Sammy ran. She did not really care at this point where she was going, she just needed to escape. She did not want to be a stupid noble. She knew escaping that reality now was fair impossible, stupid irrevocable land contract. And she knew she would have to learn how to take care of things properly, because stupidity lurked ever at her shoulder now. Still.

“Stop harassing me,” she muttered under breath, tears blurring her vision slightly.

Coming to a river, she dove in and swam downstream as fast as she could. Surfacing, she swam to the far side and ran more. Slowly a sense of purpose formed. She could feel a trembling in her land that she did not like. Not in the scary sense, but the what-the-heck-is-wrong sense.

“Okay, so trembling is not the right term either, but what the heck do you call this weirdness?” Sammy sighed to herself. This ‘connected to the land’ thing was way strange in her humble opinion.

Following a distinctly pleasant feeling in the strangeness, Sammy passed through wooded dales and flowery meadows. The sun was low on the horizon when she came to the edge of a cleared field. Grass covered the land, but furrows covered the whole field like the ones in the larger gardens back in the city. Sammy guessed this was an abandoned farm or something, though she had never actually been to a farm before so could not be sure.

Not wanting to get yelled at as on previous ventures, she walked along the field until she came to what appeared to be a pathway. Gardeners could be meaner than the guards if you walked over their precious plants. Following the path, she came over a low ridge and spotted a farm house on a ridge some distance away. Smoke rose from one of three chimneys.

Sammy glanced around, but then headed in that direction. She really did not want to sleep outside and it was getting fairly late. Even if she wanted to, which she most certainly did not, she doubted she could make it back to the castle before midnight. Provided she could even find the place again.

A short post-and-beam fence encircled the farmstead. While painted white, someone had taken the time to decorate it with many different kinds of flowers, blue petaled wild ones and red roses, yellow sunflowers and green vines with white flowers that could only be seen because of the black outlines and brownish center. The gate was painted black with more flowers. Inside the fence, the lawn was greener than green and several bushes were meticulously pruned into clouds. Three large trees dominated the yard, one having three wide swings hung from its expansive branches. The other two sported wooden rings with inner cushions for children to swing on.

Two children exploded out the door of the house onto the front porch, the boy clearly chasing the girl. Both were about Sammy’s age.

“Can’t catch me,” the girl sang, waving a piece of paper in the air. “I’ll be sure to give it to Trish.”

“Give it back. You better not,” the boy said in a distressed voice.

“But you wrote it to her, right?” the girl sang.

“I didn’t,” the boy objected, but then seemed to back-track. “I mean, you can’t give it to her. I’ll tell Mom.”

The two ran out into the lawn, the girl racing around one of the large tree trunks. The boy circled the opposite way, but the girl anticipated that and switched directions herself. But then she stopped dead, her eyes big as she caught sight of Sammy.

The boy took the opportunity and snatched the paper from her hand, but then paused as he too spotted the girl standing at their gate staring at them. That moment of surprise ended and both children bolted back to the house.

“Mom, there’s a stranger at the gate,” the boy called out as he vanished through the doorway.

Several moments later, a stout middle-aged woman came out of the house carrying a glyphic rifle. She did not point it at Sammy, but held it with her finger next to the trig glyph. Sammy remained at the gate, ready to bolt at a single moment, already mapping the best route that would provide her cover if the farmer decided to use that gun.

Coming to the edge of the porch, the woman scanned the area before calling out. “Girl, what are you doing here?”

Sammy shrugged, “It’s getting dark and I was hoping to get directions for somewhere safe to sleep.”

The woman glanced around again before speaking a second time. “Where’s your family?” Several faces peeked from the open doorway behind the woman.

“That’s a touchy question,” Sammy said, relaxing. Since the woman had not shot yet, it was doubtful she would unless provoked. “Mostly their dead, but some people are trying to take their place. I ran for it, and am on the lamb right now. Are you going to squeal on me?”

The woman frowned, but the gun shifted downward a little. “How did?”

A silvery haired woman bent over a gnarly walking cane stepped out of the doorway at that moment. “Metka,” she said sharply, her voice crackling with age.

The woman turned around just in time to get whacked by said cane. “Ouch, Momma. What’d you do that for?”

“Can’t teach you politeness for the love of God, child.” The old crone hobbled down the steps and walked boldly up to the gate. “You, girl, what’s your name?”

“Sammy, ma’am,” Sammy answered respectfully, bowing.

