Hannah looks exactly like I remember her, which is weird. Even Jorgen seems to have aged a little over the course of time I have been here.

After her reunion with Jorgen, in which I simply ignored it and swung my sword and shield, she walks up to me. "Do you remember me, Los?"

"Yes, Lady Hannah, it's Yos though" I can't shake the feeling that this form of speech makes it sound like I am speaking to an aristocrat, but it is merely the respectful conduct of this world. My time with Jorgen has taught me that when you first address someone in a conversation, or speak about them in third person, you add their "title", especially important if they are older than you. Addressing them only by name presumes you are equally worthy of respect, and that's insulting to the elders, apparently.

In addition, referring to someone in third person with only their name is like saying "That person is a close friend of mine", which can also be insulting if incorrect.

"Has Jorgen been to hard on you? He didn't want me here presumably because I'd find it too harsh" she continues.

A brief session of recollections of the various tortures Jorgen has subjected me to pops up. I feel myself frowning involuntarily.

To my surprise, Hannah hugs me immediately after, and I am also perplexed by my own response to that. I can feel myself easing up, and tears well up in my eyes. I remember the love and affection my moms from both my lives have shown me up this point. As I lean into the embrace, I am happy that I still have the form of a kid, otherwise it would be really embarrassing.

After half a minute so, Hannah lets go with a "must've been hard". I quickly wipe my tears, before they spill out on their own.

Hannah quickly starts to work on a few things. First she has brought some tunics, which she adjusts so they fit me. My old ones, that went down to my knees when I first arrived, only barely covers my stomach by now. She also cleans, which we apparently neglected too much. We still did so, but apparently not to the standards of Hannah. She also cooks in the evening, which end up being the best meal ever, at least as far as I can remember.

The next day, I prepare myself for the dungeon as I had been doing every morning for a long time, but Jorgen stops me and brings me to living room. "You know how humans with gifts can use magic?" Jorgen asks.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I feel like I heard my mother mention something like that before, so I just nod. "Well Hannah is here to teach you how to use magic. Usually you'd have to sign up for working as a retainer to a noble, or with the church to learn, so treasure this oppurtunity!"

"Hannah has a gift?" News to me at least.

"Not quite" Jorgen smiles wrily. "Eldrymheh, show him".

Upon hearing that foreign-sounding name, Hannah quietly nods, turn around and shows me her back. She drags down her dress and I am astonished by what I see. There is a hole in her back. Not only that, the inside is clearly wood. The skin approaching the hole seems to crack and split before reaching the rim of the hole, at which point, the cracks become finer and finer until they reveal themselves to be part of the grain of the wood.

Jorgen laughs upon seeing my stunned expression. "Eldrymheh is a dryad, probably the best among the races at magic. I had Hannah come here to teach you, Yos". But something slightly bugs me.

"But why aren't you teaching me yourself, Old Man?" to which Jorgen does an embarrassing maneuver. Making a grimace and averting his eyes. He clearly finds it embarrassing.

"You gotta understand, I didn't have anyone to teach me. And when I did have the coin to finance it, I was working everyday and me and others were dependant on my income. And then I felt I was too old and it wouldn't have made much difference anyway. And I never was good at sitting still and paying attention". Excuses fly out of the old man's mouth, one after the other. This shitty old man, he deems fit to torture me for some minor, possible benefits, but couldn't bear learning magic. What a hypocrite.

"I tried teaching him when we first met some 60 years ago" Hannah says. "But he didn't take to it very easily, and has been avoiding it ever since".

"Hannah!" Jorgen exclaims, presumable to try and salvage his reputation.

But 60 years ago huh? Leaving aside that would probably make Jorgen older than I thought he was, Hannah, or Eldrymheh, is also that old?

"Are dryads immortal?" I ask.

"We live until we are killed" she astutely informs me. How envious, all that time on their hands, they can do anything.

"Why were you pretending to be human?".

"Boy, do you remember the teachings about god, and what our purpose is on this world?" Jorgen interjects, to which I nod.

"It is our purpose to multiply and spread across the world. While some think it is fine for the children to be whatever, but some people, especially the priests think it's a betrayal of humankind to produce children of another"

Wait, so they can have children? I had expected them to be unable to produce offspring between different species. Or maybe it is races at this point.

"It would be one thing for a human woman to take a non-human husband, but for a man to take non-human wife is considered unacceptable"

"Why the difference?"

"Children share the species of their mother, of course"

Well, there goes my understanding of reproduction. I wonder if I have learnt anything in my previous life that's useful in this one.

"Well, Jorgen, make yourself scarce and go hunt some food. We'll begin the first lesson immediately" Hannah ends my lesson on biology, eager to start one on magic instead.