The rest of the day passed with many celebrations. Each time Veil and Grok went from event to event, they were handed drinks as a welcome to the tribe. He had reached the first rung of the ladder; he’d become one with the tribe, and his true journey would begin on the morrow. But for tonight, he would enjoy the village’s generosity, and so they imbibed with fervor. As they went from place to place, the world got more and more blurry as they delved deeper and deeper into a drunken stupor. And for that one night, the weight of everything he’d been through over the last six months had fallen away. For that one night, he was free. But then they made it home and went to sleep.

“Argh!” Veil woke up with a start. He’d never drunk as much as he had that night. His head was throbbing; the pain was immense. Halos overtook his vision as he sat upright.

“Brother, you’re awake!” Grok proclaimed loudly. “We have much to do. We must prepare,” he said as he ran from place to place, throwing things willy-nilly into a bag.

“Why are you yelling?” Veil asked, grasping at his head and slowly rubbing his temples.

Grok looked over at Veil. “Are you okay? You look horrible,” he asked, slightly quieter but still way too loudly for Veil’s liking.

“I’m fine. I’m just really hungover.” Veil asked, finally looking up at Grok, “How are you not hungover?”

“What is hungover?” Grok asked.

“Hungover—you know, headache, nausea, upset stomach. You get that from drinking,” Veil said with a grimace as he stood.

“Oh, that. No, no, orcs are resistant to poison,” Grok said.

“R-resistant to poison?” Veil asked.

“Yes, the elders would tell you: during our journey from the Great Tree to the Kingdom of Humans, we came across a swamp. The swamp was larger than originally assumed, and by the time they realized it, our provisions ran dry, and we had to scour the lands for any food we could find. Much of the land was treacherous, and everything was tainted with something we didn’t understand. It made each of the orcs sick beyond anything imaginable, but by the time we left, those who had survived had a permanent resistance to almost every kind of poison.” Grok jumped up after his story and ran to a shelf. “That reminds me.” He grabbed a vial off the shelf and threw it to Veil.

“What’s this?” Veil asked.

“It’s an antidote. It’ll fix your, uh,” Grok said, holding both hands in the air to make air quotes, “‘hangover.’ Drink it; you’ll feel better,” he said with a chuckle.

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Veil drank down the antidote with one gulp, and at first, everything was fine. He felt normal. Then, all at once, the pain started. It was searing and came from his whole body. He fell to the ground, the pain unable to keep his eyes open any longer, the pain all-encompassing. He writhed for what felt like hours. Then, all at once, the pain subsided. He opened his eyes, seeing he was laying in a puddle; his clothes were soaked. “Did I—?” he began.

“It is sweat, brother, and it smells. You smell. You should go bathe,” Grok said, turning back to his packing. “I should be finished up here shortly anyway.”

Veil stood shakily to his feet. “Fine, but I have to ask…”

“Ask what?” Grok said.

“That was… What happened to me just then? It was… it was painful,” Veil said, running his hand through his soaked hair.

“The potion I gave you was an antidote, yes, but it wasn’t magic; it was alchemy. The potion goes through your blood, finds all the poison, and pushes it through your pores. I’d heard it was not a fun experience, but after seeing it in action, I have to say, it’s—it’s freaking awesome! You looked as though you were melting,” Grok said, mimicking twitching and writhing. “Ow, ouchies,” he said, making fun of his brother.

“You are hilarious,” Veil deadpanned.

“I am, aren’t I?” Grok said. “Anyways, how do you feel?”

“I feel… actually, I feel wet,” Veil said, taking in his condition. “But,” he said with a sigh, “I feel much better. Thank you, brother.” As Veil made his way out the door, he took note of the bag that Grok had been stuffing with what seemed to be an infinite amount of items, some of which were seemingly much too large for the bag itself.

“The bag?” Veil said questioningly.

“Ah, yeah, it’s awesome, isn’t it?” Grok said with excitement in his voice. “The antidote wasn’t magic, but this is. It’s a bag of holding! I’d never seen one in person, but a very shiny merchant came into the village a few years ago and had one, so I grabbed it. The best part is, the guy only charged me 15 wheat coins for it. It’s a very good deal indeed,” he said with a smirk.

“Wheat coins?” Veil asked.

“Oh right, you’ve not left the village, and it’s not been that time of year yet. We do not use coins or any money, really, within the village, but the greater world does.”

“You guys have money?” Veil asked.

“Yeah, doesn’t everyone?”

“Well, I haven’t thought about it,” Veil said.

“Oh, well, yeah, there’s money out there,” Grok said, gesturing around.

“How’s it work?” Veil asked.

“How’s what work?” Grok asked. “Money?”

“Yeah,” Veil said.

“Oh, well, uh,” Grok started. “Okay, so we have grenno, and 12 grenno equals one hlafos. One hlafos equals twenty grenno. One keros equals six hlafos, and four hlafos makes one salo. So basically, wheat makes bread makes deer makes salt, and salt is the largest because it’s made the world a better place. It adds flavor and allows us to preserve our food.”

“One wheat, one bread, one deer, one salt. Okay, I think I got it. But why is it named after food?” Veil asked.

“Oh, that’s a fun question,” Grok said with a chuckle. “Basically, the foods that our money is named after are the foods that allowed the world to become a civilization. It’s what allowed us to stop wars and become whole. Those foods brought us together, you see? And their values were decided by how much each of the items cost per pound at the time the first money was minted. Make sense?”

“I think it does, brother, but there’s one more thing,” Veil asked.

“What’s that, brother?” Grok asked.

“Did you say the merchant was shiny?”

“Yes, he was a very shiny man. It was as though his skin itself was made of stars. He was glorious,” Grok said.

“Oh, okay. I’m going to go shower,” Veil said with a nod.