They reached the Lower Village over a day later, and as they entered the packed-dirt streets, Jump-touch found herself holding close to Sweep-claw's side.

She had been here before, of course. She'd even lived here for almost a whole season, so why was she so shy now?

The Lower Village was their main trading post, and at only a two-day walk she had accompanied Rat-tail and the other kobolds here many a time, even acting as a translator on occasion for some of the more animal-like residents.

Not all kobolds were born with bodies capable of speech, but even if they couldn't speak the Given Tongue, that didn't mean they were any less intelligent. They just did it in their own way, like Sweep-claw.

Ok, Sweep-claw was rare in that he could speak Given Tongue, but he struggled, preferring Other most of the time. She had only ever heard him speak it once, a few days before at her leaving party.

"Trader Jump-touch, Guardian Sweep-claw!" The current leader of the Lower Village greeted them with open arms. He was an older kobold, similar in form to Rat-tail, and they were perhaps the oldest person she had ever met. His scales, once a vibrant green, were now a dusky grey, but his eyes were no less bright for all that.

He didn't always lead. The last time she had met him he had been spending his days carving small wood figures, but the residents here tended to switch the job around every year or so, and he was a common pick.

Up on the Mountain they didn't have a leader at all, although Rat-tail was their closest equivalent, but some of the peoples who came to trade here expected one.

He reached out clawed hands towards the two of them in greeting and she pulled herself away from Sweep-claw's side to return the gesture.

"We are not due to trade with you for another month, what brings you both here?" he asked, eyeing up the bear with a worried glance, "has there been trouble?"

By his side was another kobold, this one shaped into the form of what she thought might be a large white mouse, or maybe a rabbit? Some of the people had strange traits, and couldn't be mapped to specific animals. The rabbit-mouse had been the leader when she was living here, and she had vague memories of them being good at it. What was their name?

They were dressed in vibrant red clothing today, patterned with beads and charms, and she found herself caught for a moment by the bright colours, forgetting to answer.

They- Poison-eye, she remembered it now- gave her a grin filled with sharp teeth, and she returned it briefly, before shaking herself and turning back to the current leader.

They both looked worried, and Jump-touch realised that Sweep-claw rarely left the mountain. He must be something of a myth to them. A Guardian here in the Lower-Village was a once-a-decade occurrence.

"No, no everything's fine," she rested one paw against his side, standing a bit straighter. "We're just passing through. I'm heading down the mountain towards the Road, and Sweep-claw may come to trade on his way back."

"Ah, so it's that time." Poison-eye said, keeping to the Given Tongue. "We wondered, when you stayed with us, if you would leave eventually."

"I'm coming back," she huffed, suddenly annoyed, pulling her paw down from Sweep-claw's side. "It's not exile, and don't let them tell you it is. But Rat-tail thinks I need to learn about humans, so I'm going to learn about humans, and then I'll come back."

Poison-eye laughed, and the current leader gave her a grin. "We will await your return."

He switched to somewhat-fractured Other, turning his gaze towards Sweep-claw, "and we will send the Guardian word when you do. For now, tell us what you need."

Sweep-claw growled, and she nodded, knowing where she was now. "Ok. He says the Upper Village needs…"

****

The negotiations took until late evening and in return for Sweep-claw clearing out a nest of bandits close to the road after dropping her off, they would have packages of cloth and spices ready for him take back up the mountain with him . There was no point wasting a journey, after all.

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They stayed the night, Sweep-claw sleeping on the edge of the village and Jump-touch residing with the same people she had stayed with years earlier, when she was training to become a trader.

She had thought that would be her future.

It still could be.

The next morning she felt better, as the people came out to wave them goodbye. Talking to the two leaders and her friends had relaxed her, it had been good to catch up.

She was still accepted amongst the kobolds, even those outside her own village. She wasn't exiled. She was going on a journey, yes, but in a year she would come back, and when she did, she would take up the markings of an adult.

She could work as a trader, or if the Mountain was amenable, maybe she could take up training and become a shaman; work to improve the village. She could learn to speak to the elements and to grow crops, or to maintain what little woodland they had so far up. It was a good life, and a role their village was lacking right now.

