“He was the source of those rumors?” Sakgu asked, once we had left the square and its crowd behind. As we had left, she had fallen in beside me, resuming her place as guide but not taken the lead.

“He just confirmed it, didn’t he? But, if you look objectively, it could only have been him.” I replied, before continuing on. “At the end of the day, there were only so many who knew what had happened, to start rumours. All, but one, of those who had been at the battlefield were in our group, so they would have had access to magical communication-tools. Not even Dura Firebringer had something like that, or she would have reported ahead, making the spread of rumours even harder. The one person who had been at the battlefield but not with our group was him.” I explained, my words causing Sakgu to facepalm, giving off a grunt of annoyance.

“Of course. I’d been trying to find out who had gotten word back, maybe with some trained birds, we use them from time to time. But you Travellers, you somehow get to live again and he died in the fight, beating us back here. I did not think of that.” she grumbled, her words filled with annoyance, strong enough to make me chuckle. It looked like she had been looking into things, but only looking into things from a natives’ perspective, forgetting that the rules for Travellers were a little different. To be fair, such an oversight was understandable, it had likely been the first time she got into contact with the fact that we respawned, so not thinking of it was understandable.

“I’ll have to admit, before he confirmed it, I didn’t know for certain. I thought it was very likely, but there are other possible explanations. You just mentioned that you looked into some, here is something you also need to consider.” I continued on, deciding to give Sakgu and the local orcs a little insight, if only to make things for Harms a little harder.

“Travellers can, at times, see things in distant places, even after they have passed. You can think of it as a random, clairvoyant or post-cognitive vision, one that can be shared by all Travellers. Parts of that battle-field could be seen in such a vision, so any Traveller who is living in the Bright Hollow could have been the source for those rumours.” I told her, trying to explain things in language that made sense to her. Maybe it would give her some hints, just in case Harms hadn’t been the only one to talk out of school.

“What? How?” she asked, confusion visible on her face.

“The how doesn’t really matter and I couldn’t explain it. And for what, well, the Gods themself seem to deem some events important to us Travellers, allowing all of us to witness them. Mostly, those events seem to involve Travellers in some fashion, our actions and the impact we have on this world. The battle was one such event, one of many.” I explained, the confusion on her face still present but with a little awe mixed in.

“Grendel should have told me that.” Sakgu grumbled, mostly under her breath, making it my turn to raise an eyebrow in question. The name didn’t quite seem to fit with the orcish names I had heard before and that was before it was also the name of a monster in the Beowulf-myth.

“Grendel?” I prodded, curious about the answer.

“She is another Traveller, one who aspires to become a Shaman. I talked to her this morning, but she didn’t mention anything about visions and such. And that is despite me, seeking her out to understand your kind better.” Sakgu explained, making me nod in understanding.

“Everyone of us deems different things important. Maybe she simply didn’t commune with the Gods since they wanted to show us that vision. Or maybe she simply felt that sharing details of our connection to Them would be inappropriate. She might have her own reasons for telling you what she knows, just as I have my own reasons for telling you what I did.” I admitted, amused at the growl of annoyance my explanation evoked.

For the rest of the way, we walked in silence, steadily uphill, until we got to the last row of houses, near the point where the slope started to rise up steeply. Those houses were partially built into the mountain behind them and looked, for local standards, very impressive. Solid stone, sturdy-looking with some ornate decorations and, of course, beautiful glass-windows. The one we were walking to wasn’t the most elaborate house, nor was it the largest, but it certainly was up there, part of the local elite. It’s most impressive feature was a large, stained-glass window depicting a golden sun, looking out into the valley.

Sakgu stepped to the door, giving it a solid knock, before stepping back, waiting to be allowed to enter. It only took about a minute of waiting, until the door opened and I saw what my mind could only describe as a teenager. While she was quite a bit taller than I, standing roughly the same height as Adra, she lacked the normal, sturdy physique of the adult orcs I had seen, making her look a little lanky. To my amusement, she looked quite human to me, despite the olive skin.

“Apprentice Klenda, good Morning.” Sakgu greeted, “these are the Guests Elder Brightsun and Shaman Firebringer have asked for.” she continued, before introducing us individually. It was curious that my name seemed to invoke some interest, along with quite a bit of hostility, enough to make me focus on my own senses for a moment, trying to pick up the emanations of Power that surrounded Dura Firebringer, or something alike.

While I wasn’t sure, I thought there was something in the air, but where Dura Firebringer was surrounded by a dense, almost choking, stench of Fire-Astral-Power, this apprentice had just a whiff. Not enough to provoke hostility within me, merely an amused snort as I pushed out a bit of my power, magically pushing her down. Just for a moment, before letting up and retracting my power. Despite my quick retraction, it had been enough to bring a sheen of sweat to her forehead.

“Greetings, honoured Guests.” she replied, even if her tone was a little forced and the glare had been replaced by a fearful look. “Please, enter, and I will guide you to the Elder’s study.” she added, before stepping back, allowing us entry.

“This is where I leave you, in the capable hands of Apprentice Klenda.” Sakgu said, as she stepped back as well, giving us more than enough space to enter. “Until we meet again.” she added, bidding us farewell. As we walked past her, into the Elder’s abode, we returned her farewell, thanking her for the help she had given us.

Inside, we were guided through a short hallway and into a quite large room. Upon entering, I felt as if I was hit by a sledgehammer, repeatedly. The air was thick, filled with power and heat, almost choking me out without pressing in on me. It took me a second to realise that the power wasn’t actively used, merely existing uncontrolled within the room, likely remnants from hundreds, maybe thousands of spells worked within its confines. Pushing back against it was easily possible, as long as nobody was pushing against me, but it took effort.

Taking a quick look around, some things stood out to me. The massive, open fireplace, right in the middle of the room, was one of them. The fire burning merrily within was another, its size dwarfed by the sheer scale of the construction around it. The fireplace was big enough to set up massive bonfires, four meters across, the symbols carved into the surrounding rock giving a strong hint that it was used for rituals.

Another thing I noticed were the two orcs standing next to a desk, carved from stone. Dura Firebringer, I knew but the orc next to her, that one was unknown. Unknown and powerful, very much so. Where Dura Firebringer was a forest fire, blazing and overwhelming, she was more akin to the sun. Immensely powerful, but the power felt distant. Looking past that power, the orcish Elder looked relatively unremarkable, at least from what I could judge. Comparing her to the various orc-women I had seen on my journey so far, there was nothing that stood out, nothing visual that screamed of immense power. Just a middle-aged orc-woman, wearing simple clothes made from some unknown, brown fabric. The usual sturdy build, but quite unremarkable, compared to the various orc warriors I had seen before.

Just as I finished my assessment of her, she seemed to have done the same with my group and fully focused on me, her lips curling into a smile, lighting up her face.

“Greetings, Traveller Morgana. A pleasure to meet you.” she greeted, her voice warm and welcoming. Still, the sheer power held within her was enough to send a shiver down my spine.