl at Ana. It wasn’t as fearsome as the man hoped. The tailor’s cheeks were too chubby and his nose too small to look anything but grumpy and young. They’d already had a small argument while Jay was being fitted — something about the stitching, glue and wrinkles that went over his head. From what he could tell, neither walked away happy, and both had been snipping at each other since.

Jay sighed. “Do you remember what I said about all the exercises we did for training? Some Oddities you can’t deal with, you just have to run.” He held his hands to the sky. “I didn’t plan on spending much yet, but with Kane’s contribution, we can spare a few more bronze. It’s a lot easier to run in fitted armor. It’s also quieter and gives less chafing.”

Ana grimaced, but it seemed that the last point in particular had struck a chord with her. But she was not one to let anyone else take the last word. “We should have gotten this in Kavakar. Much better work and materials.”

The apprentice bristled again.

Jay closed his eyes. This was one of the things he was finding he disliked about organizing an adventuring team. Why on earth would anyone piss off the person who was going to make the clothing that could save your life? A couple of poor, angry stitches and the leather could tear apart at the wrong time. Ana clearly had enough expertise with clothing to know this.

“While the tailors in Kavakar are great,” Jay began, watching the apprentice start to turn his way, readying another formidable scowl, no doubt. “Here in Lauchia, however, they are experienced. This is a city with several guilds and a large population of adventurers. The craftsmen here know how to make equipment that can take a hit, that can survive and save its owner. Your mom didn’t make much leather armor, did she?”

There. Polite enough about Kavakar’s skills, while also talking up the work they did here. A nice middle ground where he could bury this nonsense once and for all.

It seemed to work. The turning apprentice slowed, and then with a roll of his shoulder, picked up the measure and went back to work. Ana’s mouth twisted but thankfully did not open again as she shook her head and let it go.

Jay went back to rolling his neck. The trip had drained him. One thing was for sure. As helpful as she was — he would have spent a lot of money on substandard and perhaps dangerous armor without her — Ana would not be invited to any shopping runs beyond what was absolutely necessary.