"Well, most cities are placed in areas which don't flood, at least not as often as in Black Marsh. They're generally bigger, more people, bigger buildings made from stone and wood." Janius let Leaps jump from his arms one more time, then put one arm around Kaleeth and used his other hand to prop up Leaps as best as he could. "Although, in my city, Bravil, the drainage isn't great, so when it rains it gets muddy and smelly rather quickly. Still, there are large walls around it which keep dangerous creatures and bandits out, so not moving around is a trade-off I think."

After a couple more attempts, Janius decided to just let Leaps stage jumps from his shoulder again and wait for the creature to get tired of it. "As for my teachers? Well, I had a few. First was a nanny until I was twelve years old. She was a old Breton named Greta. She was very strict, but she took care of me and taught me to read, write and count. After that I had a tutor until I was sixteen, who I only knew as mister Hart. A horrible man by all accounts, fond of a yard stick, but he was able to teach me a bit about history, how to address nobles, basically preparing me to behave like a rich person I think. That was all until father put me in the Fighter's Guild, which is like a... I suppose a guild of people you pay when you need warriors for anything. I was taught to fight by a number of instructors until I joined the pack. When that happened, well, I was taught things by everyone. Meesei, Lorag, even Ahnasha. They taught me the important things. They taught me how to survive." Feeling as though he was rambling, Janius decided not to elaborate any further. Instead he looked down at Kaleeth with a look that was somewhere between being happy for her and sorry for himself, "For all of your father's behaviour, it was good of him to take it upon himself to teach you. Mine was quite distant."

---

Sabine returned Meesei''s hug without hesitation. It was nice of Meesei to consider her personal space, but right now Sabine didn't mind. She didn't really feel as much of an explosive anxiety when people were paying idle attention to her anymore, and she wasn't sure if she would or not in the future. For now she was happy to see Meesei happy. "It's okay," Sabine replied, slowly pulling away, "I don't feel scared to talk anymore."

Sabine went to resuming her salve and wore a small smile. Even if it was just something as small as talking with Meesei, it felt good to do so without her mind telling her to run away. It opened up so many possibilities that Sabine couldn't fathom it all at once. For now though, she was happy enough to continue with her alchemy. Perhaps Ahnasha might want to talk as well when Sabine would hand her the new batch.