Dear Risa,

  Tonight we find ourselves in the lovely city of Cuff.

  …Ok, I lied, it’s not lovely at all.

  There’s only like three buildings more than two stories tall. And it looks like there was a sale on earth-toned paint, and everyone in the whole city repainted their buildings brown or tan. Even the detailing is brown or tan! Girl, there is not a single shop in this whole city with a bright blue doorway. Not a single flash of fuchsia. No hints of neon.

  I would be so depressed if I lived here.

  Thankfully we’re only staying the night, and tomorrow we’ll be leaving, never to return.

  Even people’s hair here is muted and boring! Like, come on, you could choose any color hair in the whole color wheel, and you went with greyish, faded green? Really?

  Sorry, I just can't let this go. It’s like they’re trying to camouflage the whole city and everyone in it. I expected cultural differences between Bestest and Owonyan, but this is… excessive.

  At least the people at the Traveler’s Guild here know and warned us that having hair with, like, color in it would draw attention to us.

  And then we get to the food. As neko, we need a protein-rich diet, with minor vegetables to provide some things meat can't. Grains and fruits mostly exist to add flavor or texture to things.

  If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Here, the dinner option for Guild members was wheat bread with wheat-based gravy, chicken covered in wheat flour, and string beans mixed with corn. Sure, wheat is one of the main crops here, but… I guess elves can survive off wheat? We went out and found somewhere with steak.

  Breakfast is bacon, eggs, toast, jam, and something called “grit”, which I am not excited to try. But at least the rest of it sounds normal.

  I sincerely hope this is just a Cuff thing, and that the rest of Bestest is closer to what I’d consider good and normal. I suspect it is.

  Anyhow, enough about weird food. I’m tired.

  Regards,

  Maeve Zee

  *****

  Athena watched her birds flying around the courtyard at the bottom of her tower. They were good little birds, who always came when she called.

  She also watched the people running around. They were good little people, who always did what she ordered.

  Nyx passed through, her two children following behind her. A bird flew up to Nyx, dropped a note onto her arm, and flew away. She quickly grabbed the note, stuffing it into her pocket as she looked up. Athena smiled, even though there was no way Nyx could see her.

  The note didn't say anything particularly interesting. It mostly existed to confirm that everyone, birds and people alike, knew what was happening and could properly play their parts.

  It seemed they could.

  Hades, being the bright young man he was, asked his mother a question, probably relating to the note. Nyx answered, her body language dismissive.

  Selene just watched. Athena wondered if this was how the deaf girl always felt; somewhat removed from everyone, only able to guess what the conversations around her were about. Athena had always felt sorry for her, but had lost a good bit of pity when she’d chosen shadow magic as her main over psychic magic, which would have given her Telepathy.

  Athena’s mind wandered away from the courtyard and into the subject of psychic magic. It had a fairly limited range, but where could it reach at high levels?

  Having nothing better to do, Athena changed her hair to purple and got to work grinding levels.