Richard felt a little awkward. He had been so excited to get his guests inside the wards so they could chat that he had clearly neglected to warn them about some things. He had come up with a cool opening line and everything, but now it was derailed because Saravren looked like she might faint but was too stunned at the moment to do so, and Olena and Yim were making distressed noises.

He held up his hands in a placating gesture and was about to explain before he remembered that they weren’t inside the translation field yet.

As his brain hiccuped trying to figure out what to do, Saravren shook herself and called to the others, “I’m fine! The Field here is overwhelming though, and it took me by surprise. Dampen your sensitivity and you should be okay to walk in. Really, close yourself to the FIeld at first. It’s… well, a lot.”

Richard’s brain froze as he heard the first words he could understand in forever. Her voice was melodic and smooth with a strange accent. Her lips and the words she spoke didn’t match up at all, and somewhere in Richard’s mind he knew this was because of the translation spell, but he was just so happy and stunned that it actually worked that all he could do was stand there with his idiotic grin on his face again.

He would probably have become overwhelmed and made an even larger fool of himself if it weren’t for Elder Yim and Olena walking forward and grunting in surprise as the wards interfaced with them.

Richard shook himself out of his happy stupor and explained, “Sorry about the strange feeling, and forgetting about the oversaturated magic in the area. I could have tried to explain it to you all, but it probably would have taken hours where it would take minutes being able to actually talk to one another. I completely forgot about the extra mana. I’ve just gotten used to it over the years and it didn’t even enter my mind. It’s uh… probably safe.”

Elder Yim jumped a little then looked to Richard with wide eyes before saying, “My goodness, I can understand you perfectly! Though your mouth isn’t actually moving to the words… fascinating!”

Yim’s voice was scratchier and more weathered than Saravren’s, but clearly understandable. Richard chuckled and explained, “Yeah, it’s a translation field that is anchored to the inner warding scheme. It’s complicated, and frankly I can’t quite remember or understand everything it does, but I think it interfaces between minds while filtering sound so that you only hear what you mean to say, not the language you speak it in.”

Olena jumped forward with an intense look, startling Richard, and almost yelled at him, “Our minds?! How does it work? What part of the mind? I thought it would be vague but it’s so clear! You must tell me!” She paused for a moment, her hands almost grabbing him, then her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she leaned closer, “What do you mean probably safe?”

Richard was startled by her actions, and he was more entranced by her golden hair and green eyes being so close than he was actually concentrating on her words. This had not gone according to his plan, and he felt very off kilter with the whole situation. He began stuttering a little trying to make his mouth work while also holding his hands up when he was saved.

Elder Yim’s diplomatic muscles must have twitched seeing Richard lean back with a flustered expression and he quickly interjected, “Wait a bit for that, Olena. Richard, I’d just like to say it is a pleasure to meet you. May there be some place more comfortable that we might speak further?”

Richard turned to the elder while he rubbed the back of his head with one hand and tried to figure out what to say with an overwhelmed look. Saravren grabbed Olena’s hand and pulled her away. Olena relented a little, but didn’t lose her suspicious glare. Elder Yim had an embarrassed expression about how the whole greeting had gone, but just waited while Richard gathered himself.

Richard coughed awkwardly into his gloved fist and nodded his head rapidly a few times. With a wobbly voice he said, “Um *ahem* yes. Yeah, I uh… set up a good spot, just this way!” He turned and began to walk in between the mounds of rubble on a little path that went back and forth through it. He was trying to get his mind working when he was further distracted.

Elder Yim quietly spoke to the others as they followed. He must have thought that volume mattered with the spell, but it didn’t as much as proximity. Richard overheard him saying, “Let’s try not to antagonize him any. We can ask questions, but first we have to get to know each other and see what we might have that each other would be interested in. Remember the lessons!”

Richard felt a little bad about listening in when they thought he probably couldn’t hear, but decided that he didn’t care. He was just so happy to be hearing words that didn’t come from his own thoughts that they could be talking about assassinating him and he would be fine with it. Well, mostly fine.

I mean, I’d probably do something about that, but I would still be happy to hear them talk about it, he thought. Yes, that made perfect sense.

As he moved out of the little zig zag between the ‘walls’ he walked towards his nice cozy clearing that he had worked on. The debris was removed and the grass and weeds had been cut down to a couple inches. He had set up the river rocks in a large fire pit and had a stack of wood ready to light if it was wanted. Surrounding the pit in a triangle were long benches of trees cut flat and raised off the ground with rocks. The benches had fluffy furs covering them to pad them a bit, and there were a bunch of stumps cut and placed around the area that could be moved for individual seating.

