Above all others, several fragments of a particularly stirring thought accompanied me as I drifted into consciousness: birthday, mine, tenth, et cetera. Regardless, I remained in my bed half asleep, neither moving nor making a sound. I had kept myself up the previous night in anticipation, as this particular birthday meant that I was old enough to join the exploration guild.

"Lux," called my father from through the doorframe. He was a kind, softhearted luxray who was wise beyond his thirty-five years. He was a material science researcher at the university, and he always challenged me to think deeply and creatively about everything. He always knew exactly what was best for me and enlightened me in that regard at every chance. At the moment, however, this meant that I needed to wake up. I burrowed into my straw bedding in an attempt to avoid the inevitable, but I was plucked up by the nape of my neck and dropped to the floor. "You know what's happening today. You'd best go and have a good breakfast—your mother's waiting."

Having gained the slightest bit of energy from the jostling, I trudged out of my room and into the dining area, where, indeed, a special breakfast awaited me. Baked wheat paste, fresh from the market, coated in a thick sugary molasses.

"Eat up, honey," my mother cooed. I obliged. It was much better than a normal breakfast, but there was a price to pay for it: I was soon after given a thorough bathing by my mother's tongue. I protested every lick and squirmed away once she was finished… Though I must admit I did feel better after the cleaning than before—there was just something about her care that never failed to make things better. Care wasn't by any stretch the only thing she was good at, though. As a school teacher, she would constantly ensure that I was hard at work when I was supposed to be, and she could deal quite the reprimand that my father couldn't. But ever diligent for my wellbeing, she fetched a small, coin filled pouch and hung it around my neck. "There. Twenty gold. Be back by dinner, now, okay?"

I nodded.

"Good luck, buddy," father called, wandering into the room. I smiled.

"Th-thanks," I answered as I turned towards the exit. Having fully awoken, the excitement finally began to well up inside of me as i exited the house. I sprinted westwards through my neighborhood and beyond the town border.

x

Tempa was nothing more than a small settlement in a ringed arrangement of buildings. It was situated on the northern shore of a vast bay, and the Spina Tempus mountain chain to the west stretched north from the mouth of the bay. A river flowed east from the mountains, then south, draining into the bay several kilometers to the east of town. This placed the community in a very fertile cradle of land—a perfect place to settle. It was also the only place in the world to fly the Tempian flag, so it was the capital of the infant nation. Tempus's founders were wandering seafarers who had landed on the island only four decades ago, so we lived in total isolation from any other civilizations; therefore, our town depended heavily on our own agriculture in order to sustain our growing population of nearly two thousand.

On the flip side of these affairs was the Exploration Guild. This was a small company of Tempa's strongest citizens who were commissioned by the mayor to go out to claim and settle the unexplored land in the name of Tempus. Discovery is the nature of exploration, and it was my one true love; it was what I wanted to dedicate my life to.

The guild was built atop a tall cliff in Spina Tempus about a hundred meters from the edge of town, and it had an almost intimidating number of steps to climb. That didn't stop me, though; I closed the distance within a short few minutes and began to take the steps two at a time.

As I neared the top, a furious vulpix with her head and tails held low to the ground marched deliberately down the steps and passed me by. My excitement was suddenly doused, and I couldn't help but turn around. In my opinion, anger was never a good sign of anything and deserved immediate attention. After all, if her anger originated from the guild, that could mean trouble for me later. I retraced my steps until I was in stride with her.

"Hey." The vulpix was startled from her brooding, but she quickly became flustered, seeming to entirely forget whatever she had been fuming over just seconds ago. I realized that I'd left a bit too little space between us and took a step away. "What's the matter?"

"Oh," she mumbled, looking forward to avoid eye contact. Her vexed demeanour returned, but it wasn't quite as heated as before. "You came here to join de guild, right?"

"Er… Yeah," I answered confusedly. Her words carried an unfamiliar accent, but only slightly so. Where in Tempa could such an accent come from, though?

