A hot shower helped not only physically, but mentally as well. I was in so much better a mood as I came out of the shower. I went to the tent to change clothing and saw something on my bed: A small bouquet of flowers, tied together with stems the same way we would make flower crowns on Earth. For Keith to have made this, would have been a ton of work for him, and it was incredibly sweet. I know its stupid, and girly, but I just sat there for a bit, grinning like an idiot and sniffing the bouquet. Guys didn't really get me flowers. Yeah, the occasional thing from my dad, but I mean, that doesn't really count, and it was only for big stuff, like graduating high school. Aside from that though, it just wasn't a thing, largely due to my athleticism, as most guys assumed that, because of my liking sports, that meant flowers were out.

Getting dressed and turning off Privacy Mode, I went out, and it seemed that Rognar and Keith were in the middle of a project here at the end of the day. Keith was whittling a small piece of wood, while Rognar was... smoking? How the..., "Keith, are you making a pipe?"

Keith turned from where he sat at the fire, smiling, "Yup. So, as it turns out, the Rothani, much like some of our own Native American tribes, have a custom with smokin', so I figure, why not embrace it? Pop-pop used to make these kinds o' things, along with duck decoys. Pull up a seat."

"But... there isn't any tobacco," I said, looking around.

He did a sort of head bob, "Nah, y'don't necessarily need tobacoo, that's just what us humans came to for our regualr smokin' needs, an' even that wasn't in Europe 'til Colombus brought it on back t'Spain. There were some weeds in the guide that work for it. But it's good you're here. Greltha jus' got back, and I wanna try a trick."

Keith called out over the waterfall side of the bluff for Greltha, who came up carrying a fish, and a water container. When she arrived, Keither moved to a catch on his wristband, and took it off, "Alright, time for an experiment. Rognar, put this on, and if the green light beeps and lights up, press it."

Here, something went off. Both Rognar and Greltha, for the first time, looked angry, and it was sudden. Keith pulled back the wristband, "I'm sorry, I wasn't tryin' to cause offense."

Greltha caught her breath a second, then replied, "We know that, Keith, but for the Rothani, to bind one's wrists in shackles is the gravest offense. On Rothan, our home world, there were once invaders, and ancient tribe who enslaved our race for a long time, and it has stuck with us."

Keith nodded slowly, "I'm really sorry 'bout that, but that's not what this is. Y'all destroyed your wristbands on the first day. The wristbands let you get your survival gear, boons from your people, and talk with your species counsel. They can be taken off whenever, but that's why you guys never got supplies t'start with. I wanted to see if usin' the wristband could at least get y'all your things. It'd give us a ton of ability t'move forward on stuff if we're not havin' to split gear. I promise, y'can take it off immediately afterward, but just for the moment, please wear it."

Rognar and Greltha looked to each other, and it was Greltha who stepped forward, taking the offered wristband, and put it on. Sure enough, as soon as it resized, the green button lit up, and the beep sounded. Greltha pressed the button, and a container appeared, this time with what I had to assume was Greltha's name on it, and a screen popped up, with one of her own people there, much as Annabelle had been for us. They went over things, the same as they did with us. It was kind of perversely hilarious watching it, and Greltha opened her container, seeing the contents, again, much the same as our own. Next, she removed the wristband, and passed it to Rognar, who repeated the process, then returned the wristband to Keith. We'd just doubled our effective tools for survival, and Keith had an incredibly self-satisfied grin on his face.

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His words from the other day came back, 'you have to know when to break the rules'. Somewhere along, Keith had stopped playing the game, and was now actively playing against it. The strange thing was, we hadn't heard from Ravazh'Tik since then, had received no censure by whatever counted as referees, and we were still receiving items as normal, and the communication with Annabelle was still working. Keith was flipping them all off repeatedly with malice of forethought now, and they still had yet to come back at him about it. Did they just not realize? Or did they not get why he'd do it? There were a lot of questions with no attainable answers in the foreseeable future.

Keith and Rognar finished up their whitling of pipes, then sat smoking some sort of local weed together with Greltha. I certainly wasn't taking up smoking right now, but they all looked really happy, just relaxing, having a smoke by a warm fire. Even though they were essentially playing, you only had to look around the camp to see that progress had been made. Greltha's trees that she'd pushed down had been stripped of branches and stacked, though not broken down into proper logs for construction yet. Looking at the trees, Greltha at least was far stronger than any human I've ever seen.

After their smoke break, we did some basic prep work: Taking vines, pulling them apart, and then weaving them back together as three strand rope. While we certainly had paracord and rope, Keith wanted to be as economical with it as possible, and thus, making new ropes for use was a priority. I think it also gave him something he could do, even as injured as he was... though I was aware he had to take somewhat frequent breaks, generally either the shoulder or his ribs making even small tasks take noticeably longer. Again, I wasn't about to complain, and with the Rothani helping, he wasn't directly needed for his physical skills. He would be weeks on the mend, but he seemed to be trying to do what he could, which was an encouraging sign.

Eventually, with as much done as we figured we could get to, it was time to get to bed. I helped Keith into his hammock, but apparently, he had a little bit more to talk about, "Val, in the mornin', you and Greltha're headin' out. We need to be makin' contact with the other species, get any that'll come back. I'd do it, but... I'm gettin' winded when I go down to take a leak, let alone any larger trek."

"Keith, this is your plan. I don't know what I'd be doing," I replied, sitting on my own hammock.

He paused for breath, "Sure y'do. They ain't that much different than us, come right down to it. They're all just tryin' to survive this thing and keep their people outta chains. You were an office manager before, right? I need y'to headhunt the other species, an' convince 'em we're their best bet. This is somethin' you're already skilled at. We need t'find the Vergal and the Asu first, since it seems they're not fairin' too well."

I hadn't really thought about it like that. For all that all these various species were very visibly different than us, they were trying to do the same thing as we were. The same basics of life were true throughout the competition: Safe drinking water, a safe, warm place to sleep, and food. It didn't really require much else to get started. I pulled out the pizza box, "Alright, the Vergal are the lizard people, right?"

Keith considered, "Yeah, but I'd reckon they're more like stegosaurs with the backplates. The Asu are the upright bunny folk. They might be a bit harder, cause they're fast, and I'm pretty sure they're herbivores."

"Wait, but if they're herbivores, wouldn't that make them less of a threat?", I paused.

"Hell no! A bear'll run away from yellin' 'hey bear' at it an' bangin' some pots. Wolves'll stay away from you 'less they've got numbers. A moose or elk, if they think they can take ye, they'll fuck yer world up. Predator animals're fundamentally lazy: They don't wanna fight you to kill you. They just want the meat. It's all about conservin' energy for them, " He chuckled a bit, and winced shortly after.

We went over some more details, before I laid down, and went to sleep. I was woken just before dawn by Greltha, who was wearing her own pack, and gear, "Miss Val, it is time to depart. We have a long journey ahead of us."

I got up, stretched, and like Greltha, packed up items. I sifted through the boon bags, finding the symbols that had been displayed with the Asu and the Vergal, and we headed out. Checking the bags, there was a hand-woven length of red cloth, with gold filigree, bearing three gold claw marks in the middle for the Vergal. For the Asu, it was a sort of beaded choker. I put the choker on, and hung the cloth over my backpack, hoping that they would see them and give us a moment to talk, and get to understand our language instead of immediately trying to kill us.