The tension inside the village leaders' hall was so thick that I could almost feel it entering my lungs as I inhaled. The patriarch, eyes bulging from rage, made no attempt to hide just how much he wanted to harm me for reasons I couldn't quite understand. Could my operator be this Rehv person? I wondered in the back of my mind. I didn’t want to discount the possibility that the patriarch might actually be correct since I knew nothing. I don't know much about cults, if cult is even the right translation of the word he used, I thought, but even if my operator is a human of some kind it didn't seem like the kind of human who would be involved in that sort of thing. Instead of rebuking the patriarch, I decided to play dumb.

“I don't know anything about Rehv,” I said. It was so quiet that I could hear the echo of my voice coming from the stone walls of the room.

“Then why are you looking for the noypeyyoyjh?” the matriarch asked. Unlike the patriarch, she was doing her best to keep calm and behave rationally. Now how do I answer this one? I wondered, going through the possibilities in my head. Being fully honest was off of the table, obviously, so I had to lie to some degree.

“It is my mission,” I said, leaning onto English to hopefully deflect some of the leaders' suspicion from the statement.

“You know that we do not know what that word means,” the matriarch replied.

“I don't know what the word in your language would be,” I lied. I knew perfectly well that the word they would most likely use was yoydeyl, which meant a kind of task which was assigned to someone for them to perform by a superior. “It is a thing I received, and it is my responsibility to perform it,” I elaborated vaguely. “If I was to fail it would mean that I would be... broken.” I wasn't sure exactly how to express the idea of being decommissioned due to poor performance. The patriarch had calmed down a bit and was now looking at me with a mixture of confusion and suspicion.

“Broken?” he asked.

“To fail in a mission, for a person like me, is the same as receiving a fatal injury,” I answered. “Generally it would result in my life ending, but under certain conditions I would be allowed to continue to exist.”

“Allowed by whom?” he asked, now leaning forwards and expressing curiosity.

“My operator, or commander in some cases,” I said, once again leaning on English. I hoped that the vagaries of my explanation would be interpreted as simply a cultural clash rather than the truth, which was that I was lying by omission. The matriarch leaned towards the patriarch and gestured for him to listen, then whispered something.

“...sort...gods...?” she muttered, with most of her words being unintelligible to me. Of the two I could pick out, the latter was something I was hoping for. Being insane is normal to these people, I thought with a twinge of amusement, surely they would assume I was just as crazy as them.

“How did you receive this mihshahn?” the patriarch asked.

“Before I was in this body, I was approached by my operator who gave it to me,” I said. The objective truth was sometimes the best possible lie in cases like these where one would not be believed. Both the patriarch and the matriarch looked very surprised at the response which was what I was hoping for. More muttering passed between them, rapid-fire and hard to make out, and then they turned back to me.

“Do all of your people have a mihshun?” the matriarch asked.

“Yes,” I replied, “without one they would have no purpose for existing. When one completes a mission, they are generally given another by their operator or commander.”

“I see,” the matriarch sighed, “and your aapereyter, does it have a name?”

“Not to my knowledge,” I replied. “People like me are mere tools for them, we do not necessarily receive their names or titles.”

“That sounds like Rehv,” the patriarch grumbled. “I want your assurances. Are you or are you not a follower of Rehv?”

“Not to my knowledge,” I replied. Technical correctness is important in cases like this, I thought. “Now please, if I wish to travel to the east of Uwriy to find the Noypeyyoyjh how would I go about doing that?” The patriarch looked unsatisfied with the answer I gave him, but his anger had cooled and his body language indicated general dissatisfaction rather than a desire to commit violence against me.

“You'd have to go east to Vehrehr,” the patriarch said, “that's a long walk though. Once you're there, you'd need to thawpmay a boat to get to the mainland and then go east again. I've never been there myself, but I've seen the maps.”

“Thank you,” I said, giving a short nodding bow out of habit. These people didn't have that particular cultural practice, but I was sure the meaning wouldn't be taken as something offensive. If I head out today, carrying all of my food, I can- I began to think as I turned around to leave the building.

“Hey,” the matriarch called, “where are you going?”

“Back to my cabin,” I replied, “I'm hungry.”

“You had better not break our agreement,” the patriarch warned, “you agreed to stay for three months. I can understand that this is... important to you, but a man should keep his word.”

“Besides,” the matriarch added, “you don't have nearly enough money to thawpmay a boat. Even if you sold everything you own you wouldn't have enough.” Right, I thought, I wasn't given any form of currency. I could probably steal a boat if it came down to it. “Even if the whole village gathered all of their wealth it would barely be enough to charter a boat,” the matriarch continued, “so please, don't get any ideas about leaving.” It's that expensive? I scoffed, what kind of boat are they even talking about?

“What is the value of the goods provided to me in our contract?” I asked. “How far is the trip to the mainland?”

