One hell of a journey.

Not quite strangers [Chapter 2]

Karus stood over Haix's bed before turning to Wil.

"Who's bed is this?" As he said this he reached over to a piece of paper that sat on the thin red blanket that barely covered the "bed", which was just a big wooden plank raised a foot or so off of the ground.

"Don't touch that," annoyance was evident in his voice as he spoke. "That's my daughter's." He didn't look the other man in the eyes.

"Oh, my bad. Where...is she then?" He tentatively placed a hand on the taller man's shoulder, trying his best to avoid the situation getting any more tense.

"She left. Yesterday. To become an "adventurer". End of story." He spat the words with disgust and pure detestation, clearly not comfortable with the change in conversation.

"Well, we still have time to join her, then." Karus placed a hand on his hip, forming a heroic pose. Well, he thought it to be heroic, at least. He waited as Wil thought it over, still posing, before getting bored and giving up, instead heading towards the rapier on the wall. "I'm sure we can put this to better use than wall decor, as well, eh?'

He retrieved the rapier from the wall plaque as Wil stood up and headed towards him, regretting ever opening the door. Too late to back out now.

"Even if we did, how are we supposed to find her?" He took the rapier from Karus's hands and placed it into the sheathe he held on his belt. Meanwhile, the other turned to look at him with a wide grin, exposing his knife-like teeth once more.

"Easy, do what she's doing. We, y'know, adventure." His eyes shone with much more excitement than he should at a time like this, but Wil just gave in and asked him to elaborate, all whilst sighing with a hand over his face in - mostly - feigned exhaustion.

"So, you know your way around here, right?" Karus asked as the other man led him outside and to the north-east section of the woods.

"Of course I don't, but it's like you said. We're adventuring." The man gave him a slight smile as he wandered off. Karus looked at the man in disbelief as Wil walked over to the treeline as the trees and bushes bent into an archway and a clear path.

"We're going to die." Were the final words uttered before they fell into silence, the only sounds to be heard were the sounds of nature thriving in the distance, as well as their own light footprints on the soft earth.

"Where even are we? I don't think anyone's going through here, why don't we go a different way. Maybe so-" Wil cut off his new friend's ramblings with a swift hand over his mouth. They had now been walking for a few hours and it looked just passed midday, though it was hard to tell with all the thick shrubbery and flora surrounding the two, blocking most of the sky out from view.

"Sh! Listen..." He whispered harshly, trying to hear over Karus' mumbled ranting from beneath his now damp hand, that Wil would definitely hit him for later. As the pair eventually came to silence once more, something was different. Now, the quiet rushing of water could be heard.

"Water...great? That doesn't really help us." Wil grabbed his hand and guided him towards the source of the sound. Karus, not wanting to sound lonely already, didn't mention how much he enjoyed the minor physical contact of another person that he hadn't experienced in...well, ever.

He figured seeming like an idiot was enough, and he didn't really want the label of desperate idiot on top of that. Instead, he chose to let the other continue.

"A river. Means we're going the right way. If we continue north-east from here we should reach Fort Liard. However, we can take a little break for about an hour if you need and then we can continue, should only take a few more hours to get there." Karus heard the word break and immediately collapsed by the river, groaning and complaining about his legs hurting, his lizard-esque tail swishing incessantly. Wil sighed and ignored his comments, and also pretending to not be slightly off put by the weird tail he never noticed before, gently throwing down his rapier on a tree stump next to them before joining Karus by the waters edge.

Karus sat up, his energy coming back seemingly instantly. "So, what does your daughter look like? I mean, I think it would help if I actually knew who we were looking for."

Wil hummed in an agreement to his statement. "Well, she has purple hair like me except it's brighter. So, actually closer to your skin tone. She has a more...normal skin tone than either of us. She's pale but not as...grey, as mine. Oh, she has green eyes, too." Wil awkwardly described his daughter to the man he barely knew.

"So she inherited, like...none of your genes. Okay, we've just got to look for a child that doesn't look like you. Sounds easy." Karus stated, heavy sarcasm quite obviously dripping from his every word. Wil hit him upside the head before commenting on his remark.

"Ha ha. It's just how my race works, thank you. Not my fault." This caught Karus' attention.

"Care to explain?" He turned to face him and moved to sit cross legged as he listened intently for what the other was going to say.

"Sure. Let's say you are like me, my race. If you had a child with someone of a different race then there would be a chance that the child was  the same race as you, or they would be the same race as your partner, but never a mix of the two. Does that make sense?" Karus nodded, despite looking like he took in none of the information that was just displayed to him.

"Yeah, sure, I guess." With that, the forest was quiet once more and the men relished in the, fortunately comfortable, stillness that washed over them for the entirety of their rest before they decided to continue on their path to Fort Liard, now following the Liard river.