Richard hadn’t been sure exactly how many people would be coming, and had probably gone a little overboard. There was enough seating for perhaps thirty people if they got a little cozy, but the benches were the main attraction.

As he walked to the first bench, he turned around to notice that the three cat people had stopped to stare once they had been able to see past the rubble pile. Their expressions were ones of wonder, and Richard honestly didn’t get it.

I mean, sure, he had cleaned up a little and filled in the mud pit, but his garden still looked like a drunk had placed the seeds, and there was still wood and such in piles all over the place. He hadn’t done anything to the outside face of the fortress so it still looked weathered and pathetic, in Richard’s opinion.

Elder Yim walked forward slowly and spoke with an awed voice, “This structure, how was such a feat accomplished? It is three stories without the towers, made of stone and so large! I have never seen such a thing.”

Richard inwardly chuckled at the fact that Elder Yim seemed to be ignoring his own admonishment seconds after giving it, but he was also a little confused. The fort was a decent size, but nothing amazing. It was a slap-dash construction quickly put together by earth magic at the edge of a constant battlefield. He had heard of palaces and grand temples that would dwarf this fort in almost every metric imaginable. From size to aesthetics, the fort was a bit of a dump even when it was freshly constructed.

Then he remembered: He had heard of them, but never seen them. They had all been destroyed, from the great universities to the capital cities of mankind, most everything had been leveled towards the end. Even the grand temples had been abandoned, as he thought the gods had abandoned mankind.

His face had gone through a range of emotions from amusement to confusion to concentration, realization, and finally sadness.

Sure, there were people, but it seemed there wasn’t nearly as much left standing after the battle as he had hoped.

He took a deep breath then replied in a subdued voice while looking at the ground, “It’s five stories. Two are underground. Seven with the towers. It was crudely put together in a few months during war conditions by exhausted mages.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he leaned his head back. “The fact that you think it is impressive is, frankly, depressing. I had hoped that the world hadn’t fallen so far.”

He took another quick breath, rubbed his face, and shook himself. He waved them to the benches and said, “Please, sit. We have much to talk about, it seems. I have been looking forward to speaking with you all since the moment I first saw you.”

Saravren looked at him with pity, for she had seen his eyes go dull before. Elder Yim and Olena both became more subdued, but simultaneously looked even more curious. They all sat on one of the benches, and Richard sat on another.

He decided to use a paraphrased script from what he had planned and begun with introducing himself.

“Well I guess we’re meeting officially for the first time, so I’ll just say that my name is Richard, and I’m a human. I had a more elaborate speech, but it got a little sidetracked so I’ll just ask a question that I hope doesn’t come across as rude. What is your race called? I’ve never seen anyone like you.”

Elder Yim cocked his head to the side a little and replied, “Well met, RIchard. I’m Yim, one of the elders of our village. Olena here is our most learned shaman, and Saravren is one of our rangers. Our tribe is known as the Elom, though from your word of ‘race’ I think there is a misunderstanding.

“Our tribe has certain physical characteristics that are common, but we aren’t all uniform. There are two other tribes in the region nearby; the Kaila and the Drend. Though there are some defining characteristics to each, we are all one people for the most part just split into different tribes. I have never heard of humans, but that isn’t very surprising. There are many tribes, and most are different.”

Saravren couldn’t help but interject with, “And the Kaila are aggressive bastards who have gone to war with many, and pushed us from our home.”

Elder Yim shot her a quick admonishing glare before turning back to Richard and asking, “You said something about a war, could you talk more about that?”

Richard’s eyes were dull and sad as he quietly said, “I’d rather not. Not yet. Suffice it to say it was bad and happened long ago, but I’ve been waiting a long time to talk to people and I’d like to be able to remember it as a happy occasion, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.” Yim responded. “We have plenty of other questions to ask, but first I thought it might be nice to commemorate our meeting with a few gifts.”

Richard looked up with surprise as the three began to pull out little bundles, and one clay bottle. He remembered he had his own gift, but he had left it inside the ‘doorway’ in case it rained.

I mean. It’s called a doorway, but it hadn’t had a door in a long time. So does that make it a portal? Or perhaps just an entrance?

Stop being distracted, Richard.

He quickly shot to his feet up and called, “Oh, I have something too! I’ll just take a moment to grab it.” and he quickly made the trip and grabbed the leather pouch. His preparations had only taken him a day and a half to fix everything up, so he worked on adding a bunch of detail to the leather in his spare time. He had stitched it expertly and added decorative patterns around the edges, but was rather proud of the artistic looking designs on the front face.

