As days continued into weeks my studies continued. I even audited one of the professors gem and crystal classes. He was much more passionate about that subject and didn’t have anyone stand up in front of the class. Meals that involved Bibbel at the table had become more tolerable. He was actually willing to discuss guilds with me. Apparently in this part of the world cities were run by mayors controlled by guilds. Each guild typically had sub companies that paid dues to share in connections and benefits that could be called in at any city where the guild made its home. An interesting system. Some guilds had small outposts in the empires to the north and south but they did not control much there, at least not openly.

  I had been making a list of various nations. The guild controlled cities didn’t have a name of their own, basically city-states that allowed people in and out, only checking at gates to make sure they were not known problems or likely to become one. The empires though? Both required some kind of permissions to travel within borders. Invirech was to the far north, well past the desert. Supposedly the boarder was the mountains that formed into a ridge at the north of the desert, keeping the empire contained as far as these lands were concerned. To the south though there was another empire called New Rome. It had expanded its borders many times holding a vast array of territory. Supposedly its provinces sometimes went into revolt causing the empire to cease expanding further. At least that had been the case for the last hundred years according to the books I’d read.

  With all this reading and studying I felt like a student all over again. More so than when I was learning the language. Marigold had insisted I learn at least some of the area around here and both the professor and even Bibbel had taken to quizzing me. It was becoming part of my new routine. So much I had nearly forgotten about the paracrest woman, the adventurer, and her dire scroll.

  It was in the afternoon when she came in. I had been around enough paracrest at that point that I was fairly certain it was her. And she wasn’t alone. At her side was a being I only recognized from simulations. An orath. Its eyes were extended high, swiveling about as I stepped up to great them.

  “Hello. How can I assist you today?” I tried to be as polite as possible.

  The paracrest tilted her head in thought as the orath opened their sideways mouth to speak “We are lookings fors some maps of the woods to the easts of here.” I had never noticed in the simulation just how much they talked with their face tentacles which waved about to direct each sound.

  “I can help with that. This way please.” I turned quickly, tucking my tail so I wouldn’t hit them before heading off to the local knowledge shelves. It had Dacathus history as well as information on locations around the city. This included part of the forest I had originally found myself in.

  “I think I nearly barged into you the last time I was here.” The paracrest said in an apologetic tone as I started thumbing through books, “Sorry about that.”

  I was right about it being her and I did my best non predator smile as I turned with one of the maps that had been tucked in with the books of the area. “Its alright. I did the transcription on your scroll request. I hope it was useful.”

  Her sail flagged as the orath took the offered scroll. “I went broke sending my guild a message with the content. I have yet to hear back from them.”

  Acid churned in my belly. I did not know her or her guild but given the nature of the message I had a sudden fear about what might have happened. “I hope that they just don’t want to pay for sending a message back then.”

  That actually got a small laugh from her, causing the orath’s eyes to swivel to us both. “A problems I do nots know abouts?”

  “It’s nothing to do with our quest Isky.” The paracrest straightened, “Just an issue I sent to the guild in Terath.”

  “May I ask what your quest is that you need these maps?” My curiousity was peaked as I looked between the two. I was also making a mental note to add orath to my list of races I knew of before coming here.

  “We are lookings for a missings hunter. His wife saids he likeds to go outs for a few days to a place onlys he knews of to gets deer meats.”

  “I know those woods myself.” I heard myself say before I could stop it. “Had to follow the river from, well, the east.” I had looked at maps in my area study as well. The east was well past guild land, boarded by the forest here and the desert to the north. I knew there was at least one hillsec living out there though.

  “Are you a hunters? Your teeths say meats to me.”

  “I have a [Hunter] level. Saved me from starving out there.”

  The paracrest’s sail rose up as she looked at me again, turning away from the map. “How is it that a librarian got so lost in the woods to gain a level in [Hunter]?”

  My ears folded at that and I peered around. I knew that being from, elsewhere, happened. That no one was going to drag me off because of it. But still, you wanted to be careful with such information. “I, wasn’t a librarian when that happened. I’d never been to Dacathus before I stumbled out of the woods with the help of two cart drivers. I just found myself there one day and had to survive.”

  The paracrest blinked at that. “I have heard tale of such stories though never from one who claimed to be the subject.”

  My ears continued to flatten as I looked down. “Not something I wish to discuss here but I do know how to navigate the forest.”

  “Junior hunters are welcome to tags alongs with Isky,” The orath declared, “Even if you are furry and male.”

