“Guy… that was awesome!!” Iman screamed at Azim.

“My name is Azim,” the robot replied calmly. “At least, that is the name I have been assigned for now.”

“Oh. Sorry. Azim. Right,” corrected Iman. “That was crazy, man! How’d you get your hand to even do that? Did that not hurt?”

“I do not feel pain the way you or my companions do.”

“Uh… what?”

Riva shouted from the cart, intervening as she had done a few times now. “He just means that he…” she paused, mumbling to herself. “…shoot, how do I even explain that?”

Noticing that Riva was unsure what to say, Leone piped up, “He just has small hands!”

“What?!” exclaimed the concerned woman, shooting Leone a look. “That was the best you could come up with?”

Before Leone could even say anything, Iman shouted to the both of them from where she and Azim stood, “Oh, okay! Didn’t think of that!”

Riva stared at the young nør elf a bit dumbfounded, while Leone just shrugged, admitting that he had a feeling his line would work. With the thorn-covered monster taken care of, Azim and Iman walked back to the carriage to group up with the other two. Seeing Azim had returned, Roman hopped off the cart and walked up to the robot, trotting in circles around his legs.

“Aww, who’s this cute lil’ fella’?” Iman asked energetically.

“This is Roman,” the android replied, not doing much to react to the creature down at his feet. “He is a mosstail. He enjoys the warmth that my body emits. Is there anything else needed for dealing with the underslug, or is it no longer of any worry?”

The young woman perked up at the question. “Oh! Gee, you know, honestly, I totally forgot about it,” she admitted. “Yeah, no, we do have to fill the hole back up. The underslug has come back from much more, I’ve seen from other travelers. It’s got some kind of wicked regeneration. So even if you beat it down it always comes back. You know, maybe it’s the dirt! Ah, whatever, it ain’t my worry, that’s for sure. Let’s get it covered back up.”

So the four adventurers got to work filling the giant hole the beast had sprawled out of, shoveling mounds of dirt from around its ridge on top of the thorny creature. It took the four of them about fifteen minutes, piling dirt and rocks together to shove down the hole and bury the beast. After the plain was somewhat flat again, the dirt piled up so that it was level with the paths on either side of it, Iman ran off to grab something. The others were not sure what it was getting until she brought it back. It was the wooden sign indicating the fork in the road. Of course. She planted it firmly into the mound once more, returning it to its home. The group stared at the sign, once again noticing the blacked-out sections that only left unlabeled arrows visible to incoming travelers.

Considering the fact that Iman was a regular of this area, Leone bothered to ask the young woman something the whole group had been curious about: which path was the better path to take. She looked confused for a moment, before a light bulb went off above her head and she replied, “Oh, they both lead to the same place.”

“Oh, really?” Leone asked. “Like it doesn’t matter whether you go north or south, you’re still gonna’ end up at.. whatever the next town is?”

“No, I mean,” the nør elf started, “both paths just come together right after this fork in the road. Like they separate right here and come back together in like 10 to 15 meters. You know, you just go around… this guy… and then you keep walking the way you were.”

“What?!” Leone and Rival both shouted at the same time, while Azim just stood still, listening silently.

“Yeah,” Iman continued. “They don’t go anywhere special. You just take either eye around this spot right here. That’s why I blacked out the sign in those two spots, ‘cuz I realized you didn’t need directions of where you were going for each choice. They were just the same.”

“Wait, wait, I’m sorry hun’, did you make this sign?” wondered Riva.

“Yes, ma’am, I did,” the young woman replied proudly.

“So you put two directions of where to go, but then realized people didn’t need to know where each one led because they led right to each other 30 seconds later,” clarified Riva.

“Yes, ma’am, that’s right,” Iman replied again, still proud.

“But… why even make the sign in the first place?” Leone chimed in. “If they just converge into each other, you didn’t really need to make a sign highlighting the two choices, because, like you said, the choice doesn’t matter in the slightest. So you could’ve just not made a sign in the first place. Right?”

“Well, yeah but—“ Iman paused. “Aw, gee, you’re totally right.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Riva giggled for a second before reassuring Iman, “It’s alright, hun’. You were trying to be helpful, and I’m sure the people who came through here didn’t think about it much, at least not until they made it to the other side. It’s all okay.”

Iman perked up a bit, regaining a bit of confidence and comfortability with the group. She thanked Riva, who mentioned that she was still waiting for a drink. The woman added that it was getting late and if they could not get to Big Bart’s soon, they would have to camp for the night, which she did not want to do two nights in a row.

Iman, who had been sleeping in these woods for the past few months, was surprised by a traveler’s contempt at the idea of camping for the night and asked the group if they were wealthy. Riva assured the nør elf that they were not, but rather that she was not used to going on long adventures like this and was not used to making camp before reaching a desired destination. She mentioned what town she was from, down toward the south end of Brell, which Iman had never heard of. Of course.

Azim was the first one to ask, “If you are no longer going to be staying here, what do you plan on doing with your life now?”

