Geography lesson

The next afternoon, Ami smiled menacingly as I stood before her at the guild.

"Uh, what we doing today?" I nervously smiled.

"First, I'd like you to put this on," Ami giggled as she handed me a bracelet.

"What does it do?"

"Run until you're out of the city limits. Any direction you go in is fine."

I slowly nodded and began jogging out. Since I wasn't told to do this in a hurry, I went at a moderate pace so as not to disrupt the townsfolk. Once I was out of town, I picked up the speed as the roads were wide open, save for the occasional carriage, but I could just run off the path.

When I gained some distance, the bracelet began to glow green and the next thing I knew... I WAS GETTING SUCKED THROUGH THE AIR! It was just like when Ami traveled with wind magic, except now it's just me and it feels even worse! The experience finally came to an end as I found myself slowing down right before smacking into a stone path.

"So, did you enjoy it?" Ami smiled.

"Huh? Where- Blugh- BLEEEEEEHHHHHHH!"

"Looks like the first test went well. Though I will need to test how it handles indoor summoning," Ami giggled.

"Huh?" I groaned as I regained my footing.

"LaNorne, can you tell where we are?"

I glanced around. Everything was still spinning. So... "Blugh!"

"Still queasy, I see. That wasn't a very fun experience, now was it?"

"Ugh... Why? Why did you make me do it?"

"Just to instill some fear in you."

"Huh?"

"Follow me back inside."

I slowly tilted my head up as the world began to stabilize. It looked like I was back in front of the guild.

"Is this the guild?"

"Oh good, you've recovered enough to tell where you are. Now inside. I'm going to give you a test."

My stomach was starting to churn again.

Hobbling into the guild, Ami ushered me over to a round table. Once I was seated, she pulled out a giant piece of paper.

"Now, tell me what this is."

There were drawings of weird shapes with names... Wait! "It's a map!"

"Yes, very good. This is a map of the world. We call it, Pan. Now can you tell me where Blintz is on it?"

"Even I know that. It's the boat," I smiled as I pointed to an area of the map that looked like the hull of a ship.

"... I guess it works. The legends do say our nation was founded by those that built a great ship known as the arc, to survive the world flood that happened over a millennia ago. That and you do come from a seaside town, so I guess the analogy makes sense. As long as it sticks, that's the point. Now, let's take a closer look at Blintz itself," Ami nodded as she pulled out another map.

This one was a close-up of Blintz, but with lots of lines and words on it.

"Let's start easy. Where's Traditsye?"

"Uh... Right here!" I smiled as I pointed to the center.

"Good. How about my lab?"

"..."

"It's not labeled on the map, so I won't be too hard on you if you can't point it out."

"No, I remember how to get there. Here's the south west gate to the city, right? I just follow the path out and go left, then I'm there."

Ami seemed genuinely impressed as evidenced by her nodding. "You went to my lab the day after the knights rejected you. How'd you find the place so easily?"

"Ah, while I was riding into Traditsye for the exam, I passed by the path leading to it."

"Show me the path you took."

I proudly pointed at a point on the bottom left edge of Blintz. "Here's my hometown, Bisochos. Pretty sure I took the main road since it was a royal carriage that picked me up, so... like this?" I shrugged as I traced my finger along the map.

"Not bad... Alright, where's Golde dungeon?"

"Uh... HERE!"I exclaimed as I pointed to the left of Traditsye. 

"Correct... Alright, show me the Soletreo Coastline."

I proudly traced my finger over the bottom of Blitz.

"Good, good. And do you know the capital of it?" 

"Keftes!" I smiled as I pointed down at the bottom left of Soletreo. 

"Oh, you know your home province well. How about the Ararat Province?"

"'Ararat'? That's one of the ones at Fourpoint, right?"

"'Fourpoint'?"

"Yeah, where four provinces all meet up. Ararat's the one in the north," I smiled as I pointed at the top left part of Blintz.

"Know its capital?" 

"Mmm, never been there... Oh! Someone in my hometown said it's all the way at the top. Think it was called... Impade?" 

"Not bad. How about the other "Fourpoint" provinces?"

"Bialy!" I exclaimed as I pointed to a lopsided shape next to Soletreo and Ararat. "I passed through it on my way to Traditsye. Think they said the capital was... BAGEL!"

Ami let out a whistle. "And the last one?"

"Um... Never really went there before. I know it's gotta be the other one at Fourpoint, but all I really remember is Bialy and Ararat, Bialy more so since I've been through it."

