The dorm which Tan-bei led me was the only mixed teaching and sleeping dorm purely run by M ægen Scōl. Officially, it was known as Lundein Dorm. Though most people called it Wall Dorm as it was nestled between the towering city walls of Lundein and the boundary wall between the Scōl and Brook Bridge.

As it overlooked Brook Bridge, and not the nicer parts near the road through Three Bridge but the rear parts where the closest to slum housing was, there was often disgust from those who had to take lessons in the classrooms up on the first floor. Of course, the dorm rooms on the second floor, which overlooked Brook Bridge, were empty. So they were popular tryst spots for those students who wanted some private time with their partners. Or so Gomes had told me, after he used one of the rooms with the only other student from his home country studying here.

On the way, the twinge of pain in my side faded until I wasn ’t sure if it was the ghost of the pain I felt, or just a faint remnant of pain. Then again, maybe I was overthinking things because of the way Tan-bei hadn’t let go of me, and her body pressing against mine was emotionally uncomfortable, yet pleasant.

Finally, we entered through a vaulted archway, looking somewhat familiar from the Medical Hall, and out into the inner courtyard of Wall Dorm. Even though Maelwys had an office, he seldom used it. Not really wanting to search hard for Maelwys, I was grateful that he had made it easy to find him. Because today, as was normal, Maelwys was sitting in the courtyard which the dorm surrounded.

Each of the courtyards of the dorms were different. In Wall Dorm there was a corner which had a few different trees bunched together surrounded by wildflower dotted in the lawn, and it was within the bunch of trees that Maelwys was lying on the grass surrounded by wildflowers.

Other than Doctor Lee, he was probably the oldest teacher at the Sc ōl. He was slender and had white aged-winkled skin. His deep, ageless eyes which seemed to have seen many lifetimes of summers, were staring up sightlessly at the intermixed canopy of leaves. Despite laying on the grass he gave off an air of quiet distinguishedness. Many students disliked him for his odd, and ignoble ways. But his quiet confidence was something I wished to make my own. His whole ignoble ways went as far as to the clothes he wore. They were simple, rustic clothes which would not look out of place on a farmer or other outdoor worker. With the exception that his were of much better quality, even if they were weather and wear stained and worn by long hard use.

‘Ah, young Berwyn and Tan-bei,’ he said in his rumbling, deep voice, at odds with his slender body. It was at times like this I was reminded that he was indeed a Druid rather than a normal teacher. ‘I see you two are together at last. I was wondering how long it would take for you to notice her young Berwyn, with all the attention she was giving you.’

I looked at the beautiful Tan-bei, who quickly discarded the full arm grab only to replace it with linked arms.

Her copper-fawn cheeks flushed slightly as she looked away from me. Still, she pressed her curves against my body. ‘We are going to the temple this afternoon, after all.’

‘We are?’ I said, confused. ‘I promised to take Sara.’

‘And I’m coming with you. How can I miss seeing the wedding of two of my closest friends!’ She gave me a cheeky smile which seemed to hide a darkness. ‘But if you want, I’ll allow you to either slip up in your vows, or pick to marry me instead.’

‘Alas,’ Maelwys said with a slight and dramatic sigh as he sat up, ‘After months of petitioning, moments ago, I have finally been given permission to take young Berwyn on a non-standard field trip. We must depart before noon if we are to have a productive time before the standard lessons resume after the fair.’

I wasn ’t sure of what to do. I promised Sara that I would marry her today, but I was sure she would understand if I went on this trip. On the other hand, the memory of her sad and lonely look before I left the tavern. She was a devout follower of the gods, and I knew she was worried about me. If something were to happen to me, and we had not tied the bonds of marriage, she was worried that in the mists of time we would forever be apart.

Also, I was worried what not only how Sara would feel, but how her aunt Mirielda and those regulars who celebrated our upcoming marriage would feel.

Then there was Nolicia. I promised I would see her later. If I went on this trip, then I would have to not see her for a few days.

