Once we had taken down the camp, I loaded the cart with the animal carcasses using my Hands of Air. While I was strong, there was no way I was lifting a female Dire Bear. Once our quarry was loaded onto the cart, I helped my Haarthuu friends up as well. They all situated themselves in the front seat, and I took my place behind the handle.

“Off we go!” I exclaimed and pushed off from the ground. It was difficult to get the cart rolling, but once I did, keeping it there wasn’t too much strain.

We continued in this way for about five hours, which is when we came to a hill that I would be unable to climb with the cart, and I doubted my companions would be much help. I had stopped and was leaning against the handle, breathing hard and heavily.

“Well, I can’t climb this, and I don’t have it in me to tunnel through. What should we do, Liss-ran?” I asked, panting.

Liss-ran sat there in a slight panic. “Um, I’m not sure. If there were Uror nearby, I’d say to convince one of them to help?”

I snapped my fingers. “That’s it! I’ll call Walter,” I said happily.

I closed my eyes and leaned on the cart.

“Walter?”

“Yeah, Boss? You okay? You sound beat.”

“I’m fine. Just kinda tired. Where are you located right now? I could use some help.”

“Yeah? Let’s see…. I’m about an hour or so away from where you are right now. What’s going on?”

“I’m pulling a cart through the woods back to Haruma. I’ve hit a hill that I can’t pull it over. It’s too loaded down, and I’m not strong enough.”

“Ah. I see. Well, I can be there in an hour. Or should I send someone else?”

“Well, this cart is narrower than the last. It may be a bit uncomfortable for you.”

“Okay. I can send a kid over to you. They’ll be able to carry you and pull the cart.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, boss. She’s on her way right now. From a different herd, so she can get to you faster.

“Okay. Should I give her some of my magic so she can communicate with me, or are you the only member I will be able to speak with? I don’t know how this all works.”

“Nah. Don’t worry about it. She’ll be able to understand you, and will take you home no sweat. If she decides to stick around, I might uhh… claim her. Have your woman try to bond with her.”

I laughed and let the matter drop. “Okay Walter. Thanks man. If there’s anything I can do for you, let me know. Oh. We’re leaving the week after last frost. Heading to Klearm. If you could meet us in Haruma beforehand, I’ll make sure you’re fed well and your coat is nice and shiny.”

“You got it, Boss! Looking forward to it!”

I pulled my Pack off, and removed a large piece of leather, as well as my tools. “Gonna need these in a few. We have a female Uror heading our way. I’m going to make a harness and a saddle for her once she gets here, and we will be on our way. Sound good?” I announced.

Four heads looked at one another, then at me. “How did you manage that, Ivor?” Liss-ran asked incredulously.

“Uh, I just reached out to Walter, the Uror that brought us here. Apparently when you bond yourself to a Uror, you can speak with them from great distances. He’s an hour away. The female should be here much quicker. She’s from a more local herd,” I explained. “I won’t be able to speak with her the same as I do Walter, but I was instructed to see if Elizabet would like to try and bond with her.” I concluded.

“Okaaayyy….. If you say so, Ivor. I guess we get to see a different Uror,” Liss-ran said, shaking her head.

I rested there, cutting some strips from the leather for makeshift reins, belts and straps. I also took the time to fashion buckles from the Duplicated knife blade I had in my Pack. About fifteen minutes after I had finished making those, a shaggy Uror trundled up and halted beside the cart. She snorted and stamped a paw on the ground, seemingly eager to get this over with.

“Hello, my lady! Thank you for answering Walter’s call to help us. I trust he has explained the situation to you?” I said to the shaggy beast.

She tossed her head twice, which I took as an affirmative. “Excellent. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to fit you for a harness so we can hitch you to the wagon. Would you mind if I got to work?I’ll do my best to make it as comfortable as possible. If it pinches or is uncomfortable, please snort twice,” I said, receiving another toss of her head.

