“Woah!” Anna's eyes shone bright at the sight of a giant dragon skull. “This is the awesomest thing ever!”

 

“Most awesome,” Robin corrected lightly, remembering the night she had slept along with Edhyr under the cliffside that night, which was now eleven years and three months ago. Rob seemed to really like the dragon skull as well. “What do you think we pull a few teeth and make them into knives?” he suggested. The forest spirit immediately protested against that idea: “No way! Most of the skeleton is already gone, we don’t have to steal even more parts! Be glad that the skull is even intact!” Rob frowned at the scolding and didn’t bring it up again, while Anna just ran off to examine the giant bone pieces closer and touch them. Robin meanwhile returned to the dent in the ground that she had left when she had gotten up from her napping spot. She sat beside it and just looked at it, not wanting to lay down in it once again. Who knew, maybe she would fall asleep again and another eleven years would pass?

 

“What’s this?” Robin almost jumped up from her sitting position when Rob’s voice suddenly spoke right into her ear. She wondered how he managed to sneak up on her like that. Rob looked at the indent in the ground with confusion. “Why is this part ripped up?”

 

“It’s… Where I woke up just a couple hours ago.”

 

“Huh?” Rob did a double take and looked between Robin and the hole in the ground as if trying to match two puzzle pieces. Anna also walked over. “Hey! A human-shaped hole!” Without any other warning, she threw herself into the dirt, fitting into the hole with space even left over by the legs and head. “Why’re there indents here near the top?”

 

“That’s probably where my antlers were,” Robin explained curtly. Anna hummed in agreement. “Makes sense.” Rob also leaned down to examine the hole closer, while Robin stepped back, a little further away. She had spent long enough time in that hole, wasted away like summer flowers in the cold.

 

“Alright, is there anything else interesting here or should we head home, mister forest spirit?” Rob teased. Robin spluttered. “I told you, I’m a girl!”

 

“Riiight. Why don’t you prove it?”

 

“You’re real nasty for a kid,” Robin noted as she stood up. She almost wanted to pick Rob up and throw him over her shoulder and to the ground just to see his reaction, but she decided against it. Rob had no idea how close he was to being thrown.

 

 Robin followed the kids out of the forest. She managed to slip a tiny flower she found to Edhyr’s gravestone before they left, but she had no time to say a proper goodbye. Anna was impatient and dragged the two Robins off towards Citnerohs. That was, until Rob reminded her that they had horses. Two horses. The kids only realised the problem when they sat onto the horses and Robin stood next to them with a blank face, not really sure of what to do next and deciding to look at the horses for a little while.

 

 One of the horses was taller than the other. It was a dark brown shade with a lighter mane and looked strong enough to carry several people. Robin had no doubt that Rob and his luggage weren’t even a challenge for it. The other that Anna was sitting on was shorter and lighter, being a milky white with brown patches. Both were plenty tall compared to the kids. Robin went to pet the shorter horse.

 

“Uhh… How can we do this.” Rob tried to figure out a solution to their problem. “What if I just sit a bit further ahead so Robin can come with me- No, actually, it would be better if you go with Anna. She’s so careless, I’m sure she’ll fall off the horse a couple of times.”

 

“Rob! That was one time!” Anna protested.

 

“And it was hilarious,” Rob said with a derpy smirk on his face.

 

“What if I just walk next to you?” the spirit proposed. Rob’s face lit up. “Great idea! Just make sure to keep up with us!”

 

“Since your horses also have bags, I doubt they can run that fast. You’ll be walking to save their feet, won’t you?”

 

“Yeah, I was joking about keeping up with us,” Rob admitted. “Pretty sure we can fit your stuff though!”

 

“I don’t have anything,” Robin deadpanned.

 

“Oh. Right. Well, off we go then,” Rob said, awkwardly moving away from Robin and down the road. Robin just walked next to the horse with Anna in turn following right behind the forest spirit.

 

“So, Robin, tell us about yourself!” she said happily, looking for a conversational topic. Robin just shrugged. “I have green hair.”

 

“Fine, you don’t wanna talk about yourself. Anything funny happen to you?”

 

“Well I fell off a cliff once.”

