Just past sunset as the man in the forest was about to prepare for bed he began to hear rustling far off in the distance.

He was curious but also aware of the dangers the forest held. He had been pretty lucky so far but he wasn’t going to just follow the sounds of rustling. He’d be walking to his death.

He didn’t, however, foresee his death walking to him.

The rustling grew closer and closer. Soon the sounds of a voice could even be heard. It wasn’t coherent though. Just senseless muttering or something.

The tone of the voice was strange too, it was rough and gravely and it sounded strange in the man’s ears.

At first he planned to hide but where? This was his home, if someone came he had to defend it, not let it protect him. He choose to stand his ground.

He began watching in the direction of the sounds carefully. Soon, in the dim light, visible branches and trees began to move. They were far at first but quickly moved towards him. It was as if whatever it was had been drawn to this place.

Preparing himself for the worst the man holds the blade in front of him ready to fight.

"Fest! Fest!" The voice shouts in a gravely tone. Finally the figure who possess the voice appears through an evergreen tree.

Standing no taller than his knee the man finally met a goblin.

It was an odd situation.

The goblin had a massive grin on his face as he stared at the man. Typically this would go differently right? The man isn’t crazy is he? Aren’t goblins evil? Why is this thing smiling at him so adorably.

"Festi! Festi!" The goblin again shouts leaping in the air and spinning around in place.

"Gub!? Where…" Another voice calls frantically from the same direction the boy had come. The other goblin didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence. Spotting Gub and the man she screamed and tackled the child.

Frantically she pushed backwards with her feet and drew back with the small goblin, looking terrified.

"Festi! Festi!" Gub again shouts pounding on this other goblins wrapped chest. She glances at him only for a moment, unwilling to take her eyes of the opponent for too long.

"What are you…"

She begins to ask his meaning before rapidly inhaling a few times. Something seems to have perked her nose. She glances at the human. Clearly he was the source.

"Everything ok?" The man asks glancing at the two who were still on the ground a dozen feet from the man.

"You… You speak the Goblin Language?" She asks with a dropped jaw. It was hard not to be surprised. It’s unheard of for a goblin and a human to communicate. Some higher monsters might possess the ability but no human had ever even tried.

"I can?" The man asks with a frown. "Sound normal to me."

"N… Normal?" She looks at him with an arched eyebrow. Carefully she brushed herself off and lifted Gub. "I.. I suppose you aren’t an enemy then. But… That smell, where did it come from?"

"Smell?" The man asks sniffing at his sleeve. After a moment he realizes her meaning and pulls a pouch from his belt. "Do you mean this?"

In the small sack sat a couple handfuls of red powder harvested during the morning.

"That! It’s the same color!" Rapidly the girl goblin steps up and takes a pinch of the red spice inspecting it carefully. "This is huge! With this we might be able to recreate it!"

Suddenly realizing her outburst the goblin takes a step back after dropping the spices back into the pouch.

"My apologies I didn’t mean to…"

"It’s fine. Do you want some?" The man asks holding out the pouch for the girl.

"I… Could you perhaps just tell me how you acquired it? We need enough for the tribe and we would hate to trouble you."

"That’s no problem, lets talk about it over food." The man says turning his back to the two and stepping to the fire pit.

Like that the two species spoke for the first time. The herb, it seems, is used in a festival the Goblins have each year. Although the past few years they have been unable due to the death of the medicine woman. Without her it was impossible to know the secret recipe.

In the festival red paste was spread on the faces of male goblins going out to hunt. It possessed a strong scent that will drive away carnivores and draw in herbivores.

The man had indeed noticed the lack of dangerous predators in the area but he hadn’t imagined it would be for such a reason.

Perhaps that's why Bear keeps his distance whenever he visits.

Gub and Gally left after the talks and a meal. Both of course were amazed by the taste. Apparently goblin cuisine is very bland. Spices other than salt aren’t used. An exchange of salt for the production method was agreed on and with that the two took their leave back towards the steep hill in the distance.

Apparently the hill is a goblin mound. They build their villages underground and place a dirt hill around the main entrance to defend against invaders.

The man in the forest found the entire conversation he had with the goblin’s fascinating. He wondered if some day perhaps he could visit the underground burrows the goblins lived within. But being a human he understood that that thought was impossible.

Gally was open-minded but many goblins would probably rather die than accept help from humans. In their mind, human are the most dangerous predator towards their people. Humans are unwilling to differentiate goblins, the same is true in their society it seems.

Even Gally seemed to partially share that thought when the two first met. She imagined that the man was going to kill Gub. And true the man did have a knife drawn but even still the thought made him sick to his stomach.

Shaking his head the man the returned to his home. It was eventful night. He felt he had much to think about.