Alventyr

I feel my chest tighten at her words.

"My hair?" I ask.

Is that what she was looking at all this time? My hair? What is so strange about my hair? I mean, the girl behind me literally has horns growing out of her head.

"Yeah. I have never seen hair that looks like gold before," she says.

"You find that strange? What about Lohikaarmi? She has horns," I say while pointing behind me.

"I have seen people like her before," Faye says while clearing her way through the thick undergrowth.

"People with horns?"

"Not exactly, but I have seen people with animal ears."

"What?"

"You know, the people with blessings."

Cisca stops staring at the camera with a weird grin and goes back to noting things down on her laptop.

"Can you explain these… blessings to me?" I ask.

"Sure? But I thought the city humans are pretty familiar with them already."

"My partner and I are… special."

"Alright, then," Faye says, "For every child that is born, there is a small chance that they will receive a blessing from the Goddess that grants them special abilities. Sometimes the special ability is visible in their appearance. I have seen a woman with horse ears who can hear movements from a mile away. Lohikaarmi is one of them, isn't she?"

"Y-Yeah. Now I remember what you are talking about. That's right. Lohikaarmi is blessed," I say.

"I thought so. Humans with blessings are lucky…" Her voice drifts off.

"Oh, look, we are here," Faye regains her energy and says while spreading open a bush in front of us.

I duck my head and walk out of the thickets. My eyes take a second to adjust to the unshielded sun. There are no longer any trees in front of us, instead, the woods have been replaced by a clearing full of houses, very primitive ones. There are hundreds of them spread out across a very large area, each one is a unique size. Some of them have walls made of stone, while others are made of logs. All of their roofs are just layers of thatch.

Unlike the houses on Earth, these ones are not laid out in grid patterns. Houses here just seem to organically scatter around, shaping around the curved roads.

Beyond the cluster of houses in the distance is more of the grassy rolling hills, like the one where I landed when I arrived here, but those beside the village are used as farmland. Golden wheat stretches over the land for miles.

The dirt roads in the village are fairly busy. A few dozen people are walking around. They all have long and sharp ears like Faye, and they are all dressed in a similar fashion as her. There are elves of all gender and ages, but the vast majority of them are in their early adult years. Very few children and elders are present.

I can see Cisca frantically taking everything in with fascination in her eyes.

It's strange. There is not a flick of noise except for the wind brushing against the leaves. I don't see a sign of electricity. These elves live on nothing but old fashioned wheat farms.

I understand that Earth was once like this, too, but actually having its primitivism presented in front of my eyes is… humbling.

Seeing this only makes me wonder what this village will look like in a few years, once I bring forth all the luxuries we take for granted back on Earth. To these elves, they will be no less than magic.

Lohikaarmi comes out from the bushes behind me with the little girl in her arms.

"Have you two come to Alventyr before?" Faye asks.

"No," I say.

"Okay, that's fine. I have to drop off the boar at the tavern, how about you guys come with me?" Faye says.

"Sure."

Faye begins heading for the only building in sight that has two floors.

Cisca reads out the situation as we follow behind Faye.

"Organized division of labor and task-focused facilities. Small presence of trades and an economy. Strong sense of society and a tightly knit community. It seems you have found yourself a quintessential rural medieval village, Kris," Cisca says.

More than four hundred years behind, huh? It looks like I have a lot of work to do if I want to build the quantum portals in Eden quickly.

The smell of homey cooking floats through the air. There is a plaza to my left where a couple of elvlings are running around on. Adult elves sit on wood benches while talking among each other in groups. Chattering and excited shouting fill the village.

Some of them catch a glimpse of us walking down the roads, but none of them pay any attention and just continue on with their days. No one here shows interest in my hair like Faye did.

"Good afternoon, Faye," a man walks by and waves.

"Good afternoon, Dior," Faye responds with a smile.

A number of more elves walk past us and greet Faye with warmth, all of whom completely ignore me and Lohikaarmi.

I see a river weaving through a part of the village in the distance. Elves with simple fishing rods sit by the side of it and wait for their hooks to be bitten.

A different looking house is beside the road leading out of the village into the meadows. The house has a fenced off area behind it where a dozen horses graze the grass.

Soon, we arrived at the two-story building. There is a sign hanging above the wooden doors that reads "TAVERN" in fancy lettering. Faye walks up the stairs and pushes open the door.

That smell of cooking is thick in here. We walk in behind Faye. There are wood tables and chairs placed around the room. On the other side is a counter, behind which is a door leading into what's probably a kitchen. There is a staircase in the corner that goes upstairs. It's not that late in the afternoon, so the tavern is completely empty.

Sunlight casts through the windows and fills the room with soft light. Taxidermy heads of all kinds of animals hang on the walls. The wooden plank floor creaks beneath our feet.

Faye walks up to the counter and gently calls into the kitchen, "Tiasha?"

A sweet female voice comes from behind the door, "Faye? Back from hunting already?"

The woman named Tiasha opens the door and comes out to the counter. She doesn't look much older than us, but something about her face shows age and maturity. Her eyes reduce to curved lines as she smiles. Like the rest of the elven village, Tiasha has brown hair and eyes, beautiful, too, but she doesn't quite emit the enchantment Faye does.

"Oh, you brought visitors with you today, huh?" She says while gently glancing at Lohikaarmi and me.

When Tiasha's eyes land on my chest, she winces slightly.

"Yeah, they gave this boar to me," Faye says and drops the animal onto the counter.

"I helped, that's all," I say.

"Well, thank you for helping out our lovely Faye. May I ask for your names, soldiers?" Tiasha says and picks up the boar to place it below the counter.

"I am Kris, and she is Lohikaarmi."

She also shows no recognition in Lohikaarmi's name.

"Nice to meet you. Like you've heard from Faye, I am Tiasha. What's wrong with the girl?" She asks about the little girl in Lohikaarmi's arms.

"She is resting. Is there a room I can put her in?" I ask.

"Sure, come upstairs," Tiasha says and walks out from behind the counter.

"Tiasha, there is still a lot of daylight left," Faye says, "I am going out hunting again, can you take care of these nice soldiers?"

"Of course, dear, leave them to me," Tiasha says.

"Thanks. See you guys when I get back." Faye waves and leaves the tavern.

Tiasha walks across the room to the stairs. "Shall we?" She asks with a smile.

"Sure," I say and follow her up to the second floor.