"Come back wif a friend, den. Dey only accept teams of two." She continued down the steps. My heart fell. It fell not because I didn't have any good friends, but because a potential explorer was walking away from her dreams because of a lie. I knew for a fact, of course, that individuals were always welcome to join the guild!

"Hey, wait," I called. She stopped, but didn't turn. "I don't think that's right. Last time I was here, the guildmaster said that I was welcome to join whenever I was old enough. A-and even if the rules did change… uh… we could go and join together."

She looked to the ground and pawed at it. "Why team up wif a stranger? Do you not have any friends?"

"Nope!" I answered confidently. She lifted her head. "Well, not in particular, at least… But if you don't either, then why not come with me?"

Still facing away, she tilted her head in consideration. She then turned and, after another moment of deliberation, accepted my offer, but with an almost insulting amount of reluctance. It was justified, though, having only just met and all. She introduced herself as Veria, and I as Lux. And so, we began to ascend the final steps together.

x

The guild's lobby was just as barren as it was the last time I visited. It had unadorned, oaken walls and a floor of smooth stone, just like nearly every other building in Tempa. A shadowy set of stairs led downwards; Veria took the lead, and I followed behind. The bottom of the staircase, however, was blocked by a set of metal bars. Another room lied beyond the bars; natural light illuminated the space, and a zorua lied in the corner, surrounded by a mess of papers. He seemed to be very young—perhaps only as old as myself. Upon our arrival, he stood and strutted towards us.

"So you actually found someone to team with you, huh?" He sneered at us, and Veria growled. But something wasn't quite right. Just beneath his contemptuous front was just the contrary: the neciviopathy* was plain as day. His voice was terribly unfit to insult, halfheartedly stinging his words together. Nonetheless, I knew that it was he who drove Veria away.

"Yah, so let us in!" She and the zorua began to bicker. I noticed that as Veria grew more heated, her pronunciation of various sounds grew increasingly skewed and conflated. I finally decided to remove myself from the exchange, and I turned my attention to the lock on the wall. A dozen small, metal switches were arranged in a line on the wall: a switch lock system—a simple mechanism, but quite unbreakable… if made properly. I flicked the first switch downwards, and it produced a faint, dull click: the sound of a metal hook landing on a metal bar. I pushed the switch back up, but it made no such sound. It seemed that poor craftsmanship was working in my focus today! I grinned from ear to ear and began to test each switch and put them in the correct positions. By then, Veria had backed down from the confrontation, and the zorua turned his attention to me.

"You're never gonna guess that," he commented. "You know how many combinations there are?"

"Um… Four thousand ninety-six," I answered. He harrumphed.

"You still have to pay the fee to join, though." I scoffed at his blatant lie. "Calculate this: if the fee is… two thousand nine hundred fifty gold, then how many… seconds will you have to wor-" I flipped the last switch into place and flung the gate open on him. He yelped and fell to the floor, and Veria let a surprised squeak slip. He climbed to his feet with—strangely enough—a dazed grin and dashed towards me before I could brace myself for a fight. A fight was not to come, though; he passed me by and stopped at the combination switches. He took a few seconds to observe them, then, bouncing on his front paws like an excited pup, rushed past me again.

"C'mere!" He pranced to the opposite end of the room to a set of double doors labeled Guildmaster's Office. Veria and I, however, didn't budge. It was only after a minute of insistent goading that I decided to follow him, but I remained suspicious of his sudden change in behavior. Veria followed close behind me. The zorua turned to the set of doors, cleared his throat, and shouted. "Guildmaster!"

"Come in," called a strong, baritone voice. He pushed open the double doors and led us through. Perched at the back of the messy office room was a large, majestic braviary with vibrant feathers and piercing eyes. Once inside, the zorua stepped to the side. "Ah, look who Osti brought in! Lux and…"

"Veria."

"Veria. I'm Ipsimus, the guildmaster here. Are you a friend of Lux's?"

Unsurprising, Veria shook her head. "No, I met him a few minutes ago."

