Berry drifted between us and hummed a long, low note. A sound that meant they too, were ready.
Sammy nodded, her grip firm in mine. “Then, let’s go.”
3
Where the Grass Sings
Sammy
The eastern road stood exactly as I’d imagined it to be.
Which felt strange, because I hadn’t imagined it at all…not really. I’d only ever seen Havenlore from the inside, from the warm cobblestone center of the village outward, never the other direction. When I’d arrived here, I hadn’t walked through a gate or down a road or made any conscious choice about where I landed at all. One minute I was in my gaming chair with my headset on and a storm shaking my windows, and the next I was curled up in Guruk’s field with Inara’s horn glowing above me and no idea what had happened to my life.
I had not, in other words, made an entrance.
Now I stood at the edge of the village, where the cobblestones yielded to packed dirt, and stared at the road stretching out ahead of us. The full weight of what it meant to leave a place on purpose fell on my shoulders.
“You've gone quiet,” Guruk observed, standing as my silent sentinel beside me.
I swallowed to fight my conflicting emotions. “I'm taking it in.”
“You've been taking it in for some time.”
“Have I?” I motioned for him to kneel so I could retrieve an item from my pack. I knew better than to argue with him about carrying the bag. Rummaging inside, I found my notebook and snapped it open. I hadn’t been one for journaling in my world, but since arriving in Havenlore, I’d discovered its benefits. With the pen attached to the leather bindings, I flicked it up and wrote: “I arrived here without conscious thought. My heart taking me to this place instead. This is my first time leaving the village under my power, on my own two feet, and with every option considered. I’m setting out by choice.”
Guruk was quiet for a beat. “That is significant.” He rubbed a space that was tense between my shoulders. “And you are brave.”
“Thank you.” I snapped it shut and blinked the water from my eyes. “Okay, let’s go.”
The first twohours passed with ease. Although I’d been a pro-gamer on Earth with less enthusiasm about exercise and more about RPGs, I’d spent the past months in Havenlore working on the farm and helping Guruk with the animals. I still gamed, showing the villagers all kinds of tabletops, but I no longer lived a sedentary life. A fact my body thanked me for.
My muscles had become stronger and my stamina longer. And despite the path being dirt, it was well kept and level, curving gently through the trees in unhurried loops. With the morning sun spilling through the dense canopy, the birds singing overhead, and a light breeze tickling my hair, it was a pleasant hike.
Or it would be if my brain would stop going into overdrive.
I kept cataloging every sight and sound. Every rock, every tree, every shadow. I couldn’t help it. Guruk caught me scribbling notes without breaking stride and said nothing, which remained one of his most underrated—yet deeply appreciated—qualities.
“Does this path have a name?” I asked.
“The eastern road.”
I snorted. “Very descriptive.”
“It goes east.” Guruk shrugged.
“Right.” I wrote it down anyway.Eastern road.Functional name, no lore attached. Investigate. “How far to the first rest point marked on the map?”
“At this pace, the highland clearing by midday tomorrow.” He glanced sideways at me. “Assuming we do not stop to document every stone.”
“I documented two stones.”
"You illustrated them.” He laughed, mimicking a pen between his long fingers and intensely scribbling in the air.
I raised my chin indignantly. “It’s a valuable record.”
Berry chittered from their post atop Guruk’s shoulder, and Guruk gave them a look of pure solidarity.
“You're both fired,” I said pleasantly, and kept walking.
