Chapter -160: One Green Step Forward

Sarajin and Justek keep traveling forward at a decent pace, with Justek purposefully lagging behind. His eyes were focused on their, or rather his, goal.

"Such a nuisance" He was likely thinking at this moment.

Sarajin had no thoughts on his new friend though. He was too busy swerving his head around trying to discover some of the locations he could only imagine of before.

But the area between here and the forest Tribe of Tanglefae seemed to be mostly empty, save the occasional rock formation that Sarajin locked eyes with for more than a few seconds.

He scurried on ahead with feet weightless from the elation in his heart. His gaze was in a constant state of discovery, and his smile showed that he wouldn't stop enjoying himself anytime soon.

"Look at that rock, Justek!" Sarajin stopped and jabbed his finger out repeatedly towards a rock formation in the distance.

Justek nudged his glasses up and stopped for a moment. The rocks were arranged in a simple tower, and somehow they had been arranged with alternating small and large flat boulders.

"Yes, I suppose that's neat." Justek muttered dully, continuing to advance past Sarajin so as to not waste another second.

Sarajin grinned and shuffled his feet a few inches closer to the tower. He then bit his teeth down and clenched his fists against his chest, "Ah! I want to check that out, but..."

"Oh I'm sure you'll find plenty more of those fascinating rock formations along the way." Justek added, now barely audible from where he stood.

Sarajin flinched and turned back, dashing forward with the dust trailing in his wake until he caught up to his new friend. All the while shouting "Hey wait up!"

Justek tried to keep going, but stalled just long enough for him to catch up. Sarajin's breaths were now slower and ragged, "A-Are you not going to take in the sights?"

"Why would I?" Sputtered Justek in an insulted tone.

Sarajin smiled and remarked, "Oh yeah, I guess since you live on the surface you'd be used to seeing these things!"

"Yes?" Justek replied, staring deep into the boy's blindingly sunny eyes, as though expecting any further comment.

But instead those eyes continued to wander around, his body twirling as it moved forward, a perpetual engine of discovery.

He did eventually stop to focus straight at Tanglefae getting closer in the distance. He pumped his fist out and declared, "I can't wait to see what Tanglefae has to offer!"

And thus they kept walking. And walking, and walking some more...

A few minutes later Sarajin was still pumping his fist out on occasion, declaring "We're almost there!" with his usual aplomb.

Justek had resorted to staring up at the sky, trying to drown out the boy's incessant chatter with his own thoughts.

A few more minutes later, Sarajin pumped his fist out again and declared "We're going to be there soon!" but this time he sounded a little less enthused.

A few more minutes later, Justek turned and saw that, hard as it was to believe, Sarajin's smile could waver a bit. And his fist was pumped out stiffly, like he was just going through the motions at this point.

"Almost there...!"

After a few more minutes passed, Sarajin was about to pump his fist out again when he stopped partway and dropped it straight to his hip. He then stopped entirely, collapsing onto his butt with a huff of air.

Justek turned aside and had a long fun at his expense, "What's wrong? Out of Wind?"

He cackled internally only to go silent when Sarajin didn't even laugh back.

"H-How much longer is it going to take?" He asked.

"We still have a couple miles to go." Justek said bluntly.

"Miles?" Sarajin returned with a tilt of the head, "What are those?"

"..." Justek pinched the space between his eyes and sighed, "Think of them as very long distances. Honestly, did you really think it was just going to be a hop skip and a jump from my home to there?"

Sarajin got back up and with a "Whew" propped his hands on his hips and looked towards the forest, "Well, it didn't take me that long to fly over here. At where I'm from, you can juuuuuuust barely make out the forest."

"Well obviously it was faster for you to fly," Justek propped up his glasses on one finger and held that pose as he explained in a boastful tone, "Speed of flight is determined by wind resistance, and given where you're from..."

"Oooooh!" A spark went off in Sarajin's head, "That makes sense! I didn't think about that!"

