Our hosts certainly did their best to make us feel welcome.
They fed us well, insisted on gifts in return for my healing of the sick pair and the two minor injuries I sorted out before eating and the emergency potions from Terenei, got us caught up on news that we’d missed while in the Highnds—including the disturbing fact that mossling sightings and lost individuals had both increased dramatically over the past few days. No one had seen any zombies at all, of course. Everyone was bracing themselves for a bad period and hoping fervently that the potion worked, and word was that gatherers and miners were making pns to provide all necessary components, even when they had to take risks to get them.
“Face to face is too close,” Logan muttered. “High risk for wardens. I need to find a ranged delivery system in a world that doesn’t have bows, let alone guns.”
“You want to arm wardens?” I replied, keeping my voice low.
“They’re not cops. Something like a small crossbow but for unching bottles, maybe. I need to get the specs on the bottle shape and size. How do I get enough spin to keep it going straight?”
That didn’t sound like a question aimed at me, which was just as well because I had no idea.
I couldn’t really argue about a project that was intended to keep wardens safer, especially if it was a system that would require major alterations before it could ever be used for any other purpose. Wardens didn’t see their job as being about enforcing w, anyway, only about looking after their community, so it probably couldn’t go disastrously wrong.
Offers were made by various households that they could rearrange to free up beds; Serru pointed out gently that we’d be happy with enough space somewhere to set up a portable house and perhaps a tent or two, rather than dispcing anyone. We were offered the vilge green—but it would have to wait, because the weather was better than in the Highnds, and instead of the community gathering in the tavern, here the preferred location was the green. That was a space in the centre of the vilge that was rgely open ft grass except for a wood-and-cob stage at one side, a meter or so high. Over it arched a very tall wooden trellis overgrown with something ivylike that had red and yellow and green leaves. On the opposite side a fountain shaped like a flock of startled birds flying upwards had water streaming out of their open beaks.
I was fairly sure the entire vilge gathered there to listen to Heket, even the sick father and son I’d helped earlier, sitting at one edge with the woman and girl who had thanked me so profusely ter on.
I saw Logan choose a spot closer to the fountain than the stage, away from anyone, and lowered myself next to him.
“Might have been less effort to change,” I reflected. “Centaur has uses but it’s awkward sometimes.”
“Usually first one’s the one that feels the most right. Not always. Sites give forms for their province, so...” He shrugged. “If it was actually a male dragon form, you’d probably never get me out of that one except to use stuff only other forms do.”
“It might be my favourite so far,” I admitted. “Although there are ways I like all the others, even my human form, too. I honestly don’t think I could just pick one and stay in it all the time.”
“Yeah. I should be out checking that there are no mosslings close to the vilge.”
“You said she can’t send them into the vilge, right?”
“It’s against the rules, and breaking those has consequences.”
“And I’m... probably I’m leaving in the morning flying, so whether they’re between me and the way out isn’t going to matter.”
“You’re actually going to listen? I might die of shock.”
“I think at this point I have to, although I’m not very happy about leaving my friends here alone on your word that they’re safe.”
“I have no interest in your harem. Their only possible use would be to keep you away from the Axis, so if you’re going there and I’m telling you to, why would I bother? I’m not her, I don’t do punishment mindgame bullshit.”
“I think I believe you, otherwise I wouldn’t even consider it. I’ll talk to them about it ter on. I’m not comfortable leaving them unless they’re actually okay with it.”
“I guess that’s reasonable.”
“Are you going to tell me what that thing is you want help with?”
“Maybe when you get back.”
“No point to saying good-bye, then.”
He sighed. “Read my lips, bro. You are not getting out of the mess you made here that easily. Seriously, a story and a book?”
“Neither one was my idea. There’s not exactly a lot of information out there on newcomers.”
“Maybe that’s not a bad thing.”
“Maybe it is. Aryennos tracked down what he could about the origins of the two biggest threats to peaceful life here. One babbled right from the first site about being chosen as the world’s protector. The other immediately demanded a sword and then ran around attacking people with a stolen axe.”
He snorted a sudden ugh. “Oh, fuck, I forgot about that. I could probably make a really banging sword if I wanted to, but what’s the point? That’s in a book somewhere?”
“Someone followed your trail and talked to people.”
“Well, that’s probably a world of embarrassing. You suppose I can persuade him to leave that out?”
“No.”
