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Day 3

Day 3

I rested for what I estimated to be five hours before I was roused from my rest by a familiar presence. I cast about my senses and grimaced when I felt the same dark presence from before. Without a moment’s hesitation I leaped from my perch and raced through the treetops towards the darkling.

It must have noticed my approach, because it once again disappeared in an instant. I slowed to a stop and hovered in place, frustrated at this being’s evident love of toying with me. The next time I spoke with the three winged-horned ones, I would have to tell them about the dark presence that lurked in their lands. Perhaps they might know more about it.

With a lack of any further reasons for being about, I returned to my tree and resumed resting. The rest of the night fortunately passed without incident, and I rose with the dawn the next morning. I went through my training as I had the day before, though this time I allowed myself to stray further from the clearing than I had before, so that I might find a nice-sized boulder for my strength training (1).

After about an hour’s passing, I returned to the clearing feeling quite hungry, as one is oft wont to be after a good warmup. In the future, I would have to carefully monitor the amount of energy I spent, at least until I acquired a reliable source of nutrition while I was in this world.
I cast about my mind’s eye, searching for my zebra hostess, but to no avail. I surmised that she had left once again to fetch the three leaders of this land.

To my surprise, however, she returned shortly thereafter with an orange quadruped. I recognized this one from the image I’d been shown yesterday by the white one of the leaders. By her shape, I surmised that this orange one was also female, and she also had what looked to be a brown, circular-rimmed hat about the top of her head. On her back she carried a relatively large basket of the red fruits I’d been shown.

I sensed much uncertainty from the new orange quadruped. To allay her fears I took a step back and slowly bowed low, while greeting her with a thought. She reacted with surprise, jumping back a short distance. I maintained my peaceful posture, though I sent her the idea that I had no intention of bringing any harm to her.

She appeared to accept that; however, I couldn’t tell if I had truly gained her trust. Her stance was still cautious, if more relaxed than before. I moved from my bowing position to sit down, bringing myself down to only slightly above her eye level.

The orange one brought the basket of fruits towards me and carefully set it down beside me. As she let go, I caught a brief glimpse of affection in her thoughts directed towards the fruit. In that moment, I realized that this must be a farmer who had grown these fruits with the work of her own hands. Or in this case, hooves, I realized as I noticed the end of their limbs ending in firm crescents of some bone-like substance. Fascinating.

I decided to attempt to engage this one in a bit of friendly talk, in the hopes that my geniality might provide a more favorable impression upon the rulers and her countrymen.

“Did you grow these yourself?” I asked. I also sent the feeling of curiosity to her, followed closely by a feeling of nurturing and raising a crop (2).

She didn’t react as vehemently as she had the last time; I suspected she was more surprised by my interest in her than my method of communication. She said something in her language, and I gleaned from her thoughts that she was affirming my suspicion that she had been the one to grow these fruits.

I sent the orange one a feeling of gratitude as I lifted one of the fruits out of the bag. I held it aloft for several moments, studying it to ensure that there would be no contamination (3). When my scanning came up clean, I sighed in relief, for my hunger had truly grown over the last two and a half days. I quickly brought the fruit to my mouth and took a small bite of it; I was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness of it, and there was a certain crispness in the fruit’s succulent flesh that I found quite tasteful.

I continued to eat until I encountered a particularly firm section in the center of the fruit, where several small seed-like lumps sat. Assuming the fruit was done, I pulled another from the basket and consumed it much more quickly, as my hunger would no longer wait patiently now that food was available.

Several minutes passed as I ate and ate. I could tell that the orange one felt mildly proud that I obviously enjoyed the taste of her fruit. She seemed to have finally grown comfortable in my presence, which I suspected was likely related to my voracious appetite.

Eventually, though, I had had my fill, leaving approximately half of the red fruits uneaten in the basket. I desired not to eat too much, as it could hinder me if I needed to defend myself or my hosts. Now all I needed was a nice drink of water and I would be alright for a while.

That in mind, I sent a query to the two quadrupeds that were in my company as to where I might find a stream with clean water to drink from. The orange one said something to the zebra, and the two of them went into the hut that the zebra lived in. I waited only a short time before they returned with a small bucket of water.

This surprised me slightly, for I had not thought that any kind of sophisticated water transfer system would exist in this kind of wilderness. Perhaps we were indeed quite close to the rulers’ lands, then.

I cast aside my thoughts as I accepted the water from them, once more scanning for any signs of impurity. Again my search detected no harmful entities in the water, and so I drank slowly from the bucket until I had emptied it. Feeling refreshed, I stood up and stretched my limbs, hovering a few inches off of the ground.

There came a feeling of amusement from the two quadrupeds, and I couldn’t help chuckling myself. It was contagious.

It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen the three rulers yet today, so I sent a query to my zebra guest as to where they might be. She sent me an apologetic feeling and relayed a picture of several figures sitting around a table discussing something, three of which I recognized as the winged- and horned quadrupeds from the previous day. The zebra attached a great sense of importance to the thought, and conveyed that I was the subject of their talk.

I was dismayed at the inability to speak with the rulers again, but I knew that they would come back when they had dealt with their own troubles. It wouldn’t do to rush them. I acknowledged her with a nod and began pacing about the clearing.

The orange one spoke to me again, and as I turned to face her she pointed off in the direction she had come from and sent me the feeling of going home, that work needed to be done. I bowed once more in gratitude for her food and she departed with a friendly wave. I turned back to the zebra, but unfortunately she too had work that she insisted needed to be done.

With a sigh, I resigned myself to wandering the nearby area for what little information I could gleam. Now that I was alone, I couldn’t stop the tide of curiosity and questions that bubbled constantly in my brain. One amongst them took priority, however, and my spirits always felt tested when I thought about it.

How was I to return home?

I had no answer currently, and my exploration offered no progress. I returned to the clearing when evening fell and settled into my tree for my rest.

Thus ends day 3

Author's Note:

(1)- Like most Luminoth warriors, we train to lift boulders and other heavy objects while we run obstacle courses. It is quite difficult to master, but once you are able to do it you will be able to increase your strength by many times.
(2)- I do have some experience with farming myself, though I am but an amateur; while I defended the Great Temple during the Final Rest, I started a small garden for myself, both to help pass the time and to lower the strain on my ration supply.
(3)- Many Luminoth, especially the warriors, are given biological enhancements to allow for technological interfacing. Very common amongst these enhancements are scan visors, which allow for the user to gain valuable knowledge about whatever the subject is that they need to scan.

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