Our camp had not been disturbed at night. The harsh environment of the Wyld had given us at least that, as simple as it was. The mornings in a camp in the Wyld always were something else. Memorable, in and of itself. Most people had problems sleeping right, got up, and needed some time to move the knots out of their muscles and bones. Faced with the indescribable it was...peculiar to watch men and women go about their basic morning routine as if there was no giant insect queen slumbering below a forest of giant trees, with us seeking a way to communicate with it. Just the basics: Pass me the meat, would ya? Is the water cooking yet? Have you seen my axe?

Humans tend to adapt to even the most extreme of circumstances, of which ours wasn‘t even close to, with remarkable calm and fatalism. Something even I, prone to overthinking and the emotional approach, could feel this very moment. Yes, we would speak to the insect Guardian of the Elements. But what‘s for breakfast?

We moved along the cliffs on the seaside of the Stormplains to look for a...special cliff, I guess. As far as I had understood Kara, elemental spirits tended to have more cognizance and even raw power, the more remarkable it‘s birthing location or situation. A memorable bonfire, infused with the will of the clans had produced a powerful spirit Kara could not have summoned from the fire we had warmed our storm-shaken bones above this morning.

To communicate with the entity, a simple soil spirit would not be enough, not only was it meek enough to fear its task, it was not clever enough to speak on our behalf. And as the mountains were a forest full of dangers away, our next best bet would be the cliffs, which were not nearly as impressive and thus, according to Kara, would not be home to the strongest of spirits, yet the strongest available.

“Finding the spirits is the hard part.“ Kara explained when she rejected the next boulder sticking out of the cliff, while we were stopping for a short rest before commencing our search. “Because places of significance are rare. But if you have found one, you can always come back to it. Knowing different locations of different mighty spirits is part of being a good [Shaman]. The waterfalls under the Needle are two of such locations I could go back to time and time again. The new lands are remarkable in that aspect. The giant trees over there will birth mighty nature spirits and the Stormplains storm and wind spirits. I wish we could go back to the Broken Lands for the earth or stone spirits, though.“

“We could do that. But I know the Bear Clan to be fighting, hunting really, the Snake Clan this very second. I do not know how to help them, but if there is only a slim chance that our quest could save lives I will take it.“

“Do not assume I take the death of my own clanmates lightly, Raven!“ She said with heat rising in her voice. “I said I wished I could. I am well aware that we have to try something else. Men!“ She spat, shaking her head.

“Calm, girl.“ Grim said, himself being an unshakable rock, unfazed by even the most harrowing circumstances. “We are all on the same side here. Do your best, do it quick.“

I shot him a glance. I knew him a couple of months now, but he was a man that was hard to read. A man that had lost his family, driving him to take up a weapon and look for revenge, even if he was not the mightiest man and never had leveled much in his life. His calm and even humorous approach to danger and hardship was either frightening or inspiring. And I was not quite sure where I stood in my assessment just now. But to handle a...lively travel companion like Kara, he was the right man. It would have come to blows between me and the [High Shaman of the Bear Clan] already, without him there, diffusing the tension with a word or a joke.

Grim was a man I could trust, a man that would do what needed to be done, and that was enough for me. Kara could be trusted to work with me and to get on my nerves with venomous words and little verbal stings. Which was enough for now, but far from my idea of a well-working team. I was not without guilt, but she just rubbed me the wrong way sometimes. Something in the way she so blatantly challenged my authority and station...no, not challenged. Ignored.

It was hard enough to keep the facade and the faux confidence running without a person of influence, albeit in a Wyldling clan, just stepping over the boundaries every human in Ravenport would have naturally respected.

“We don‘t need a spirit to fight. It just has to communicate. Would this not suffice?“ I asked gesturing to the cliffs around us.

Kara shrugged, but her eyes spoke volumes: I do my job and you do yours. She did not deign to answer my petty attempt to cut the morning walk short and kept on looking around, until finally, after three cliffs I would have thought remarkable enough, she found one supported by a single boulder jutting out over the sea and sat down to make her preparations.

By now we knew what she would do. Find the spirit, summon the spirit, and coerce the spirit. The summoning would require the herbal and esoteric materials she had in her pouches, spiritual gifts that would either create the spirit if it was a lesser one or bait the stronger ones out. What followed was a negotiation. She would offer things, services, and sheer goodwill, influenced by her authority, Skills, and the task ahead, and the spirit would accept or deny very specific tasks, and only a certain number of them.

Sure, you could bind a spirit for years, if you were charismatic enough to convince it to accept. There was no ordering around a spirit of nature or the elements. The more the task was in line with the nature of the spirit and its characteristics, the easier it was to convince it to help.

