Fetch quest

They only gave Van and Oolah the green mash once, as a 'cleansing agent', they said. Oolah claimed her people had something similar and it seemed to have little effect. Van however had an upset stomach for several days, much to his chagrin. Nevertheless, once that passed he felt better. He hadn't realized he needed to feel better, but somehow that seemed to be the case. He even felt like his head was clearer.

     They discovered the hut had been assembled especially for them. The main village was hidden and that's how they liked it. The big Warrior, Rollobal, had been the one shadowing them, Not for the village. Rollobal had his own agenda. By Brin Mal Standards Oolah was beautiful. She was also fit, and a good fighter. Usually Brin Mal women only learn the basics of combat, enough to train their sons.  

     They were lucky he had been watching them. When he saw them enter the hot springs he had guessed what would happen. He'd gone to his village for help. He'd barely taken any time to speak to Van, but talked to Oolah quite a bit. She didn't seem to be opposed to his attention, so Van didn't mind. Besides, he thought she might like spending time with someone her own race. Van fought back his feelings of jealousy. The massive warrior had, after all, saved them. Also, he seemed to treat her with great respect. He was tall, presumably good looking, and also a fighting man, as he was never far from his spear and bow. He would be a good match for her.

     When they had mostly recovered, Oolah approached Van when Rollobal was out collecting wood. "I hope you don't mind my avoiding you while Rollobal is here. I think he will dislike you if I give you too much attention. He is not a bad person, so we avoid antagonizing him, no?"

     "You know you like him." Van teased.

     Ignoring him, she continued, "They did not want to help us. He had to talk them into it, so he said we could be strong allies. In exchange for our care, we are to retrieve some rare flowers used in healing. Some sort of mishap destroyed their existing seed stock." 

     Van nodded in affirmation, "I'd like to do something for them. we'd have.... died without their help." As Van spoke he realized something. He no longer wanted to die.

     Later that day, Oolah was pacing outside the shelter. "Why is he not angry?" She thought, "How can he tease me about it?!" She balled up a fist and shook it. "He is not afraid, why does he not fight for me?" She lamented to herself.

     The next morning they met outside the shelter to embark. Rollobal was there as well and Van assumed it was to see Oolah off, whom he had obviously taken a liking to. "Where's the beasties?" He asked, looking around for them. 

     "Rollobal said there will be a sheer cliff we will need to scale," Answered Oolah, "and it's less then a week away so we won't need to carry as much."

     Van nodded and adjusted his pack. "Well," he said, "Let's get going." He waved a hand in a farewell gesture at Rollobal who was standing there grinning, and Rollobal repeated the gesture back at Van. When Rollobal took up a walking position on the other side of Oolah, Van just assumed this was just a part of his seeing her off on her journey. After an hour he was beginning to have his doubts. It bothered him. He turned to talk to Oolah and saw Rollobal looking back at him, frowning. His head spun around to the opposite direction, and there was Oolah, her eyes fixed straight ahead."

          "Is this something he could normally do himself?" Van complained, "I was hoping to truly help them do something they could not do themselves! Not act as a chaperone on a romantic outing!" Oolah glared at him and hit him on the shoulder.     

     "Owe!" Van complained, "That really hurt! I'm not a dwarf, y'know!"

     "It is no romance in this place!" she corrected him, "and he says this errand, it is dangerous. Nobody to help him in his village!"

     "That's... worrisome." Van mused, "your people tend to be capable.... Wait, does this mean Rollo....." 

     "RolloBal!" Rollobal corrected on the other side of him, as though sensing his name was about to be shortened.

     "..... Rollobal is some kind of master?" Van finished.

     "Is true." said Oolah, "nobody in village is strong like him." Van looked back at Rollobal. It was easy enough to believe going on appearances, anyways. As he looked, Rollobal grinned at him, as though guessing what he'd been thinking. "Van," he heard Oolah say, "what is.... dwarf?"

     "Oh!" Van exclaimed. "I meant Glams race." It is a different name for them. Although to be honest, it falls short." realizing the double entendre, he giggled. Oolah giggled too, and his spirits lifted.

     At first they'd made their way back into the snow, but was within it for a much shorter interval then before.  After a few more hours When they breeched the canopied forest once again and the temperature started rising, Van was thankful for Rollobals knowledge of the area. Still, he was starting to feel a little resentful. while recuperating in the little hut with Rollobals or the old mans constant company, he hadn't realize how much he'd been looking forward to resuming the journey with her... alone.

     Soon after they'd entered the forest, they removed and packed up their cold weather gear. Soon after that, Oolah distributed lunch, A sort of meat mixture rolled up into a dough and baked. They walked uninterrupted for the rest of the day save a few quick shots at some small game and foraging vegetables as they went. When it was time to make camp, Van realized just how dependent they'd grown on the Erlokas as a warning system. He wandered what kind of form camp would take. However, his two companions made no moves to set up one up, at least not yet.

With practiced ease the two Brin Mal butchered the wild feather-lizards they'd shot. They were near 30 pounds each. They cooked them on skewers with the vegetables they'd gathered. They left the refuse for scavengers and traveled on until the forest was quickly growing dim. Finally, they stopped.

     Rollobal fastened twine to a heavy arrow, and unwound the roll so it lay loose on the ground. The bottom branches were quite a long way up but on his first attempt the arrow soared over the branch he'd targeted. Camp turned out to be a row of hammocks almost a hundred feet off the forest floor.