I am a dark-skinned youth with curly hair dyed in a gradient from blue to purple to match my dress. Having arrived on foot, I have to climb the st stretch of cliff face that the mountain trail terminates in. It is not a terrible climb, all things considered, and I soon pull myself up onto the edge of the city’s airship port. Between my unusual method of arrival and being the only human in this city of bug folk I draw no small number of stares as I make my way through the busy streets. Being more than twice the height of everyone around you will do that. Many of the pedestrians barely reach my knees.

  I am here to meet with a guide who will accompany me on the next leg of my journey, to the port at the southern tip of the continent and then to nds beyond the sea. Before that though, there is someone else I must meet with.

  The keep at the far end of the main street from the port is built into the side of the mountain and is under the command of the queen’s brother, general of her armies. The gate guards stop me, demanding to know who I am who presumes to have business with the general.

  I tell them that I am his niece. I stumble over my words as I do. By reflex, I almost said “nephew”. It still feels strange to say aloud.

  The guards are in the middle of trying to tell me that the general doesn’t have a niece when the gates burst open and an X-shaped bst of magic hurtles forth towards me. I begin backflipping until the bst dissipates. The general charges out behind the bst he just unleashed from his bde, driving a gold-trimmed chariot painted red to match his gleaming crimson carapace.

  I am, of course, adopted.

  My uncle, the general, has been expecting me and demands a trial by combat before granting me an audience. There is no malice or animosity here, he is simply like that. If anything, he is probably happy to see me. I know that it matters not whether I win or lose this duel (and will, in all likelihood, lose as I usually do), but I am determined to give as good a showing as I can.

  Our battle eventually makes its way into the keep and breaks through a wall where I am thrown into a room with the only other human for miles. He is dressed all in fine purple clothes befitting a noble courtier and lounging in a plush armchair, unperturbed by the debris of the broken wall in front of him. He has also been expecting me and has already dialed the glowing rotary phone on the stand next to his chair. He hands it to me as I stand up from the rubble so I can let my mother know I’ve arrived safely.