Nobody Leaves Gran Adah

The man shrugged. "Because if they could, everyone would be long gone by now, and the greedy theives who run the Nom Malbra Joint Stock Company wouldn't be able to make any money off this land. They use it to farm some weed called 'tabaco' which people light on fire and breathe in the smoke of. All the noblemen in Hespan are smoking it now, because they wouldn't be noblemen if they weren't following some stupid fashion." Fred looked somewhat angrily at him, but Astra made a subtle motion to him to hold back. She smiled a well-practiced diplomatic smile.

"So you're not too pleased with the company?" said Astra. "Is there any possiblity of escape?"

"Hmm, well, maybe," said the man. "Several people have tried to escape by sneaking onto ships that send tabaco to the mainland. But the ships are inspected pretty thoroughly. Everyone who's ever tried has been found out and whipped to death."

"I see," said Astra. "So what's that village in the woods?"

"That? That's Nuevo Templo, the settlement of the other joint stock company that's trying to horn in here. They built settlements within five miles of each other just to piss each other off. The New World Joint Stock Company is run by a bunch of insane religious fanatics. They're Zenatri--oh right, you're probably not Hespanic since you've never heard of Gran Adah. That's a sect that believes that the worship of the kings of Hespan as gods is destroying true worship or something like that. They're the only ones who actually don't want to leave. I couldn't care less about religion myself, but I hate them since the fact that the King doesn't want them there is the only reason why we're still here. If you try to ask them to help you leave, they might let you go since you're opposing the false gods. Or, on the other hand, they might crucify you. Say, I never caught your names. I'm Enrique Martinez. You can call me by my first name, though, especially you." He leered at Astra. "What's your name?"

Astra frowned. She considered giving their real identities, since this person was clearly not pleased with the local authorities. On the other hand, he was still a Hespaniard, and might not necessarily be so pleased with aiding Allarian and Aqualarian noblemen, as well as not seeming well-disposed to noblemen in general.

1. Astra gives their real identities.
2. Astra gives assumed identities.

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