The man Ruby nailed in the head with a rock growls, wiping blood from his brow. He gres at Lyari, who's still holding the arrow steady.

  Then, without warning, he lunges-not at them, but towards the child. In one swift motion, he grabs the kid, hoisting them up like a sack of potatoes. The child yelps in surprise, arms filing.

  "Wait-hey!!" Ruby shouts, scrambling forward. "You're kidnapping them?!"

  The second man grabs the kid's legs, and together, they bolt into the underbrush, cloaks fpping wildly, the child still mid-protest.

  As they vanish into the thick trees, the injured man shouts back over his shoulder, voice sharp and furious:

  "Maybe don't attack strangers like a crazy bitch before getting some damn context!"

  Their footsteps fade into the swampy dusk.

  Ruby stands there in stunned silence, rock still clutched in one hand.

  She slowly turns to Lyari, ears drooping slightly. "... Did I just maybe make a mistake?"

  Lyari exhales slowly. "Yes."

  Ruby blinks. "Oh..."

  Lyari walks past her. "Come on. You can think about your life choices while we find somewhere dry to camp."

  Ruby follows with a small, sheepish huff. "I thought I was being heroic..."

  "Try being right next time," Lyari mutters.

  Camp that night is a soggy patch of retive dryness between gnarled roots and standing puddles. The fire crackles low, barely keeping the swarming bugs at bay.

  Ruby sits curled in her bnket, poking the fire with a stick and wearing the quietest expression she's had in days.

  She finally mutters, "Okay. Maybe I should've waited to see what was going on."

  Lyari gnces over as he chews a strip of dried meat. "You think?"

  Ruby sighs, flopping onto her back. "They called me a crazy bitch..."

  "They weren't wrong," Lyari says.

  Ruby throws a twig at Lyari. It bounces harmlessly off his boot.

  And yet, the air is calm again. The forest holds its breath as the stars return, twinkling above the tangled canopy.

  Despite the bugs, the humidity, and the questionable morals of mysterious rock-sitters, they've made it another day.

  Dawn rises gray and misty again, but the air is lighter-less dense, the terrain slowly shifting back toward solid ground. It's the final leg of their journey out of the Nalvathen, and the trees ahead are thinning. Somewhere past them lies a world much bigger than Ruby's ever seen.

  Lyari shoulders his pack without a word. Ruby pulls her bnket tighter around her shoulders, gives a huge yawn, and trudges after him.

  "Today," she decres, "I'm not hitting anyone with a rock. Probably."

  Lyari doesn't even look back. "Progress."

  By te morning, the trees begin to thin in earnest. The ground underfoot grows less tangled, though still damp, giving way to moss-covered stones and spongy grasses.

  Ruby squints ahead as the canopy opens fully. Light spills across the path, and just beyond the tree line-Open swampnd.

  The nd fttens into soft earth and shallow pools. Two rge kes shimmer in the distance, their gssy surfaces reflecting the sky. Between them, nestled among the reeds and marsh flowers, sits a small vilge-humble, quiet, and still.

  Ten or so buildings total, smoke curling from a few chimneys. A scattering of wooden docks, some small boats, and the sound of distant birdsong.

  Ruby steps forward into the light and blinks. "...Whoa," she whispers. "I made it."

  Lyari stops beside her, arms crossed, gaze scanning the vilge from a distance.

  "This is where I leave you," he says pinly. "I'm heading east. There's a Moon Elven vilge that needs a supply update."

  Ruby turns to him, expression unreadable for a moment. Then she grins. "You're gonna miss me."

  Lyari sighs. "I'm going to sleep better knowing you're not about to fall into a swamp and drown while trying to talk to frogs."

  Ruby snickers. "You do care."

  Lyari doesn't answer. But they do offer a small, dry nod. "Try not to start a war," he says.

  "No promises," Ruby beams.

  With that, Lyari turns, melting back into the trees without another word.

  And Ruby, bnket over her shoulders, boots squelching in the muddy grass, steps forward into the wide, strange world beyond her forest home.

  The muddy path winds gently toward the vilge, bnked on both sides by low wooden fencing-more suggestion than defense, just enough to keep out wandering critters.

  Ruby follows it with a bounce in her step, the soggy terrain squelching beneath her boots. The smell of kewater hangs in the air, mingled with peat and smoke from the vilge chimney's.

  As she nears the entrance, she slows.

  No sign. No arch. No carved wood welcoming her to some grand pce.

  Just a simple gap in the fence, where the path turns to packed earth and gravel. A trail of boot prints and wagon ruts leads inside.

  Ruby steps over the threshold with a small, amused smile. "Well, hello mysterious fence-gap vilge."

  Inside, the vilge is quaint-maybe a dozen buildings at most, all made from dark-stained timber and thatched roofs. A few have clotheslines strung out back, others show signs of fishing gear or gardening tools.

  Children's ughter echoes distantly near the keshore. An old woman in an apron is sweeping her porch and gives Ruby a brief curious gnce.

  Ruby pauses in the path, hands on her hips, tail swaying behind her as she takes it all in.

  "This is... so weird. No trees trying to kill me. No creepy rock nudists. No deathberries." She grins. "I love it already!"

  Ruby barely finishes taking in the vilge before her eyes lock onto the older woman sweeping the porch.

  She breaks into a full run, boots sloshing the mud with every step, her bnket bouncing around her shoulders.

  The woman looks up, startled.

  "Hi! Hello! Ohmygosh hi!" Ruby beams, practically vibrating with excitement as she skids to a stop a few feet away. "I'm Ruby! I just got here, I came out of the forest, and this is the first vilge I've ever seen that isn't, like, in a forest, and I'm on an adventure! Like, a real one!"

