“Good that you removed the flesh when you did,” the elder of this little village said. He barely had a white hair upon his head, but was amenable enough. “It's not that dangerous, but it attracts the crabs and they'll swarm. They're persistant too.”

We'd arrived here a few hours ago, and while we spoke a child with spots all along her skin sat by us in the elder's home. The glowing bits didn't seem to hurt, but there were only two choices, to let the venom fade on its own, or to cut it away. Nobody wanted to cut a child, so the answer was clear, time and time alone.

“Thank you for sharing what you know, is there any other beast we should know of in the area?”

“Few, from the waters sometimes we get monsterous creatures, but they are mercifully few here. Further to the south near the flaming mountains there are more, and I'd advise you to avoid them, unless you are keen to hunt the beasts as so many who come down from the plateau are.”

“No, hunting isn't the goal of our expedition. Tell me though, if Neera and her people know of you, which I assume they do, why do none come here to try and take the land?”

“Couldn't handle them could it? Sure, we know them, and often their people trying to get their little heating stones come by, but there's not anywhere near enough forest here for them all to live. The matriarch has her lands, which can support her population, but if they came here most would starve.”

That tracked, the village here was small, maybe ten huts, with less than fifty people total. I also suspected that they were heavily influenced by their more northern neighbors. My reasoning? They were paler, not as pale as those of Icehome, but close, and covered much of their skin when outside. If I had to guess the two popultaions had a lot of overlap, either from passers through, or from this one being an outgrowth of the other.

“Fair.”

Beside us Isha was playing with the young girl, who seemed rather bored with being cooped up.

“You know I got one too, right here on my finger,” she told the child.

“Yeah, I fell in the water at night, mommy told me to stay back, but they're pretty. You don't have spots though?”

“No, had to cut away the light before it could spread, it hurt bad.”

“I have to stay here till they go away, mommy said she would cut them off if it were just one, but too many is bad. My auntie got one too when she pulled me out of the water, and they just cut hers away and healed it.”

The kid seemed well enough, if bored. Perhaps I could fashion some checkers or chess pieces for her. It was't like it would be much of a challenge, and would at least give her something to do. My understanding was that it would take around a week for the venom to fade completely, and until it did every night the crabs would swarm around anything effected. Ostensibly the reason the little girl was having to stay here was so that the elder could keep back the animals if any managed to get close.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I finished up my conversation and was invited to a feast that evening, some tradition for guests. I wouldn't say no to free food. It would also give us a great chance for us to see what people ate around here. The local fruits were unknown to us, and knowing those would be a huge boon.

Of course I'd told the elder here of the deaths I was spreading news for, but it wasn't like it really effected him at all. This little village was the definition of rural, far from any large settlements, and the large scale politics of the world. It reminded me of home, in a lot of ways.

Then again there were a lot of differences. I didn't know why they did it, but the people here had build over the sand, even below the waterline, on poles. They were poles too, they'd been sunk into the sand, with the homes built atop them. Walkways crisscrossed the few homes, one leading to the ground. For whatever reason, my people liked to be up in trees or in weird places. Humans I guessed wouldn't have ever considered some of the odd housing arrangements.

While we waited for the evening food I moved into the woods, heading up towards the mountains. There was no reason to not help the little girl with some games, so I would. The walk to the stone sentinels that loomed high wasn't long, and there were plenty of rocks of various colors that I could use.

By the time I'd taken things in hand and made both a board and some pieces it was time to return to the village. The sun was setting and I didn't want to be caught out if things went wrong. As I did so I briefly wondered where my assistant had run off to.

It turned out I was just in time for the festivities, and was greeted to the sound of happy chatter and the smell of food. All of it was happening around the elder's house, being that it was the largest of them about, the normal privledge of the strong. He waved as I came near, gesturing for me to sit around a small improvised table made of leaves.

“Welcome back my friend, please, eat, join us.”

The large fruit we'd seen appeared to be something akin to breadfruit, and after being cooked were cut open and served in their shell. This was one of the main foods, with everything else being added to it like putting fish or sauces onto rolls. Texture was a bit weird, but the taste was subtly sweet and quite filling.

I'd worried about Chien getting into some nonsense, but no, he was sitting between two other men deep in discussion about woodworking. They seemed keen, and being that the people here were using slightly more advanced techniques than we had originally had in Atal indicated that they would likely catch on quickly. Isha still stayed with the child, and I slipped the board over to her. She'd know what to do, and I saw her smile at me. Looks like I might just be forgiven for throwing us off of a cliff.

Below us the phosphorescent crabs swarmed, attracted to the injured girl. Something about the pylons repelled them though, some kind of layer on them that the creatures couldn't stand.

“Don't worry, they won't come up here,” the elder said as I looked down.

“What's repelling them?”

“A mix of things, mostly a goo from certain fish, suspended in tree sap. Has to stay wet to work, but it has served for a long time. You can rest well.”

I liked these people, they were decent.