Len would’ve liked to believe that it took some convincing for Moe to get her to head out on a random adventure to survey the countryside and check in on some of the locals, but that would’ve been a lie. She was as eager to have something active to do as he was to have her out of everyone else’s hair for a bit. She found it funny how willing he was to take on the task of shepherding her across the wilderness, given how he seemed to think that she was getting a tad unbearable, but she didn’t waste much time worrying about it. He had his own way of doing things and his own interests to be maintained, and she was comfortable letting him have them.

She checked in with Keseryn to make sure she didn’t need anything before she headed out on the exploratory adventure and was assured that the girl would be fine without her direct supervision for two whole days, thank you very much. It brought a smile to Len’s face (and a bit of an exasperated sigh). She made one last check on Valkar, then headed off with Moe. They could’ve probably taken more, but she wasn’t too worried about the threat a couple random humans might pose and was even less concerned given that Moe hadn’t seemed to care that she was the only one going with him. Heck, it wasn’t impossible to think that this was just a red herring and that he’d be leading her to a camp that just happened to have been abandoned by the time they got there. It didn’t matter. Some time out in the world was exactly what the situation called for and as long as they were back before the new recruits got there, where was the harm.

Moe glanced at her. The goblin was older than most of his kind, having fought countless battles and managed to come out on top one way or another, he was wiser than most of the folks she’d known, here or on Earth. He seemed to read her thoughts without a bit of effort and offered her a smile.

“Relax, boss, it’s not a trick. They really are out there. I’m not sure how interested they’ll be in talking to us, but I think it’s worth a shot. Worst case, we run for our lives screaming for help that’s way too far away to reach us in time.”

“Very reassuring. Would help if you were a bit more willing to engage in violence.”

“I’m good, thanks. Besides, I’m pretty sure you can handle that lot on your own. They’re pretty ragged looking.”

“How bad?”

“Not on the verge of starving to death, but definitely skipping more than their share of meals. I’d say that’s the ticket to getting some relations opened up.”

“We don’t have a ton to spare, and it’s only gonna get worse as more bodies start streaming in. Still, I think Marble can keep up with it, let’s see what we can grab?”

What they could grab turned out to be a reasonably sized bag of beans and a pair of medium-sized gourds that reminded Len of pumpkins but were much more bitter.

“It was an experiment,” Marble explained sheepishly. “I don’t think I got the nutrients quite right and it soured the flavor. Still, roast them up and they should be at least edible.”

“Thanks,” Len grinned. “You’re sure they’re not poisonous?”

“Oh, not any more than anything else growing in these parts. Again, though, would not eat them raw.”

Len nodded and took the goods. Marble had been growing friendlier as time had gone by. When she’d first arrived, Len had been put off by the girl’s demeanor, but she’d come to the conclusion that it was mostly due to sleep deprivation and not outright hostility. Now that she wasn’t struggling daily, and experiencing free time to the fullest, she was practically… well, not sunny. There was still a bit of a gloom about her, but it wasn’t nearly as oppressive. Perhaps if Keseryn actually learned some of the herbimancy that she practiced and give her genuine days off, Marble might go so far as to crack a smile. Time would tell.

Armed with their sack of trading provisions, and another smaller sack of rations prepared by Cookie, the two headed out. They didn’t set a terribly arduous pace, it wasn’t an urgent mission and they had plenty of time, might as well enjoy the journey. They were heading west; a direction Len hadn’t seen much of so far, so she was curious to see it. Sadly, most of what there was to see was windswept plains covered in dunes of powdery snow. She’d gotten used to the temperature here, a balmy whatever-the-hell below zero that meant that nothing ever seemed to melt. It meant they got plenty of fresh water delivered to their doorstep so long as they could melt it, but it didn’t do much for the visuals of the area.

It was on the third hour of the trek that she finally broke down and asked.

“Okay, seriously, is this all there is to see out here?”

“Pretty much,” Moe shrugged. “Welcome to the Tundra. It goes on like this for several hundred miles. That’s where the Kelvachians spend most of their time, hunting herds of elk and whatnot. One of the main reasons that they set up the Hovel where they did was that it was close to the Tundra. Not inside it, but ready to deploy if needed. It never really has been that useful, though. Any troops that get sent out there don’t come back.”

“And we’re heading out into it just to meet some folks?”