 

“She said funny!” Rob said with horror. Anna didn’t dare ask Robin a question for the following couple hours, instead humming some song that Robin didn’t recognise. It was rather boring to just walk next to the two horses, but Robin had slept for 11 years in total darkness so it wasn’t up to compare. There Robin walked, deep in thought, remembering the day she spent with Edhyr. It had felt like a year, truly.

 

☯

 

“I think this is far enough for today,” Rob said, stopping his horse by the roadside next to a small wooden stand. Robin had no idea what it was for. “I’ll put up the shelter.” Rob tied his horse to the stand with a rope. By the way of how Anna also tied her horse to the stand, Robin assumed that it was meant for tying horses to so they don’t wander away.

 

 Rob pulled a big roll of fabric off his horse’s back, almost struggling with its height but not quite, and moved to the small grass field next to the wooden stand, laying down the fabric and unrolling it. Annie also untied a bag from her own horse and started fiddling with some clanky metal things a couple meters from where Rob was. Robin just stood by the horses, petting them. She had no idea what either of the kids was doing and didn’t care to aid in their shenanigans either.

 

 Robin got bored of the horses about twenty minutes later and she returned to the two kids. A small shelter made of some sort of shiny fabric had been set up where Rob had been unrolling said fabric, supported on two wooden sticks to make room for 2, maybe 3 if you pushed it, people to crawl inside. Robin was impressed and headed over to touch the fabric, since it confused her as to what it was made out of. “What is this?” she asked.

 

“Oh!” Rob replied. “It’s a cool new type of material that father invented! It’s lightweight and easy to pack into a small package, yet it’s waterproof and holds warmth! We always take it with us on journeys since father no longer travels.”

 

“That sounds cool,” Robin agreed, gently touching the fabric with her fingertips. “What are you doing?” she asked just seconds later, looking at the small fire of sticks and leaves that Anna had built. It was smoking quite a bit. Robin had to step closer to notice the small shining metal bowl in the middle, filled with some sort of soup. 

 

“I’m making dinner!” Anna declared happily. Robin didn’t know kids Anna’s age could make food like that but she just accepted it. A lot could change in eleven years and these kids looked very independent anyway. Robin had no doubt they were just fine out in the wild on their own.

 

 Anna offered Robin a cup of soup just ten minutes later, Robin had counted. With nothing better to do, Robin had indeed counted seconds as she stared at the fire for ten minutes. She was pretty sure Rob was eyeing her with concern, but she didn’t care. Robin just sipped on her soup. It tasted pretty bland, but Robin really couldn’t blame Anna. Add the fact that she was a forest spirit and didn’t actually need to eat- Hold on, she hadn’t eaten in eleven years. Yeah, actually Robin was glad to have some food. “Thanks for the food.”

 

“Of course! We can’t let you starve! We do only have rations meant for two people though so we’ll have to hunt or something,” Anna muttered.

 

“It’s fine, I don’t actually need to eat that often. I can live on one meal every three months,” Robin said, brushing Anna’s worries off.

 

“That’s… Horrifying but great,” Rob said. Robin wasn’t sure what expression he was wearing since his hood was now pulled up and covering his face from Robin’s view but it sounded like it wasn’t fully positive in any case. Robin munched on some solid pieces in the soup that she assumed were potatoes or other vegetables and set her cup down next to the fire. She halted a bit when she saw both Anna and the other Robin using spoons to eat their soup. “...Sora. I look like an idiot now.” It was already getting dark and Robin decided to ask about sleeping accommodations since she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to sleep in the fabric shelter. 

 

“Am I supposed to sleep with you in the shelter or…?” she asked, stretching out the end of the sentence. Rob was first to answer: “That’s what we planned, yeah, since it’s best to keep warm, but you sound like you don’t want to. Nobody is forcing you.”

 

“I’m used to sleeping under the stars. Thanks.” Robin threw herself on the ground right then and there, wrapping herself up in her coat for comfort. The dragon scales in the inner pocket poked at her stomach uncomfortably with their sharp edges, but Robin only took it as a reminder of her past life eleven years ago. She drifted off to a light sleep while thinking about flying with Edhyr all those years ago, not bothered by the chilly wind howling above.

