In light of our previous mental exercise, today’s subject will be one of those already mentioned races. Namely, humans.

I believe that detailed explanations are not needed, knowing that the majority who will read this book will share that very same racial aptitude, but for those of different racial origin I will still include a brief explanation.

Humans are among the short-lived races of Rixa. A trait that those of the long-lived races often seem to treat with an unusual importance and a sense of badly veiled disdain.

The reason for such a reaction is originated from the simple truth, that our very existence seems to remind those with an elongated lifespan to the inevitable end.

Naturally, I do not say that all of elven kind shares in this condescending attitude, but it is an unfortunate truth that had been overshadowing our races’ interactions since many eons.

Even with our short lifespan, we have been proud and productive part of the world. We have mages, kingdoms, political and economic powers rivaling those of the long-lived races and sometimes even overcoming theirs.

Our ingenuity is acknowledged as one of our strongest points. Only second to our ambition, which is a sight to behold and often criticised by the long-lived ones. Those who can allow themselves to linger for millennia will hardly understand the ambition of humanity.

In our long shared history, humans have founded close friendship with the dwarven race. A sense of deep kinship has been established between our people.

While dwarves can have a lifespan that is thrice of those of men, their honour-bound lifestyle rarely allows them to reach such an age. Nor do they desire. Even if they did, they do not meet the categories of long-lived races which start from the milestone of five hundred years. A preposterous milestone that was created by said long-lived ones.

Beyond the deeper workings of humanity, our kind shares three types of main human groups. Their traits appearance-wise varies between dark, white and yellowish skin color. There are other minor differences, showcased by the following pictures, but they are insignificant. All humans deserve the same level of respect as any other.

We are the same in every way that counts.

Extract from the book titled “The Intelligent Races of Rixa” written by human scholar Viscanu Winfred.

~oOo~

Our journey back started a bit slowly. The others intentionally gave me time to adjust.

When I got used to the rhythm of the galloping and occasionally skipping mount, later one being a unique trait of goat mounts, also, it was the reason that caused me so much suffering yesterday.

Apparently, the key to ride a goat mount was to learn how to anticipate when it is going to skip. No matter how many times the dwarfs told me to notice when the goat slightly tensed up, which naturally signalled that it was going to jump. I continued to miserably fail to do so. It took me the better half of yesterday afternoon to figure it out.

The issue was that I was too afraid and too tense myself to notice such a subtle change in the goat’s behaviour. After I got used to the ride and fell out of the saddle so many times that I simply stopped caring, I finally noticed the change, and simultaneously realized what the issue was.

From then onwards, learning how to direct the mount was a walk in the park.

Anyway, after I have grown accustomed enough, we decided to add to the pace.

The goats to my surprise were equipped with a strange magical contraption. It worked like a sort of lamp or a large flashlight. It concentrated, focused magical light that had a pale blue shine capable of lighting the tunnels in front of us.

It was a fascinating contraption that was absolutely necessary for swift travel through the dark caves. To my shame, I didn’t even think about it until now. It would be suicidal to travel with our current speed through the suffocating darkness under the weak light of regular torches.

We would be practically running into darkness, not knowing when we crash into a wall or run off the edge of a crevice, ending up falling into our death. The thought itself made me shiver in the saddle.

Instead of thinking about such things, I decided to urge my mount to run up to Emrum’s side.

When I got there, I was welcomed by the cheesy smile of the dwarf.

“I see that yesterday’s practice did not go to waste. Not at all. Some of the boys started to doubt that you were truly an elf after seeing how bad your attempts ended at first, but seeing that you practically learned to ride in a day made them shut up for good.”

I rolled my eyes at that before adding. — “You know, I am pretty sure that your mounts are way harder to ride compared to regular horses.”

A glint of mischief could be seen in Emrum’s eyes before he ended up snorting good naturedly. — “You are not wrong about that either, but they are considered gentle souls compared to your kind’s elk mounts. I heard that elf riders need to spend years in their mount’s company before they are allowed to even touch them. I cannot fathom how that pays out for your kind.”

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

I blinked at his inquiring look, before he seemed to remember something and shaking his head slowly. — “Not that you would know about that, being raised by humans and all.”

I nodded at that before deciding to state my own questions. — “How much time will it take to reach the outpost? I mean, with our current speed?”

Emrum furrowed his eyebrows, doing a quick calculation in his head. — “I believe that with our current pace we will reach it before nightfall, maybe a bit later. Our speed is good, and the goats don’t need much rest after a good night’s sleep in the secondary outpost.”

I felt relieved hearing that. It was a known fact that staying outside after nightfall was not a good call on the deep roads. Especially now, when we didn’t have an army of dwarfs to back us up. Our sole advantage was in our speed. Still, my eyes reluctantly took in the pale blue light that colored the tunnel walls wherever we went.

In this deep darkness, such a light show was essentially painting a target on our back.

I shared my concerns with Emrum, and he nodded grimly before launching into a brief explanation. — “You are right, lass, but there is no other way to travel fast here. It is how our scouts can roam the area, managing days of regular travel in half a day.” — He paused momentarily before deciding to continue.

