Maya tried to scramble back away from the grinning creature, but found the tree trunk on which she leaned, quite fixed in place. The being tilted its head and narrowed its eyes, almost as though trying to puzzle out Maya’s very existence. It curled its two tails around the branch and fell backwards, swinging round and tumbling into a graceful landing on the grass in front of Maya.
She sat perfectly still as the creature inspected her. The beast took a sudden breath and its eyes lit as though in recognition. It pulled down its goggles and craned its neck forwards, staring straight at Maya’s face. The initial fear that Maya felt, melted away as the creature returned the goggles to its head and nodded, as though satisfied, then spoke.
“You’ve never seen a Togi before have you?” Maya yelped, fear returning, and climbed to her feet, clutching her few belongings close. Seeing her panic, the creature raised its hands, palms open as though placating a nervous horse. Maya paused as it spoke again. “I am Piv. It’s very nice to meet you. I’m sorry if I have alarmed you. You are- Terran? Correct?”
Maya relaxed her shoulders, “No, I’m Maya. You speak? In English?” The Togi, whatever a Togi is, sighed in clear relief at provoking a response, and chuckled. “No, I do not speak English, but I do know a little Misvan. Those are Misvan translator charms aren’t they?” The Togi nodded towards Maya’s general existence as though she would know what it was talking about. When it became clear that she didn’t in fact, have any clue what it was on about, it changed tactics and stepped back, giving Maya space.
“I get the impression, that your situation may not be entirely clear to you. Might I offer assistance?” The Togi’s gentle consideration and admittedly cute appearance slowly pulled focus away from the madness of the experience and Maya responded. “I’m lost. And I don’t know what a Togi is, or a Terran, or a Misvan. I don’t know what translator charms are, and I just want to go home really.” Maya’s hay fever flared and set her eyes to watering as the Togi; Piv, adopted a more serious expression, and nodded slowly. Piv sat down on the grass, and motioned for Maya to do the same. And strangely, she complied.
“Well, Maya, I am sure this must be very confusing for you then. Where are you from?”
“Gedbury. In Kent.”
Piv’s head tilted back, “I haven’t heard of Gedbury, in Kent. Is that on Terra- um, Earth?” The implication of the question, however innocently posed was not lost on Maya.
“What do you mean Earth? Of course Earth, where are you from?” Maya’s accusatory tone escaped her lips quicker than she could control it.
Piv brought his hands to his chest and sat up a little straighter, “I am from Togu, but don’t worry about that, that can be explained another time. Now, do you know where you are currently? Apologies if this is condescending, I just- well, do you?”
Maya’s jaw sat open, but she stayed silent and shook her head. Piv paused, “Ok, if you don’t mind me asking then, how did you get here?”
With little consideration and even less to lose, Maya explained the happenings of the last hour or so, and her coming to this strange place. Piv listened intently and offered polite interjections to show he understood. Maya finished her short tale, and shrugged. “So yeah, here I am, talking to a fluffy white monkey with two tails and welding goggles on its head.” The wave of regret swept over her immediately. “Er- I just mean that- that you- you know, because.” Maya’s ramble devolved into a groan, which she closed with a simple and quiet “-sorry.”
Piv laughed, and waved it off, reassuringly. “Don’t worry, it sounds like you’ve had quite an ordeal. I forgot that Terran leaders still invoked separation. I suppose that’s probably why I’ve only actually ever met one other Terran before. To be honest I’ve only ever met two hazemakers before, and one of those was that Terran. I am surprised your Grandpa didn’t offer you some warning about the items he left you. I can’t claim to know a huge amount about hazemakers, but I’ll try and help if I can. First, however, why don’t we head into town and get something to eat and drink? I was pretty much done anyway, and from what I understand, the first few hazeports take it out of you even when you mean to do it!” Piv giggled to himself as he stepped past Maya and began climbing the tree. “Just give me a second to grab my things and we can be on our way.”
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Piv scaled the trunk with ease and returned to the branch from before. He reached into a hollow and pulled out two small baskets, each with length of rope attached to their handle. Using the rope, Piv lowered the baskets to the floor and then hopped down, just as gracefully as the last time. He picked up the baskets, one in each hand, and started on the path. He turned to Maya after a few steps. “Coming?”
Maya, still not entirely clear headed, shuffled to catch up, and fell into step beside her new found companion. The strange creature seemed to know a lot more than she did, and was headed to the same place that she had been, so pairing up made sense, probably.
For a while, the pair walked the dirt road in silence, processing the encounter and taking in their surroundings. Piv broke the silence, “That bag you have, your Grandpa’s, I think it might be a cavern sack. I’ve not seen one before but I’ve heard of them, and if anyone would have one, a hazemaker would. Do you know whats in it?”
Maya shrugged and shook her head. “No idea. I’ve taken three of those blue vials out of it, but it’s definitely not a normal bag.” Maya swung the bag round off her back and held it out in front of her. The envelope in the front pocket caught her attention immediately. Pulling it free, Maya replaced the bag on her back, tore the envelope open, and began reading it aloud.
“Dearest Maya,
If you are reading this, then it means I did not get a chance to talk to you myself before I left to be with your Grandma. Firstly, please don’t be sad, we will see each other again in due course. You will discover soon enough that the bag I have left you is not just a raggedy old backpack, it is special, like you. The bag contains a small number of very important items, and though I wish it were more, they should at least help in the unfortunately likely case of an emergency.
This letter will at first seem absurd, and I am sorry that this information has come to you in this way. The fact of the matter is, I thought we were safe in Gedbury, and thought that maybe you wouldn’t ever need to know. I realise now this was foolish of me.”
With the exception of a spluttered cry from Piv and a brief shadow over the page, Maya had no warning as two large grey birds swept down and attacked her. The first attempted to grab the bag off her back, scratching and flapping wildly. Maya stumbled and flailed her arms, shooing the creature away, unsuccessful. The second grabbed at the letter, its claws slicing at Maya’s fingers, and with more success than its accomplice, it flew away with all but a few ripped pieces of the note. Dazed and confused, Maya chased a few steps before accepting the loss.
With tears in her eyes and her own blood on her hands, Maya turned to Piv. The small creature stood with his eyes wide and his white fur on end. The baskets lay discarded on the path, contents scattered in the dirt. It took a few seconds for Maya to realise, but Piv was not looking past her at their assailants as they faded to specs in sky. He was instead looking at her, fear still fully formed on his face.
“What the hell was that? What wha-, what is this place?” As Maya stepped forward clutching her cut hand close to her chest, she knelt and started picking up the strange nuts that Piv had collected and placing them back in the baskets. Piv, however, stepped back, still staring at Maya. She looked up and then paused. “What? What’s going on?”
Piv struggled to offer his response, “They were Fylguard, what do Fylguard want with you?”
Maya shrugged but Piv continued, almost talking to himself. “I should have stayed out of it. I don’t need this. Always sticking my nose in. Should’ve left well alone. Random Terran wandering around, should’ve just waited. They’ve seen me now.”
Piv suddenly jerked to life and turned towards the village, his pace quick and purposeful. Maya panicked, and gathered the two baskets, and one strip of paper that had fallen to the ground in the struggle. She ran after Piv, “Wait, wait, what’s going on? What’s a Fylguard? Piv!”