“And you promise you’ll come back to visit?” asked the little girl.
I smiled and nodded, even though it was about the hundredth time I was answering the question. “Of course, Maya.”
“Even after you go to school?” she asked again.
I nodded. “I’m pretty sure I heard from Najam that there are breaks every year, so I promise I’ll do my absolute best to come see you guys at least once every year, ok?”
Maya nodded slowly, sated for the moment. We were currently on our way to the exit of the village – not the one we’d come through, but another one located in between the trunks of the great Purple Evermore trees. Apparently, a common feature of Evermore groves were the portals that lay between each tree, each of which led to a different entrance outside. It was what made the groves so perfect for hiding. They were nigh impossible to find on their own, and the entrances to them were scattered about through the forest they were located in.
Our party was headed toward one such entrance, one that would drop us off near the main road to the closest city, which would cut our travel time almost in half, as compared to traveling from where we found the Life-Elixir Pool. It was the morning of the sixth day since we’d entered the village, two days after Maya’s celebration.
The celebration had been a grand one, as grand as her mother could make it without straining the clan’s reserves. There had been music and dancing, drinks and tremendous amounts of food, and a great air of liveliness – everything one would expect from a party hosted by a clan like the Fiercewater Clan. Ren and I had avoided the main characters of the party, not having been asked to but out of respect for Evelyn’s difficult situation. As outsiders, we were respectfully allowed to partake in the feast, but we figured hanging out with Maya would raise questions that Evelyn would have some difficulty answering.
Of course, she still had to answer the obvious question of how the clan’s princess had been returned at some point, but Evelyn had made it quite clear to her people – and her Elders – that she wouldn’t be dealing with that question, or the politics of it, until Maya had settled in properly.
We stayed for another two days after, at Maya’s behest, spending the days lounging around with her, joining her in her daily routine, and simply relaxing. The experience of being kidnapped had left its marks on her, of course, but they were slowly being healed, and watching it happen, watching her childlike innocence seep back into her, brought an indescribable joy to my heart.
Still, we couldn’t stay in the village forever, especially while relying entirely on Evelyn’s generosity. Of course, Evelyn never even mentioned the matter, but it didn’t sit well with me regardless. So we decided to leave in the early twilight hours of the sixth day, early enough that most people weren’t awake yet. We left with a humble party of just four, the same four we’d entered the village with. Evelyn could come, restrained by the politics of her clan, though she’d apologized profusely for it. Her movements were still under heavy scrutiny, more so now than ever with how secretive she was about Maya’s return, so she couldn’t risk showing public support for a pair of foreign adventurers, lest people start asking more questions.
Maya, of course, wouldn’t let anybody stop her from coming to see us off, and Evelyn didn’t try much either. Instead, she arranged for us to leave at a time when Maya would be assumed to be sleeping, so people wouldn’t be looking for her.
We trekked our way through the wide plain, the grass brushing up against our waists, with Maya sitting atop Ren’s shoulders. We chatted casually, avoiding our impending goodbye as best we could – until, of course, Maya would re-confirm with us that we would surely visit when we found time.
Eventually, though, the hike came to an end, leaving us at the foot of two mountain-sized trees. They were an awe-inspiring sight from the village, but standing at the foot of one was another experience altogether. They were undoubtedly the biggest things I’d ever seen in my life, far larger than the skyscrapers on Earth.
Strangely, the first thought that floated through my brain as I took in their jaw-dropping size was, I’d love to see the silhouette’s rune blow this thing into oblivion.
Because, as big as it was, I was sure the power contained in the silhouette’s rune was more than enough to level the entirety of the grove, not to mention a single one of the trees.
Shaking away that thought, I turned to face Tampter and Maya with a smile, taking in Maya’s watering eyes, her tears just barely held in.
“Oh, come now, Maya,” I said softly. “It’s not goodbye forever. We’ll be back before you know it. You just focus on protecting your mama till we get back, ok?”
Maya nodded seriously. “I will.”
Ren smiled at the little girl. “And take care of yourself, too, ok?”
She nodded again. “I will.”
Ren and I smiled at each other before walking up to the little girl, giving her a big hug each, before giving Tampter a firm handshake.
“Alright then,” I said, heaving a deep sigh. “Guess we’ll be seeing you guys around, huh?”
Tampter nodded, smiling lightly while Maya buried her face in his shoulder. “Guess we will. Take care of yourselves, will you? The world could use a couple more people like you.”
We smiled softly and nodded, before turning our backs and making our way through the shimmering patch of air that floated just off the ground. The space beyond the trees looked like an expansive, unending field, but I’d learned that it was just another illusion, so as not to give the grove a suffocating feel. In truth, if one attempted to venture beyond the trees, they would be met with a solid, smooth rock wall just a few dozen meters into their journey. The only way out was through one of the shimmering gates that led to various places in the forest.
The place we stepped out to was a little trench dug under a massive fallen trunk. The dug-out cave was blocked on one side by dirt, and its only entrance was draped with vines that fell off the trunk above. Climbing out of the little trench would lead us up to a well-trodden path, artificially made to go far beyond the little trench, so no one would think that the entrance was hidden where it was.
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Ren and I found the path with little trouble, thanks to the map given to us by Evelyn. It showed us exactly the path to take, and the direction to head in, all the way to the city we were headed to, Wolfhaven.
I smiled as I read the name of the city again, a feeling blossoming in my chest, cutting through the fog of goodbye. It was a pleasant feeling, like a sunrise, full of promise and anticipation. I was on the cusp of my new life, and my blood coursed with a determination to grasp it with everything I had.
It didn’t take long for the path we were on to find its way out of the forest, leading into a far larger, more weathered path. The map told us that the new path we’d found was an actual road, connecting Wolfhaven with a few other cities.
