“It is sweet!” Alloha exclaimed when she tasted the red berry. “And you say you can tell because it’s a special kind of green color?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” I said. I handed her the other handful of berries I’d separated. The ones that were all red. “Here,” I said. “Don’t eat enough to make yourself sick, but these should taste good, too.”

“You wanna try some?” she asked Torra.

“Not a chance,” Torra said. “My bowels are working just fine.”

“Give me one,” Victoria demanded. She turned around and held out her hand.

Alloha obliged. “You know, most people ask nicely for stuff,” she said as she let Victoria pick out two of the red berries. “You should try it sometime.”

“I want to see if the kid is telling the truth,” Victoria said. She chewed the berries thoughtfully, one at a time, then spit them out. She gave a swift nod of approval. “They are sweet,” she said, as though my claim should have been in doubt.

“I know. It’s hard to explain or even understand. But consider for a moment how you would describe the color blue to me if I couldn’t see it and I think you’ll understand where I’m coming from. All I can say is this color I can see is… bright and vibrant. I can easily pick it out from green. I first noticed something was off when I was traveling with Ferrith. He had trouble spotting wildlife. To my eyes, the usual color of animal fur is almost as easy to see in a forest as ripe fruit.”

“No way!” Alloha exclaimed. “Your sight Skill works on creatures, too? That’s so cool. It’s like you have super vision.”

“It’s not a Skill,” I insisted. “It’s just how my eyes work. But yes. Most things you would find in a forest are easy for me to spot against the background. Berries as easily as animals.”

Grant hollered back at us. “Hey! What are you guys doing back there? Keep up the pace!”

“Vince was just showing us this thing he can do with berries,” Alloha explained. She held out her hand that still had a cluster of crampies. It seemed she’d been eating them. “Do you want to try some? He picked out only the sweet ones with his eyes! He’s got some kind of super vision.”

Grant’s eyes narrowed. “Well, walk and talk at the same time,” he ordered. We continued on our way. “What’s this about super vision?” he asked. “Was this a Brand you forgot to mention, Vince?”

“Not a Brand,” I said. “I wouldn’t call it super vision. It’s just how my eyes work. Where I come from seeing like that is the norm.”

“So your eyes are better than ours, big deal,” Grant said. “If you can’t brag about that without slowing the group down, we’ll leave you behind. We have a long way to go.”

We spent the next few minutes making up for lost time. I was forced to alternate between walking and jogging to keep up. I gave some serious consideration to what mechanical devices I could manifest to improve my hiking speed, but decided it was probably better to save my MP for the moment. I never knew when a monster might jump out of the woods and make me regret squandering my MP on conveniences.

After a while, Victoria spoke up. “We should use the kid to scout,” she said.

“We already have a scout,” Jay objected. He was the one with the ponytail and bow strapped to his back, though it looked like he’d strung his bow since we left Haemir.

“No one’s trying to replace you,” Grant assured Jay. He turned back to look at me. “Do you have any experience scouting?”

I thought back to playing games with my friends. Sometimes they’d send me forward to flush out a sniper, as the most expendable member our of group. That didn’t seem like it should count. “Not really,” I answered. “What does a scout even do?”

“All the professional dragon coteries have scouts,” Grant explained. “They look ahead, spy on the monsters we’re assigned to hunt, and sometimes track them.”

“I’ve never done anything like that,” I said. “But I can try if you want me to.”

“I don’t need the help,” Jay said sullenly. That was the end of that conversation.

I spent the next hour pointing out all the birds and squirrels and other small critters I saw while we walked. I could tell Victoria was more impressed than she let on. We had to stop to eat some quick dry rations when the doritos from my Manifest Inspiration disappeared from the stomachs of everyone that had been binging on them back at the guildhall. While we were snacking, I saw a fat brown bird sitting on a branch. This time when I pointed it out to Alloha, instead of just nodding and continuing on her way, she tossed her spear at it.

The Skill Alloha used to kill the bird was impressive. She tossed her spear with little grace or force. By all rights, it should have landed in the dirt a few feet away, instead it was scooped up by some magical force and slammed into the bird’s center mass. A perfect hit. It squawked once in surprise, then went still. Alloha jumped up and down and clapped her hands in excitement. “I got it!” she said. “Thanks for pointing it out, Vince.” She held out her hand and her spear returned to it like she was Thor recalling his hammer.

Torra stepped forward and yanked the dead bird off the end of the spear. “I can prepare this for dinner tonight,” he said. He rubbed his belly and shot a sideways glance at me. “Maybe this time the meal will stay down.”

“Hey, I was upfront with everyone that those chips weren’t going to last,” I said. “You should be glad they disappeared. You don’t want your body absorbing all that junk food.”

“Junk food?” Torra asked. “What does this mean? Food that is trash?”

“That’s not a perfect translation,” I explained. “It just means food that tastes good but is bad for your health. Where I come from, many people overindulge in food like those chips I shared, and it results in problems like obesity.”

Torra’s eyes went wide. He was a big guy, but by Earth standards we’d call him trim. “Obesity is a… health problem?” he asked.

Alloha snorted. “The only health problem food causes is starvation when you don’t have enough of it. Give me junk food any day. I’d rather be fat and happy than hungry.”

“That’s long enough,” Grant decided. He stood up. “The next break we take is when we make camp tonight. The turn is coming up soon. We cross the Espriss at the bridge.”

As we took off again, I got a closer look at the dead bird dangling from Torra’s belt. It sort of looked like an owl, but with two horns protruding from its head. “Huh,” I said. “A horned bird.”

“Do animals not have horns where you come from?” Alloha asked.

“A few do,” I said, “but they’re much less common. Here, everything from squirrels to birds have horns. Just reminds me how strange this place is.” I reflected on the differences between our worlds. The two most noticeable changes were also the ones I liked most: a complete lack of industrialization, and the gorgeous ring system they had in place of a moon. While we walked, I wondered what my friends and family must be going through. Were they still looking for me? Had they had a funeral by now? I wished I could send them a message to let them know I hadn’t just abandoned them…

“So are any of you guys planning to buy some Brands with the money you get from this contract?” I asked. I was really just being conversational.

“No way,” Torra said. “I’m not gettin’ any Brands.”

“Why not?” I asked. “Do you think they’re too expensive?”

He glanced back at me, a bemused smile curling his lips. “No, man. I just don’t want to risk it. Giving up a little power now feels like a small price to pay to cross Heaven’s Bridge when I die.”

“Wait, you’re religious?” I asked.

He shrugged. “A bit. Not enough to preach at anyone for being sinful. I just don’t want any Brands for myself.”

Grant must’ve been listening in to our conversation, because he called back, “Torra’s going to be our straight edge when we make steel rank.”