That evening, everybody sat around the fire, somewhat reluctant to discuss the day’s events. Setting up the camp had gone surprisingly well, not that it was difficult. Leo had laid out the wardstones his family had provided in two concentric circles, then everyone brought out meals from their Pockets. There was even a little sharing once the food appeared. No-one touched on anything sensitive during the meal, waiting to get the necessities out of the way first.

Once the initial rush to suck down some sustenance was over, Tenthé rose. “It’s obvious,” he began, “we’re having an issue with who should be in charge.”

Various personages shifted uncomfortably.

“As I gather, Leo wants to run things because he supplied most of the stuff and leans toward a military setup. Elishua thinks she should be in command because she has had a lot of experience growing up near the Wildlands and had been trained by the College. The Envoy supports Elishua because they are friends, and the kids will support anyone who lets them fight and promises excitement. I know having them here is strange, but the kids have one big advantage, although they don’t have much magic, they’re nearly indestructible.”

At this reference to themselves, the kids livened up and started nodding while mostly everyone else eyed them speculatively.

Tenthé continued, “But I don’t think they want to be in charge, and, anyway, none of us knows them. So, after we’re done here, go over and introduce yourselves. I’ve met them before, but I have no idea what their names are.

“Back to the main point. You shouldn’t put me in command, for… uh… reasons. And, we aren’t a military group, so, sorry Leo, we’re not going to change that. We can work out a few ways to defend ourselves, but I, for one, will do my own thing and I expect the kids to do the same. My opinion is that we’re heavy on offense. But that’s just a guess. I’m not the best at coming up with tactics, and I really don’t know how long this trip will take. Mostly since I can’t count. Even if we knew what we might run into, there’s no time to train. Plus, from what I’ve heard, the Wildlands throws the most random crap at travelers. Most of it we should be able to handle, but you never know. If you have an issue, bring it up now. After tonight, we’ll be traveling pretty fast.

“The main reason we are out here isn’t news to you. We’re here to find out what the Horde is doing. I’m not planning on fighting them, but, if we have to, it would be a good idea to slow them down so we can get word back to the City. That won’t be easy. This is their country.

“Most of you are here because I’ve never been out into the Wilds before, and need to sleep sometime. If we have to fight, let me do most of it, and you guys defend yourselves and each other.”

Leo couldn’t contain himself any longer. “This is absolute bullshit!” he exploded. “How can a kid like you do anything? I’m here because my family wants me here to check on our ventures, but the moment we run into something like the Horde, I’m gone!”

“Well, that’s good. It’s close enough to what I said. Which brings up a point. The instant things look dicey, I want all of you to take off. Leave me behind. Don’t worry, I’ll be okay. Maybe we’ll arrange to meet at one of the caches that Leo knows. Thanks for that idea, Leo.”

Leo was obviously confused at the turn of events. He wasn’t alone. Elishua and the Envoy were making motions as if they were about to protest.

Before that happened, Magister Grenville spoke out, “Ahem. Everyone. Tenthé’s right. He really is the Tenthé. The Tenth-Hand-of-the-Dreamer. That means he’s particularly suited to deal with problems like the Horde, and is telling you the truth. Plus, the auguries I have been allowed to see point out that what he said is a good way to go.

“What we need to figure out, though, is how to get through the Wilds before worrying about anything else. Why don’t we do this: let’s appoint the kids as sheriffs. If anyone gets out of line, they have permission to find out how far they can toss the offending party.”

The kids enthusiastically supported the idea, while the rest were, understandably, somewhat disturbed. To them, the kids were an unknown, but, to be honest, so far they appeared to be impartial.

With the threat of the kids, the next few hours were unexpectedly productive. Elishua, the Envoy, and Leo actually came up with a reasonable plan on how long the group should travel each day, where they were aiming for, the order they traveled in, where the main problems would likely be encountered, and who would be in charge on the trail and in camp.

Surprising enough, the only one to be tossed by the kids was the Envoy. Her claws were quite ineffective on them.

After the discussions, Leo took over setting up the encampment. His training covered how to arrange shelters, where to have a toilet, and how to set up the watches. He brought out a glyph inscribed stone that would let the current watch know when to wake the next. It would ensure the watcher remained awake with the judicious application of shocks and kept a record so no-one could avoid their responsibilities by leaving the stone somewhere. The kids insisted on sharing their watches, but even so, the assignments wouldn’t be onerous unless things became so difficult that they needed to double up.

