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An Unreasonable Reaction
Korafen and Ikrifiss in Imbria
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It wasn't really a surprise that Haresz had been angry, given the givens. Unpleasant and unreasonable, yes, but not a surprise. That he had found out that there was anything to be angry over, well. Different matter, but not important right now. What was important was finding out what he had done to them.

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The forest is quiet and peaceful. Early afternoon sunlight filters through the canopy and forms warm golden pools between the roots of the towering trees.

The path here looks... not exactly well-kept, because that would imply some sign of a keeper. It looks like it just naturally happened to turn out very convenient and aesthetically pleasing. There are no holes in the ground or stray roots or fallen branches lurking in the leaf litter to catch an unwary ankle. The trees are adorned with climbing vines that dangle brilliant golden flowers like lanterns alongside the gently curving trail. Up ahead, the path opens out into a large clearing, half-shaded by the surrounding trees and populated by a selection of round mossy stones that one might sit on if one were so inclined.

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"Where are we? This looks almost like one of the Forteri's gardens, but it's not," Korafen murmers in Ikrifiss's language.

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Ikrifiss doesn't ask if she's sure. If she weren't sure she wouldn't have said it. "I didn't know that Haresz had any kind of teleportation magic at all. A wild power, probably. Is there any reason to think we're still on the same continent?" she replies in Korafen's.

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"None that I can think of. Damn. At least he has no credibility, not where you're concerned. If it takes us months to get home we shouldn't have to deal with that, at least."

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The forest offers no commentary on their troubles, and no evidence that there are any other people in it. An unfamiliar bird swoops past, tweeting melodically.

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"A path probably mean civilization relatively nearby, anyway. Pick a direction?"

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"Clearing looks well-kept. Might find some people without having to walk who-knows-how long. I have no idea how long this path is in either direction--and it has water, not to be discounted in this kind of situation. It would probably make sense to stick around a bit."

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"Your logic is sound. Clearing it is."

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There is indeed a tiny stream winding through the clearing, bridged by a large flat rock near the middle, although in most places you could cross it with a single extra-long step. It's all extremely lovely.

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Quaint. The effect is probably better appreciated by consenting visitors. Not that it's the forest's fault Ikrifiss has a violent would-be suitor. Ikrifiss kneels by the stream and drinks water from cupped hands.

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The water has a subtle, pleasant taste, and seems clean and fresh.

 

A creature steps between the trees into the clearing. It's definitely some sort of ungulate, resembling a horse in its hooves, mane, and tail, but with a body structured more like a deer's. A single straight horn grows from its forehead. Its fur is deep black; hooves, horn, mane, and tail are all a pale gold just this side of white, and all glowing faintly in the same colour.

It greets them hesitantly in an unfamiliar language.

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It's gorgeous.

Do they have a different Basic on other continents? Maybe it's speaking a more specific local language. It's not totally implausible that if someone had randomly ended up in a Forteri garden they would be addressed in High Court.

"Hello, we're very lost," she tries in Basic.

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It swishes its beautiful tail and says another indecipherable thing. So apparently they do have a different Basic here.

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Which is really ignoring the more important question of why is there a talking ungulate. Some kind of shapeshifting magic? She can't recall anything relevant but that needn't mean anything. Well, they'll just have to learn this language, and maybe initiate some kind of linguistic merger--no point in Basic if everyone can't speak it, after all. ...It's not speaking its personal language, is it, that would be awkward.

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Korafen: Is way ahead of her, cheerfully pointing at things and naming them and soliciting translations.

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The talking ungulate seems slightly nervous at first, but after a few iterations his nervousness abates and he's happily naming objects for Korafen.

Here's a word for 'sun', and one for a beam of sunlight, and one for the illuminated spots the sunbeams make on the ground, and when the talking ungulate says that word he stops and swishes his tail and rears up slightly and says it again, arching his neck in the way you might if you wanted to point at yourself but your best pointing apparatus was inconveniently sticking out of your forehead.

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Gosh what a pretty language. Is this even a Basic? That seems awfully specialized for a Basic. Whatever, she can deal with social repercussions when they can communicate better. She points at him and repeats the word queryingly.

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Nod nod. "Sunpatch!" he repeats, with that awkward self-pointing gesture, and then ducks his head to point at Korafen and asks a question, which in context is probably 'and what's your name?'.

