Hushed voices and discreet glances greeted Maso and Rèmsciore as they entered the village. This wasn't an entirely unknown phenomenon; on the day that Maso arrived, he'd been the focus of many stares. Within a day, it had been gone, as if Maso was already just another Aspen enjoying the coastal climate.

This felt different, somehow.

A woman pulled her child to the side as they passed, whispering something in his ear. A group of youth swerved to give them a wider berth, their chatter diminishing. The Aspen standing behind a food stall stopped yelling about her fruit salads, stared at them, then started again, noticeably quieter.

Maso stared at Rèmsciore out of the corner of his eye. He didn't look suspicious, ambling along through the village with a slight smile. He'd even slowed his pace when they hit the outskirts, saying that he wanted to take in the sights.

It could have been Rèmsciore's height, or the way he carried himself, Maso mused. Or, more likely, that he was a recognizable hermit. Maso hadn't heard anything about a strange man dwelling in the eastern forest around here, but then again, he hadn't been in this village for longer than a week.

He could ask later. For now, paying attention to his surroundings was a better idea than inspecting his travelling partner.

Now that he knew about the impending flood, the village's general architecture started to make more sense. The buildings that he'd seen universally had some kind of public area for their bottom floor - shops, eateries, rooms that seemed to be used for meetings or the like. With a careful eye, it quickly became obvious that these rooms - generally open on two or more sides - were prepared for flooding. Buffer zones, maybe. Anything that didn't look to be physically bolted to a wall was lightweight and easily movable, the walls devoid of any decoration that couldn't be taken down.

Thin chairs and stools, foodstuffs displayed on collapsible tables, signs and banners tacked loosely to ceilings and doors.

Adaptive, Maso thought, although if this was a long-term issue, it was hardly a surprise. The Aspen didn't seem all that different from humans, and he knew well enough how well his species adapted to adversarial climates.

He smirked at the brief thought of dealing with flooding of all things, on the Origin.

The planet's starlight was waning as they made it to Lanoch's - house? Maso wasn't really sure what to call it. He'd never seen anyone else in it, and the first floor was completely barren - although he'd once seen a group of children run into it while playing.

He glanced at Rèmsciore, who seemed to be happily watching the sky, and realized that he wasn't quite sure how to handle this. The other Aspen hadn't said much more than that he'd - what, wanted to talk with Lanoch?

Come to think of it, bringing some random hermit from the forest to the home of the person who - well, had maybe tried to get him killed, but had also prevented him from immediately dying after entering this world... might not have been his best idea ever.

Not that he could have done anything to prevent the other man from joining him, of course. Maso remembered what his low-level bisect had done. If Rèmsciore could just use that - which was apparently some kind of 'starter' magic - and target it properly, Maso was no match.

"So, ah." Maso scratched at the back of his neck. "You said you wanted to speak with her?"

Rèmsciore hummed softly. "I suppose you think it would be strange for me to go in with you, eh?"

"Yes."

"Well, don't worry about that." He grinned. "I just want to have a few words with them."

"I'll go in first," Maso said, "and see if it's all right."

"No, don't bother," Rèmsciore said, even as he shouldered past Maso, straight towards the stairs behind the building. "I'm sure I know them, anyways."

"You - what?" Maso said.

"Hey! Avi!" Rèmsciore hollered, taking the steps two at a time, staying right ahead of Maso. "Tiòne? Patra? I know it's one of you!"

Maso rounded the last flight of stairs a moment after him. At the exact same time, Lanoch stepped out from the balcony.

Rèmsciore stopped immediately, causing Maso to almost run into him, and he barely steadied himself at the last moment. The other man's sword was still swinging backwards, and it tapped against Maso's chest.

"Huh," Rèmsciore said. "I don't know you?"

Maso met Lanoch's eyes, and froze. Something in her expression was off - not angry, but cold, staring down at the two of them like she was watching a crow eat her only rations.

A moment passed and it was gone, her expression smoothed over. She smiled as she walked down the top few steps, towards the small landing they'd stopped on. "I could say the same," she said. "What's this about?"

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"I found this guy in the forest," Maso said, trying to take the reins of the conversation before it got too out of hand. "He helped me with the spider quest, and wanted to -" not visit her, apparently, so he came up with something on the spot: "- see the village, again."

Lanoch's eyebrows rose slightly. "I see! From out of town, then."

"I suppose you could say that," Rèmsciore said. "I'm Rèmsciore, but you can call me Ciore. I haven't been here in ages. Would you mind if I impose on you for a little?" He gestured towards the open floor beside them, which was mostly empty. "I see you have a fair amount of room, eh? I'd just like to be here for a festival."

"If you helped him with that quest, then I suppose so."

"Speaking of which," Rèmsciore said, "why didn't you send him with some more armor, or a better weapon? Those forest spiders aren't something to be taken lightly."

Lanoch frowned, but didn't say anything.

"Not to be rude, of course. I was just wondering, considering he'd have certainly died if I wasn't there."

A bit sweat trickled down Maso's arm. Something in Rèmsciore's voice was a bit stern, deeper than it should have been. Lanoch, for her part, seemed to be thinking deeply. There was a tension building, and - not for the first time since he'd made it to this world - Maso was completely lost as to why.