"I see… Well, before we begin: this is Ostiarius—or Osti, if you'd rather," he said, referring to the zorua. "More likely than not, you have a bad impression of him, but please do forget about that… I've assigned him to tease everyone who shows up at the gate as a test of will—exploration is no easy job, so I have him weed out the unfit." Knew it. "Now, if you will, Osti, tell Veria and Lux why you let them through the gate."

Ostiarius jumped to his feet with a smile and strolled around to face us. "Okay… Veria. I was kinda disappointed when you left: you seemed pretty nice to me. But I was super impressed when you came back with Lux! Even though you did back out of it at first, you convinced a complete stranger to form a team with you! Believe it or not, amiability is a super important trait for an explorer, so way to go!"

Veria seemed a bit flattered by the speech, but had averted her eyes near the end. Osti moved on, not seeming to notice.

"Lux…" The zorua broke out in laughter and turned about to face the guildmaster. "I didn't let these two through the gate, sir: Lux cracked the lock before I could even start teasing him!"

Ipsimus raised his head with a furrowed brow. "Did he? That's… That is impressive and all, but isn't it a bit alarming to you?"

"Maybe, but… Well, yeah, a little… but it was awesome!" Ipsimus sighed.

"I'll have the lock replaced later. For now, we have a few important questions to answer… First question: are you two joining the guild as a team or separate?"

I looked to Veria. She considered her answer for a short moment, then, to my relief, nodded to me. I answered: "As a team."

"Mm… Next question: what is your team name? You can change this later, so don't worry too much about it."

Once more, I looked to Veria. She only shrugged. I was no expert at naming things, so I went with a simple, expansion-oriented name: "Laxamentum?"

Veria slipped into deep contemplation, probably trying to decipher its meaning. This made me wonder if she had somehow missed out on a proper Tempish education.

"Ah, good choice. Surprisingly, the name isn't already taken. Are we in agreement?" Veria gave up on her endeavour and nodded. "Good. Third question: will you be sleeping at the guild or at home?"

"At de guild," Veria answered. This put me in a rather tough position. Although I was planning on staying at home, I didn't want to leave my teammate alone at the guild. The only thing I could do in this situation was to convince my parents to let me stay at the guild.

"I don't know," I answered. "Do I have time to think?"

"Absolutely… Last question: are you willing to devote all of your time and effort to this guild and its expansionary goals? The training is taxing and will require your full dedication. Are you up to it?"

"Yes," I said, then Veria after me.

"Then it's settled. Welcome to the guild, Team Laxamentum. Now… go enjoy the rest of today; you only get one day off every month." Veria and I took that as our queue to turn and leave. "Shut the door on your way out, please. And happy birthday, Lux."

x

"I'm headed home to talk to my parents about staying at the guild. Are you coming?" My new partner and I were just entering town from the guild, but we were yet to plan our day.

"I guess so. I don't have any money wif me, so dere's no point wandering around on my own. Where do you live?"

"I live on the outer ring… in the north neighborhood, house twice" I recited, beginning to lead the way there.

"Oh…" Ring six, the town's outermost ring, was by no means dangerous or impoverished, but it was farther from most facilities than the others, making it a cheaper place to live. It was more of a minor inconvenience than anything. "What's it like in ring six?"

"Apart from being so far from the rest of town, it's pretty fun. We live on the very edge of town, so I have as much space to wander as I want. What about you? Where do you live?"

She waited a moment before answering. "I work with one of de vendors on ring free. I love dere, too… but I guess I don't need to anymore." I simply nodded, but wondered what this meant about her parents. Did she leave them? Did they leave her? I decided not to ask. We had made it to the entrance of my neighborhood; I led the way across the paths, taking each of the turns until we reached my home. This house was less than notable, for it was the same size as almost every other house in Tempa.

"I'm home!" Veria and I passed through the empty doorframe into the kitchen.