"Shocking." Murmured Justek as he put his hand down and smirked.

The two continued on their way and Sarajin, now flirting with curious thoughts, glanced aside at Justek to ask, "If you know that, then you must've gone flying before, Justek!"

Justek flinched and then shyly raised a hand to push his glasses back up. He looked away and remarked, "Y-You could say that, yes."

"Maybe when we're done you can teach me!" Sarajin skipped on up in front of Justek and started walking backwards with anticipation in his eyes, "Then I won't crash again!"

Justek groaned and then shrugged his hands up, "Figure that out yourself. I won't be able to help."

"Huh, why not?" Sarajin perked his eyes up.

"Because shut up." Justek said in a haste, picking up his pace so that Sarajin would be forced back to his side, out of sight but sadly not out of mind.

They continued on their way, making idle small talk whenever Justek felt willing to do so. Even if he was primarily in it to make fun of Sarajin, the boy from the sky enjoyed his company and it helped pass the time. And before they knew it, they were coming up at their destination.

The sun was no longer centered above them but they still had plenty of daylight to work with. And by its radiance, they were able to take their first look at where they'd be going.

The outer edge of Tanglefae was covered by bushes taller than the two of them combined, all of them snugly wrapped up in purple-blue ivy. The ivy had flowers with four large petals stretching out in four directions, and four smaller petals covering the directions between them.

Though it was hard to see inside, they could see the trees stretching their leaves and branches towards the sky. Just as Sarajin's mom had described it, they were like a sea of green, impossible to make out the individual leaves that compose it.

Sarajin ran right up to the bushes with his jaw dropped in awe. He reached out to touch one of its tiny leaves, and all the bushes seemed to shake from the graze of his fingertips alone.

Sarajin withdrew his hand and smiled, then reached out again, gently pressing a leave between his fingers. It was smooth, but in a way he's never experienced.

Like, all his mind could compare it to was his own skin.

He kept rubbing the leaf until it suddenly slipped out between his fingers and withdrew into the bush, the leaves surrounding it tickling away at his palm.

"Heh heh heh!" Sarajin giggled and stepped back, craning his head and letting out a small gasp at how tall the bushes were. Even if he stood on his toes he wouldn't be able to come close to peeking over them.

It gave him the sudden urge to try climbing over them, and he rushed back over to the bushes to reach in and try to grab onto something more solid.

But the bushes danced again, with the ivy joining in, gently lashing themselves atop his arms to repel him. But he did graze something hard, and familiar to boot. It was "wood", the material that made up his poncho's slats and was used to build fences back home.

He's eyes were trembling with utter glee and he tried to reach into the bushes once more. However, this time his attention was snapped away by his friend's blunt tone.

"Pretty sure you're not meant to get in this way."

Sarajin pulled back and looked at Justek, who was smirking and chuckling to himself. When Sarajin looked back at the bushes, they were silent. He then craned his head back to look over the bushes.

"Maybe if I used wind to propel myself over?" Sarajin sucked his lips in and with a mild shake of his head remarked, "No, haven't fixed my poncho yet. It wouldn't work."

Justek raised a brow and murmured, "THAT'S your roadblock? Not the fact that the plants seemed to be guarding themselves against you entering?"

Sarajin turned fully towards him and asked, "Well what do you think we should do?"

Justek's shoulders hung as a hefty sigh left him feeling empty in more ways than one, "Figure it out on your own..."

"Ah come on!" Sarajin put his fists up to his chin and practically begged his friend, "You know a lot more about the surface than I do, Justek! Pleeeeease?"

Justek turned his head aside, but couldn't completely keep a smile from crossing his face.

"True, I am very, very smart..." He mumbled under his breath.

Yet another sigh later, he raised his hand up and relented, "Fine. It is up to my infinite wisdom to get us to where we need to go. I know for a fact there's an entrance to the forest around here somewhere."