“Figures. Oh well. At least I’ll get to hear her history. Maybe it was embarrassing too.”
“You did it on your own. She kept picking up companions trying to help her who got so uncomfortable they kept passing her off to others to get away from her.”
He grinned. “Oh, I gotta hear this.”
“Ask Aryennos. He’ll share his research at any hint of an invitation. Right now, looks like everyone’s comfy and Heket’s about to start.”
“This should be good.”
I felt oddly more self-conscious having him hear Heket’s story, although I wasn’t quite sure why. It didn’t help that I heard several amused or derisive noises from his direction.
The rest of the audience was more enthusiastic.
I distinctly saw Logan roll his eyes when a scaled person whose gender I couldn’t figure out thanked me—having had several loved ones lost as mosslings and zombies both, they were hoping both not to face that again and that the children in their extended family had much less of that particur pain.
“Just curious,” I said. “I’m trying to get actual numbers, and I’m sorry if this is rude. How many each way, and for how long?”
They stopped to think. “Two were zombies and six have been mosslings. The zombies returned after a few months each time, and one mossling returned after a year. The other mosslings were gone for two years. One of them is still recovering from having been attacked by the Queen a second time a decade ter, he’s home but it was... bad. Not here, he’s in the capital, staying with a doctor who’s helping him.”
The faint smirk on Logan’s face went away, turning absolutely neutral.
“I’m really sorry. That sounds horrible for him and his family. I didn’t invent the Purification potion, the Quincunx decided to give it to me, but if I was an easy way for it to get that into the world, I’m gd.”
Once that one excused themself, I gnced at Logan. “What’s with this year and two years thing?”
“The rule is that moss infection, zombification, and anything equivalent that ever turns up in the future sts by default for no more than a year—less if there are other conditions like a lot of water or something. It can be renewed on someone once for a second year, at a higher cost than the original.”
“She does it a lot. You rarely do.”
“Not worth it. But yeah, she does.”
Looking at the two in aggregate definitely gave a fwed impression.
“Was that a guy or a girl?”
“Neither.” He rolled his eyes again at my bnk look. “Saurids can be born male or female or neither. The ones that are neither stay that way until the right conditions, which is who they have close contact with and what they eat and junk. Female saurids have bright colours around their eyes and a stripe along their, what’s the word, colrbone, even on the ones with not much curves, and they have longer thinner tails. Males have dark colours around their eyes and no stripe and thicker tails. The ones that are neither don’t have eye colours at all or hardly any, no stripe but sometimes spots along it, and a tail that’s shorter like a male but thin like a female.”
“Saurids. Three genders. Cool. Got it. No wonder they don’t have rigid gender roles here. Only felids can tell felids apart, aquians are both, saurids have a third gender...”
“Heard rumours there’s something going on with florians too. They’re not pnts but they identify with them hardcore. They don’t tend to be very talkative about it. Or most other things. Also heard rumours about dragons, but no one actually knows anything much about dragons because no one had ever seen one until about fifty, sixty years ago and they’re still extremely rare even in the Highnds.”
I got distracted from pursuing that by someone else who wanted to talk to me and say thanks.
The vilgers had mercy on us, though, and didn’t resist when the three wardens, who were all part-time, began to shoo them away so we had room to set up the house on the green.
“It really wasn’t meant for the number of people we’ve managed to collect,” Zanshe said, as we opened the house and stood back to wait. “It doesn’t have enough beds. There will be some overflow to a tent or two, but that’s fine, nothing is wrong.”
“I’m sorry we can’t do better,” the human warden said, a woman with short lemon-lime hair. “If there’s anything we can do, please, just ask.”
“You’ve been wonderful,” Terenei assured them. “All we wanted was something to eat, a pce to sleep, and somewhere safe for the ornithians, and you’ve done much more.”
“I’m sure we can rearrange somehow,” I said quietly to Logan.
He snorted. “Not a chance. How the hell do you pile six people, one of them a jotun, into space meant for at most four short-term?”
“Cozily and with some cooperation.”
“Keep it. I’m just fine with a tent and some privacy.”
“All right. I’m going to talk to them about maybe taking a shortcut tomorrow.”
“You’ll be back afterwards. It’s not forever.”
“Still not quite willing to accept never seeing my family or my girlfriend again.”
“Suit yourself.” He shrugged, swung his backpack around into reach, and pulled out a regur tent.