The road being an official one meant, for the first time, we had occasional company from other travellers. As the hours ticked by, the two of us were met with quite a few wagons carting goods for trade, a few fancy wagons that we assumed were travelling nobility or the like, and, most strangely, troupes of village people who seemed to have, as best I could tell, packed up their entire village and begun to move.
They had horses and other…horse-like animals that carried tents, boxes of food, and an assortment of other items. However, even to my eye, I could tell they weren’t panicked people running with everything they could carry. Instead, they looked practiced at travelling; their packing was efficient and well done, and they set a good pace, despite mostly being on foot. I couldn’t sense much Flux from most of them, so I figured they weren’t mages, but they still looked like a hardy bunch.
All in all, they were a curious group, and by the fifth group of them that passed us, I could no longer rein in my curiosity.
As they passed, I found the most amicable-seeming person I could find – an aged lady with kind eyes and a gentle smile – and stopped her as politely as I could.
“Hi!” I started, as enthusiastically – and hopefully unthreateningly – as possible. “I’m Ruby. What’s your name?”
The lady smiled kindly at me. “My birth name?” she asked.
I was a little confused by her question, but I answered in the affirmative regardless.
The old lady’s smile broadened at my answer, a hint of mischief in it. “Well, I'd be flattered, and I don’t mind letting you know, but something tells me you’re not interested in marrying me.”
To say her answer confused me was putting it very lightly, and it showed on my face, because the woman let out a little chuckle at my face.
“I take it you aren’t well-versed in the traditions of my people, are you?” the woman asked gently.
I shook my head a little. “No, sorry. I’m not from around here. Who are you people?”
“We are the Tesserpine people of the Border Forest,” the woman answered, with the kind of steely pride only an elder like her could embody.
“Oh?” I said. “You’re people live in the Border Forest? That must be hard. It’s a dangerous place, after all.”
The woman nodded. “It is, indeed. But, we make do, my people – at least, most of the time, we do.”
“Why are you guys heading to the city now, then?”
The woman turned to look at me in surprise. “You really aren’t from these parts, are you?”
I smiled sheepishly, unsure of how to respond.
“The rumblings of the Beast Tide have begun,” the woman continued on, answering my question. “Our people have our ways of handling most everything our home throws at us, but the Beast Tide…” the woman shook her head, “that, that is one we cannot handle. So we pack up and head for the shelter of the city and wait it out.”
“The Beast Tide,” I asked, my brows furrowing. “What’s that?”
The woman turned to me in surprise again, and I could only shrug and smile again in response.
The woman shook her head and smiled. “You’re either pulling my leg, or you’re from another planet, Little Red.”
I smiled wryly at that, choosing not to answer.
Seeing that I was serious, the woman continued on. “Anyway, if you really don’t know, the Beast Tide is part of the Border Forest’s cycle, the Forest God’s way of keeping balance in the forest. See, the population of the forest is always on the rise, with all the unchecked dungeon breaks and the abundance of food and prey. It’s far beyond what we humans can keep under control through hunting and all that, especially if the animals of the forest are determined to live. So the Forest God, in her wise design, releases into the air a substance – the spores of a certain mushroom – at the same time every year, that makes all the animals go mad. They rush out of their habitats and rampage as far as they can, abandoning all care for their lives. All the humans have to do is hole up and deal with them as they come, and the population of the forest takes a steep dive.”
I nodded in understanding. “I see. That’s incredible.”
The woman smiled at me. “It is incredible. It’s simple and impossibly intricate at the same time. Not only does it thin out the forest’s population, the Tide is a beneficial factor in many human activities, too. Just the Core harvests and sales fund half the city’s maintenance.”
“Okay…" I started, "and one last question.”
“The marriage thing?” the woman guessed with a knowing smile.
I nodded again, my interest piqued.
“Birthnames are a sacred thing to the Tesserpine people,” the woman explained. “We only share them with immediate family, or people that we are exceptionally close to. So to ask a person for their birthname is to ask them for their hand in marriage, usually.”
I nodded in understanding again. “Uh. That’s cool. So what do you go by with everyone else, then?”
“Our Natural names,” the woman responded simply. “I am known as Birchmoss to my people, but my friends call me Birch. It’s a pleasure, little Red, to make your aquaintance.” As she spoke, she slung an arm over my shoulders and pulled me into a closer hug than I thought was warrented for our relationship, but I hardly resisted and let myself be swept into her embrace. For one, she had a stronger pull than I’d expected from a woman her age, and second, she gave a damn good hug.
When she finally let go, I stepped back and flashed an awkward smile, caught off guard by the sudden embrace. “Um, anyway, thanks for the answers. It was nice to meet you too, Birch, but I should probably head back to my friend now.”
The woman smiled at me, nodding her head. “Of course. Visit me anytime, little Red. You can find us in the Camp District at Wolfhaven.”
I nodded happily. “Sure, I’ll come visit again. See ya!” With that, I broke off from the group and slowed down until Ren caught up with me again. By then, Birch’s group had already moved up and out of earshot.
“How much did you hear?” I asked as he fell into step with me. By all common sense, he’d been out of earshot during my conversation, but I knew his ears would have allowed him to hear much more than the average person, especially if he really put his mind to it.
My guess was confirmed when he shot me a grin. “Not much, little Red,” he answered with a teasing lilt.
I groaned. “Please don’t make that a thing,” I pleaded, but the evil smile on Ren’s face told me he had no plans on listening.
“Sure thing, little Red,” he said with a voice that betrayed how much fun he was having.
I sighed deeply. “Whatever, I’ll just ignore you, I guess.”
The evil smile played on Ren’s lips, but he didn’t respond, letting a comfortable silence fall over us for the next little while.