As they got closer it became obvious that the town was larger than she had guessed. Surely there would be an inn here. As much as she enjoyed animals, she didn’t fancy sleeping in a barn with them. They passed several ramshackle huts without seeing anyone. It made sense. Anyone with any brains wouldn’t be outside tonight in this miserable cold.

She eyed Sen. How was she so unaffected? Did the cold actually bother her but she was too stubborn to admit it?

They were a good chunk of the way into town before the sound of laughter came spilling out of one of the buildings. It was much larger than those around it, and far more brightly lit. A sign hung outside, with no words, only the picture of a pig of some kind.

Sen paused beneath the sign. “Remember the rules?” she asked, almost too quietly for Meri to hear.

“No talking, mostly,” she answered.

Sen nodded, and then slipped the door partially open and slid inside. Meri followed and was instantly hit by a blast of hot air. She teared up as her face started to warm. Not tears, for real, she was just actually that cold.

The next thing that hit her was the smell of something roasting. She nearly gagged. It smelled wonderful, but it was making her stomach attempt to eat itself. She’d thought she could never be hungrier than she had been the night before. Today proved her completely wrong.

Sticking to the shadows around the edge of the room, Sen led her around to the counter, keeping a low profile. She was really good at this.

The barkeep glanced up when she got closer. He looked her over for a second, then said something in some weird language. Wait, what language was that? She’d never heard it before.

Of course! No wonder Sen was so adamant about her not saying a word. They didn’t speak English here! But… how did Sen speak it so perfectly then? She did have that weird little accent that Meri had noticed when they’d met, but it wasn’t enough to scream she was from a whole different world, where Latin hadn’t influenced half the languages around.

Okay, this was so weird. She listened intently to the short conversation, doing her best to understand something, anything. Nope, not a word. So much for asking for people’s thoughts on Sen, even if she’d wanted to. She looked around the small room. Did anyone here speak English?

Sen motioned for her to follow and moved to a small table in the back of the room. Meri listened to every conversation they passed, trying to find something that sounded even remotely familiar. Nothing.

Crap.

Every hour they got farther into this ‘adventure’ she felt even more stupid. Sure, this would be more than the discovery of a lifetime. It would be the biggest discovery ever. But for anyone to know about it, she had to live.

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Sen dropped into a chair at the tiny table and kicked out another for Meri. Her gaze darted around the room, like she was watching for someone. Meri moved over and sat, waiting with her. Hopefully for food, because Sen didn’t tell her what it was they waited for, just leaned back farther so her hood hid her eyes. She probably wasn’t talking at all because she was afraid Meri would answer out loud. Or because she knew she couldn’t understand her and she felt weird talking to her when Meri couldn’t understand whatever language she was speaking.

Looking around to make sure nobody was paying attention, Meri reached into her pocket and turned on her phone. Thankfully it was still on silent, and didn’t ding as it booted up. The cold had probably done a number on the battery, but she needed to capture this. Airplane mode did wonders for the battery, and it wasn’t like she had any service. Hopefully the power pack she always had with her still had juice. Her camera would be way too conspicuous.

She slid the phone up her sleeve and punched the camera button. View wise she wasn’t going to get much, but hopefully someone back at school would be able to recognize that this was a language all the drunks were shouting to each other and laughing in, and know that there wasn’t any way this could be faked.

The video, along with the pictures she’d taken of any strange looking, at least to her, fauna, would hopefully be enough to convince people she’d been here. She’d been away long enough to appreciate home, and she was ready to get back. Adventure, great. Probably traveling with a criminal, freezing, starving, not so much.

One of the girls that obviously worked at the tavern brought their food over, dropping it in front of each of them. Meri left her camera running and bent over the blackened meat, sniffing it.

“So gross,” she said, almost out loud. Sen gave her a warning glare and she crossed her eyes at her.

A knife and fork with two prongs were on the platter next to the meat. Better than using her hands. She stabbed at the food, which was even worse than she’d thought. Burned on the outside, raw on the inside. She grimaced but cut off a slice. Even if she thought there might be other food available, she didn’t have any way of asking for it. And she was starving.

The first bite nearly made her gag. What was this stuff? Sen’s rabbit from the night before had been soooo much better. How was that possible when all she’d had to work with was a fire and spit? This tavern seriously needed a different cook.

Chewing furiously, she looked around the room, trying to distract herself and not think about what was in her mouth.

Her history professor would kill to be here right now. Sure, this wasn’t Earth history, but it seemed to closely resemble it. Except for maybe the meat. Was this some kind of weird animal that wasn’t back home?

The girl came back and sloshed two cups down onto the table, spilling quite a bit all over the meat. Hopefully that would help the taste, but doubtful. That girl totally needed fired.

Now that her stomach roiled for a completely different reason, Meri went back to looking around the room. She kept her hand hidden, but followed her gaze with her phone. There were twelve people packed in here, and if there had been a fire marshal in this area, the max allowed would have been, like, seven. Not that these people seemed to care about safety, with the amount of alcohol they were drinking.

That seemed universal.

Speaking, or thinking, of. Meri grabbed her cup and took a swig, expecting water. It wasn’t water. It was the grossest stuff that had ever entered her mouth, and that was saying a lot after that meat. She couldn’t help it, it spewed out of her mouth and all over a slightly less inebriated patron at the next table.

He stood, knocked his chair over, and turned to her. He started screaming something in that other language, spittle flying out of his mouth. Then took a menacing step in her direction.