^^ (Zenobia is a Nerd with Magic: Guess?) ^^

— Zenobia —

"I haven't ridden a horse since I was a girl, you know, so don't laugh if I can't manage it, alright?" I warned Assam as we stepped into a stable of sorts, full of various horses I had no knowledge of; they seemed... healthy? I guess?

'They are adequately fed, it would seem, yes. I would advise a Cart, however, not a Horse, for your travel. With your height and weight, all but the most sturdy of warhorses would be unable to accommodate you. Also, you would look quite the fool, and would only embarrass yourself, and thus me.' Aconitum's voice sounded at the back of my mind.

'Rude.' I sniffed derisively at him, then examined the small woman who appeared from one of the stalls, holding a brush in one hand and a saddle in the other. Her clothes were stained and patched, but otherwise orderly and put-together, and her forearms and calves visibly bulged under her sleeves, but otherwise she could've been any other woman in this city; brown hair, ruddy tan skin, 160-175 centimeters tall, and a seemingly perpetual half-smile. The people of this city, even in private, seemed somewhat happy, despite the monsters that threatened them daily.

She spoke loudly, interrupting my thoughts, and Assam jumped to attention reflexively. "So! Ye're 'ere teh borrow some horses from my livery?!? Eh?!?"

"Ah, y-yes, Horse Master Harriet-"

"Speak up, child!!! Ah've no patience for sniveling and quaking!!!" She snapped, instantly silencing Assam.

"Careful... you don't want to find out who's a bigger Bitch here..." I frowned at her sternly, petting Assam's hair to reassure the shaken cutie.

She snorted at us, unconcerned. "Sure, you're big, but Ah couldn't care less; now either tell me what ye want or ye can piss right off!!!"

Assam cleared her throat softly. "Uhm... Four horses and a covered cart, please? Two lashed to the cart, and two spares, as well as feed for all four for a period of one month? We're on a very time-sensitive mission for the Hunters' Guild, and-"

She interrupted, already walking away. "Ah didn't ask fer yer life's story, nor care!!!" She tossed the rude statement over her shoulder, pulling four massive horses out of the stalls and lining them up beside me, apparently checking their height against mine, then taking them outside and lashing them to one of the carts that had been out there; it was a carriage, not a cart, with doors and everything, made of black lacquered wood with white accents. "This'll do; none of my carts would handle her properly." She pointed a thumb at me casually, speaking to Assam.

"Insult me again, little girl, and I will plant my boot in your ass and then throw you into the muck of these stalls to wallow in pain; do I make myself clear?" I asked calmly, staring down at her in a blatant challenge.

She grinned, unaffected; she apparently didn't think I was serious. "Aye, sure yeh will! Now be off, ah've grown quickly tired of yer face; too much like an Ox, I'd say, and me a Horse-Master, I prefer- hey!!! what-"

It was easy to pick her up by the scruff and haul back my foot, dropping her and kicking her in the ass like a football so hard that her body flew a good three meters into the wall of an empty stall, then bounced off into the soiled hay within, groaning in pain. After a moment of allowing her to wallow, I squatted next to her, picking her upper body out of the mud with a hand on her collar, and spoke calmly and evenly. "Don't test me again; Considering our size difference... you may not survive a second round with my Boot." I dropped her into the muck again, and walked out of the stables while dusting off my hands, beckoning Assam to follow me. "We're on a time-sensitive mission, aren't we? Let's get moving, dear."

"Oh! R-Right!" Quickly the little Huntress dressed in leather armor began to rush about, -along with the three boys who had worked here,- gathering bags of goods and loading them onto the roof and back of the carriage; food for the horses, supplies, and more I wasn't sure of.

'Very nicely struck... though, you didn't finish her off. Boring.'

'She wasn't evil, just rude. I had no reason to kill her. I only taught her a lesson; the lesson is useless if she's dead.' I sat in the carriage, admiring the simple leather interior; it reminded me of an Oldster, or an English Road Devil from the 50's... pretty cars, with dated yet somehow beautiful interiors.

'I suppose you're not wrong; wasted effort is rather irritating. Speaking of: your trees are dying. They can't stand the cold temperatures.'

'Replant them around the north bank of the hot spring, and cover them in a Greenhouse, like the plans I left you call for; the radiant heat in the dirt will do to keep them warm enough until the greenhouse is complete.' I frowned at the revelation that Assam was partially correct about the trees; it wasn't the dirt the trees didn't take to, but the cold. The temperate conditions of the continent they came from had made them weak to lower temperatures.

'Are you sure you want a glass roof on the entire property? 5 kilometers squared of Glass Roofing seems ambitious, even to me.'

'Call it what you want, but my new and improved version of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon will win me the world, someday. Perhaps even multiple worlds. How's that for Ambitious?' I grinned, and then closed my grimoire, looking at Assam as she handed the stable boys a silver piece each, which they clutched happily as they bowed deeply at the waist.

