The group of seven kids and two adults made their way down the mountain in a cheerful mood. The pathway that led to the rim of Lake Sagathan, where the Haragol village was now settled, passed by a scenic route of verdant forests and fields of blossoming flowers.

The trip was pleasant; the air was sweet. The kids were chattering about everything in the world as they eagerly looked forward to a relaxing boat ride; not a worry of the world could damp their mood.

They wouldn’t have to wait long for their wishes to be realized either. Because the entrance to the Elder’s rest where the little feast was held was on the main house’s mountain, which was relatively close to the Loch Sagathan Temple complex.

Randuman and Captain Anouk jumped from one tree branch to another in the jungle canopy, startling the critters and birds of the forest into panic with their mighty manna filled movements. From a bush of spiky berries, an entire family of bizarre-looking black rats with gigantic eyeballs scampered out at the commotion, only to get in the way of two energetic teenagers.

Vesiphis and Cadfael, who seemed to be in an unspoken race of dominance, had no trouble keeping up with the adults. Their eyes crossed, bearing unending rivalry as they sprinted on the trail like little ninjas. While it was the Alleigh Express that carried the quadrilateral alliance of Elrhain, Agwyn, Cati, and Ysbail behind them.

Howell too occupied a spot on the Red Pengyte’s back, excitedly talking about how he was going to catch a Sawmouth Snapper and Rockfin Crocofish, two typical gheists of Lake Sagathan with the new fishing techniques his pa had taught him.

But unlike Cati and Ysbail, Elrhain and Agwyn’s mind was not on the fish enthusiast, as they stared as discretely as they could towards the shadowy brat’s back.

「My guess is,」 Elrhain stroked his chin with a severe expression. But his toddler face made that action look all the cuter. 「He wanted to be the shoulder to cry on?」

「Ew!」 Agwyn winced. 「Ellie, so gross. I always told you watching those love pentagon dramas was unhealthy for you. They normalize infidelity!」

「…. Comrade Annie, I feel you have a wrong impression of me. I only watch those dramas for human psychology research!」

「A-anyway, even if your bullock crap deduction is accurate, that’s even grosser. I wondered why the black meanie has been greeting me every morning recently. As expected, he didn’t want to apologize but had ulterior motives!」

「Eh, I think uncle Morys is at least not like that. Mother and Father were quite flustered when he kneeled down and kowtowed, despite being the venerable Watch Commander.

I guess uncle Morys wants Cadfael to normalize relations with us, while this black meanie keenly perceived that we were having a fight. But, well, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. How complex could a seven-year, err, seven cycle old’s thinking be?」

「Ewwww! No way!」

Agwyn pinched her nose with her left hand, then squeezed Elrhain’s with her right. Ysbail giggled, and the adventurous little toddler did the same with Cati and Howell.

***

Lake Sagathan was the largest lake in all of Uoris Diosca, not just of Earthloch dominion or the territories of the North. Elrhain was unsure exactly how far it stretched or how deep it delved, but even from the very peaks of the mountains south of lake Sagathan, he could not see the other shore.

Lochuir, the central circle of Earthloch, was an area mainly drawing from the southern shores of the great lake further southwards, with only part of it reaching east and west. If there was a precise border, which there wasn’t, it would have started from the ruined Loch Sagathan Temple and ran along the banks of the Aenraad river for a few hundred kilometres.

As it was the largest noble dominion of Earthloch directly under the rule of the main house, it contained approximately a hundred lower noble families overseeing a few good thousand spirit blessed lakes. This also included Elrhain’s Siaglas Reanakty and Randuman’s Haragol Onthoakty.

But both the Siaglas and Haragol houses, along with every other noble house in all of north, had to be relocated within a few ten kilometres radius around the central township of Lochuir because of the collapse.

And when this shift first started, the central nobles who were already based around Lochuir reached the township the fastest. As direct followers of the main house, the land allocated to them was also the best.

It wasn’t the many lofty mountain peaks that touched the sky, nor on the Aenraad riverside deltas, from which many tributaries branched out in all directions. It wasn’t in proximity to the smaller spirit lakes either, such as like Reanakt Saphur’s fishing hamlet the group had visited before.

It was directly inside the lush Lochuir valleys, around the centre-most few kilometres near the lake Sagathan estuary.

On the small hilly peaks, dwarfs compared to the Everest like apexes just a few ten kilometres away, such as Onthoakt Slanout’s village, or near the mouth of where river Aenraad met the great lake, directly under the shadow of the Loch Sagathan temple.

The safest place with a forest of bounty, a river of treasures and the largest manna-rich lake of all.

Among them, villages and communities which depended on fishing rather than hunting, foraging, or ‘farming’ on land would prefer to be near Sagathan at all costs. But there was only so much room near the estuary.

So, they spread out, with each village getting a parcel of land throughout the southern shores of Sagathan. The Haragol Onthoakt, Randuman’s hamlet, was one such place. It was barely a few kilometres away from the Earthloch Mountain, the residence of the main house.

And it differed vastly from Reanakt Saphur’s village, even though both were reliant on fishing as means of survival.

The Haragol village was situated a way out of the sandy white lakeshore. Agwyn gaped at the beach with glittering eyes. Lochuir had a lot of scenic sights, but it lacked a coastline.

