Dear diary, I got robbed.

I wake up to some loud noises of some kind of monkey crying out. I sit up, trying to orientate myself. Sadly, it is still dark out, so I don’t really see anything. I looked around some more and almost fell out of the tree that was serving as my bed. What I see are two big yellow-silted eyes staring at me intently.

“No way. You're just here for a hug, right?” I ask what I assume is the snake.

Suddenly, the eyes strike forward, and I jump out of the way. The strike misses me by about as much as I miss the next branch, that is to say, completely. I start falling down the tree, hitting a few more branches on my way down, slowing my fall down at least a bit. I hit the floor battered and in a daze, but at least I am still alive. I slowly get my sword out of the sheet and raise it up in front of me, trying my best to guess where the snake-elephant is.

Surely is seeing something sparkling a bit away. Seven different colours, with green being the brightest. I freeze and feel around my neck and notice that the slate is no longer there. Well, that is not great. I slowly start to shuffle in the direction of the plate. Before I can get close enough to grab it, something heavy hits me from the side. I try to slap it with my sword. I really should have practised welding it.

I hit a nearby tree from the force and slowly tried to get up. Well, this is not good. I hear shifting and the clinking of metal. I take a look at the plate to release it. It is moving now. I only need a moment to decide what to do and run after it. I try to catch up, but the plate is rapidly moving above me in the trees, and slowly, the distances are getting larger. It also does not help that it is still dark, and the ground is rather uneven. Suddenly, we hit an open part of the jungle, a part where the first rays of the sun can shine through.

“Why could it not have been a monkey.”

The big snake is carrying my tablet around one of its tusks. And it is going fast then surely it launches itself forward. I look ahead of me only to realise that there is a valley ahead of me. I see the snake disappear into the forest on the other side of the gorge.

I just slump down onto the floor in defeat. Well, not sure how to fix this. No stupid steel plate means no way home. I lay back down on the jungle floor, slowly watching the morning's oranges and pinks turn blue. What am I going to do? I can’t track the thing, let alone fight it.

“Well, you look like a bondersnatcher took your favourite arrow,” a deep voice suddenly says.

I stand up in surprise and look around, trying my best to identify where the noise is coming from. But I can see anything but green.

“Up here.” The same voice says.

I look up high in the top of the trees. A man is standing, looking at me with a broad smile. He has dark skin and is wearing a golden skirt contraption like thing. Oh, and he has wings like fully golden feather like wings. Wings he now uses to fly down towards me.

“I believe this is yours,” he says while presenting my sword to me.

I blink in surprise, not even having released I dropped it. Probably did that while chasing the snake. “Thank you so much,” I say as I take the sword, “but who are you? “

“I am Amule Hunter from the Actemra tribe. Who might you be?” Amule says.

I smile. “My name is Cestla, and I am lost,” I say before frowning. I was getting used to my words being automatically translated into whatever language was necessary, but Cestla was also translated, and that is a name as far as I was aware.

“Traveller, something wrong?” Amule asks with a bit of concern.

I blink again, traveller, so that is what Cestla means in the dwarven language. “Everything is fine, well not fine. That snake stole something important.”

“Oh, so that is why you were chasing down the grootslang with the energy of someone who landed in a nest of fire ants.” He says with a smile

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I look at him with narrow eyes. “Grootslang? Like a big snake? Wait, never mind. It's not important; it stole something, and I need it back.”

“Did it have any gems on it?” Amule asks me.

“Yeah, like seven small ones there: green, red, blue, pink, yellow, black and purple.”

“Well, you are not getting it back then. The grootslang loves gemstones. It will take it deep into its layer in the poison's swamp.”

“But there must be a way, right?” I ask, pleading with the man.

“Not that I know of my people carry gem pouches that we throw at the beast when it attacks us. For some reason, it stops attacking and hides the gems instead.”

“Well, that explains why it suddenly left, but is there nothing you can do? I need it back.” I say as tears stream down my face.

“We can go back to the tribe and see if the elders know anything,” he says with a smile.

I nod. “Thank you, that might be helpful.”