"In here, son," my father called from the family room. We followed his voice into the bare space. Patches of straw and feathers on the floor served as seats, and a large window provided an empty, yet serene view. My father was lying next to it, enjoying the landscape. "Your mother went out early, in case you're looking for her… Oh, hello there…"

"H… Hello." Veria looked away as I dropped down next to him.

"Please, take a seat. I'm Coginus, Lux's father."

"Oh, ahm… I'm Veria."

"Hm. Nice to meet you. Now, Lux, I assume you're home early for a reason?"

"Oh, right. I came to, uh… ask if I could stay at the guild instead of here." Father sucked in through his teeth.

"That won't go over well with your mother… But… I'll try to convince her. There's no point in making you spend your nights away from everyone else." I grinned, but he put on a stoic face. "Just two more questions. Have you two formed a team together?"

"Mmhm!" I affirmed with a nod. Veria gave a short nod as well.

"I see. Then you must know each other pretty well, yes?" No answer. He gave us a look that said 'I thought so' and continued. "You see, Lux, a team is pretty much a family. A family whose members don't know or understand each other quite well falls apart immediately. You met Veria just today, right?"

"Well… yeah, but we can, uh…"

"I won't tell you what to do, Lux. You two need to decide what's best for both of you. If you both feel you're ready to work as a team, go for it. If not…" We nodded. "Good… Now, if I recall, this is your only day off for the next month, according to Ipsimus. You two best go on and enjoy the rest of today, eh?"

x

It was still late morning, but Veria and I had nothing to do. The town held nothing for us, so we decided to return to the guild. Once there, Ostiarius let us through the gate with a warm welcome. "Back so early?"

I nodded.

"Dere's not much to do in town," Veria responded.

"Right, I see. Well, I've got a bit more time than I know what to do with, so why don't I show you around the guild?" He made towards the downwards stairway without waiting for an answer, but we followed anyway. "This room down here is the supply storage and meeting room."

This room was yet again identical to the last, but this one had two doors. The left one was labeled Storage, and the right was labeled Meeting.

"If you want something from storage, you'll have to record anything you take, then pay for anything lost or consumed when you return them. Most consumables are super cheap, so just don't lose any non-consumables, and you'll be fine. Moving on." The next floor down was, of course, the same, but with one hallway and one doorway. "This is the dining area and the quartering hall. I've already labeled your team's room: it's the second one on the right… And that's all of the guild. Any questions?"

"Yes," said I, "where is everybody else?"

"Three of our members are training, and the other three are out exploring the coast of the bay, directly east."

"Dere's only six members?"

"Yes. And for safety reasons, each team that's out on a mission must have either three junior members or two senior members."

"Wait, wait," I interrupted, "Veria and I only make two. Who's gonna go with us?"

Osti smirked. "I'll be joining team Laxamentum for training and explorations until you two are promoted to senior members."

Veria raised a paw. "What are senior members?"

"Good question. You become a senior member after five years' experience or once the guildmaster promotes you," he said. "Age has no bearing on this: I've lived at the guild most of my life, so I'm a senior at eleven, now… but Ipsimus will only promote you early if you make a huge discovery or something."

"What counts as a huge discovery?" she continued.

"Um… I dunno… Oh! If you establish a township, that's definitely huge! That would probably take a while, though…" The zorua slipped into deep thought. "No townships have been founded yet, but it's not a complicated process. First, you have to establish an outpost. All that means is that you build something to mark the location; this can be a pile of rocks, a flagpole, or even a shack! Next, you show mayor Gomia where it is on the map and describe it, then she'll have it listed on the outpost boards on every block. If a hundred people move to an outpost, it becomes a township, and you get to name it."

I mulled over the information for a moment. It was a simple process, indeed. Perhaps we could make this a life goal of Laxamentum: to create a township.

Veria had one last question: "What makes exploration so hard? Why don't more people do it?"