“Relax, it’s not like there’s any sort of horrible curse that befalls the unprepared or anything.”

She gave him a side-eyed glare to which he smirked.

“And these folks are just camping out there?”

“When you get banished from the tribe it’s not exactly a death sentence but you’re pretty screwed if you’re caught hunting in the same territory as the main clan. Best case, they chase you off of prey you’d been stalking. Worst case, they attack you and, if you’re caught fighting back, well, they send a hunting party to take you out. Pretty bullshit, honestly.”

“How exactly does one GET banished?”

“Oh, lots of ways. Going against the leaders is the big one. In theory, anyone can challenge for leadership and take power for themselves. In practice, leaders can choose someone to fight in their stead, but challengers have to fight for themselves. Lose a challenge for leadership and it’s an instant banishment. There’s a whole set of warriors who exist just for the sake of fighting on the leader’s behalf.”

“Interesting way to go about it…”

“Mostly it’s about keeping the family lines in charge, but every now and then someone’s able to slip through, or they’re allowed to. Either way, that’s the big one. You’d think it’d discourage people from trying, but there’s enough folks dissatisfied that you’re always finding someone throwing down a challenge. Makes for good sport, kinda like a Proving, but a bit higher stakes.”

“Lovely. Say, any chance we could just skip all this negotiation crap and just challenge them directly?”

“Nah, clansmen only. Might be able to find someone to sponsor if you’re lucky, but I’d say the odds of that working dropped pretty quickly once Claymar showed up.”

“Yeah, dammit. Haven’t even met the guy and he’s causing me all kinds of grief. Any idea where he might be?”

“Sorry, haven’t seen him on any of my scouting runs and I don’t exactly have a vast intelligence network at my disposal here.”

“Yeah, yeah. Fair enough. You mentioned it was the big one. Any other ways folks get banished?”

“Thievery’s the other big one. Not a whole lot of supplies to go around so if you’re caught stealing from someone else, you’re pretty sunk. Of course, even if you are caught, you’ve still got the right of challenge if you want to try your luck, so it still gets back to entertaining the masses. Other than that, it’s mostly just random stuff, pissing off the wrong guy with enough power to get you kicked out. It doesn’t happen incredibly often, but it’s frequent enough that there’s always a supply of wanderers on the outskirts. Can’t exactly be sure that these guys are harmless but if you’re kicked out, your family’s stuck coming with you, right down to infants, so that’s probably how Keseryn ended up there.”

“Where’d you pick all this up? No one at the Hovel seemed to know much about the locals, they mostly just seemed to ignore each other.”

“Eh, I make a point of making friends where I can. Sit and share a fire with someone in your wanderings and you can pick up any number of useful tidbits.”

“Care to elaborate on that.”

“Not right now, no,” he winked.

She thought she probably should reprimand him for keeping info she might need from her just for the sake of being mysterious but dropped it. He knew what he was doing, and she trusted him. What else really needed to be said?

They journeyed for the rest of the day without saying much. Moe wasn’t really the sort that wasted a lot of time chatting when he didn’t need to. He’d mess with you, sure, but was more inclined to spend his time scanning the horizon for threats than on banter. She didn’t really mind ans had been growing more accustomed to spending her idle time in her own head rather than with others. Part of it was the isolation of being in another world with very few people who knew the truth about you, but part of it was the simple fact that she was coming to grips with being in command.

She’d never really cared for the idea of being responsible for others. Some of that came from having spent so much of her days working to keep her tone just reasonable enough that she didn’t piss off the wrong person by being ‘too aggressive’ and burning bridges she needed, but it was also something more basic: she didn’t like having to rely on others. Leadership, meanwhile, was almost entirely about relying on others. Convincing them that you had the plan that they needed to get things done and getting them to do it. And that was just normal corporate leadership. Now she had lives literally depending on her and she was realizing that that could mean sending them out to fight knowing that not all of them would be coming back. It put a serious damper on the power trip fantasy that cartoons had promised her.

They made camp as the sun began to set and the temperatures began to drop. The small fire that they had fuel for didn’t do much to ward off the cold, but it was better than nothing. As the shadows grew longer, she felt the distinct oily presence of Pitch. The shadow creature had been mostly absent during the day, with far fewer shadows to hide in than was its preference. Sighing, she accepted that she couldn’t avoid it any longer. The creature was getting insistent.

“All right, Pitch. What do you want?”