bearings

Moro stood on guard, his lips quirking down ever s slightly as he listened to the story the young knight was telling him how she had gotten to this land, trying to grasp, understand and comprehend with all the will of a druid why it had done the same to him.

"t'was on the first march," the knight Liliana elaborated as she now sat on the stump willingly drinking the special tea compound he made to ease her "mine comrades were led by the great captain Godric of the Sigmund troops, we sought to cut the main charge into the demon's ranks by cutting through the forest…"

The druid noticed her struggling to continue, perhaps trying to find the right words to describe what had happened to disorient and misplace her this far from her homeland

"There was this… light… it was… blue, everything was hazy and…" she clenched her hands "damn it to hell…" she cursed under her breath standing up to punch a tree

The druid watched calmly

'she is young, t'is to be expected she reacts violently' Moro thought, listening to her explanation

Though the druid kept the patient smile on his face, his inner turmoil was building up like a boiling pot filled with too much water

No sooner and he would spill

"did you perhaps experience a tingling feeling across your entire body?" he decided to venture "as if your skin came alive and was warm. As if standing next to a hearth?"

"how…" she turned slowly, looking at him in suspicion "how do you know that?" she asked

Moro raised his hands to show he wasn't armed… not that he needed the use of his arms to do harm

"t'is wasn't I who sent you here" he stated firmly as the woman edged off her blade "I am one of the other victims of this strange occurrence just as you" he explained

Liliana brought her hands down

"I… apologize" she grit out

Morro could tell it was a forced apology, something done only because of his status as one of the eldrich practitioners, and even more so that he was a druid.

In a way, she was doing what would be considered the smart thing had she been talking to a wizard, or perhaps she would already dead if she encountered a magus' research location. The view on dabbling in the mystical arts had always been bad from the human perspective for good reason

But what's worse was the view of those doing the dabbling…

He waved the apology off with a slight laugh

"t'was not such a farfetched assumption to make at all," he said merrily, he'd wished he had that much tact and caution when he was a youngin. "you are of the right mind to suspect me; the first person you've been in contact with since the transport"

The knight calmed, her shoulders easing back down from their strained position a while ago

'she is no fool at least…' morro mused internally pleased 'a good sense of danger and skepticism could be the deciding factor of life and death after all'

What with the division between races going on, morro knew almost every kingdom from down to the far south mountains to the depths of the northern hold the standing between the human and non-human empires hadn't been that well off.

It paid to be at least a little bit cautious

"what of you ser morro?" the knight prodded gesturing to the forest "you've never brought up how you came to be here" she stated

morro hummed as he watched a leaf the size of his head descend to the ground beside his feet.

Winter was coming fast

"I had been heading off to the enchanted forest of Heragon" he stated, his mood taking a dip as he was reminded of the business he left unfinished "I was to give a blessing to a newly born crystal antlered elk, turned once and didn't even feel whenst the magic came"

'not even a mark on where it would have cometh from…' morro thought uneasily as he shifted to a standing position, trying to make clear of where one would have gotten that much magic…

"in my panic, I had turned sharply only to collide with a bark of a tree that had not been there earlier" he scratched his cheek sheepishly

He was a druid, his wounds would heal unnaturally fast.

But his pride, however? That was a different matter entirely.

He heard the ever slight laughter coming from the knight, and he hadn't the wit to decipher whether he was happy that she'd managed to calm down enough to laugh or to be mortified that it came at the expense of his pride

"ahem" he cleared his throat loudly "I do believe we have more pressing matters that need to be addressed, specifically, how we are to get back to mainland" he voiced, bringing the knight back to the situation at hand

"what do you suggest then?" she asked him "perhaps explore our surroundings?" she suggested

"i do believe that finding a shelter would be prudent, tis getting dark and we've no hearth to warm us nor the walls of a home to shelter us from the elements" not that he needed both.

The earth provided him with the means to stay safe even without the essential needs of a human.

'more for your safety than mine' he didn't say out loud for he believed saying such would offend the knight greatly.

She seemed to consider the words before nodding

Morro was once human too, and he knew the issue of honor and pride well, and to challenge her idea was sure to enrage her. That was why he offered to compromise

The inner workings of humans were nothing new to him.

But even after decades of life, he'd not once managed to glimpse what goes on in the minds of women, and by the time he'd reached his pinnacle of understanding, he was just as clueless to it as in the beginning.

Morro heard a branch snap behind him and made a sharp turn…

"a rabbit?" Liliana asked as the creature came out of the underbrush stopping like a deer caught between a hunter and his bow

"a horned rabbit" Morro corrected by reflex "the tip of that horn is most likely a means to inject the poison they use for defense if they're like their species from Larnwick," he explained raising his staff slightly off the ground

Just barely, he managed to catch its eyes in his own through the dark shadows the forest had cast on the entirety of the remaining greenery of the thick trees that obscured their view of what lay beyond this clearing

'wait…' his eyes nearly snapped to the trees but managed to stay on the now snarling rabbit's 'why did this part of the forest remain uncovered in trees?'

