Ai put the hide on the ground next to her. The only reason behind this that she could think of was the blue screens. She had been doing a really good job of ignoring them. When they stopped appearing she kept ignoring them, paranoid they’d come back if she did.

With a heavy sigh, she tooted.

WARNING! If you open your status now full immersion mode will be deactivated. Do you want to deactivate full immersion mode?

“No.”

In full immersion mode quest rewards will appear on theh person when a receptive gesture is formed. Is this agreeable to you?

“Yes.”

And that was that. The brief mystery of the blue screens solved.

Ai reached for the blue string. It was slightly stretchy and felt as if were made of plastic. She had no idea what it was, or how it had come to do so much damage to a creature like the Queen Bean.

“Do you know what this is?” Ai asked the goblin.

“Humans.” The goblin shrugged.

“And it does…?”

“The Touched use it as a net, one that cuts through flesh.”

“Who are the Touched?”

“You know. Touched. Like, they have an element that they have some control over.”

“I…you mean people only have one element?”

“Or none.”

“But the village elder could use all of them.”

“The village elder uses gifts that are not her own. There is a reason she is soul-bound to everyone in the village.”

“Huh.” Ai took a moment to process that new information. “So if I got soul-bound with someone who’s been touched, I could use their powers?”

The goblin screwed its face up at her phrasing, but nodded. The ‘powers’ were called the Touch. She could use their Touch, not their powers.

“How does someone get Touched?” Ais curiosity was burning.

“Nobody knows. If the Touched do, then they aren’t spilling.”

Ai didn’t believe that. Somebody had to know. Something didn’t simply come from nothing. There was a reason behind everything.

“How do you know if you’re Touched?” Jack spoke this time.

“You have magic.” The goblins voice was dry with sarcasm. “Can we go find some food now or do you want to continue asking questions while we lose light?”

“We’d best get moving.” The goblin was right. “I’ll take Jack to help me, we’ll go East, you go West? Meet up back here.”

The goblin nodded, already striding away on his wooden leg, apparently eager to escape their questions.

“Well.” Ai started, unsure how to finish.

“Not exactly friendly, is it?”

“You’re telling me.” Ai snorted.

“How did you two get together anyway? I can’t see meeting a goblin as an everyday occurrence.”

“The villagers found him with his leg chopped off. The village elder healed him up and I ended up bargaining with him to find out what happened.”

“I’m guessing the Queen happened.”

Ai nodded. “But we didn’t know what she was, or if she was an immediate threat.” Ai looked over at her remains. “She certainly isn’t anymore.”

“Indeed.” Jack sounded amused.

They started to walk Easy, Ai scanning for edibles.

“What are you going to do? Once we get to the free city?”

“What are you going to do?” He countered.

“I need to know where I- where we came from. If there’s a home for us somewhere. I, uh,” Ai cleared her throat, “I was hoping that you would join me.”

Jack kept his eyes off hers, hiding his expression as keeping an eye out for danger. “I don’t particularly want to know where I came from. Besides, I might not even be linked to you.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. We both woke up in the middle of nowhere with no memories and unhuman features!”

“So?” He prowled slightly ahead of her. “Perhaps it’s a million to one coincidence. Or our people were enemies, not friends. Maybe we were out there trying to kill each other, and something went wrong.”

“I don’t think we’re enemies.”

“But you don’t know that.” He pointed out. Ais reasoning was nothing more than a gut feeling.

“I’d still rather know. I can’t be a blank slate for the rest of my life.” Ai went to rub her injured arm, but stopped short remembering how much it hurt to touch it earlier.

“You’re not a blank slate. You spent time with the spirit people, who are equal parts feared and hated by the rest of the humans. You killed a Queen Bean. You saved them. You have a story.”

“Part of one. I don’t know who I am.”

“You might not like the answer.”

“I’d still rather know.”

Jack jerked his chin up, accepting her response.

“If you don’t want to investigate who we are, then what are you going to do?”

“Live for the future. I’ll find myself somewhere to call home, somewhere people don’t bother me and spend the rest of my life there.”

“Isn’t that a bit lonely?” Ai frowned.

“I’ve had more than enough of people. I’ve got enough to last me a lifetime. It’ll be peaceful.”

“You didn’t say it wouldn’t be lonely.” Ai could practically feel the pain radiating off of his heavy shoulders.

“It’ll be enough. Can you see any food?”

Ai pinched her lips, unsure whether she should let the subject drop or not. It didn’t sit right with her that he’d just live the rest of his days as a hermit. She sighed. A conversation to be continued at a later date.

“There’s some tubers over there.”