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"Korafen. Korafen al Midera." She points at Ikrifiss. "Ikrifiss al Alezi."

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Nod nod. "Nice to meet you, Korafen! Nice to meet you, Ikrifiss!"

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"Nice to meet you," she parrots sincerely.

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"Would that it were under better circumstances," Ikrifiss mutters (in Basic, since the vocabulary hasn't gotten nearly that complicated yet). "Nice to meet you. Less nice to be here," she says in the local language.

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Sunpatch shifts his weight uncertainly. "Why are you here - how did you get here - where did you come from?" he wonders, although they've only covered about half these words so far.

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The rest are pretty easy to guess, under the circumstances. "I don't know if you know words for where," she tries. "You don't speak Basic. We thought everyone spoke Basic."

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"Why would everyone speak Basic?" he wonders. "This is the Forest. We speak Sylvan."

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"What do you speak to not-forest people?"

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"In Faessaya they speak Faessayan. In the Dragonlands they speak Flametongue. In Manafall they speak Continental. In Heaven they speak Angelic, and in the Blessed Lands they speak Angelic and Continental and I don't remember what-all else. I don't speak most of those; I only know Sylvan and a little Continental."

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"...Is Continental your Basic? Basic is the language that everyone speaks, so you can communicate with strangers."

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"...I guess Continental is sort of like that..." he says, dubiously.

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"How's it different?"

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"Most people who don't live in Manafall don't speak Continental."

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"Do you just--not mix languages when you meet?"

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"That--can't be right, can it?"

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"Mix languages?" says Sunpatch, puzzled.

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"So you can understand each other! That's the point of a group language, is universal communication!"

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"...A... group language?"

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"As opposed to a personal one."

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Sunpatch stares in utter bafflement.

"People don't have languages by themselves..."

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"I mean, you teach it to your friends, of course, but--of course they do."

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"I don't have a personal language and nobody I've ever met or heard of has one either," says Sunpatch. "It's not a thing here."

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...

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...

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"How do you talk about things most people don't want to talk about?"

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"...What?"

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"When something's--obscure or overlooked or whatever--so there's no words for it in the common language--how do you talk about it if you don't have your own language that focuses on the things you care about? How do you talk about your feelings if you have to use words meant for everyone's feelings? How--how do you tell what someone's like, without a vocabulary?"

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"...Maybe our languages have more words than your common ones because everybody isn't hoarding them," says Sunpatch.

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"Hoarding them?"

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"Words aren't zero-sum. If Basic has a simpler vocabulary than your languages it's because it's less used."

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"I think it's used differently," says Sunpatch. "I think the way you use languages where you're from and the way we use languages in Imbria are really different."

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"If you don't have a universal language or personal ones? Then yes. Absolutely."

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"There are big regional languages and smaller regional languages for smaller regions but there aren't any languages the size of the whole continent and there aren't any languages the size of a person."

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"That doesn't entirely--make sense But--you're not just shapeshifted. Are you."

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"I'm not what? I'm a unicorn."

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"You're--normally shaped like that."

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"Oh. Yes," he says. "I've been shaped like this my whole life, except when I was younger I was smaller."

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"I think we're farther from home than we thought."

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"How far from home did you think you were? Where's home?"

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"We were worried we might be on another continent. But I would have heard of a continent with non-human people and weird language habits."

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"...There's only one continent on this planet," says Sunpatch. "And most of the people on it aren't human."

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"Then we're on another planet."

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"I didn't know there were other planets with people on them! I thought it was just Imbria and Heaven and the Pit!"

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"Well, I thought everyone had languages. You learn something new every day."

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Sunpatch giggles.

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He's adorable. ...Can she even begin to feel close to him, or anyone here, when it's going to feel like everyone's holding her so far at arm's length that they won't let slip even a word of their own language.

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"We're not far from the Tree, if you wanted to come in and introduce yourselves and try to find guest rooms somewhere," he adds. "Since you probably don't want to sleep outside."

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"Not my favorite thing, no. What's the tree?"

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"It's a really big tree with a city in it. Sort of the capital of the Forest, like Heavensgate in the Blessed Lands or the City of Light in Manafall."

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"The capital? What's the government like?"

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"Oh, you know, they solve disputes and debate laws and stuff. I don't really know what governments are like anywhere else so I'm not sure how to explain."

