Lily was definitely not hiding. She proved this by quickly stepping out from behind the giant fern leaf that she had been studiously inspecting. Obviously, Lily had simply been out in the forest because she liked the way the morning sun shone through the treetops. She liked the sound the wind made as it pushed through the thick trees, many of which were bigger across than her uncle was tall. She liked the endless variety of strange bug and plant specimens one could find in the forest.

Of course she had abandoned the clearly marked safe path because the dirt and fallen leaves outside of it formed a blanket that was softer on her bare feet. She was barefoot because why should she wear shoes anyways. Most importantly, she was moving away from her uncle not because if he caught her he would make her get dressed and go to the annual local meet-up, but because east was definitely the direction she felt like moving in and he just so happened to be to the west of her.

Unfortunately, Uncle Vath was also very, unbelievably fast. On or off the path.

He caught up with her in moments.

To Lily, her uncle’s presence in the forest was an unmistakable ripple in an otherwise still pond. Most other people and animals passed through the hazy air like a snake through water, only the smallest of v-shaped wakes to mark their passing. Not so her uncle. The artifacts he carried completely displaced the essence around him for 10 meters or more, forming a roiling mass out in front of him and a long wake behind. Her uncle’s approach was like a cloudfront sweeping in to herald a storm, disturbing the natural pattern of wind, light, and life in the forest.

Lily fled alongside the birds and other small animals that scampered away from her uncle in straight lines. When she felt her uncle nearing, Lily ceased dashing from tree to tree and frantically searched the ground around her. She yanked a small three-leaved plant out of the ground and brandished it wildly in his direction as he emerged from behind a wide tree.

Her uncle was tall, with clear but tan skin and long black hair tied back into a tail. Typically he wore practical canvas clothing with a wide assortment of bags and straps for tools. Today he wore his nicest dark brown trousers with a white shirt that was somehow spotless, despite his hurried trek through the forest. That morning, Lily had ignored the brown pants and matching long white shirt that her uncle had laid out for her and had snuck out in her forest clothes while he was out at the privy. Her packs and pockets were, as usual, full of interesting plants, feathers, and rocks she had found on the way out.

Lily briefly thought that if she hadn’t made all of those stops, she might have made it further out. She then decided that it had been worth it.

Soon the bubble of clean air surrounding her uncle encompassed her as well.

“Good morning, uncle! I thought I’d come out and try to identify some of the plants you were teaching me about yesterday! Since you’re here, let’s continue the lesson!” Lily took a bold approach and smiled as widely as she could, not at all confident in her performance. He always saw through her.

“Good morning to you too, Lily. And good idea!” Uncle Vath rumbled. “Let’s start with what’s in your hand right now. What do you call that plant?”

Uncle Vath was smiling. Lily couldn’t tell why he was going along with her and not just dragging her home before carting her off to the meeting, but she resolved to play this out as long as she could. Plus, she knew the answer!

“This is a blanket fern! It has three leaves longer than the main stem of its body so they droop down onto the ground. A patch of these can completely cover the ground around them, giving them their name.” Lily saw no reaction from her uncle, so she pressed on, “They- Their leaves are sturdy and fibrous so once they’ve been washed and pulped they can be worked into clay to make it stronger… There are um… not here but deeper you have to look out for roots beneath them...” She visibly wilted as her uncle’s smile turned wolfish.

“Maybe today isn’t the best day for herbalism,” he said. “Let’s try... field medicine instead. If a young girl, say, 9 years old, meant to pick a blanket fern and instead accidentally grabbed a toxic green falsefern, how would you treat the rashes and burns she would soon have?”

Lily shrieked and dropped the plant, then clutched her right hand and looked around frantically. Her uncle chuckled and bent down to pick up the plant before finally smiling at her, “Theoretically, I mean. This is, of course, just a blanket fern.”

Lily fell over backwards and lay there, on a bed of (she hoped) blanket ferns.

“You scared me! That was really mean,” she sighed, then immediately mouthed along with his next line.

“Be confident in your answers. If you know, you know.”

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Lily knew. Uncle Vath had said that line almost every day. He was never one to let a teaching opportunity pass.

“How could I know though!” Lily protested, “I’ve never even heard of a green falsefern.”

“That’s because I made it up,” Uncle Vath said and started laughing again, then flopped down beside her. Lily scowled at him levelly for a few moments for as long as she could keep a straight face, then laughed along with him.

They both lay there peacefully, enjoying the scant rays of morning sun before Uncle Vath finally spoke up. “Any other day and we could have our lesson out here, Lily, but we cannot miss today’s meet.”