He shook his head

Now wasn't the time to think!

He made a small gesture for Liliana to calm before speaking in a low voice

"do not make any sudden movements, if it thinks you hostile then it shall leap," he said steadily, pointing the staff directly at the slowly approaching rabbit "it is best not to get into an unsure fight, we should hold off on exhausting ourselves" he reasoned

Reluctantly, he watched her from the corner of her eyes as she relented her hand on the blade, her hands going to her sides in a prepared stance, ready to dodge.

Morro breathed in relief,

'thank the earth below…' he thought as felt inside his core for the tug of magic as to deal with this creature

"What...?" the knight uttered out as the rabbit stopped snarling and stared at the staff and in turn the man holding the weapon, taking a few uncertain steps towards him before hiding behind his legs peering at her from behind the linen-covered limb

"calm now, we wish you no harm," Morro whispered, barely audible for Liliana to even hear, "methinks some carrots grow yonder that berry bush, better go get them" he chuckled to the small rabbit that gave a small squeak in reply

Morro smiled as he watched the critter go

As a druid, he might not be able to do as much as a wizard or be nearly as versatile as an alchemist, but he was satisfied with what he can do to help others

'bah! Wizards can keep their destruction spells!' he thought to himself 'but then again there was that other thing we druids did…'

"you talk to animals" he turned to find the knight staring at him, her face etched in bewilderment "you're a druid… of course you talk to animals…" she uttered mostly to herself

'ah… yes… I forgot most practitioners got wiped out…' Morro thought demurely

As a druid that spent most of his time with nature, Morro hadn't noticed the decline in magic folk over the course of the few years until some people had tried to burn him at a stake only to find that druids are in fact immune to the elements

'not a pleasant memory to relive…'

"tis more than just communing with the creatures" he felt himself enter his 'teaching mode' immediately straightening his back and bringing his hand up in a gesture "tis the matter of calming them through the graces of the earth, as we are one with nature we are all connected."

He made a gesture at a budding plant nearby, barely getting any shade because of the trees blocking the rays of the ever-present light.

With a sweep of his hands, the flower bloomed outwards, delicate petals expanding into a crimson flower that glowed ever so slightly in the illuminated light darkness made it give off.

"as a druid, I am to know this more than any man, and with understanding, one can achieve a great many things" he elaborated, knowing humans, as a race, feared all it can not understand "I do hope you are not thinking of tying me to a stake and burning me?" he asked calmly

'oh earth and Rennel grass please not again!' he pleaded inwardly

Outside of giving life and completely taking it, druids had almost no means of defense against people they didn't want to hurt badly…

She gave him an incredulous look that said she was torn between taking that as jest or as a statement of fact

"do not underestimate the beliefs of a scared man" he warned gravely rubbing at the cuffs of his hands where he had once been bound to a stake "one of them tried to throw a chicken at me" he grumbled

'that chicken didn't deserve that fate…'

Sputtering laughter greeted him

After much laughter and fumbling in the dark, the two travelers came upon a small mound where a slight ray of light indicated the inclination on the landmass present.

"a cave" Morro spoke suddenly, noticing the knight beside him grab for her sword at the sudden sound of his voice "there be a cave located beside the hill" he elaborated

"how…" she trailed off and Morro could feel her eyes on what she suspected was her own "magic?" she asked

"magic" the druid nodded

"what about the hill cave?" the knight asked

"it will be night soon, the beasts in most dimly lit environments are mostly nocturnal" Morro explained, extending his senses outwards as to feel his way through the darkness "we best rest when they come out"

"better to have the advantage to us when we face them head-on and they are the ones weary from the lack of sleep" the knight concluded "but what of the lighting? Wouldnt a cave be a sought-after home for such beasts?" she asked warily

'she has a point'

Morro wasn't omniscient and he knew as much, that cave could very well be their saving grace or their doom. That outcome came in the aspect of luck

"How confident are you with your sword?" Morro asked, it was this or die outside the cave

Even with a night vision spell, he had been restoring corrupted lands before he was thrown here, his magic reserves had been dwindling on the low side, and using them to navigate a dark place such as this didn't help.

Relying on the earth for such a menial task was beneath him, he wouldn't dare impose on the ever-giving force of the core of nature for something as trivial as his own simple life, though he feared he may have to do just that to save the two of them.

"I am a fair hand at it" the knight responded proudly "I have been personally trained by ser Godric of the knights"

"then perhaps this would help you should there be any beasts in need of slaying" Morro uttered grabbing her hand and tracing a quick rune the shape of an eye before muttering "gearrtha trí dhorchadas na hoíche"

Just as the spell was cast there was a sudden high-pitched scream.

And with the scream, came a low guttural growl.

The druid ran.