The sound of Tsugi's boot knife sliced through the air.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Lugo threw his hands up into the air. Tsugi didn't move, he kept his knife pointing towards Lugo. "Can I pee without having to worry about dying?"

"Then you chose the wrong profession." Tsugi's eyes narrowed on him, but slowly lowered his weapon and placed it back in his boot.

"How old are you anyways?" Lugo exaggerated a cautious walk toward Tsugi like he was approaching a dangerous animal.

"Ten."

"You're only ten!" He let out a whistle. "I thought you just looked young because you act like you're much older." Lugo studied Tsugi for a bit and then sat down a good arms length away and stretched his legs out.

"Just because you're immature doesn't mean that I will be too." Tsugi barked. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back into the tree.

"Why are you always so on edge? I mean, I'm only asking because you're at the age where you shouldn't even be out here."

"And how old are 'you'? You don't look much older than me and you've probably been traveling long before me."

"Hey, I have my own circumstances okay?"

"Well, I have my own reasons too."

"Always have to have a comeback huh?" Lugo chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. "You need to learn and relax once in a while. You probably haven't even hit puberty yet."

Tsugi averted his eyes to the ground. "That's how people die out here. You relax and get too comfortable, becoming complacent in a world like this is dangerous."

"True. But...always being on edge is like always living in a constant hell: always worried when you will die; when someone else will die; or when something bad will happen. Isn't it tiring having to be worried all the time?

Even if you are in constant hell, find something enjoyable about it. I'm not telling you to become complacent, just look around and enjoy the good things in life before it's too late. You are way too young to be worrying about the world right now."

"How'd you find those mercenaries on such short notice?" Tsugi said, changing the subject.

"Oh them? Those knuckle heads aren't mercenaries. They are just Kildo's buddies. They all worked at the blacksmith together, and the healer owes me a favor."

"If they are here, then who's running the shop?"

"No one." Lugo shrugged. "They've been complaining about wanting to 'travel the world and discover new materials to make weapons out of'." Lugo exaggeratedly waved his hands through the air like a rainbow. "Don't worry they keep to themselves, just like you, but they're good guys."

There was a long awkward silence. "Well, I'm going to go get some sleep." Lugo grunted as he pushed himself off the ground and went to his tent. "You should too. We have a long road ahead of us."

Tsugi sat by the tree for a while before finally nodding off.

***

The next few days were long and arduous as they ran into a few monsters, or more like pests, every now and then. If it wasn't Belgrogs trying to sneak in to steal their food then it was cawin's - annoying birds resembling vultures, but act more like crows.

Tsugi would constantly check on the women and children to make sure they were comfortable and that they had enough food to eat.

It seemed like the mountains would never end.

"We should reach Listoria by nightfall." Lugo announced. "We can rest there for the night and restock on food. Listoria is the only town between Mitheryn and Thandeur. Once we leave Listoria we have to be on alert. There will be quite a bit of monsters on the route."

"What kind of monsters?" Tsugi asked.

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"Did you not travel through here when you went to Mitheryn?"

"No, I went through Yurgan and Graiso."

"Why? That's so far around."

"I was following some people."

Lugo just shrugged. "Well, there are belgrogs; traikes - poisonous three headed snakes; ganjo - giant bear like creatures, mostly docile but aren't afraid to attack humans if they have young nearby..." Lugo continued to name creatures, counting them on his fingers.

"I'm talking about the ones we need to be worried about, not every creature in the world."

"I just wanted to be thorough. If I remember correctly, the only creatures we need to worry about are weegan's. They don't openly attack groups, but since there are so few of us, they might pick us off, if we go off on our own. So just make sure to stick with at least one...better two other people.

Weegan's are small like lemurs, but they are powerful like gorillas, with sharp quills along their back and tail that they can fling at you. Either way, I don't plan to linger in those woods very long, so we shouldn't have to worry too much about them…hopefully."

***

Just a little after nightfall they had arrived in Listoria. It was a small town, not nearly as big as Mitheryn. They mainly have provisions just for travelers, food medicine and a decent place to rest between travels. Although, on the plus side they had a hot spring.

"How many beds do you have in your biggest room available?" Tsugi asked the man behind the counter at the inn.

"Three beds." He yawned and scratched his balding head.

"I'll take three rooms."

"I'm sorry my lord, but we only have two rooms with three beds available."

"Then we will take those two and one room with two beds."

"My apologies again my lord, but we only have one bedroom with a single bed left."

"That's fine. We'll take it." Tsugi sighed and handed him a pouch of coins.

"Right this way my lord." They all followed him to the bedrooms. Tsugi had Ruzo stay with the women and children in the biggest room and the older men stayed in the other big room.

"Come on, let's go to the hot spring!" Lugo said as he and Tsugi entered their room together, shutting the door behind them. The room was just big enough for walking space to fit the bed, and bath with a roaring fireplace to warm the room.

Tsugi had an irritated look on his face since he was stuck alone with Lugo in a room. Tsugi stood by the door and rubbed his forehead while Lugo excitedly dropped his bag by one side of the bed and pulled out clean clothes.

"You go ahead. I will just bathe in here." Tsugi gestured at the tub in the corner.

"What?! When you come through the mountains, you need to go to the hot springs!"

"No thank you." Tsugi walked over to the other side of the bed and also pulled out a towel and a pair of clothes.

"Suit yourself." Lugo shrugged and walked out the door. "Hey Kildo! Are you guys going to the hot spring?" He shut the door behind him and his footsteps faded away.

Exhausted, Tsugi ensured the door was indeed locked before he proceeded to take off his clothes, walking over to the bath in the corner. He pulled the curtain around the tub and pulled on the lever, allowing the hot spring water to pour into the tub.

After washing, he submerged his body into the warmth of the water, beneath the soapy bubbles, and let his vision blur as he fell into a deep sleep.

He jerked awake to the door slamming shut.

"Did you drown?" Lugo yelled from across the room, stuffing his old clothes into his bag.

"Did you forget something?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you back already?" Tsugi looked around for his clothes and remembered that he left them on the bed along with his towel. He sighed and sank into the water under the bubbles that were almost gone.

"I was at the hot spring for a long time. I even went and got something to eat." Lugo laughed.

"You fell asleep huh?"

"C-can you give me my towel and my clothes? I left them on the bed."

"What? Just come get it yourself. You act like I've never seen a penis before." He chuckled.

"Just give me my clothes." Tsugi was annoyed and pulled his legs up to his chest. "A...and don't look!"

"Why so shy?" Lugo teased. Tsugi could feel his face burning up and sunk a little further into the water.

"Will you knock it off and just give me my clothes?"

"Ugh." Lugo reached an arm around the curtain dangling Tsugi's clothes and towel. He swiftly grabbed them and jumped out of the tub, dried himself and dressed.

"What's your problem?" Lugo asked as Tsugi came out from behind the curtain.

"What?"

"Have you never been to a public bath house?"

"No."

"Oh," Lugo raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly, now a little more aware of Tsugi's awkwardness. "Okay. I guess that's why you don't feel comfortable. Alright, sorry I teased you. But..." he stuck a finger in the air, "one day, I will make you go with me. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but...one day." His eyes narrowed and he slowly nodded.

"Go to sleep." Tsugi shook his head, turned off the lantern, and laid down on his side of the bed staring up at the ceiling.

Lugo sighed, laid next to him, and almost immediately started snoring away.

"Seriously?" Tsugi lifted his head and looked at the figure of Lugo in disbelief. He flopped his body back down and sighed deeply. Tsugi lay awake for a long time, exhausted and wanting to sleep, but couldn't sleep and was afraid to sleep.

Afraid to dream.