The weeks after that pushed me to my physical limits. I'd never been so tested before. The first two days were just training days, apparently. After that, I was left alone with a list of chores most of the time. This meant that I could decide to take a break whenever I wanted. I did use this privilege sometimes to close my eyes and rock back and forth for a few minutes, but mostly I didn't know what to do with breaks, so I just did my chores. Then I found something else to do. I was too frightened of disapproval to take a nap, but sometimes I sat in a chair or lay on the floor to rest. But no amount of breaks in the world could do anything about being pushed past the current limits of my endurance.

Going out around town soon became the most difficult of my chores. That required me to speak, and speaking is hard. I would have to stop and gather energy before knocking. I barely looked at people's bodies, never mind their faces. I couldn't say more than three words at a time, and although I was pleasant enough I did not sound peppy.

One of the days in that span of time was a high-energy day. I woke up spontaneously fifteen minutes before he would have woken me and did my chores with approximately the same level of energy as I'd had on the second day. It was a welcome relief. The next three days were low-energy ones. My body was fine, but my mind was scattered and vague. He must have seen it, because he gave me mainly house chores on those days. I appreciated that.

I got to know every one of his friends by name and house. Mr. Jammit was actually very friendly; his mean-sounding vocabulary was used in a friendly way, as I suspected. Hermit Murray was definitely courting Mrs. Nimp; he sent her another letter, then asked me to help her dust her skeletons. She had a lot of those. I remembered the knives and wondered if he got them for her. Hermit Murray had a third regular acquaintance: the hunter who lived down the river with his wife and son. I made sure to return their stolen clothes the same day as I unburied my own.

Getting to the point where I could go back for my clothes took some preparation. First, I asked for a strong comb to brush my hair with. Then, since I technically had a possession of my own, I needed somewhere to keep it. It lay beside my bed for several days until he got me a small chest. Once I had the chest, I could go back for my clothes. I winced at how wet they had gotten. They had definitely had at least a year taken off their lifespans. I dried them on the backs of the kitchen chairs, then shook them free of dirt and put them in the chest.

Honestly, I forgot for long spans of time that I was in a fantastical world filled with heroes. I remembered it whenever I saw the Rose soldiers, but otherwise, it felt like my life had settled into a new normal. As if I'd merely moved to another region of my country. I didn't spend much time thinking of my past, though I did wonder what my therapist would think if she saw how quickly and easily I adjusted. Weren't most people more strongly attached to what they knew?

My new normal was disturbed the day Hermit Murray brought me knives. They weren't ordinary daggers; they had sharp edges. I suddenly remembered that I had never told him I wasn't a fighter. It was a little late for that now.

I put them aside. "Thank you," I said to be polite. "But I don't like that level of…" I couldn't find a way to finish the sentence.

"You're gonna have to," he told me. "You can't hide forever. Sooner or later, you always have to turn and fight."

I laughed. "I wasn't running from anything the day I met you, only my own lack of skill at being in forests. Thank the avatars I only met a clawkin."

"What'd ya do about it?"

"I carried big branches, raised them up like wings and roared."

Hermit Murray hissed through his teeth. "Something ain't right about you, girl. You're whip smart, got a people sense like I've never seen and the stupidest, stubbornest work ethic of anybody your age. You don't belong in the likes of here."

I shrugged, my face turning red. I whispered, "I'm not all that ambitious…"

"You outta be. Apply that head and that work ethic to something you actually have talent at, and I'll hear about you one day." He picked up the knives and gave them to me again. This time, I held onto them. "C'mere."

He led me out the back door and into the forest. This was the first time I had accompanied him wherever he went during the day. He'd never said, and I'd never asked. We followed the river down to the hunter's house. Hermit Murray knocked on his door. The hunter's wife answered it. She seemed surprised to see me, but said nothing. She stood aside, and we went in. "He's in the basement," she whispered.

Hermit Murray and I went down to the basement. We found the hunter there, as well as a whole lot of weapons. They were not for hunting animals. "An apprentice?" the hunter asked. "I dunno about her. Graceful and hardy enough, but slow and distractible."

"Willing enough," Hermit Murray replied. "Speed and focus can be trained, if the soul's willing."

I swallowed. Were they going to train me to fight? "He's right though. About my mind. I couldn't stand to accidentally…"

"You'd more likely have an accident not knowing what you're doing." He turned back to the hunter. "Seen anyone?"

The hunter shook his head. "No Rose, no bandits. It's quiet."

"Too quiet."

"I have no idea what's going on?"

"Better for ya that way."

"Are you secretly resisting the Rose?"

