“That’s your base?” I asked, my voice filled with disbelief. I wasn’t quite sure what I had expected, but it most certainly wasn’t what was before my eyes. Nestled between two tree-covered hills, hidden within a small valley was a village. It wasn’t quite bustling, but when thinking about ‘secret rebel base’ my mind had conjured images of small jungle camps or maybe a cave, with a couple dozen hardened rebels, all grim and gruff. Not a mostly ordinary village.

For that was what it looked like a village just like the dozen villages we had passed by on our way south from Nobost, filled with hardworking farmers and a few craftspeople, all trying their best to eke out a living. From afar, the only extraordinary thing was the small houses, which combined with likely carefully maintained evergreens meant that trying to spot the village from the air was almost impossible. Looking down between the trees, I realised just how cleverly designed the whole thing was, with small vegetable crops, growing between the houses, their fields incorporated into the forest ecology.

“It is our home, yes,” Daniel quietly replied, looking a little apprehensive.

“It’s fascinating,” Adra mumbled, staring intently at the buildings, “It’s almost part of the forest, I never thought a settlement could be so…” she paused, mentally grasping for the right words, “so natural,” she finished, looking at the humans with us.

“Who did that?” she almost demanded, staring at them.

“What do you mean?” I asked, now curious what she was sensing.

“The village, it’s almost as if the forest is hiding it,” she shook her head in disbelief, “It reminds me of home, of the grove. You won’t be able to find it unless the elders want you to. This feels somewhat similar.”

“Curious,” I agreed, realising that some sort of magical concealment was almost mandatory if you wanted to rebel in a world like Mundus. Otherwise, they’d simply have a wizard scry your location and murder the whole rebellion without ever leaving the comfort of their tower. I was pretty sure that I could annihilate any number of low-level people from almost any distance if I figured out a way to actually cast spells through the Astral River. I knew it was possible, I just hadn’t been able to make it work.

Sniffing the air, I tried to find the magic that hid the village, but the bouquet of foresty smells was overwhelming, making me unable to distinguish what was artificial concealment and what was an actual smell. My tongue flickered out, tasting the air, trying to get a better idea, but even with a mouthful of scent, I was unable to taste anything.

“It’s quite well done,” I admitted, adding Lenore’s sight to my investigation, only to come up empty once more, “Really well done,” I complimented, briefly considering the use of a bit of Darkness-Magic to probe but decided against it. There was curiosity and looking at a door and then there was using a hammer to knock against the door, to see how sturdy it was.

“If you would follow us, we’ll guide you to our leader,” Daniel suggested, his voice somewhat more confident than I had ever heard it before. For a moment, I wondered if there would be a trap and mentally readied myself, calling up Lenore’s sight again, to guard against magical attacks. I noticed that Adra, Rai and Sigmir were similar vigilant, ready to move at any moment, and we followed Daniel and his three companions down into the valley.

“You don’t need a wall?” Sigmir asked, making me notice the lack of it.

“No, not really,” Isabel replied, “There’re few dangerous beasts in this forest and if we ever get attacked, a wall would be more a hindrance than a help. To say nothing about how difficult it would be to conceal one.”

“Everyone but the smallest children here are supposed to be ready to fight. If some wolf comes in, it’ll be turned into EXP and mediocre jerky. Taste’s far too gamey.” Jenn threw in, getting a chuckle and nod from Isabel.

“I see,” Sigmir nodded, “My people don’t have walls either, but our village wasn’t always in the same spot. We just set up some fences to keep the livestock in.”

“That sounds…” Isabel shook her head, apparently not quite sure what to make of a nomadic lifestyle. Or she maybe couldn’t imagine a land free enough to roam like that. The human empire seemed to be very organised and controlled. There was very little wildness or wilderness.

“Can you tell me more about your people?” Jenn asked, looking from me to Sigmir, “And how do your people live, Morgana?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” I admitted, my face impassive, “Remember, I’m a Traveller. When the Gods sent me here, I was left all alone, in the middle of nowhere. It took a little over two weeks to meet the first person.” I explained, giving Sigmir a soft smile and squeezing her hand. Other than some Snowbolds that I had annihilated and that annoying Sun-elemental, she had been the first person I met in this world.

“She’s the first one you met in this world?” Jenn asked, her voice quite excited, “That’s so romantic, it must have been fate,” she gushed, looking from Sigmir to me and back.

“I don’t know about fate, but I know that I would have left this world, if not for her,” Sigmir quietly admitted, her eyes fixated on me. “She saved my life, there’s nothing more to say about it.”

Nodding, I accepted Sigmir’s declaration and spoke no more. When Jenn opened her mouth, maybe to ask something more, both Sigmir and I focused on her, glaring. Our glares must have been quite scary, making her go pale and visibly swallow, her mouth snapping shut.

When we walked between the houses, the tension ratcheted up. While I was unable to detect any overt magic in the area, I could feel the looks of suspicion and vigilance piercing into us and hear the quiet mutterings and even a few metallic noises, making me think someone was making sure their weapons were ready.

“Daniel, who do you have with you?” a middle-aged woman asked, looking at Daniel with caution in her eyes, before letting them wander over us, obviously trying to make sense of our odd group. A human, alongside four beings that should be quite rare in these parts, walk into a human rebel base. There had to be questioned, maybe even a joke or two.

The woman was an interesting contradiction. Outwardly, she didn’t look like anything special, with medium-length auburn hair, not too tall, not too small, not visibly buff and no great beauty. But she carried herself with a confidence that few could match, an air of command that was apparent, even to me. I couldn’t feel any impressive magic on her, making me doubly curious.

“They saved our lives,” Daniel announced, speaking loud enough to be heard in the surrounding houses, “We were trapped in an ambush but they were kind enough to intervene, allowing us to escape with our lives.

“Then they will have our thanks.” the woman nodded her eyes fixated on us, before focusing back on Daniel,” But it doesn’t explain why you brought them here,” she questioned, her voice sharp again.

I could see Olivia twitching, about to move forward and intervene when I nudged her with my elbow, getting her attention and subtly shaking my head. Trying to speak here wouldn’t work, we were the outsiders. They had to deal with the initial questions amongst themselves, only then could we make our case.

“They offered their help and the help of multiple quite powerful spellcasters is nothing to scoff at,” Daniel explained, and now the focus was back on us. I felt a surge of discomfort, the sensation of being stripped and analysed to the bone, of being Observed, and reflexively, I pushed against it, obscuring the five of us with a blanket of darkness. They had no right to simply rip what they wanted to know from the system, they could ask, like polite people.

“Oh?” the woman raised an eyebrow, and the sensation briefly intensified, forcing me to match her efforts. I wasn’t pushed into using overflow, but it was quite apparent that she wasn’t weak.

Out of curiosity, I reciprocated, openly using Observe, only to be rebuffed.

“Well, at least they are interesting,” the woman nodded, focusing on me, “My name is Doris, do you promise to uphold guest rights while our guests?” she asked, now a lot more cordial.

“You can call me Morgana, a Traveller. I will observe hospitality while in your care.” I replied, feeling a little awkward at the formality.

The others gave their own acknowledgement, Doris’ eyebrows rising a little when Olivia introduced herself as a Cleric of Eleutheira and invoked the name of her deity in the promise.

“Excellent,” she nodded, giving us a light bow, “Enter without malice, leave without hindrance,” she offered, turning aside a little and inviting us deeper into their village.