"Let's eat something," Maso said, breaking the silence. "I need to go over the changes in my crann, anyways."

"Right," Lanoch said, smiling again. She didn't meet either of their eyes, glancing out at the street below. "I was going to get something, but I forgot the festival was tomorrow. We can find special food then - I've got a few different fruit stored up, anyways."

Out of the corner of his eye, Maso caught Rèmsciore frowning.

"Great," he said anyways, walking around the other Aspen. "I'll grab something."

A few minutes later, and they were seated around the room's small table. Maso had already finished eating, the fruit - the same one he'd eaten when he'd first woken here - still somehow enough to be satisfying. Rèmsciore ate slower, and seemed to savour the taste; Lanoch had taken a few bites and was leaning back, staring at something outside of the room.

Both of them seemed to have taken this in stride - Rèmsciore showing up out of nowhere with Maso. It was a strange level of hospitality, but this was a different world; even Lanoch hosting Maso since he'd appeared on her balcony was a tad strange. On the Origin, a stranger appearing in your housing would have been thrown out before they could open their mouth - but rations only went so far, there.

Perhaps the abundance of food here, the way that there seemed to be more than enough room to double the village's population, changed things.

"I apologize," Lanoch said suddenly.

"What?" Maso asked, snapping his head towards her.

"I sent you on that quest knowing that you would die."

Maso blinked. "Why?"

She sighed. Her uneaten fruit wobbled slightly, and she tapped it to stop it from rolling. "It's complicated. I can explain, but you have to listen to me first, before asking questions."

"Okay," Maso said. It wasn't exactly like he had anything better to do.

"I'm preparing for a war," Lanoch said.

Rèmsciore broke out into coughs, putting down the fruit in his hands. "You -" cough "- are what?"

"Do you need water?" Lanoch asked, completely ignoring the question.

"Yes -" cough "- please."

A minute later, with Rèmsciore drinking from a small vessel and Lanoch having taken a few more bites of her food, she continued.

"It's not what it sounds like. I know the history of the Aspen - our people," she said, eyeing Rèmsciore. He seemed to have recovered. "The fighting with the Lilieth... that's over, at least as far as I'm aware."

"Then who?" Rèmsciore said. "We haven't fought anyone else in centuries."

"Don't interrupt me."

"Ah, sorry."

"As I was saying. The Thadh isn't promoting the... militarization that was happening before. I'm sure it still exists, but the reputation to be gained from that is minimal. It's given me a quest to deal with a particular issue, without military involvement, as much as possible."

"Against who?" Rèmsciore said, seeming curious now. He'd stopped eating, and was looking at Lanoch with an odd expression.

Maso thought about the different species that he knew to be present on the continent. The information he'd consumed in the void had covered a wide variety of them; he hadn't read that far into it, though, and only remembered a few. Other than the Lilieth, there were the Avalla, who supposedly lived high in mountains to the northeast, and the dwarves, who were rumored to live in those same mountains, though that was apparently a closely guarded secret.

He also knew that there was a human civilization - of some kind, at least - that sprawled across the northwestern area of the continent. Well, they were apparently human; without genetic testing, there was no way to know if they were actually the same species as Maso had been a part of, on the Origin.

That was an interesting thought, Maso realized, but they were mid-conversation, so he filed it away for later, notifying his neural augment to remind him afterwards.

Lanoch had already continued speaking. "The Thadh, in its depth of wisdom and breadth of knowledge, has determined that there is a problematic level of warmongering currently taking place in Midston."

Nobody said anything.

"Go," Lanoch said. "I know you're going to ask."

"Ah, well. Where's Midston?"

She sighed. "It's a major human city, northwest of the - well, you wouldn't know, anyways. It's in a fairly central location within human territory."

"Ah." Rèmsciore rubbed his chin. "I'm not seeing why that's relevant to anyone here, then. Or, for that matter, why that would merit sending Maso here on a suicide mission."

"I know how... how we Aspen are," she replied, looking off into the distance. "Nobody here wants to take responsibility for anything. Even the military was composed of - what, a few thousand people?"

"That's optimistic," Rèmsciore said.

"Right. That's why I needed to understand your resolve," she said, turning to meet Maso in the eyes. "I had to know how much you wanted this. It's not enough to just say that you want power, or - whatever it was you were looking for." She shrugged. "It's easy to say that you want something that the Thadh has to offer, harder to fight for it, through death and adversity."

"I see," Maso said. And he actually did, somewhat. Socially, this village was infinitely different from the military environment he'd completed his training in; the blind-willpower methodology that Lanoch seemed to be advancing was much more in line with what he remembered. If, well, extremely rough around the edges.

"You... see," Rèmsciore said, glancing at Maso out of the corner of his eye. "Okay. But, again. The human civilization is on the other side of the continent. Do you really think that this is a worthwhile quest?"

"The Thadh does," Lanoch responded. "It wants it enough that it's offering more reputation to me - and anyone who helps me with this, of course - than you've likely seen in your life. And it wants it more than that, even." She turned to look at Maso.

"It wants it so much that it sent you."