 

 Robin woke up when it started getting lighter at sunrise. She unrolled from her position on the ground with a yawn and a stretch to start off the morning. A quick peek into the fabric shelter told her that the kids were still sleeping, both bundled in their respective blankets and covered up in fluffy fur. Robin, bored and with nothing better to do, decided to find something to eat for both the horses and the humans. To her delight, she found a cluster of blueberry bushes in the shade of a bush not far from their shelter. Robin dashed back to the camp to grab a cup and went to pick some berries. When done picking berries, Robin headed back to camp. The amount she had found wasn’t a lot by any means, but she divided them in two cups and offered the berries to the two horses. The shorter horse seemed to like them more than the dark and tall one and Robin made a mental note to get the horses more treats later in time.

 

 Since it had been what Robin figured to be almost an hour from sunrise, she decided to wake up the humans. With a poke at what she assumed was Anna’s arm, she whispered: “Wake up now. The Sun is up.” The only reply she got was an unintelligible mumble. Robin frowned. Were all humans this hard to wake up? It wasn’t just Mona then. Robin decided to skip all further steps and went all out. She took a hold of the blanket and pulled hard. She didn’t know whose blanket she had tugged on, but protest started up quickly enough. “Hey! Quit it! It’s cold! Give me back my blanket!” Rob’s voice spoke out in grumbles. He was still in warm clothes, though he had changed for ones that looked more comfortable. Fluffy and soft sleeping clothes. Robin wanted ones like those, but knew she didn’t need them. They just looked very comfortable. She let go of the blanket. “Wake up your friend. The Sun is up.”

 

“So? And she’s my sister.”

 

“The Sun is up. That means we start moving now, does it not?”

 

“No! We need sleep, you know. You might be a spirit without needing to eat or sleep - Sora, you slept for eleven years so you should have no need to sleep for the next twenty at the very least! - but humans need sleep. So leave us alone for now.”

 

“What will I do?”

 

“Make some food. The packets are in that bag,” Rob replied, lazily pointing to a bag next to him as he wrapped his blanket around himself again. “Have a go at cooking.” Robin grabbed the bag and headed over to the place where they had set up a campfire. She had no idea what Rob had meant with ‘packets’ but she at least wanted to try and help out as thanks for last night’s meal. Robin opened the bag and pulled out the already familiar metal bowl, some sort of flask - wait, no, there were three of those -, and another bag inside the bigger bag that had some folded parchment pieces inside. Robin was pretty sure the parchment pieces had more pieces inside them, whatever they were. She unrolled one of curiosity. A handful of herbs and spices was inside the parchment roll, packaged to take up as little space as possible. Robin had no idea what to do with it so she rolled it up again and put it back in the bag.

 

 She spent a little while looking through the bag and eventually found something that she thought might be the packages Rob had been talking about. Bags made out of parchment, as the herb rolls had been, but these were bigger and Robin could feel bigger chunks inside as well. She opened one of these bags and spent a good couple of minutes trying to figure out what to do with the contents.

 

 What was Robin supposed to do with dried out potato, cabbage and carrot pieces? A salad? Robin didn’t know, but she had nobody to ask for guidance either since the kids were asleep. She couldn’t try to imitate the soup she had eaten last night since she didn’t have a water source available, but she could try to make a salad like food out of them. Better yet: she could try to find additional ingredients from the wild! Would berries work together with carrots? Probably not. Robin got to work at making some sort of breakfast.

 

☯

 

“Good morning!” Anna said, climbing out of the fabric shelter. Robin waved at her from her place by the campfire spot. “Hey, Robin! What are you doing?” Anna asked, walking closer to Robin and squatting down next to her. “I tried to make a salad.”

 

“Salad? What for?”

 

“Rob told me to make food when I told him to get up. He gave me your bag and went back to sleep, so I took some of the herbs in there as well as the vegetable pieces and added some greens that I found nearby to make a salad.”

 

“Woah! They’re not poisonous, are they?”

