Vur munched on what he suspected to be part of a sheep and looked around. There were a bunch of people who were sparsely dressed. He seemed to be at a party, but for some reason, it was oddly quiet. Maybe they were all mute; they didn’t respond when he greeted them. Instead, they stared at him with glittering eyes. One person knelt to the ground, then the rest followed, the group of people slumping down like a wave.

“Psst, Vur,” Stella said and poked her head out of his chest. “I think they’re worshipping you.”

Vur nodded and swallowed while tossing away the long bone in his hand. “Looks like it.” These people were behaving exactly like his sheep-people subjects did before Alora ate most of them. Vur swept his gaze over the crowd. His companions were nowhere to be seen. Well, Sung did say they’d most likely be separated; all he had to do now was raise a big-enough ruckus for Tafel to find him. How should he do that? Well, first things first, he had to get rid of the smell that was bothering him. “Mistle and Zilphy, clean up that pyramid over there.”

At first, Vur wanted to land on the pyramid while he was falling from the sky, but upon smelling it, a wave of nausea washed over him. It smelled like when Sera forgot to freeze his bears for him when he was younger; they rotted and the stench was unbearable. The pyramid smelled even worse by at least a thousand times. What exactly were they doing on it? Pooping? Weren’t they self-conscious? To poop in plain view of everyone, these people sure were brave.

The two elementals didn’t say anything, but a pillar of water rose out of Vur’s back and flooded towards the pyramid. It crashed against the black rocks and, with the help of Zilphy, scraped away the top layer of unknown material, revealing a white surface underneath. Some of the natives screamed, some of them worshipped even harder, but one thing was for certain: they weren’t actually mute. Vur just couldn’t understand anything they were saying.

“Hey! You missed a spot! Send some water over here.”

“Don’t order me around.”

“Don’t approach my husband!”

Vur poked the brown rune on his arm. “Are they still arguing?”

“Well, nothing’s changed, so yes,” Diamant said. “Do you want me to catch those people that Mistle washed away? They seemed pretty important.”

Vur rubbed his chin. “Yeah, catch them.” Maybe they were the rulers of these people. If that was the case, then if he beat them up, he’d be the new ruler. Wouldn’t it be extremely easy for Tafel to find him if he conquered this land? Eventually, news of this would reach her as long as she was in the same region—unless she couldn’t understand anything the natives were saying either.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

While Vur thought of a way to catch Tafel’s attention, five people were brought in front of him via a giant earthen hand. One of them was better dressed than the rest of the natives, and he said something, but of course, Vur didn’t understand a single word. The two stared at each other, and the well-dressed man lowered his head. If he weren’t suspended in the air by the earthen hand, his forehead would’ve touched the ground.

“I feel stinky.” A green rock materialized on Vur’s shoulder. “But the place does smell a lot better now that I transported all that crud elsewhere.” Zilphy blinked at the well-dressed man. “He’s saying something. I can hear the wind whistling through his lips.”

“Can you understand him?” Vur asked and raised an eyebrow.

Zilphy thumped her sticklike arm against her rocky body. “Of course!”

“Really?”

Zilphy wrinkled her eyes at Vur and snorted. “I’m an elemental who can sense the tiniest changes in the wind. If I can’t lipread, then there isn’t anyone else in the world who’s qualified to do that.”

“But he’s speaking a different language.”

Zilphy froze for a moment before snorting again. “Don’t compare us wind elementals with you normal people! I can understand what people want to say using the essence of the wind that their words release.”

Vur tilted his head. Is that how it worked? “Can you translate for me? I’ll speak, and you translate.”

“Nope.” Zilphy shook her body from side to side. “I can understand their words through the essence of wind, but they can’t understand me.”

“What essence of wind? She’s lying to you.” Mistle appeared on Vur’s left shoulder and rolled her eyes. She pointed at Zilphy. “And how dare you claim credit for my work? I’m the one who transported all that crud away.”

“Nuh-uh! I did it!” Zilphy crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t listen to her, Vur.”

There was a muttering sound, and Vur ignored the two elementals. The well-dressed man was speaking at the ground. Vur tapped on Zilphy’s head, pulling her away from her argument with Mistle. “What’s he saying?”

“He’s saying, uh…, please, help his people!” Zilphy bobbed up and down. “You see that house over there?” She pointed at a wide building. “There’s sick people inside that house, and he’s begging for you to cure them.”

Vur scratched his head. “I guess I can do that,” he said and took another piece of meat off the table before walking towards the house Zilphy pointed at. After all, he was eating their food, it wouldn’t be right not to help them out. Besides, they were going to be his people anyway once he conquered them. Helping his people was helping himself.

Inside of the house, there were dozens of people lying down. They were covered with cloths and tree bark, but it was still easy to see the bumps and sores covering their bodies. Vur wrinkled his nose at the smell, and he waved his arm. A green wind washed over the sick people, and their bumps and sores shrank and healed. They groaned, and their eyelids rustled, and the women taking care of them stood up in shock.

“All done,” Vur said and turned around. He was greeted by a bunch of stunned faces; part of the crowd had followed him here. He nodded at them before turning towards Zilphy. “What are they saying now?”

“They’re obviously thanking you, silly! Anyone can tell you that even without the essence of wind.”

Stella popped her head out of Vur’s chest. “Does this essence of wind really exist?”

Zilphy snorted. “If I say it does, then it does!”