“What is golf?” Adna asked as she boosted Timbrelle over a rotten tree.

“Where did you hear about golf?”

“Back in the clearing. You mentioned a ‘golfball’ when speaking to your patron. All I know is that it’s diamond sized.”

“That diamond was massive. Where I come from, that would have been a national, no, a world treasure. Golf is a sport. You have long, thin clubs with flat ends and have to hit a little ball into a tiny, distant hole.”

Adna studied the path ahead of them. “Sometimes you say the weirdest things.” She sighed.

“The sport can be boring, but I don’t know why it world be weird.” Timbrelle said.

“You say ‘where I’m from, it would be a world treasure’ as if that wasn’t redundant. As if we’re talking about a different world altogether.” She stopped and stood apart from Timbrelle. “You know even less than I do, the amnesiac, about the world outside. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think… I deserve an explanation.”

Timbrelle stopped walking after a few steps but did not turn. “I don’t know why I try to hide it if even an amnesiac can see through me so well.”

“Then stop avoiding the important questions and answer them once in a while. This- this-“ She gestured between them, “relationship is the only thing I have right now. It makes me nervous knowing that you’re keeping something important from me. Like I’m anchoring myself to something flimsy”

Timbrelle nodded, a grim expression soured her face. Taking a heavy seat on a tuft of cushion moss, she patted the spot next to her in invitation. She did not make eye contact as Adna took her place.

“I woke up just outside Tarsus.” Timbrelle’s voice felt cold, even to herself. “A little kid found me. Brought me into the woods to the shack he lived in with his mom. Cake. His mom’s name was Cake. I thought that was so funny.” Her voice sputtered out.

She could feel Adna listening intently. If only she could block out the trees that were listening just as closely. They’d stilled their passive rustling to hear the hushed explanation. Younger generation or not, the forest had evolved a thirst for stories. She’d felt the unyielding curiosity during the long-winded conversations between the two of them. There were fewer roots catching their feet and Adna hadn’t come to fear chestnut trees as they no longer dropped their cache of spiny nuts when passing below. The story was as much for them as it was for Adna.

“I think I spent a month with them. Finer details are difficult to retain, so I remember events and vagueries.

“There was an attack. I don’t know what the thing was… what it is, but it follows me. Through the forest. Through the days and weeks. Night and day.” Timbrelle couldn’t keep her eyes from darting around the forest, checking each shadow. “It gave me this ugly mark and I’m sure it gave you those handprints too. It found me while I was sleeping. Had to jump into the pond to escape it—that’s where you found me.”

“How long have you been here in this forest trying to get out? Do you even know?”

Timbrelle shook her head. “At first I thought it was just a big forest and I was incredibly lost. Then I saw them moving. Those lousy bastards were changing the forest every night. I’d wake up to new geography any time I felt I was making headway. I was so scared that I stopped sleeping. I think it was a stress reaction, honestly. That turned out to be really easy and then I was scared about how easy it was to stay up. Where I’m from, people don’t do that. You don’t just stop sleeping.”

Timbrelle finally looked away from the forest with a sigh. “I forgot the question.”

“Do you know how long you’ve been in here?” Adna reminded her softly.

“Oh yeah. The days all started to blur together. I stopped counting after two weeks and it’s been at least a month since then.”

“You’ve been alone for a long time. I didn’t realize how long it had actually been.” Adna said with a note of apology to her voice. “I’m realizing now that I demanded an explanation and I have no response.”

“I guess you were right, though. I’m pretty flimsy.” Timbrelle’s laugh sounded hollow.

“Yeah… me too.”

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“A shepherd.”

“A shepherd? With legs like this?” She clenched her admittedly muscular calf and gestured to it as if she needed no further explanation.

“Well what am I supposed to say? You cited your biceps when I suggested you might have been a farm hand. If I’d have said ‘merchant’ you would have flexed your ass at me!”

“Just suggest things that are actually likely and we might get somewhere. There must be some clue to my profession somewhere.” She posed ‘naturally’ while somehow bulging every visible muscle below the halo of bright white hair.

“I bet it’s some sort of manual labor, your right hand is entirely callous at this point but you don’t have a single scar. What’s laborious but not dangerous? Gravedigger. There you go. Now please roll your pant legs back down and stop… exerting so much.”

Adna barked a laugh, relaxing. “Did you make any progress with the diamond and ruby?”

“I haven’t ‘passed’ them, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Your god fed you a Diamond, it did not once occur to me that you would have to ‘pass’ it. I figured you digested it or it merged with your mana or something. Maybe it will show up in your skin like his.”

