The next day, Catriona was unusually talkative as she fed him the usual bland porridge. Ash recognized the words “bread”, “alcohol” and “laughing” in the torrent of words.

“Today must be a festival of sorts. It has been getting a lot warmer during the nights, so I suppose they are going to celebrate the end of winter?”

While Cathriona seemed excited at the chance to dance and eat, Ash looked forward to finally leaving the simple wooden hut. He and gave off a few: “Ohhh” and “Ahhh” in response to an enthusiastic gesture. Ash must have been concentrating on trying to remember as much of the words as possible because he released an “Ohh” even after his caretaker had stopped talking. Catriona laughed heartily and asked: “an do dh ’èist thu” Ash smiled when he recognized the sentence. It translated to: “Did you listen at all?”

“I probably would have recognized what she was saying without knowing the words.”

Putting on his most sincere face, Ash replied with an affirmative “ba”. Catriona patted his head with a mischievous smile on her face. With a sigh, she stood up and turned to leave. Ash shot out an outraged stream of “ba”’s at being left behind. Catriona turned back with a frown on her face but faltered when she saw Ash’s smile.

“Ha, I got you. The smile of a toddler is irresistible to women.”

With a sigh, she went to a chest at the back of the room and retrieved a thick fur blanket. She wrapped him in it and they left the tiny wooden shack. He absorbed the sights and smells around him like a sponge. Their hut was on the outskirts of a village made up of large wooden huts like theirs. The last time he had glimpsed the outside there were two longboats anchored in the city. Whereas now, there was a brand new longboat and several smaller vessels next to it.

“It seems like they are stocking up. This might just be some sort of outpost to launch raids. And I thought we were in a fishing town.”

They passed several huts that had small pens with roofs attached to house pigs and chicken. For the first time in his life, Ash enjoyed the smell of animals and dung just because it was different. When they entered the more populated area of the town, people seemed scared of Catriona. That impression was shattered when a child playing at the roadside pointed at him and shouted something about a toddler. When the child realized Ash looked at it, it screeched and ran away. Catriona sighed in exasperation but walked onwards. It didn’t take Ash long to figure out why everyone was so scared of him.

“If I have put the puzzle pieces together correctly, I am the son of the chief or a high-ranking leader. They most likely think I am cursed because I killed my mother during birth. Stupid superstitions.”

Catriona finally came to a stop in front of the largest building in the city. A painting of barbarians fighting people in chain mail on the door only confirmed that this was a war outpost. After taking a deep breath, his caretaker entered the building. Immediately, the scent of roasted beef and other deliciousness wafted into his nose. He released an involuntary giggle, which prompted Catriona to smile as well. They ignored the rows of benches and tables in the main room and followed the scent to a door at the back of the room. Behind that door were several women of different ages working at pots, pans, and ovens to create the food for the festival. The women shouted out a cheery greeting to Catriona, which dampened significantly when they caught eye of Ash. Once again, Ash exploited the biology of women by giggling followed by a “baba”. He could visibly see how their faces softened.

“Oh, yeah. They fell for the oldest trick in the book.”

Catriona had realized it as well and patted his head absently. With the voice of a leader, she called everyone back to their stations. She placed Ash on a large table at the far end so he could look at all the proceedings in the room. Ash gave her a big smile at her forethought. He wouldn’t want to stare at a slightly different wall for the entire day. What immediately caught his interest was a girl who was maybe eleven years old, stirring a pot. What boggled his mind was the size of the pot. The broth in there could probably feed fifty barbarians. Stirring such a pot required a lot of strength. He might not have been able to stir the pot for a longer period if he was five years older than her. Ash gave her an “Ohhhh” for that. At first, she looked around in confusion, so Ash repeated his “Ohhhh”.

The girl nearly burned herself on the hot pot when she realized where the impressed “Ohhh” had come from. The other woman had a mixture of confusion and fear on their face as well. Luckily, his caretaker came to his rescue.

