(Photo by Markus Spiske)

Building a shelter out of branches and leaves was something Nis had dreamed about doing many times, most often when she dreamed about Mel’s life. Although Nis had the benefit of those memories, she still struggled nonetheless to make such a shelter that provided any real protection from the elements. Her first night was uncomfortably cold and she struggled to get a decent amount of sleep. When she did sleep, her dreams were fragmented and impossible to follow. In the morning she found her clothes damp with dew and the moisture only added to her discomfort. She hadn’t packed any additional clothing so Nis was stuck being cold and wet until the day grew warm enough to evaporate the water.

Discomfort aside, Nis thought she’d done pretty well for her first night. The area she’d selected for her hiding place was well secluded. Thorny brambles surrounded the copse of bushy trees and Nis had needed to follow a small game trail, crawling on her hands and knees, to reach this spot. There wasn’t a clearing here but the ground was clear enough that she could move around without too much difficulty. As unlikely as it was for anyone to come this way, Nis took comfort in knowing that it would be impossible for anyone to see her in there, let alone get to her without significant effort and noise.

Using a piece of splintered wood as a spade, Nis dug a latrine on the far side of the copse opposite of where she’d constructed her shelter. The soil here was relatively sandy so it wasn’t too difficult for her to reach the needed depth. The walls of the latrine were braced with fallen branches she’d gathered to keep the hole from collapsing in on itself. Building a seat to go over it was a bit tricky but she eventually managed to find a number of short but sturdy logs that she could use to build a square seat with the needed void in the center. A leafy branch would serve for a cover for the time being. If she ended up staying in the copse for too long, however, she knew she’d need to find something a little more substantial to keep the smell down.

A stream ran near the copse with wild berries growing along the banks and several varieties of fish schooling in the water.

“Food, water, shelter,” Nis said to herself as she began to make her way back out of the copse, crawling along the game trail. Thorns caught her from time to time but overall she managed to avoid getting cut up too badly.

As she neared the edge of the brambles she slowed down even more. She could see out now and wanted to make sure no one else was around. No one lived in these woods, as far as she knew, and there were no roads that cut through it, but she wanted to get into the habit of being cautious. Unsurprisingly, Nis didn’t see anyone around and so she finished crawling out of her hiding place. She took a moment to stretch and brush herself off before making her way down to the stream.

The water was cold and, given the fact that she was still chill from the night before she only washed her hands and face before scooping a couple handfuls of water in her cupped hands and quenching her thirst. She followed that up with some berries. They were just beginning to ripen and were a perfect balance of sweet and tangy. Nis was careful not to eat too many of them since she knew that would give her quite the upset stomach.

With her immediate needs met, Nis set about gathering reeds from the shallows of the stream. The number of times she’d made woven baskets in her dreams was beyond count and Nis had always assumed that basket weaving must have been an incredibly common chore in times past. There were baskets for catching fish, baskets for carrying food, even baskets for holding water.

A large, smooth stone on the edge of the stream served as a seat while Nis worked, first weaving herself a basket to catch fish. Each basket would take her a while to make, anywhere from half a day to a week, depending on the size and complexity of the basket. The fish catching basket would probably take her a full day since it wasn’t terribly large and was woven loosely to allow the water to pass through. The food Nis had packed would keep her fed in the mean time.

Weaving all day in a dream was one thing, but weaving all day when you haven’t ever done it before in real life was something entirely different. She was only a couple hours into it when her hands began to protest. The muscles in her fingers were cramping up and her fingertips were being worn raw. Taking breaks to stretch out her hands helped but each respite was less effective than the one before it.

Not wanting to give up for the day, Nis instead decided to eat her midday meal a bit early. She left her weaving on the stone and returned to the shelter of the copse where her supplies were stashed. Dried strips of meat, some hard cheeses, and a couple of small rolls made for an excellent meal. She left the dried fruits alone for now since she had the fresh berries at hand. All the while she stretched and flexed her hands to work some of the weariness out of them. A pair of gloves would have been nice to have since that would have helped with how tender the skin on her fingertips were becoming but there was nothing she could do about that now. Her fingers would just have to toughen up.

“Hello?” a man called from outside the copse, startling Nis and making her freeze. “Is…is someone here?”

She thought she recognized the voice but couldn’t quite place her finger on it.

Some crunching and snapping of branches signaled that someone was trying to make their way through the brambles.

“OUCH!” they cried out but it was a different male voice than the one that had originally spoken.

“Told you they looked like thorn briers,” a third voice, a woman this time, said.

“Yeah, shut it!” the second voice called back.

