There was something like Alanya that piqued Torsten’s interest. She oozed a certain charismatic flair that instantly made her a friend to their trio. He forgot about how or why she was with them. Seeing the lump of flesh on Oz’ shoulder did remind him occasionally during their walk.

“Yes, we are definitely Norgardians and we are definitely far from home.” Torsten felt no problem with allowing Alanya know where their homeland was. “We’ve traveled extensively on the sea, but occasionally find the opportunity to travel over land. It appears we are in that situation now.”

Torsten looked at Wolf, “what direction?”

Wolf looked up and at the rocks and trees. “South?” the man responded.

“We are definitely traveling southwest,” Torsten offered. 

“South is close to Southwest,” Wolf defended his response.

“You’re right, my brother. The trail does arc back to the south on occasion too.”

Torsten listened to Alanya as they walked along the path. Her accent was one he was familiar with. He had heard it before on one of his voyages, but just couldn’t place it. Maybe if he thought about it for a while longer, it would come to him. “Where are you from, Alanya?”

Maybe it was her speech patterns, voice inflection, her looks, or chemistry. He found himself slowly being attracted to the woman. He did not understand the feeling. In fact, he pushed himself away in his mind, refusing to admit the feeling to himself. He didn’t have time for such frivolity.

“Pardon me, my father was a hunter and a tracker like me. We excelled in finding people or game and bringing food from the forest back into the village.” Torsten considered what she said. “That custom is  true with some villages, but not all,” Torsten smiled at her.

It took Torsten time to process what he was looking at when they finally cleared the forest.  “You know, at firt glance, that looks like the stump of a tree felled years ago, but it can’t be. It circles a town. Is that Oakhollow?” Torsten then thought about the name of the town and realized yes! The tree was an Oak and now it is hollow. 

Oz laughed a hearty laugh, with the fat man bouncing on his shoulder as he laughed. “Oak Hollow!” The big man bellowed out a huge laugh.

The party approached the archway in the side of the tree trunk or town. The group was impressed with the etchings, carvings in the wood. “Beautiful,” Wolf allowed in a low tone, commenting on the size and design of the town’s exterior.

“Hopefully, the fee for a room isn’t too expensive. We should be able to cover it.” Torsten smiled at Alanya. “Thanks for leading us here. It has been quite some time since we have seen civilization.” Torsten paused and remembered the fat man. “Oh!? Where do you want this one?”