  I actually laughed as well at that, my ears perking once more. It was what I remembered about the orath from sims. At least in their traditions born out of gender differences. Not many species had easy to notice ones though. But male orath didn’t develop lower arm spurs used for fighting and female orath didn’t secrete hardening mucus that would aid in building.

  “Hunter Isky, this one’s name is Ramjack and while he does not use them in as such he can use his own claws on prey if need be.” I told her, hoping I had said the right thing.

  “I take it you are not a member of the adventuring guild?” The paracrest asked, “Oh, and I’m Raven by the way.”

  —————

  Raven wasn’t sure what to think of the librarian hunter. He seemed nice, polite but very odd. She had heard of people suddenly appearing before, from lands far and unknown, but they tended to not know how to speak and all other races but their own confused them. It was even in histories she’d read. It was usually a human, a terrisian, a kethi, or something. She’d never heard stories of a paracrest or a chelkren appearing from elsewhere to this land.

  Yet here was a librarian, a creature whom she did not recognize at all, that seemed to understand something of an orath’s culture. He also talked very well, with a slight accent she could not place. How long had he been here? He acted like the woods were a recent thing and yet he spoke so well.

  He was not an adventurer but he did offer aid outside of work. Once the three of them got going, pouring over the maps he had found, Ramjack told them the sorts of things he had seen in the forest. How he had followed the river mostly, hunting birds and deer. He was even willing to help them find his final campsite as a reference. He’d told them about the road, and even the nice lizardfolk couple who had gotten him a lift into town and let him stay till he could get along here on his own.

  It was a fascinating discussion outside the library. He was no adventurer, wasn’t interested in taking any of the reward but wanted to assist where he could. Isky was already on board with him helping out but they had to discuss it with the other members. As well as establish some ground rules for the non adventurer. He had agreed to meet them at tavern called ‘The Sheltered Fang’, known well to the adventuring crowd.

  Isky was running late to the meeting, off gathering supplies for overnights in the woods. Raven was glad she actually had funds to contribute this time, unlike when they’d first grouped up a few weeks back. She wasn’t making much from the jobs, but enough that she could soon go home, if only to gather up the rest of her things and check in on Mazen. She had found she quiet liked it here. Her feathers no longer itched from the sand. The occasional rainstorm agreed with her. She was even getting along with her new companions.

  Jace sat in the booth side of the back room table, sipping an ale. Veshy was next to him, taking up the rest of the seat but without bumping him. “So, things went well at the library?” The human inquired. They’d already planned to meet here before Ramjack got involved but there would be room for him.

  Raven sat down, her tail drooped over the side of the bench. “We asked one of the librarians here as he knows those wood himself. Hunted some there and might have some insights to where the hunter might be.” She and Isky had early discussed this with him but letting him talk the full group seemed best.

  “Ah a librarian. Haven't been back to the library in a while as I have my own books. They didn’t have much that aligned with my studies last time I was in there anyway. Wouldn’t have expected one of them to have much hunting knowledge.”

  “He has a [Hunter] level, that is pretty good knowledge to me.” Raven informed him. She could see Veshy’s eyes swiveling with interest.

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  “Rare to see one with the skills to work at a library also have such a class.” The orath agreed, “I myself only have one level of [Hunter] as I focused more on my [Fighter] arts instead.”

  Raven was about to say more when she felt a presence at the door to their private room. Ramjack stood there in clean robes and a leather scroll carrier. “Uh, hi.” The librarian said as he looked at the other two.

  “Wow… not what I was expecting.” Commented Jace, looking the other man up and down, “Never seen one you before.”

  The librarian swallowed as he sat down next to Raven. “I’m pretty new around here.” He admitted, removing the carrier and placing it neatly on the table. “My name is Ramjack. Pleasure to meet you both.”

  “I’m Jace and this here is Veshy. I take it you already met her sister, Isky.”

  Raven handed him one of the menus at the table before looking at her two companions. “So, Isky and I already talked over some of the details. She’ll catch up with us here when she can. Ramjack had been telling us about his time navigating those woods and has agreed to help a little, but not as a guild member.”

  The librarian pulled out the map scroll from the carrier and laid it out before touching the offered menu. “I know various hunting roots that lead off from the river. I can get you started by taking you to a campsite not far from this point in the road.” He gestured to a part of the road that was leading through the woods that connected the main southern road and one of the forest settlements. “If what Raven and Isky told me was accurate about the man’s habits he was likely out there where I had been.”

  Jace leaned forward over the map, frowning a bit. “Not sure why we’d need someone else though with your directions here. The distance between the road and the river look pretty self explanatory.”

  “Perhaps. But I offered since I have been in that section and I take it none of you have?” the youth looked at Jace and Veshy for what felt like a minute before he fumbled with the menu and hid his eyes.

