The days went by as the both of us idled around within their village. When either of us asked for food, we were brought food. When we wanted water, we were brought water. When we wanted clothes, we were brought clothes. This extended to anything else, from expensive items like blankets to spears and shields. I had one of the craftsmen create for me a basket, and another to create two waterskins. We'll be heading out within the week, I could tell. Unless production somehow slowed down, which I doubt would. They wanted me gone as much as I wanted to be.

We didn't spend the days doing nothing, either. Damhnait, as it turns out, has started to develop rudimentary spiritual sight, but she couldn't see all the well with it. Instead, what she had was a verbal gift, as if she could follow the lines of logic that make up the visual structures and articulate them to me. This wasn't natural, and it spoke to her having a great spiritual gift. And it certainly wasn't something she had before.

With it, after spending days in meditation together, she figured out the basics of what was happening within my body. She didn't fully understand what each of the structures represented, or what any of the four elements looked or felt like. It took her a day or two to understand what I was even talking about when I described the basics of everything I knew. I wasn't a learned man in the craft of magic and the lack of any formal training must've hindered her comprehension of my words. But she figured it out in her own way.

While she learned that I tried to figure out what the webs of light within her were doing. They were growing at a substantially slower rate than mine had. At the rate they were going it would take two or three months for it to develop within her entire body. Damhnait thinks it's the spirit, as she calls the white structure, manifesting itself slowly within the body. I have no clue whether that is true, but I do understand it is the source of my power.

I didn't want to touch the structure. Not knowing what the structure was, it would be stupid to try to interact with it. So I would only observe it within her every other day, just to see how it was developing.

Outside of magic, we truly were layabouts who contributed to nothing in the village. That was fine by me, although Damhnait had started to become restless with all the freetime. Previously we would fill in the days with massive amounts of times walking, but now all we did was eat, meditate, and sleep.

Eventually the men finished the construction of the goods we wanted, and the women had sewed us several new pairs of clothes. For thieves, or perhaps raiders would be more accurate comparison, our exchange with the village folk was pretty tame. We were both within our roundhouse, checking the things we had and whether we would be in need for anything else. We had dried and smoked meat, bread, even an entire wheel of cheese, although it was pretty small in comparison to the wheels of cheese I was used to. All of it was appreciated, and it was finally time to let these people deal with the harshness of reality on their own.

We walked out of the home, the sun shining in the way it always had, apathetic to our suffering, and the sky was still rolling with the occasional clouds. All the villagers already knew that we would be leaving, and some of the villagers could be seen standing outside of their homes, watching us as we left our house. No one was near us, and no one will wish us a good trip. Most likely each of them had called a curse on me, but that wouldn't matter.

I took off the sheathed sword off my belt, the one that had served as my sister's weapon for a while now. Perhaps I should give to her my sword now that I didn't need it. Whatever worked.

Damhnait had offered the suggestion to continue heading away from the villager rather than towards it, to see how far the information of our ransom had went for. I had been adamant on waiting three, or however, months until the webs of light withn her develop to their full potential, so spending the time gaining more information wouldn't be a problem. If further north, north being the direction opposite to where I village was located, meant no longer having to deal with villages that knew to kill any red headed and grey eyed folk, then it'd be a potential source for recruitment.

Recruitment itself was something I shouldn't rely on. Having to feed people would be a hassle, and gaining the wealth needed to do so was an even greater one. I had no land, no connections, and nothing but possibly plundered goods to trade with. It's very likely we'll have to fight our enemies alone, just the two of us. Very likely, but not the most likely option. Recruitment through havig the men, from their own volition rather than through pay, join us would be possiible. But that too would be unreliable.

But back to the sword. None of the villagers attempted to kill us, and neither did they shrink from the tasks I had asked of them. They had earned the sword, although it wasn't a good price for the lives I had taken. I leaned it against our ex-home, thinking that someone would retrieve it once he noticed it. Let's hope they won't fight for it, I doubt this village would last long if they couldn't work as a group and enter into the protection of a strong chiefdom, or perhaps king. Whichever is willing to take up, for free, fertile and developed lands.

It wasn't any of my business now. I looked over at Damhnait and she at me, and we both looked away, a silent agreement coming between us. I don't know what the agreement was, but the resolve to head back into the wild was clear. We began to walk towards the direction of north, a small path was already made and we no longer had cause to be afraid to meet with strangers while walking through the roads.

