"So there was this guy who had a huge shadow behind him, we thought it was just a tree or something, but when we approached him, the shadow suddenly spoke!" a man's voice could be heard from one of the camp fires.

"Ah, the troll part eh? It was quite the news to have someone being able to tame such an intelligent beast," an older voice commented on what the younger one just said.

"Yeah! It was a, for god's sake, a damn troll! I mean, how intelligent do you think a troll is, to be able to tame it, let alone one that could do magic!" the man was pantomiming now, gesturing wildly to indicate how large the creature was.

"It was damn benevolent in the end though," the older voice said, "din' getta slay it and get its loot!"

"So you're telling me, after the ballsacks of us few boiled and we dropped, you guys went and found the one we're searching for? And he had a troll behind him?" a man who had a deeper voice said incredulously. The few who had fainted with him were doubting what the two had said. They shook their heads as they stuck their own opinions into the conversation.

"Ain't possible."

"That's just crap you defecated on the spot."

"Get me a drink after we get back and I'll let your obvious lie slide."

The two of them just stared at them, wanting to tell them how true what they said was. But action was better than talk, and the fact would soon be proven, the both of them thought. Seeming to know what each other thought, they burst out laughing while saying, "You'll see, you'll all see..."

Tenur, Laura, Denka and Proin pushed past the fake bush with ease. Tenur was the lead, with Denka in hand, followed by Proin then Laura. The entrance of the two humans drew no attention, but Laura's large figure had cause many near the fake bush to shout "Troll! Troll!"

It was one thing to discriminate against a race, and another to shout out in fear of that race. It wrecked havoc to those who barely recovered from fainting, but the ones who already saw Laura firsthand merely gave a welcome nod before resuming what they were doing.

"Told 'ya guys," said the young man who got doubted. The doubters stared slack-jawed.

The party of four headed deeper into the camp. They passed many camp fires, and many of those who sat in their way scrambled out when they saw Laura. Tenur thought it was weird how everyone just got out of their whenever they went, until they met a fire positioned in the centre of their path. Proin went and led the way after Tenur seemed somewhat lost at the loss of the obvious path.

Tenur thought it was strange how the people surrounding the campfire didn't even flinch when they saw Laura. The fact that everyone else had made an effort to run out of their way with a look of panic whenever they caught even a glimpse of Laura only served to enhance how strange it was for humans not to react much when they saw a troll, though the slack-jawed expression told him they did, however, react, but recovered sooner than most anyway. He shrugged and followed Proin into the commander's quarters, which was a medium sized tent that served as both a resting and planning area for the commander. Due to Laura's height, she was forced to stand outside, even though her grumbling made it seem she would rather tear the tent to pieces while trying to get in than wait outside, not knowing her fate.

The first thing Tenur noticed when he entered was how rectangular the tent is, and from the inside, it seemed edgier than the outside. Not surprisingly, the tent was spacious, with only a single wooden portable table set up in the middle of it and a sleeping bag at one side of the tent. On the table was a map of the local area scaled to the size of 500m per 1cm. Riz Ethen, the commander, was leaning against the map while tracing the best route back to the village.

The commander was pondering about something when Proin spoke up. "Riz, I've brought Tenur and Denka."

"So your soldiers all recovered from the sperm burn effect, seeing as how they're all sitting together in groups?" Denka asked first.

"Ah, yes. I've healed as well, thank you very much for your concern," Riz replied while looking away from the map.

"Glad to hear," Denka responded.

"Can we start discussing 'bout where we're going to sleep?" Tenur asked with hints of fatigue. He was experiencing the backlash of being partially resurrected.

"Yes yes. I'll be letting your group sleep with squad 5, would that be alright?" Riz questioned. In his mind, Tenur was conflicted whether to categorise Riz as a retarded or an autistic person. How would I fucking know!?

"For your information," Proin joined in, "squad 5 is the one that didn't flinch just now when they saw Laura."

Ah, that makes sense, Tenur thought. Assigning people who didn't fear trolls to guard him was the best choice. He wouldn't need to worry 'bout Laura getting butchered midnight. Plus, he could sleep better knowing people would be here for him if he was in trouble. Ever since the incident where he almost suffocated in Laura's breast, he had been paranoid about being asleep fully with Laura beside him or under him, or in some cases, on top of him.

"Alright then, we'll be heading there with Proin to escort us," Tenur tried ending the conversation. He was dying to get some sleep with some human company instead of just a single troll's, even though there was a pained look on Riz's expression, as if he wanted to speak more.

He turned towards the exit and went through the thin sheet of flap that served to separate the inside of the camp from the outside, and saw Laura was squatting like a slav just beside the entrance. She immediately jumped when she saw him, her expression ranging from fucking-finally to I-was-fucking-bored.

"Come on, I've got our 'room' number," Tenur stopped in front of the entrance, as if he was expecting someone to cross over any time soon.

"Hm, alright. I do hope they've got plenty of food to spare. I'm starving," Laura rubbed her stomach. Since the nauseatic pain was gone, there was only unsatiable hunger left.

Proin came through after Laura took her first step. There was a look of worry before being replaced by the usual look he wore, "Sorry, but you'll have to hunt your own game along with Tenur." Laura groaned at that, but quickly replaced that with bared teeth.

"I'm not sure if I can last the night with only my game to fill me," to that, cold sweat could be seen leaking from Proin's head.

"We'll give you some of ours, so rest be assured, you won't be starving through the night," Proin said with a calm voice that contradicted his look. It sounded distant.

Laura laughed, before giving Proin a pat on the back, "Lead the way then." Proin wasn't shakened further, it seemed as if his fear was just for show. Tenur merely stood there, watching the conversation as he suppressed his laughter from breaking out and ruining the part-serious-part-joke exchange.