But this, the sparkling sand and fresh breeze of the moist wind. This made up for it more than enough!

They could see a bustling community from the last mountain near the lake with about ten or twenty houses. There was a small fence surrounding it, with three entrances laid about. The houses inside were built adequately with spacious yards and cattle sheds, not ramshackle like those in Onthoakt Slanout’s place.

Elrhain guessed that such comfort was another perk granted to Earthloch’s direct followers.

The village proper was also of an eye-pleasing layout. Half was situated inside the lush mountain jungle, cool shadows of the Nuciferous trees blocking the harsh heat of the Sohwl. The other half reached towards the sandy beach, facing the lake directly so that the breeze would have a guided path to flow inside.

Dhionne of all ages were busy with their daily lives. The mortals hauled one maritime catch after another, hunted by the cultivators. In contrast, the cultivators prepared themselves for another adventure out on the lake deeps.

The elderly gathered the skewered Crudefins and bound the Medium Bluetorts from the shoreline all the way to the village centre. The gheists were gutted, the waste was discarded, and the meat was divided out.

East of the village, large wooden fence-like structures stood, spanning a few meters long and with gaps too large to be used as an effective defence.

Various womenfolk carried baskets full of small aquatic catch and hung strips of fish, frogs or lizards on hooks on the fence-like structures.

“It is the drying scaffold, prince Elrhain,” Randuman explained, noticing Elrhain’s gaze.

Elrhain nodded while grabbing Agwyn’s collar so she couldn’t run off towards the swarm of muscular fish gremlins. After subduing his unruly fiancé, he asked, “How long does it take to dry one batch of meat?”

“Somewhere from five to seven days. Proper gheist meat with earthen manna takes longer, however. Prince Elrhain, I guarantee that the dried fish strips of my village are far superior to the shabby produce you had in that lass Saphur’s place. I will certainly prepare the best of the best in the feast us Haragol’s have prepared this evening!”

Elrhain rubbed his tummy.

Two feasts in one day? Could he really handle it?

His wandering eyes met Vesiphis’s, who nodded at him with a solemn expression.

‘Who am I kidding! Of course, I can.’

Elrhain grinned, then asked Randuman as they trotted down the last stretch of the mountain trail, “What are those, by the way?”

On the shore of lake Sagathan, many wooden canoe-like boats were placed on the dry sandy beach. Since this place didn’t have a proper pier or wharf, there was no place to securely anchor or tie a boat throughout the night—considering they even had anchoring technology.

Elrhain reckoned the locals dragged the boats onto the shore to a distance safe from receding tides after a day of fishing, lest they wash away.

What caught Elrhain’s eyes was behind that. About a hundred meters into the lake, tall, thin bamboo-like posts sprung up from the water. They encircled a zone of area in a half-circular shape measuring around one or two square kilometres.

Each post was five to ten meters apart, and the two ends of the half-circle touched the lakeshore, creating a cordoned region detached from the rest of the lake.

“That’s the Lontwood barrier. Lake Sagathan is, after all, a manna-reach treasured land. Many ferocious gheists and the rioghs that spawn such gheists lurk within. But the magic cast on the barrier posts stop them from entering inside the half-moon region.”

Elrhain nodded. He had spotted a bunch of kids splashing around in the lake, playing a strange game of tag inside that semi-circle.

It’s good that the Onthoakt had taken measures so that they won’t turn into fish food. There was no such thing in Reanakt Saphur’s village, and dhionne without enough strength were strictly forbidden from entering the lake waters.

Either they didn’t erect a barrier because of resource scarcity, or Reanakt Saphur had other means planned for her people.

Either way, magic was freaking convenient!

As they talked about this and that, the team, at last, left the mountain trail and reached the south-eastern entrance to the village.

It might have been Elrhain’s imagination, but he felt a magical feeling wash over his body when his foot crossed the invisible line separating the mountains from the lake village.

The cacophony of the forest creatures, bugs and beasts alike that had constantly accompanied them until now faded away far into the background. Replacing it were the cries of water birds and the slosh of waves as they crashed onto the beach.

The smell of water in the wind reminded him of the many sprouting fishing stations on the Greek Peninsula of the collective, eager to make their ancestors proud by conquering the Mediterranean life once more.

Unlike on Earth, however, there were no large industrial fishing machines here. Nor were there sailors in white uniforms, TeEich-Submarines to mine the seabed for hydrogen salt, or seaside resorts packed with thrilling water attractions.

But the ethereal feeling, the sense of self he perceived from the dhionne whose lives revolved around the lakes and its blessing, was the same.

Elrhain looked up and saw a flock of white seagull like birds circling the skies. Beneath his feet were soft yellowish-white sand mixing with the soily ground. In front, was the Haragol settlement with a glistening lake as the backdrop.

The aroma of dried and cooked seafood, that slightly pungent yet savoury scent that tickled his nose, drifted everywhere.

The rhythmic shanty of dhionne men as they hauled a gigantic shark-like four-footed gheist to be butchered. The freshly harvested seaweed was left in a giant pile by the side, ready to be dried or boiled. And the large reed wicker baskets were full of lake critters such as shrimps, crabs, clams and creels. Every so often, teenage girls would pick them up and head towards the drying scaffolds.

Certainly….

‘I think I might already like this place better than Reanakt Saphur’s.’