The small line of carts trundled through the arch in the hedge, the younger farmhands spreading out to take a look at their new home just as the sun was dipping below the horizon.

“How long you been building this place then?” Mate asked.

“Just today,” Zalia said.

“That’s some pretty heavy enchantments you’ve got running in the place for ‘Just today’,” Mate said disbelievingly.

“It’s an ability, mostly,” Zalia explained.

“Got some pretty rare class then do you?” Mate suggested.

“Something like that,” Zalia agreed.

Mate looked around, then up the hill towards where the homes were built.

“Just take any of the buildings then?” he asked.

“That’s the idea, none of them are occupied just yet,” Zalia said.

“Good, I’m not goin’ up in the trees. Too many stairs for my liking, though some of the youngin’s will be thrilled I’m sure,” Mate replied.

He didn’t look that old, but Zalia guessed that’s what happened when you had Bronze rank physical stats to keep you moving. Juniper hadn’t looked that old either, now that she thought of it.

“Fair enough, and hey, Mate, you’re in charge of these lot. Make sure they don’t break anything please?” Zalia said, turning to him.

“Yeah I’ll do my best, no promises with these heavy handed fools though,” Mate assured her.

Despite his less than assuring words, Zalia could tell that he would make certain of it. His farmhands were probably not as bad as he made them out to be either.

“Alright, that’s me then. Get settled in and take tomorrow to have a look around. Or get started planting if you’d like. This big section near to the entrance and in a semi-circle around the buildings is all yours, barring the small sections with herbs I’ve planted,” Zalia explained.

He just gave the space a grunt of acceptance, eyeing it with a critical eye as he walked up the hill.

Zalia looked around, feeling a little like she had been running at full tilt so long she didn’t know what to do now that there wasn’t any immediate danger. Sure, there were some demons in the world now but the atmosphere wasn’t trying to kill her and there wasn’t some prophesied danger she was trying to prepare for. Did she relax? She had once enjoyed little wood carving projects in the evenings when it got dark out before going to sleep, previous to Endaria, maybe it was something she could pick up once more.

“I’m a little lost on what to do next, got anything in mind Boreal?” Zalia asked, turning to where Boreal was keeping a watchful eye on the farmers.

“Explore?” Boreal suggested.

“Might be good to get a solid sense of the land around the Grove,” Zalia agreed.

Boreal took that to mean doing so at that second and started leaving.

“Wait just a second. Aylie, are you feeling tired at all?” Zalia asked, “or, now that I think about it, do you need to eat something?

Aylie shook her head to the first question, looking a little sheepish at the second.

“No need to feel bad about it, you’re going to need to eat a lot more often than Boreal or me. Not that I remembered that,” Zalia said, internally reprimanding herself.

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She walked past Boreal towards the entrance.

“Come on, what are you waiting for?” she asked.

⪼ ⪢ ℋ 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℋ ⪡ ⪻

A half hour later, the three of them were sat around a small fire controlled by Zalia as a little creature cooked above it. It was the first time in a long while that Zalia felt bad about a kill she had made. While it was necessary to feed Aylie, it had also been almost unfair in how she had done it. The thing had tried to hide away in its burrow but Zalia had just used the intangibility from her armour and the vibration sight to push her arm down through the earth and pull it straight from the ground. Like pulling a potato from the earth.

Still, she couldn’t very well feed Aylie just off the berries and nuts she found around the place so little potato it was. She used Bitterbalm and a few herbs she found about the place to season the meat before cooling it enough that it would be easy for Aylie to eat. She’d used preparation to properly butcher the creature and sat next to Aylie as she handed her stripped green wood sticks with skewered meat on.

It was nice, sitting by the campfire under the stars. As she looked up into them, she felt a tingle go down her spine as the stars began glowing a little brighter. She felt the presence shortly before she saw the one responsible for it. A large, translucent, starlit wolf, winding its way through the trees towards them tailed by its pack of smaller wolves. Zalia put her hand on Aylie’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, it’s a friend of mine,” Zalia assured her, noticing the girl had gone stiff.

The wolf came and sat by the fire, towering over them.

“It’s good to see you again,” Zalia greeted, bowing her head in respect.

“And you, Zalia of the Druids. You have progressed much since we last met and have another blessing from a good friend of mine. A friend that I had thought lost,” the wolf said.

“They live within Cormaine still, though they were fighting against dire odds last I saw them. They may have returned to dormancy, I’m not certain,” Zalia explained.

“Ah, so that is where you went. I did not see you below the stars for quite some time. I had thought you to be trapped out of their sight somewhere, and I suppose you were,” the wolf replied in understanding.

“Seeing the stars once more brings me more joy than I can explain. I’m sorry Nateysta could not be with me here to see them,” Zalia said, her voice filled with sadness.

“As am I, young Druid,” the wolf agreed.

They sat in companionable silence for a time, watching the stars above as the fire crackled quietly by their feet.

“The land is fouled by corrupt creatures’ presence. I have tried to move some of the others to action yet they languish in their resting spots, becoming more and more dormant, returning to their natures. I do what I can but there are just so many of the demons. Some of which, I am not strong enough to fight,” the wolf said, looking towards the capital of Endaria.

“Returning to their natures?” Zalia asked.

“We cannot die, but we can fade, becoming so deep within our natures that the line between the two turns from blurred to non-existent. Feeling the blessing you have gave me hope that Nateysta had returned, he always was one of the strongest willed of us,” the wolf explained, letting out a deep sigh.

“I wouldn’t be here without him,” Zalia murmured in agreement.

“A story I’d like to hear some day,” the wolf said.

“One I will hopefully be ready to tell. Where do the others rest, maybe I can convince them to action,” Zalia suggested.

“I’m afraid not child, not all of us are so accepting of humans. I fear many would wipe the land clean of your race as soon as they would save them. Most simply do not care for your people either way,” the wolf explained.

“Why, are we not a part of nature as well?” Zalia asked, frowning.

Inside, she knew the answer. It was just something different to hear it from a creature that was meant to be like a god. A god that was really just a person with much power, when it came down to it.

“Because humans, amongst a few other races such as the Astar to the east, do not live with nature, they live despite it. This does not bother the others so much, yet they do not care to protect you as they would otherwise because they do not understand that this is your nature. I try to tell them that it is not you they should fight for but the nature being destroyed, but they believe it is one problem taking care of another. They will not help,” the wolf replied.

“That is not such good news,” Zalia said.

“No, and though I will do what I can myself, my power comes in guidance from afar, not directly such as many of the others,” the starlight wolf explained.

Zalia nodded thoughtfully.

“And what guidance have you come to give this night?” she asked.

“That is the question, isn’t it,” the wolf said warmly.