"You're an odd one. It's Ober. Despite its large size, it's mostly rural, though its capital of Flódni is one of the most populous cities in the country."

"I've never heard of Flódni before."

"It's located in the very north west of Ober, so it would be quite a trek to get to it from your hometown. Now how about this big province between Soletreo and Central?"

"Um... It kind of looks like a mountain... Mountain province?"

"Wrong, it's the Kreplach Province, but it is a mountainous province so there is that. It's the province Penina's the margravine of, with its capital of Lokshen being the big martial arts hub of the country. And most notably, it's where you got your ass lost yesterday," Ami angrily smiled as she pointed towards the top left of the province. "This area here right at the border to be more specific. It's where Mariamne has her villa, which is why it's not uncommon for her to be training in the area and why she said she had every right to attack you for trespassing as SOMEHOW you managed to get so lost you avoided seeing the obvious markers telling you to turn back around." 

"Sorry..." 

"Mmm, a small part of me does feel that maybe if Mariamne hadn't heard my voice, she wouldn't have attacked you... But I still blame you for getting me booked to fight her."

"At least I know never to go that way again," I nervously chuckled.

"You better! Moving on..."

"Wait, we're not done!?"

"Of course not! I need to know how much of this map confuses you so we don't have you getting lost again! Because if you do... I'm using that bracelet."

"NO! NOT THE BRACELET! IT WAS WORSE THEN WHEN I FLEW WITH YOU!"

"Then we continue. What's this?" Ami snarled as she pointed towards the top right corner of Blintz.

"Uh... Don't know."

"It's Loew, the second most populous province in the country, also home to the second most populous city in the country, Sto."

"Think I've heard of it once or twice."

"Well, it is on the other side of the country from where you are. Now one final thing, then we'll wrap up your lesson for today."

"Please hurry."

"Think I enjoy spending my time teaching you basic geography? I should stick you in a school here, but that would probably lead to more trouble since apparently you got expelled for being too stupid. Anyway, what's this tiny dot here south of Soletreo?" Ami asked.

"Um... An island?"

"Well, no shit. NAME OF THE ISLAND!?"

I began to sweat profusely.

"Myrtle Isle," Ami groaned.

"Wait! Tal mentioned it!"

"Yes, it's Blintz's only island territory. It's the most sparsely populated province, but it's teaming with exotic plants and animals. Also easy to get lost on despite it's small size, but that's a topic for another day. Point to the great canal."

I put my finger down on the blue streak running up the middle of Blinz. According to what I remember from what some old guy said, the great canal was built in order to provide an access point for Traditsye to both the great lake north of us, and the southern ocean. Before I came to Traditsye, I'd only ever seen it whenever I ran from one end of Soletreo to the other for strength training, but now it's become a common sight when I roam through Traditsye.

"Last two. What's this?" Ami asked as she pointed towards an area north of Loew. 

"The secret province?"

"No, it's a whole damn other country, the Blini Federation."

"'Blini'?"

"Yes, they're the ones obsessed with freezing the whole world over in order to dominate it. In fact, their founding legend is that their ancestors lived on frozen ice sheets to survive the world flood. Then when things seceded, one of the ice sheets is said to have become an inland island within their new country."

"I don't see it."

"It's on the larger map," Ami sighed as she flipped it over.

Sure enough, there in the middle of a large landmass was an island. But is this really an ancient sheet of ice?

"Now last question; what's this?" Ami growled as she held up the map of Blintz and pointed to an island west of my hometown.

"Vecillia," I replied immediately.

"Hoh? And the land west-"

"Ova Sfongia."

"You know that too?"

My hand began to tremble as I clenched my fist. "There's no way I could ever forget."

Ami's gaze narrowed. "Feel like telling me more?"

"My... My father was a sailor. He started out as just commercial, but soon joined the navy after Ova Sfongia attacked the coastline. He's actually the one that taught me how to fight."

"He did now?"

"Yes, but sadly, he went out to sea to fight an Ova Sfongian fleet... and was sunk..."

"My condolences."

"After that, I was kind of on my own. Then, well, I got accepted to try out for the knights, and you know the rest."

Ami silently nodded as she rolled up the maps. "Didn't mean to end on a sour note, but we're done for the day. Let's try and see if there's an easy mission to do."

"Don't feel bad for me. I can do another dungeon run if need be," I smiled.

"After how hectic things were yesterday, I'm the one that wants to take it easy. Hmm, how about we go with this request," Ami sighed as she snatched a request off the board.