The Ranger and her helper made their way to a small village near the border.
"I want to give you a lesson on common sense, it was the first thing I learned as a Ranger, and to this day it is still one of the more shocking and eye-opening experiences in my life. Remember, we are the children of a merchant, and we are only going around to peddle furs for our father." Diana instructed.
Ciaran found it amusing to be acting as himself but said nothing.
Diana insisted, that they hide their profession, and their aura and just pose as regular people.
When they entered the village, the first thing the boy noticed, was how poorly kept all the houses were.
The houses of the villagers were simple, with a utilitarian structure, designed to meet the basic needs of the family living within it.
They were small, one-room dwellings, constructed of local materials such as wood, thatch, and mud brick. The roofs were thatched with straw or reeds, and the walls had been plastered with mud or covered in animal hides for insulation.
Inside, they had a central hearth for cooking and warmth, with a hole in the roof to allow smoke to escape. The furniture they enjoyed was minimal, consisting of basic items such as benches or stools, and storage containers for food and clothing.
This was a far cry from the homes of even the poorer districts in Seabright City. The villagers didn't seem to mind, however, as the mood was cheery and the only thing that bugged them was the arrival of the two strangers.
Diana led the way and gestured to Ciaran to just quietly follow and watch her work.
She went to the local tanner and placed the furs on the counter.
"Pops is sellin some fur, this be a sample of his stock, what'cha think?" She said as she put on a thick, heavy accent. She was taught that people rarely traded with outsiders, especially in the north.
The man locked at her annoyed, didn't even bother with her, and just waved his hand to shoo her away.
She frowned, and before she continued Ciaran just grabbed her hand, and shook his head.
"Sir, me and my sister were sent by our father to gain experience. He is a wealthy merchant and his business is in Burrow. My sister and I grew up south with our mother, as all the schools were there. I am sorry for the offense, Dad just chewed us off for not sounding like northerners at all." He said as he placed the furs back on the counter.
"There are fifteen furs here, you can have three for free, as it was our mistake, the rest would be fifteen coppers each, take it as our way of apology. We are truly sorry." The boy said everything in a perfectly smooth tone. He sounded almost scholarly, and nothing like a merchant.
"Learn from your brother girl. You can try and sound like us, but you stuck out like a drunk bear in a tavern, the moment you walked in here. And we don't all have an accent just so ya know." He said, still pissed off at Diana.
They made a silver and eighty coppers from that transaction and rented a single room with it.
Ciaran just lay in the bed and looked at her mockingly.
"So what was I supposed to learn there?" He asked and enjoyed her angry cursing.
She had practiced as a Ranger, but that was in a different zone. It was in the West, and people there spoke without any accents. They were also a lot more pleasant, and welcoming to new people.
The people of the North had fewer resources, and that taught them to be harsh. Mix that in with her bad acting skills and the girl was uniquely equipped to deal with their current mission.
"Our mission is to monitor the zone. That means everything on our side of the border, in the neutral zone, and the border of Auroria. If we can't even mix in with the locals here, we are going to have a lot of trouble there." She said dejected.
The boy thought about it. Here, the excuse he gave would pass, and even that was only because Diana had set them up for success with her blunder. If they were to go to the other side, however, they would be found out immediately.
"Let me do the talking. I am used to it by now. You just back me up when I need you." He said.
She was curious where he got his confidence from, but he hadn't disappointed her yet, and besides, it would be some time before they had to cross the border. She had a lot of time to assess his abilities.
"Let's take a tour around the village. I saw how you reacted to their homes, wait till you see the state of the people." She said as they made their way to the center of the city.
There they could see people of all ages. It was a small village, but it housed over a thousand people, and as far as Ciaran could see, not one of them was Ranked.
From the children to the adults, everyone was just normal. There was no magic, no wonder, and no danger here. It was the peak of mediocrity, as everyone was busy doing their own thing. People gave them some attention, but most just ignored them.
To the outside of the village, there was a big field full of children. They were playing with each other and with some animals.
What astonished Ciaran was that some of the children were as old as Diana. They were at least fifteen years old and hadn't got a care in the world as they played around with the others.
Seeing his shocked expression his partner was satisfied, and she dragged him back to their room.
"How was it? Seeing what ordinary people our age look like. Just so you know, what you saw is the norm. Aperanly, normal people know about Warriors and Mages, but they view them as superhumans. In the region I was stationed before, an old lady even bragged about her son, who at the young age of forty-two was already a Rank two warrior and a First Lieutenant in the army." The girl laughed.
"I was a Rank Three back then and was about to reach Rank Four. I didn't know what to say as I saw the faces of all of her jealous friends. As far as I know, that is a major accomplishment for someone before their fifties, and I didn't have the heart to tell them I had reached Rank two when I was nine." She said as she laughed harder.
Ciaran just jumped in bed and covered himself with the blanket. He didn't know what to be more pissed off about. That he thought he was behind the curve, or that the woman next to him was so far in front of him, that he would probably never catch up.
"I don't get your point. Are you making fun of me for my low Rank, or are you trying to tell me we are monsters?" He asked bitterly.
The boy had a complex about his body. Sure he wouldn't show it regularly but he knew that his body was all kinds of messed up. Now that he was Rank One he could feel how disconnected his body and soul really were. He could feel how damaged he really was, and hearing what he might have been if he hadn't been cut was more than a little painful.
"Oh relax would you, most people reach Rank Two by the age of ten, I am just a fast grower. Besides how many years have you been stuck in Rank One already, I am sure you will get there soon." She tried to cheer him up.
The lowering temperature in the room and the fact the blanket was slowly starting to be swallowed by frost were big tells that she had failed.
"I was given three days to prepare myself to come here. I took a weak because I needed to break through to Rank One, and get used to it." He said, and it astonished her.
She didn't know what to be more surprised by, that he was so behind in terms of Rank, or that he wasn't cutting corners like the rest of their peers.
People like them who relied on the traditional method to achieve power were rare. Most just undertook the procedure, and slowly but surely understood their new power afterward.
She didn't know how to explain her thoughts to the boy, or whether or not she even should, considering his attitude but she did so anyway. She just laid in bed next to him, turned him around forcefully, and smashed her head against his.
"Read!" She ordered.
Her thoughts became his, and he understood what she knew. She on the other hand had a glimpse of why he was so self-conscious of his Rank.
She knew she had stolen something she shouldn't have, and a more tactical person would have kept it to themselves.
"There are plenty of racists in the Empire, many of which share the family name of Hemperyngs. I am not one of them fish boy." Diana was not one of them. For all her talents, tact was something she lacked, and she never considered her straightforwardness a flaw anyway.
As rude as she was, the boy was growing to appreciate her honesty. And the frost thawed if only just a little.