"Deepest secrets." Piia repeats.

"That sneaky rat bastard. I knew he was up to something." I yell back at the emporium.

"Rat bastard!” She laughs, hearing the insult for the first time.

Sword still in hand, I start pulling the tightly closed gap open again.

“Come on Seth, we have lost far too much time in there. Besides, Tranqit would turn you into mulch.” Piia beckons me as she walks back towards our camp.

Grovelling, I slash the circus marquee with fury, my blunt blade slides smoothly down the canvas leaving no hint of its passing.

I hear a faint voice from inside. “I knew his weapon was common junk.”

Completely livid, I march away through the ferns and follow Piia.

“Can you believe that the morning sun has only just broken?” She points out as I arrive.

In my red rage, I hadn’t even noticed. Looking around the golden forest waking from its nightly ritual, I lock eyes with a standing Guardian. It’s still deep in the ferns, having stayed in position all night. I steadily sheath my blade, the Guardian crouches back down into the green sea.

“Seth, look who is awake. We have a gift for you Cane.” I turn and see a groggy eyed hippo being harassed with affection by Piia. Both were unaware of my childish misstep that might have turned this beautiful morning into our last, I wasn’t about to tell them otherwise.

“Hey buddy. Hope you had a charming dream about walking through the woods. Well great news, you get the real thing today.” I joke while scratching behind his little pygmy ears.

“Help me get his Ferrum band on.” Piia demands.

We crouch down next to our bulbous friend and struggle for the next ten minutes attempting to lift one of his wide feet off the ground. Cane assists by sniffing and turning his body around to see what we were up to. Eventually we succeeded, I only had to hug his girthy neck and hold him in place. Piia slides the band on and prays to Mother it remains on during our daily treks.

We share a pitiful breakfast of old vegetables that had only been considered edible by one of the five Rarus toads, the one covering itself in muk. The nasty boiled food from the Daemon castra tasted amazing with a seasoning of starvation. Dancing with death, healing wounds and long days of crawling and hiking are extremely calorie demanding.

“We will have to find more food today.” I say with the realisation that our limited pantry is now empty. We should have asked Livingston if he sold food. That would have been a smart decision rather than relying solely on Piia’s foraging skills.

“This area is full of timbre root, it lasts many moons once treated.” Piia explains.

“Problem solved then.”

“It is not so simple as pulling the root out. It must be coated in water leaves to draw out the poisons, it takes several suns before you can consume it.”

“Brilliant. Helpful stuff. What happens if you eat it before then?” I ask just out of curiosity.

“You will sleep.”

“Sounds nice, a good snack before bed.”

“You will sleep forever. Shall we begin this day’s journey?”

So non-shallot, I thought to myself. “Sure let’s get on with it. I know you mentioned it in Livingston’s store, but do you know how close your tribe might be?” I inquire while we mobilise, setting out once again.

“The truth, I do not know.” She says.

“Wait really? You have no clue as to how far we have to travel?” I say seriously.

“The tribe moves around, whether for resources, from hunters or the Voice’s decision. I am bringing us to where the camp was previously. From there we will have to track them.”

“I see, at least we have you to track them anyway. Beats wandering in any direction.”

“Another truth, I am a bad tracker. I was trained to forage resources and prepare food or healing salves.” She says proudly.

My confidence in this expedition was slowly crumbling. Originally I had assumed Piia knew exactly where they would be, maybe that was my ignorance of tribe behaviour.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

At this stage having a healer on hand has far surpassed any tracker.

My belly is full, my laceration and burnt hand feel great, I am content with surviving.

“Thank Mother, those were your career choices. How did you decide on them? To forage and heal I mean?” I ask with general curiosity.

“It is decided for us at a young age. An elder in the tribe will choose a youngling to assist their work, if the youngling is productive and helpful, then the elder will train them in their chosen path. Most parents will take on their children. That is what happened to me and my sister.” She says the last part softly.

“What’s her name?”

"Yetta.” Piia was quiet for a moment. The ferns brush by as we make good progress through the tranquil forest. Mother’s bioluminescence swirls as we cut a path through the thick aura of green haze. Chirping noises draw my eyes to the canopy overhead. A flock of blue fantail birds shoot by, their four wings fluttering gracefully as they expertly weave through the branches.

“We should do it, we should share our secret to activate the rings.” Emotions were present in her voice. I hadn’t put any thought into my secret yet, there were a few to choose from.

“Okay, I will go first. We should put the rings close together, it might help.” It helps when you connect Bluetooth devices, magic devices might share the same process.

Piia stops in place and lifts her hand with the transparent glass ring, she looks at me in anticipation.