He based the designs on the translation spellform, or how he interpreted it in his mind at any rate. He figured that if the translation spell worked it would be the most important thing to commemorate. It was rather striking, with sweeping lines that seemed to fold over themselves in mind-bending patterns.

As he sat back down he noticed the amused look on their faces but just waved for Elder Yim to begin.

“Well, we don’t have much, but we thought some simple comforts would be nice. I have here a bottle of our berry wine and some seeds of different plants. Olena has some of the fabric we use for our vests or cloaks, and Saravren has a pouch with some cheese and a little pot of jam.” Elder Yim said as they took turns handing things to Richard.

He was totally shocked at what was given to him. The only reason he had any fabric at all was because he placed his cedar chest inside the stasis field every year so it wouldn’t deteriorate. The cheese, wine, and jam? It had been so long that he could no longer remember what they even looked like, let alone how they tasted. He felt some tears coming out of his eyes and his idiot grin splitting his face again. This was the best day ever.

He held these amazing items in his hands, and some little part of his mind relaxed.

“Wine.. I remember this. We used to toast…” His eyes were unfocused as he gazed down at the gifts.

He sniffed and tried to get his emotions under control as he nodded quickly to the others. He wiped his face and spoke through the lump in his throat.

“Thank you. It has been so long since I have seen things like this.. Thank you. I feel my gift may not be as nice, but it was one of the only things I could think of. Though now that I see the jam, I just remembered that I have honey. Anyway, I was able to acquire some salt recently, so I ground it finely and made a nice bag for you.”

Richard felt a little embarrassed as he gave the bag to Elder Yim, but judging by the look on their faces it was not only welcome, but they were surprised by it.

Olena looked up after studying the design and asked, “Your skill at working leather is astounding. How did you come up with this design? I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s beautiful.”

Richard cleared his throat, emotions finally coming under control as he answered, “Well it’s inspired by the spellform that forms the translation spell. There are ways to lock the spell into a runeform, but I have no idea how to do that. The spell itself moves mana in a complicated pattern that looks somewhat like that to my mind when I studied it.”

Olena’s eyes were wide as she said, “Fascinating.” under her breath and continued to study the pattern.

Elder Yim asked, “What do you mean by runeform? I’ve never heard of such a thing before. In fact, I’m not sure what you mean by being able to study a spell. Our spellcasters use feelings and emotion to cast magic and to determine the FIeld.”

Richard looked a little surprised but answered, “Oh. Well I’m not an expert or anything, but it was a common practice to use runes to anchor spells to objects or create wards. The hallways and inner walls of the fort are covered in them, if you want to see what they look like.”

Three pairs of eyes were suddenly staring at him like he was a meal and they hadn’t eaten in weeks.

Saravren stood up explosively and almost shouted, “Wait! Before we continue I should go get Ethren! It seems safe in here, and he’s probably worried. Plus he’d skin us if he didn’t get to explore as well!” She then bolted towards the exit.

Richard stood and instinctively called, “Hold!” In his command voice and everyone froze.

“He won’t be able to get inside the inner ward without me keying him in. Bring him to where I had you wait and then let me know. Then you can tell him when it’s safe.”

Saravren was looking at him like an abashed recruit and with a little fear before she relaxed and nodded. “Right, I’ll do that, then.” she said hesitantly, before continuing her dash with a little bit more caution.

Olena whistled and said, “Is that yell something that can be taught? That was impressive, it held some sort of authority behind it or something.”

Richard felt a little embarrassed before responding, “Well, I’m not sure. It’s something that I learned in my time in the army. I didn’t really realize that I had yelled like that, actually. I was just worried that Ethren might get hurt and reacted.”

Elder Yim chuckled in that ‘old guy chuckle’ sort of way and said, “I hope she gets back soon, I’m so excited to see these runes. In the meantime, do you have any questions for us?”

Richard plopped back down on the bench with an explosive exhale and said, “So many. So many I don’t even know what to ask, frankly. And a lot of them I’m not sure you would even know the answer for…”

He wasn’t ready to open his mind up to the questions that simultaneously burned in his soul for an answer yet terrified him to his core. There was a part of him that was beginning to open up but it wasn’t yet ready to believe that something fundamental enough had changed. He started with a simple ones; “So how many people are in your tribe? Do you live around here? Saravren said you were pushed from your homes, does that mean you don’t have a place to stay?”