“Food?”, Catriona asked. Although it hadn’t been his intention, eating didn’t seem like such a bad idea. He gave an affirmative “ba”. Catriona cracked a joke about toddlers eating too much, but Ash didn’t get it. Now that she had lightened the mood, Catriona motioned for the girl to feed me one potato out of the stew while she took over for her. The girl and the other women threw Catriona a look that said questioned her sanity, but Catriona waved them all off. With shaking hands and a small bowl with the potato, the girl sat down next to the table he was sitting on. The girl crushed the potato into small pieces, which created marvelous mashed potatoes. Ash couldn’t stop the drool from running down his chin. To him, the mashed potatoes looked finished, but the girl kept mashing them while throwing nervous glances at him.

Finally, Ash couldn’t bear it any longer and he opened his mouth to signal that he was going to die if she taunted him like that any longer. He had eaten nothing but milk and goo until now, and he yearned for proper food. The girl flinched at the motion, but Ash just ignored her. His gaze was focused on the delicious herbs mixed in with mashed potatoes. An eternity later, the girl finally dropped a spoonful of the mashed potatoes in his mouth. His tastebuds blossomed as the rich flavor filled his entire mouth. He felt that the energy he gained from the potatoes would help him significantly in recovering quicker from the strain of entering the door in his mind. Now that he could spare the nutrients, Ash mentally walked through the door in his mind.

“Why not this chance for training?”

The girl’s gaze was glued onto him, together with the gaze of every woman in the room, but Ash didn’t care. He just wanted more of that deliciousness. His eagerness made the girl giggle and loosen up. Even the other women in the room chuckled and turned back to their tasks.

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Inwardly, Ash smiled: “Cuteness wins over superstition once again.”

He released a sad “Ba” as the last spoonful of mashed potatoes entered his mouth. The girl laughed and patted his head: “Eat … later.” With that, she went back to stirring the large pot. With a mischievous smile, Ash waited for half an hour and then repeated the process with another woman. Soon, he had tasted from nearly every dish. At some point, the women even gave him more to eat out of their own volition. As he was scouting out his next target, a familiar face entered the room.

“Oh, it’s the nice old lady that gave me the healing mushroom!”, Ash cried out inwardly.

Although it came out as only ba’s, everyone in the room seemed to understand the meaning. The old woman had frozen in the doorway, and her eyes were flickering around the room.

“Ah, she’s probably overwhelmed by my friendly outburst.”

Catriona seemed to think the same and took the old lady’s hand. The old woman tried to turn away, but Catriona's firm grip wouldn’t allow that. When the old lady shakily sat down next to his table, he gave an excited “ba”. Through what he had dubbed his Energy Vision, he could see that the woman possessed at least a hundred white particles as well. Instead of having them in her stomach, she had them scattered around her brain.

“So, you can move them around? The location of the particles must have something to do with how you can use them. My disability most likely stems from my spinal cord being damaged. Maybe there is a way to repair it with the particles?“

Ash wanted to see how the woman had moved the particles, so he put his entire concentration on finding out more about them. He ignored Catriona’s friendly chatter and the nervously nodding old lady.

“I feel I am getting close to finding out how she did it. Just a bit … ”

His speech was cut off as suddenly a connection formed between him and the particles. Before he could cry out a warning to the old lady, the particles shot out of her head and into his gut. Both of them realized what had happened at the same time. Ash immediately tried to excuse himself for stealing her energy and tried to order the particles back into her head, but it didn’t work. For a second, anger flashed across the old lady’s face and she raised a fist as if to beat him. Before she could execute the punch, a sudden headache seemed to hit her and she buckled over from the pain. With jittering hands, she pulled a vile out of one of her pockets and downed it. Gradually, white particles started appearing in her gut, which were then pushed up into her head.

“How does she do that? How does she make them interact with her body?”

Thousands of questions popped up in his head at the magnificent sight. He couldn’t ask her though as the old lady quickly excused herself and practically fled out of the room. Ash sighed inwardly: “I messed up again.” At least the women in the kitchen didn’t put the blame for the old lady’s outburst on him. They instead only shook their heads at the retreating old lady. The rest of the afternoon flew by in an instant as Ash thought about all the possibilities that had just opened up.

