There was a certain light joy to this little coastline. It was odd to me that it was so small, barely going up to the mountains before steeply climbing, but I knew neither enough about geography nor about how magic might interact with it to know if that was normal. It was pleasant though, for you could always smell the subtle salt on the wind and always find nearby shade. Odder still was that the floor of the forest wasn't all sand, though that was more welcome than I could easily state; I subtly hated sand.

Isha pouted, Chien walked silently, and I pulled, either with magic or muscles, our little sled. I had the feeling that both were rather still irked at me for my stunt with the cliff, but what could you do? It would've taken days and days for us to try and climb down slowly, and I simply wasn't willing to wait that long, nor did we have the right equipment.

“Well, at least it's not cold,” I said after awhile.

“True, does that have something to do with us being closer to the sea, or not as high up?” Chien asked.

“Yes, the air gets cooler as you go higher up, at least most of the time. There are a lot of factors.”

He accepted it with a shrug. “Okay boss, if you say so.”

“You shouldn't just take my word for it,” I said, lugging up the rope to conserve on mana. “You should test it. I mean, I think I'm right, but who knows about everything? I could be wrong at times, or just not know, it will happen as time goes on.”

“How would I test that?”

“You know, that's a good question. Think on it for awhile and see if you can come up with something, then we can both test it. I mean, I think a lot of things, but I could be wrong about any or all of them.”

He nodded once more and began to let his thoughts take him. That was good, I mean, there was every possibility I would die before we got far with this society, and if I did... well, it would be best if I could leave something behind for others, and the scientific method was one of the best things I could leave them. Even if I'd not taught something, that might manage to help them learn it.

All around us there were plants I'd never seen, flowers and trees slightly different from those back in Atal's area. Most interesting were some of the fruits, which hung heavy from trees. Some of them were as large or larger than coconuts, big balls hanging in the air. I wondered if they were edible, or if they'd need some treatment to become so. On the shore there were of course a few actual coconuts, or the local equivalent.

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That first night we camped just in the jungle, just off of the sand. Even in this world sand-flies were a menace, and none of us were willing to brave their territory while dreaming. Though as the sun set to the west we watched it sink over the horizon, a novel experience. For us it was normally as the sun rose that it passed over the ocean, but on the opposite coast we could see the deep reds and purples rather than the pinks and yellows of dawn.

As we prepared to return to the small shelter we'd made I saw a light in the ocean, just a flicker, just for a second. Then there was another, and another, and soon the ocean looked like a churning sea of stars. Each wave brought in more light, pale glows hanging in the waves, before taking it back out again.

“What is it?” Isha asked breathily, getting a bit closer to see.

“I don't know,” I responded, myself pulling nearer the waves.

“Is it safe?” Chien asked, and that brought both of us back to our senses and from the place where the water crashed into the sand.

“Good call, we don't' know if its' dangerous or not. Best to stay out of the water for now...”

For awhile we watched the pretty colors, keeping well back upon the shore, until one of the lights stayed behind. After it did several more followed, each first sticking to the sand before moving upwards along it.

Interested I reached out with my magic, gently picking up one of the little glowing bits, before bringing it closer to look at it. We all gathered around to see, that upon the bit of sand I'd grabbed was a tiny crab, smaller than the nail of my pinky, moving about. The animal didn't seem overly pleased to have been plucked from it's place, and was waving a minuscule claw around threateningly.

“It's so cute!” Isha said, her voice hitting octaves I'd seldom heard. “Look at you you angry little man.”

She tried to poke at it, and the crab pinched her finger causing her to pull it back quickly away from the unhappy crustacean with a yelp. Both Chien and I got a good laugh out of that but it left a glowing mark upon her skin. Something that made me stop as soon as I saw it.

“Purge whatever that is, don't touch anything,” I said, flicking the crab back towards the sea. “It's probably poison of some kind.”

Isha's eyes rose and she began to sing, but the glowing spot didn't go away, it merely spread, from a pinprick to something the size of a letter on a page. Without hesitating I grabbed her hand, focusing my mana to quickly slice around it. She screamed loudly, but I held her in place. A toxin that spread when exposed to magic was no joke, and we didn't know what it would do.

“I'm sorry love, heal it again, and we need to get back from this shore.” I could already see where the flowing bit of her flesh had fallen, and how there were lights now advancing towards it from the waves. The crabs seemed to know where the poison was and were seeking it. I could only pray I'd gotten all of the effected region off quickly enough.

She sang as we retreated to the forest, and Chien looked at our shelter with a frown.

“Further in boss?” he asked.

“All the way to the mountain, no risks.”

We kept an eye on Isha, but it seemed we'd gotten lucky. There was a chunk of her pointer finger missing, and she was quite alarmed by her healing having initially failed, but she was safe. With the sled in tow we retreated up to the base o the mountains, and I made a note to keep well away from the shore, at least at night.

Over the next few days we walked, trying to find anything that would supplement our rapidly dwindling supplies, but animals were sparse on the ground here. I even resorted to going nearer to the ocean, looking for any fish that might be swimming about. That was of limited use, as I wasn't willing to get in the water, and we weren't even sure what around here was edible.

About a week in though we found something. At a place where the chore pulled in to make a small cove there were huts, raised above the shore on poles sunk deep, or perhaps some type of tree grown into the sand. Each had a small odd-looking thing at the base, but there were people, elves going about their business along the shore and around the houses. A few even looked up as we approached, waving us inward.