Of all the things their team had covered, there was one area that they.. kind of lacked in. It was one of the things in those adventuring stories of Grant’s that was not just for narrative convenience but was actually something a lot of adventuring crews focused their money towards. And that was transportation.

A well-trained or bonded beast strong enough to pull a cart or maybe big enough to carry a whole team was not unheard of and more exotic forms of transportation were often discussed, although by all accounts a flying carpet was a good way to break your neck. It kept your feet out of the muck, let you save your strength, and gave your presence a certain weight, both out on the road and in cities where one was not as known.

Given that they lacked all of that, though, put a specific appreciation forth in Mila’s mind on her boots. She had three pairs, although one had been left behind not some fifteen minutes ago after she had run out and got some spare rope and canvas, and footwear was a splurge item out of necessity. Fantasyland was not… quite as degenerate as to wholly latch onto Boots Theory, but it still had its place, kinda. And when you were looking to walk hundreds of miles, you wanted quality between a lengthy journey and a lengthy journey on feet full of wet socks and gnarly blisters.

They were not even out of Rat-Hate fully, still passing by the tightly-packed agriculture fields while Rora cheerfully waved at workers, and already Mila had accidentally stomped fully in a puddle, splashing mud up her legs. Her scales kept it from feeling quite as dirty as to immediately call for stopping the group and wiping herself clean, but goddamnit! It was a relatively dry day, at least.

Given how dangerous things got out in the wilds between cities, it was little surprise how so much of the actual farming was done right against the settlement. It meant most all farming folk lived relatively comfortable, urban lives and that if a problem did arrive, it could be fixed the same day.

What was kind of surprising to Mila, Scienceland Mila at least, was how compact the farm plots were, how densely the crops were grown. A question to Naw-Naw that had been kicked to Aluca confirmed that crop rotations were practiced, but clearly there was something else affecting it too. Rat-Hate was not a small little village by any measure, but food shortages were not a thing she knew of.

Whatever the cause for things being able to be grown and harvested when planted so close together, though - it meant that the plots of corn they passed were downright terrifying. The plants were still young, green and thin, but they towered over her already and they were packed so tightly in that they might as well be a solid wall.

Before, she had never really thought about it much. And on the most recent return trip, after Scienceland Mila had joined the gang, she had been emotionally preoccupied. But now, she was left alone to side eye the very unnatural corn, just a little bit paranoid about a corn golem or something rising up from the green to take a swing on her.

Other crops were similarly weird, even if they did not have the threatening presence of the corn, no children required. It took a while before Mila was able to put her talon on why it was unsettling her though - Scienceland had efficiency’d its farms up to be massive and pure, in some very fucked up ways. Mon Santo existed to make money, and it did that to the expense of silly things like ethics.

Crop placement was definitely a part of that, land was a resource, as was everything else. But the crops here were much denser yet were doing just fine. And they would have had to pass through that Scienceland-determined optimal point to get there. Wild cabbage almost certainly did not grow in complete carpets of green, that seemed silly.

The cause for why that was was likely very important overall, but it set her scales to standing on end, just a little, in its downstream implications. Some of which she had already been benefitting from, probably! Her diet had been quiet varied ever since she left home and got to her first real city here in Fantasyland.

Less space needed probably meant less farmers and denser cities. Actually, it definitely meant that. Rat-Hate was right there, after all, and these little farms’ outputs were also used as trade goods for the tiny communities that did make their livings in the wilderness. Smaller ecological impacts for a given populace seemed… very significant. And the given population of Rat-Hate was definitely bigger than what she felt a similarly tech-level city in Scienceland was, even if she did not have an actual number.

Unfortunately, Scienceland Mila had taken a single AP Economics course and done poorly, and she knew that. So it felt like there was something larger still that she was missing. That her claws were not quite catching on.

She knew she would be chewing on that for a while.

The outer edge of the farms were a wide, treeless bank that slipped into either swamp or marsh, Mila did not know which, and it gave a wide view over the green-choked water. A lack of trees for quite some distance kept things visible, right where Mila and probably every other person liked them. It meant that the whole group could see the massive turtle sunning itself on one of the little silt bars away from the dryish path they used, and Hughestace even noted, “Look at its purple ear colorations,” which, to be fair, were very cute.

“Don’t reckon you could befriend him and get him to carry us around?” Mila asked as she took an off-handed swing with a machete to fight back against at the shoots lining the bank they walked along. As it currently was, it was unlikely for anything dangerous to be hiding in wait along the raised road that crossed the swamp, but it was only kept that way by idle hands hacking back the vegetation.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Aluca took the question though, a snort of laughter in there. “You want Hughestace to tame a turtle to ride around on? An animal species notorious for its slowness.” He sounded less mocking than usual, but the sheer incredulousness might have been masking that accidentally.

Not one to take that lying down, Mila turned to stick her tongue out at the human. “Don’t cast slow stones, Aluca. And it’s not like he’s a bog standard turtle - he’s fuckin’ huge! Look at him. In awe at the size of this lad!” She bit off the ‘absolute unit’ that flowed naturally but would be a step too far for them to not feel it out of place. “He could have, I dunno, some special way to move too.”

