Vol.2 Ch.20 - Warmer reception

As we left the main capital of Carmen, we decided to change things up byfollowing the river all the way to the right hand capital. After stopping for abit we were to go by wagon the rest of the way, ultimately making it to anycity in Great Hiana that supported the ITA. Our goal this time wasn’t acapital, we were in a hurry to check in after all. Boarding the boat, Ed losthis balance a bit and gripped the ropes with all his strength. Looks like he’snot good with boats.Weirdly enough, I was completely fine, so I used the situation to help Ed asmuch as I could. He helped me when I was sick in the wagon, after all. As Iwas holding him while he threw up, I got a bit nostalgic thinking about howwe used to travel with Anna. This journey really isn’t the same without her.I’m starting to miss our jokes and jabs. Arthur’s probably finished up withthe Ren branch and is already back with her in Springwood. Thinking aboutthem made me lose focus, and I almost dropped Ed overboard.“Dude! Don’t *brurp* d-don’t drop me!”“…Sorry, I got lost in thought.”“Well get your head out of the clouds! Otherwise I’ll be sleeping with thefishes-”Before he could even finish his sentence, he threw up the last of ourbreakfast. He was almost completely green in the face, so I had him sit tightas I went to get the captain. Thankfully, the captain didn’t live in Carmen, sohis attitude was extremely helpful. He gave me some food against seasickness and some medicinal alcohol. The thing that surprised me was theway it was to be administered.The food was normal, but the alcohol was to be poured on a napkin andapplied to the nose. After being placed on the nose, the person in questionneeds to snort with all their might. Apparently this deals with runny noses,headaches and sea sickness.After explaining this peculiar remedy to Ed, he was hesitant at first, butfinally caved after almost throwing up for the nth time today. The sight was…interesting. Well, if seeing your childhood friend coughing his life out beforetossing the medicine off the side of the ship in a fit of rage could bedescribed as “interesting”, at least. The funniest part was the fact that heactually did feel a bit better a couple minutes later, leading to him regrettingthrowing the medicine out.Just as his sea sickness was starting to loom over him again, we had made itto our destination, a small shore-side village by the name of Addams.***We were about half a days away from the border between The Kingdom ofCarmen and Great Hiana if we were to travel by transport wagon that is. I’venever seen Ed so happy about touching ground. As I was thanking the captainfor taking us all the way here, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpseof Ed actually kissing the ground beneath him.One part of me felt bad for his future girlfriend, but the other side of meunderstood where he was coming from. In all honesty I contemplated doingthe same when I got out of the wagon back in Carmen City.Addams was a village of Hianics, but it was still located on Carmen borders,the locals were accustomed to getting people who wanted to pass through sothey skipped the formalities and immediately welcomed us. We were taken toa little campsite where we were to spend the night. We didn’t really like theidea, since a tent didn’t really have any heat retaining properties, and wewere nearing winter.Soon our expectations were subverted yet again, because they had put on acampfire that was almost as big as us. The fire felt very nice, it served asboth a stove for cooking hot stew to heat us up from the inside, while alsobeing so warm that the heat was felt even in the tents.We fell asleep with a warmth that rivaled a well-insulated house and madethe weather feel like summer. Waking up was a different story, though, sincethe fire naturally died in the middle of the night and we went back to sleepingthrough the winter. Needless to say I got a cold.Hoping to find another foreign remedy for colds, I asked the locals foranything of help. I was surprised when they offered me the same bottle ofalcohol the captain did. They must really like their drinks here I thought.This time the alcohol was to be drunk directly, though, but it was very bitter.I’ve seen the locals drink it like we drink water, so I was surprised with thetaste after taking a chug. How they drink such a beverage with such vigor isbeyond me, in all honesty.Connecting with the locals was a bit difficult, since they only knew somebasic words in Entropic. Again, they’re all from Great Hiana, which mostlyspoke the new Hianic language established less than half a century ago. Weused the situation to learn a few new words from them.Words like Friend and Food were the first things we learned to say due tonecessity. For those interested, Friend was Ulgam, with the plural beingUlgami, and Food was Renki. The funny thing about them is how they namecountries. Kingdom of Carmen is Malulgami Zemje, which literally meansBad Friend’s Land (guess no one really likes their attitude). I tried askingabout Trivis Numerica, but the language barrier was simply too large forthem to understand me.Hianics are quite the superstitious bunch. They like to prophesize the futureby various means, spanning from stargazing to palm reading. As a joke, Edinquired about his love life, but was given a roundabout answer whichbasically translated to “it’s complicated”. Forced to participate too, I askedabout what our best next course of action is.“Ulgam, buy a Hiana wordiary and your life will be full of happiness.”From what I gathered, wordiary was his best attempt at translatingdictionary. I found the prospect interesting, and I thought we’ll be spendingquite some time here, we should probably listen to his advice.After I got over my cold we thanked them for everything and entered atransport wagon heading to Bilgam, the left capital of Great Hiana.