The morning had slowly warmed with the coming dawn. The scars of glistening frost receded and the world was lightly wet, smelling of earth and damp and hope for growth.

  Enduris had introduced Chicory to her new home, her room was adorned with a small bed, made of tightly woven fibers, a small desk and chair where she could practice her hobbies and crafts, and a strange device that Enduris insisted was common amongst the members of Telfen, which Chicory now was. The device had a smooth covering, seemingly of a ceramic. It was roughly the size of her hand with a few elements visible. A small dispy the glowed when turned on, as well as a circle of four buttons with a button in the center. The dispy showed a banner text denoting the “Telfen 1 Tower” and signal strength of 10 of 10. Below was a list of names Chicory didn’t recognize. She found that pressing the bottom button repeatedly would move the list down, showing more names. Eventually she saw “Enduris Telfen” listed.

  She had certainly heard of such communication devices. Though the members of Eltrice had little use for them. A degree of insurity enabled them to abide by their own terms without interference, but also cost them rapport with vilges that had artisans capable of crafting such devices. Of course Chicory herself was expected to learn about these things and become a skilled artisan in her own right, and perhaps she would. But she couldn’t help but wonder what other benefits could come from maintaining good retionships with fellow vilges. She decided to ask Enduris someday, when they had a stronger retionship.

  Returning to the main living area, the hearth a shadow of the roar it was that morning, Chicory took stock of her surroundings again. The hearth had a shelf above it with several interesting objects. Such as a jar with a bck soot filling it roughly half-way, a gold colour smeared the edges and stained the gss in pces. A box with a short cable hanging from it, a switch, and a longer cable running out to the nearest window, pinned against the walls and ceiling with some kind of adhesive. Upon closer inspection the shorter cable’s pin configuration matched that on the side of the Telfen device she was gifted.

  The wall by the table, with the window shuttered closed and sealed with patchy clumps of hardened earth, was adorned with more designs, simir to the sunflower Chicory had seen on the door. Small paintings that almost seemed like stories. Though the people in the paintings were crudely painted at best. Scarcely more than sticks and circles and spshes of colour here and there. Another thing to remember to ask about when she had paid her time. She already owed a lot for all that she had, no use increasing the debt already.

  Enduris had said he’s be outside for a time and to await his return. So Chicory did just that, finding a shelf in the cupboards that held a small collection of books. One such book had such a delightfully funny name and so she plucked it and started to read, moving one of the benches closer to the hearth so she could tend it when the heat dwindled.

  After Chicory had been thoroughly transported to a magical world where people lived in something called apart, she was so rudely ripped out by the opening of the heavy door. A solid wooden thunk announcing the return of, not Enduris, but someone else. He stood at an average height, maybe a bit shorter. Though only a finger’s width shorter than Chicory. His soft cheeks speckled with patches of curled hairs that might one day be a beard. His skin was like tree bark, his hair woven into strands that fell to his left side. He wore a simple cloak over sections of metal strapped along his chest, fore-arms, thighs, and shins. A fairly simple tunic and pants were bunched up underneath the strapped metals.

  “Hey, newbie,” he said in a soft voice that surprised Chicory. She stood, resting the book open next to her on the bench.

  “Nice to meet you, I am Chicory Eltrice, daughter of Unnmat Eltrice,” she stepped forward to reach a hand out.

  “I’m Sunflower, sister. No need for all that nonsense though,” he lightly spped her open palm with his own. “You’ve met Enduris right? We all don’t do that formal stuff here. We all live and die the same way, though I wager you and I are racing towards the dying a bit quicker than most,” he grinned, as if he had told a joke. This was getting bad, now there were two of these numbskulls.

  “That’s not terribly funny,” she huffed.

  “Says you, sister flower,” he finally sealed the door behind him, banishing with it the cold that stil blew outside the home.

  “I’m not a flower”

  “Well I sure am, figured you’d wanna join the party,” he reached to set down his weapon. It was an unimagineable weapon, like an axe for chopping wood, only greatly elongated and thick as Chicory’s forearms. The long crescent bde was nearly two thirds of Sunflower’s height.

  QueenOfSquiggles