Why must I be a woman? (WMW)

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about this city is the enormous front gates and the clear moat filled with vibrant colours. There were many kinds of fish and flora, it was so bright and vibrant that it felt unnatural. Every colour of the rainbow could be found, I spent the fifteen minutes waiting in the queue watching the myriad of colourful life flitting by.

When it was our turn to go in, the guards were much more deferential towards the coachmen as he handed the required papers. This showed the level of power and influence Joan's family had. Despite many other carriages looking very luxurious, none of them were treated the same way Joan was by the soldiers at the gate.

The soldiers all wore well-crafted armour; a mixture of metal and leather for ease of use whilst protecting them as much as possible, there were many engravings that looked to be magical in nature. Unless the craftsmanship in this world was far greater due to magic, it was clear that they were elites with a certain level of pride, for them to act in such a way publicly would require the top 10-20% of the city at the very least.

Once we passed the gates, the cobbled road opened up to a whole new world. The entrance of the gate led to a plaza; many people walked by as others set up stalls all around. There around a couple dozen different stalls and at the centre a group of people sat down to sell their wares on a cloth, I found the whole arrangement odd but incredibly exciting, maybe that's the point? To make a large impact on those visiting for the first time, who knows?

Before the plaza was a short road, you could go left or right too and along the wall, I later found out that it was clear near the gate and forbidden near there by the military and so the cobbles were a lighter colour to make it clear where to avoid.

The plaza had 3 main roads leading further into the city, it was a wonderful sight full of life and bustle. I could see far into the distance that there was a huge castle, the city seemed to slope upwards towards the centre, so one could see so a lot of the city from both the centre and from the outer edges like me.

Everyone got out of the way of our carriage, many people had looks of amazement and whispered to one another. I could recognise some words, like when they mentioned Joan's name or 'rare' or 'money'. I knew too little to understand any of it, but I'm sure my 'motivational lessons' would make it easy to learn in no time.

The houses around this area were a mixture of wood and stone, the scenery was nice with a medieval touch. There were all kinds of colours and styles with no uniformity, one could argue that it was chaotic but after living in the 21st century with its copy and paste housing I find this kind of style very refreshing.

Some houses had symbols that would faintly glow, some that had small, floating flowerbeds outside. Some even had extra rooms or shapes attached to their building that would be structurally impossible without magic. There were all kind of races too, the usual trope of beastkin, humans, some that looked like dwarves and even fairies. As for the beastmen, there appeared to be two kinds: the humanoid with beast characteristics and others that were like werewolves that had more beast in their appearance.

Some flew, some walked, some swam in the air like water, a few would vanish with each step and appear a few meters away. It was an eye-opening experience that cemented the fact that I was in a world of magic.

Joan tapped my shoulder to bring me back to reality; reality just so happened to be her huge knockers behind my head. She pointed at a certain location through the window, I shifted on her lap to see where she was pointing and found a huge area cover in trees. Each tree must be around 50 meters tall based on the size of the buildings around them, we were a few miles away, maybe 3 or 4 miles?

Joan's household must in that area, the carriage along with the rest of the convoy were going in that direction. The caravan had slowed down because of the traffic which gave me a better impression of Joan and her household, I've seen a few carriages that looked high status and all except two had rushed through without care.

The caution and consideration as they looked at us was a stark contrast when compared to their attitude to when they saw other fancy entourages. This showed they were the usual trash who abused the weak but feared the strong, people like that were in no small number no matter what world you were in.

Joan gave me a cloak to cover myself completely, she then indicates to the intimidating and distinguished in the crowd and made motions to hide from them while saying, "avarus". I learnt from her that it meant greedy and I finally figured out that she was talking the Roman language; Latin.

Thanks to knowing this I can infer a lot of possible meanings for words through English or Italian which I happen to know. Soon enough, we navigated through the streets, going from marketplaces to residential areas, even through what I guessed was a blacksmith district and finally arrived in front of a huge gate.

The gate was 10 meters tall with ten guards standing at attention, I could feel that vibrating feeling in the air just from being in front of it. That gate was full of magic and truly intimating; I could feel a cold breeze down my neck due to the sweat.

The gate was opened by having the ten guards doing something in union that I don't understand, we then continued onwards only for me to jump in shock. From outside the gate, it looks like just a bunch of woodland but when you cross the gate a huge mansion appeared out of nowhere.

There a large plaza at front with flowers growing and what looked like a small garden filled with fruiting trees and bushes with berries. I could see a few children playing inside with gardeners here and there, a extensive forestry surrounded everything and isolated this land from the noise and bustle of the world outside.

Joan visibly relaxed after seeing this scenery, I didn't realise just how much pressure she was under, nor do I know just what pressure she had carried for this mission. My desire to learn Latin just grew stronger in hopes of being able to communicate with her, at this point my relationship with her didn't feel like a purely physical one, so I want to be able to support her in the future.