"Yeah, you're right! We'll find the entrance, and then I'll be able to get the herb I need for my mom!" Sarajin held his head high and the two of them prepared to head off.

But not one step out of place, Sarajin paused at the sound of a rustling noise and looked back at the bushes. Every one of the flowers' petals had folded inwards save for the right ones.

Sarajin fluttered his eyes at this sight long enough that Justek had to stop and turn around, "Are you coming?"

Sarajin turned and pointed at the bushes, "I think the plants are telling us to go along this way."

Justek nudged his glasses and ruffled his brow, "Probably for the best if we did. Now come on already...You can't make friends with nature."

After Justek turned around Sarajin looked at the plants briefly and muttered, "Well why not?"

The two then made their way along the edge of the forest where nothing really changed lookwise. That is, however, until they ran into a space opening up in the bushes.

And at the feet of this gap was a smoothed out soil path, inviting those who made it here to come inside with its long, twisted, and seemingly endless trail.

And helping the inviting atmosphere were these warm, red and green colors illuminating off parts of the wooden towers on the sides of the path.

Sarajin stepped foot on the soil without a second thought and a tickling feeling shot up his body. The soil was cold and a little bit wet, with small bits of rock mixed in there.

And the smells! Oh, the air was so clean and fragrant, and there were all these unrecognizable scents tickling the inside of Sarajin's nose all at once.

It made his nose feel fuzzy and air to suddenly swell out of his lungs. He reared his head back, and lunged it forward with a quick and sharp, "Achoo!"

"Bless you." Justek said in a mildly humored tone.

"Whew...!" Sarajin rubbed his fingers along the bottom of his nose and his smile couldn't be contained, "I'm getting excited!"

Sarajin took another step forward, taking a few moments to wiggle his toes atop the soil. He then hopped in place, watching as his feet made an indent on landing.

"Whoa!" His eyes lit up and he hopped forward again.

But as he landed, Justek pushed him on the back and caused him to stumble forward.

"Get a move on, hopper." He said.

Sarajin broke into a brisk pace and glanced over his shoulder chuckling, "Alright alright!"

They trotted down the path. Though the leaves above them were many, they were quite thin and delicate. Sunlight poked through, giving the forest illumination midway between morning and night. And the colors of the leaves absorbing the sunlight gave this place a very warm atmosphere.

Sarajin felt that warmth on his body and though it surprised him at first, he got used to it in seconds. There was just enough of a breeze weaving through the trees that it kept him cool when needed.

He swerved his head around at a much faster pace than he ever did outside, to the point where Justek started to lose track of where his face was.

But not his smile. That open-mouthed, gawking shape it took was enough to let him breathe and also expressed the overwhelming stimulation all these new sights and sounds were having on his mind.

"Look at all these colors, Justek!" He shouted, pointing to the minty-blue flowers to his left, the canopy of burgeoning greens above, and the rainbow assortment of flowers far, far away.

Justek did not exert much effort to look every which way the boy pointed, instead he impatiently tapped his toes on the ground whenever he was forced to stop and wait for Sarajin to explore.

Hardly a minute removed from the entrance, Sarajin decided to kneel down in front of one of the trees and rub it with his palm. But it felt a little...off to him.

"Why is the wood so rough here?" He said, pinching his lips in concern, "Is it sick?"

"No," Justek blurted so matter-of-factly, "This is how it looks starting off."

Sarajin looked over his shoulder with a blank expression, as good a sign as any that his friend's words made no impact on his intelligence.

"Haaaa," Justek pinched the space between his eyes and said slowly, "Please tell me you know how babies are born..."

"Oh yeah!" Sarajin sprung up and cheerfully remarked, "First a man has to-"

"I-I didn't tell you to say it out loud you dolt!" Justek staggered back, taking heavy spiritual damage, "A-Anyways. This 'Tree' you see before you starts off as a seed in the ground. Then over time, it grows up, creating wood and leaves. Then, other people take the wood and use it."