In fact, Mila recalled watching the documentary Gamera, albeit a version with secondary commentary. If the fictional giant turtle of Scienceland could fly by igniting its flatulence, than Fantasyland almost certainly had weird turtle locomotion options. Just… hopefully less gross and less nauseating.

Hughestace stepped in before the playful argument could get worse in the name-calling department. “Animals are fascinating, but I do not… connect with them.” Which was fair enough, Mila was not expecting any wild critters to just ease up to her as new best friends forever either.

As Mila started to hum the tune for the Gamera song from Mystery Science Theater 3000, she did catch a glimpse of Rora, who was eyeing the turtle thoughtfully. If any of them were to get an animal friend out of nowhere, it would be Rora, seeing as she spun people friends out of strangers so easily. Hell, they were still on the hook for dinner with that goblin fellow, Kelb.

Dinner with a near-stranger and his family felt a bit weirder, now that it kinda felt framed as a pseudo-date. Some weird uncanny valley space where it was both too casual and too casually intimate, almost? Something one could do platonically or as a long-established couple, not as the first handful of events together,

Then again, they were off to investigate a plague zone with their three closest friends. Maybe she should not be trying to apply what she knew of dating too closely, even if some of that was firsthand experience.

The freewheeling train of thought had long left turtles behind - apparently they were not fast enough to keep up after all. The burgeoning relationship now sat over her mind as she continued scanning the water and clearing reeds.

Acknowledging that there was something happening was embarrassing, in a weirdly shy kind of way. The discussion with Rora herself had been very awkward on her own side, but the more she dwelled on it, the more she realized she needed to swallow her lumps and put it out there for everyone. The others had not been privy to their private question and Mila much preferred that, but some pieces were still important for everyone. She turned back to Rora, got her attention by shifting her knife to flash the sun at the radiant woman, and quickly threw down some basic hand gestures - a pointing finger flickering between the two of them, a look, a pause, and a sweep of the same finger to the group as a whole.

Rora put on a puzzled face for a beat as Naw-Naw and Aluca pointedly pretended they had not also seen Mila’s gesture. Once it clicked though, Rora smiled and nodded before voicing, “Sure! At your discretion.”

No pressure, just stick the more socially anxious one with breaking the news.

Mila learned her throat loudly, enough for the big turtle to crack an eye open to cast them a notice, and declared, “Rora and I, upon returning, will be going on a date. A few dates, if things go well.”

Hughestace gave a small nod at the news, but all three recipients of this news looked pleased as punch to hear it, with Naw-Naw sweeping up and, once given the signal that they could continue, clapping a congratulatory paw on the shoulders of both kobolds. “So actually talkin’ things through helped, ‘en?” Came a little light ribbing towards Mila.

All she could do was laugh about it though, embarrassed as she was. Naw-Naw was completely right, just talking it out had given them a wonderful outcome, even if work was delaying things a bit.

A glance over showed her that Rora was just as flushed, the comment finding a home in her thoughts too. “Yes, who would have thought! We did get a bit interrupted at the end, but we’ll be exploring things going forward.”

“I interrupted you, did I?” came Aluca’s softball lob of a joke, which had Rora shaking her head with a soft laugh in response.

Never one to be pulled down into the mud, Naw-Naw pushed past the light innuendo and just squeezed their hand a little bit, causing Rora’s moonlight plating to shimmer into existence for a second. “Won’rful to hear! Know that we support you both fully, mhm.” That had not been a concern of Mila’s, but it was good to hear anyway.

“We’ll be sure to, ya know, still be professional and all that, on jobs. No getting distracted on night watches or the like.”

There was a shocked gasp from the human, “You’ve been acting professionally this whole time!?” Which did set Mila to laughing. Her language alone would be cause for an HR write up in Scienceland, much less toting around two hefty knives, so some of her past professionalism was definitely very dead.

Before her and Aluca’s jokes could escalate into any real tension, Naw-Naw out them back on track. “None of us are worried ‘bout none of that, no ma’ams. But if y’all need an’thing from us, just be let’n’ us know, alright?” It was paired with a weighty look down at the both of them, both kobolds having to crane to meet it, and in the midst of the words Hughestace threw his own thumbs up in support.

“You all have already helped a lot, getting my tail in gear, so I’ll hold you to it,” Mila answered with an imperious sniff and a wide smile.

The congratulations felt really good, for something that even one full day prior, Mila had not been anticipating doing anything about. But even just the act of going up and talking to Rora, putting all her cards on the table, had felt big to her, so getting that recognized felt like a whole big step. That all her worries been put to rest was the best aspect, of course, but turning that roiling worry into maybe the start of something new….

Another squeeze of her shoulder brought Mila back into the moment just as Naw-Naw slipped back a little bit. The gnoll was beaming at their smallest team members with an unrestrained glee, and it only doubled as Mila and Rora caught each other’s eyes and got just the teeniest bit bashful, turning away like they both got caught staring.

Much of the joy Naw-Naw found in cooking for others was watching them find a new, special kind of happiness in their food. Seeing two friends finally get around to talking about what they want and finding plenty of common ground there was rather similar, it turned out, and suddenly Naw-Naw understood why matchmakers did what they did. It was damn near intoxicating.