Their last shaman had gone to the Peak long before she was born, decades before, and no other had ever emerged. But maybe it could be her when she returned.

She daydreamed as she walked along, matching her gait to that of the bear, listening to the creak of the trees as he pushed them aside. The forest was denser here, so far down, and the ground almost flat. It was a strange feeling. Was this the furthest south she'd ever been?

No, of course not, they had to walk much further than this on the March each year, but their destination then was in the complete opposite direction, into the wilds on the other side of the mountain.

Some of the kobolds she considered friends had come to her during the night and offered to let her stay in the Lower Village. She could relearn the Lower Tongue, as well as the other languages they used for trading, before heading onwards with one of their trading partners, but she had declined.

If she was going to be exiled, she'd wanted to get it over with. Not hang around for a month waiting on people who may not want to take her with them.

I must have been born down here somewhere, she mused. She hadn't been found by the kobolds until she was around five years old, but she remembered nothing of the time before. Not the faces of those who had raised her, or even the language they'd spoken together. Just lights, sounds, and then the cold of the mountain biting through her thin clothing. The feel of cold rock against the palms of her hands.

Rat-tail had briefed her a little on the language over the past week, but his knowledge was almost as sparse as hers and it hadn't awakened any hidden memories, to both their disappointments.

"You know what you must do?" Sweep-claw growled at her, looking back, and Jump-touch jumped, realising she'd been daydreaming.

He was loud!

"Yes, of course. I just have to go into a human village and touch… A big Stone in the middle. It'll give me a job, and then I can do that job for the human village for a year, before I come home."

The bear side-eyed her quietly, before rocking his head back forward and restarting their walk.

A time later he spoke again. "Is that how it works, for humans?"

She shrugged, catching up and walking backwards ahead of him. "That's what Rat-tail said. He seemed like he knew. I think he met a human once?"

Sweep-claw nudged a small tree aside with his shoulder, and she ducked sideways as it fell with a shower of dry earth.

"He lived with humans when he was young." The bear said finally, "long ago."

Jump-touch blinked, glancing behind herself to make sure she wouldn't trip, "he's never mentioned that."

Rat-tail had pretty much raised her, but he'd never said anything about that.

The bear rolled his huge shoulders, disinclined to elaborate. "It was long ago."

She bit her lip, alternating between walking backwards facing Sweep-claw, and forwards, where she was less likely to fall.

"If that was true then he would have mentioned it at some point, surely, and I thought none of our people could leave the mountain, at least not for long?"

He grunted, "We can leave, I am with you here, am I not? But it… It is tiring. Some of us can go further than others. Plus the humans who rule this world do not understand."

She hummed, turning and half-hopping, half-climbing over the remains of a small tree, rotten with moss.

"Do you know why some can go further?"

Sweep-claw crushed the rotten trunk under one massive paw, not even looking down as he walked.

"You will know, when you return."

****

They slept under the trees that night, and again the next.

By the third day after leaving the Lower Village the ground had completely flattened out, and her calf muscles were protesting the walk.

The air smelt different down here, and the trees had changed. Gone were the scraggly pines of the upper slopes and the oak and fruit trees of their winter orchards; the trees here were larger, closer together, and some of them so thick around that even Sweep-claw couldn't move them.

Around midday the huge kobold put his nose to the wind, stiffened for a moment, and then slowly shook his giant head.

"I can take you no further. Ten spans forward-" about two hours walk at their current pace, "-you will find the Road. I am tired, and I am too big to go on."

He reached forward, pressing the tip of his nose against her chest. "If you come back, we will remember you."

She bit her lip, wrapping her arms around him. "Of course I'll come back, don't be like that. And of course you'll remember me, I won't be gone that long."

His breath was hot, soaking through her woollen shirt as she pressed her forehead against his nose, wrapping her arms around his muzzle.

"We will keep you in our minds." He said finally.

Then with a final huff, he turned, and lumbered away into the forest.