Kiresula turned around to the source of the fluctuation. It was behind a wall but it seemed to allow her to hear a bit better. And what she heard was whispering. She could not understand them, both due to the volume and because it seemed to be a very different language given the strange cadence. Kiresula cast [Nightly Sojourn] on herself in order to be a bit stealthier, just in case the other group was hostile. She used her silent steps to sneak to the wall and peeked around it. Two glitchlings clad in threadbare garb were having a whispered discussion. Kiresula noticed their synthic magic. It seemed not a lot. These people looked depleted, similar to how Ika…, Siki looked like. Kiresula didn’t get an immediate sense of danger from them: “Hello! I am Kiresula. Who are you?”

The response from the taller of them was quite aggressive based on its cadence, even though Kiresula didn’t understand it: “Heda! Kha jhilih - kha shen! Tez-eel!”

Kiresula realised that this very much sounded like Island-and-Coast language. She didn’t understand any of it. She pointed at herself and said: “Kiresula.” She then looked towards the others and made a noise with rising inflection.

The larger person pointed to themself and said: “Zaiké.”

The smaller person pointed to their own body and said: “Kanzoo.”

She took a small bit of tree sap and bit into it. She then put the rest into her right hand and stretched it out to them.

Both Zaiké and Kanzoo took some sap, ate it and licked their lips. They smiled.

She them offered some water to the group, which they drunk while slurping happily.

Zaiké asked: “Kiresula meeken zoo?” They then pointed at Kanzoo, hugged them, while both keeping eye contact with her, obviously trying to keep her attention. They then said: “Kanzoo meeken!” and nodded. Zaiké then went a few steps away from Kanzoo, very demonstratively turned away from them and crossed their arms in front of their chest while still looking at Kiresula, as if to indicate that this demonstration was meant for her. Zaiké then said: “Kanzoo meeken Tah!” and shook their head.

Kiresula guessed that “Tah” was some kind of negation. In addition, the word “meeken” seemed to relate to being in a group. So she said: “Kanzoo meeken Zaiké?”

Kanzoo hugged Zaiké and said: “Kanzoo meeken Zaiké-an!”

Kiresula said: “Kiresula meeken Kju-an. Kirezula meeken Mayana-an.”

Kanzoo walked in place and said: “Izah-il Kju-an! Izah-il Mayana-an!”

Kiresula nodded and walked to the place where the rest of the group waited. Doing so, she could not help but notice that they struggled to keep up. Especially Zaiké needed many breaks. Eventually, Kiresula used her last [Enhance Ability] on Zaiké instead of Kju. The reason was that the dusk was becoming darker and darker. Zaiké shouted in confusion as the spell hit them. Kiresula said: "Iza-il Zaiké! Isa-il Kiresula! Iza-il Kanzoo!" to urge them to go with her. They did and Zaiké finally was able to move at a continuous pace. As the other Island glitchling noticed that, they began to ask Zaiké many questions in a so fast manner, that Kiresula assumed the speed was several dozen syllables per breath. As they were talking, she realised how the speech cadence was slightly different between their languages. Their intonation rose at the end of a question only to then fall, often in the same syllable, which they stretched. They must have had some kind of experience with the Mainland language to understand Kiresula's questions. Or just were able to make assumptions.

Eventually, they reached the others. Kiresula called out to the group: "Hey Kju, hey Mayana, I found some edible flowers, some sap and happened upon a group of glitchlings. Not sure what language they speak though." She pointed to Mayana and said her name. Then did the same with Kju. Afterwards, she introduced Zaiké and Kanzoo to the group.

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Zaiké did a slight bow when being introduced while Kanzoo curtsied. That clarified their genders at last.

Zaiké asked: “Kiresula Jhetakhkalishatez zoo?”

It took her a moment to understand that she referred to the nearest village, where some speakers of Coast-and-Island language lived. She shook her head: “Kiresula Jetahkalesa Tah! Kiresula Memleket. Zaiké Jetahkalesa zoo? Kanzoo Jetahkalesa zoo?”

Which she hoped to mean: “I am not from Jetahlalesa, I am from Memleket. Are Zaiké and Kanzoo from Jetahkalesa?”

Kanzoo nodded excitedly: “Heve-. Kanzoo Jhetakhkalishatez. Zaiké Jhetakhkalishatez. Mayana anan Memleshket-tez zoo? Kju anan Memleshket-tez zoo?”

Kiresula nodded: “Heve-. Mayana Memleket-tez. Kju Memleket-tez.”

Kanzoo beamed: “Memleket tez Kha-an jhilih jhentee. Sikeva-esda-mi Kiresula ve Mayana ve Kju salan!” She showed her stat page and pointed to the endurance stat, showing the usual 255 of a glitchling, even though the stats were showing in a squiggly script. Kiresula pointed at Zaiké and asked: “Hanan zoo?”

Zaiké showed his stat sheet and Fortitude showed greenly as 273. Of course, here as well, the stats were in the squiggly script, but the numbers were the same writing as the Mainlanders used (as opposed to how the Island people wrote back in their heyday). Both Zaiké and Kanzoo looked stunned. Kiresula made a line from Kanzoo’s to Zaiké’s Endurance and said: “Enhance Ability.”

The foreign glitchlings looked shocked and they softly pushed Kiresula and Kju out of the structure. Zaiké and Kanzoo both said: “Izah-il!” or something very alike.

Kiresula barely could see anything in the fading light. A shiver ran down her spine. She had no idea where these people wanted to go and with the fading light, orientation was difficult. In addition, this structure was a veritable labyrinth. They walked, climbed, crawled, and clambered through the stone structure, occasionally carefully moving cats out of the way. Kiresula started to see tiny fluctuations of broken magic in the distance. She was not sure what it was. While the fluctuations reminded her of glitchlings, they were just too big for that. If this was caused by people… in that moment, the group ducked through another tiny threshold and saw a large room, in which about a hundred glitchlings rested, ate, played, cleaned and slept in the dim light of glowing moss. Zaiké led the group to an elderly woman. He said something to her in an insanely fast speech.

She responded more sedately. Then, she turned to Kiresula and said: "You from Memleket? Why here?"

Kiresula explained: "We are, yes. We fled from the Holy Order."

The elderly glitchling nodded: "Zaiké say you use magic yes?"

Kiresula responded: "We do. Kju can maybe help you gain classes." She pointed towards the [Synthic Cleric].

"This is, it works for us?" She touched her skin.

"Yes. We just need broken magic," Kju explained.

The elderly glitchling said: “But… the river man says it weakens us. It leads to holes in stats.”

“River man?” Kiresula asked.

“Derebey? Head of village man?” the elderly lady asked.

“Oh, I see! The village leader!” Mayana interjected.

Kju explained the existence of the second system and about how improving stats outside of the first system allowed people amazing feats, provided that they picked the right classes. Which he as a [Synthic Cleric] could help with, he suggested, completely glossing over the fact that this might also guide his class progression.

The elder afterwards addressed the listening glitchlings in their native language.

Kiresula asked where the broken magic was.

The elder said: "Now late. Sleep. Day of next: we go."

"Heve-" said Kiresula in the foreign language.

The elder smiled: "eelvizko Je-ashvehanu."

Kiresula looked desperately at Zaiké and Kanzoo. The latter whispered to her: "She said that you speak Island-and-Coast."

Kiresula indicated a tiny amount with her fingers.

A while later, they rolled up in thin blankets. Kiresula and Mayana warmed each other with their body warmth. Zaiké and Kju did the same.