"It's appreciated.Most of us aren't fighters, though I suppose everyone is when it's life or death."
"You'd be surprised," Dipak said quietly, then with more levity, "So what are we drinking?"
"Wine.Euclid brings something different every time, never know where he gets the stuff.He's crafty, that one, more than he ever lets on.Not a complaint, mind you.I wish more people were like him."
"The world would be better off for it."
"This way, this way."Abrar clapped him on the back, then led him back to the tables and poured him a cup of a dark red wine that was sweet and heavily spiced.Festival wine popular in a city further south, where it was shipped in from a mountainous country overseas, Virvane.Euclid had gone shockingly far afield for this wine.
He took a healthy swallow, savoring the sweetness, the sharpness of the spices, a nice break from tea and water."Where is Euclid?"
Abrar smiled and pointed."Right there.Excellent timing."
Dipak chuckled as he turned—then forgot all about laughing, or even thinking.Euclid was always dressed in his weird mishmash of clothing styles, amusing and charming, but right now he looked like a veritable prince of the harvest in dark brown breeches, high boots, a tunic of loosely knit yarn in myriad colors, a deep red undershirt, and his hair pulled back in a braid and bound in matching ribbons.
It was a style of dress at least a century old, but the clothes could have been made yesterday.
He barely remembered crossing the field."Just a clearing, my ass."
Euclid grinned."I've seen real fairgrounds—mine has nothing on those.No pretty paper banners, no flags, no bells, no jesters performing tricks…"
"Don't pout, it doesn't become you," Dipak said, lying through his teeth."How long did it take you to get the trees to grow just so?"
"A while, though the forest was happy to cooperate.I often bring groups of people here for safety when they wander into the forest and aren't sword-happy mercenaries out for blood.Once they've rested, I then show them the way out.Hasn't happened in a long time, though.The vast majority of people come in ones and twos, at most a group of three.Come, I'll introduce you to everyone.They're all quite eager to meet you."
They'd barely taken a few steps when the group that had already doubled in number came right toward them.At their fore was a tall, buxom woman with light, warm brown skin, long russet hair scattered with tiny braids and all manner of beads, a gleaming gold hoop through her septum, and several piercings in her ears.She looked to be in her forties, fifties, maybe.Though with witches, she could also be well into her seventies, even.
"Minali," the woman said, folding her hands in front of her and bowing slightly.It was a slightly old-fashioned greeting, something his parents and grandparents had used a great deal, but not one he'd used once he was on his own."I'm good at many things, after decades of practice, but I never got the knack of hunting and trapping.I can barely manage fishing, sadly.Many of us in the woods never learned those skills and haven't much mastered them being out here, despite our best efforts.I didn't realize until I left home and was on my own just how prized a skill hunting is, so it's good to have you with us, hunter.Be welcome."
One by one the others introduced themselves, until the names beginning to blur, thirty-seven of them in total.Together with him and Euclid, there seemed to be about thirty-nine people in attendance, most of the fifty who lived in the forest.
As promised, not all of them were human, though many were half-human, half-something else.What, exactly, he couldn't tell, except for a woman who was half-orc, a man who was half-goblin, and two sisters who were half-nyad.Fascinating group of people, to be sure.Yet they thoughthewas interesting, and not even because of his hard-won moon eyes, but because he knew how to hunt deer and catch fish.
"Food?"Euclid asked when the introductions were over.
"Sounds like a wonderful idea."
As the nearer table was more crowded, they went to the further table and filled their plates to heaping before moving off to the side to sit on an enormous old dragon oak log that had been brought into the clearing long enough ago to grow moss and mushrooms."No children."
"No," Euclid said, sad and wistful."The few who had children ultimately decided to return to the world beyond the forest.I cannot blame them.The forest is hardly a good place to raise children, and they would be lonely.Most adults know how to be alone, even if they do not want to be, but children need other children.So they go, as is wise."
"I'd be anxious constantly with a mischievous, curious child to watch in these woods," Dipak replied with a laugh."Normal woods are dangerous enough.I got lost in them when I was four, five.Cried my eyes out, I was so scared.Luck alone that my mother found me before a wolf or great serpent did.I got distracted chasing after a rainfly.They're quite rare where I live, and I was enchanted.Still my favorite insect," he added, "though everyone thinks I'm silly to have a favorite insect."
"I like jewel beetles.They're beautiful and also pleasantly crunchy when you eat whole mouthfuls of them at once."
Dipak wrinkled his nose, laughing in amusement and horror."Can't say I've ever eaten bugs.Suppose I would if I had to."
"You are ruthlessly practical."Euclid finished his food and set his plate aside."I…" He paused as a man came up."Pitambar, hello again."
"I wanted to say thank you again for the fabric you brought me the other day.I know it must have been difficult to obtain."
Euclid smiled politely, nothing at all like the way he normally smiled."What the forest doesn't provide, the goblins are happy to obtain for me."
"So you make clothes?"Dipak asked, back of his neck prickling at the way Pitambar looked at Euclid.Not crudely or anything, but definitely with longing, an almost desperate sort of hunger poorly hidden.There was an interest there, maybe an affection, that Euclid clearly did not return.
Pitambar nodded, reluctantly shifting his attention to Dipak."Yes, I was a seamster in Kashara for many years.I do much of the sewing for the forest, though of course, many people know how to sew the basics for themselves."
"It's an essential skill when you often spend days alone in the woods tracking game."