"Ah, ah… best question yet… Let's get out of here and get some fresh air." Osti led us up all three sets of stairs and out through the guild's exit. We looked upon the entirety of Tempa from atop the cliff. "What makes exploration so challenging, you ask? Well… first of all, you can get lost. Secondly, there's dangerous geography. You could fall off of a ledge, or maybe tumble down a steep slope and hurt yourself. And finally… Barbarians. We Tempians weren't the first ones here. Out in the uncharted lands are native tribes; they speak a strange language and practice strange rituals. A lot of them are hostile, but some aren't. If you meet a barbarian… Well, you'll learn about that in training. You'll learn all of the safety rules in training."

I snuck a peek at Veria to see her reaction. She was staring out over the edge with a solemn face… Or perhaps it was a pensive look—I couldn't quite tell. Whichever it was, she quickly shed it, then spoke. "I guess dat's all I have to ask. You?"

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, that's all from me."

"Cool… It's still noon. Are you sure there's nothing left to do in town? How about I take you two around to get everything you'll need for exploration? I know just the place!" Veria and I looked at each other, then to Osti, then nodded. The zorua set on the path towards town. "Let's go, then."

x

Osti led Veria and I away from the guild and back through town. We crossed through ring six. Then five, then four.

"Ring four, block six, section one," Ostiarius declared as we approached that very address. "This is the Explorers' Supply. If there's something you need that you can't find in the guild's storage, you can find it here."

This shop was quite unlike any place I had ever seen before. Most importantly, the building occupied half of an entire section—that's three full lots! Each of the four walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of goods, most of which were berries, foods, and other consumables. In the center of the shop was a small stand, where sat an elderly shiftry with dark, scuffed leaves and an unkempt, grey mane.

"Aaah, if it ain't Osti's footsteps I hear," the shiftry greeted with a gruff, friendly voice, never breaking his forward gaze. "And 'o might those be with ye? New explorers?"

"Uh-huh! This is Lux and Veria. They joined the guild just today!"

"Huh. The name's Bartis. I run this shop, in case ye ain't noticed… Now, I guess ye ain't here to chat the day away, eh?"

"Er, not entirely," Osti laughed. "We just came for a couple of packs."

"Packs, huh? Well, now, I've got some packs. I've got plenty of 'em, in fact. Come 'round 'ere 'n I'll get ye fit right up." Finally, Bartis moved. He shuffled out of the shopkeeper's stall and towards the back wall. "Two small quadrupedal packs, eh?"

"That's right," Osti answered. The shiftry located a shelf that was chock full of baggage and began to sift through it. After mere moments, two packs ended up tossed on the floor before us.

"Try these on." We crept towards the fallen merchandise. The packs were strips of tanned leather with a number of capacious pouches on either side.

"Stand over it, Lux… Good. Now stand tight!" Suddenly, he jumped over my back from the left, gripped the edge of the pack in his jaw, and pulled it onto my back as his slid off of it. He tightened a few straps with his teeth and a paw, and the everything fit snuggly by the end of the jostling. "Good?"

I only nodded, not knowing what else to say. "Good. Now you, Veria."

Having learned from my experience, she braced herself. After the same process, her pack was fastened around her as well. "Good?

"Hm… Yeah…" Having fulfilled his duty, Bartus shuffled back to his post.

"How much is this?" I asked.

"What, the packs? Those're free. They're worthless without their contents, eh? I only charge for items."

"Thanks, Bart!"

"Ne problem, Osti. Good luck, Veria, Lux."

x

We wandered about for quite a while. We passed by houses, workplaces, restaurants, a school, and countless varieties of shops: textile, grocery, supply, a library, et cetera. All of them featured the same coarse, wooden facade, for other materials were rarely used for simple construction. I was just beginning to bore of the monotony when Osti offered up an idea.