“Not enough,” the patriarch said after clearing his throat, “and far enough that only large boats with tpowb in the dozens, carrying goods and valuables, regularly make the trip.” I realized that the words “large boats” were actually said together, and likely were analogous to the word “ship”. So it's probably on the order of dozens, if not hundreds of kilometers, I thought.

“These ships, how do they move across water?” I asked. “What powers them?” Please, at least have steamboats, I hoped.

“Wind and zihv,” the patriarch said with a hint of pride, crushing my hopes. I probably can't swim it, there's no way I can just make a raft, and there are no motorized craft of any kind most likely, I thought, so I need to charter a boat despite it costing as much as the combined wealth of this village. It's very fortunate that this mission does not have any sort of time constraint.

“What can I do to get enough money from you to charter a ship?” I asked. Both the patriarch and matriarch laughed in an unpleasant way, as though they were happy about something.

“You could work for a few years at least,” the patriarch chuckled. His change in attitude irked me, and my body pressed on my mind in a way I now recognized: it was spurring me into aggression. My body tensed up and, against my will, my face began changing into an angry expression.

“Please, Yuwniht, calm down,” the matriarch said quickly, “Suwlahtk cannot provide that level of money any time soon, but we could gather some money and give you enough to get to Frahmtehn by the end of your three months here. There, you might find other work which pays better.” I exhaled, and the anger I was suppressing reduced in intensity. So Frahmtehn must be the other settlement at the midpoint, I reasoned.

“How big is Frahmtehn?” I asked curtly.

“More than ten times the size of Suwlahtk,” the patriarch replied. “Last I checked they had nearly two thousand people living there. Vehrehr is ten times larger even than that.” So if I can get to Frahmtehn, there is a chance I can acquire not only better equipment, but also more knowledge, I thought slowly, then I can use this to get to Vehrehr which is large enough that there are surely more effective ways to earn money in it than hard work. Pieces were falling into place in my head. If I agree to this, I don't have to work until the end, only until the leaders gather the money to pay me with. Then I can simply take it and leave.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked. The matriarch smiled gently, but deviously while the man's face turned to stone to conceal his thoughts.

Later that day I was behind my cabin, practicing my magic on a newly cut log. For some reason I couldn't manage to extend the volume inside the log unless I spent a large amount of time focusing, and nothing I tried fixed that issue. While the inability to quickly strike at the insides of objects did limit the weaponization potential of the ability, compressing the area into the smallest possible point and then forcing it against the material was even more effective on the wood than it was on the rock. Within a second I could dig almost a centimeter into the wood by burning it away. I wish I had better materials to test this against, I sighed, maybe I should hunt an animal so I can use the corpse for experimentation.

I was roused from my focus by the sound of banging on my front door. Pressing against the side of the cabin, I crept up along the outside wall so that I would keep out of sight. I peeked around the corner and saw town guards which instantly put me on alert. I wasn't carrying my sword, but I did still have the merchant's knife around my back and I gripped the handle expectantly. After a moment of waiting for the guards to look away from my position, I rounded the corner and readied myself. Vowteyz, the lead guard, saw me first and motioned for his guards to look at me.

“Do you have some time to talk?” he asked. I looked at him, then at Mpahray and the other male guard who I hadn't learned the name of, then met Vowteyz's gaze.

“Talk?” I asked. “You bring three people to talk?” Vowteyz clicked his tongue and sighed.

“It's almost ngahp season,” he said with annoyance clear in his voice, “we travel in groups for safety when we leave the inner part of town.” I still wasn't entirely sure what a ngahp was aside from it being some kind of hostile fauna, but if it necessitated traveling in armed groups I wasn't sure I wanted to meet one. Just another reason to get out of here as soon as I can, I thought.

“So what's this about?” I asked. I relaxed my body, but kept my grip on the knife. Vowteyz looked at my knife hand and the vestiges of a smile formed on the left side of his face.

“We need you to look for someone,” he explained. “There's a hunter who has been missing for about fifteen days now and everyone in town is getting worried. Will you do it?”

“Is this part of the deal I made with the village leaders?” I asked, wanting verbal confirmation at least before I agreed to anything. The guard who wasn't Mpahray snorted and turned up his nose at me derisively.

“Yes,” Vowteyz said simply.

“I need more details,” I stated. “Who is he? What did he look like? Where did he go?” Vowteyz nodded in acknowledgment.

“His name is Ahpoyt,” he explained, “he's a hunter who grew up in Vehrehr but moved to Suwlahtk ten years ago. As for what he looks like, I suppose you could say he's skinny. Likes to wear dark leather when he's out hunting. Uses a spear, like most, but doesn't usually bring a ngverweyl which is good for us because the darts are expensive. As for where, he hunts out west and to the south. Last he told anyone he was hunting out in the southern crags for deer.”

“I see,” I replied as memories flashed into my mind, “I can certainly look for him.” It won't even take long, I wanted to add, I know exactly where he is.