"Wait!" A familiar voice appeared behind me, the one of the official, although now ex, servant boy. We both turned around towards this peculiar specimen, and waited for him to continue. His eyes were wide, as if surprised, and he was out of breath. Otherwise he looked like he always did, umkempt and scrawny.

He had picked up on the fact that we were waiting for him to continue. He gulped and messed with his hair, and then began to speak. "Please, Lords, consider staying here for a while longer."

Strange request. "Why?"

"Any group of mearandering bandits could decide our land and our people are their's now. Protection for the village would be a tremendous boon for our time of trial."

Damhnait answered for me this time, "We were the ones who brought to you this trial, and I doubt any of the other villagers would like our presence here. Especially as protectors." Damhnait looked around and saw the faces of the villagers in both abject confusion and plain anger over the boy's words. She was right, I doubt we'd be accepted for this position.

"And what would we benefit out of this?" I added in, saying something that Damhnait had forgotten to mention. She glanced at me and then back towards the servant.

But he didn't respond immediately. Instead he looked around, seeing everyone within the village. The old, the young, injured men and healthy men, widows and wives alike. "You can become our Chief, Lord Elgin. The wealth of the village entire village, along with the skills of its inhabitants, would be yours. What do you say?"

"Neither of us have an interest in becoming Chiefs. We require men and wealth, but I've killed your Chief. I'm sure the other Chiefs around these parts aren't going to take that fact kindly, and I don't have much interest in dealing with all of them." I answered.

"So fight and beat them! We might not have men here, or much of any wealth, but if it's you, then I'm certain you could muscle your way into a respectable position."

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I looked over at Damhnait, hoping she'd have an insightful comment on the suggestion. I was leaning on a tentative yes. She nodded. "A terrible idea. We barely know anyone around these parts, and do you truly expect we'd be able to gather up a company through a tyrannical show of strength? We'd destablize the region and send more people to their graves. That's a firm no."

"What are your plans then? Please, if there's anything we could offer in return it would be given without question."

Damhnait continued to answer. "Revenge against our enemies. We are but a pair of siblings, and no matter how physically impressive my brother may be, our enemies could blend into the faceless forms of the masses and disappear from our sights, running away from any rumors of our presence."

"How many men do you need?"

Damhnait looked at me this time. Did she not know how to answer that? "Our enemy was capable of wielding at least two-hundred-fifty men. We're guessing it was a coalition by multiple villages, one of which we already know the name of. We wish to decimate them."

The servant stopped responding after that. Instead he entered into thought, tapping his finger against his cheek. "Then that's all the more reason for you to try to acquire more land, regardless of how wealthy it is. A force of over two hundred men isn't small, do you think you'd be able to fight against them succesfully? And what if more villages joined the coalition?"

I scratched my head. Realistically we'd need much less than two hundred men to take them on, each village wouldn't be able to field that many at a time, so the numbers would be dispersed throughout the lands. A hundred men would be enough for our purpose, especially considering the strength I had been capable of wielding. Realistically I wouldn't be able to take much command over the men if I were to be involved, but that'd be a fine exchange. I can trust my sister to know how to command troops, and if any of them didn't want to be commanded by her I could beat them until they do.

Damhnait asked another question. "You want our protection, correct? What is worth protecting here? Why would we take over this village and not some other wealthy one? There's no benefit in this for us."

"Wealth. Our land is still fertile, and no one here will try to question your rule, if they wished to live that is."

Damhnait sighed, a long one. "It's the timeframe that I'm worried about, not on how potentially valuable this land could be. You have nothing, your men have been killed, and you've already offered to us everything we're wiling to take. There's only one advantage for us here, and that is potential future profit. We don't care."

"Then you're going to leave us to die out here? Do you know what will become of us out here? To the children, to the widows, to the elderly who had depended on the men you've killed?"

Guess he ran out of practical arguments. I nodded, answering before Damhnait could. "Yes, death. But the fault won't be on us."

The servant boy showed more anger than I thought he was capable of having, a sarcastic laugh. Not an immense show of anger, but something that caught me off guard. "You're the direct cause of this! Even while I'm nearly begging you stick to that angle of having no fault. No, you've ruined our village in the name of self protection. I'm offering it to you, speaking the words that none other dare speak. If you leave our deaths and enslavement will be on your hands."

Damhnait responded, "Let it be a lesson on not murdering strangers for ransom. I've considered your offer, but there is no benefit. And unlike Elgin, I do not think we were entirely faultless." I looked at her, but she ignored me and continued to speak. "You are right to pin blame on us, we had acted by ourselves on our ambitions, and this is the fruit of it. I am only sorry that it had to be this way, but we would do it again if need be. Perhaps when we are done in our mission we will consider your offer more carefully."