 

“If they were, the humans living in the city next to my forest wouldn't have been gathering them like crazy. I gave a little bit to the horses as well, and some berries that I found too. I’ve been meaning to ask, do the horses have names?”

 

“Yes, yes they do! My horse, the smaller one, is named Poppy. Rob’s horse is called Thunderbolt.”

 

“Got it. Poppy and Thunderbolt have been fed!” Robin reported to Anna, who giggled at the spirit’s mock bow. “Take some salad then, I’ll wake up Rob. He has no excuse anymore since you’re wide awake already,” Robin said and walked right over to wake up Rob for the second time today. “Oh, mighty adventurer! Get up, we must continue on our journey!” she said in a joking tone. Robin yet again pulled off Rob’s blanket, but this time walked away with it back to where Anna was now sitting and eating her salad, leaving the blond boy without his blanket in the shelter. Rob was forced to go after his blanket and thus leave the shelter. “I’m up, you crazy elf,” he muttered grumpily. Robin gasped in mock offense. “I am not an elf! I am a high-esteemed forest spirit!”

 

“Sure, whatever, tell that to your dead forest. Now give me something to eat, will ya?”

 

“Well, I wasn’t sure what you wanted me to do so I made salad,” Robin explained quickly, handing a cupful of salad to the human. Rob took it and started eating almost immediately, not caring for the fork Anna was offering to him. The brunette just looked at the spirit and shrugged. “Boys.” Robin wasn’t sure what she meant, but she could see similarities in human Robin’s and Jason’s behaviour and was inclined to agree. Human males were something else.

 

☯

 

 Robin had heard all about Citnerohs from Anna’s and Rob’s stories of it, but she had never seen it with her own eye. That’s why she was so surprised to see many farms and fields on the way before they even made it to the residential area where many smaller buildings were huddled together closely. The group went through some sort of village center as well. It had a big well and a clock attached to it, unlike what Robin had ever seen before. Rob and Anna didn’t pay much attention to it, so she decided not to make a big deal out of it either and walked past it. She did look at it closer, but didn’t stop walking to do so and just accepted what she got.

 

 After the residential area came the wall protecting the heart of the city. Robin was surprised to see that other cities also had walls but didn’t mention it. Instead she had a look at the wall as they walked closer to it. The stones looked smoother and some were broken lower down. Moss was growing on the stone in smaller patches. Robin figured the wall must just be older than the one of the city next to her forest. The closer they got to the wall, the more insecure Robin started feeling. The city had no way to get in or out of the walls other than the gate and once she went in, she had no idea how the humans would react to her presence with the antlers and green hair and all. Robin was scared of negative reactions. So she decided to pull the hood of her coat over her head. It was still visible that the hood wasn’t resting on anyone’s head, clearly, since the pointy tips of Robin’s antlers made it look janky and not smooth like it usually would resting on a head, but it was better than parading around with her antlers in full view. She didn’t know how many non-humans like caninians or felinians went there and how the general public reacted to them. Some humans didn’t care, but some didn’t like half-breeds that had both human and animalistic traits. Some even got violent and threatened with violence sometimes, Robin had seen it happen in the city by her wall.

 

 She kept close to Rob’s horse and hoped the guards would let them pass without fuss. Fortunately, there were actually quite a lot of people by the gate. The only hindrance was when Rob and Anna had to stop to leave Poppy and Thunderbolt since they weren’t allowed inside the walls for visitors or residents. Only merchants. Robin was forced to stand next to the two and her antlers gave her an obvious boost in height so she did her best to squat a little under her coat and even out the height so she would look Rob’s age.

 

 The guards let them pass without any other complaints. They were in. Robin had no idea where they were headed, but Rob seemed to have a good idea of where they were going, so she just followed. They got away from the gate pretty quick and headed down a bigger street. Rob kept to the right side of the street and eventually turned to enter a weaponry. Robin followed after and Anna closed the door behind the three.

 

“What are we doing here?” Robin asked, clueless. Rob stared at the spirit. “You’re kidding? To get new and awesome weapons, of course! I haven’t been here in ages and considering how close we live to it, it’s a crime in my eyes.”