Justek narrowed his eyes and said in a rather curt and tired sounding voice, "Did THAT make it clear?"

"Yeah, that makes sense now!" Sarajin proclaimed.

Then, after lifting his poncho up a bit to look at the slats, he put his hand back on the 'Tree', "So this is where they came from."

He gave it a couple pats and said, "Thank you tree."

"I don't think THIS one is the exact one who did it but..." Justek rolled his hand in the air and sighed, "Think whatever lofty thoughts you wish..."

They kept moving down the path and the light seemed to be getting the tiniest bit brighter over time, opening Sarajin's eyes to more of the new world he's taking part in.

He paused suddenly as a leaf fell in front of his face, dancing to-and-fro with one gentle twirl, before finally falling atop his foot.

He raised his foot and picked the leaf up, and when he looked up to see where exactly it had fallen he let out a long gasp.

Fluttering about in the air were little creatures no bigger than his thumb. They had wings with a grainy material bundled around them, which seemed to be shedding off them with every flap of their wings, sprinkled them atop the flowers at the very tip of the tree branches.

And it came in yellow, blue, pink and white varieties, all of them mixing around to create this wonderful sight.

Sarajin stared up at them for so long that some of that stuff landed atop his face and caused his nose to feel fuzzy once again.

He threw his head forward when he sneezed and wound up almost hitting his chin on his chest.

Justek sneered and his laughter was more pronounced, "Bless you again."

Sarajin stood up and itched the bottom of his nose, letting out a sniffle. Justek then smirked and commented, "Guess pollen doesn't agree with you."

Sarajin tilted his head, "Pollen?"

"Its-" Justek started up and immediately stopped, propping a hand upon his hip and glaring at Sarajin, "If I explain every little thing we come across you'll never make it back home in time."

"Oh! You're right, sorry!" Sarajin put his hands down by his hip and ran up beside Justek, looking straight in the eyes excitedly, "You can tell me more later!"

"I-Sure, I guess?" Justek winced and then when Sarajin was past him, raised one of his brows and muttered, "Like we'll ever see each other again after this..."

They kept a move on and while Sarajin's eyes wandered, he forced himself to stay on the path forward. Easier said than done when a curious mind is constantly being assaulted by new things.

There were these small four-winged creatures with unique patterns on their wings moving quickly between the trees. Justek blurted out the name "Butterflies" all on his own, which was the one time he seemed to take interest in the sights.

Sarajin was impressed with how much Justek knew. He carried the poise and confidence of an adult, but seemed to be smarter than even the oldest and wisest of them.

"I wonder if he knows more than Twinbeak does!" Sarajin's heart was racing, he couldn't control himself from asking questions even when his mind was telling him to stay focused.

Splitting off from the center of the path for a moment, Sarajin ran up to one of the trees, eliciting a "What NOW?" from his friend.

"I've just been wondering...What's up with this glowing green and red stuff!" He said, pointing at the material along the trees that gave the forest it's mystique.

Justek made a noise but Sarajin turned and said with an awkward grin, "Come on, just this one more thing, please? PLEEEEEEASE?"

"Are you six years old or something?" Justek crossed his arms against his chest and remarked, "Fine. But this is the last thing I'll explain on this tour. Figure out the rest on your own."

Sarajin nodded and then turned to extend his finger towards the moss. Justek suddenly got a wicked grin on his face and thrust his hand out, blurting, "Ah! Before you touch that!"

Sarajin withdrew his hand on the dot and spun towards Justek.

"It's called 'Willow Moss'. Any skin contact will cause whatever body parts touched it to glow." He explained, holding back a terrible snicker.

Sarajin looked at the moss and let his mind get the better of him, "So if I ate some of it, would my whole body glow?"

"Snnnk!" Justek bit his lower lip and grinned, "I-Its worth, snkkk, a try!"