I smiled and got to work, crafting the harness from memory and sizing it to fit the much smaller female. After a few mistakes, she and I fell into a routine, and I had the harness crafted in short order. Once I explained the concept of the saddle to her, I began the process of making that, with similar results. All in all, it took us the better part of an hour to finish the work.

“There we are. Hmm. You know, I can’t just call you ‘Uror’ or something like that. May I call you Lady?” I asked.

The shaggy beast was still for a moment, and then tossed her head twice. “Excellent, Lady! I am Ivor, and we are going to Haruma. I will direct you, if that’s okay?” Another head toss and she began to strain against the weight of the cart. I quickly climbed up, and we were off.

With the assistance of Lady, we made short work of the hill in front of us. I let her choose the pace, and we were slowly, but steadily, on our way to Haruma once more.

“Liss-ran? How long do you think we have until we get home?” I asked.

“At this rate?” she said, taking stock of our surroundings and pace. “We should be there around dinnertime, I’d say.”

“Awesome. Just in time to have some of Gon-rash’s amazing cooking. This day is getting better and better!” I said happily, shrugging my Pack back onto my shoulders.

We rode and chatted for another hour or so, and I saw how lifted everyone’s spirits were. Even Tren-sun was cracking jokes and smiling.

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After an hour or so, Kilik-ma called out, “Hey Ivor. What kind of entertainment does your world have?”

“Entertainment? Well, we have books, plays, theater, dance, songs, musical bands, and a form of entertainment that absolutely doesn’t and hopefully will never exist on Chaia, television,” I said. “Why?”

“Well, Liss-ran was describing your music to me when we were hunting, and I was curious to hear some.”

“Oh. Well, that device is back in Haruma, actually. I left it with Elizabet for safe-keeping, so I can’t use it right now to show you my music,” I said regretfully.

“Oh. Okay,” Tren-sun said, sounding dejected.

“But I’m feeling pretty good, so how about I sing a song for you?” I ventured.

Four voices replied in the affirmative, and even Lady tossed her head. Looks like I was committed. I racked my brain, trying to think of a decent one that I actually knew all the lyrics to, when a shiver ran through me. That’s it! I took a deep breath and began…

“Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?....” My rich baritone rang out through the forest, echoing off the trees and the mountain beside us.

As I was atop Lady and had my eyes closed, I was naturally unable to see the stunned reactions on the faces of my companions, as I was also facing away from them.

As I sang, the very air around us changed. The scent of snow that I had grown accustomed to had multiplied, finally depositing its bounty of crystalline glory across the entirety of the forest. Unnoticed by me, some of the buckles had been Duplicated, and now hung on the reins as small tinkling bells.

A smattering of small, blue birds had taken flight shortly after I began, wheeling their way south. The Haarthuu watched, openmouthed, as they took flight, as there had been no birds in those trees before.

Feeling joy course through my core, I opened my eyes to a forest covered in a blanket of fluffy snow. I continued, nearly trancelike, with my song, seeing the images from my mind’s eye blossom into being in a clearing to our left.

Two people made of snow, resembling myself and Elizabet, were building another snowman, giving him a defined beard and a book. These snowy puppets acted out the lyrics to the song I was singing, bowing and dancing about.

The scene shifted, and there was a fireplace made of snow, complete with dancing flames made of snow within. Two puppets, easily the size of a dire bear, pantomimed speaking and were then covered by a snowy blanket.

Once more, we saw an empty field, with the same three puppets from before. They danced and glided about the field, “speaking” to the snow-preacher.

As my song concluded, we saw the two puppets walking arm-in-arm beside the cart, and then they collapsed into a pile of wet snow once I closed my mouth.

As I came back to my senses, I realized I was sweating profusely, and my stomach was protesting loudly.

“Ivor. What. Did. You. Just. Do?” Liss-ran asked breathlessly.

I sat there, panting. Trembling, I reached into my coat for the jerky that I had taken to keeping there. I began stuffing piece after piece into my starving gullet, trying to stave off the unconsciousness that loomed on my horizon. I swallowed more and more of the meat, my mouth eventually going dry. I slung my Pack to the front, and pulled out the pitcher and drank deeply of its cool bounty.