After reaching an agreement, everyone prepared for the night, with the kids drawing the first watch.

As the sun rose the next morning, Tenthé was on watch. As far as he could tell, everything had been quiet, which would probably change as they travelled further from the City. He woke the camp when the watch-stone said it was time. As in the evening, food was shared, except for the Envoy, who ran off and chased something down. Upon her return, she had already cleaned any evidence off of her fur and was muttering that it had been much too long since she had eaten properly. And that city rats didn’t count.

Everybody, including the kids, were sore after their first day of riding, so they took it slow, with lots of breaks. They were approaching the edge of the City controlled region and could see one of the small cairns that showed roughly where the Wildlands started. Soon they would be where the Dreamer held no sway and randomness was the rule. Everyone had been warned to stay centered. Out here, they had to be their own little Dreamers to keep things stable.

Opposing their views would be the denizens of the Wilds, so anything could happen. They would follow the trails, which skirted the worst regions where the local fauna had a strong presence. Even so, they were likely to run into some fun along the way. That was assuming they didn’t stumble upon the Horde.

It was still relatively early in the day and everyone had been snacking, so there wasn’t any real reason to take many breaks. The caravan trail was well trod, but if they went that route, the trip to Angel City would take a good chunk of a year. Instead, they planned to take a courier path. Shorter, but more exciting.

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As they left the green of the Dreamer controlled regions, the topography of the Wilds took over. It was somewhat sparse: rocky and sandy, with clumps of trees and some swatches of grass. What was unexpected was the proliferation of flowers of wildly varying shapes and colors. Bugs and flying things of all sorts surrounded them. Everyone, except the kids, enabled their various anti-pest spells. The kids didn’t care. If something could get through their skin, they’d have worse problems. Even so, there were the occasional clouds of gnats that flew around their heads. The kids simply drew in deep breaths and ate them.

As they passed a brilliant blue bush, it broke apart into a number of puppy-sized caterpillars that drew near the group. Everyone was apprehensive, but the bugs did nothing more than ripple along beside the road. It seemed that not everything in the Wild was dangerous, but everybody kept a careful watch.

Elishua spoke loudly enough for all to hear. “A while ago, there was a push to try to categorize the flora and fauna of the Wildlands, but it fizzled out when nothing remained stable. One day a bush would be green and leafy, the next it would be brown and full of thorns. There was an infinite range of variation. As I recall, the researchers quit and started a toy shop.”

Mulling that tidbit of useless information, the group continued on. After a short time, Leo spotted the pile of glyph covered stones indicating the courier trail they had been looking for. The cairn was maintained by the passing caravans. Without that, it would revert back into the randomness that was the Wildlands. The new trail was easy to follow since there had been a goodly amount of business done between the two cities before the latest difficulties. It might degrade later, but that was a future problem.

The Envoy, in the lead, held up her hand to signal a halt. She was peering ahead and squinting.

“That doesn’t look right.” She pointed out where a small stand of trees was near the trail, even though it was still a fair distance away. The trees did seem strange as they were covered in big purple and black flowers. But, for some reason, the flowers appeared indistinct. A bit fuzzy.

After a few minutes of observation, the group proceeded cautiously. Approaching the copse, a deep buzzing could be heard.

“It’s not flowers. I think they’re crawling with big black and blue striped bugs, or something like that,” Leo ventured.

One of the creatures broke away from the mass on the tree and hovered in the air. A few more joined, all facing the travelers.

“Well, they know we’re here. Can anyone see what they are?” Leo asked.

Tenthé responded. “Yeah. They’re really big bees.”

Leo enabled some technique and peered closer. “Oh yeah. You’re right, they are bees. I’m not too fond of bees. And, these appear to be kind of agitated. And huge.”

He wasn’t wrong. A large number of the bugs were now in the air, darting around and making small lunges toward the travelers.

“Are we going to have to fight them?” Magister Grenville asked.

“Let me try something first,” Tenthé said. He rooted through his pockets and brought out a couple of jars. He opened one, then the other, and a stream of normal bees shot out and surrounded him in a cloud. Everyone except the kids looked a little apprehensive.