Elder Yim leaned back a little and sighed sadly. “Yes, we have been fleeing north once the roads had cleared enough to move. There are about eight hundred or so of us, all told. The Kailans have always been antagonistic with our tribe, but two years ago it turned to war. It turned truly ugly. Most of our warriors and men have been lost, and we knew that this year would see our end. The only option was to flee. There have ever been less Twisted to the north, and so we decided to follow that general path. We recently found a valley southwest of here that looks ideal, but we wanted to explore more before putting down roots.

“Imagine our surprise when we not only found a place strangely devoid of magical creatures with above average Twisted population, but some great mage annihilating them in droves! We’ve been clearing an area for fields and homes and gathering supplies, but we wanted to meet with you before coming to a final decision.”

Richard had a smug look on his face and said, “Well, looks like my plan worked! I’ve been hoping that clearing out all the… you call them Twisted? I just called them monsters. Either way, clearing out the area might eventually bring someone to investigate. I’ll say I had hoped for something other than refugees. I’m sorry that you were forced out of your homes, but at the same time I’m glad that you came and we could meet.”

Olena had a wry smile on her face and hardened eyes as she said, “Maybe don’t say that out loud too often. We’ve lost a lot of people. Ethren and Sara are the only family that either of them have left, for example. We lost our chief, our head shaman, and many more.”

Richard blanched and said, “I’m sorry. I’ve been living alone for so long I kinda forgot about families. Yeah, that sucks. I apologize that I seemed happy or excited about it. Do you think that the Kaila might still come after you?”

Elder Yim gave Richard a curious look and said, “We hope not, but we aren’t sure. The war was turning more towards one of extermination, but we may have fled far enough... Do you not have a family?”

Richard’s eyes flashed with regret as he looked into the trees. His eyes lost focus and the blue spark seemed to grow flat. He said, “I did but… I can’t remember them. I forgot that it is important too, I guess.”

Elder Yim and Olena shared a worried and confused look, but before they could ask further about that, Saravren came bounding past the rubble mound.

“Richard! Ethren is waiting where you told him to!” she called.

Richard stood up and called back, “Okay, I’ll be right back and let you know when it’s safe!”

He walked into the fort quickly and Olena whispered to Elder Yim once he was gone, “I have a feeling there’s a piece of this puzzle we’re missing. Who forgets about family? And this isn’t the first time he’s said he’s forgotten things.”

Elder Yim quietly responded, “Yes, I agree. For now let’s just see where our conversation takes us. I’d like to ask about magic and his equipment after we see these runes. I’m sure Ethren was curious about some things as well. Keep your senses open, mine aren’t nearly as adept as yours.”

Olena nodded acceptance and it wasn’t long before Richard came out and gave Saravren the all clear. He moved off to the side and brought some sacks and a pot with him.

She went back through the path and a few seconds later both she and Ethren came to join them. They took the third bench, and Richard sat down with his sacks and pot. Ethren and Richard introduced themselves formally and then Richard spoke up.

“So I figure it’ll be noon soon, and I got this wood all ready to be lit, so I’ll be cooking you all a meal while we chat if that’s alright. For now I just need to heat up the water, so we can take a look at the runes if you want. Should take about an hour for the water to be ready, if that’s okay with everyone?”

They made agreeable noises and Richard snapped his fingers. The wood inside the stone pit suddenly lit all at once, and he lifted the large water filled pot near it to one side. Yet again, he missed everyone jumping at his casual use of magic.

“Well, let’s take the tour! The security won’t let you get too deep into the fort, and only the ground floor, but I set up a room if you wanted to stay, and there’s plenty of runes and such you can take a look at. I’ll get you started then place these gifts in my storeroom. Oh, what kind of seeds are in the pouch? I forgot to ask.”

They all stood and began walking towards the opening to the fort. Elder Yim talked as he walked, “There are some vegetables like pumpkin, green beans and cucumber, a few tomato seeds, some nuts like peanut and walnut, though they may take years to give results, and a few grains like wheat and rye. It’s not a lot, but just a small sample of what we have available.”

Richard stopped abruptly before they made it to the opening and turned to Elder Yim with a very serious expression on his face.

“You.. you have BREAD?! I… I can’t tell you how excited that makes me. Thank you again! Oh, this is just the best cycle! I hope I haven’t been having a week-long fever dream again, that would be so disappointing. Doesn't seem like it tho..” He began to mumble, talking to himself as he turned and walked towards the fort.

