Wanting Answers

The next morning, Astri wakes up hearing the sound of birds. She opens her eyes slowly and gets startled when she realizes she's not at home, hitting her head on a wooden trunk above her head.

She cries soothing the pain in her head.

"Damn.. It wasn't a nightmare.. I'm really in a different world." She says softly and looks around.

She keeps walking in the direction Claud said. The pain in her rib is not as painful as yesterday, which means the fruit is working so she eats two more as she keeps walking.

She is wary of her surroundings, afraid of appearing more ferals hunting her.

After some hours of walking, she wants water. Her water bottle was almost over. Soon, she would need to go after a water source.

"I can see you're fine. I'm glad to know." From nowhere, Claud speaks in her mind, making her choke on the water with a fright. "Are you sick?"  He asks, worried.

"No.. *cough!* You scared the crap out of me!" She answered and quickly lowered her voice, scared to call the attention of ferals. "Good morning to you, too." She whispers.

"Good morning.. I apologize for scaring you."

"Never mind. I don't know if there's a way for you to talk to me and make me notice you approaching to talk or something." She says.

"I don't think so. But I can try."

"Well, thanks for that. Now, why are you talking to me again?" She asks.

"I told you I would check up on you when I could." He answers.

"Do you talk to everyone who falls into this world from another world?"

"No. Only to you. And I don't think many people can easily come to this world."

"How did you know I was here and I came from another world?" She keeps attacking him with questions.

"You will find out soon." He answers. She rolls her eyes. "Are you following the direction I said? How is your injury?"

"Yes. I'm going West. My ribs are not hurting so much, I can handle it." She answers.

"Good."

"So, after I find this village, what should I do? Is there a way for me to go back home? Will I become a slave or something to pay for the favor of having some food? There must be a catch."

"A catch?"

"Yes. Something bad behind. Or will people help me without anything in return?"

"You're a female. You will notice that females are rare here. They will treat you well, but for sure, they will try to be your mates. You can choose mates for you to help you survive and protect you."

She stops walking.

"Mates? What do you mean by that?"

"Spouses." He said nonchalantly.

"SpouseS? You mean more than one?"

"Yes. In the other world, there weren't spouses? How did they procreate?" He asks with a shock.

"Yes, but a woman has only one spouse!"

"I see.. The world you came from, are there many females?"

"I think as much as men. Why?"

"Females are rare. For this reason, they have many mates. Being rare, they're also targets. Other villages would focus on getting the females to weak others. Will weaken her mates because once she dies, they will feel the backlash of their bond being broken. They will feel so much pain that they will wish to be dead. Many go crazy with the backlash. That's also another reason for having more mates: to be protected."  He explains to her.

In her mind, it makes sense what he says, even if it still looks weird having multiple relationships. Must be tiring and complex.

"Well, I don't think I'm prepared to have a mate. Or mates." She says.

"It's your choice. If you think you can survive on your own." 

"I always did." She says.

He could feel through her voice that those words were heavier than they sounded.

"Whatever, you didn't answer me if I'll be capable of going back home if I find a village."

"No. You won't. And I don't think you should tell anyone about where you came from. They might think you're crazy." - He answers. - "I believe that you need to give time to understand this world better and stop worrying so much. When you settle somewhere, I'll find a way to get you and bring you here."

"Why would you do that?"

"I need you to stay alive. Simply as that." He answers.

"Again. Why?" She asks, trying to don't show she's angry. She wants answers now!

"You will find your answers soon. Believe me, learning not prepared to learn is more harmful than not knowing about something." 

She clicks her tongue and sighs.

"You know what? Whatever. I'm hungry, and if I keep talking, I'll be rude to you. I'll focus on finding more food." She speaks, stopping on her feet and looking around.

"Yes. That would be a smart thing to do."

She rolls her eyes. She knows he's the only one she has now in this world, but she's annoyed by him already.

Since she never hunted, never killed an animal, she started to plan what she could do to have food.

"What are you planning to do? I know females don't hunt, but I'm afraid you will need to do that. At least until you find someone to help you." He asks, worried that she will be capable of finding a village before starving herself.

"I never hunted, but I'll find a way. Wait, if I kill an animal, is it the same as killing a person?" She asks, actually shocked.

"No. There are many animals that don't have the same souls as beastmen."

"Good.. Good." She says, relieved.

Thinking better, she knows it's more important to find water than other things. If she finds a river, she could get water and could try to fish for something.

She doesn't have anything to use as a weapon, but she has some paper clips she can make as a hook.

"That's a good idea. You're smart." Claud speaks in awe.

"Can you read my mind?"

"Yes. To be capable of talking to you from this distance, I need to be completely connected to your mind."

"Well… you know what? Welcome." She says that after taking a deep breath, she was sarcastic, but what could she do anyway?

"I know you're angry, but I'm here to help. I don't mind you being rude. Most females are." 

"I'm not everyone. I don't like to be rude unless I need to be. And I'm not angry with you, I'm angry with this whole situation. Just let me focus on finding a river." She says, sitting under a tree.

"And how wiil you find a river?" He asks, really curious. She sighs.

"Water is the main source of life. I need to follow animals to find water. Or watch and listen to where there are more birds since they eat bugs or little fishes from the river."

Her answer made him more impressed. Maybe he doesn't need to be so worried.

"Impressive. Who taught you this?"

"Books."

"You know how to read? That's even rarer here. You can take advantage of that in the future. Most beastmen don't read. Only the ones with the high status of priests." 

"Like you?" She asks, and he doesn't answer. "Oh, come on! I'm not stupid. You want me to believe that you talking through my mind from a high distance is something anyone does? You must be powerful. And your silence makes me believe you know how to read, so you have high status."

He actually laughs.

"You're impressive! I'm really amazed." 

She could discover more details about him just by talking to him like this. She's smarter than he imagined.

He watches most of her search for the river and wants to keep the connection and watch how she will find the river and fish, but it's too tiring for him, so he can only promise to check up on her once his energy is back again.

She doesn't know if she feels grateful he's away from her mind or if she's sad that she's alone in the middle of nowhere again. Focusing herself on finding a river is what she will do from now forward.

She tries following animals, but what she finds is another cliff. A large and long cliff, she can see birds flying in the distance, but there's a high chance of her falling if she tries to go down the cliff.

So the best thing is to round the cliff somehow, and that can delay her, but she doesn't have a choice.

Rounding the cliff, she finally finds a path that is not too high, so she decides to go down.

While she's going down, she misses her foot and ends up falling and twisting her left ankle.

"Great! Just great! What else we got?!" She says angry.