Chapter 6:

While Thomas went out to gather more Caarsi berries, the party back in the Grove was having a tense conversation.

“What the hell were you doing Smith!?” Markus shouted.

“What do you mean what was I doing? Did you see what he did to Trish?” Smith yelled back.

“Both of you calm down! Markus lay back down.” Trish cut in.

“No Trish, this is important.” Markus responded “All of you don’t quite seem to understand just how close of a call that potentially was. That man took down a Silver-toed Lynx on his own without any equipment. Half of us are wounded and we don’t even fully know where we are! What would you have done if he decided to turn on us Smith?” He shot a pointed glare at the other man.

Smith looked somewhat chastised but not completely convinced. “Still, was there any reason that he had to do that to Trish? Look at her, she can barely use her right hand any longer! Even then it’s not like he could beat us all!”

“Well I can’t say it was necessary to injure her wrist like that, but his actions do make some sense from his perspective. It seems he truly doesn’t have much knowledge on Caarsi berries and the bit he does have is from observing a Choradin Hare eating them. Choradin Hare do not eat cold attributed mana, therefore they would ignore the blue cold attributed Caarsi berries.”

“See you don’t think it was necessary either!” Smith gloated, seemingly ignoring the second half of what Markus said.

“Indeed” Markus conceded “but I am almost sure he didn’t do that on purpose.”

“What? not on purpose!? He’s able to beat a silver-toed Lynx but can’t control his strength when stopping a normal woman? How does that make sense!?”

“haaaa…” Markus sighed. “It would make sense if he doesn’t even truly understand how strong he is. I’ve had my suspicions for a while but after hearing about his encounter with a Choradin Hare and lack of knowledge on Caarsi berries well…”

“Doesn’t understand his own strength? What do you mean Markus?” Trish asked this time.

“Trish you should be able to feel it when he comes back, but he has no control over his mana. I’m sure you would have noticed earlier if you weren’t so focused on Elana and the others.”

“No control of his mana?? But that would mean he doesn’t even know how to use magic. How is that possible? Normal people can’t best the weakest of Beasts, let alone a Silver-toed Lynx.” Smith interjected.

“That I can’t tell you. But it’s either that or he’s such a powerful expert he doesn’t feel the need to control his mana which I think we all know isn’t the truth.”

They both nodded their heads to that. If he was truly such an expert there is no way that he would have no knowledge of Caarsi berries, and he should have been able to completely obliterate the Silver-toed Lynx. Not just fight it to a stand still.

“Fine… I still don’t like it though.” Smith relented.

Markus inwardly gave a sigh of relief. It seemed the potential disaster had been navigated successfully, assuming the stranger didn’t attack them when he got back. Which Markus didn’t think was likely. Everything the man had done so far was in support of them. He had defended them, helped them find a safe place and even given them Caarsi berries. Markus didn’t think the man wanted to be their enemy.

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Thomas ran into a problem as soon as he got to the Caarsi berry bushes. I don’t have anything to carry the berries in. He normally used the bark bowl when foraging but that was still back in the Grove. Sighing he filled his one empty pocket with what he could, making sure to grab a majority of the blue berries. Sounded like these actually aren’t poisonous which is a pleasant surprise. The berries no longer grew as fast as they used to. Where they used to fully grow within a couple of days. It now took them multiple weeks to fully mature.

After grabbing what he could Thomas headed back in the direction of the Grove.

By the time he arrived back at the Grove, the sun was setting. He did not immediately enter, but rather stuck to the edges just out of site. How do I act? He didn’t feel as if he had truly done anything wrong. He had stopped the woman thinking that she was about to ruin the medicine she was making, and potentially hurt her party members. Do I just act as if basically nothing happened?

Not truly coming to a conclusion, but getting tired of just standing around Thomas entered the Grove.

Almost immediately he felt eyes on him. He ignored them and looked for the Herbalist. He found the woman close to where she was previously, still tending to the wounded. As he approached her he noticed that her wrist had turned an ugly yellow. Ah shit, it's completely bruised.

Approaching the woman he made sure she noticed him before he got too close. He held out one of the berries for her to take before depositing the rest in the bark bowl. The Herbalist just stared at him for a moment seemingly not sure what to do.

“Ah, thank you. You went to get more Caarsi berries?”

Thomas simply nodded his head, then roughly motioned in the direction of her wrist. “I’m sorry about that. I didn't mean to injure you.”

A small smile split the woman's face. “That’s okay, you did what you did with good intentions. It’s not broken so it doesn’t hinder me too badly.”

Not exactly sure what to do next, Thomas headed for the Grove Tree. “Ah hold on! You’re injured!” The herbalist called.

Thomas turned to find her moving towards him. He looked down at his calf seeing the mentioned injury. This will heal fairly quickly. He had been injured multiple times in the last two years, and they all just healed on their own as long as he rested.

The woman caught up to him, and reached out lightly holding his arm. “Were you going to rest by the big central tree there?”

“uh, yes” Thomas responded awkwardly, caught off guard by the sudden contact.

