Chapter 2 - In Kind

                                        

                                              












"What a strange person," I muttered to myself, my voice barely audible over the rustling of the wind. I wasn't sure why I said it out loud—perhaps to hear something familiar in this unfamiliar place. 
Frieda Reiss had been helpful, but there was something about her that felt... off. 
 Either way, she gave me what I needed: information.
Information is always an advantage.
She mentioned being the daughter of a lord, which meant this place—wherever it was—operated under some sort of feudal system. 
Not just titles, but actual land ownership, a practice that had all but disappeared in most modern societies I was familiar with. 
Feudalism, then. 
I could infer from that alone that this society wasn't particularly advanced—technologically, socially, or politically. If land ownership still rested in the hands of lords and ladies, then they likely hadn't reached the level of centralization or industrialization common in the 19th or 20th centuries.
It made me think of pre-revolutionary France, or perhaps something even later. The period closest to the French Revolution—or shortly after, perhaps.
Another sigh escaped me before I even realized it.
This really wasn't my day, was it?
What had happened to me, truly? The more I tried to piece things together, the more absurd the whole situation became. I was lost in a foreign land with no sign of modernity, and no logical explanation for how I'd ended up here. 
The most rational conclusion I could come to—the one that was the least logical but made the most sense—was that I had somehow been transported to another world.
I could hardly believe I was even entertaining such an idea. 
Interdimensional travel? 
Really? 
Just thinking about it made my head throb.
But nothing else made sense, did it?
If this was real—and I had no reason to believe it wasn't—then something, or someone, must have brought me here. 
That in of itself was problematic.
I preferred having control over my circumstances. 
This... this was anything but that.
Another sigh.
No use in dwelling on it now. 
I needed to get to Fürth and gather more information. The sooner I understood where I was, the better. With the sun hanging low in the sky, I guessed I had a few hours of daylight left. That gave me enough time to find the town, assess the situation, and hopefully find a place to stay for the night or maybe find some transportation.
The plan was simple enough: make a good impression, maybe secure some food, and figure out the lay of the land. If staying overnight wasn't an option—or if things got complicated—I'd just have to improvise. 
Worst-case scenario, I could find a horse and ride to the next town, and then the next, until I found somewhere more suitable.
Of course, I wasn't exactly dressed to blend in with the locals. My attire screamed outsider—upper-class outsider—which might work to my advantage or get me into trouble, depending on the kind of people I encountered.