She smiled and patted their heads, walking over and climbing up next to me in the carriage. "Well... I smoothed things over, so you don't have to worry anymore-"

"I wasn't worried... but I appreciate you worried for me." I smiled gently, petting her cheek happily.

She stuttered, blushing brightly. "W-well, I-I was just-, I mean-... I-I'll drive." She quickly climbed into the driver's seat, leaving me directly behind her, and within teasing distance, as she pulled us out onto the road and out of the city at a rather decent pace. I smirked and leaned forward, my breath brushing across the back of her neck softly, then growled in annoyance when the carriage swerved briefly, and she yelled back at me. "NO DISTRACTING THE DRIVER!!!" Glancing over her shoulder at my smoldering gold gaze, she squeaked out a weak addendum. "Please?"

"Hmph... fine... I'll be back here, bored, and thinking of various ways to torture you when we stop for the night... be very, very afraid of what I can think of with eight hours of preparation." I smirked at her deep, reflexive shiver, knowing that I'd begun to achieve at least one of my goals for this trip; edging this cute little submissive kitten until she begged me to play her like a fiddle

'I heard talk of Torture, O' Mighty Breaker of Worlds and Wills?'

'The sexual kind; not really your speed, unfortunately.'

'Ah, that is unfortunate. Now, you asked about the Articulated Wyvern? It's a rather interesting beast; a mixed breed between a Wyvern and a Dragon or a Dragon and an Amphiptere. It has the Wyvern's two wings, two feet, and poisonous stinger, but instead of the Acid-Spit of a Wyvern, it has Dragon-Fire, and instead the entirely-bestial mind of a Wyvern, it has a mind akin to a dog; vaguely sentient, but not very bright at all. If caught young and trained well, they can actually be turned into incredibly effective Mounts for certain Kingdoms, due to their Dog-Like loyalty to their owners. Dragons sometimes breed them for guard-dogs for their Hatcheries, keeping them by the hundreds to protect the single-most precious treasure of all to a Dragon; Eggs. This one is likely an escaped one from a human kingdom that simply wasn't imprinted properly.'

'I see... that could be very useful to me, in the future.'

'You're not wrong... I will begin constructing a Hatchery for them...'

'No, not in this property. I'll make another property on this Dragon Continent, and connect the two with a portal. That way, if one of the wyverns gets loose, it's on the dragon continent. I don't want to put massive reptiles near a population center. Too many things could go wrong, and thus damage my sterling reputation. Speaking of; how's your scouting of the Carpentry Guild going?'

'Ah, yes: Swimmingly. They have anti-dragon defenses, crossbowmen on the roof and pikemen around the border, but nothing stopped me from coming in from below; I'm currently reading all of their records, one by one, looking for tasty little tidbits!'

'Well done, Aconitum!!! Bravo!!! Tell me if you find any discrepancies, I want to use them as Ammunition in my negotiations... and see if you can entice a few of the lower-ranked people, the ones who wouldn't be noticed; the pages, the coffee boys, the fetchers... don't make any direct deals with them, but find a way to persuade them. I want to know everything they hear, -which should be a lot,- and in return... maybe promise them power, and teach them a few very basic, but Flashy magic tricks, things that will shock and awe them enough they don't question you.'

'Oooh, Deception... My Favorite Commodity...'

I smiled and sighed out loud. "Assam, I am so very bored... what do you do to amuse yourself on long commutes? Usually I do puzzles or research, but I don't have my equipment with me, nor my laboratory..."

She glanced back at me, and shook her head. "We've been on the road less than an hour, Zenobia. Please tell me you're not that impatient?"

"I am less impatient and more very easily bored; I require constant work and distractions to keep myself from falling apart. Giving me time to think creates too many existential crises." I sighed heavily, leaning against the window behind her.

"... I suppose that makes sense. You just learned of an entirely new world, and demons and angels, then went there against your will... if you must know, I actually read poetry or books, when I can find them. Only the cities really have books, so for the most part we're out of luck there." She sighed sadly at the lack of literature.

"Literature and Poetry, Hmm? A good hobby... I've never had patience for poetry. It's always seemed to me to be an art form that requires too much of its audience, but at the same time, if it was easy to understand it would be boring. A puzzle that I do not have the wherewithal to solve, nor the energy to try... I am a rather lazy woman, when I don't care about the outcome of a situation. I conserve all of my energy for what matters." I began gently kneading her shoulders, my strong fingers making short work of her tense muscles while she struggled to focus and direct the cart.

"H-hey! Stop that! I'm trying to drive!!!" She snapped weakly at me.

"The horses know to stay on the road, my dear, don't panic so much..." I released her shoulders reluctantly, and pouted at her when she glanced at me.

"That may be true, but it's not wise to test our luck needlessly!" She muttered, then frowned upwards when a crack of thunder opened up the cloudy sky, and rain began to come down in sheets. "See? See what happens when you screw with Luck?" She asked accusingly, only to flinch once more at my baleful glare.

