An Unlikely Refuge

It felt like swimming in deep water. Bard mentally clawed himself out of his slumber. The falling snow helped to ground him back in reality. It fell on his face and tickled his cheeks. He moved to rub at his face and heard departing footsteps. As his eyes began to focus on the grayed landscape, he heard feet coming up to him, though they seemed more rushed than the ones that left.

“Bard!” Sen’s voice stuck out. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Her face came into view, and he focused his gaze on her. He sat up as he worked on getting to a standing position.

“I’m… fine. Just… what happened?” He asked, confused. Weren’t they surrounded by the shades? There was that white light and then a strange tiredness. A thought pricked the back of his memories and his eyes went wide as he looked about. He had experienced this before. So who was it?

“We were attacked before a white light began taking out the shades. We woke up and saw you laying there with something by you before it left,” Sen said. Ruegar was beside her and nodded as well.

So those retreating steps weren’t his imagination. He looked around, hoping to spot that being.

“Bard?” Sen asked, and his gaze once again settled on her. She looked concerned.

“I’m fine, Sen. It’s not the first time this has happened,” He said offhandedly as he began to walk to Kai. Sen hopped after him and looked around.

“What happened?” she asked. Bard sighed, knowing he was just as much in the dark as she was.

“I don’t know. Just that we were saved. We should leave while we still can.” His explanation garnered no rebuttal, and Ruegar followed then as they left. Bard eventually had Ruegar ride, while he walked, since he was taller and could keep a better pace.

After leaving the city behind, they made camp against a boulder that offered some shelter from the snow fall. The ground was now cold enough it was starting to stick. Ruegar’s sunstones were placed along the edges so they wouldn’t need to use as much fuel or light sticks, and they made a fire nearby. Bard used a fire stick for warmth and cooking.

“I be mighty impressed,” Ruegar said as he smelled the food. Bard smiled. He wasn’t sure why the man had stayed with them. But at least he wasn’t hostile.

“How far be ye travels?” Ruegar asked.

“We have a long way to go,” Bard said. The snows blew harder and Bard looked up at the sky. It was like healer had said, snow much earlier, and in conjunction, a colder winter. How would they get through this?

“Ye looky ta be traveling with this weather. I ca’no advise such a thin’.” Ruegar said. He looked at Sen, watching her hair.

“So what are you advising?” Bard prompted. Sen watched, more confused.

“Bard? How can you understand him? Is he speaking Teka or some other language?” Sen asked. Ruegar straightened and then laughed.

“Well, lad, I do have a somthin’ in mind. Though, ye might be needing to explain things ta da lady,” he prompted and Bard sighed. Ruegar was enjoying this.

“Ruegar is speaking Teka, but as we travel, there will be dialects and other differences and nuances to how they say the words. It’s partially environmental and partially because there are things you can only find in certain regions, so they have names and words to describe them that don’t exist elsewhere.”

Sen groaned as she pouted, staring at the cooking food.

“I see ye be well traveled. As for me idea, it be to have a ye come stay with me and me miss’s,” Ruegar offered and Bard raised an eyebrow and looked at Sen before returning his questioning glare to Ruegar.

“I see dat. I have me miss’s come and tame dat first. It be a challenge, but we might be able to co’lor da hair to blend in,” Ruegar said. “Besides, I be an outcast at da village, so we shouldn’ be disturbed too much.”

Bard wasn’t sure about this. It was one thing to stay near, or pass by, but to take up residence for a season in one of their homes? This troubled him. He glanced at Sen, who shivered violently as a wind picked up. If she happened to get sick in this weather, then that would be the end of their travels anyway. He closed his eyes as he thought on it. He felt Sen shift the cooking food, and Kai brought his tail around. Bard looked at his pleading eyes and rolled his own eyes in defeat.

“And you are sure you can disguise her?” Bard asked, and Ruegar nodded. This was becoming more complicated than he cared for.

“How far away is your village?”

“About a fortens distance.”

“We can get there in about a day and a half,” Bard remarked, impressed the man had traveled that far away on his own. Ruegar whistled a note in surprise.

“He’s handy, ain’t he?” Ruegar commented. “We just be needin’ me horse. I left ‘er about a day’s journey on foot.”

Bard sighed. Like always, the answers he couldn’t solve for, were being solved for him. He hadn’t made a choice before this, at least, not a major choice. He had let his environment dictate where he should go, and now he was being invited to the one space he never thought he would go.

“Bard, you said that has happened before,” Sen started. Bard looked at her with a thoughtful, pondering look. What was she asking about now?

As if understanding he was confused, Sen elaborated. “The shades, and that white light?”

“Oh. Yes,” Bard grasped what she was thinking about. His eyes turned to the fire and lightstones. They produced a warm yellow light. Nothing like that white light from before. His mind traveled back to the other encounters he had with that light. Sen drew him from his thoughts as she sat next to him.

“I’ve experienced it three times now,” Bard answered. Ruegar also seemed eager to hear about this. “The first time was as a child, and the second was the first time I visited a city. Both times, I was attacked by shades and approaching my death.” Bard said.

“Does that mean we don’t need to worry about the shades?”

“No. I’ve nearly died to them other times, but I was saved by others, or the sun came out. It has only been three times that I have seen that white light like that.”

