( John POV )

I glance over the patch notes again. I check the time. Again.

Jade notes my eyes flicker, watching with an expression of prim disapproval. She always gets a little stiff under tension.

"No matter how often you check the clock, the seconds shan’t pass any faster. Quite the opposite in fact."

She snorts, quietly, and looks away, shaking her head slightly.

I put down the tablet, abandoning any hope of absorbing anything, and start pacing up and down the narrow path that bisects the virtual chatroom. I thought loading up a ‘Rock Garden’ preset might help instil some calmness and inner peace and generally make the wait less trying.

So far it’s not working.

"Still nothing on when the server’ll be back up?"

"Gosh, do you know John, it’s been up for hours now, I just haven’t bothered telli– No, of course I don’t know!"

"Alright, alright. It’s just bloody bad timing, is all. For the server to go offline for an unscheduled patch, just as we won. Very trying."

"Look, I’ve already told you, Anno got kicked off a couple of server ticks later than us, received a few more packets. ‘S’not much, but we got the basics. Our tribe got some goblins to join us and the wolfkin got a lot of spare meat, that’s what we know."

A thought strikes me.

"Huh. I thought the goblins didn’t have a food stockpile?"

"They didn’t. However, it turns out that wolfkin tribes have a much lower percentage chance to recruit new species. They’re… not picky when it comes to their food."

Ah. That’s a disturbing image. But then, they are wolfkin.

My tablet pings, and I grab it. A notification from TtA, the subject simply reading “Servers Back Online!”

I open my mouth to tell Jade, but, before I speak a word, the chat room is already disintegrating into the game’s loading screen.

( Jormund POV )

Everything is prepared. Kali should have planted the supplies and equipment I need, and I’ve worked out my exit path. It’s time.

I quietly slip out of the family hut and steal away towards the brush. I needn’t be bothered, though; the camp is almost silent at this hour, and it’s not like we need a night watch now. As I approach I spot a small campfire, a goblin sitting beside it, his back towards me. Dammit Kali, I don’t have time for this. I approach, experience granting me near-silence in the familiar terrain.

"Kali, I told you not to try to stop me. I... need to do this."

The goblin turns, and I realise my mistake.

"Hmm, I wasn’t going to stop you, young one. Still, you could at least say goodbye, eh? T’would be polite. Not so unreasonable, even if you are young and always in a rush."

My stomach sinks a little. If elder Gordune knew I was leaving, then who else does? I can feel my escape strategy begin to unravel at the edges.

"Um… Elder. How… how did you know that I’m… leaving?"

An eyebrow gently climbs. He seems otherwise unperturbed, a small smile flickers across his weathered face.

"You really think that any of the goblins can keep a secret from me? Hmm?"

Oh, fuck’s sake, Kali.

"I see. But you’re not going to stop me."

"Me? Oh, no, that would be absurd! No, I’m only here to distract you until your mother arrives."

I’m going to strangle Kali. Possibly with his own entrails.

Gordune is watching over my shoulder. I turn.

"And where, exactly, do you think you’re going, Jormund?"

My mother stands, arms crossed and disapproval writ clear upon her face. It’s the sort of expression that only a mother can pull off, and there’s a part of me that starts quailing in childhood terror. Quite a large part, actually.

"Ah, hi mum! I was just… just out for… an early walk! Yeah! You know how it is, couldn’t sleep, thought I’d go for a wander, have a look at the stars, y’know..."

I tail off, and try to ignore Gordune’s chuckles. Mother sighs, and steps past me towards the fire. She sits, and beckons me down beside her.

There are times to defy your parents. A slight edge to her tone tells me that this is not one of them. I sit.

"Heh! Well trained! Not as well as my own offspring, but then, he’s also much quieter!"

Cara doesn’t merit that with a response. The goblins have been building a reputation in the camp for impulsiveness, although they work hard enough. It seems the fresh air and freedom of the surface agrees with them, for all that they’re busy digging new burrows as fast as they can.

The conversation falls quiet for a moment, as we watch the low flicker of the flames. Gordune takes the silence for the answer it is, and chuckles again.

"Ah, you’ld be surprised. Anyway, Jormund. What were you trying to accomplish, eh? Sneaking off like this?"

"I… I thought that people would try and stop me. But this is something that I have to do."

My mother sighs.

"Oh, Jormund, why would we try to stop you? You’re hardly the first person to go wandering, far from it."

Gordune has stopped chuckling. When he speaks, it’s utterly serious, almost distant.

"Those who accomplish great things… They don’t often stay still. It seems a common trait, amongst every tribe and every species I’ve met. Wanderlust, the elves call it. It’s not always permanent - Kali came back after only a month, remember - but it isn’t… negotiable. If you try to stop a wanderer, it… damages them."

Kali… wasn’t always as he is now.

Silence sits heavily in the air between the three of us, even the embers of the campfire barely spark or crackle. I spend a few moments struggling with this revelation. It explains a lot about Kali.

It explains a lot about who I’ve become.

"I see. I... I have a debt to pay. I can feel it, somehow. I can’t do it here, but the answers are out there. I have to go out and find them. It’s… not a choice."

I stop, stunned by the realisation that it’s true. I have to go. I can choose what direction, but I can’t choose inaction.

My mother sighs.

"I understand. I’m not happy, but… I understand. I talked to Ralnt, too, and his council was the same as Gordune’s."

"Ralnt? Why Ralnt?"

"Ralnt used to be a wanderer, too, for all that he’s been a part of the tribe since before I was born. He’s older than he looks. He never talks about his past, but he did tell me that… that I had to let you go."

Somehow, the silence seems deeper and darker every time it returns.

I’ve never seen my mother weep. Not when my grandparents died, not even when my father returned from battle in a coma. It takes me a few seconds to recognise the gleam of reflection on her cheek.

We sit, without speaking, for minutes, as the fire burns out. Eventually, though, I stand, and the others stand with me. My mother’s cheeks are dry, and she turns towards me with renewed resolve.

"Just… just promise me one thing. Even if you haven’t found the answer, come back every so often. For me, for your father and sister. For the tribe, too. They’ll take heart from knowing you’re well."

I nod, and manage a smile. In the back of my mind, a memory stirs: the Lady of Jade, insisting I protect the tribe.

"I promise, mum. I will return. I’m more sure of that than I am of where I’m going."

The old goblin speaks, his voice echoing strangely. His eyes gaze blankly into the distance, filmed with just the faintest hint of magic. I realise that he is speaking in the rarest capacity of a Medicine Man.

He speaks prophecy.

"Follow the river, flow towards the sea. The water turns pebbles as it runs, carves a way where there is none, cannot be stopped. Be the river, Jormund, and it will carry you to the answers you seek."

I give my mother a final hug. For a moment, she clenches me so hard that I fear she may never let go.

My pack is where Kali and I arranged.

The road is anywhere, everywhere, away from where I am now. My heart lifts with every step.