The reaction to the Nuanderran dinner varied: Liana was delighted to eat acorn pancakes with wild lettuce and black quinoa again, Izabel was interested but a bit reluctant with certain unknown ingredients. Derek on the other held up his nose and barely ate anything, while he continued to stare at Akhina and Marah. His girlfriend Ellen barely reacted to that and ate all of her food without saying much, including an accidental oak leaf that certainly wasn’t meant to be part of the meal. Akhina had provided another bottle of raspberry wine, which had led to a discussion with Liana, who didn't trust the idea of alcohol and her classmates. It’s not because wine was legal for everyone over 16 that all people her age were known to be responsible for it in her world, and the Nummerfa were quite naive about things like that, as she had expected.
She shouldn't have worried though, because Derek and Ellen refused this kind of "weird stuff" completely, and Izabel only took half a glass for the taste. Her schoolmates already had trouble with the food, which wasn't even that different from what you could get in some trendy vegan snackbars in the city she thought. But being abducted to another world can be a traumatising event, no matter if it happened to save your life or now. So while Akkina was explaining something about the salad ingredients to Izabel the negative energy emanating from the two others started to ruin the atmosphere. Derek still barely said a word, didn’t touch any food, and didn't seem very interested in this world except for the women, or their bodies at least. He hadn’t really said a word to anyone but Ellen yet, was especially ill-tempered at everything now, including her boyfriend.
Liana was glad that they had rejected the wine, if they’d been drunk too tonight it would have totally messed things up more. What was she to do with them? She’d certainly have dropped them right back into her world if there wasn't a big chance that the STC would zap them once they showed up back into her world again. She still didn't know how they had found her so quickly, but she feared that all four of them were now on their wanted list, and she didn’t know how they were traced by their opponents. Although she still really couldn't stand them, she didn't want their deaths on her conscience either, and she was responsible for them now as the ambassador. Why did it always have to be her?
The food was done now. Akhina cleaned up the wooden and stone bowls. Liana looked around at the forest around them
“Maybe a campfire would be a good idea?” she asked to break the tension.
“Yes!” Izabel said, but there was no further response from the other two.
She saw how Ellen tried to get Derek's attention in a way that he understood, and she ignored the couple completely. It wasn’t that she had any problem with couples or romance, but the dynamics between those two were so toxic and exhausting that she didn’t want to lose much energy in dealing with them.
*
A few hours later when the sun was going down they were all sitting by a campfire, above which some sort of cauldron hung. It had actually been Izabel who had had the idea of making tea when she recognized a kind of mint, and Akhina had added a few other herbs to it. Both of them seemed quite content with the outcome, and Marah and Inaya had joined in too.
“Who are those Drotnira anyway?” Liana asked Akhina, sipping her tea. “I saw them in Kavanderra, but why do they hate us so much?”
Akina sighed. “They are the people of stone in Ton Yen Dol's element cycle, as we Nummerfa are the people of the element 'tree'. They fit with the properties of stone: stubborn, rock-hard, difficult with change, and very strong-minded. The characterization is quite good, and a lot better than the hmana-orr which are supposed to be 'Earth'. But I don't think old Ton Yen ever met many people of your world to be honest, while he certainly must have known a lot of Drotnira.”
“So how many of those elements does Ton Yen Thingy have?” Izabel asked.
"Ton Yen Dol, and he's a Tilliander, that should say enough. Nine elements: Earth, Stone, Tree, Water, Fire, Ice, Wind, Soul and Uncreated Spirit." Akina replied. “Some have tried to classify all species of nawa according to the elements of Ton Yen Dol as a kind of typology, but that never quite works. And As Tilliander, Ton Yen was a little limited because he wanted to stick to the sacred number nine. The system of the Nummerfil Fadhola the sage, which is much less known, had eleven, with Lightning, Salt and Quartz Sand added, and Stone being lumped together with Earth. And she spoke of Creation Energy instead of Uncreated Spirit. The trulelil-min even have a system with 128 elements.”
Liana noticed that her atheistic classmate had suddenly stopped protesting against the existence of soul and uncreated spirit, but was listening with fascination. She herself, however, was not in the mood for a treatise on the various mystical element theories from Orranderra on the night before she would face her enemies again. Even if they were just monsters of her own kind, which possibly frightened her even more than the Drotnira did. She brought the conversation back to the original topic:
"But why are those Drotnira against us? What have I done to them?"
Marah replied. “They are stubborn as stone and they tend to live inside their own myths, which have become more extreme over many centuries too. And the Gorchbolds have a big role in those myths. Your world also has many stories of good versus evil, right? In their stories you are the symbol of evil. The devil, the powers of darkness, that's you, or humans from your world at least. And any world that falls under your influence is doomed to become as hell. That's how the Books of the beginning say it!”
“Bah, but holy books are always nonsense, aren't they?” said Isabel.
Akhina looked at her strangely. “No, every myth usually has a kernel of truth. Or at least that’s the case in this world. I think most of yours do too. But some are exaggerated. It is true that the nawa of our world have fled from the shadow that the Hmana-orr brought upon the world in a time before your history began. Al-Elyehdinn then gave us this new world to live in. But that was so long ago that all stories about it have become vague. How would you feel about suddenly accepting devils out of hell as guests, and giving them asylum as you’d do with a fugitive from another country?”
“Those things don't exist!” Izabel said for a moment with a certain look, until she realised that the devils in question were humans.
"Ah, so all Drotnira hate us then?" She asked, whom she'd never seen before.