“Enough, you two,” the first one said in almost a bored tone. “Look, there’s probably a game trail or something leading into it.”

“Might be, Kyv,” the second man replied, “but if you think I’m going to crawl –

There was an odd sound, like a large bag full of seeds being dropped onto the ground, followed by a grunt.

“Was that necessary?” the first man, Kyv, asked.

“No,” came the woman’s reply, “but I figured it would save us several minutes of needless arguing.”

“Just hope Skav doesn’t wake up too angry with you,” Kyv warned. “I’m done getting between you two so next time he comes at you, you’re on your own.”

“Noted,” the woman said.

The entire time this conversation was taking place Nis was busily and silently gathering up her things and trying her best to conceal any evidence of her presence, knocking over her shelter and scattering the pieces. There wasn’t much she could do about the latrine besides push the bulk of the dirt back into the hole and then scatter leaves and things over it as best she could. As the conversation was coming to an end, Nis dashed over to the far side of the copse and began shimmying her way beneath the thorny brambles. Thorns caught on her clothing and dug into her skin but Nis pushed through. Whoever these people were, she had no desire to be found by them. From the sounds of things they weren’t exactly the friendliest of people and Nis very much doubted they were only here to offer help.

Once she was a good ways into the brambles she lay still, not wanting to make any more noise and give away her position. From behind she could hear the woman grunting and cursing, apparently having just gotten through the brambles and into the copse.

“There’s no clearing,” the woman called out. “It just gets thinner near the middle, and fewer thorns.”

“Any sign of her?” Kyv asked.

“Not that I can see.”

“It looks like you’re in luck,” Kyv said after a brief pause.

“Oh, you’ve finally decided to hang up the traveling coat and settle down?”

“Hah, no,” Kyv barked out a harsh laugh devoid of any real mirth.

“What then?”

“I was just checking on Skav at it looks like you might have hit him a bit too hard for his own good.”

“He’s dead?” the woman asked, a mixture of both anticipation and fear.

“Not yet,” Kyv replied, “but I’d put good money on him never waking up again.”

They let the conversation die but Nis could still hear the woman moving around. It was difficult to tell just how far into the brambles Nis had managed to crawl and she wasn’t certain her feet were well enough hidden. It took immense willpower on her part not to try and pull her legs in farther since any movement on her part would almost certainly give her away with the woman so close at hand.

“Hey, I found something!” The woman shouted suddenly, excitement in her voice making Nis’ heart skip a beat.

“Is it the girl?”

“It’s a badger hole.”

“Why is that worth telling me?” Kyv demanded.

“It looks disturbed. My guess is she got in here, upset the badger, and got chased right back out.”

“What about the basket?

“Either she dropped it as she ran or had left it there to take a break and forgot about it in her haste to get away.”

“Fine,” Kyv said, clearly upset. “Get back out here so we can figure out which way she went.”

Nis lay still, straining her ears to hear anything more from them but it seemed they had nothing more to say to one another. They tromped around the copse a few times but their footsteps grew gradually more and more distant until they faded from hearing entirely. Even then, Nis didn’t dare move for several more hours. At last, with the sky above beginning to darken, Nis slid back into the copse. Even though she’d been lying still for the better part of the day she felt drained and exhausted as though she’d been running. Her heart pounded so hard at times that it made hear ears ring.

With shaking hands she began to rebuild her shelter, this time making an effort to disguise it as a natural pile of branches and leaves in case those people returned. Nis had just finished gathering another armload of sticks and leaves when something white caught her eye. It was over near to where her latrine had been and waved gently in the faint breeze: a piece of paper.

Nis dropped what she was carrying and hurried over. She hadn’t taken any of her books out of her bag the entire time she’d been here so it was inconceivable that this could have been one of hers. The woman must have dropped it when she’d been here. The piece of paper, it turned out, hadn’t simply fallen to the ground. It was impaled on a stick with a rock placed on two of the corners as though in an effort to keep it from being blown away. Nis picked it up and held it up to the dimming sky so she could read what was written on it.

I’ve done what I can. Kyv will lose interest in another day or two. There may be others looking for you. Next time you attend a Night Market keep your face hidden. Good luck.

Nis lowered the note back down. She remembered now where she had heard Kyv before. He’d been the merchant she’d spoken to on her way out of Duran. Why was he trying to track her down? A fair number of answers to that question came to mind and she didn’t want to give any of them more time in her thoughts than she had to. Whoever that woman was, Nis felt a great deal of gratitude towards her.

With night falling fast around her, Nis tucked into her shelter to pass her second night. She hoped this time would be warmer, but at the very least she was grateful that Kyv had not found her and that she was still safe.