Lily groaned.

“It’s about the trials in Nort City.”

Lily jumped up instantly.

This was her dream. The dream of every kid, really: to be able to compete in the trials and win an artifact or talisman, but especially Lily’s dream. An artifact could change her life, in all the ways that were important to her. She clenched her fists in trepidation, but couldn’t bring herself to ask. She just stared at her uncle, trembling. She lightly touched the scales on her right cheek.

“The compound is going to send you as one of the representatives this year.”

Lily screamed. She stomped her feet. She screamed again.

Ten meters away, the essence flows outside of Vath’s safe bubble pulsed twice. Vath’s eyes flickered briefly to the side before recentering on Lily.

Lily was far too distracted to notice.

In that moment, Lily forgot all about the other kids teasing her about her looks, her condition, and was revelling in a daydream of winning the city trials. She had heard that last year the winner of the combat trials got a weapon artifact! Her uncle hadn’t taught her much about fighting, but she was already way better than the other kids at math, writing, and fieldcraft. The winners for the administrative and fieldcraft trials got good prizes too. Only children under age ten were allowed to compete. This year would be her last chance but she would finally get to go.

The other kids had told her she couldn’t possibly be selected.

Winning would shut everyone up. Artifact holders got respect. Artifact holders didn’t get teased or pointed at. Artifacts were the polar opposite of this world’s natural essence. There was a chance that this trial could fix her.

A single tear ran down over the scales along her right cheek. There was a good reason why the compound might not have sent her: artifacts didn’t always accept and bond with those who were corrupted by natural essence. With the Stranged. And very few people ever lived long enough to become more stranged than Lily.

“Is… is this ok? I mean, I can do it! But, is the compound ok with it? I… what if…” Lily faltered. Her eyes asked the unvoiced question. What if an artifact rejects me?

Uncle Vath didn’t respond immediately. He just stared at her from his spot on the ground, taking her in. His eyes flickered behind her, away into the forest for a brief moment, then his smile bloomed, quick and easy. “Then we’ll leave. Every artifact is different. If the ones they bring to the trial don’t accept you then we’ll go find one that will. You are the smartest, strongest person I know: no matter what happens, this trial is just the beginning of your journey.”

“Now, let’s go introduce the compound to this year’s trial champion,” and faster than Lily could react, Vath sprung up and tossed her over his shoulder. Dangling backwards, Lily squealed and kicked her legs as he jogged off through the woods, back the way they came.

The two practically flew through the forest. Lily felt the concealed band around Uncle Vath’s left ankle pulsing in time with his steps. She had never known exactly what that artifact did, but it must have made him stronger or faster. A second anklet seemed to push aside the air in front of them, easing their passage. Lily had often wondered how Uncle Vath came to be in possession of so many artifacts. Living in such a poor area, most families were lucky to share one or two artifacts between their members, but her uncle wore more than that on each limb. He never spoke about them and asking, especially in public, was one of the few things that could make him angry.

Lily’s thoughts began to wander as the initial excitement of their high speed trek faded into routine. The day was already getting warm and even at this pace it would be half an hour before they arrived at the pair’s small stead on the edge of the forest. “The Back of the Frontier” her uncle called it. Ugh, puns. They were quite literally the last human household before the forest, followed by uncharted wilderness that extended off the map.

Deeper into the forest there were Beasts: mutated monsters empowered by natural essence. They rarely came close to the walled human settlements, but when they did it took dozens of locals to drive them off. Never mind killing them. People often died. When she was small the stories and warnings from the women in the other steads had her scared of every shadow in the forest, but she and her uncle had been venturing out there together for years now. Fear was quickly forgotten at the wonders the two of them had discovered out in the unexplored lands, where others so rarely ventured.

For Lily, the forest had gradually changed from an unknown place of terror into a quiet place, admittedly still dangerous, but also full of useful and fascinating herbs, roots, and animals that she and her uncle hunted together. It was how they made their living. The natural essence was quite a bit denser there of course, but that bothered Lily not at all and Uncle Vath had his artifacts to protect him.

The morning sun was warm and still as they finally broke out of the treeline, and the gentle motion of her Uncle’s stride lulled Lily to sleep. Vath did his best not to wake her but didn’t slow his pace either, casually leaping a dog-sized beetle that was too slow to get out of his way. Once they reached settled lands he would have to slow his jog to that of a typical person, but for the time being they had a lot of ground to cover and the coming meet would be more important than Lily could imagine.