“Anyway, the idea is that, even if we lure something to our current location, we won’t be around when it eventually gets here. Same with the ambushes, they won’t have time to set one up except if it’s a completely random ambush, which is rare to come by. Either way, the light is a necessary risk. Right now, we cannot spare the men to travel back in a regular way, nor will the caravan wait for that long.”

“I understand.” — I stated calmly. It was then when a bothersome thought that was haunting me for a while came to me and I decided to ask it, even if it felt awkward.

“By the way,” — I began while staring forward stiffly, unwilling to look into Emrum’s eyes. He quickly caught onto my discomfort and I could see at the edge of my vision that he turned towards me with a frown. — “do you… I mean, how should I call you when we get back to the clan?” — I spared a quick glance at his features, seeing his confused expression.

Emrum furrowed his brows deeply, uncertain what my question meant. After being unable to make heads or tails to my question, he, in a straightforward dwarven manner, declared his confusion.

“Whatever you mean by that, lass?”

I stiffened slightly in the saddle, being uncomfortable under the man’s questioning glare, by this time already regretting that I even asked the awkward question.

However, since I have got to this point, it would be even more annoying to drop it, therefore I hesitantly pushed out the question.

“I mean in front of the rest of your clan…” — I grumbled incoherently to myself when I saw that his confusion only grow stronger. I bit my tongue in frustration and decided to come clean with a sigh. — “Since you accepted me into your family, wouldn’t it sound strange if I continued to call you Emrum, instead of father…?” — I stated, a sense of embarrassment and discomfort lingering in my words.

This was such an impossible scenario, and while I didn’t consider myself someone who got embarrassed easily, even the thickness of my skin had a limit.

Who would have imagined that after seventy years I will have to call someone father again? Especially someone who is not a priest.

It was at this time, when I noticed that the dwarf’s expression went through a dramatic change after finally realising what I was getting at. His face above the lush beard turned a shade darker that could be seen even in the blueish light that was reflected back at us.

He looked left and right hastily, clearly unsure how to react, before eventually he turned back to me and spoke with a sense of uncertainty. — “Well… ugh… you have a good point there… I didn’t even think about it.” — He coughed, in an attempt to whet his throat or stretch the time, possibly both, before saying. — “I would not demand you to call me that… You have helped me, no the entire company, far more than I, we helped you… Not even mentioning the shameful circumstances leading to our current predicament.”

I cut him off right there. I was beyond fed up with their stupid reaction regarding that ridiculous situation. — “I told you a bunch of times that I don’t mind that. It was an accident. Stop bringing it up all the time! At this point, it’s just annoying.”

Emrum sheepishly blinked at my small scale outburst. Clearly surprised how quickly I lost my cool compared to my regular behavior.

“Well… Alright… I promise you that I won’t bring it up again… Except when I will have to report to the clan head…” — He whispered the last part to himself, then moved on continuing his previous explanation.

“Regarding your original question… no, I don’t think that you need to call me that, and after making my report, the clan will not blame you for it either.” — I nodded to that, accepting his answer. What I wasn’t expecting was the silent, barely audible whisper coming afterward.

Even with my elven ears, I strained to make out the words.

“I wouldn’t mind it, though.”

My eyes widened for a second, staring at the dwarf stupidly.

Luckily, he didn’t notice it, otherwise he would definitely know that I heard what he whispered. He couldn’t see my reaction, since he was looking ahead, buried under a mountain of distant thoughts.

I felt a sense of warmth filling out my insides, that was quickly reined in with a sense of icy dread and uncertainty. I quickly whipped my face ahead, following the dwarf’s example.

What the hell… Did… did I hear it correctly? I mean… I liked Emrum and all, but I have never thought that our relationship meant so much for him, that he would ever genuinely consider such a thing…

I couldn’t understand what was going on in his head. Back on Earth, I rarely had such a deep connection with people, if I ever had at all. A lot of times, even the ones with my family felt fickle. I mean, we were there for each other, and we’re on good terms by all means. But… I sighed…

Nobody ever had time for anything…

No, that is not true, and I knew it in my heart. I just didn’t want to accept it.

With the tech that was present on Earth, saying that someone didn’t have time to make a few minutes call was all but a blatant lie. One that people tended to use surprisingly often.

Most of the time, the people who spoke it weren’t even aware of what they truly meant.

Because what they said basically meant that you are not worth even a few minutes of their time. It was shocking to realize that people who I considered my best friends in certain parts of my life quickly turned into complete strangers when our basic living or working environment separated from each other. Through a change of workplace or after finishing a school.

I could count on one hand how many of those relationships actually survived over the passing of years. I often times attempted to reach out to rekindle those old relationships. I am proud to say that sometimes it worked, but more often than not, people simply didn’t care beyond the concerns of their immediate surroundings.

Scientist tend to call this behaviour the clan instinct. It means that humans will subconsciously consider their most immediate social environment as their priority and everything else will be secondary.

It is an interesting concept. However, I am not entirely sure that the reason for such behaviors wasn’t originating from a much more mundane reason, otherwise known as negligence.