Hermit Murray turn to me and said, "Let's just say we got some business deals they're better off not knowing." He turned to the hunter. "She met a clawkin before she met me. A lone one, by the sound of it. Scared it off."

Were they cataloguing magical creatures still remaining? I had deduced by then that Hermit Murray must be a hunter. He mentioned once that his point-only daggers were good for putting trapped animals out of their misery. Being a hunter made good cover for a secret naturalist. I smiled - in my world, it would make more sense the other way around!

The hunter wrote that down. "Only one? These woods are too empty."

Hermit Murray turned to me. "Right thing. Now then - enough flying talk. Let's get you trained, girl."

.

Training did not go as well as Hermit Murray expected it would. Stances and moves came as naturally to me as using farm equipment did. I worried that he must be suspicious. Didn't know anything about farming, didn't know anything about fighting… Those were the two most common occupations on Lore. Where could I possibly have come from? And did he think I'd lied to him when I said I knew enough? I really, really didn't want him to think that. At the end of the first training session, I blurted out, "When I said I knew enough about bladed knives, I meant enough for kitchen work. I know kitchen knives. Not fighting knives. I just cleaned them the same way I would wash knives as part of the dishes. And then I didn't realize how you'd take it, and I wanted to tell you, but then I forgot, and today it seemed too late, but it's not too late after all I guess because I'm saying it now. I just didn't wanna, didn't want to make anything awkward or anything." I fixed my gaze on the training dummies they'd set up for me to slash at. The marks were too shallow and made too slowly. I was no fighter. The thought of my mentor seeing firsthand how wrong he'd been to have high hopes for me filled my eyes with tears. I turned and went inside, leaving them in the backyard with the wounded dummies.

The hunter's wife patted me on the shoulder. "What's wrong, dear? Those men pushing you too hard?"

I shook my head. I sat in a chair and did not look at her or make any attempt at communication. She put some ice cream in front of me. It was delicious.

Hermit Murray took me back to his house. He said nothing. I didn't dare look at his face. I worried that he didn't trust me anymore.

But the next day, when I woke up to a list of chores, it was shorter than normal and one of the chores was Training with Keth. That was the hunter's name. I did all the rest of my chores first to make sure they got done and went down the river to Keth's house. He put me in the backyard with the same dummies as before. I learned to strike harder, but my moves were still slow and hesitant, my feet clumsy. It was the same the next day, and the next.

Then the bandits attacked.

.

With the forest so quiet, the townspeople were getting bold. There was talk of expanding. Some people already maintained herb gardens further out than they could easily defend. The young man from the grocery still insisted on talking to me. He mentioned that his father had started hiring a cheaper guard service for their deliveries. The Rose soldiers began to look more alert.

Sure enough, one day a man with a wounded leg came limping into the market as fast as he could, warning of a bandit attack. I knew this because someone came to Hermit Murray's house and Keth's. They were the de facto town guards, apparently. I went with them, wanting to see a real fight. Hermit Murray smiled when I said that.

We and the Rose soldiers ran out to intercept the attack. We found the cheap guard service overwhelmed by at least a dozen bandits attacking at once. They carried studded clubs: the standard bandit weapons in this game. My mind was jerked out of place. A game. That's what this was. All just a game. This was a low level fight scene against the most basic enemies the designers put in, second only to sneevils. My fear evaporated. The merchants and guards lying on the ground with bleeding heads or broken limbs didn't seem real.

"If anyone gets close to you, a good stab will do the job," Hermit Murray told me. He picked up his axe and charged into battle with Keth. They aimed for the two bandits beginning to lay eyes on the goods, while the Rose soldiers, as you'd expect of soldiers bored out of their minds, raced straight into the largest area of fighting. That was the area around the last two remaining guards, who had teamed up and were doing a vaguely competent job of defending themselves. The bandits circled them, probing for openings. They couldn't leave the guards alone, but they seemed deeply unwilling to risk injury. It was a fairly stable formation. When the Rose soldiers burst in, chaos broke loose.

I hid partially behind a tree, the knives threatening to slip right out of my hands. I knew I couldn't use them. I put them away and tried to think, but my thoughts had turned to clouds. I could see nothing helpful that I could do. I was helpless against attackers. I had never felt like that before. It felt awful, for the two seconds that I felt it before the bandits turned unreal again. A game. It was all a game.

A Rose soldier knocked down a bandit. The bandit's weapon went flying, landing within my reach. I crept out and picked it up. One of the bandits, already wounded, came charging at me. I stepped aside and hit him on the back of the knee. He went down facefirst. I laughed, just a little. Adrenaline hit me, the good kind. My mind sharpened. My senses cleared. I felt better than I had felt since waking up in this world. I turned and ran towards the bandits.