“Dang, way to make me think about my future like that,” Azim shot back.

The android stammered, “Oh! I apologize if I—“

Cutting off the metal man, Iman assured, “I’m just kidding, guy. Azim, sorry. It ain’t a thing. I’ve been knowing what I want to do, I just haven’t bothered to take the right steps toward doing it. I want to travel the world, spreading joy through my music. I want everyone to hear my sound, and it make them feel better. Not just from its magic, but from its melodies! I don’t necessarily want the fame, but I want people everywhere to know hope is on the way when they hear my music coming ‘round the hills.”

Well, that’s really sweet hun’,” acknowledged Riva.

“But I ain’t joining one of them traveling bands, no ma’am. If I’m going to be a great Musician, I need to do this all on my own. I can’t have any ounce of my success be attributed to the work of someone else, especially not several someones else. If people are gonna hear me, they’re gonna hear me.”

“I respect that,” Leone commented.

It was then that Azim asked the nør elf if she wanted to travel with him and his companions. She was stunned, as were his friends, at the invitation. Riva so much so that she asked the robot if he was sure.

“Her goals are admirable, however, they also sound daunting. If it is all right with her, it seems probable that she might run into conflict on her own, most notably if she intends on traveling the entire continent. She does not want to be a member of a band, however we are not one. Therefore, I would propose it would not be an issue for her to travel alongside us, as she would still be accomplishing her goal of being an individual musician.”

The others all looked at one another, reeling from the robot’s words monotone words. Iman supposed the metal man was right, and the idea would not go against her interest. She double-checked, asking Riva and Leone if they played music at all, to which the two companions simultaneously assured her that they did not. She considered the idea for a moment longer, asking if the travelers really wouldn’t mind her tagging along. At her question, Riva pulled Azim to the side.“Dear, you realize if she’s around you’re going to have to be more open about what you are?” the woman whispered to the robot. “I mean, if we all travel together, who, or what you are, is going to prove itself relevant more and more. Are you okay with her being a part of that?”

“I fail to see any issue with Iman possessing complete awareness about what I am,” Azim stated squarely. I am a robot, and that is not secretive information. I informed you of what I was the first time we crossed paths.”

“T-That’s true, but…” Riva stuttered. “ I don’t know. I’m not saying I don’t trust her, she seems like a lovely girl, I’m just worried about you. I don’t know how secretive you should be, or, like you said, if it even matters. This is still new to me, too, hun’. You understand that? I don’t exactly know how to go about something that, by all accounts, shouldn’t exist.”

“I understand. I do not intend to cause any problems.”

And you’re not, dear. You’re not. I promise. Again. I don’t know if either option is even right or wrong. I would just maybe want to be careful until we do.”

“I understand. Do you believe there is any threat to revealing the truth of my identity to Iman?”

“… As unsure as I am, I do think it is up to you. If you really don’t see any harm in it, I will not encourage that you don’t. Okay, dear?”

“Okay. We do not have to say anything now, however, when the time comes, I will provide what information is needed.”

Giving a final nod to the android, Riva and Azim turned back to face the other two. Before speaking up, Riva managed to catch the last wind of what awkward excuse for a conversation Leone was holding with the nør elf. “So, did you put those flowers in your hair yourself, or— Oh, thank Viyona…” the young man sighed, seeing Riva had something to say.

“Well, Ms Iman Ifta, if you would really like to join us on our quest, you are more than welcome to. We could happily welcome you as our musician. Our solo musician.”

“Yeah, you can be my entourage.”

Leone and Riva stared at the young woman with expressionless faces.

“What? I’m not gonna advertise that you’re all my groupies or something. I can’t be a lone traveling musician who has a bunch of help. Even if you don’t play anything, that would still defeat the purpose. No. You guys can't be any part of me in any way. I got it. I’m just a hitchhiker, and that’s what I’ll stay. I catch a ride with people every now and then to get me from place to place, I never know where I’ll end up. I just happen to have been with you guys for a while now. But that's okay, it doesn’t matter what—“

The adventurers quickly realized that the nør elf had lost herself in a rant, declaring so many things that she would ensure or tell strangers, to the point that her words started to lose their meaning. The others watched in awkward silence as Iman rambled, letting her wheel spin as she processed every single thought she had in real-time. She went on about telling different townsfolk her role in the group, getting ahead of herself and thinking she was already famous, and several other ideas that Leone and Riva didn’t even hear. They soon stopped listening to the rambling nør elf, glancing at one another in awkward agreement.

While the young woman rationalized to herself how their new companionship would make sense, the others climbed back into the carriage, Leone patting the horses on the way up, and waited for her to get in. Soon enough, the nør elf realized that she was talking to no one and scrambled after them, apologizing for getting lost in thought. Riva said it was of no concern, assuring her that “the boys do it, too.”

With those reassuring final words, the group charted forward down the right path of the fork, onward to the promised tavern that waited them.