“Sammy?” The elder said, her voice crackling even more in her amusement. “You’re not from around here. Strange name. Not bad though. We have an extra room you can rest your head in, if you like. Else, there’s a small inn about an hour’s walk that way.” She pointed in the direction of the setting sun. “You won’t make any cities though, and no one will open their door after dark. Bandits and hooligans use kids like you to lure out the unwary. We’ve all become overly cautious and without common sense because of it.” She shot a meaningful look at her daughter, the motherly woman blushing and trying to hide the gun behind her back.

“It’s something I would do, so not taking any offense,” Sammy responded, amused to see the grown woman looking like a child with something forbidden. “Thank you for letting me stay here.”

“You must be hungry. Come in, come in.” The elder opened the gate waving Sammy through.

Sammy bowed again before entering the yard, however as soon as she passed the gate’s threshold her whole body tingled and she froze. She had not expected a trap. Why the heck had she not expected a trap! What the hell was wrong with her?

“You okay?” The old woman said, peering at Sammy cautiously.

Belatedly and long after it would have done any good, Sammy let out an inarticulate screech and sprang back through the threshold to stand a good thirty feet beyond the fence. “What the heck is that? What did you do to me you conniving old bitty?”

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The silver haired woman chortled. “If I had done something to you, would you be asking such a question?”

Sammy glared, taking a step further away.

The woman brought her can down with a thud. “Don’t go, child. You’ve already passed the gate, so it would be a waste.”

“What is that thing?” Sammy demanded again.

The old woman considered the young girl and then smiled at her. “It is a warding of hospitality.”

“Hospitality?” Sammy repeated, eyes narrowed into one of her patented glares. “In what world? That thing bit me.”

The crone cackled again. “Perhaps we should change its name then. If you had ill will toward this house, it would have done more than tickle you.”

“Bit, not tickle.”

The old woman gave a toothy grin and leaned forward over her gnarly cane. “No, this ward has more teeth than that, I assure you. If it had bit you, it is unlikely we would be having such a pleasant conversation.”

“Hey, what happened to whacking her about politeness?” Sammy jabbed a finger at the gun totting mother. “You’re way meaner than her. And I don’t have any ill intentions toward you, or at least I didn’t.” She took another step backwards and glanced around. “Eep.” She bolted to her left and half hid behind a tree. A moment later several men came from around one of the barns, each with a hoe draped over their right shoulders.

The old woman cackled and waved the men over. “Grandpa, Carman, Jesper, come over here a moment.” All of the men came over, joking about which of them had done something to be so summoned.

“What’s up, Grandma,” the oldest man said, equally as old as the woman.

The woman grinned and pointed to the tree. “Guest, Grandpa.”

The man turned and looked at Sammy. He blinked once and then chuckled. “I see. Didn’t notice her at all.”

The old grandma grunted and echoed the grandpa’s chuckle, “I know, I know. She’s already passed the ward, but detected it of all things. I fear she’s somewhat spooked at the moment.”

Sammy frowned. They were talking awfully openly. This almost had the feel of the Camp. She let out a curse and sprang straight up into the tree, used a branch to changed directions and shot away from the man that had suddenly invaded her personal space. She had traveled over two hundred yards before she calmed down enough to realize no one was chasing her. She slowed with a glance over her shoulder and then stopped. The man was still standing close to her tree staring after her with a bemused expression.

The old woman was doubled over, her cackling laughter reaching Sammy’s sensitive ears. Sammy bit her lower lip. These people were dangerous. She didn’t think it was a good idea to hang around them, let alone sleep where they could get her. She was not heading in the right direction for the inn the old woman had mentioned, but Sammy had no intention of going there either.

“Shoot,” she muttered under her breath. She really didn’t want to sleep outside. Grumpy now, she took off running away from the house. As she was about to go over a rise that would hide the homestead from sight, the perturbed youth glanced one last time behind her. Three of the men were just mounting horses.

Scared now, Sammy kicked it into high gear. As soon as the house vanished from sight, she made a ninety degree turn and ran for some trees in that direction. As soon as she passed into their shade, she whispered the activation and stapha energy surged through her in full.

Sammy ran until darkness made it too dangerous. Finding a hollow in the roots of a particularly magnificent tree, she curled up for a cold night’s rest. The musk from damp earth and decaying leaves filled her nostrils and the chirping of night insects tickled her ears.

The exhausted girl slept with one eye open, much as she had done those days when still sleeping in the Camp. She was determined that nothing and no one would sneak up on her and take her back to the social goons. Or stupid Dista either.