“Don’t worry,” Tenthé reassured them. “They’re under my control. If those other bugs get aggressive, let’s see how they like playing with my friends.”

The trail passed roughly twenty paces from the bee trees. It was closer than most of the group preferred except the kids, who didn’t care. To them, this whole thing was great fun.

As they approached, Tenthé’s bees suddenly broke away and swarmed the bigger insects who didn’t appear to enjoy the attention. The big bees found themselves at a disadvantage when it came to maneuverability, and after a few moments, zoomed away in all directions to escape their smaller cousins. When it was obvious that they had vanquished their foes, Tenthé’s bees returned. If a cloud of bugs could be said to have emotions, these ones seemed very proud of themselves. They happily crawled into their jars, which Tenthé stuffed back into his cloak.

“I like bees,” Tenthé declared to no-one in particular as the travelers continued on.

For the rest of the afternoon, the anti-pest spells had a good workout, and the kids were covered in bug ichor. The kids were shockingly fast; not many bugs that got close to them escaped being smashed. Even so, Tenthé noted the two kids kept vigilant, they weren’t so distracted by their fun that they forgot to stay aware of everything else around them. Tonight, he should get to know them better. At least, learn their names.

They continued on through the afternoon with occasional stops to feed and water the burros and stretch. It was best if the animals didn’t eat the grass, just in case. With Pockets they should have plenty of feed. If there wasn’t enough, it would mean something significant had happened, then they would have to see about using Leo’s family caches.

That evening, after everyone had eaten, the group relaxed on a rocky outcropping they’d picked for their campsite. Having solid stone underneath reduced the number of dimensions from which they could be attacked. Everybody was dressed warmly since the Wildlands cooled down quite a bit at night. There wasn’t a fire. Fire in the land of chaos was a bad idea. There were stories of very strange things coming to share the warmth.

Tenthé had done a mental sweep of the area. He’d found a few potentially dangerous beasts out there, but no Horde. The wardstones should be able to handle everything he’d noted, but in the Wildlands, it paid to be cautious.

As everyone sat together after eating, he took the opportunity to address the kids. “I suppose we should know you better. What’re your names?”

The two looked at each other, then one of them asked, “Our names, or our names?”

“Oh, just something to call you. We can’t keep calling you “the kids”. That isn’t clear. Like, uh, “Kid, you come here, something’s chewing on me! No, not you, you!”. See? It’s not easy to tell who I want.”

“Well, that’s my name.”

“What is?”

“Yu. Mom means me when she says “You come here!”. She said it’s spelled Y-U so we won’t get it confused with Y-O-U.”

Elishua jibed, “Oh right. That’ll work.”

“So, then, what’s your name?” Tenthé asked the other kid.

“Uh, call me An.”

“Anne? Like a girl? It’s hard to tell.”

“No, a different An, A-N. It’s a short form for Another. Like “My Gods, not another!”. Mom had trouble coming up with names.”

“Yeah, I met Eleventeen.”

“Good, then you know.”

“Eleventeen?” Elishua queried.

“Yeah, he’s in the Guardians at the College,” Tenthé explained.

“Uh-huh.”

“That’s right!” An said enthusiastically, “When we grow up, we all want to be the same as him.”

“You aren’t grown yet?” Leo asked.

“No, I’m only seventy-six and Yu’s young. Forty-three.”

“What are you?” the Envoy pried.

“Faerie,” Yu replied.

“That covers a lot of ground,” the Envoy returned.

“Yep.”

“Hah,” Magister Grenville barked, “Between Tenthé and An, I’m not the oldest person here! Ha-ha! Take that, mom!”

She didn’t explain herself, but passed around cookies. She hadn’t pulled them out of a Pocket and nobody could figure how she’d conjured them, but everyone took at least one, anyway. After that, they cleaned up and went to their various shelters. Tenthé had first watch, so Leo handed him the watch-stone.

This night was pretty quiet. There were only two zaps from the wards, one for a creature making a rustling noise, and a second that resulted in something else yipping as it fled.

When the watch-stone told him it was time, he went over to Leo’s shelter, kicked his feet until he roused, then crawled into his own blankets. He fell into a light sleep, his senses tuned to follow what was happening outside his tent, as always, ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

No different than usual.