The first thing Victoria noticed upon waking up was the notable lack of pain in her shoulder. Ever since the injury, the damn thing had been a quiet background ache, the kind of pain that you don’t even notice until it’s gone. That didn’t mean there was no pain at all, her shoulder was still sore now that she cared to examine it, but it was certainly much easier on her. This instantly put her in a good mood.

That mood was further enhanced when she got a fire started within the hour. Taking a moment to sit down and eat, she laid out her plan for the day. That was to find whatever threw that spear into her weird… deer… thing. With any luck, she would be able to join whatever group it came from. Assuming they were friendly. Not being able to talk to them might harm that, but she had a solution: bribery. She had food to hand over, as a gift.

Still, that might not be enough. Which is why she got to work making a necklace out of claws and teeth. If these people were anything like tribal humans, they probably wouldn’t mind the morbidity too much.

Just as she was finishing her work, three notifications blinked to life on her system. Opening it, she grinned.

[Basic eavesdropping (common) has been added to Sponsorship (The Keeper of Secrets)]

[Lie detection (uncommon) has been added to Sponsorship (The Keeper of Secrets)]

[Medkit (common) has been added to Sponsorship (Fluctuating Chaos)]

Victoria grinned. She always enjoyed it when investments paid off. Both sponsorships were looking very, very good. Her decision hinged on whether or not she could make allies with the locals. If she could, social ability would be a necessity. If she couldn’t, she’d be slugging it in the jungle for a while longer. That being said, this “chaos affinity” sounded important.

Whatever the case, she set out to find the hunters. She was getting more familiar with this jungle the longer she stayed. That brought a little bit of spite to her, that she was forced to figure this all out with no choice in the matter. It was useful though. She briefly considered getting lost on purpose, as an act of rebellion, but that wouldn’t hurt the sick bastards that brought her here, so she refrained.

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

As her thoughts meandered, she noticed something in the mud. An odd slide mark, like something was drug here. Not quite in the same direction as she’d brought her stolen food, but close. Looking closer, there were marks in the grass and shrubbery. A twig snapped off here, a crushed leaf there. Following it away from her little camp, she didn’t have to follow far to hear noises approaching. Quiet rustles of bodies through undergrowth, near-imperceptible hisses, and clicks. She was put on high alert immediately. She backpedaled some, taking cover behind a tree until two huge lizard people stepped out. They sniffed the air, searching, spears in each of their hands. She chose then to step out, hands raised, holding a strip of cooked meat.

Both whipped their heads around to face her, raising their spears. One of them let out a low, continuous hiss. Now that she was out in the open, she could see they had a foot or two of height on her, which was pretty damn tall considering she was five foot eight. They were built, too, with wide muscular frames. Both had green scales, one with red streaks around his or her snout. Each had a simple, rough shirt over them, hanging down to their knees. A thick tail dragged behind them on the ground, leaving that distinct dragging mark she’d seen earlier. Perhaps one had seen her earlier, and decided having numbers could never hurt.

She made sure to not look them in the eyes directly, head bent slightly down and back slightly hunched. Her machete was hooked into the belt loop at her side. Hesitantly, she called out to them, quietly so as not to startle.

"Hello? Can you understand me?” Both seemed to tense at hearing her voice but relaxed a bit right after. It was a good sign that they hadn’t thrown those spears already.

They hissed, clicked, and made an odd squeaking noise at each other for some time. Probably communication, or maybe they just made those sounds when nervous. Or hungry.

Slowly, gently, she began approaching, freezing again when they barked and raised their spears higher. She held out the food to them. After a hiss and a click, the one without the red streaks slowly approached. It stopped about ten feet away and made a clicking noise at her.

She reached out a bit farther with the meat. Hesitantly, the lizard person took it from her and backed away. Struck by an idea, she took out the pink slippers she’d had since coming here and tossed them over. Both lizards flinched back, staring at the slippers. Those two were picked up and examined, this time by the one with red streaks.

They seemed much less tense, now that she had hopefully conveyed she wasn’t there to hurt and or eat them. They lowered their spears to their sides, still holding them but not pointing them her way. Progress. She also lowered her hands. Now she took out the little necklace she had made. Too small for these people, but maybe they’d use it as a bracelet or something.

Holding it in both hands, she made a grunt to get their attention and took a couple of tentative steps forward. She held the necklace in front of her in the offering. This time they let her get close, though still looked visibly on guard. They took the necklace directly from her hands and kept communicating with each other. After a couple of uncomfortable minutes of listening to them, they seemed to agree on a plan.

They looked at Victoria and red streaks barked at her before both of them turned and made to leave. Victoria followed them, which they seemed to allow. The outcome of this would decide her choice of sponsor.