The City of Battle

“Welcome to the City of Pugna,” Teddie read the sign that stood on the outside of the city. The group decided to walk the rest of the way there, mostly due to the traffic crowding the road.

Teddie was never a fan of crowds, and he didn’t realize how busy this place would be until he actually saw it himself. If he thought the outer towns were crowded, then this blew them out of the water.

“Alright, Teddie,” Ed said. “We’ll meet back here in a bit after the qualifiers. You go and enjoy yourself for a bit.”

“Yes,” Teddie nodded. Cozy had done some research about the tournament before they arrived. Apparently there were some qualifying tests that they were performing to achieve the top echelon of registrants. Adelyn, Ed, and Cozy spent all morning preparing for them.

Teddie never felt comfortable with fighting, especially if it were to be in a one-on-one scenario. He decided the best thing he could do was cheer on the sidelines for his friends. Though he couldn’t do that for the qualifiers, because those were private. So, they agreed that Teddie could go sightseeing on his own for a little bit.

After splitting with the group however, Teddie immediately felt overwhelmed by this city. It felt like he was lost in a sea of people. The market lines were all really long, and it felt like there was no place to breathe.

He pushed past the crowds of people in the marketplace. The city around him itself definitely didn’t feel the most inviting. So many swords just used as decoration were placed around on top of buildings like it was normal. The architecture here was naturally intimidating, with even more battle arenas where one could hear weapons clashing even from outside. The lights around the market were red, which felt burning compared to the usual blue light that covered the land normally.

This was more overwhelming than he would have liked. The atmosphere here was so much different than Verdant, and he wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Though, out of the corner of his eye, he finally saw something comforting.

At the edge of the marketplace, turning right from the streets. A group of blue trees, cutting through the artificial light and reaching him. This was the place that he was drawn to, and he found himself walking towards the trees like a moth drawn to a flame.

Teddie took one step between the trees, and headed through them. It was so much quieter here, like he just passed through a barrier to another world. The bustling populace was behind him now, and all that was left was the serene nature of the woods.

Just beyond the trees, he saw a small pond. The water glimmered in the ever-present moonlight, as Teddie looked at his reflection in the glowing pond. He held up his stuffed bear, and he nodded. The two of them had agreed that this would be the best time for this, because they haven’t done much together in a while.

Teddie sat down on the ground next to the water, and then he began to sing. Notes came naturally out of his mouth, as the critters began to come out of hiding. Various fish bubbled just under the water to watch his performance, and lots of small and tiny critters began to form an audience from the trees.

These critters were different from the ones he was familiar with, but they still also felt the same. Some of the squirrels had different hides, some of the fish were rounder, but performing for them still felt natural, even if they were new.

So, he sang. Teddie sang for a good long while. He put on the best show he could’ve for his audience, with a few new songs. Liana did give him a few ideas after all.

However, all shows must end. When Teddie sang the last note of his song, the small creatures gave a standing ovation.

“Thank you all for listening to me,” Teddie bowed. “I hope we can do this again sometime soon.”

With chatter among the animals, they began to leave. They were satisfied with the performance, and would talk about it for days to come. However, there was one oddity among the viewers.

It was no small critter, instead, a red-haired girl, around Teddie’s height, walked up to him. She looked just as awkward as Teddie did, she had a wide-brim hat attached to her back alongside a dainty farmer’s outfit. She held a small stick in her hand as she stumbled and approached Teddie.

“Huh?” Teddie seemed confused at what the girl was doing, clutching Mr. Bear, as he didn’t even notice her when he was performing the show.

“I… I really liked your show!” she said.

“Ah-”

Teddie’s face turned red at the words. He really, really wasn’t expecting anyone else to be around in these small woods.

“H-Hey hey hey-” Teddie immediately panicked, trying to get a hold of the situation. “Thank… you?”

“You just have a very pretty voice,” the girl said. “Plus, the animals seemed to love it too.”

“Mhm,” Teddie nodded. “Uh… um… w…what brings you here?”

“I was practicing some magic, you know? I’ve been having a little bit of trouble,” the girl said. “Especially with the tournament tomorrow.”

“Oh, you’re participating…? I have some friends that are too, I thought you needed to do the qualifiers.”

“I did my qualifiers yesterday, I think I was the last one to be selected though. But that’s okay! I just need to get better!”

“Well, qualifying at all is an achievement, I don’t think I could even do that. I’m not a fighter.”

Teddie shook his head. He was happy with that though, and seeing his friends succeed was more important than fighting.

“So you’re not in the tournament? If you’re here to cheer on your friends, that's cool! A lot of people do just come here for tourism,” the girl said. “Oh, right. My name is Katie, it’s good to meet you…”

“I’m… Teddie,” he said. “And this is Mr. Bear. He gave me the idea to do the concert.”

Teddie waved his bear’s arm in a wave.

“Aww, he’s cute,” Katie said, pinching it’s cheek. “Are you planning on doing more sightseeing too?”

“Um, I dunno,” Teddie responded. “It’s so crowded. I don’t know if I could find any place to relax in the crowd.”

“I know, it gets like that sometimes, but if I had to suggest anything, there’s this great set of baths near the forests. It’s not as popular but that makes it pretty quiet, and it takes advantage of the nature that is around here.”

Teddie liked the sound of that. His only baths have been in lakes and inn bathrooms so far, so getting a proper hot bath sounded nice.

“I’ll check it out,” Teddie nodded. “Thank you very much, miss.”

“You don’t need to thank me!” Katie said. “It was my birds that heard you first anyways.”

“Your birds?” Teddie asked. Upon that question, a trio of black birds flew down from the trees and landed on Katie’s shoulders and one on her head.

The first thing Teddie thought was that she looked like a scarecrow, but he also thought that would be very rude. So he shook off that thought.

“They’re my friends! We’re planning on fighting together in the tournament,” Katie explained. “We’ve been trying to practice uhh… synchronicity. It’s not as good as I’d like…”

“Well,” Teddie walked up to the birds and he patted one of them on the head. The bird chirped a few times, but those chirps became words to Teddie’s ears.

He listened to those words as they spoke to him. He heard quite a few things, nodding and responding quietly with his own words, before turning back to Katie.

“They appreciate you, but they think your commands are too fast for them,” Teddie explained. “They feel like you’re a bit too demanding in combat, and it’s hard for them to keep up.”

“Wait, you can talk with them?” Katie asked. “That’s amazing, I’ve always had to guess what they wanted. Is that so? That’s good to know.”

“Mhm,” Teddie nodded. “They know in fights it’s high stakes… but they think you should trust them a little more.”

“I see, I’ll try my best for you guys then,” Katie said to her birds, before turning to Teddie. “And thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it.”

“I’m… happy to help, good luck in your tournament,” Teddie said. Katie eventually ran off, leaving the boy and his bear alone once more. Teddie sat back down near the lake, pondering what to do in the future.

“A bath, huh. Maybe we could go there tomorrow,” Teddie said, looking at Mr. Bear, who looked back at him.

He thought about the girl he just spoke to. Maybe he could enjoy his time here, even if it wasn’t his style. A step out of his comfort zone, perhaps? That is why he was on this journey to begin with. So there was still something he had yet to grasp.