  The orath made a sound that Raven knew was one of amusement. “So true. Better to have one who has been to a hunting grounds than just rely on the map. They are likely to know if something is wrong.”

  ———————

  While I hadn’t been in the forest since getting into Hestern and Lemet’s cart it was still clear in my mind. I remembered hunting birds, wishing I knew how to preserve the meat of what I now knew was a deer. That had been so much meat but I was only ever able to eat a little of it. And then the voices that lead me to people. It was in my head and would not leave, just in case everything I had seen and done since was some kind of delusion perhaps. Or simply as a reminder that things can change so quickly even without magic.

  “I take it we are going tomorrow?” I wasn’t sure how long it would take as I road a few hours on the back of a cart, but said cart hadn’t moved very fast. Perhaps walking quickly down that same road would only be half the time.

  “First thing.” The human named Jace confirmed, “Bring a bedroll just in case. I take it you know how to get back from there?”

  I wasn’t an adventurer. They were going to do something a bit dangerous perhaps and didn’t want me to get in the way. “I do. I can probably get in some hunting myself while I am there.” My old bow was nothing compared to the gear these folks had but unless I could get a new one cheaply. I didn’t have a bedroll but I had asked for a few days off. It was close to the days of rest anyway, though Marigold did seem a bit concerned. At least she gave them to me.

  The rest of the evening was not as boisterous as my days back at the Clattering Crossroads. Being in a back room most of the tavern noises were muted by the walls and fine drapes at the door. The wait staff came in for our orders and brought the food swiftly. My meal was paid for by the group, and it was agreed that if my help actually lead them to the missing hunter that I would get a small amount.

  Isky showed up in the middle of the meal and climbed onto the bench next to me. She was pretty chatty, excited to learn that I planned to get some hunting in before heading back once we were to split ways in the woods.

  “You made yours owns bow?” She asked, sounding impressed.

  “Nothing fancy. I, well, I ended up with [Survival] classes before I picked up [Hunter] and it helped me make the tools I needed.”

  “[Survival], [Hunter] and something that helps you at the library?” Raven and Jace were now staring at me. I hadn’t realized how strange that might be and my ears flattened.

  “I’m a [Chronicler]. That’s what got me the library job. The other two classes are the only reason I survived out there in the woods.”

  Jace and Veshy were both staring at me now while Isky reached over and stole a long root vegetable off Raven’s plate and started chewing on it with her side wise mouth. “Hes is an appeareds ones.” She managed around the vegetable.

  Appeared one, I hadn’t heard that term before but it made sense. It also caused the other two to seem even more surprised. The human’s mouth fell open while the orath’s eye-stalks bulged.

  “Seriously?” Jace asked, recovering his jaw. “I mean you aren’t anything I’ve seen before but really? You’re from somewhere else?”

  My ears were still flat as I could feel the tips of them heat at his words. “I… uh.. Yes.” I didn’t really want to speak and shoved a bit of fried fish in my mouth, nearly missing Isky’s split-tentacle hand as she snagged a piece of it for herself.

  “There are always stories of such things… even of whole villages looking at the sky and seeing it so different.” Veshy whispered, “But I have never met one who has claimed to be an appeared one.”

  I swallowed the fish, my ears pulling upward once more as I tried to calm myself. “I don’t know how I got here. I don’t know if I can ever return home. I’m just trying to survive, to make this place my home.” It kind of fell out of me, talking like that. I swallowed but kept my ears high.

  “The ancient ones tell stories of sky change,” Veshy went on, “Of suddenly being the only village until they forged more. That once there were many hunters, many villages. Then one, now more again.”

  I thought about that, my ears far more relaxed now. “So like me alone, a village of orath appeared here?”

  “There are stories like that about the founding of New Rome as well.” Jace added, “I read stories that band of human soldiers found themselves in skies they did not know, in lands unknown and decided that they would call their new land like their own, New Rome.”

  “The paracrest have no such stories.” Raven said, her sail sagging, “None have ever appeared as far as our histories go.”

  “Maybe there is more like you somewhere?” Isky asked, face no longer full of food.

  If there were none had made it to Dacathus. “I… it doesn’t matter right now. Look, if you are interested maybe we can talk on the road, or later after your quest?”

  Raven nodded her head, turning to the others. “I think we have bothered our guide enough, and if we keep upsetting him we might have to pay him more for the trouble.”