"We could feed a mercenary band here!"

"What?"

"Provide to us men, then. We will offer you tributes in the form of bread and other foods, even without having much men now if we had the workforce then the village would be as useful to you as any other. Please, I beg you."

Damhnait clicked her tongue, "You're an idiot. If you want protection so badly, then travel to the nearest village and ask them for any bachelors yourself. Overtime the power dynamics should even out, and this village its own once again. Stop pestering us, there's nothing for us here. Let's go, Elgin. We're wasting too much time here."

I nodded, and we ignored the dumb founded face of the servant boy. He most likely wanted to avoid that development, but it was a fair and practical one. The women might've lost their husbands and sons, but the work wouldn't be able to be done by them alone. They had children to feed, and fields to sow. Their best option would be to find as many men, disillusioned or unsuccesful within their own village, and bring them here.

So we left the village, leaving them to their own fate. We had our own fate to explore, and our connection to this village will be cut off for now.

To north we travelled for a long while, along the dirt road, ignoring any travellers that could occasionally be seen walking through it. Most of them were wary of us, but the moment they saw the face of my sister, they all lowered their guards. Was the fact that I, a lone man, wasn't travelling alone but with a child companion that much of an assurance of my safety? Regardless, we spent the night camping, perhaps only a day or two away from the next village.

I think it would be smart to wait a couple of months for Damhnait to possibly develop her own version of our blessing before we tried to engage in another battle, and an assurance that my power is both here to stay and actually related to the webs of light would be very welcome. Damhnait readily agreed with the stipulation that she wanted to learn how to wield her sword in order to protect herself before then. So I decided to teach her how to in order to pass the time.

She had, previously, only wrestled and lightly sparred back in the But it wasn't a constant thing for her like it was for me. She wasn't inexperienced, but far from truly experienced. I was surprised by how well she held herself in combat situations because of this fact.

We set up camp, and I lit the campfire using my typical fire manifestation spell. It was noticeably easier to manifest the flame, it felt as if I'd grown in both strength and in essence. I wonder how this is connected, and since I couldn't feel the familiar sensation of sensory loss after manifesting the tiny spark I wouldn't say it was imagined. The fire was lit, and our meals of cheese and bread were eaten, and now was time to train the girl on how to wield the blade.

I taught her rudimentary swings, teaching her by using a stick and her the actual blade. She was both slow and pretty bad with the sword, but with time she should learn how to properly wield it. After we had fought enough to make her too winded to continue, and since exhaustion no longer creeped in to my muscles I couldn't accurately gauge how hard I should push her for, I gave her some swings to practice on her own and left her to her devices.

"But I'm tired! No more, let me rest, please." Oh. She wanted to sleep? Another odd recent feature was the amount of sleep I didn't need. I needed to only a nap, and the nap was barely half an hour each night. I've already developed a habit to spend that time doing anything else, in the village it was staying awake and keeping my eye out for anyone who was stupid enough to try to attack us at night again. No one did, so it was time wasted instead.

"Then go sleep, I'll keep watch." Damhnait nodded to my suggestion, heading to the blanket that we had 'plundered' from the village. She wrapped herself up and immediately closed her eyes, laying on the tree for back support. I'll join her later, I wanted to practice a movement on my own.

I was enthralled over what I had done in that fight. Not the punches, or kicks, or the fact that I could grab people's weapons and overpower them with my grip and strength. No, it was that dance movement, the moment I had dropped to the ground and used my own arms as if they were legs. The novelty of it seduced me on the spot, and seeing that I could deliver a deadly kick even from this position, I wanted to master it to the best of my ability.

I spent the night trying to explore the different movements that could lead to me using my hands across the ground. I did handstands and walked with my arms, things that I could do previously but not as effortlessly as I did now. I could jump pretty high up, but not as high as I could with my actual legs, and I could support my entire weight with a single hand as well.

The move I did required me to drop, land on my hands, and use a single leg to kick while I pushed myself off the ground and back onto my feet. The kick and the jump was the same motion, making it a clever move by me in such limited amount of time. It was those kinds of moments that I found fascinating, and it was those moments that push me to get better and better at the art of fighting.

The night consisted of me exploring my strengths, doing gymnastics that would've rendered me dead tired if I were a normal person. The most I enjoyed doing were the ones that involved twisting and spinning myself using my hands across the ground. It was entirely unconventional, and would serve me well in an actual fight.