Summoned to a Shattered World

Birthright Chapter 34 - Through the Iron Dunes

The movement of the sand rendered looking for tracks pointless. Most of the actual searching seemed to consist of scaling the highest parts of a given area and looking around. Somehow this allowed the soldiers to quickly home in on a direction for us to travel. I had no idea what they'd spotted or what we were heading for but they didn't seem inclined to explain either. Watching the soldiers surveying from atop their latest perch, I turned to Elmidath. "Have you ever been hunting?"

"Not really. My father always said it was too dangerous. Now that I'm actually out here in my own, I can't say I disagree. It really doesn't seem worth the risk of coming out here just to hunt. How about you? Did you do any hunting in your old world?"

"Nope. I spent my whole life in the city. This is one of the few times I've ever been out in the wilderness."

"Hm." Elmidath's gaze took in their surroundings. "I guess we're not so different in that regard. Though obviously I didn't grow up in a city."

I suppose we were similar in that way but I imagine our childhoods were very different. There was no way I was anywhere near as mature when I was sixteen. I'm not even sure which one of us was more mature now. It was definitely her when it came to dealing with the realities of war and such. "What were things like for you growing up, anyway?"

Elmidath puffed out her cheeks and exhaled as she thought. "Let me think... Hard, boring, without any freedom to do anything I wanted to do... but I can't really say it was bad. The lessons felt endless and my father wasn't exactly the most encouraging but there were good times too. Like when he used to read books to me." Clearing her throat, she looked away and blinked away her tears. "That was a long time ago though."

I felt a little embarrassed at both her display of emotion and having brought her to this point. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up any sad memories."

Recovering her composure, Elmidath waved off my apology. "It's fine, it's my own fault for being too sentimental. I really shouldn't be getting choked up about something that happened a long time ago, it just all feels so fresh."

She was obviously still upset about her father's death, that much I knew, but I hadn't considered how this would bring that up. Still, if she was willing to talk about it, there was one aspect I was curious about. "How long ago did your father pass away? If you don't mind me asking."

"It's been around three months since we got the news of what happened."

Three months? I assumed it had happened years ago. No wonder Elmidath was still broken up about it. If anything, I was surprised at how well she was holding together. It sounded like the two of them had been quite close, and she didn't seem to have any other relatives or friends that were close to her. Maybe that was just the sort of resolve you needed to survive in this world. I

made a note to learn from her example; I could definitely stand to be more resolute. Learning it was so recent made me feel like apologising again, but I could tell Elmidath wanted none of that. Better to breeze by it and pretend nothing happened. I'm sure that was a healthy way of dealing with grief. "Three months, huh? It's amazing how much things can change in such a short time."

Chuckling, Elmidath shook her head. "Tell me about it. The me from three months ago almost feels like a different person living in a different world. Even though I obviously remember these things happening, it feels like they happened to someone else. Maybe it makes more sense to describe it as feeling like the rest of my life was a dream, one I only recently woke up from. Things are so much more... real now."

"You think that's jarring? You should try literally being pulled into a different world. All things considered, you're lucky I still have enough of my sanity left to be useful."