The cold of night seeped into her hands and bones, bringing the painful numbing of chill. Something invaded her awareness, but she could not respond properly anymore. The thing moved closer, snuffling. Sammy stared at the shadow that loomed over her, but she didn’t feel any alarm. She wondered if she was already dead since there was no way something like that would not normally alarm her.

The creature slipped into Sammy’s hiding place and wedged itself around behind her, curling around the freezing human. Warmth. Sammy cuddled into the warm fur. She didn’t care if it ate her even, just so long as she could get warm first.

Sammy woke to the early morning light, warm and comfortable. She snuggled into her warm blanket, only to have it move a little. Her eyes snapped open just in time to see the tongue as it licked her face.

“Hey,” she complained, pushing the head away from her. “That hurts.” She blinked, finding herself looking into the eyes of a rather large feline.

It gave a yawning yowl that revealed a scary set of teeth. It stood up, forcing Sammy out of her warm place. Springing to one of the large raised roots, the large cat looked back at her for a moment, purring audibly. It then sprang away, vanishing from view.

Sammy climbed out of her hole and looked around. The world was covered with frost, accept for her refuge. Teeth chattering already, the girl took off running again in a bid to warm up, using the rising sun to keep her direction.

The sun moved well into the sky when Sammy felt another variation of the strange feeling that had taken her to the homestead the previous day. Sammy dropped to a walk and took a deep breath of the warming air. She shrugged to herself. She still liked that feeling, as strange as that seemed to her. She even suspected that the people from yesterday had not been bad people. “Just freaky dangerous,” she muttered under her breath.

Having come to this evaluation, she decided she would just follow the feeling to see where it led. She grinned happily and declared baldly, “Just checking it out won’t hurt.”

Coming to another farm, Sammy skirted its boundary along a line of trees. The fields looked fairly well maintained, but there seemed to be a dearth of energy. Sammy shook her head, not sure that was the right way to express it. Sad? The land did not seem very spunky. Maybe sullenly rebellious?

Setting aside trying to describe the feeling she got from the land, the intrepid explorer picked up her pace to a slow jog. Soon she came to another field. This one had the same feeling as the first, but Sammy was certain beyond reasonable doubt that it was a different field. She followed the seam between the two fields, a distinction perhaps only she could have detected as it ran against the grain of long furrows drawn for planting.

Sammy became aware of two houses at roughly the same time. One to the right of the seam, the other to the left, separated by a few hundred feet at least. Both had smoke coming from their chimneys. The strange feeling lay well beyond them, so Sammy decided it best to avoid them both.

The girl gave a wide berth to the two houses, but kept track of the seam dividing the two lands. The houses behind her again, she realized that the seam in the fields and the strange feeling both ended in the same place, a large copse of trees, or a super tiny forest? She was not sure how to describe it. As she got closer to the trees, she sensed two additional distinct lands butting against the tiny forest far to the right and to the left. A quick glance around showed no one had seen her yet, so Sammy made a sprint for those trees, super curious what was causing the feeling.

The world dimmed a little, turned green a little. A pleasant quietness pervaded everything, complimented by a sudden squeal of laughter. A shadow darted right to left across the path Sammy stood on. Two others flashed into the open and vanished, chasing the first one.

Sammy stepped off the path into the concealing shadows and listened. A boy about Sammy’s age ran past without seeing her, an orange scarf trailing in the air behind him from his left hand. A boy and girl ran after him with fierce determination written on their faces. Sammy cocked her head to the side, puzzled. All three of them had a weird light shining around them, an aura of some kind. It gave them a really strange appearance that Sammy thought almost looked like the glow from when she activated glyphs.

Stranger still, Sammy really liked the children and light both. Since she had no reason for feeling that way, she thought it way to suspicious. It totally raised her hackles, so to speak. Despite the flags being raised, Sammy followed them in stealth mode almost as if entranced.

The girl managed a beautiful flying tackle, wrapping her arms around both legs of the scarf boy. He hit the ground with a woof. The other boy grabbed the scarf and took off running. The girl let out a squeal and scrambled to her feet, giving prompt chase. The tackled boy got up slower, but then set off running after the other two, a grim grin of determination on his face.

Sammy followed the three children through the trees for nearly a half hour, when a fourth boy ambushed the single girl, who currently had possession of the scarf. Stealing it in a second, he fled directly through the two pursuers. Sammy barely managed to hide high in a tree as he ran under her. The other three chased after him hard. Sammy grinned. This was kind of fun.