“Okay come on.” She started off pulling him along.

Once they arrived at the Grove Tree the woman let go of his arm. “Now lay down and let me see your calf.”

“That’s not necessary, I will be fine.” He tried to tell the woman.

“Oh no you don’t! None of that tough guy stuff out of you. I hear enough of that from Steve, Scott and Mike.”

“I am not trying to boast. I have been injured like this before, I will heal.”

“Shush you, now let me see your calf.”

The woman wasn’t taking no for an answer so Thomas laid down on his side giving her easy access to his calf but letting him keep an eye on his surroundings.

“Good. Now let's see.” The woman mumbled as she started to examine his calf. “Hmph, you're still bleeding. It's quite deep as well, I’m going to need to use something strong to make sure this doesn’t worsen. It’s a miracle that your bone isn’t broken, with how deep this bite is it had to have reached your bone...” the Herbalist turned to her bag rummaging around for a second before pulling out a small container.

“I’m going to use the poultice I made earlier from the Caarsi berries, it’ll help the wound recover cleanly making sure you don’t have any issues with walking. Though it doesn’t appear that you are having any trouble with that currently anyway.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Thomas turned to retort. The woman's only response was a glare. “From what I could understand before, that stuff must be valuable. If you just have something to use to prevent infection then I should be fine. Like I said I’ve been injured like this before and was fine without anything. I don’t see why this one would be different.” Thomas muttered that last part.

“In-fec-tion?” The woman slowly tasted the word, confusion clear in her tone.

“Ah, uhhh… When a wound and the area surrounding it grow red and sometimes hot to the touch. It causes additional pain in the patient and swelling around the wound. Sometimes pus can develop as well.”

“Oh you mean like when a wound becomes blighted.” the woman shook her head “Don’t worry, Caarsi berry Poultice defends against blight.”

“But shouldn’t you sav...”

The woman silenced him with a pointed look. “You need it now and it won't take much to cover your wound.” Silence ensued between the two for a few moments as the woman applied a cold paste like substance to his calf.

The woman began again but softly this time. “I never got the chance to thank you for saving Elana and I.”

“There is no need, it is not like I could have just left you two to die.”

“Even still, there are not many that would jump between a Silver-toed Lynx and its prey. So thank you.”

There was a brief pause before Thomas responded. “You are welcome.”

A short silence fell over the two again, a comfortable silence.

“I am Trish, and yours?” The woman asked, again in that soft tone.

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“Th...Theo” He surprised himself with the answer, but it felt right. A level of contentment swept over him as he said it. One that he hadn’t experienced since coming to this place. Yeah, I guess this is right. Thomas was the man back on earth. I am different then how I used to be, this body is different.

“Well it's been nice to meet you Theo.” The woman grabbed a roll of cloth from her pack and began wrapping his calf. “I am pretty much finished back here. We should check the wound at least daily assuming it doesn’t get worse.” She added a light glare as she said “Make sure to tell me if you begin to feel ill!”

Theo couldn’t stop the small smile from forming. He had to admit that it felt good to have someone worry over him. He sat up resting against the Grove Tree, leg bent to keep his calf off the ground. Nodding his head he responded. “I will.”

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Trish gathered the various medical supplies she had used to treat Theo’s calf. Once she had everything packed she began making her way toward Elana, Markus and Scott. She hoped Elana would wake soon.

The more she talked with Theo the more mysterious and suspicious he became. She was now confident in the correctness of Markus’ theory that he truly did not have control over his mana. Though, partly that was because she found him to be genuinely apologetic that he injured her.

Then there was the fact that he seemed to have knowledge that was... not really unknown to them but… well he used different words then they did. Infection. She had never heard of the word before, but the way he described its meaning was almost exactly how the Healers would describe blight.

She arrived where the three were resting and made her way over to Markus, checking if he was still awake. Making eye contact with the man confirmed that. She spoke softly as to not wake Scott who was sleeping. “Markus, have you ever heard the word infection before?” She had minor issues pronouncing the word, being only the second time she had ever said it.

“In-fec-tion?” The man shook his head. “Not that I can recall, where did you hear it?”

She subtly gestured toward the Grove Tree. “Theo used it.”

“Oh you got his name? I was half afraid with the confrontation with Smith would mean we’d never never get it out of him.”

“Haaaa” Trish sighed in response “I know he means well but, what was that all about. It was concluded pretty early that Theo didn’t mean any harm, why didn’t he just put his sword away. Plus he should know better than to draw a weapon in a Spirit’s Grove.”

Markus simply shrugged but there was a knowing glint in his eye. It seemed that their oh so righteous captain had not won any points with that move.

“You’re sure you’ve never heard the word before Markus? Maybe it's Prowlisian or Elven? The way he defined it was very similar to what the Healers call the blight. But I think he meant it in a bit more of a specific way than how they use blight.”

“I’m sorry but no. I’ve never even heard of the word before today.” Markus answered with a shake of his head.

