<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/zLc4pRz.jpg)</div><br/>Vii let out a sound that Miyuki supposed was a chuckle as they traveled the night streets of Laelith.<strong> "Marvelous, yes, that is an appropriate word.  The city is full of marvel indeed."</strong><br/><br/>He was so right in that simple statement, and Miyuki knew she had picked an appropriate word.  There was still much activity after dark.  It made sense in a way, if one could do buisness after the heat of the day broke and the cooler air settled over the city, it would be much more comfortable.  She got to see the sights of the city as they walked and talked.  Shopes open, women of good time hanging from windows advertising their wares, slaves walking beside their owners as they carried burdens, older children dashing between alleys, merchant carts hawking wares beneath mage globes, a thousand things in the twisting streets that led westward and upwards on the slope that the city was built on.  Possibly the most distracting however were the fountains.  So many fountains!  Some were simple affairs, others elaborate, some small, some large enough that twenty people could bathe in it's spray and not touch.  In fact she did see some bathing in the fountains, others gathering water from it.  She wondered about that, for how could it be clean, hygenic?  She had to ask Vii about this.<br/><br/><strong>"The water flows downwards only."</strong>he explained and when she did not understand he clarified,<strong>"Portals bring in the purest, cleanest, coldest water directly from the plane of water to the interior of the fountain.  There pressure shoots the water upwards through the elaborate statuary in the fountain to spray into the basins.  From the basins it drains down into the sewers to be washed out to sea.  The water that people take to drink comes from the statues or spigots, not the basin where people bathe.  It is a magical marvel that the mages back in the faded lands have begun to replicate, but when Laelith was rediscovered a few decades ago, these fountains were ancient then, and still functioning."</strong><br/><br/>He paused in their trek and placed a metallic hand on her shoulder and said,<strong> "We are almost at Ylene's home, but I must ask you something before we get there.  Your homeland, it sounds different then this place, different then the faded lands.  I need to know, were there others like me there?  Were there other forged in your homeland?"</strong><br/><br/><br/>