Our side was in trouble. Murray and Keth were separated, and the Rose soldiers likewise. They tried to regroup, but couldn't. I darted behind one of the bandits surrounding Keth and clubbed his knee. He collapsed just like the first one. I spun around from the momentum of the club, leaping forward as I did so. My outstretched club hit another bandit. I kept going, following my own momentum. I felt like I was dancing. I heard a shout and saw from the corner of my eye someone behind me. I turned, held my club up like a lance and stabbed it right into his gut. He was much larger than me, so this knocked me on my back, but he was in no condition to take advantage. I rolled away and scrambled to my feet. Keth helped lift me up. "Nice thrust." Then he ran in Hermit Murray's direction.

By now, many of the bandits were wounded. But still they fought. One of the Rose soldiers cried out - his arm was broken. The bandits let him crawl away while they ganged up on his comrade. I ran towards them and used the ol' knee hit, hitting one bandit and spinning around and hitting the next. They were too close together.

Too close for my safety, that is. I fell right within reach of the third bandit in line. He raised his weapon. I threw myself to the ground to avoid my head being turned to paste. I rolled away from his foot, but I could not have gotten up if Hermit Murray hadn't come roaring in at that moment with his axe. Keth joined us. We were a foursome - me, Keth, Hermit Murray and the Rose soldier, all of us with weapons ready. This sight was finally enough to make the bandits give up. They ran into the woods, leaving splashes of blood and dragging footsteps. One of them, the one whose diaphragm I had bruised, left behind a crawl trail.

I remained at the ready, unable to believe I was no longer in danger. Then I started to shake. "Is it over?"

"Yeah," Hermit Murray said. "Good job." He turned to me. "Uh oh."

"Huh?"

"Your leg." It took a few seconds for me to figure out what his words meant. I looked down. My right leg had a nasty gash in it. My blood was dripping onto the dirt. A part of my mind observed that it dripped steadily, with no spurting at every heartbeat, so it wasn't an artery, and that meant I was fine. Another part of my mind observed that the wound stung. I almost bent down to scratch it.

"Sit down," Hermit Murray told me. I sat. I couldn't stop staring at my leg. I'd never been seriously injured before. The sight of it was mesmerizing. I didn't blink until he knelt down and lifted my leg to examine it. "Not deep, but it's gonna be painful. Must've caught the wheel as she fell."

"I have a healing potion," the capable Rose soldier said. "I've already fed my friend his."

Keth grunted, sounding disgusted. "Thanks," Hermit Murray said as he accepted the potion. He brought it back to me and flicked me on the forehead. I was still staring at my leg. I blinked and started to mumble something. "Drink this," he ordered, and jammed it in my mouth.

The healing potion tasted good. It was spicy and sweet and other things in just the right proportions, like you could taste how good it was for you. I drank it all down and waited for the healing to kick in. I felt something in my stomach, like pressure from the inside, as if I really needed to burp. I half burped, half coughed something out. My head spun and I gagged for a while. Not fun.

When I opened my eyes, everybody was staring at me. "What?"

"Ya spit out a burst of green magic that healed all my bruises," Hermit Murray whispered. "And yer leg's not healed at all."

"Oh." I was too addled to understand. "...Can we go home now?"

.

Hermit Murray and the Rose soldier escorted me and the injured Rose soldier back to town, respectively. Someone had already set up a tent next to the grocery. The woman who usually kept records and Mrs. Nimp waited outside. As soon as I and the injured soldier were laid down on blankets and our injuries described, the two of them began to fetch bandages and mix up remedies. I wondered why they couldn't do this with me in my own bed. My blanket smelled different, goshdarnit.

Hermit Murray took the Rose soldier outside. I listened to them while internally complaining about my bed. I barely heard him hiss, "You report her to your superiors and I will personally feed you to the lowest vermin I can find."

"The potion -"

"That girl saved your life!"

"B-but… I…"

"I don't give a pig's behind what your superiors would think. Keep your mouth shut, soldier."

"I guess…it doesn't mean much of anything."

"Right thing."

Then one of the women started cleaning my leg, and it hurt. I closed my eyes and waited for her to be done. When I opened them, Mrs. Nimp jumped. "I thought you'd passed out!"

I scoffed. "Why would I do that?"

"You're a strong dear." She patted my bandaged leg. "Get some rest now. You need it."

I tried. Surprisingly, my mind obeyed.

.

I was fed in the tent that night. The next morning, Hermit Murray came to collect me. He supported me all the way back to his house. "Thanks," I said. "For telling him off."