But it seemed like that Maelwys had wanted to take me on a field trip for a while. As he was a nature focused hero, then maybe he had some tips he could give me which could help restrain Treeman. Not that I could admit to being Treeman to him. But it was clear that the powers I had gained since my last awakening were indeed nature related.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Further than all of that, it would indeed be nice to get out of this cramped mass of humanity and to finally have space to breathe. Maybe camp out in the quiet under the stars. If I was lucky, we would find either a totally wild, or at the least, a large managed woodlands in which to spend my time.

A pleasant wet pressure pressed against my lips. I gave into the pressure and started kissing back. The way her tongue played about with mine with an ease and playfulness was so unlike the slightly rigid, restrained, and nervous kisses that Sara gave me at the start of last night. Her kisses tasted different. There was a fruitiness to hers, unlike the ale sweetened ones of Sara.

As how the kisses at the end of the night were? They were a complete mystery to me, lost to the intense moments of pleasure and passion.

But these fruity kisses were nice. And though I wished I could continue, I knew I shouldn ’t. So with great reluctance, I broke off the kiss. Tan-bei was hanging around my neck, she had wrapped her legs around my body. She was still flushed, but her smile had a slight pouting of her lips, as if she dared for me to kiss her again.

‘Wow,’ she said. ‘That was some kiss. Sara was fun to kiss, but you, wow… I really need to get you to kiss me again.’ She blinked and looked at me with a subtle and soft look which made her look defenceless. Those passionate eyes seemed and all the more pretty and defensless. ‘Kiss me, please.’

Before I knew it, I was leaning towards her lips again. When I noticed what I was doing, I stopped and moved my head away from hers. She pouted and blinked her eyes in a disarming manner.

To remove her from my temptation, I put my hands under her armpits gently. That my thumbs brushed against her breasts in something akin to a stroke was something that I pretended didn ’t happen.

Carefully, I lifted her up and away from my body.

She held on with her legs, giving me a look which almost made me lose my self-control, and made my thumbs stroke her breasts again. Then, with a sly smile, she unwrapped her legs, allowing me to move her away from me. With slow movements, I lowered her so she could stand next to me.

‘Young love,’ Maelwys chucked. ‘It seems like you might have missed out, mistress Tan-bei. This Sara is one lucky gal. But, still, alas, I cannot really put off our trip any longer than noon.’

‘I’ll ask An-chau,’ Tan-bei said quickly, almost breathlessly. She then rushed in the same almost breathless manner, ‘she’s at the chapel in Brook Bridge. Maybe she could get you special permission to marry there. I’m sure, by now, the priest there owes her a few favours. And An-chau owes me more than a few, too. Ones I had never planned on her paying back.’

‘Sounds good. Go; get married. Once finished, be at the exit of Three Bridge along the road running parallel to The Brook. I shall get ready to leave now and will wait for you. There’s a hunting forest I have gotten permission to enter about a day’s walk away. Maybe we could sleep under the canopy of those trees tonight.

‘I’m sorry that your wedding night will not be in the arms of the one you love—’

‘But it will be under the branches of those whom I miss…’ I said, finishing the quote from an old tale from my homeland. A tale about how a hero married his love, who was from a neighbouring tribe. But instead of being able to embrace her, a raid from his old tribe took her from him. The hero had to save her and her tribe. It was a bittersweet romance because though they would only meet again under the canopy of the spirit’s tree. Implying they would only meet again after they died.

Still, it was a popular romance tale from my home isle, one I thought I would never hear again if I, myself, didn ’t tell it.

Under the branches of those whom I miss, told of the fact that he was forever torn away from his people and his land. It wasn ’t until now that I realised just how much pain could be packed into those simple words.

I missed those wondrous, giant trees of my youth. Trees which were destroyed during the Night of Destruction. The few trees in and around Three Bridge and Lundein were but pale shadows against those trees of my youth. Trees of which I was sure I would never see their kin in size and grandeur again. Even so, the wild and managed forests of this island had their own charm.

Still, I longed to be under any branches right now.

I was sick of being surrounded by many thousands of people all the time.

It would be good to escape into the wild, or what was as close to the wilds as could be found around here.

Even if I had to break Sara ’s heart, I knew I needed to go; to be under those branches. I knew I had to go.

The wilds were calling me.

And from deep within, I felt a pressure growing in return. It was as if it were a sapling rising from under a thick blanket of leaves, reaching towards the promise of the distant sky.