“I am curious as to your human secrets, your people live lives of excess and debauchery, was that your life before we met?” Her cheeky grin accompanied the joking insult. In my world that would have been considered not politically correct. However I don’t mind the dark humour of my Satyr friend.

Any humour is welcome, this doesn’t need to be a rollercoaster of emotions. We will just say our secrets, activate the rings and be on our merry way.

“Ah you have seen through my charismatic smile, I am known throughout the world as a famous outlaw. Stories of my crimes and elaborate exploits are sung in taverns and scribed in poetry.” She makes a short chuckle, still wary of my actual secret.

“Right.” I am stalling here, I know it is simple to say. I think I haven’t truly accepted it myself and was still subconsciously hoping this was a dream.

“Well?”

“I’m from another world. We call it Earth. I was in bed, having a strange dream, when I suddenly woke up in Silva. Right before colliding with you in fact.”

The disbelief on Piia’s face was evident. Her long ears twitch, expecting me to admit it was a joke until my ring began emitting a faint white light.

“By Mother’s bosom! You are not lying. Another world.” She squeals with the excited realisation that I am a foreigner to these lands, a xeno to local humans.

“So you believe me? You see now that I am not like these Nazi humans you have dealt with your whole life.”

“I am not sure what a Nazi is. But Seth, I was right. You were brought here by Mother to help. We are no longer in the shadows of fate's mystery, the truth has come to light.” Her joy is infectious.

My ring's white light begins to dim.

“The ring is losing power, your turn now.” I rush Piia, not wanting to reactivate the ring again with my other chaotic secret. I’ll share that another time.

“I abandoned Yetta.” She cries out.

I was dumbstruck by the raw emotional outburst. Piia collapses into a heap amongst the ferns. Tears fell freely as she unloads the heavy weight on her conscience.

“She ran out of our safe haven one evening, she has such an adventurous fire in her. Once I heard she was gone, I chased her through the trees. I heard her screaming in terror, she had been caught Seth. Hunter patrols are becoming bolder, even venturing deep into Mother’s land. They had her in a trap and I was too cowardly to act.” She confesses.

I crouch next to Piia and wrap her in my arms, she sobs quietly against my chest.

“You have always been taught to avoid danger, since you were young. It's trained and built into your people. You can’t blame yourself for how you reacted at that moment.” I say into her ear. She tilts her head up at me, the fur around her face glistening with tears.

“She’s my younger sister, I should have protected her.”

“You saved my life, it was the bravest thing I have ever seen. On this world or my own. You are strong and courageous, it was just one moment of hesitation.

“One moment of weakness and now she is gone forever.”

“She isn’t gone forever, I promise you we will go find her and bring her back to your tribe.”

Piia stifles her tears and nods in agreement.

“Say it, say we’re going to save her.”

“We will, we will go to those Nazi human’s den and bring her back home.” She smiles up at me. The ring on her finger lights up and they both glow brightly. The illuminating jewellery intensifies until a flash leaves us temporarily blind. Madly blinking to wash away the burnt afterimage, I recover faster than Piia who stumbles around like a blind mouse. A life indulging in bright screens has some benefits.

“Seth! That cursed ring has stolen my eyes.”

“Chill, it will go away shortly.” I reassure her.

I inspect my glass ring which now contains a thick swirling mist like a fluffy white cloud coaxed inside the material.

Piia reaches for me and grips my arm tightly.

“I can see you again, oh Mother’s light. I can see again.”

“That was dramatic, but look, the rings have changed.” I hold up my hand close to Piia’s face so she can see the changes in our magical jewellery.

“They’re beautiful.”

“Right, let's test these rings, then find your tribe, where we can rest and get sufficient supplies. Then the hunters become the hunted.” I say with false confidence. How the hell will we save Yetta from a human camp or town? My winning smile doesn’t show the lack of faith I have in this rescue mission.

Piia stands up and wipes her face clean.

“Great, our magical purchases better do more than blind us or I’ll stamp on that rat bastard's nether regions. Wait for two leaf falls and then find me with the ring.”

“How long is a ‘leaf fall’?”

She takes my healthy arm and places my hand over my chest.

“Feel your heartbeat. Sixty beats is one leaf fall.” And with that she starts to rush off into bushes, rapidly disappearing amongst the ferns.

“Piia wait, is it safe to separate?” I yell after her.

“Mother’s Guardian still watches over us.” She shouts back from behind the foliage.

I look over my shoulder for the vigilante bear, apparently still following us, but it is expertly camouflaged again. I am still holding my hand to my chest, feeling my heart like a foolish boy playing a child's game.

Why don’t I just count to two minutes in my head?