“I know it must be rough, but cheer up. We can figure something out. Now follow me.” He says before flying off into the sky.

I just stand there staring in incomprehension. “You know I can’t fly, right?” I ask just in case.

“If you can’t fly, how did you get here?” Amule asks, looking just as confused as I had.

“With the plate, the grootslang stole,” I say

Amule lands back down next to me. “Well, I understand now why you want it back so badly.”

“Yeah, getting home is going to be really hard without it,” I say.

“Can I carry you? We could go back to the tribe on foot, but if we fly, we can reach it today.”

“Yeah, that is fine.” As I sheath my sword, noticing for the first time that it had blood on it.

He picks me up in a princess carry and jumps up into the air. I guess having wings on your back makes it hard for me to ride piggyback. As we ascend up into the sky, I get a good look at the jungle, and yes, It does appear to go on forever. It is honestly kind of impressive.

We slowly fly towards the mountains. As we get closer, I can spot different buildings made out of wood that have been built into the mountainsides. We land on one of the lower platforms, and Amule puts me down.

“Wow, this place is amazing,” I say, looking at the construction. I mean, the dwarven city was cool and all, but sitting here overlooking the entire jungle is another thing entirely.

“Thank you. We spent a lot of effort constructing it. I will take you somewhere where you can stay while I talk to the elders.” Amule says.

“You don’t want me to come with you?” I ask, a bit confused

“A lot of the elders don’t like outsiders, so it would be better if I went in alone,” He explains

“I see. Well, that is unfortunate,” I say a bit awkwardly.

“Don’t worry, I got this, I promise.” He says with a big smile. “In the meantime, you can stay with my sister.”

“If you say so,” I say, a bit unsure.

He takes me further over the wooden walkways and into the village. I noticed that everyone here has the same golden wings growing out of their back, making going from platform to platform a lot easier. Amule takes me to a decent-sized hut. Inside is a woman who immediately stands out to me because of the way her wings are mangled. It looks like an old injury, but it could not have been a pleasant experience.

She looks at us as we come in and smiles. “Amule your back, and you brought a friend too. What tribe does she belong to.”

Both of them hug. “You know what? I did not ask. I mostly brought her here because she was chasing down a grootslang alone.”

The woman looks at me in shock. “Why would you do something like that?”

“Because it stole something from me. Also I am,” I pause to think for a second, then shrugged. “I am the Traveller.”

“I am Aluma. Nice to meet you,” Aluma says.

“Aluma, do you mind if I leave her in your care for a while? I want to talk about something important with the tribe elders.” Amule asks

“Yeah, that is fine. Be careful, though. Those old fogies don’t have a full barrel of fonio anymore,” she says.

Amule turns back to me. “Do you mind if I show your weapon to the elders as proof of you coming from a different tribe?” he asks while looking at my sword.

I am a bit confused by the implication, but I still nod. I take off my back and hand it to him. “Be careful. It is sharp,” I say with a smile.

“Thank you,” he says as he grabs the sword and leaves.

Aluma turns to me with a big smile. “So where you from?”

“Canda,” I say, a bit distracted. Something about Amules looks set off alarm bells, but if he was going to steal the sword, he should not have bothered giving it back in the first place.

“Where is that?” she asks, a bit confused.

“North would be my best guess, but I am a bit lost.” I say, “You see, my way of travel leaves a lot to be desired.”

She smiles. “That makes sense. We have not been across the great deserts of the north. It is probably the reason I have never seen such a pale yungulu. Anyway, what do you do for fun?”

“At the moment, I have been enjoying smiting,” I say with a smile

“What is that?” Aluma asks me, confused.

I take out the axe from my belt. “It to make stuff like this,” I say while handing her the axe.

“Wow, this is incredible. explain to me how it works.”

That is how I spent the rest of the day explaining smiting as well as a bunch of other things until evening hit. It turns out that tribal elders like to take their time and are known to take several days to decide on issues. I guess Amule did me a favour there. Waiting in line for days sounds awful. I eat some corn-like bread with meat with Aluma, and then we head off to bed, which is great. The beds are amazing, and anyone who says otherwise is crazy.