Sarajin reached out and poked the moss gently. However, the part he touched seemed to rise up separate from the rest of the moss, even where it stood.

Sarajin flinched as the piece of moss spun around, splitting and sealing its back with a few rapid 'Click' sounds.

He poked out again and this time, the resident of the moss scurried onto his finger and moved right up to the back of his head.

He recoiled, holding the creature just a few feet out from his face. He saw that the moss was attached to the hard, round shell of another small creature. The shell was the same color as the moss, a nice minty-green, it having ten tiny, tiny legs and eight dotted eyes.

When Sarajin's hand moved the bug scurried underneath to his palm, causing him to flip his hand. But by then the bug was already running on up to his arm and into his shirt, the scurrying of its tiny feet tickling his skin.

"Heh heh!" It crawled around his chest and eventually emerged atop his poncho where, from its higher perch, it leaped off and fluttered back onto the tree with its tiny wings, concealing itself among the moss once more.

"How can there be so many cool things packed into one location? Dangerous? No way, the surface world is cool!"

Sarajin's smile settled down into a more natural state and he let out a long, soothing sigh. He then spun around on one foot towards Justek and said, "This has been the best day of my life!"

Justek stood there and didn't say a word as he kept his eyes locked with Sarajin's, bountiful in the youthful air that otherwise surrounded his being.

"..." He closed his eyes and went "Hmph" as he tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Looks like you were wrong though, Justek!" Uttered Sarajin, forcing his friend's eyes back open.

"W-What?" He stuttered, like the word 'wrong' was as foreign to him as an alien life form.

Sarajin grinned and chuckled, "That moss didn't make my skin glow at all!"

"I, I..." Justek folded his arms against his chest and glanced aside, "I mean YOU simply must have found some defective moss, that's all!"

"I guess that'd make sense!" Sarajin cheered, causing Justek to grunt as he glared at him yet again.

After having a jolly laugh Sarajin continued down the path with his friend at his side. And now, for real this time, Sarajin restrained himself from asking anymore questions...About their surroundings.

"I wonder when we're going to run into other people?" He asked.

"I'd have to imagine there would be citizens living in the forest," Justek commented, then said under his breath "This WOULD be one of the places where that'd be a guarantee."

"Huh? What was that?" Sarajin replied, looking over his shoulder.

"Nothing," Justek quickly said, "Though I don't know HOW, exactly, from what I've learned, the people of Tanglefae 'live among the trees'."

"So we should be looking up?"

"I don't think it's meant to be taken that literally," Justek sighed, "It just infers we need to go deeper."

"It'll help once we find someone. I don't know the first thing about herbs."

"Oh, so you did have a plan of action when you came down here." Justek said, sounding impressed for good reason this time.

"Of course I did! Why would you-" Sarajin turned around briefly and saw Justek begin to smirk.

Rubbing his shoulder, Sarajin chuckled slowly as he turned around, "N-Never mind."

And when he looked up, his eyes perked up and he rushed a few steps ahead on impulse, "Hey I think I see a village in the distance!"

The path was starting to spread outward as a more wide open space was presented before them. Passing under the entryway decorated by an arc of entwined ivy covered in white flowers, the two craned their heads back, for they had arrived at their destination.

The village hidden in the leaves was built from the trees, quite literally. These towering oaks had multiple houses per tree, with the wood having deliberately grown out to accommodate families, complete with hollow holes to represent windows.

The canopy was thinned out here, allowing rays of light to poke through the air.

The village was very expansive, far more than a first look would suggest. There were a couple hundred people alone here, with the shadows of more people wandering behind the trees further out.

And all the people really took their lifestyle seriously. Instead of wearing clothes, they wore the plant life they lived among. Everything from leaves, to moss, to ivy and even some wood, was used to cover up their bodies. Their skin was paler than the norm, with their bodies tall and dangerously thin. One of them got close, and Sarajin swore he was seeing their knuckles almost poking up out of their skin.