"Heheheh… wanna go to the town hall?" We had no place or reason to object, so to the town hall we went. I had originally thought that it was somewhere on ring one, which consisted of only one block since it was the central ring. This conception did no justice to the truth, however: the town hall was ring one! I was in awe of its sheer size; it spanned the entire block, dwarfing the Explorers' Supply fourteenfold. And it was built out of the town's newest material: fired brick. At that moment, I was unsure of how or why I had never bothered to visit before. We attempted to enter from the southwestern entrance, but it was locked. "Oh, right… It's Sunday…"

We headed off west from ring one, past ring two, three, four, five, six, and on towards the guild. In total, we had only managed to pass another two hours in town. At this point, I began to question why the day seemed to be taking so long, and I drew two conclusions: either this was Dialga's doing, or I was simply anticipating tomorrow a bit too much. I decided that it was the latter and tried to relax myself… But I did say a quick prayer just in case. The issue remained, though: what would I do for the next four hours before dinner? Osti had already shown us around the guild, told us everything we needed to know, and taken us into town to get everything we needed for exploration. What remained? Nothing, I concluded, and Veria and Osti seemed to be at the same loss. Osti, however, had his own duties to attend to and left us alone without a clue of what to do.

"What do you plan on doing?" I asked.

"No idea," she responded. "I used to work during de week, and I spent Sundays buying de next week's worf of food. What about you?"

"Well, I'd be at school during the week. On Sundays, I'd wake up early for breakfast, then I'd wander off north until noon, then turn back."l

"Huh…" Indeed, this was quite the only flaw of Tempa; the only thing to do with free time was to manage finances, buy food, and, in the case of children such as myself, explore outside of the town. "I have a question for Osti, but he's busy…"

"How about the guildmaster, then?" We were on the first floor down, same as Ipsimus's office. "He probably won't mind."

"No… I was just going to ask about safe places to wander around."

"Oh, don't worry, then! Everywhere near town is just fine. How about we go along the base of the mountains?"

"Okay, but… Let's leave dese bags in our room." I only then noticed that the item packs were still strapped snuggly around our backs; they were quite comfortable and easy to forget about. I laughed.

"Yeah. Let's do that"

x

The path we walked was a only bit more interesting than my normal route. Trees and occasional patches of bare rock dotted the way, but nothing of note came of the trip. Gloriously, only thirty minutes of daylight remained when we got back to town. Only one question remained for me to ask.

"Hey, uh… Do you wanna come have dinner at my house?" Veria laughed… I wasn't sure what to make of that, so I laughed as well.

"No, don't worry. I'll eat at de guild. Meet back dere?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah." Veria gave a curt nod and made off towards the center of town.

x

I had gotten pretty good at shrugging off my disappointment in the past few years, but I just couldn't this time. There was more conversation than normal tonight, but I participated minimally, speaking only when spoken to. Instead, I was thinking about how Veria had so easily denied my invitation and what was meant by it. My ideas quickly became too scrambled to follow, so I perished it all and tuned into the conversation.

Father asked what was bothering me; nothing, I said. He didn't believe it one bit. In an attempt to distract me from my troubles, he informed me that mother had—with great reluctance—agreed to let me stay at the guild. So I had that going for me. As soon as I finished eating, I said goodnight and headed for the guild.

The night sky was clear, letting the stars shine at their brightest. The streets were relatively quiet, save the occasional child biding their time until curfew. Outside of the town was dead silent. It was quiet enough to isolate me with my thoughts, but I simply let myself appreciate the tranquility. The guild was almost invisible in the dark, but I managed to make it. Veria waited just outside the entrance and smiled as I approached.

"There you are!" she greeted. I was immediately thrown off… Something wasn't quite right. "C'mon. The three members who were out training are back, now—come meet them!"

I followed her through the entrance, but I didn't go any farther than that. Her voice was far more upbeat than before, and… her subtle accent had vanished. "Uh… Veria?"

"Hm? Something wrong?" That was definitely it.

"Yeah. You… don't sound quite like yourself. A-as far as I've heard, at least. If you normally sound this carefree, I'm totally fine with that!" She smirked. Then, as if drying herself off after a swim, she shook. Her orange fur faded into black and red, and her eyes opened to reveal sky blue irises. It was not a vulpix, but a zorua. It was not Veria, but Osti. I laughed at myself; I knew that zoruas could disguise themselves as others like this, but that thought had never crossed my mind with Osti!

