“Erm…” Sari muttered, obviously stumped for how to proceed, after we had been dumped into her lap. “Let me show you the water-rooms, you can wash yourself there, or your clothes. During the summer, the cool water feels great.” she decided, even if the insecurity in her voice made it sound like a question.

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea. You have indoor plumbing, then?” I replied, the idea reminding me that technology-levels varied widely across Mundus.

“The guest-houses, yes. The further away from the river you get, the harder it is to get water there.” she admitted, walking back towards the stairs.

Getting downstairs seemed to be a challenge for her and I felt a twinge of worry, originating somewhere below my stomach.

“When are you due, if you don’t mind me asking?” Adra asked, causing Rai to freeze for a moment, before his face lit up bright red, making me worry that the heat might start a fire.

“Not too long, I hope. This one has been kicking me for a while and should join us in a week or two.” Sari replied, her hand gently patting her round stomach, while she gave us a smile that I could only describe as radiant.

“Should you still be working, in your condition?” I asked, my socialisation kicking in.

“Eh, it’s not like I’m sick. The guest-houses are staffed by young mothers and mothers to be, that way there are always people around if something happens and more likely than not, someone will have dealt with a similar situation before.” she waved off, before continuing. “You see, those of us who have children below three summers stay in the Hollow, regardless of our normal tasks. In return, we make sure that those who have to venture out have a comfortable place to come home to, during the summer.”

“That was why Gera left you in my care, she needed to take care of her daughter.” she added, making me nod in acceptance. Hopefully, the children would be housed in a different part of the house as us. I didn’t know a lot about children, but I had witnessed the epic amount of noise an infant could produce when taking public transportation and had no desire to experience that during the night.

We continued our tour, with Sari proudly showing us their facilities. I had to chuckle at the pride with which she demonstrated how to use their simple spigots and toilets but then, I was used to similar, only more advanced, conveniences. But even if the facilities were simple, they reminded me that the Bright Hollow Orcs were quite advanced, compared to the surrounding area. At the same time, I felt my stomach roil just a little at the idea that their sewage was simply flowing back into the river, unfiltered and untreated. Depending on the exact set-up of their plumbing, the sewage coming out of the buildings higher up the valley might flow back into the so-called freshwater pipes for the lower houses. Just the idea made me consider magical ways to disinfect any water I was working with in the valley.

At the same time, I felt a little curious about Sari, the woman guiding us. Over the last few days, one of the topics Lenore and I had been discussing had been Death-Magic and, in turn, the question what Life and Death actually were. It made me wonder, how did the formation of new life influence the Astral within Sari? When did the child start to form its own connection to it? What about the mind, what about the soul? So many intriguing questions, suddenly bubbling up in my mind, with a potential test-subject at hand ,multiple even. But somehow, I had a feeling that the orcs wouldn’t be happy with me if I started to experiment on their unborn.

For a moment, I considered if there was a way to conduct such experimentation anyway but there simply wasn’t. Even if my group would have had the power to deal with any fallout using brute force, something I highly doubted, doing so would come out, thanks to the fact that at least one Traveller counted this place their home. There were few topics that would get people more riled up than anything involving children and the unborn, adding a potential backlash I didn’t want to risk. If I wanted to make a career out of playing Road to Purgatory, or anything that relied on a positive public image, I couldn’t cross too many lines. And the line between the Dark Sorceress I mostly had been portraying and the insane, evil with such experimentation would make me out to be, was an important one that I had to steer clear of.

Back on the ground-floor, we were guided into the room Gera had gestured towards earlier, the dining room. It looked like a mix between a mess-hall and the main-room in a private dwelling, the kitchen visible over a bar that separated it from the dining-area that contained multiple long tables. The kitchen itself was large enough to have four people work side-by-side comfortably, who seemed to be busy finishing up meal-preparation.

Sari took a moment to introduce us but before a real conversation could begin, the door we had entered through earlier opened again, allowing a group of orcs in. It was curious, as they were entering, they were carrying on, a boisterous group, relaxed and joking amongst themselves but I could watch the amusement and relaxation vanish from their faces and stances as soon as they were becoming aware of my group.

Instead, their faces were set in angry scowls but somehow, I thought that I could smell their fear. I wasn’t quite sure where the sensation was coming from and part of me wanted to flick my tongue out, to taste the air, looking for explanation in the Astral but I controlled myself, knowing that it would look strange. Instead, I slowly filled my nose, letting it parse out the smells, even if there was no way that any physical smell could have made its way from them to me. But magic didn’t really need to conform to the ordinary physical laws I was used to, it broke them on a regular basis. Sadly, my nose was unable to give me more information, but my gut was doubling down that the entering group was both afraid and angry. Not a good combination, especially in a group.

I could feel Sigmir tense next to me, either allerted by our connection or simply their behaviour and could tell that she was ready to fight, even if it meant spoiling our dinner.

Luckily, it didn’t come to that, before the situation could escalate any further, Gera hurried out of the kitchen, making me aware of another door within, looking rather frazzled.

“Honoured guests, there you are. Did Sari show you your accommodations for the next few days?” she asked, stressing the title of ‘honoured guests’. In addition, she was walking around the bar and, oh so coincidentally, placed herself between the approaching group and us. Part of me wondered who she was more concerned with, the orcs behind her, or us.

“Yes, she did. Both of you, thank you for your hospitality.” Adra replied, stepping closer to Gera and stressing the last word, making me roll my eyes at the transparent act they were putting on.

“Is everything alright with your daughter?” I asked, remembering that Sari had mentioned something and I had heard that showing concern for their children was a good way to connect to parents.

“Oh, yes, certainly. It was just one of those things, a child needing her mother.” she replied, giving me a tired but rather proud smile.

By now, the one of the other orcs that had entered had stepped forward as a representative of their group.

“Gera, who are these guests?” he asked, the sheer disdain he put in the word guest quite impressive. It made me want to look down, just to check if the acid in his voice had dripped out and was now eating a hole into the floor. It might turn into a tripping hazard.

“They are honoured guests of Shaman Firebringer. She personally brought them to this house and asked me to take care of them.” Gera replied, again stressing that we were honoured guests.

“Certainly, we should make sure that the honoured guests of the shaman are taken care of.” the orc in front of us agreed, but I caught some mutterings from his group, something about ‘kin-killer’, ‘should have stayed away the last time’ and similar expressions of dislike. It seemed that the Firebringer was not liked by all of her people.

“I agree. Why don’t you all sit down, the food should be done in a moment.” Gera directed, looking over to the group of orcs, before turning to us.

“You can take that table over there. I hope you don’t mind our simple fare, we didn’t know we would have guests travelling from far away.” she gestured to one side of the room.

Shrugging, we agreed and soon, everyone was served a bowl of stew with bread set in baskets on the table. As we ate, I began to wonder if I should ask for a knife, so I could cut the tension in the room, using it instead of the bread we had been served. It was thick and dense enough that it should have been quite nourishing.