 

“Whatever you say.” Robin was unsure of what to say and just stood in the middle of the room, looking at the various weapons on the stands and walls from afar. There were spears, longswords, short swords, bows, daggers, hammers, axes, maces - you name it, it was there. Robin was impressed with the options. Rob headed right over to the wall of longswords and Anna moved to look at the daggers. It looks like both already had preferences set. Robin, not having any money whatsoever to purchase anything, decided not to touch anything and wait for the two humans to make their decision before they moved on to wherever they were going next.

 

“Robin? Aren’t you going to get anything?” Anna asked dreamily.

 

“Don’t have any money,” she reminded her. Anna shrugged. “We do. Father gave us plenty.”

 

“I can’t let you buy-”

 

“Come here, get yourself a nice dagger. I think you might like this one,” Anna said with a smile, pointing at a dagger made of a combination of metal and wood. Robin did like it, but didn’t want to admit it. “I don’t need a weapon.”

 

“Well, right. You’re not an adventurer. But you should still have something to defend yourself with.”

 

“Actually-” Robin was about to argue that she was in fact an adventurer, but wasn’t sure if her hasty and accidental registration still counted for anything and kept quiet instead. “Nevermind. I don’t need a weapon.” Robin turned away from the wall of daggers and stared out the door instead.

 

 Robin was surprised when Anna gave her a pat on the back a few minutes later and handed her the dagger she had pointed at earlier. “I don’t-”

 

“We already paid for it. Just take it and keep it for our sake,” Anna said and walked out the door, leaving Robin to wonder how they paid if nobody else had been in the store with them. Rob tapped her on the head, signalling for Robin to follow Anna outside. Robin did. “Where to next?”

 

“The armory!” Anna cheered and started walking down the street. “Fine,” Robin grumbled. “But none for me. I’m resistant enough as it is.”

 

“Fine. No armor. But at least keep the dagger,” Rob agreed. Robin nodded. She would treasure this dagger. “Thank you.” Robin was quiet, but Rob and Anna heard her anyway. They didn’t comment.

 

“Here we are! The armory!” Rob said, gesturing at the nearby blacksmith workshop. It was a separate stone building with two big men, probably the blacksmiths, going around. Both seemed to be working on something. One of them was hitting a glowing hot sword-to-be with a hammer, making a loud clank noise every time the hammer hit. The second was heating up some other pieces of metal, it was yet unclear what they would be made into. Robin flinched at the loud noise, dragging her hood a little lower on her face. A headache was already forming.

 

 The building itself was fully stone except for the front counter stopping people in the street from just walking inside. A young man was standing behind the counter, clearly there for the sales and not the work of smithing. Robin had no idea how humans could mold metal so easily, but she didn’t bother to find out either. This didn’t concern her.

 

“Hello!” Rob greets the clerk. “We’re here for some armour that we ordered a couple months ago.”

 

“Name?” the man behind the counter asked, pulling a piece of parchment out from under the counter.

 

“Robin and Anna Mellow.”

 

“I have you right here. Two sets, medium small size aluminium shoulder, wrist, knee, and shin guards?”

 

“That’s the order, yes,” Rob confirmed. The cashier gave a nod and walked off into the building. He came back a minute later with a small box. “Here you go. It says you have an unpaid part of the payment-”

 

“Got it right here.” Rob set a small leather bag down on the counter. The young man took a moment to pour it out on the desk and count the coins. Robin wished he would hurry up. Her head hurt from the clanking noise. Finally, after having finished reading the coins, the clerk let them off with the small box.

 

 Rob and Anna decided it was a good time for a lunch break and headed to a small cafe nearby. Robin was delighted to see that they sell apple pies and really wanted one in the name of the past. But Robin didn’t want to make Rob or Anna spend any more money on her. So she kept quiet and just looked at the pie on the countertop from afar.

 

 Robin was surprised when Anna came back from the counter with the pie in her hand. “I saw you looking at it,” she said with a smile. “I’m surprised a lot lately,” Robin thought to herself as she lifted a piece of pie onto her plate with a fork. She wasn’t used to using cutlery, but she had gotten a week of practice when she travelled with Mona, Jason, Nyx and Firo. Also the people that she was with when she fell in love with apple pie. Robin’s heart ached as she tasted the sweet pie. It was pretty good, but not as good as she remembered Madame Edith’s pies to be.