"It was going to rain either way, Assam, don't blame me for the weather." I warned her carefully, before flicking a hand and covering the horses in a small shield that kept away the rain, but didn't cover Assam.

"Alright, fine, sorry..." she grumbled, bundling up with a leather coat that seemed to shed the rain well enough. Still, I extended the protection of the shield over her, powered by the kinetic energy of the rain striking the shield; thus it was actually gaining me power, as the thickened air of the shield didn't take much to maintain at all. "That's a pretty useful magic... could you teach me that one?" She glanced back at me curiously.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you... so best to just leave it a mystery, dear." I patted her head gently, partially drying her hair and then smoothing it backwards.

"Wait, why would you have to kill me?" She asked, more curious than afraid, oddly enough.

I considered my answer, speaking very carefully, and honestly. "Magic, the way I do it... is too powerful not to use. People would wage wars for my secrets, and I've only just gotten here... Science and Magic should never have mixed. But now they have, and I can't do anything about it. What I can do, is make this world a little bit of a better place, without letting people know how I did it. That's all. Now, there's some nice rain to lull me properly to sleep, and I haven't had a good night's rest in weeks. Good night." I kissed her cheek sweetly and curled up in the back seat, relaxing slowly to the sound of the rain on the roof and shield; it was a curious sound, not unlike a burbling creek, and I liked it quite a bit.

—

In my dreams, I rested on a golden couch, tended by a garden of gorgeous people, men, women and other, while around me a city rose up, the perfect city. No ugly glass towers and banal square steel and concrete monstrosities, only proper, hand-carved sandstone; still in modern designs, but made by human hands. No perfect lines, no beam-straight cuts, and a fluid layout that let people naturally flow from the gates to the market, and the market to the craftsman's halls; residences to the sides, out of the way, unseen and private. Little courtyards for the children to play in while the older children kept a side-eye on them and another on their chores. Everyone working, everyone fed and happy, all guests treated with respect and kindness. A forum of Politicians and Scholars, based in a small and unassuming gubernatorial building in the business sector of the city, decided on mercantile contracts and laws alike, endlessly working towards the peace and prosperity of the city.

Business wasn't exactly booming, but rather steady and fullfilling. A stable economy couldn't increase forever, after all, and thus any unhealthy spike in economy would have to be quickly staunched, likely amid protests from businessmen who felt they were being treated unfairly, but it was pure economic logic; there's no such thing as endless growth. The money, the product, the Consumer, they all come from a limited, Finite pool, and if you pull too much, you hit Dirt, and the economy Crashes; which is not good for anyone in the long run. Thus, an odd sort of plutocracy was necessary, where instead of endless wealth, the politicking was based around keeping the economy stable and strong enough to form a foundation for all the scientific and economic research that would be done within my city; with the addition now of Magical Knowledge being a source of endless research, both its workings and practical usage and its theoretical and philosophical ramifications, and even its affect on our knowledge of Physics at the most basic and yet intricate level.

A Magical Plutocracy? Magical Plutocratic Monarchy? A Technocratic/Geniocratic Meritocracy? Who knows? Either way, it was a Utopia, of my own design. An arrogant dream, I knew; but one I'd had since I was a young girl in Cairo and even younger, in Fāraskūr. Now aware of my dreaming state, I took control of the lucid dream, and now I sat in an empty room, with all of the things in my bag in front of me; my materials.

"What will I make today... I've made my Generator, I'm creating the largest Solar Farm I've ever heard of with the glass roof of my property... I only have five more shots in my revolver, so I should probably make a weapon... something that can kill Greater Demons; my bullets are soaked in Quantum/Kinetic Energy, and they worked like a charm, so any weapon I use will need to be the same..." I looked at the ingredients in front of me, and grinned slowly at the ideas forming in my head.

—

Six days into our travel towards the mountains, in the foothills just below the Grand Ridge, I got the chance to test out my new weapons, in the best possible way: Live Targets.

"-yer val'ubles, an' the Cart, too! Start walkin', an' ye can- WHAT THE SHIT?!?" The bandit yelled at the sight of me stepping out of the carriage, where I still stood as tall as it, on the ground.

"Well that's just rude." I glared at him, and flicked the wand I'd carved from a bone of Aconitum's, -painlessly extracted (for me),- towards him. He stared at it in confusion, until the ten invisible projectiles I'd just sent in his direction impacted, exploding deep inside his body like depth charges; the sound was much the same, a series of Muted Explosions, preceding a sundering of his body into a spray of bloody chunks. "I call that one 'Magic Missile'... and as for you... I've always wanted to try this!" I grinned savagely at the other twelve bandits, which were nicely grouped, and drew the other wand, made of a mahogany-like dark wood.

"Uhm, Zenobia, there's no need-" Assam looked a little green but held up a hand to me, before seeing I wasn't listening and diving away.

"Fireball."