The night was uneventful, which isn’t all that surprising since we were still within the domain of the Paternal Trees. Sara was the first up, aside from the guards. Giving her a nod, I went to check on my traps now that the watch was finished.

Four snakes were caged but I caught a fifth coiled near the area. I took off their heads and returned to camp to start the scaling and gutting.

Two of the snakes were small and not worth bothering with so Sara took them for fishing. She returned by the time I finished the snakes, so I went ahead and started cleaning her catch as well.

“Ashley wake up, I need you to start a fire,” Sara called and tapped on their tent.

Hearing a tent flap open, I looked up to greet Ashley but I quickly turned when I got an eye full of Avery and Hellen trying to get dressed as Ashley crawled out of their tent.

“What the–” Sara stammered, “why were you doing that tent?”

“I was sleeping,” Ashley answers before continuing in a mumble “among other things.”

“Really? Sleeping. How do you expect me to explain this when I get back? I’m responsible for you, ya know!”

“Just say I shared a tent with some other girls, that’s no big deal right?”

“It is when you're sleeping with them!”

“Right, we were sleeping,” Ashley winked, “that’s what I said.”

“You were naked.”

“I’m always naked!”

Avery and Hellen came out of the tent. Hellen at least looked a little bashful. Sara gave Avery the stink eye before walking to sit next to me with a frustrated growl.

“Sorry,” I said, “I should have paid attention when she woke me for my shift. I should have known she would try something like that.”

Of course, I did notice. But it wasn’t and isn’t any of my business. I’m not part of the church and don’t feel like mucking about in others affairs.

“It’s not your fault,” Sara sighed, “She just gives me a headache. And I can’t believe I nearly fell for the stuffed sleeping bag trick.”

Hellen walked over, trying her hardest not to look at Sara. “Do you need these?” She asked, pointing to the snake heads.

When I shook my head she started removing the venom glands and snake fangs.

“Thanks, I can use them for alchemy.”

Once the food was scaled and cleaned we made kabobs with coiled strips of snake around slices of fish before roasting them over the fire. The food was good, but the atmosphere was still awkward.

Deciding to try brushing the issues aside, I looked towards Avery and Hellen and asked, “Do you two even need to eat? You’re plants aren’t you?”

“I don’t need food to survive,” Hellen answered, “As long as my flower gets enough sunlight I could go without. I wouldn't be able to stay in this form for nearly as long without subsidising the upkeep with food though. If drained, I might find myself being lunch for a wicked rabbit. Besides, after surviving for so long as a helpless plant it’s nice to be the predator for a change.”

“That’s fairly similar to the spruds. We could find some grove to hibernate in, but that’s not exactly an interesting life. Excessive movement and transformations require more upkeep than sunbathing would permit. Nevertheless, it's still a useful option for especially harsh winters.”

The hibernation was beyond a useful ability. If humans had such a skill, villagers could simply ignore winter preparations, not to mention how much less food would be required. Grainted, it would likely turn into higher tariffs and larger armies.

“What about the bathroom?” Ashley asked.

“Not while we’re eating,” Sara scalded.

Breakfast was eaten, camp was cleared, and we were soon finishing our final preparations. Avery passed around the tracking orbs and started to explain their use to Ashley.

“The needle inside the sub-orb will point to this master-orb,” Avery said, raising her slightly larger tracking orb, “The master-orb can lead to any of its subs or to Convail.”

The sub-orbs were 50mm (1”) marbles with a light blue mist swirling around a cobalt needle. The master-orb was twice as large with visible runes etched on its surface and inlaid with alchemical gold. Each rune was structured to form a frame with the image inside mirroring whomever held the linked sub-orb.

“Here,” Sara offered Ashley a netted pouch attached to a necklace, “use this, otherwise I know you’ll lose the orb.”

“Aww, you wanted us to have matching necklaces,” Ashley fluttered her eyes, “That’s sweet, but I’m already spoken for.”

“Just take it,” Sara replied with a roll of her eyes.

After some discussion, the marching order was decided. The two guards that Avery brought along would enter alongside one another while my guard would take up the rear. We would follow behind the two sprud guards in the order of Avery, Ashley, Hellen, Sara, and finally myself.

The order was more for social reasoning than it was for tactics. The entire purpose of the expedition was for Avery and Ashley to spend time with one another after all. My guard also refused to be too far away from me, and I knew Sara the most out of the rest of the group so I was more comfortable around her.

It felt odd seeing everyone gear up after seeing them in casualwear for so long.

Sara was equipped with a long bladed spear and appeared to be the least armored aside from myself. She sported a light pink tank top and beige pants with slits cut along the legs that allowed her fins to expand. Sara removed a gourd from her backpack and pulled its cork before pouring its contents onto her hand. A lavender liquid emerged and creeped up her arm, soon engulfing her entire body without a single drop hitting the ground. The liquid constantly rippled waves up and down her arms and legs.

Hellen was armed with a sword and a shield made from dark red wood. The shield looked like a large flower with a spiral grain pattern for the center and flowing grain down the center. Other than her gambeson tunic, she didn’t have any other armor. Then again, dying wasn’t really the end for her. In a way, she was the safest of us all.

Ashley wore a chain over her fur, which was probably as effective as other padded armors. She was swinging her mace around with a lot of enthusiasm, as if expecting to run an enemy as soon as we entered the thicket.

Avery was fully decked out, plate over gambeson. A slitted skirt of chain hung around her waist, adding a feminine vibe. I wondered if she had to buy two sets of armor, for when she is a he, or if she just adventures in the form of a female. Her gaze shifted slightly upwards, aloof and prideful. She would have looked every bit like a noble knight if she had a claymore. Instead she carried a white needle that looked much too small to match her armour.

I only wore chainmail, and a much thinner chain than I wish I could. It was enchanted to reduce weight and increase durability, otherwise it would affect my ability to fly. I carried two swords on my left hip, one straight and the other curved. The dagger on my right thigh was actually a spear, enchanted to allow me to change its length up to two meters (6.5 ft). Unfortunately, the change wasn’t instantaneous.

There was probably a case to be made against carrying two swords. I wasn’t dumb enough to try dual wielding after all, so both were two handed. I chose the sword to suit the circumstance; assuming the spear wasn’t an option as it was usually the optimal weapon.

Once everyone was fully prepared, we took our first steps into the Twisted Thicket. The two sprud guards weaved some sort of magic, causing the vines to creak and groan as they opened a path.

Ashley stumbled when she entered, nearly falling down but saved by her feline reflexes. I didn’t blame her, I cursed my mother for half the trip for not warning me about the nausea the thicket can cause. Tradition be damned.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before I took the final step at the boundary. All my senses warped.

Things in my vision blurred, streaked, flickered, and moved. The farther away, the stronger the effect. Trees, bushes, hills, and valleys–all warped. Twisted.

Smell was strange. Sents shifting between different objects I could and couldn’t see with a variable intensity that vaguely indicated the distance between the source changing. Sweet, then sour, before mixing into rot for a moment then turning to fresh flowers.

Hearing was the worst. From screeches high enough to make me cover my ears to murmurs so low I could barely hear them. Pitch twisted and distorted as much as the volume. My mind tried to decrypt the sounds, hearing words that weren't there. Mixing the wisseling and bellowing sounds into music with little rhyme or reason.

It all hit at once, overwhelming my mind as it attempted to catch every movement, every smell, and every sound. Part of me still wanted to think it was an illusion, but it wasn’t. As a group, we all turned around; but there was no Convail. Space itself distorted from some unknown cause. Be it natural or manufactured was a mystory, but following the orbs would lead home.