The villagers all shared a quick look, some worried and some confused, before following. They were quickly distracted when Richard held up a glowing ball and turned to a doorway that had no door.

He said, “This room I set up in case you wanted to spend the night or something. I placed a bunch of furs and hides on the floor as you can see, and there are two light spells on the walls that you can just poke and they will dissipate. The fireplace works, and there’s plenty of wood. Oh, and you can drag some of those stumps from outside if you want a place to sit. I didn’t think about that till just now. There’s no door because I’m not the best at making them and they keep rotting, but you can hang a hide if you want to.”

Ethren stepped into the room for a quick glance and nodded, placing his pack down. The rest of the party did the same and then turned back to follow Richard.

He led them a little further in and turned into a room where the only light was from his glowing ball. He placed a few more light spells on the walls and turned around to talk to them.

“So here on the walls you can see some of the runes that are tied into the fortress. They are a little fragile, so try not to damage them. The band coming in from the hallway brings energy from deeper in the fort to power the runes.”

Everyone began to examine and make excited noises as they moved around the room.

Richard continued, “So that cluster there is tied into the outer ward. It does a bunch of stuff, but most importantly it keeps out monsters, hides the presence of the fort, and smooths the ambient mana passing through it. I don’t understand how they do those things, but I’ve gotten skilled enough at repairing them so they still mostly work.”

He moved to another grouping and said, “This cluster I think is part of the structural reinforcement for the fort. Notice how there isn’t any mortar between the stones, but they all seat firmly with one another? I’m fairly certain that runes like these are responsible.”

After about a half hour, Richard brought them all back outside so he could get started on food. They sat around the firepit and chatted about mostly inconsequential things. Ethren asked Richard about his equipment as he was setting up a spit to place meat on.

“What material is your armor made of? Our weapons are bronze, while we use copper and tin for other tools and such. I’ve never seen metal that color before.” Ethren asked.

Richard, who had been getting way too hot sitting out in the sun with armor on, decided he would answer while he removed it. He didn’t feel like they were a threat and he passed it around so they could take a better look.

“It’s all fine steel, for the most part. The mail, that’s this chest armor, is made of small links of steel all molded together. The gambeson here is made of layered and quilted linen. It’s all in pretty rough shape due to age, but I’ve done my best to keep it intact.”

Richard removed his sword and held it so that Saravren and Ethren could look. “This is a Battle Blade. Standard issue for combat mages. I have another one that’s in much worse shape that I usually use, but I wanted to look my best for today, so this is my nice one. It has twelve runes that are designed to hold complicated spells ready for activation with a simple command word. Also fine steel, but there are runes inside the hilt that increase its strength and durability.”

They didn’t try to reach for it as Richard re-sheathed the blade then put the belt around his waist again. He felt much better with all of the armor off. As he continued to work on the meal, Ethren asked him a question that he knew was coming in some form, but still wasn’t quite ready to answer.

“So you say you were part of an army, but I’ve never heard of anyone being this far north. How did you and this fortress come to be here?”

Richard was silent as he stirred the soup with a wooden spoon. He sighed heavily and spoke, his voice sounding old and tired, “It was a long time ago… A war fought to close the rift. It’s a painful thing to think about, and I’d rather wait on explaining it, if you don’t mind. Maybe after we eat.”

Ethren gave him a funny look, and said, “That’s fine. I don’t want to dredge up bad memories. This rift… Saravren said she felt something strange the first day she found you, and Olena noticed something off with the veils in the area, is that all connected? Is there a danger?”

Richard sighed heavily and explained, “Yeah, the rift is a… puncture between our reality and the Ether. It’s about two miles north of here. Currently it has a seal attached to it to keep it closed, but it needs periodic adjustments. That’s what I was doing that first day, seating the seal more firmly. Is it currently an issue? No. In the future…?

“The seal is weakening over time, but so is the rift. It shrinks every year, and I hope that it will close soon, but soon for me might be a little different than soon for you. It’s been my main responsibility to keep the rift sealed, but I’ve also been doing other things like maintaining the fort and clearing out the monsters… or Twisted, as you say.”

Everyone else had stopped to listen to Richard as he talked, but before they could continue he spoke with forced cheer, “Foods done, let’s eat!”

It was mostly quiet during the meal, most thinking about everything they had learned today. The food was amazing for how little went into it, if a bit over-salted. Richard took his time, as he knew the more depressing conversation was probably coming up next. He tried to think of how he would explain everything, but he couldn’t even decide where he wanted to begin.