Darin thought about that. It would be nice to see fireflies again even if they were bigger. In fact, that might actually be fun. Though it was almost the end of firefly season. They came out for the growing season and for harvest, but like most things rested during the winter months. The human wondered if that was true for the uloia as well. They would probably still see them though. She wondered if she would see other things that looked familiar but weren’t quite the same. Darin would have to keep a look out for sure. It would be like an adventure within an adventure. That would be fun.

Darin leaned forward to look at Taja. The hawk eyed her distrustfully. That was going to get old quick, and Darin was sick and tired of getting clawed every time she so much as reached a hand out to help the creature. It wasn’t going to stop her from helping though. She knew that. It wasn’t like she could just stop. She had committed to helping the bird, and that wasn’t a job a person could quit halfway though. Once you decided to help someone quitting on them for just rude and almost made things worse. As such Darin reached out to make sure the hawk was safely secured in the traveling basket. To her surprise the creature didn’t lash out at her. Darin would count that as a win.

As she readjusted the basket she asked, “Will we be well received? How do the Eluri take to visitors?” Darin swallowed as she asked a question she didn’t rally want to ask, “How will they look at you?”

It was a fair question. Darin couldn’t deny that it was a fair question. She needed to know if they were immediately going to be a source of contention because of the mark on Ridahne’s face. That didn’t mean Darin wanted to ask it, because Ridahne was more than the mark on her face. Darin knew that. Any person worth their measure knew that. That didn’t mean that everybody would act that way. Darin didn’t even expect them to act that way. For some people such a mark could serve as a true warning. Some people with the mark of the traitor were probably actually traitors. Darin wouldn’t know until she met one of them. Then again, she was trying to not make assumptions about people.

Then there was another question. Had any of them had visions about The Seed-Bearer coming though their lands? That might not be a good thing. Darin was trying to keep a low profile. That hadn’t been the case for the last little while. She wondered if The Farm counted. Back to the point. Darin had no idea how visions worked. She knew that Ridahne’s vision about going to find her came from The Tree. That didn’t mean she thought all visions came from The Tree. Some might come from ancestors or gods. Some might even come from demons. Darin wasn’t sure demons existed, but if gods did it made sense that demons did. Though the young human wasn’t sure that gods were a thing either. Still, The First Tree had to have come from somewhere. It made sense that it came from a higher power of some type. Though if there was a higher power it made sense that they chose her to do this job and why they would do that was completely beyond her. She still didn’t understand why she had been chosen. She just knew that The Gardener and The Tree thought she was the only one capable of doing the job.

Taja was safely secured so she sat back down on Talbot. Talbot hadn’t done anything unpredictable, like break out into a random gallop, today. Darin was willing to bet that was because he was also carrying Taja. She softly patted the spot of the horse between her legs in thanks. Darin didn’t mind being thrown of and unsettled if it made her a better rider, but she didn’t want to upset the injured member of their party. That would not be kind or considerate at all. Besides the poor bird was already traumatized. It wouldn’t do to break the fragile trust growing between them. Darin still wondered what had actually happened to the poor creature, but she would probably never know.

Darin asked another question, “Are there towns or something similar in Eluri? It would be nice to get to know some of the people. Plus it would be nice to nit make camp every night. Most nights yes, but I spent three months sleeping on the ground. I rather not repeat that.”