“No culture is monolithic and traditions are never absolute. And oddly enough, there were Drotnira working for the Onnobolda with the STC in Kavanderra. So it’s complicated. And there's a Drotniril on the council of friends of Oranderra too, Gorr, but he hasn't gotten here yet, he’s also busy with his job as a mushroom farmer. He might be the only one of his kind who knows your language too now that I come to think of it. Maybe you'll meet him someday…”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
She paused.
“There are as many views on strangers as there are on ancient sacred writ. But those who already were full of hate were easily recruited by the Onnobolda. Searching endlessly for ore under the mountains, doing crafts and growing mushrooms can be a bit boring compared to the promise of multiversal justice and a victory over the devils of hell.”
Marah suddenly pulled out an object from her pockets.
“This is an example of their technology.”
Liana and Izabel looked at it. It was a completely closed cubic object, which had very fine relief decorations.
“They look like runes!” said Liana.
“It's a magic-mechanical jar that recognizes its owner's voice and doesn't open to anyone else,” said Marah.
"Open!" she said, and the thing opened with a hinged lid.
"There's nothing in there now, but you see how it works now."
She passed the object around.
“The irony of the whole story is that the Drotnira are the closest to you of all Nuanderrans when it comes to culture and technology.” Akhina added.
“Yup, I recognise racism and prejudice, and a certain superiority complex. That comes close to home.” said Izabel, pouring herself a glass of wine instead of more mint tea to end the evening.
“So our environmental destruction is the biggest reason they see us as devils?” Liana asked Akhina, who just nodded.
“Destruction of the entire web of life and its cohesion. Plus your sexual violence of men against women.” added Inaya.
“The shadow that has been fallen over your world can be described as a dissolution of all healthy relationships. The relationship with Al-Elyehdinn who sustains all life, the relationship with yourself and your own soul, the relationship with the land, the relationship with other nawa, animals, plants and minerals. With all 128 elements of the trulelil-min probably. And destroying the relationship between man and woman. Where men and women become enemies, the shadow is strong.”
“Speaking of that, where have Ellen and Derek gone?” Izabel asked.
"You probably don't want to know, after all that forced flirting from Ellen earlier." Liana said.
“Bwah, maybe we should give them some distraction then. They hate this place, at least let them still have each other… They didn’t ask to be here in Nuanderra.” Izabel said.
Liana wasn't quite sure. "Isn't it dangerous, alone here at night?"
“They are the biggest danger. A loose couple of Gorchbolds like them is what we would call a danger here. But they’re not that far away, and wow, there is a lot of unhealthy tension between them, and she is still trying to claim him by all means.” Inaya said, scanning the environment energetically. “But there’s no danger, there are no predators around. They have to be careful not to run into the forest itself if they keep polluting the atmosphere like that. The place itself might not like that.”
Liana looked at her.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
“Think of the dead city of Kavanderra, how it worked on your mind. It's very subtle, and your kind is not very sensitive to those things until it’s too late. They will only be paying attention to each other now anyway…”
“The last thing I would do in an unknown world in the dark in a forest full of beasts and strange creatures would be to isolate myself in the bushes to kiss my boyfriend. Plus with him as the boyfriend I would be more terrified of him than of the forest.” said Izabel.
“They have no sense…” Liana said.
“But as the ambassador of Oranderra, I would like to ask the forest women who manage the soul of this forest that nothing serious happens to them in my absence. I want to be able to deliver them back in one piece when this whole story is done.”
Ankhina nodded. "We’ll try, but they also have their free will... If they suddenly harass the forest women or think they can bully a herd of auroks, then that's their own responsibility."
Liana sighed. "They're not going to do that, are they?" She said.
"Speaking of that, there's something else we need to say about Derek." said Inaya.
Liana instantly knew what she was going to say.
“That boy is too interested in women in the wrong way. His way of gazing is unhealthy, and that is a very sensitive subject on Nuanderra, especially with the Nummerfa. The men of your world are known as predatory incubi in our myths and legends. It is one of the reasons why the Nummerfil women of the Onnobolda hate your kind and want to destroy your world so much.”
Liana choked on her last gulp of herbal tea.
“He's not a predatory incubus, he’s just an idiot, okay! Ellen just wanted a boyfriend as a trophy to show off to her classmates. And he probably has taken a girlfriend just for similar reasons. There is nothing more between those two!”
Inaya shook her head. “Your kind is really bad at that sort of thing… I'm just warning you. He tramples on all the sensitivities of our world, and that’ll turn against him. You are lucky that you get on well with the council of councils, because his presence wouldn’t be good for the reputation of your world otherwise… He’s just affirming our worst stereotypes”
“Should I talk to Ellen about it?”
Liana didn't feel like doing that at all, but she didn't want to neglect her new role as ambassador.
“No, a woman is never responsible for the behaviour of a male partner. He must be able to control himself. Men are completely capable of that. I'll talk to him about it next time myself." said Akhina, rather bitterly.
“So, about that theory of nine elements, we only have four of them: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire…” Izabel asked, and with that she moved the conversation back to a safer topic.
*
After a complicated explanation of four, nine, eleven or one hundred and twenty-eight elements, the five of them stared at the flames for a long time. Liana drank more mint tea, and Izabel had switched to water after her one glass of raspberry wine. "Time to sleep." said Liana. She turned off her smartphone because there was no charger in the world and she would need enough energy tomorrow to send the messages to her family, and to everyone else's. When she held it, she suddenly had a premonition that it might be one of the last chances that she had to use that device; and that she was going to see Joris in real life.
When they got to their sleeping place at Inaya's forest home, Ellen and Derek were arguing, but they stopped when the others arrived, and wouldn't say what they’d been discussing. Liana crawled into her sleeping bag. She stared at the wooden portal that was already folded up against a tree, and wondered what the next day would bring. She trusted Marah, but she knew she would miss Inaya in the other world, and Lun too.