Yet with a serene and gentle smile, that person turned towards the two of them and waved their hand up to say, "Welcome, visitors."

But then he was on his way, a brisk and comfortable pace.

Sarajin took a couple steps forward and watched after the guy for a moment until a new sight caught his attention. The person kneeled down in front of many rows of raised soil, with tiny leafy sprouts sticking up from the ground.

But that was just the start. There were so many other rows of soil lining the south border of the village, containing different shaped sprouts, small trees, and vines crawling up wooden sticks.

A gentle flowing trail of water moved alongside the soil rows, seeping in deep. And those pollen dispersing little creatures from before came out in full force, fluttering their dusty loads onto the plants.

And when the pollen touched down, the plants rose further out of the ground. They blossomed with all this colorful, spherical food and some that were elongated and rough looking. All of them, positively dripping with flavor.

Sarajin's mouth salivated at the sight of them, and Justek's was doing the same.

Justek snapped out of it first while muttering "What am I doing?" and then lightly slapped Sarajin on the back of his head to snap him out of it.

"Well, we're here now. So if you want to find your herb..."

"Right!" Sarajin perked upright and nodded, "I wonder who would know the most..."

He placed a hand over his eyes and scanned the immediate area. The first person who entered his sight, he ran right up to them asking, "Excuse me, sir!"

The person stopped and looked down. Sarajin was briefly overcome with inferiority at how tall he was. Not to the extent they were in Justek's home, but wow...

"Everyone's tall on the surface." He couldn't keep himself from thinking of it.

"Welcome to our village, visitor," The person said softly, "What has brought you among our trees?"

"I'm looking for someone who knows about herbs," Sarajin quickly rethought his wording when he saw the guy raise his brows, "U-Ummm, sorry! I bet everyone knows about those here."

He then clarified, "I want a special type of herb. The kind that makes people feel better when eaten?"

The citizen lowered his eyes and nodded, "Aaah, I understand. You seek a medicinal herb."

"Yeah, if that's what they're called then sure!"

The citizen's bones creaked like wood as they stretched their right limb out behind them, gesturing their fingers towards the deeper part of the village, "Then you will want to speak with our leader, Mos Verdant. He should be reading to some children at this very moment."

"Ok! Thank you very much, sir!" Sarajin bowed and went on his way, with Justek catching up soon after.

The citizen bid them a fond farewell with a wave of the hand, telling them, "Take care. And may the nurturing hand of the forest guide your path."

The two headed deeper into the village, along the way Sarajin absorbed what their society had to offer through his retinas.

People living in the higher homes got there through a series of vines that attached themselves to the back of their leafy clothing and carried them up and down. And if two people passed by, it seemed customary to give a neighborly wave of the hand.

After passing between a pair of truly broad and massive trees, Sarajin saw some children laying on their backs among multiple rings of flowers. Butterflies were fluttering their wings JUST above their faces, rising higher when they swung their hands up at them.

The adults sat on wooden benches and shared books between each other. Here though, the covers were made out of different colored wood.

Sarajin waved his hand at some of the citizens, exchanging "Hi"s and "Hello"s without hesitation.

"Everyone's so friendly here!" Declared Sarajin cheerfully.

"That's surprising..." Muttered Justek under his breath, "I expected more hostility towards someone from another Tribe."

"Why? We're just a couple of visitors!" Said Sarajin.

"Hrrmmm..." Justek narrowly glared at Sarajin and nudged his glasses up, "Never mind that."

Sarajin did just that, laser focusing on the books in the citizens' hands, "So is this where you got all your books from, Justek?"

"Not at all," Justek scoffed, "I've never even been outside of my village before today."

He then flinched and bit his teeth down, immediately coming to regret that choice of words when Sarajin flipped around and gasped, "REALLY?!"

He then planted a hand over his mouth and said, "B-But you know so much...!"

"Haaaaaaa...!" Justek slapped the front of his face and grit his teeth. Painfully, he replied, "I just read a lot of books ok?"