“Ye said it was when ye was a child…”

“Ah, yes. My village was ransacked, destroyed and killed by the shades. My mother pulled me away and towards a nearby forest. She was killed by them right as we approached the edge, and that’s when that white light appeared. Every time, I get knocked out, so I don’t know the source…” Bard answered. “But… when I woke up back then, I was by Father’s side.”

Sen seemed quiet, but Ruegar was seemingly less so.

“So ye was raised by a Dryad den? Is dat why ye both travel together?”

“What?” Sen shouted. “No. No. It’s not like that…” her face blushed a deep red.

Ruegar laughed at her cute reaction.

“Father, is an ancient tree. An Elder tree, to be exact. He sent me out to…” Bard paused, realizing he was about to divulge his mission, and stopped. Sen looked at him with a strange form of curiosity. “Well, he was the one who had me and Kai start our journey. It was happenstance, that I ran into Sen, and now we are engaged.”

Ruegar whistled in surprise and then grinned.

“So it a be like dat den,” he laughed. “Why didn’ ye say so sooner, eh? This will make it easier den.”

“What will be easier?” Sen asked, and Bard was proud of her for catching that. Ruegar’s accent was getting a bit thick in this jovial state.

“Why, ye both will be a married couple I ran into outside da city. Dis way, de village folk will leave a ye alone for da winter,” Ruegar said.

Before Sen could contend that they weren’t married, Bard spoke first. “And why would it make a difference if we are married or not?”

Sen was about to say something, when Bard motioned for her to stay silent for a bit.

“Because me brother, da next village chief, will see de lovely Sen and want her for himself. But if ye be married, then he won’t be a bothering us as much,” Ruegar said. The more Ruegar explained his reasoning, the more Bard felt uncomfortable with going and staying at the village. Even if it could be more convenient, it seemed to have more troubles than he would like to deal with.

“Sounds risky. What do we gain by staying with you?” Bard asked. Sen looked at Ruegar who seemed to be rolling his eyes to say, it was obvious.

“It be more risky in this weather. We get winter like dis every decade. It’ll be a rough one. Last too long. Ye supplies don’t be looking like they can handle dat. And I like ye. I will sneak ye in, and you stay inside.”

“What about Kai?” Sen asked, and Bard looked at his faithful companion.

“Let him hunt in da plains. At night, he can guard da house just by being nearby. If it become a problem, we can explain and reveal ye.”

Bard sighed. If it was a once in a decade winter, then he wasn’t equipped to handle it. He liked this option less and less, but there was still the possibility it could work out just fine. Sen quietly observed him, likely waiting for him to reveal his thoughts.

Bard asked for other details. He still couldn’t come to a conclusion. Ruegar found it frustrating, but if it meant he could have a guest, well… he seemed a bit too eager.

What Bard found out could be summarized with a few thoughts. Ruegar had an odd interest in shades and abandoned cities. He wasn’t averse to gathering resources from forests either, so long as it furthered his and his wife's hobbies.

He liked old weaponry and technology, while his wife was a herbalist and healer. Most humans only came by if they were very sick, as she could work miracles, but because of his hobbies, they chose to avoid him and his house.

His kids were quite young, so other than they would run around and cry, they hadn’t begun to formulate sentences yet. This would be to their advantage, as they didn’t need the kids talking about dryads and visitors if they ran into people. His house was at the edge of the village, just outside it, really.

Bard could see why Ruegar thought this was a good idea. The location was not near any forests, so it would be rare to have to run from dryads. Because of the proximity to the mountains, they built mostly from stone. They were skilled with clay and other earthen materials, which might color Sen’s hair, especially if they included Ruegar’s wife’s skills with herbs.

The final clincher is that if they were discovered, then Ruegar would announce they were seeking refuge from winter, and would leave with the snow. It wasn’t uncommon for a caravan that was inexperienced to get trapped over here and be housed, so they wouldn’t pay much attention.

The more Ruegar reasoned, the more Bard began to concede that this might be a better option than he initially thought.

“Why would you offer your home to us?” Sen asked. That was the final concern. It would be rare for anyone to take in a wanderer, let alone a stranger.

“Simple. Ye have a Dryad that speaks human. I can smell da herbs on ye, and me miss’s would love company. It’s not be a common thing for her, since we be married, to have guests that not be sick.”

“A very simple reason,” Bard said. He sat up straight and watched the shifting shades outside their light. “How about this. While we travel, we will consider it some more. I’m not sold, but I can see your points. While we travel, we can get to know each other and determine if this would be a wise thing to do.”

“Fair enough,” Ruegar said, and Sen nodded.

Sen handed out the food and Bard had his cool down a bit, before biting into it. Ruegar was curious and lavished a bit of praise on them when he sampled it. He was more eager to have them meet his wife and exchange information and recipes. Bard found this amusing.

Sen shared a story of her past, where she watched her father go off and fight the Teka, which Bard explained was the dryadic word for human. Ruegar was curious about it.

After Sen shared how she was worried, as it was shortly after her mother was killed, causing the men to go silent. She apologized for bringing a heavy mood while they ate, and Ruegar apologized that his kind were so violent. He didn’t understand it, and wished her happiness with Bard.