"So this is the border to Mistvale?" Maple raised her ears, looking over at Felicity.
The two mares stood in the Immortal Dream's dining hall, the table retracted and revealing the glass window in the floor below. Hours before, they had left behind the lush fields and sparse forests of the Empire's mainland, mismanaged wasteland stretching dully from the west horizon to east. Felicity had advised against making a stop in Wilderwind, and so their progress continued, a day out from Izvaldi and early into the dawn.
Only... the dawn wasn't working. As the sun lifted above the horizon, the shadows shortened, boulders and rocky outcroppings covering less of the ground in darkness. But the land grew silvery instead of the usual reds and yellows of day, like the sunlight was growing bluer the brighter it became. Soon, the rocks began to slope gently upwards, almost sparkling in the light.
"It's shining..." Maple whispered, the landscape commanding her full attention. "Is that magic?"
"Which part, darling?" Felicity asked from beside her. "The sun's dimming? Yes, it is. Though the sparkles are at least in part because the land here is very salty. It makes the stuff an easy commodity for anyone willing to venture this far up... or down."
The desert rose further into foothills, and in several spots, Maple saw the remains of ancient constructions of walls... probably pointless, when so many on both sides could fly, and that was probably why they were remains and nothing more. Whether the ground rose to the clouds or the clouds fell to the ground, she couldn't tell, but streaks of silvery mist soon filled the crevices in the jagged earth. A few wisps of cloud passed between them and the ground, and soon, there were rivers.
Reflecting the sunlight-turned-moonlight, trails of water wound down the mountains obeying laws of their own, branching out further the lower they ran and disappearing into holes in the ground. It was like the mountains resented the empire and kept their water for themselves, and soon the effects showed: moisture healed the landscape, erasing the rocks and dust and replacing them first with hardy lichen and shrubs, then greater and denser plants like ferns and finally the trappings of trees. Maple just had time to watch two large rivers split from one source before the ship ascended too far, losing the landscape below in a bank of clouds.
Maple watched the clouded window for a minute longer, the mist close enough she could have reached out and touched it with a hoof. "So this is where you came from?"
"Well, Mistvale in general, yes. It's where I was foaled and spent my first few years." Felicity daintily cleared her throat. "But it's technically misleading to say that if you have no idea what I'm talking about. To a lot of people in the empire, Mistvale is just 'over there', as it were. It's quite a bit more varied than just a simple sea of fog, and quite a bit larger, too."
"Larger than a single province, I'm assuming." Maple nodded. "Is it as big as the whole empire?"
Felicity chuckled. "Oh, about a hundred times that, darling."
"A hundred..." Maple whispered, looking at the clouds below with a new respect.
"In terms of land surface area, perhaps a little more." Felicity followed her gaze, the clouds streaking below like a misty river. "The Griffon Empire is... small, on the geographic scale of the world. So is Mistvale, but not nearly that small. You could still cross from end to farthest end in perhaps two weeks at this speed. And not even close to all of it is inhabited, either."
Maple hummed in reverence. "The flight here from Ironridge was like that, too. We didn't see anyone, really. Half of the flight was across an ocean, but the other half was a river that used to be a major trade route. I guess I had gotten used to cities being within a day's flight of each other in the empire, but the world must be a very empty place on the whole."
"You could say that," Felicity agreed. "It makes me surprised I don't know more archaeologists. When the world is probably big enough that half of it hasn't been touched by mortal hooves since the dawn of time and some parts never even laid eyes on... But Mistvale, at least, I know plenty about."
She raised an eyebrow, an open invitation for Maple to ask questions. Maple shrugged. "So what are the major different kinds of places here? Is it divided like the provinces, or Ironridge's districts?"
"Three main places," Felicity said, meeting her eyes. "First, you have the coastline. Sarosian diets typically consist of two things: crops that can be grown without a lot of light and with plenty of water or dampness, and fish. A good half of the country's population is on the coast, making up fishing villages, pirates or both. Fewer pirates the further north you get, especially once the coastline starts to curve out to the west more. It's the area that's most likely to make contact with outsiders and also furthest from the Night Mother's power, so it could simultaneously be the most welcoming and the least like what you're looking for."
"Pirates are the most welcoming." Maple felt a light shiver. "That's good to know..."
"Well, I mean the fishing villages. Not the pirate towns." Felicity gave a reassuring smile. "The second type of area is everything below the mist. Mountain valleys, and the like. You'll see beautiful lakes, lots of coniferous trees, no development beyond the occasional winding road or wooden shack, and a very low population density. It's so tranquil, the setting is popular for Griffon Empire authors as a setting for writing horror. Some griffons just like taking something too quiet to be true and actually making it too quiet to be true. They get joked about from time to time in these lands."
Maple thought for a moment. "So the third main place is on the mountaintops? Above the mist?"
Felicity beamed. "That's where most of the development is, and the magic. Villages built on terraces, plants that glow at night... which means always, darling... Ancient temples dating back hundreds of years! Under the Night Mother's guidance, Mistvale hasn't been torn by centuries of feuding dynasties like the Empire has. The most knowledgeable in the Empire would counter that Mistvale lacks their ambitious spark, but with the exception of Garsheeva's cathedral, well... you'll see what I think about the place soon enough."
Maple gave an interested nod. "I'm guessing you grew up on the mountaintops, then?"
"Indeed I did," Felicity murmured. "My mother was a cleric in the Night Mother's service, so I was born and raised in a temple. The grand temple, actually, where the council of Monk Lords holds sway. Granted, we had our exodus when I was only six, but I still hold quite a few memories of this place."
"Six?" Maple tilted her head. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you now?"
Felicity chuckled, no hostility in her tone. "That's a rude thing to ask a lady, Miss Maple. And I'm thirty-five. Twenty-nine years since I was here last... Were you thinking me older or younger?"
Maple reddened, knowing that question had no good answer. "A whole decade older than me," she offered, trying to make peace.
"Really! No need to be embarrassed." Felicity gave her a wink. "Plenty of mares underestimate what a good self-care routine can do for one's looks."
"I wasn't..." Maple mumbled, shaking her head. "Let's talk about Mistvale? You said your mother was a cleric. Is that like a monk?"
"...Yes and no, darling," Felicity said, smiling awkwardly. "The short answer is... Well, you probably want the long answer, and so does everyone else who will want to find their way through this society. Particularly Valey. What say you we round up some more ears and then continue?"
Maple got to her hooves, stretching in relief. "Yes! Okay. I'll go look for Valey and everyone else. On the bridge, maybe?"
"Anywhere you deem appropriate," Felicity sang, trotting toward the stairs with a sway in her hips. "Though I do advise being near a window when we reach the top of this mist. It might be a sight you'll want to see."