"Heh… Even though speech was a bit of a giveaway… that was pretty fast!" he commented. I laughed again and shook my head. "Anyways, follow me."

Osti led me down three flights of stairs to the bottom floor, then into the dining area. There were five pokémon lying at the table: a staravia, a litleo, a breloom, Veria, and the guildmaster. All of my previous worry suddenly vanished when Veria—the real Veria—greeted me with a smile.

The three new pokémon seemed to have a keen interest in me as I entered, and they glanced between Osti and I for a moment. Osti simply snickered and left the room. After I took my spot next to Veria, the breloom flashed a toothy grin.

"'S the real Lux this time, yeah?"

"Huh? Oh." I realized that Osti had probably impersonated me for a while.

"Osti had us convinced for ten minutes," commented Ipsimus.

"Yeah. You two are identical," Veria said. "He only slipped when they asked about your day."

"Yeah," said the breloom. "Oh, yeah! I'm Barmus,"

"Piso," said the litleo.

"Avena. And, uh, were the In Team right now," finished the staravia. I gave a confused look, so she explained. "The team on exploration is called the Out Team, and the team here is called the In Team."

"Oh. So no team name?"

"No," answered Barmus. "These teams aren't permanent—we switch around pretty much every outing."

I wasn't fond of this concept. I felt that it would be best to stick with a single team, but I had no reason to say so. We conversed until everyone was finished with their meal, then even a while after. We talked about the training regimen, exploration, and—most importantly—future plans.

"Ah, here's something you may want to hear, Veria, Lux," began Ipsimus. "Five years from now, right at the beginning of Spring, we'll all set off east—the entire guild. Actually, the Out Team is currently trying to figure out a practical way to cross the river.

"East?" Veria asked. "Are we…"

"Are we exploring the entire coastline?" I finished.

"Well, that depends on the nature of this land. Perhaps it extends hundreds or thousands of kilometers in every direction, or perhaps it's no more than fifty, or maybe it's somewhere in between. Chances are, we won't be able to accomplish that in one expedition." I was disappointed, but only marginally so. Exploration was exploration, and I would love it either way.

As bedtime drew near, everyone began to clean up and leave the dining area, so Veria and I retired to our room. The room had no window, but there were two piles of bedding. Veria took the one on the left, and I on the right.

"Uh… Goodnight," I said.

"Night." I laid down my head and began to think about the day. Most importantly, I began to think about my friendship with Veria. I felt that it was going pretty well—better than my many previous attempts at friendship… I was always amiable to everyone I met, but it was never reciprocated. I gave up on social endeavours months ago, though. Most of these issues didn't apply to Veria, though: we were a team! Whatever it was that others didn't like about me… No, no, I couldn't make Veria put up with that! Not just because we were going to be working together anyway! Especially not! Therefore, I needed to try something that I should have long ago.

"Veria? Are… Are you still awake?"

"Mm? Yah…" I steeled my nerves for the next question.

"If I… uh… If I ever… do something you don't like… or something… will you tell me?" I awaited her answer with eyes shut tight… Then I heard a quiet, staccato breath escape her—a stifled laugh.

"Ahm… Yah. If you'll do de same for me." I rejoiced! But only internally. To her, I had only one appropriate response.

"Thanks."

*Don't bother looking neciviopathy up. The word I needed didn't exist, so I created it. Here's an entry for it.

Neciviopathy (nuh-siv-ee-OP-uh-thee) (n.)

1. The feeling associated with having to do something that one perceives as ethically or morally wrong, especially if ordered by a superior.

What do you think? I hope you've enjoyed it! If you have any comments, questions, criticisms, anything, then feel free to leave a review. Also, I spent exactly two months on this one chapter, so feel free to absolutely destroy my credibility if there's still a mistake.

See you next chapter!