He helped me up the steps and opened the door for me. I limped inside and sat down at the kitchen table. He joined me there. "You can't stay here, Ama."

My gut sank. "Because of the Rose?"

"And also because you can't heal. You're strong, but without healing potions you won't last in a real fight. You're not safe here."

My heart beat fast and my eyes filled with tears. I was losing my new home? I felt so attached to it, more than I had to my old home. I'd poured sweat and exhaustion into this place, shining the boards and digging in the soil and doing things for the people, all things I had never done for my old home. The thought of leaving that behind made me cry.

He let me sob for a while. When it died down, he said, "I know where you need to go. Somewhere the Rose can't touch you."

"Where's that?"

"Falconreach."

Hearing that name stopped my breath. Memories of a game filled my head. Falconreach. Hometown. The Hero. Aria, Cysero, Ash - Wait, what?! That was all just a game. It couldn't be real.

"I get to visit Falconreach?"

He shook his head. "Mm-mm. You need to stay there. I hear the Rose is unpredictable lately. There's some crazy business going on. Stay and keep your head down, and whatever you do, don't fight until it's over."

I looked up at him. "How will I get there?"

"With an escort, of course. Pack your things. We leave tomorrow. I'll handle the cover story."

.

I packed my things in an old, worn-out satchel that he had been holding onto as potential scrap leather. My clothes and my comb fit easily inside. He forbade me from doing any work in order to heal my leg as much as possible before the journey, so I tried to nap. I couldn't, so I planned out my next moves instead.

I was officially getting involved in the plot. No way, no how was I not going to. Warlic. I definitely wanted him to be the one studying my immunity to potions. In order to reach him, I would go through Cysero. Walk into Cysero's shop, and…then what? What would I say to convince him to bring me to Warlic? My memory is rubbish for exact wordings, so I ignored the question. I would come up with something on the spot, like always.

What happened after that would depend on where exactly I was in the plot. I was clearly in Book 3, and a decent ways in, but I was in the worst place to get news of world events. Falconreach was safe, so it had to be before or after Caitiff's attack. The Rose was involved in some crazy business. That could mean a lot of things. I had to ask more about that.

I'd gotten better about eating a full breakfast, so he no longer sat with me for a big lunch. I had to wait until dinner. "I've been thinking. What if the crazy business you mentioned comes to Falconreach? I need to know what it is."

He grunted. "Monsters like nobody's ever seen are attacking a lot of places. Doomwood. That iceberg up north. I even heard that Swordhaven was attacked. But not Falconreach. For once."

I was not up to that part of the plot yet. I didn't know exactly what was going on. Oh, that was very, very bad. For all I knew, something had happened to Warlic. "I guess it doesn't make much difference. Healing potions or not, I couldn't fight off an invasion. But I like to know stuff. Thanks for telling me." He grunted.

The next day, as planned, we departed. "Wait!" I went out back to say goodbye to the garden first. Then I said goodbye to the tools, then to the house, and especially to the cleaning supplies and all the cupboards. "I'll miss you guys. Take care of yourselves." I waved to my bed and my little chest, then joined him on the front porch. I had my satchel with my clothes and my comb inside, and I wore my knives in the little thing he'd gotten me that I wore on my hip. I was ready.

He, the hunter, and some local youths with fighting experience were going to be my escort. The young guy from the grocery insisted on being one of them. From their comments among themselves, I gathered that my cover story was that the wound on my leg was poisoned and I needed to seek more advanced medical care before it spread. I commented that it was already itching something fierce and did not hide discomfort.

I was surprised at the amount of farewells that I got. Mrs. Nimp came all the way from her house to say goodbye to me in the town center. She gave me a hug. The Rose soldiers nodded. Mr. Jammit called me an underdone loaf and said if I ever needed a box, he'd make one for me custom. People I'd only ever seen once or never, as far as I knew, said, "Goodbye, Ama!" It brought tears to my eyes. I thanked everyone with my most exuberant waving. I was grinning as we set off.

The journey to Falconreach was long. I'd gotten the impression that the Kingdom of Greenguard was rather small based on the amount of time it took the Hero to get places. Now I remembered that he ran everywhere. There was a big difference between running and walking on a wounded leg. We had to camp overnight. Around the fire, as some of the youths kept watch, the one from the grocery spoke to me. "How's your leg?"

"It's not happy."

"I'm sorry. It was my family's business. I should have defended it."

"It's okay. I'll be okay. I can't wait to see Falconreach. It's so much bigger and so much more magical. I don't use magic, but I love it. It's so fascinating to learn about, to watch. I can't wait to meet a mage!"

He coughed. "Since you're…leaving for a while, I wanted to say…"

"Yeah?"