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"We have an Emperor and three levels of nobility."

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"Sort of like Faessaya? Faessaya has a king."

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"Is Faessaya the only country with a king?"

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"I think so, but I don't really understand how the Blessed Lands work and there might be some kingdoms in them."

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"Huh."

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"If we go to the Tree, are there any--procedures, or anything, for having entered the country surreptitiously, even if we didn't mean to?"

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"Well - can I check you're not secretly demons?"

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"Demons?"

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"There's a big hole in the ground on the other side of the continent and demons live there and they're very horrible and we don't want any in the Forest," says Sunpatch. "But if you're not demons or working with demons or anything then you can be here."

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"If you can check for that--non-invasively--go right ahead."

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"Okay."

He swishes his tail and squints at Korafen. It's hard to tell in the sunlight, but he seems to be glowing brighter for a few seconds. Then he squints at Ikrifiss the same way.

"Well, you're not demons or soulbound to demons and that's good enough for me," he says.

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"I don't know what that word soulbound means but it worries me."

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"Sometimes demons do a thing that's sort of like an angel investing power in a priest, only backwards, and more horrible," says Sunpatch. "I don't know much about it but I know how to tell if someone's had it done to them, it's a really simple lifeforce trick if you're a unicorn."

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"I did not understand many of the words in that sentence."

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"Angels are a kind of person! They look like winged elf-kin - um, elf-kin are elves and dwarves and humans, they're all sort of the same shape but with different details - and they have a special kind of magic that only ever comes from angels, but sometimes an angel puts some of their magic in a person and makes them a priest, and then that person can do that angel's magic but much less powerfully."

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"Huh. So what's 'lifeforce'?"

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"Lifeforce is... something that living things have. Plants and animals and people all have lifeforce, but people's lifeforce is different. You can do magic to it, and the simplest lifeforce magic is just looking at lifeforce, and since I'm a unicorn I see lifeforce in a unicorn way and that makes it very easy to tell if there's anything angelic about someone and pretty easy to tell if there's anything demonic. So I know you aren't an angel or a priest or a demon or soulbound to a demon."

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"Doing magic to someone's...aliveness...sounds dangerous."

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"Oh, I don't know, it needn't be all that different than what I do."

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"What do you do?" wonders Sunpatch.

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"Well, relevantly, I'm a Midera. The Midera's a healing line."

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"You have healing magic? That's useful. I do too, because I'm a unicorn."

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"Your entire species can do this?"

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"...Yes?"

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"Wow. A motherline or free line with a strong founder effect...? Unusually stable wild magic?"

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"Um, I don't know what any of that means," says Sunpatch. "Unicorns can do unicorn magic because we're unicorns. And angels can do angel magic because they're angels. And fae can do fae magic because they're fae, and dragons can do dragon magic because they're dragons. Elf-kin can only do the kinds of magic that everyone can do, or borrow from angels. Well, I guess Dragonborn are sort of both elf-kin and dragons."

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"Huh." It's a bit of a risk, but they don't even have kings here, much... "Can I try to, um, check something about you?"

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"Check what?"

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"Your, um, bloodline."

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"I don't know what you mean by that but if it won't hurt me then sure."

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"Won't hurt a bit but I have to touch you."

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"Okay."

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She lays a hand on his side. She frowns. She presses her hand a little further in, until it's touching skin as well as hair. "You don't feel like an alive thing."

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"...I don't?" he says, puzzled. "What do alive things feel like that's different from not being alive? I know I have a lifeforce, and that's what we go by..."

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"I don't know, I just can't feel you with the magic that works on alive things."

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"I guess it's not the same as lifeforce magic, then. That's weird, that you have a magic that works on alive things but not if they're unicorns. I wonder if fae would be the same?"

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"Depends on what's different about fey, and what's different about unicorns, I guess."

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"I think I remember something about fae and unicorns both being like spirits in a way that elf-kin and plants and animals aren't."

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"Like spirits?"

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"I'm not really a magic expert."

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"But what are spirits?"

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"They're lifeforces without bodies. But fae and unicorns have bodies, but our bodies are different?"

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"Different how?"

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"I don't know, because I'm not a magic expert," he says sheepishly.

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"Don't worry about it. No one can know everything about everything."

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"It would be weird if someone did!"

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"Some people think that--um, 'gods' exist and they do."

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"What are those?"