  —————

  I actually had enough for a new bow. Just a basic one sold at a hunting store. I got my bedroll and some more arrows there as well. One thing that I wasn’t told when I took the job at the library was that there were commission jobs available. Marigold hadn’t told me because the last guy who had my job was too lazy to fulfill such requests so she hadn’t offered out the service until she saw how I did my research. It was a research based commission after all. Some people, sometimes from the college, with no time to look it up themselves would order up a request. The sort of thing you could find on the net in seconds back home. It could take a few hours with the books to find and write up a page or two of information on their request.

  The library knew it was possible that if it was a student ordering it that it might end up becoming a paper submitted to the college, but professors knew this too. We didn’t have to lie for any student if a teacher came to us to find out if such a service was used. The service itself was not free and I was given some of the profits as a bonus. That and selling a rewritten short story about the land of Drem to a small magazine type outfit not related to the library had helped with my cash flow. I even had a more forest-worthy outfit on top of a small amount of supplies.

  Thanolin had tried to talk me out of it, saying I didn’t need to do any more than show adventurers maps. It quite pleased me to know my landlord was so concerned. I did my best to explain to him that this would be good for me as well. To go back to the last place I was alone and see it with new eyes. Not that I expected to see much but maybe my old campsite. I’d also promised to bring back some fresh rabbits and that seemed to please him.

  I met the group at the same gate I had once entered the town in, new bow slung over my shoulder. Everyone had a similar pack to my own, though most of their supplies looked like they had gotten more use than my own.

  “Good, we are all here.” Veshy said, turning her eyes from me to point straight forward down the road. “I hope you can keep up librarian.”

  That was the only greeting I got besides nods. That was ok, I didn’t actually know these people. Not yet. Thankfully I kept pace easily with them. My long legs and endurance might not have gotten so much use lately but they still carried me far. This time I hadn’t needed to expend energy just to survive as we stepped off the road at around the point I had indicated on the map. I had no way to know exactly where I had met up with the cart to begin with but it was easy enough to catch up to the river from there.

  Jace was the one who seemed to be the slowest in the group, keeping the rear covered with his crossbow. I stayed up near the front with Isky, showing off the remains of my campsite when we finally got there. I had written my name on a few rocks with charcoal. It was in Vazack, making it rather unique. I even pointed out the marks saying, “This is how I know the site is mine.”

  Isky lowered her eyes and much of her head over the site, her face tendrils reaching out to sample bits of the ground. “Hows longs ago dids you say you useds this camps?”

  “Several months at least. It was just before I found my way to Dacathus.”

  “Camps has beens used since then.” She announced, pulling her head back up. “Fire was relits at leasts”

  “Looks like you were right about the [Hunter] then. He came out this way” Jace told me, a look of approval in his eyes.

  Everyone started looking around at that point. I noticed a few things that were not at my camp the last time I was here. I’d mostly been hunting birds when I cam here, burring feathers I could not use for the arrows. In a clump in one side of the fire, not quiet burned, was what looked like the remains of some kind of mammal. A squirrel perhaps, judging by the burned skull in the pit.

  “I only ate birds here.” I told Isky as she started her own examination of the pit. Her eyes swiveled up to catch my gaze even as she continued her head extension over the corpse.

  “Gives us more clues.” She agreed. “Bits ofs furs on the barks over theres.” She gestured with an arm.

  “Where do we go from here?” Raven asked. It was the first time I’d heard her talk so far. Strange since I’d suggested the night before if we wanted to discuss my past that we do it on the walk here, but that had been silence from all of us. It made me feel just a bit out of place now that I had realized it.

  “My sister can track the [Hunter] and hope that it really is the same one who went missing.” Veshy told her.

  “Oh its is.” The orath confirmed, “I pickeds ups a scent his wife shared whens we talked withs her.”

  “Alright. Ramjack, thank you for your assistance. You said you plan to stay here a little while to do some hunting?”

  I nodded as I unslung my bow. “Yes. I should probably make a new fire pit though in case you need anything from this one. I might end up spending the night. It will be better than last time since I have a bedroll now.” I bit my tongue. They didn’t need to hear all of that, I’d just started rambling.

  Isky was already moving on, striking out in a direction away from the river but not in the direction we had come from. “Alright.” Veshy turned to her companions, “Let us go then. We will come back here if we get separated or lose the trail but otherwise let us continue as far as we can today. He might be close by or set up further camps.”

  Raven turned as they all left, giving me a slight bow. “Thank you for your assistance. Sorry we didn’t talk more. I, well, I’ll make sure you get a little money for this field exercise.”

  “It is nice to get out of the city for a bit. And to have actual tools out here this time.” I flicked my ears a little, unsure what to say without rambling again, “Safe journeys.” And with that I was alone again, the adventurers having followed a trail I didn’t even notice.