Chapter 2: Isekai Life & Baby Talk

Such as they were, introductions were completed when we got Yua back to the inn. While Bekker, Calliope and Katriana were surprised at the sudden new dragon-person in their midst, nobody had a problem with what I did. Yua was obviously in a bad way, and none of my friends, lovers and retainers were cruel enough to complain about the price of having essentially freed a slave of an unknown race who we know nothing about and who might disappear the second we’re not looking or hold a grudge against humans in general. Until she ran off or murdered me in my sleep, though, Yua seemed pretty content to eat all the food we put in front of her and get doted on by Ashryn.

Communicating with her was challenging. I tried every language I knew on her- even orc and goblin- but nothing seemed to get through to her. She seemed to react a little to certain words of Draconic, but not enough to be useful. She was bright enough to pick up on hand signal, and a few words of common, however.

We spent a week in town, replenishing our supplies, nursing Yua back to health as well as getting her clothes and other such things that she might need on our journey. It wasn’t long before Yua was recovered enough to be able to walk on her own, but we stuck it out just to make sure that she wouldn’t collapse on the road or anything. Bekker ended up proposing that, for now, she could work her way as a servant with the same expectations he operated under- she would pay her way with work until she left or she she knew enough Common to negotiate something else. So, Bekker would train her as a servant the best he could.

The day before we were going to leave, I took her down to the stables, and showed her the wagon and horses. “Tomorrow at dawn,” I began miming sleep and then waking up, “Once everyone is awake, we’re continuing our journey,” I mimed a pair of legs with my fingers, walking across an imaginary horizon. “You’ll be riding in the wagon with Bekker,” I said, patting the bench on the wagon.

Yua mutely watched this whole show, then responded in her own language, following it up by gesturing with her open palm, then making a tight fist.

I shrugged. “I hope there won’t be trouble,” I said, shaking my head and making a warding gesture with my hands, “But if there is, Katriana, Voss and Enna are strong fighters,” I finished by miming drawing a sword, “And Ashryn, Calliope and I can use magic,” I finished by doing the gesture for Burning Hands, hoping that maybe magic is universal to a degree and Yua would be familiar with it.

She gave me a puzzled look for a second, then replied in her own language, mimed gripping something in front of her with two hands, and then swung an imaginary sword in the air.

“Well, I don’t know how much of a warrior you are,” I said, shrugging, “But maybe you ought to wait a little longer before asking to carry a sword,” I finish by reaching over and tapping her too-skinny arm on the bicep.

She gave me a furious look, turned on her heel and stalked off. I could only sigh- who knows what she was really going on about? Maybe in her culture unwelcome touching is a grave insult or something. I could only hope that she didn’t hate me over the exchange.

From Osgoode Gate, it was another week of travel across the Lakelands to get to Ricard Parett’s vineyard. Despite our last exchange, Yua willingly rode alongside Bekker in the cart, and we were able to make good time despite the winding and occasionally confusing path we had to take.

Finally, our two-month journey came to an end, as we entered a village known as Pendleton, and a few hours beyond that, the Parett estate.

He must have spotted us riding up, because Ricard himself was there to greet us at the estate gate. Smiling broadly, clad in an embroidered doublet with a longsword at his side, he stood by as a pair of servants wrestled the wrought iron gate open. “Here I was thinking that nobody was going to take me up on my offer,” he said as I dismounted to lead Snacks through, “Now that I see your whole entourage, I can see why. It must have taken forever to get that cart through the mountains.”

“It wasn’t as hard as you’d think,” I replied, “Though we were laid up in Osgoode Gate due to unrelated business.”

“Of course, of course,” he grinned, then turned away from me and bowed. “My lady,” he said, stepping forward to take and kiss Katriana’s hand. She smiled wanly, and seemed a little pale.

“Lord Ricard, thank you again for inviting us,” she said, “Traveling through the Lakelands has been lovely. Your home is rich in natural beauty.”

“Thank you, although I’ll leave the credit to the gods,” he replied with a laugh, “Come, allow me to introduce you to the lady of the manor.”

He lead us onto the estate and showed us to the stables. Bekker and Yua busied themselves with unsaddling and putting away the horses, while the rest of us moved on to the main building- a large but not ostentatious plantation home, that looked comfortable and luxurious for a small family and some servants. The majority of the estate, though, was functional- the vineyards themselves covered most of the property, and there were half-dozen buildings of various sizes for the winery itself.

At the front entrance of the manor, waiting for us, was an older woman, perhaps just starting the edge one her sixties. “Theodore, Katriana, and friends, this is my wife, the sorceress Mia Parett,” Ricard introduced ostentatiously.

“Oh, please,” Mia said, waving a hand, “I haven’t cast a spell in anger in years. Ricard has done a good job of keeping us all safe ... although I have you all to thank for keeping him out of trouble, I hear.” She stepped forward to start shaking hands.

“It’s no trouble at all, my lady,” I replied when it was time for her to shake my hand, “Ricard was the first person to hire Katriana and I as adventurers, so it seemed that not letting his soul be devoured was the least we could do.”

From there, we were ushered inside, and shown to our rooms. “Unfortunately, we only have two guest rooms,” Mia said as she showed us two large rooms each with a pair of double beds, “You’ll have to a get a little cozy, we weren’t expecting quite so many of you.”