“I now know that the white particles, most likely can’t be recovered like the strength to enter the door in my mind. She must have had a reason for storing her healing energy in her head. The only reasonable explanation is that it influences the physical area around it. That she got a headache after I removed hers, is only further proof.”

The bustle in the kitchen had increased significantly since he had started pondering the particles. In the main hall, music was playing, and the women were serving the first batch of food. Catriona’s firm commands were the only things keeping things together. When the girl saw how Ash watched the retreating dishes with a longing gaze, she gave him an excited smile. The girl pointed to Ash and asked Catriona something like: “Can I bring him with me?”

Catriona creased her brows, but Ash’s excited “ba” convinced her. A bit clumsily, she picked him up and carried him into the main hall. Warriors, farmers, and housewives were eating and talking to their heart’s content. The girl came to a stop near a table filled with similarly aged children. One child pointed a jittering finger at Ash and cried out a question. It was the child that had run away scared from him this morning. At least he now knew that the nice girl’s name was Isbeil. Isbeil only replied to the other child with a snort and sat down at the table. She propped up Ash next to her and started feeding him. The other children watched fascinatedly as Ash ate various pastries, meats, and vegetables. Finally, a twelve-year-old boy asked Isbeil: “Won’t he die?”

Isbeil giggled and started counting down on her hands what Ash had already eaten today. With each dish, the children’s eyes got wider and wider. Ash gave a proud “ba” which made the children around him giggle. Soon the children were taking turns feeding Ash. Although he felt more like a bear in a zoo being fed by visitors, he still enjoyed making the children laugh. The music in the background was so catchy that he started humming along which the children picked up on. It must have been quite a famous song because all the children started humming along as well.

“Children everywhere really are the same.”

After a while, he had to admit that even he was slowly feeling full. Luckily, an authoritative shout whipped through the air, which quieted everyone in the room down. On the table in the middle of the room stood a man he knew just too well. It was the barbarian that had crippled and nearly killed him. “If I grow up, I am going to beat this guy’s ass.”, Ash swore to himself as he remembered the helplessness he felt when he had found out the barbarian had crippled him.

When all eyes were on him, the barbarian pulled back his enormous bear's pelt, which revealed a roman-styled centurion helmet underneath. With a proud smile, the barbarian lifted the helmet into the air and started talking about “killing Romanach in Londinium”. The surrounding people cheered and lifted their mugs at that. From what Ash understood, they were going to launch the raid via sea in only a week. When the barbarian chief had to wait for the sixth time for the roaring crowd to calm down, Ash saw the chief pull out the same vile the old lady had used to get back her white particles. With a flick of his wrist, the chief emptied the vile into his mug and then chugged it down. As with the lady, white particles formed in his stomach, which then shot towards his arms. With a roar, the barbarian grabbed the centurion's helmet with both hands. Ash had long ago activated his Energy vision, and his gaze was fixed onto the white particles. The barbarian somehow attached the energy particles to his muscles, which then helped the muscles to contract.

“That is genius. Why haven’t I thought of that before?”

What Ash didn’t realize was that he had released an involuntary “Ahhhh” which made the last stunt of the barbarian’s speech fall flat. When he refocused on his surroundings, everyone was staring at him.

“What did I do wrong now?”

Even the barbarian’s eyes were locked onto him. The rage in those eyes at someone stealing his limelight didn’t bode well for Ash. Luckily, it seemed like he couldn’t just kill Ash outright. The chief climbed down from the table and started talking to the old lady who was sitting right next to him. Ash couldn’t view more than that as everyone stood up and applauded. “Don’t talk when Chief talk. Bad. Bad. Understand?”, Isbeil chided him after everyone had sat back down again. Ash wanted to protest but realized that it would be useless even if he could talk. So he replied with a weak “ba”.

“Pretty unlikely that I’m going to get out clean out of this one.”