"Language, no communication, whether verbal or not, is such a beautiful thing. It's what changes our view from me against the world, to us against the world" – a well-spoken philosopher

An hour later, Rodna returns with a deer-like creature with stone-looking horns. If one looks closer, they could see the entry wound of the arrow on the creature's neck, still leaking bits of blood.

Alex then watches through the window as she dresses the deer, and hangs it on a hook outside one of the shanties. Rodna then goes off into the woods.

'I wonder what she's doing?'

When she comes back not 5 minutes later, looking a fair bit cleaner, Alex's question is answered.

As she approaches the cabin, Alex sits down at the oak table in the center of the room. She comes inside and sits opposite him and says, "That should be ready in a couple of days, and will make a fine dinner then. In the meantime, we'll be eating some smoked meat I have on hand."

Alex looks at her, his eyes widening a tad.

'Why did she say she was going to get dinner if we weren't going to eat it tonight, that's kinda misleading… On the other hand, she is feeding me either way, so it doesn't really matter…'

Rodna looks back before sticking out her hand.

Alex looks perplexed for a moment before a light lite up in his eyes, and he goes over to where he was sleeping. He then takes the planks and gathers them in his hand before handing them over to her. He then sits down and waits apprehensively.

Rodna looks through them for a few seconds, before taking one and responding to it, "Okay, so first is where this is?"

Alex nods.

Rodna replies with a hint of amazement in her tone, "You haven't heard of the Gilberd pass?"

Alex's eyes light up in realization.

"Yep, that's where we are, okay next one then."

Rodna takes a look at the next plank, "The closest town would be Irkshire. It's a couple of days away from here, but you should have no trouble getting there…"

'I don't know how the insurrection went, nor the invasion, it's probably not the best direction to go. Though I am worried about my father and want to find out if he survived…'

Rodna notices the crestfallen expression on Alex's face, and continues with a bit of amusement, "Well if Irkshire isn't good enough for you, you could go the direction… You'd need to go through Hildra's pass. I know the keeper there here name is ironically Hildra. She always brags how she shares the name and is the descendant of the same Hildra that discovered the route, the little brat. Past there is some wilderness, the Hermits caves, and a bit beyond that the Aldren kingdom. Not bad places, though the wilderness might be a bit dangerous to traverse as you are now."

Without giving Alex a moment to think she goes on to the next plank.

Rodna ponders this one deeply, "Well, if you are truly having trouble with controlling your voice, any disguise you wear to hide your features isn't going to do you much, it'll do something, but not much. Especially considering the easiest way of a hood and cloak is just going to make you look more suspicious…"

Alex gives Rodna a worried look and almost opens his mouth to speak, but quickly closes it after seeing Rodna's glare.

'Not being allowed to talk is getting annoying, not that it wasn't to start with.'

Rodna looks at him for a moment and then says, "The best thing to do would be to wear a blindfold or something similar. With that, you could pass as a wondering traveling man and mage if you speak, though most don't take too kindly to mage-speak. Some might even try to kill you for it."

Rodna searches through the next couple of planks and nods her head, "well, these are pretty easy, and I think I've already answered them more or less…"

Rodna takes another few seconds, "This last one though, I'm not sure what happened to the Albent family, I thought they were still in power, it's worrying to hear about an invasion so nearby… Well, since information travels so slowly, I'd have to say that you are better informed than I am, if you want to learn more try the Albent's territories, though you probably already know that"

"Oh, one final thing. You're allowed to sleep the night in one of the shanties, but I expect you gone by morning, understood? Nod, don't speak."

Alex nods regretfully.

'This is one of the few restful places I've had in a while…'

"I'll prepare some clothes and a blindfold for you, also your welcome to some of my salted deer meat, I've got more supply after all, if you could pay though that would be appreciated... but it doesn't seem like you can."

Alex nods.

"Well, other than that, I guess I'll give you a letter of recommendation to Hilda… And that's about it. You can stay in the shanty closes to the woods, I'll bring over dinner and some supplies for you as well as what I've spoken about. And… that's about it."

Alex nods once again.

'She's being really kind about this, even if she says it's her job.'

"Well, off you go now," Rodna says while waving her hand at him to leave.

Alex then leaves and looks for the shanty. Finding it, he walks past the one with the hanging deer, giving it a bit of distance, and then enters the shack to find a stray mattress and no pillow.

'Well, it's something, and it's free…"

He lays down on the bed and thinks over all that has happened.

'Now that I think about it, that whole time traveling deal was wack, when I was in it, it was simply life, but now that I've had a moment to reflect, what the heck was happening to me during it. Why was my body constantly changing, why on the final loop where I survived did it I, and the world around me, return to the form I had seen in cycles before. So many whys, but… I'm not really sure I can answer them, so at least for the moment, I've got to work on the other troubles…'

Alex stares at the crocked ceiling.

'Maybe this is all a dream, and I'll wake up from that surgery with Ivona and Walter there, and that damn Robert. I doubt that will happen, though, and I definitely shouldn't work under that assumption.'

Alex turns over onto his side.

'On that note, I should stop relying on this time travel, if that even what it is, death reset. I don't know what effects it has, and if it's reliable (even though it has been so far), I just don't know, and to rely on something you aren't sure of could be considered foolishness.'

Alex turns over onto his belly and stares at the grains in the wood of the wall.

'What's more important right now though are those changes that that magic beast made to me, along with the scientist.'

Alex takes some time to feel around his body to see if there are any other changes.

'This would be easier with a mirror…'

He then finds there were several more subtle changes. For one, there seems to be similar stony skin that he can feel through along the spine of his back, ending in a short nub at his tailbone. For another, he has small horns on the top of his head that had been covered by his hair.

'These changes are troubling, but in the end, I can deal with them, what's promising to be the most trouble is the change in my voice. I should definitely find a way to control it or another way to communicate.'

It is about this time that Rodna knocks on the door, and a thump can be heard by Alex as she drops a package.

"Here's all the stuff you're going to need, and you're dinner fella. You're probably going to want to sleep soon after cause if I find you hear come sunrise, we're going to have a problem."

"Thank you for everything," Alex says without thinking.

"Well, I'm glad your thankful, but you are really going to need to learn to shut up."

Alex then hears Rodna's receding footsteps as she leaves.

'The voice is definitely going to be troublesome.

Alex gets up and opens the door and sees the package she left, along with a note, it read:

You can keep the backpack, I got an over-supply a couple of weeks ago. Oh, and I left a walking staff too, you should use it if you don't have a decent form of transportation. It's a bit worn, and I've been thinking of getting a new one for a while, so here you go. Good luck out there, and I hope you find a peaceful life from here on out. We all deserve something like that, don't we?

Reading the note makes Alex want to go and thank Rodna again, and give her a hug, but knowing what she had asked of him, and realizing he would probably speak again if he did, he decided against it.

Alex then got dressed in some of the clothing to keep away some of the night chills, at a quick meal of deer meat and rye bread and water, and went to bed.

…

Alex woke the next morning before the sun, maybe because of the uncomfortable sleeping conditions that he was unsued to, or perhaps because his body had instinctively remembered to wake up early. Either way, Alex was thankful, and bid adieu.

Alex, a blindfold around his head and a walking stick in his hand, wears a light brown shirt, brown vest, and brown pants (Alex had thought that it was a lot of brown when he saw them). He walks away from the cabin that had been a temporary, but necessary, reprieve from the events happening all around him.