Isarnfur

Chapter 6

I woke up from a light doze, trying to make myself habitually put as much Mana in the little cells as I slept. Something that took dozens of years to practice and only bore little fruit. What I found what woke me, it was Will rubbing the bracer. He shifted a little bit more, sighing as he retied the straps, the skin underneath the bracer started getting blood flowing. His thoughts coming over to me in something along the lines of "Arm needs blood flow". I would've chuckled at the redundancy.

"Good morning" I said, resituating myself with the environment, it rained. Everything else was the same however. Will grunted, getting up and stretching just a bit, seemingly more intent on checking the jerky, making sure it was still good. As he did this, I figured it would be a good time to ask the question I thought of before.

"Where exactly did you come from?" I asked. Will paused, resuming on grabbing the jerky a moment after the pause. "The planet was called Exscrteus, littered with failing nations. The country I was from was Northern Constitutional Republic. I was assigned to help aid the military since I was a child. I was raised to be a scout." Will answered, packing his travel food.

"Was there a Southern republic?" I asked. He just shook his head no. "The founding fathers couldn't keep the new nation they were building together, it split into two. The south was transferred into a war-drenched empire. We had to fend them off for the entirety of our known history." he explained. After a pause, he asked a question himself.

"Where are we in this place?" He asked, looking about. "I have been working on the ingrained skills of my life rather than looking about and trying to explore" he thought to me. Which made me have an idea that he was planning on exploring the area for a bit to get grounded on this new world.

"We are in the Permskua forest, known for its long lasting trees. It acts as a boundary between the traditional Treant territory and the Elven Empire. Something the Treants hate, since they lost a great amount of their land due south." I recounted to him. He stopped a bit, "treants?"

"Oh tree-like giants, hard to kill, long lived. They have wicked strength if you ever mess with them." I was reciting. "I know what they are, just wasn't expecting them to be here." Will said, he was now finishing up his packing. "How nice are they to humans?" he asked.

I was a bit hesitant on responding, it was a really complex problem. But regardless I tried to convey the idea, about to explain it. "Ah, I see" he responded, something that took me off guard, must've been something in the world I wasn't noticing while I was trying to find the right wording.

"Huh?" I asked, confused as I put attention on the world. "They treat any outsider with hospitality but have a code they follow that can be problematic to humans." He said simply. I was bewildered now. "You saw what I was thinking?" I asked. "You didn't mean to show me that?" Will asked a bit more concerned. "I didn't know I could nor how I did that." I said, trying to remember what I did differently than my usual thoughts.

Will nodded, just accepting as it was. "So how far is the current Treant forest?" Will asked. "It's about a fortnight away, there is a village one the path that we are taking, I think. I don't know how the politics has changed so it will be best if you go in and not make a ruckus. People fear the Otherworlders. Once upon a time they were looked at as demigods, now they are treated as heavily regulated slaves." I told him.

He looked at himself. I laughed a bit, "yeah we are going to need to find you a new set of clothes," He nodded.

~

A couple days of hiking, and exploring the conundrum of getting new clothes, Will had a wild idea. He made up a game of it, I'd call it a code of conduct but hey, I have a bit of humor, or so I like to think. The goal was to get clothes. The rule was that we weren't allowed to steal it from anyone but the road bandits or through the good will of passing traders. Which made the way we got Will new clothes a bit of something to chuckle at.