"You're real pretty."

I laughed. "You're funny! It's been nice talking to you while shopping. Your dad's too hard on you in my opinion. I think you're cool."

"Thanks." Keth called him over at that moment. He muttered something to the boy, I didn't hear what. I yawned. It was time for sleep.

The sun seemed to be shining brighter the next morning. Maybe it was my eyes, because we were nearing Falconreach! The plant life looked a little familiar. Excitement quickened my steps. When we passed a blond guy with a little green moglin, I knew we were close. I exclaimed as we came within sight of the walls. "Yay! We're here!"

The guardians asked for a basic description of our business there. Hermit Murray put a hand on my shoulder. It was the first time he'd ever touched me. "My daughter has talents that'd be wasted back home. She has a good head and a fine way with weapons. Me and my friend are lookin' to get her settled in, and the rest are just guards."

"There are many adventurers in town, and she can always apply at the tower to become a Guardian. Good luck," one of the guardians said.

After passing through the gate, one of the youths asked, "Why didn't you tell them about the poison?"

"Because that's just the reason she had to leave so soon," Hermit Murray replied. "I meant everythin' I said to those walking tin cans. She doesn't belong in the middle of the woods. If everything goes right, we'll hear her name before we see her again."

"Ooh," I said, "is that a person?"

It wasn't just any person! I had to stop myself from grinning broadly enough to raise suspicion. I wasn't supposed to recognize Cysero yet. He was outside the pet shop, studying the ground. "Looks like he lost something! I'd better help him find it."

"Ama-" Keth began to say.

But I was already waving. "Hi there! Are you looking for something? I might be able to help."

"I can't find my left sock," Cysero said sadly.

"Hmm. The first thing we need to do is establish a possible motive. Why would your sock have run away? Did you argue with it recently?"

Cysero began to smile. "Nope."

"Maybe it just wanted to explore the world? In that case, it could have made it to the forest by now."

"No, they don't like to do that. Trust me."

"Could it have been stolen by a thief in the night?"

"Oh no!"

"Is it on your right foot?"

Cysero knelt down and pulled up his right pants leg. "It is! You found it!"

"I thought he said he was looking for his left sock," one of the youths said.

"Left socks are special," I told him. "They have a preordained destiny. It must have sneakily disguised itself as a right sock to try and escape."

Cysero straightened up. "Wow! You know a lot about socks! I'm Cysero, the mad magical weaponsmith. For finding my left sock, you get a discount at my store. I sell weapons, armor, and some other stuff. I forget what."

"Do you have anything that goes on the head? And I do mean on, specifically, not around or in any way enclosing."

Cysero's smile slipped. "...I have a dancing sandwich. Your head looks big enough for it to fit."

I gasped and laughed. "I've never had anything dance on my head! That sounds awesome! Hey, this might seem out of nowhere, but are you by chance in need of a friend? I'm a professional friend. I like to go around being nice to people and doing stuff for them in exchange for food and shelter. Is that a, that a, thing there is any interest in in your life?"

"Hmm…" Cysero thought about it. I waited. Keth sighed.

The wait dragged on a bit too long. "Friendship in exchange for food and shelter."

"Oh! Right! You have to answer three questions first. What is your name?"

"Ama."

"What is your quest?"

I grinned. "To have lots of fun."

"What…is your favorite color?"

"Magenta! No, chartreuse! Aaagh!"

He burst out laughing. "You're hired!" He flashed me a thumbs up and a giant grin.

I turned to my friends. "Okay, it looks like I'm good here, you can all go home now."

Keth looked at me like he'd never seen me before. The youths did likewise. Hermit Murray, as usual, was unreadable. "If you can handle yourself with a bunch of sensible woodsy types and a madman, you'll do fine. C'mon, Keth. She don't need us anymore."

"Wait! Thank you. Really. For everything." I put my hands over my heart and held them out.

Hermit Murray chuckled. It was the first time I'd ever heard him laugh. "Yer welcome." He and Keth led the boys back toward the eastern gate. The boy from the grocery waved. I waved back.

When they were out of sight, I turned to Cysero. He sat on the ground switching his socks to the proper feet. "So, where's this store of yours?"

"Oh, it's right over there."

I looked in the direction his thumb was pointing. My gut sank. I saw a doorway with no building attached. My heart pounded. I looked around to see if anybody was watching. If they were, what would I do? What would I do if my suspicions came true?

.

A/N: The exact point where this chapter was revised was at the line where I said, "Ooh, is that a person?" Originally, it read, "Ooh, is that a door to a mage tower?" My character originally entered Cysero's shop. In this version, they do not. Why I made that change will be revealed next chapter.