Darin shook her head, “This is something else.” She pointed out, “Look, there aren’t quite as many varieties of food, and the odds of there being as much music as there was last night are slim.” She shrugged, “When you get a room full of people together to eat after a day of good, honest work the meal tends to be jubilant.”

She started putting food on her plate. Without really thinking about it she made up a plate for Ridahne as well. The warrior seemed … odd tonight. Darin supposed that couldn’t be helped. Actually, odd was not the right word. It was more like the Elf was in a better mood. Darin had to wonder why that was. She didn’t think that it was anything she had done. Maybe Ridahne was just glad to do something besides travel. Absently Darin wondered if it was her place to ask. She thought she might just be willing to ask it.

Then Ravi had to go and distract her, “Tell us of your home Seed-Bearer. What is it like? What is it call?”

Darin hastily swallowed the bite she had just taken as she sputtered for a moment, “Um, uh, it’s not called anything. And you can’t find it on the map. It’s a teeny tiny village. The closest place is a place called Lively, about a day and a half away. It’s a small collection of farmers and shepherds. There are a few hunters; some trapper too.” She shrugged, “It’s not that exciting. A bit like The Farm I guess, but smaller, way smaller.”

Ravi laughed lightly, “What would you call it?”

Darin was at a lost for words before she thought of an answer that was true that no one would like, “Um … Home. I would just call it home.”

The Overseer raised an unimpressed eyebrow, “If someone made it to Lively looking for your village what would they have to ask in order to find it.”

Darin shrugged, “I guess they would just ask, ‘I’m looking for the village near here. How do I find it?’ Everyone in Lively would know what you are talking about, but no one comes to our village unless they are headed to the forest of the mountains behind us.”

Ravi sighed, “There are those among us that wish to visit; to pay their respects to both The Gardener and to your mother.”

Darin was caught off guard by that. That made sense. If she knew that a loved one had died away from home, she might travel to go pay her final respects. The problem was that there were people looking to kill her and destroy The Seed. She couldn’t let them figure out where she had come from. She didn’t need to give them the chance to gain hostages. That would cause to many complications. If a whole slew of people dressed like Workers headed towards her home anyone would be able to figure it out. The secret would be out before she could blink.

She shook her head softly, “I understand Overseer, but it is not wise. I am not strong enough to say I would pick The Seed if an enemy had my mother. I think it best not to give them any clues as to where she is.”

Someone protested, “That’s not fair! That’s not fair at all!”

Darin didn’t take her eyes off of Ravi, “When is life fair. If a bunch of Workers started traveling is any significant numbers towards a village no one has heard of before it wouldn’t belong until the enemies we all know are out there figure it out.”

The protestor stood and began to advance towards the main table, “Our loved one is dead! And you expect us to refuse to visit him because you don’t have the strength to pick all of Astra over one person.”

The human male about Darin’s age did not look happy. Darin wasn’t surprised by that. Most human teenage boys tended to have tempers that they couldn’t control easily. Darin did not blame him for that. She didn’t blame him for wanting to visit the final resting place of The Gardener. She would want to visit the resting place of her loved ones without a doubt. 

She dipped her head once, “Yes. I do.”

The boy scoffed, “Why must we be the one to sacrifice for your weakness?”

Darin let out a single laugh, “Because this quest means we all must sacrifice. I am so far away from home I don’t know my left from my right. My Guardian has given up hope of any of her people truly seeing past her face.” She stood slowly, “And Ravi is dying early to keep The Tree alive just a few more years.”

The human boy flinched at that last one. He turned to look at the Overseer with a look of horror on his face. Ravi sighed as he nodded. He then shot Darin a nasty glare that she ignored. If he was going to seek to make her uncomfortable by making her play and requesting permission to send people to her home, she was going to tell these people the truth so that way they had time to prepare for their loved one’s death. Perhaps it was petty. Perhaps it was childish. It was still the way it was. The boy fell away from the table. He hadn’t given up this fight. He just needed time to think.

Darin looked around the room before falling back into her chair. The happy atmosphere was gone, and she was sad to be the one to send it away. She was exhausted. She wanted to sleep, but that wouldn’t be possible. She still needed to help with the evening chores. She still needed to let Ridahne kick her butt. Who knew when she would get proper sleep? She didn’t think it would be anytime soon.