New Friends.

And so, after my usual morning routine with Rath and Freia, and the following clean-up and brunch, I set off out towards the village, my bag of holding, as I had named it, over my shoulder, filled with supplies and books. 

Freedom!

The path was as I remembered it, meandering through the trees and fields. Very pleasant. I even passed a local or two, who courteously doffed their hats to me as I went by. I returned their greetings with a cheery wave.

And then I arrived at the village, and stopped.

Crap! 

The whole point of this endeavour was to get to a remote spot to cast some magic. Nowhere on the path had been remote at all. In fact, it was slightly worse than my usual area, because people could saunter on by at any time. At least the orchard spot was private.

Thinking things through, I decided to purchase a small cake from the bakers, which was my Lissa-allocated boundary. The baker, an incredibly large, hugely fat man with a giant beard, called me 'Young Master Theo' and insisted I take the cake free of charge, as it was my first visit. He also asked I say hello to my mothers for him, which I promised to do. No doubt trying to curry favour. Ah well.

I gave him a shallow bow, thanked him again, and left the shop, munching on the cake, which was some kind of sweet bread with a tangy almond flavour to it.

My body automatically started back up the path to home, walking up past some residential cottages on the outskirts of the village.

"Who are you?"

I blinked, coming out of my own thoughts, and looked around. 

A young girl, probably my (physical) age was sitting on a garden fence, swinging her legs. She was dressed in a blue tunic and short breeches, and had dirty bare feet. Her skin was pale, and bright blue eyes stared curiously out from underneath her mass of blond hair, some of which had been tied back in multiple braids, and secured with different coloured ribbons in attempt to get it at least partially under control. She was the very definition of a cute little girl. No, not like that! Come on, she was only about four! Get your mind out of the gutter. 

"Oh," I said. "I'm Theodore. Theodore Helmage."

"I'm Mary-Ann Caspian," she replied, jumping down, and holding out her hand. 

"Hello Mary-Ann Caspian." I took her hand, which was slightly sticky, and shook it.

"I've not seen you here before," she said. "Would you like a lolly?" So saying, she fished about in her tunic and pulled out a small round lollipop, which looked like it had already been sucked on a fair amount. Fabric bits were stuck to it. That would explain the sticky.

"I have a cake." I waved my half eaten food at her. "Would you like to try it?" 

"Yes please!"

Smiling, I handed it over. "Here, you can have it. I'm full already anyway."

"Yum!" She beamed at me and bit into the pastry. "Lovely!" she added, spitting crumbs. 

I smiled at the innocent enjoyment of a young child. Yes, I know, I was also a young child, at least in theory, but mentally I was in my mid-fifties. I could have been her grandfather. 

"Who are you talking to Anni?" another voice intruded.

I looked over to see a boy, slightly older than me, maybe five, trotting through the gate from the garden.

"His name is Theod… Thee…"

"I'm Theodore," I interjected, to stop the mouthful of pastry being lost from Mary-Ann's mouth.

"What are you feeding my sister?"

The boy stopped in front of me and glared. He was a handsome lad, dressed in a sensible shirt, matching shorts and sandals. His brown hair had been cropped, rather raggedly, short, but he eyes were the same as his sister's, bright blue.

"She offered me a lolly, which I declined, and I offered her some pastry, fresh from the bakery, which she is…" I looked at Mary-Ann's beaming, crumb plastered face. "…has eaten already. I would have offered you half. Sorry. Next time, I promise."

The boy frowned. "You should not accept food from strangers," he said, sternly, to his sister.

"You can't tell me what to do." Mary-Ann stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'll tell dad," he replied. 

I smiled inwardly at this exchange between siblings. Some things, it seemed, remained the same in any universe.

"Well, it was nice meeting you both," I said. "See you again." 

"Let's play together next time!" Mary-Ann shouted, waving. 

"Sure!" I waved back, although the thought of playing in the dirt with toddlers wasn't all that appealing to be honest. Give her another ten years though… I allowed myself an evil grin.

~*~

So, it turned out that, despite winning my freedom from the orchard, I still had nowhere safe to practice my more powerful magics. 

After another month I lost patience. My physical practice done, I washed, ate, and then told Lissa I was going to wander towards the village. 

"Have a nice time," she said, waving. "Be safe, remember what I told you, and be back by dinner."

"Yes mother," I replied, as sincerely as I could.

Heh, the lack of mobile phones in this culture reminded me of being young in my first world. I had grown up before them, and the internet, and had spent quite a lot of my young childhood roaming the streets with my fellow kids. Of course, that had been back before my family totally fell apart.

In any case, this time I was going to be a 'bad boy'. I followed the path a little way down, to an area were the oro trees were thickest, and ducked between the gnarly trunks. 

The season was nearly over, and overripe oro littered the grass. I found one that was still in good condition though, so picked it up, peeled it, and chewed on the juicy fruit inside as I took a long, circuitous route north, keeping to the more heavily wooded areas wherever possible.

Finally, after a good bit of walking, I found myself climbing up a steeper slope, past the cultivated fields and land, into a wilder area. Sure enough, after walking another ten minutes, I looked a little to the west and south, and saw the orchard wall from the other side for the first time. It was a little way away, so I felt secure enough that I wouldn't be spotted. I guess our house was the closest one to the wilds.

Carrying on, it started getting more overgrown, with bushes and trees growing more densely. Figuring I was far enough away, and not wanting to actually go into the woods, I located a relatively clear spot, and sat down on an overturned tree to rest.

"Well, this is nice," I said to myself, looking around the small glade. "First, a bite to eat."

I delved into my bag of holding, and pulled out a sandwich I'd squirrelled away a few days before. The advantage of the Hollow Space spell was that it suspended time in some fashion, so things you stored inside kept fresh for as long as it was there. Amazing really.

I munched on the food, enjoying the solitude and thinking about what spell to try first. 

"I think Concentrated Storm Ball needs a retry," I muttered, finally finishing my meal. 

Standing up, I flexed my shoulders and grinned wildly to myself. Finally, I would be able to let loose!

Before I could though, a noise distracted me.

Something was approaching! 

Even as I thought this, a small figure burst out of the undergrowth. It saw me in shock, and stopped dead, falling back on its back.

"What the…" I frowned and stepped forward.

"KJjkh jasjKD!" the thing shrieked. 

"Uh?" It wasn't speaking the language I had learned! How interesting.

The creature on the ground was staring at me in an expression that was half hate, half fear.

The first, most obvious thing to note, was that she was green skinned. Light green, but definitely green. Her hair was long, flowing and also green, with spiky elf-style anime ears sticking out from her head. Un-elf-like though, were the fangs protruding from her mouth. Sharp, canine type fangs. Still small, she was obviously an infant, maybe only as old as physical me.

Her clothing was a crude tan tunic, wrapped about her body with dark twine. She had no shoes. 

"It's okay," I said in a gentle tone, stopping a metre or so away from her. "I'm not going to hurt…"

More noise interrupted me. 

Someone, or something, else was approaching. And from the sound of it, this thing was a lot bigger than my new acquaintance. It was also growling loudly. And angrily. 

As another figure burst into the clearing, I now understood what my green friend had been running from.