  The woman blinks slowly, hands resting on the top of her broom.

  "And," Ruby continues, eyes sparkling, "I'm looking for my girlfriend! She left our vilge a few years ago to become a mercenary and I've been trying to find her forever-her name's Aria-wait, no she's not technically my girlfriend, not yet, but like, I'm gonna find her, and then maybe she'll become my girlfriend-"

  The woman squints slightly, processing about five sentences at once. "...Well," she finally says, her voice warm but bemused. "Aren't you a little firework."

  Ruby puffs up proudly. "Thanks! I'm an adventurer now!"

  "Clearly," the woman chuckles. "You hungry, adventurer?"

  Ruby blinks. "I'm always hungry."

  The woman chuckles softly, tucking her broom against the porch rail. "Come on then, Ruby-the-adventurer. I was just about to reheat lunch."

  Ruby nearly skips after her, practically glowing with happiness. "Really?! You're the nicest person I've met all day! I mean, okay, the bar was a little low, but still!"

  Inside, the house is war and wood-paneled, filled with the smell of herbs and a faint, rich sweetness.

  The woman-who introduces herself as Mara-guides Ruby to a small wooden table while she moves toward a cy stove tucked into the corner.

  She dles out steamed vegetables, glistening slightly with birch syrup gze, onto a cy pte, alongside a scoop of wild rice speckled with green flecks and a thick piece of grilled salmon, seared golden on the edges.

  Ruby takes one bite and immediately melts into the chair. "Mmmmph. Oh my stars. This is amazing. Is this like... normal food here? Do you eat like this all the time?"

  Mara ughs. "Only if the ke's kind and the woods don't get too greedy." She sits across from Ruby, watching her eat with a gentle amusement. "So... where exactly are you coming from, little firework?"

  Ruby, mouth full of rice, swallows quickly. "Um! A vilge in the forest. Like, I think it's near the south side of it. One of the human ones! But I've been travelling for like uhm 10 days now. There were poison berries, and a Sylverine, and a guy who lived naked on a rock. It's been a lot."

  Mara raises an eyebrow. "Sounds like it. You've reached Duskwater now. Not much here, but it's safe enough."

  "Duskwater..." Ruby repeats dreamily, gncing out the window toward the kes.

  Ruby savors another bite of salmon, her tail swishing zily against the chair legs.

  Between mouthfuls, she gnces at Mara curiously. "Soooo.. what's Duskwater light? Besides the awesome food, I mean."

  Mara smiles, a little wistful. "We're a quiet pce. Hunters, fishers, a few craftsfolk. Nothing fancy. Mostly we just mind the ke, the crops, and our duties."

  Ruby tilts her head. "Duties?"

  "To the town. And to Eryndor," Mara says, her voice turning a little more serious.

  Ruby blinks. "Eryndor?"

  Mara nods. "The god of Justice and Law. We're part of the Theocracy of Erith. All vilges, even the little ones like ours, follow his w."

  Ruby leans forward, fascinated. "Sooo, like, he's the Big Important Boss-God?"

  Mara chuckles. "You could say that. His word is the foundation of w. It's written and enforced-sometimes by magistrates, sometimes by travelling clerics." She pauses, studying Ruby for a moment. "Order keeps the world from falling into chaos. That's what we believe."

  Ruby thinks about the st few days of her journey-the near-death berries, the angry monster, the weird naked wizard-and nods slowly. "Yeah. I guess chaos is... kinda messy."

  Mara ughs again, a rich sound. "It can be. You won't see much of it here. Just quiet work, prayers when they're needed, and making sure we stay on the right side of the w."

  Ruby brightens. "That sounds... kinda nice, actually. Like a storybook vilge!"

  Mara leans back in her chair. "It can be. Just remember-strangers aren't always trusted right away. Especially fiery little ones who fall out of the words asking about missing girlfriends."

  Ruby blinks. "I, uh-yeah. Right." She gnces at the door nervously. "Maybe I should, like... not yell about adventures for a bit."

  Mara smiles knowingly. "Smart girl."

  Ruby finishes her meal with gusto, licking a bit of syrup off her thumb and smiling so wide her cheeks hurt. "Thank you very much!" she says, practically bouncing in her seat. "Best food I've had since... since I left home."

  Mara chuckles as she clears the pte. "You're welcome, little firework Mind yourself though. Duskwater's small. Word travels faster than you can run."

  Ruby grins and swings her bnket back over her shoulders like a cape. "I'll be good! Probably!"

  She ducks out of the door before Mara can reply, boots spshing lightly through puddles as she makes her way back to the main path.

  Duskwater feels even smaller up close. Only a few dusty paths crisscross the center, leading between low houses and sheds. Here and there, small gardens spill over with herbs and root vegetables. A few chickens strut along the fences, pecking zily at the mud.

  Most of the vilgers she passes give her curious gnces-some polite, some a little wary-but no one stops her

  Ruby hums under her breath, tail swishing as she follows the rgest path through the vilge toward the edge where the ground dips lower.

  Ahead, the docks stretches out into the still water of the northern ke, built from rough, weathered pnks. A few rowboats bob gently against their moorings, their ropes creaking softly in the afternoon breeze.

  A handful of fishermen in simple tunics work along the dock-mending nets, loading crates, or just talking quietly among themselves.

  Ruby's nose wrinkles as she catches the smell of fish and keweed, but she marches forward anyway, curious.

  "This is so weird," she mutters happily to herself. "It's like... a sleepy little puddle-town."

  She steps onto the docks carefully, the wood groaning slightly underfoot.

  Adventure awaited somewhere out there, and so does Aria.

  But first.. maybe she should figure out where she even was.