 

“Do you like the pie, Robin?” Rob asked. Robin just nodded and took another bite. “It’s… good.” She was pretty sad now, remembering that she had no idea where any of her adventurer friends were at the moment. She was all alone now. Robin looked up when she saw another slice of pie come onto her plate. Anna had chopped her piece in two and had given a part of it to Robin. She smiled at the spirit. Robin smiled, eyes watering. “I’m not alone. I have these two with me. For now.” “Thank you.”

 

☯

 

“Where to now?” Robin asked Rob, who was untying Thunderbolt at the moment. The horse was stretching his neck to reach the carrot Anna was holding out to him. “Well, now that we have our gear, I was thinking we would stop by our house before moving on to the capital.”

 

“What’s the capital?” Robin asked, confused by the word. Rob snorted. “It’s the biggest and most important city in the country!”

 

“Alright. Another city. Is it also inside walls?”

 

“It has a wall all around it and it’s way stronger than the ones at Citnerohs or Neoma.”

 

“Neoma? Where’s that.”

 

“It’s the city where we met you,” Rob explained shortly. Robin nodded in understanding. “Neoma…” she repeated, doing her best to remember the name. Rob and Anna climbed on their respective horses and started leading them away from the city. Robin followed suit. When far enough away from the city, Robin felt safe to pull the hood off her head and let the wind ruffle her hair as she ran alongside the two horses.

 

 This time they didn’t have to ride the horses for days. Instead, they arrived at Rob’s and Anna’s house in just a couple of hours of walking. They had a nice big garden filled with all sorts of flowers and other plants. Robin thought she saw a small vegetable field next to the house since the area there had less grass and was more pure dirt. The house was made of wood with the foundation being of stone. It had two stores and the windows were nice and wide with several windowsills having colourful flower pots on them. Robin thought it looked cozy. A small balcony adorned the front of the house with the ground floor being a bit lifted from the ground and a set of wooden stairs leading up to the balcony. A wooden shack stood to the left of the house. Robin could hear chickens somewhere and saw what could have been a coop next to the shack.

 

 Anna was first to slide off her horse. She went to pull a rope from her bag. Rob also jumped off his horse, pulling Thunderbolt towards the hut. The horses seemed happy to finally be home and looked to be gleefully prancing towards the shack. Anna followed Rob to the shack. When Rob opened the door and led the horses in, Robin saw hay on the ground and a big bucket of water in the corner of the room. It looked like a stable usually would.

 

 The kids didn’t take long to remove all the bags from the horses’ backs as well as the saddles. Anna had 2 bags while Rob had 3, making 5 bags for the two of them in total. When done, Rob led Robin to the house’s entrance - a wooden door with glass decorations and a fancy metal doorknob. A brown doormat was laying in front of the entrance. It was kind of muddy now that Robin looked closer, but she didn’t mind. Everything was muddy in the forest after a good rain, after all. She was used to it. That got Robin thinking of when it had last rained. She missed dancing in the rain, she hadn’t the last time she remembered it raining. When Edhyr had just died. She really liked the feeling of droplets on her skin. It was gentle at times yet harsh when need be. A perfect show of balance from nature.

 

 The door clicking pulled Robin out of her fantasies. Just seconds later, a familiar face stared at her from the doorway. Robin’s voice got stuck in her throat. The dark-haired middle-aged man in the doorway locked eyes with Robin and also stood there for a couple of seconds. Anna, not seeing the recognition in either of the two’s eyes, just gave the man a hug. “We’re back dad!” she declared happily. The man seemed to recover from his shock as well, gesturing with her hand for everyone to come inside. Rob and Anna did so, kicking off their shoes next to the door and putting their coats onto the hanger. Robin hesitated, but followed them inside when the man stepped aside and away from the door. She decided not to take her coat off, preferring to have her possessions near her at all times. The dragon scales in her inner pocket were invaluable to her, after all. The kids went to put their bags away in their room upstairs just minutes later, leaving Robin alone with the owner of the house.