“Alright well maybe he’ll let us know some other words that will give away his origin.”

Trish was starting to get some suspicions of her own about Theo. They had been in this Spirit’s Grove for many hours now, and still there was no sign of the Grove’s Spirit. That was unusual. Spirits would, well not greet you, but make contact quite quickly normally. She was not worried that it would kick them out, Spirits were known for being compassionate towards the injured. They also tended to abhor violence so she would have expected it to make its appearance during the confrontation earlier.

Feeling a yawn come over her, she noticed that the sun had almost completely set at this point. Luckily the moon was shining bright this evening so the Lunar Lady must have been watching over them. She turned back to Markus.

“I’m going to get some sleep. You should as well, the Caarsi berry poultice will help your shoulder quite a bit, but I’d still like to get you to a Healer as soon as possible.”

“Good night Trish, I’ll be okay, I’ll take the first watch.”

She laid down on her own bedroll not far from the others and was asleep right away.

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A soft growl spooked Trish awake. It sounded like it came from behind her, so she turned around to try and locate the source. The sun was high in the sky already and she didn’t see anything that would make such a noise. She half turned to see if Markus or any of the others had figured it out.

“Markus…” His finger came up shushing her, then pointed in the direction of the Grove Tree. Bringing her eyes over she saw Theo leaned up against the tree, a look of anger crossing his face, eyes staring intently at something. That was Theo? Shifting her head to follow his gaze she spotted Smith wandering around, his body language full of aggravation. Why would Smith cause such anger from him though? I’m sure he isn’t happy with him about yesterday but it’s not like Smith is currently threatening him.

Another growl sounded, louder this time. Trish saw Theo’s chest rumble as the sound was made. Is he Prowlisian? But I don’t see any tail, and I’m sure I would have noticed earlier when I was applying the poultice.

“Hey Asshole, wanna stop trampling on the flowers.”

“What?” Came Smith’s surprised response

“I said stop trampling the flowers, there's plenty of space to walk.”

Trish looked around and for the first time noticed there were blue flowers scattered all around the Grove. Trish quickly looked over at Markus. “Hey Markus,” she whispered. “Do you think he could be…” She let the question hang.

He nodded in response “So you're thinking the same thing I am now, he has some kind of connection with this Grove. I’m almost sure of it. I think it’d be best if we act as if he is the Grove’s Spirit.”

She slowly nodded in response.

“Who cares about some freaking flowers!?” An anger laced shout brought her attention back to the two men. Smith was making his way toward the seated man. She frowned at the scowl on Theo’s face. Uh oh, this may go very badly.

“Trish, you should probably intervene before we have a brawl on our hands. If we are right about Theo then this could actually come to bloodshed. Unfortunately I’m pretty sure Smith is too caught up in his own mind right now to realize.”

She grimaced “Yeah, you’re probably right Markus.”

She didn’t dislike Smith, normally he was a good person. If a bit immature at times. He was a good leader when she worked with him, even if she found it silly he insisted on being called “Captain”. He kept everyone in the party on the same page and getting along. Unfortunately he was not good with these types of situations. The stress of multiple injured, having to fight with Silver-toed Lynx, and now a stranger who if Markus and she were right. Was potentially something way out of their league to deal with. Grove Spirits were dangerous beings. Luckily they were fairly easy to get along with assuming you followed the rules of their Grove. Those rules tended to be 1. don’t mess with the Grove Tree or other plants in the grove, and 2. causing bloodshed was prohibited. However, having one pop up this close to the city was concerning. The Margrave definitely needed to make contact with it personally.

“I do, and it’s easy enough for you to just step around them. You’re the only one so far that has stepped on any.” Theo spat back, standing up. She noticed that for all his talk his injured leg shook slightly as he put weight on it.

Trish quickly got up and hurried toward the two. “Hold on you too.”

Both men turned to her, frowns on their faces. “Trish?” Theo questioned.

“There’s no need for a confrontation here guys. Smith, it’s quite easy, so please just make sure that you step around any of the flowers scattered around…” Before she could finish, Smith cut her off.

“Oh so you’re going to defend him now huh?”

She shot the man a pointed glare and turned to continue. “Theo you could have made your point in a less aggressive manner and not caused tensions to rise.” Smith seemed to be emboldened now that she scolded Theo, and opened his mouth to say something else, but a fierce glare from her shut him up.

“yeah… yeah, you're right.” Theo looked confused as if he had just woken up from a long sleep. “Why was I getting so angry…” he mumbled. She had a feeling he didn’t quite realize he had said that last part out loud. “I’m gonna go wash...” He loosely stated and headed out of the Grove.

“Make sure to come to me to change your bandages afterwards. You should have no issues with the poultice getting wet.” She called after him, “and you” She leveled a glare on smith. “Come with me.” She then turned and headed back to where Markus and the other injured were. She heard a sigh behind her, but foots steps followed either way.

“Markus I think it best we let Smith know what we think we figured out.” She called as they approached. The man simply nodded in response before motioning for Smith to sit.