Our plan, the whole thing, was based on the assumption that the insect queen we were trying to communicate with was part spirit, and thus bound to the same universal rules. One of them was a common language, in this case not a spoken one but one of understanding surface thoughts and the projection of intent. That was how it worked with normal spirits, apparently.

And since we had no way to reach the queen from the Stormplains where we were at, we were looking for a related emissary that would bring our intent before the queen and return with her answer. Since we could not rely on Kara‘s Skills and knowledge in handling spirits in this endeavor, we wanted the strongest spirit we could find to make up for it.

Thus, my attempts to shorten the task was stupid and childish, and I should have known better than to whine.

Kara was busily laying out the offerings on a rock, carefully placing other rocks on top of them so the wind would not take the herbs away, while I huddled with Grim around a corner, protected from the biting autumn wind that did not seem to affect Kara one bit. Her short hair was dragged and pulled around by the wind as she mumbled, her eyes locked onto the rock with determination.

For a while, nothing happened that Grim or I could see, but finally, after several minutes of watching Kara speaking to a literal rock, a wave went through the pebbles of the beach, the little stones bouncing and rolling around in a mass that piled up at the base of the rock she had been talking to. And then the movement stopped.

She came over to us, now pulling the hides she wore tight around her shoulder against the cold, looking out of breath and exhausted.

“It is done. We will receive an answer shortly, one way or another. I will know if he fails and ceases to be.“ She said, squinting in the breeze.

“What was that wave on the beach? The tumbling rocks?“ I asked to fill the silence encroaching in on us.

“The spirit. It lives in the rock, it is not the rock. If it were necessary, it would be strongest inhabiting the very material he sprang forth from, but there is the chance of it not returning whole. A spirit can manipulate its element quite competently and rock spirits are the most material of them all. Even while moving it moves its element.“

“I see.“ I said, not quite seeing it.

It did not take long for a little flood of pebbles to trickle back down the cliff. The spirit had to travel the way, but the negotiations did not take long. It was a telepathic form of communication not requiring words and thus as quick as a thought. And there was no way to embellish or complicate the projection of one’s intent. It was straightforward, as would be the answer.

“The spirit of the cliff has 4 concepts for me, the queen tried to communicate.“ Kara tilted her head, trying to understand the spirit. “Grow, feed, death. It is what it wants, what it needs, and what danger it faces. The next is impossible to translate. Weird...er...beast? A weird beast? But something specific. A specific weird beast.“

“Weirderbeast, huh? Do you know more?“ I asked.

She shook her head. “No, if I had talked to her directly I may have glimpsed a vision...but as the queen is burrowed I don’t think she has seen the thing. But I am sure the queen wants us to thwart the danger to her....growth and feeding by stopping whatever a Weirderbeast is.“

“Dead gods...and Wanderer too, if you are listening, “ I balled my fist to the skies, “do the things I have to do could get normal for once? Just once? Why is the forest not overrun by a tribe of goblins I have to face? Just once?“

Grim grinned toothily at me. “Better that way. Goblins are smart and would kick your ass. Insects are not.“

Kara nodded. “The being does not seem to be intelligent. It does only now basic instincts. Fear, hunger, the need to procreate, and so on. If we have something to offer her, the satisfaction of one of her needs for example, I am sure I can work something out with her. But, “ she held up her finger. “I need to see her for that. I cannot negotiate with a spirit that mighty with an emissary. I need my Skills for that.“

“The flowers are connected, are they not? Could you speak to them?“

“Do you speak with other people's feet?“ Kara retorted. “I need her. I need to be close.“

“Why?“

“Because she is not only a spirit but a living thing.“

Grim shook his head. “The only way I see that happening are caverns in the forest or the mountains leading down.“

“The mountains it is, then. At least we can use my [Favorite Terrain: Mountains] there. And we can look for the Weirderbeast on the way.“

“Is there some kind of truce in place now?“ I asked. “Can we bring her to let us through safely?“

“Oh no, hells no. It is the only thing she knows, her very being. Breed and feed. You cannot coerce a tree to grow downwards and you cannot make the queen not try to eat everything.“

“Awesome.“ I mumbled. “That means climbing all the way. Are you two up for it?“

“Hate it.“ Grim spat.

Kara just shrugged, but she was looking over to the forest and the mountains in the distance appraisingly.

“We won‘t make it in a day.“ She finally said. “We will have to rest in the branches for one or two nights.“

“That I can make happen, even if I hate it.“ Grim said.

“I will take the watches.“ I nodded. “We can do it.“