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"Iiiii don't know how to describe it. They're really powerful? They probably don't exist?"

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"...okay," he says dubiously.

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"People talk about how great they are and ask them for things and thank them for random things that go right."

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"That's weird," says Sunpatch.

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"You don't have anything like that at all?"

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"I can't think of anything like that."

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"Well, it's less weird than the languages thing."

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"Yes," says Sunpatch. "Thanking nonexistent people for nice things is very weird."

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"Well, to be fair, the people who go around thanking them for things think they exist."

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"That's less weird," he concedes.

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"Some people don't think they exist but pretend to for social reasons."

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"...getting weirder again."

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"All cultures have weird parts."

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"Probably," Sunpatch agrees. "Anyway, do you want to go to the Tree?"

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"Sure."

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"It's this way."

He dips his horn in the stream briefly, then starts leading them down the path.

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"Was that for a reason?"

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"Yes! It makes the water safe."

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"How's it do that? Is the water unsafe if you don't?"

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"Unicorn magic. We all touch our horns to every water source we pass, and then it's all safe even if we forget once in a while or don't go to some places very often."

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"I think running water is usually okay and we don't even have any unicorns at all back home."

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"If we only touched things that definitely needed our help, there'd be less unicorn magic going around and some of the places that don't get a lot of unicorns might run out!"

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"I don't think I understood that."

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"I put unicorn magic in the stream. Now that stream has unicorn magic in it. Even if it didn't need it, it still has some. So if that water mixes with some water that did need unicorn magic, the unicorn magic will still be there. And if it never needs any, then when someone drinks the water with the extra unicorn magic, there'll be a little tiny bit of healing in it."

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"Oh, wow."

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Sunpatch giggles. "I like being a unicorn!"

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"That sounds very convenient, given the givens."

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"It wouldn't be much fun if I didn't like being a unicorn and had to be one anyway," he agrees.

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"I like being elf-kin."

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"That's good!"

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"It's convenient for hugging people."

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Giggle.

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Korafen is such a sweetie.

"How far is the Tree?"

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"Not too far. Once we get on the road it'll be really fast!"

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"Really fast like how?"

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"Like... being on a road? How do roads work where you're from?"

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"You walk on them, or ride a horse, and you go as fast as you or your horse is walking."

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"Oh," says Sunpatch. "Well, our roads are different."

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"Different how?"

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"They're magic and they make you go faster."

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"They move while you're on them, or they make you move faster, or something else?"

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"They make you move faster, I guess?"

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"Huh."

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"You'll see!"

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"So I will."

Eventually, of course, they're going to reach the road.

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The path they're walking along joins onto another, broader path, and maybe fifteen minutes after that, there's a green-gold glow visible up ahead.

"That's the road," says Sunpatch.

As they approach, it becomes clearer what they're looking at. It's another path, not all that different from the ones they've been travelling so far, but the trees that line it are especially tall, and in the shade of their spreading branches the floor of the path glows a warm and pleasant green. Sunpatch stops a few feet short of the glow.

"If you've never used a road before, you should probably be careful," he says. "You won't get hurt if you fall down, but it's embarrassing."

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"Careful like how?"

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"Well... okay, when you're on the road, you can run really fast. And it makes you go along the road, so you won't go flying off if there's a curve or anything, but if the road bends and you're not paying attention and you keep running in the wrong direction, you'll lose all your speed really fast. There's kind of a trick to it. Try it walking first, walking's easier and we'll still reach the Tree pretty soon that way. And if you get confused or lost somehow you can just stop and sit down and I'll come find you even if I'm out of sight by then."

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"Okay." She carefully steps into the glow.

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And Sunpatch steps in too, and starts slowly walking in a direction. His steps carry him farther than they look like they should; he sort of... slides along the glow, smoothly and steadily. If Ikrifiss and Korafen try it, they'll find themselves doing something similar, with the effect falling off sharply as they turn away from exactly parallel with the road. The footing is very stable, but there's definitely a learning curve involved and it's easy to get disoriented.

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Ikrifiss is exactingly careful and going significantly slower than Sunpatch.

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Korafen manages not to skid off the road at any time but this involves some level of falling down.

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Sunpatch stops frequently to let them both catch up.

"Okay, maybe the road won't help as much as I thought," he giggles.

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"Well, it'll help us later that we made these mistakes now."

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"True!"

