Another day, another chapter title

      The plains were vast and according to their escorts, even boasted a great Inland sea. It was far off, however, they claimed. They also told Oolah of a smaller outpost simply referred to as the 'Flower Camp', that was adjacent to a forest of carnivores plants. It was home to their greatest heroes, and is where they gathered the flower oil used to repel the monstrous beasts of the plain. 

     A week and a half of travel  brought them all to a place they called, 'the break', where they set up  camp for the evening. The next morning they turned back, with Oolahs promise they'd stop on the way back.

      The break was mostly referring to a break in scenery. Crossing the plains at this point were a specific type of tree with a shared root system. They only tend to spread in one direction, so you have these meandering lines of them crossing the plains, multiple layers for several miles. The plants themselves were unique, each stock resembling one another almost exactly other then the size, which varied from a few inches to close to a hundred feet. They each had four fronds coming out even at the base, then in a graceful arc meeting again at the top. It was advised not to get too close, as they leaked a sweet sticky substance to entrap insects. They made their way through the unique groves without incident. The flower oil gifted them from the lion elves actually made things boring, but their travel speed had improved quite a bit. Oolah had switched from bow to sling, to conserve arrows, and daily took small game. The lion elves had introduced her to the best foraging plants in the area. This led to her making delicious meals meals every night. She tried to entice Van into eating with her, as she had always enjoyed his positive reactions to them. He hadn't eaten in days, however, only drinking water. He claimed he just wasn't hungry, and wasn't actually thirsty, only drinking out of habit. Even his morning ritual of coffee-like drinks had ended at some point, despite him having plenty of roots for it. Nightly he left camp, however, to eat in 'another way'. His appearance was approaching emaciated, his muscles still strong, but more like corded rope and thick flat cables. His cheeks had grown hollow and his eyes, too big. 

     The lion elves had warned of the plains behind the break. The grass was all a dull grey, and the large plants that dominated most of it was not to be found here. Less grazers, and less predators hunting them. The lion elves had advised them to save their flower oil while traveling through it. It was very much as it had been before, with occasional attacks, only now Van stepped in when necessary, allowing Oolah the lions share of combat. One night while Oolah was setting up camp, Van, who was pampering and petting the Erlokas, suddenly broke the silence, saying disgustedly, "This don't even make sense, It's like a bad story told by a drunkard!" Oolah stopped what she'd been doing, looking curiously at him. He continued, "There's no way the Goblonii could survive even a small part of this journey! How many years was it where it was just a horde of Goblonii with just a hoblonii or two to try and organize them?"

      Van looked at Oolah in the growing darkness, and she looked back. Once again the silence of the night was shattered, this time with Oolahs unexpected laughter. "Now?! Now you say this?"

     "I never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed," 

     "Is very good reason, actually." She told him.

     "A good reason for me being stupid, or the goblonii thing?"

     "Is not too unlike the flower oil, but different. Goblonii simply taste repugnant, on an epic level. even the smell. Sure, if they went up to a predator and invaded their territory it would take care of it, but even goblonii aren't that stupid. How do you not know this?"

     Van pondered what to tell her, not wanting to lie to her, then finally just said, "I didn't have a typical childhood. Until just recently I hadn't interacted with the outside world."

      She nodded, looking sympathetic, "makes sense," was all she said before resuming her work, remembering Glams lies regarding his possible origin. She was hungry and wanted to get started cooking. 

      The night was odd. The erlokas were constantly on edge despite Vans strange vision not seeing anything unusual, just the typical animals in the distance. He hadn't been hungry in a few days so didn't have a reason to leave camp. He went to bed early, to try and get enough sleep despite his routine restlessness. 

     Oolah didn't sleep well, the Erlokas anxiety making her nervous. It got worse as the night continued, as the wind seemed to carry with it the voices of people speaking gibberish. although Van, who seemed to see well in the dark had said there wasn't anything to worry about, she thought she saw glimpses of shadowy hunched figures in her peripheral. Of course when she looked she saw nothing. She built the fire up after a while, effectively blinding herself to whatever lurked beyond the camp, and stayed close to Van to maintain a sense of security.

      The next morning when checking for tracks, she did indeed find disturbances in the grass, proving something or some things had been there, but there wasn't enough evidence to tell much more then that, which disturbed her all the more. When Van woke, she described her awful night experience to him. He rolled the sides up on the tent to allow both shading and a breeze, and bid her rest for the day. He would watch for her. The erlokas had calmed down, as well which helped soothe Oolahs frazzled nerves. Van felt they could use a rest, too, having experienced the same strange night as their master.

     Van paced a little, occasionally walking out of camp about 20 feet before rising into the air on a black disc. After doing this several times, he noted a specific pair of animals were slowly getting closer to them.