“My chest feels much better. I thought I burst a lung at one point.” She rubbed her stomach with a concerned look. “It feels like if I press hard enough I should be able to feel it in there somewhere.”

“Ew.”

“Let’s pick up the pace. Shall we?” Timbrelle sped up. As was habit, she spent the time inspecting the path in front of her, ready to dodge roots and perfectly foot-sized holes. It was also the best way to find mushrooms. But that thought was enough to make her look up in disgust. Up at…

“This is such an aggressive pace. I can’t keep up with- agh! Don’t just stop in front of me! You made me bite my tongue…” Adna trailed off once she saw what had shocked Timbrelle into petrification.

Ahead, bright sunlight flooded the forest. “That’s not a clearing, is it?” Adna breathed.

Timbrelle could not answer. After the first few weeks, she’d stopped imagining this moment- the moment she’d leave the Dorark.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” Adna shrieked and pulled Timbrelle along behind her.

They sprinted through the forest. Timbrelle had to bite back a twinge of panic. The only times she’d torn through the Dorark like this were when she was being chased. This sprint was different, she assured herself. For the first time since she’d arrived in this world she felt joy creeping up on her.

Branches whipped at them, slicing her cheeks with green thorns. But they did not hold her back.

Adna stumbled, caught in a bush. Timbrelle yanked her back to her feet in a single motion. She took the lead, all but dragging Adna along.

They broke the tree line into blinding sunlight. The warmth of the sunshine and jubilation was short lived as ground gave way to open air beneath them. Their free fall ended quickly. Still blinded, they tumbled into warm water.

They found each other on the bank of a silage canal that ran alongside an open field. Adna had improperly ingested much of the water, but by the ungodly noises she was making it was impossible to tell if it was in her lungs or stomach. Timbrelle decided it was both when pounding on her back released a flood of murky water onto the freshly tilled soil.

“I don- I don’t think I can s-swim.” Adna coughed. Trembling hands wormed their way into the soaked satchel, assuring that her sizable stash of divinely appointed gems had survived the plunge. Sure enough, the bulging pouch was tucked away safely inside.

Timbrelle squinted at the field around them. They needed to put as much distance between themselves and the Dorark as possible. Now that she was free of the impenetrable canopy, she could see the valley ahead of them. The Dorark spanned the valley, creating a natural barrier and restricting access to the badlands beyond. This turned the valley into a sort of cul-de-sac. Save for the narrow commercial road through the forest, the valley sat completely encapsulated in three directions.

With the Dorark to the North, their current location was somewhere in the east, not too far from the foot of the mountain. Tarsus was situated directly in the center of the valley, so they’d need to…

Timbrelle’s train of thought was interrupted by the shout of a large figure. A figure that was charging them at speed.

“I’mnotgonnaletyougetawaythistime!Nottodayyoufilthy… dirty… shit bags?” What began a war cry dissolved onto genuine confusion. As his words slowed, so too did his person until he came to a stop close enough for the women to see the weapon he’d been waving around was merely a trowel. The shovel now dangled from his hand as he took in the sight of them.

One young, muscular, white-haired woman who looked for all the world like she wanted to pass away in her own muddy mess. Another with hollow cheeks and wary eyes dressed in what was once a nightgown- a very long time ago. Her hair was quickly regaining volume as the water drained down her face.

“Dear gods. Did you come out of the forest?” He asked.

Adna tried to speak only to begin hacking again. Timbrelle gave a nod.

“Gothe’s holy light. I thought you were goblins. We had an attack not too long ago—whole town wiped off the map.”

From across the field a woman yelled at them. “Teddy! Teddy, I got the guards.”

“Ah shit.” Teddy mumbled. “It’s not goblins! Not goblins!”

At that, a middle aged woman stomped toward them. “Well yeah, Teddy, they don’t look like goblins. Did they come out of the Dorark, Teddy, is that what you’re gonna try to sell me?

“The kids went to grab the City Guard, all for a couple of vagrants.” She reached Teddy and punctuated her arrival with a back handed slap to his gut.

“Oof. Hold off, Metta! They just came tumbling out of the Dorark. Look at them, she’s hardly dressed.” Teddy insisted.

The woman turned her red hot gaze at them, taking in the sodden heap that was Adna. Her icy demeanor melted away immediately upon seeing their pitiful state. In a moment, her apron was loose and wrapped about Adna’s shoulders like a shawl and she was cooing soft, soothing words.

“The kids are bringing the city guard, right?” Teddy asked. “Didn’t mess up too bad, did I? We would have called them either way.”

“…Teddy.” Metta sighed.