And he doesn't seem to have anywhere to be; he's very patient with all the stopping.

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Very friendly of him. At least they're still going faster than human walking pace.

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This is true. And maybe they'll figure out the road well enough to get to the Tree before dark.

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Thereabouts, yeah.

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The road joins up to other roads twice, becoming broader and brighter each time. They pass and are passed by a few other travellers going in either direction, all of them better at roads than Korafen and Ikrifiss.

Then, as the sun is starting to dip low enough that its beams don't reach through the canopy, they come to the end of the road. Its glow dims gradually over the last stretch, until it's just a normal - well, locally normal - forest path again. Just past the point where the glow fades completely, an archway spans the path, made of one tree on each side that lean gracefully together to join into a single trunk twenty feet in the air over the middle of the ex-road. Beyond that is an open space floored with springy green moss.

"Welcome to the Tree!" says Sunpatch, swishing his tail happily. "D'you want to find somewhere to stay? Something to eat or drink?"

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"Definitely all three of those things."

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"Which one first?"

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"Food or beverage, definitely."

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"Okay!"

He leads them along the street. All the buildings seem to be made of living plants, with bark-covered wooden walls hosting climbing vines whose brightly coloured flowers unfurl and begin to glow as the light dims. The moss underfoot glows faintly in the dark too. Through the leafy canopy of this section of the city, they catch occasional glimpses of a vast towering trunk, its curve so broad you could almost mistake it for a flat wall. It, too, is adorned with glowing flowers; they twine along the railings of walkways formed from living wood. People are out and about on the streets and walkways - primarily pointy-eared humanoids, but also some glowing humanoids with insectlike wings.

After a few minutes, they turn onto the latest of several mossy streets and find the trunk of the Tree looming at the far end: huge and craggy and brown, with roots each as thick as a small building. Where it intersects the street, there is a living wooden gate, currently standing open, and a pair of walkways that climb away from the street and up around the trunk to either side.

Sunpatch thinks to ask, "...How do you feel about heights?"

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"I'm fine with them."

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"Might get a little nervous but nothing worth seriously worrying about."

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"Okay, good. The place I'm thinking of is a few levels up, and I'd have to find somewhere else if you didn't want to go up," Sunpatch explains. "Let's go up the outside, it's always less crowded."

Indeed, there's only a handful of people going up and down the walkways. Sunpatch traipses up the one on the right; it's nearly as wide as the street, and carpeted in the same faintly glowing moss. Anyone who was nervous of heights could just stick close to the trunk and hardly think about it.

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That's fine, then.

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When they have been going up for a while, the walkway flattens out for a stretch and there is another gate in the middle. This one is closed when they get there, but opens creakily when Sunpatch prods it with the tip of his horn, and he proceeds inside.

From this vantage, it is finally evident just how big around the Tree is. They can stand just inside the gate and look down on the lowest section of the city, living wooden buildings spreading their eager leaves under a vaulted wooden 'sky' that glows with green-gold light. Here and there, gaps in that ceiling show glimpses of the levels above. The whole thing is easily the size of a medium-sized town or small city, but if it's proportioned anything like a normal tree, it's got to be much, much taller.

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Beautiful.

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Impressively well-designed.

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"Welcome to the Tree!" says Sunpatch happily, and he leads them a short distance around the inside of the trunk to a building that seems to be rooted in the walkway itself. When he steps inside, the proprietor waves: it's some kind of bar or restaurant or combination thereof.

"Hi! I brought hungry elf-kin!" says Sunpatch.

"My favourite!" says the blue-haired leaf-winged child-sized humanoid behind the counter. "What would you like to eat, friends?"

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"...We're from very far away. I don't know if there's any overlap in cuisine."

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"Well, then, try a few things," she says.

"This is Lastlight, she's a fae," explains Sunpatch belatedly. "These are Korafen and Ikrifiss and I'm pretty sure they're humans!"

Lastlight smiles welcomingly and hands Korafen and Ikrifiss each a little round baked good of some kind.

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They both agree that it is tasty.

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"Good! Then maybe you'll like this - "

Lastlight has many foods, and she's a remarkably good guesser about which of these foods will be pleasant to eat. There are also beverages, which mostly seem to be various mixes and dilutions of fruit or vegetable juice, and of course plain water is an option. (Sunpatch taps a faucet with his horn.)