The Outsider will watch over me, I feel certain. The curses frighten me, but the City is... I couldn't have imagined a whorl like this. It's worth the uncertainty to see it.

Having a friend makes most things easier, and it would certainly help to have a regular partner for practice. What sort of self-defense were you considering? I'm not terribly familiar with any type of fighting, and the variety I've heard mentioned here is much greater than we had in my whorl.