"Oh, so your books have information on all the Tribes?"

"Yeeeeessss...?" Justek slowly peeled his hand off his face.

"Wow! Then you probably know more than my friend back home!" Sarajin's eyes were back to sparkling in awe.

Justek did brush his hair aside and smiled after hearing that, "I mean naturally. I AM one of the smartest people on this planet."

"Wow, I'm friends with one of the smartest people on the planet! That's cool!" Sarajin, with a closed-eyed grin, failed to notice the way Justek's stare widened for the moment.

"Hmph, forget it," Justek's remark was followed by him gesturing his hand out to the right, "By the by, I feel the person you're looking for is over there."

Sarajin quickly looked before the gesture was retracted. There, in the distance, he saw an adult man sitting on a wide, red wood stump with a small book in his hand. Gathered around him were dozens of children sitting on these rows of giant, slanted flowers.

The two of them walked up and were able to get a closer look at the man. He was shaped like his brethren, very tall but very lanky. He was wrapped in a long green coat with moss attached around the bottom foot of it. His shirt and pants were made up entirely of multi-colored leaves, but the robe took precedence thanks to a sash made of bunched up roots wrapped around his waist.

He flipped the pages of his book with the help of fingernails made of wood, which looked to be stuck to him with the help of a sticky sweet substance. His cheeks were covered with a rosy pollen, which stood out thanks to his skin being as pasty as it was. His moss green hair went down to his shoulder, combed away from his forehead. At the end, his hair began to curl back towards his head.

His violet eyes portrayed a trustworthy and friendly man. But until story time was over, he was not to be disturbed. Even the eager youth understood that, patiently seating themselves atop the flowers.

And it was worth it to listen, for his voice was so soft, that it was like putting a pillow into your ears.

"And so did the silent guardian sleep once more, nestled to the ground by its roots. But every man, woman and child knows...That when the leaves rustle in the morning, and rustle into the night, it's watching over us. We...the children of the grove."

He gently closed the book and took a stand, bowing to the gathered youth with humility towards their bedazzled gazes.

"Thank you for the story, leader!" Cheered one of the children, the first to rise out of their group. One by one they left, with the man smiling and thanking them separately for their time.

Sarajin walked on up to him before the kids were all gone, causing the man to get midway through his bow before the realization dawned on him.

"Thank you for...Hmm?" He raised his brows and stood upright, planting his book beneath his arm. The two's eyes met, with the man squinting at his new guest.

"You're...not from around here, are you?" It put a spark of innocent curiosity in the man's tone.

"That's right!" Sarajin gasped in shock, "H-How did you know?"

"Hmmm, well, you don't wear the same clothes as we do, for starters," He gestured his hand up and smiled, "And your vibe, it feels rather...airy, if I had to put it into words."

"That may just be because of his head." Justek couldn't help but say.

"Wha-?" Sarajin replied with a brief look over his shoulder.

The man rubbed his chin and remarked, "You must be from...Arc Hurricanos?"

Sarajin nodded and declared, "Yes sir! My name's Sarajin Stratos! And you must be Mos Verdant, the leader of this village!"

"That is correct," Replied Mos, bowing in turn, "It's a pleasure to meet someone from the sky, Sarajin Stratos. What brings you to our humble village?"

"I heard you're the person to talk to when it comes to medicinal herbs. I could really use your help, my mom needs one, and I don't know where to start looking." Sarajin looked him in the eyes the whole time, and Mos returned the respect with a smile.

"How noble. Hmmm, I think I'll be able to help you on your way," He gestured before his chest, "Shall we discuss this at my place?"

"Ok!" Sarajin smiled and nodded.

"Then follow me, my home is a little deeper in." Mos turned and stepped off the stump, carried down by stems growing out of the bottom of his feet. He then headed forward, with his two guests at his back...

Next Time: The Lords of Elements