My thirst slaked, my hunger staved off for the moment, I turned and looked at Liss-ran.

“I have no idea. It looks like I can’t be singing things like that. I hope I haven’t royally mucked up the weather…” I said in a shaky voice.

“Was that the Ancient Tongue?” asked Piri-thak.

“Huh?”

“Ivor, we couldn’t understand a word of that. Are you telling me that you didn’t realize you were singing in the Ancient Tongue?” Liss-ran asked gently.

Realization hit me like a truck. I sang the weather into existence. It was effortless and easy. I didn’t even register that I was doing so until after I was done and the shakes hit. What’s more, I sang what I saw in my head into existence. All the images I would see when I heard that song manifested in this world as snowy puppets and props. Even the bells that were on the harness were exactly as my mind’s eye saw them. I could only guess that I may have created a new species of bird. I felt mortified.

“No… I had no idea I wasn’t singing in your language. Well. Now to deal with the fallout. Is this the normal time the snows would begin, Liss-ran?” I asked quietly.

“Thankfully, yes. It’s a week early, but nothing too far out of the ordinary. I wouldn’t worry too much about altering the weather. Those birds, though. That may be a different story. There were only twenty or so,” she replied.

I nodded and closed my mouth. This was a new lesson, and one that I needed to ensure stayed present in my mind. I zipped my coat up against the wind, and Lady trudged on.

As the skies darkened, we could see the main road that led into our home. Kilik-ma jumped down and raced ahead, probably to let the village know we were back a little early.

About ten minutes after he left, we had a throng of people rushing out to meet us. At the forefront were Elizabet, Talah-ma’at and our boys.

“Hi everyone! We’re a little early, I know. We’ve got some goodies in the back of the wagon, and a lot more in my Pack. Let’s get Lady into the city, and we’ll unload everything, okay?” I called out.

The crowd of maybe thirty individuals parted and walked beside us like an honor guard, leading the Uror into the central hall of Haruma. Once inside, I called the gentle beast to a halt, and dismounted. I unhooked her from the cart and began to remove her harness when she snorted twice.

“Lady? Is something the matter?”

The Uror walked out of the twin shafts of the cart and turned to face us. Or, more specifically, she faced Elizabet. She looked directly at her and tossed her head.

“Present your magic to her, Elizabet. See if she’ll take it,” I said softly.

Slowly, Elizabet raised a trembling hand and a small, iron-gray sphere rose from her palm and hovered four inches above it. She approached the shaggy beast with her outstretched hand, and waited.

Lady stepped forward and gently plucked the sphere from Elizabet with a delicate tongue. She stood there chewing on it for a moment, and it was then that I heard Elizabet gasp.

“She said her name is Lola. And that she’ll follow us wherever we go. And that you…” she trailed off and turned to stare at me with an arched brow. In a low, dangerous tone she said, “What. Did. You. Do?”

I knew that tone. I sighed and shook my head. “Thanks, Lola. I was going to get around to that shortly.” I said in a wry voice. I looked Elizabet in the eye. “I appear to be able to control the weather to a degree. I don’t know to what extent it goes, but…. I sang a song into existence,” I said, defeated.

Elizabet looked confused. “You… Wait, you can sing?”

Liss-ran piped up. “His voice is rich and deep, too! It was nice,” she said with a little giggle.

“And loud. He has some lung power, he does,” Tren-sun added.

“Does anybody else wish to make her even more upset with me than she already is?” I asked in a loud, exasperated tone. “No? Thank you.”

“Try it again, Ivor. Tell me what you did,” Elizabet said firmly, crossing her arms beneath her prodigious chest.

“Yes, genius. Tell us what wonder you pulled out of your ass this time,” Blainaut said, coming up from behind Elizabet.

“Oh, gods. Not again,” I said, hanging my head.