Blissful smells of freshly baked bread and Old Hesa’s famous mutton stew filled every corner of the Crossing Inn. Its massive arched ceiling held the crowd in warm comfort. The most popular inn in Fyrania drew visitors from every province of the kingdom — large, burly folk from Timberreach; muscled and rowdy from Ashwatch; beautiful and quietly judgemental from The Cradle.

  Among the smells and boisterous chatter, a man sat alone in the far corner near the door. His plump hands pressed against the rough oak table, chair tipped back on two legs. He rocked slowly, picking at his teeth, the remains of a fine meal scattered across the table before him. Not bad at all, I must thank Hesa before I leave. His clean embroidered clothes marked him as someone from The Cradle. He was unmistakably haughty as his eyes moved across the room with practiced disdain. Those same eyes betrayed his nervous act as they kept drifting back to the table nearby.

  Five lively guests occupied it. A loud, well-built woman threw her head back laughing, her voice cutting clean through the tavern noise. To her right was a quiet man — he laughed when others laughed, drank when others drank, content to let the evening wash over him. To her left, an enthusiastic man drove the conversation forward with both hands slamming the table for emphasis while making his points. He had several odd trinkets attached to him that rattled when he moved. The lean, direct, and deliberate appearance of those three indicated they hailed from Ashwatch, the military province. Across from them sat two large figures bantering with the animated man between bites. The younger of the two swayed gently to the music drifting from the back of the inn. Their wide build and height marked them as Timberreach folk.

  The observer in the corner judged all of them silently as he rocked back and forth. Snatches of their conversation broke through the tavern noise, and what he heard made him still. They were talking about exploring beyond Fyrania’s borders. Here. In a public inn! Others nearby threw sidelong glances at the table — the same thought moving through every face. No one leaves the borders unless ordered to, or they have a death wish. Anyone who talked about it excitedly was not someone you wanted to interact with.

  The large man from Timberreach stood and cut through the crowd’s stares toward the inn’s door. As he passed the man leaning back on his chair, his crystal blue eyes snapped sideways. Startled, the rocking man lurched, barely catching the edge of the table with his hand to save himself from the floor, ending any hope of impressing others around him. The large man kept walking, waddling slightly. Too much to drink, the observer thought as he straightened himself with as much dignity as he could salvage.

  He cleared his throat. Smoothed his linens. Waved down the barkeep for another ale.

  As he drank, the nearby table's conversation kept pulling him back in. What kind of idiot thinks of going out in the dark to get eaten by some horrible shadow? What’s that she said — she found a trinket out there? Madness. The loud woman was telling the man beside her they needed six of something. The Timberreach girl was talking about a new kind of wood she'd seen out there. Preposterous! And yet, some new type of tree? Hmmm. His mind drifted to the herbs and plants he tended back home in The Cradle. The ale went straight to his head as he forgot his judgemental thoughts and started imagining some mysterious herb out in the dark that could cure all ills. Something no one had ever catalogued.

  A heavy hand dropped on his shoulder, bursting this picture of the dark, shifting shape of a plant.

  The man from before with those piercing blue eyes was back from the privy. “I thought I recognized you, you’re that Cradle fellow who picks odd plants from Timberreach. I saw you before harvesting some local herbs.” His eyes crinkled as a warm smile spread across his face. "Name's Ash. First time at the Crossing?"

  The man in the chair startled, then tried to recover with a shrug. “Yes… pleasure. You can call me Ryvien.” He noted the large man’s aging peppered hair and wrinkles as his eyes flicked back to the table where the loud woman and animated man started trying to shove each other off their chairs. They didn’t recognize me, that’s good… I suppose.

  He'd been here several times now, drawn back each time despite his certainty they were trouble. Unlike most people in Fyrania, he dreamed of possibilities — new plants that could feed twice as many people, new herbs that stopped infections completely. Most of Fyrania kept its head down. Survival demanded it. This world, covered in eternal darkness, offered no room for wandering thoughts. Shrugging, he looked back to Ash who watched him with attentive eyes. “Would you like to join us?” Ash asked, with a casual tilt of his head.

  “Oh, ah, no I am perfectly fine here. Alone. Thank you.” Ryvien insisted, sounding unsure at first, then gaining confidence. Ash nodded and started to walk back to his table. The large man’s gaze lingered a moment before he turned away.

  Ryvien nursed his ale and tried to ignore the noise from the group beside him, betting who would drink the most tonight. The barkeep came and cleaned up the dishes and left him at his solitary table.

  Then the cold hit him — a slow chill walking down his spine. He glanced up without meaning to. Every pair of eyes stared back at him. Silent. Ryvien broke out in a sweat immediately. Why are they staring so brazenly? That damn Ash must have said something, ah I’ll just grab my bill and go. No trouble needed here. Pushing his chair back, an inebriated female voice yelled out at him.

  “Oy, Cradle boy. Come over and join us! Ash says he knows you well, let’s hear some of your stories.”

  Cradle Boy! His face grew red immediately as he couldn’t control his embarrassment. I’ll tell her off, then stomp away! Opening his mouth, he faltered “I-I do not wish to have any consorting with you folks, good d-” He caught himself mid-sentence. It was night. Not day. His mind started overthinking. He hadn’t finished his ale either, this brew wasn’t easy to come by. He closed his mouth awkwardly and went back to his drink with the firm intention of leaving the moment the cup was empty.

  The woman cocked her head to the side like she'd heard something in a foreign language. Staring for a second she turned to Ash. They whispered. Then looked back like a pack of dogs spotting a meal.

  “Well that won’t do…”

  The sounds of scraping wood made Ryvien look up from where he'd been drowning in his drink. The woman had grabbed her table and was hauling it toward him! The others, after a moment of stunned inaction, grabbed their side and helped. The table came to rest flush against his. The group spread out around it, chairs repositioning to include him. Ryvien clutched his ale protectively.

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  “That’s better! Now we can hear ya.” The woman beamed across the table.

  Ryvien’s mind had shut down. He had no strategy for this. This woman — no this group is way too forward, he moaned. Ash leaned over “I’ve heard, if you leave your jaw open long enough, flies will make it their new home.”

  Snickers rippled around the table. Ryvien shut his jaw, unaware it had fallen open again. “Who-who are you?”

  "Right!" The woman straightened up like she'd been waiting for the question. She completely missed his indignant tone. “Around the table: I’m Adohlia. Quiet one to my right is Kurka. This idiot to my left is Rhilo,” she nudged him, getting a smirk. “Past him is Willow, and her uncle Ash you just met.” Smiling broadly at Ryvien she waited expectantly.

  As he stared around he felt overwhelmed. Adohlia’s smile faltered as she looked to Kurka, then Ash. Seemingly understanding something she looked at him and asked, “and you are?”

  With no clever words coming to mind he just answered flatly, “Ryvien”.

  “Good, wanted to confirm I heard it right from Ash.” Adohlia’s infectious smile appeared again. “So tell me, what interest do you have in exploring?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Well you come here often enough and always seem to listen in on us” Her eyes sharpened. “So I assume you must be interested in exploring.”

  Ryvien groused inside. So I guess they did notice me after all, of course the soldiers noticed. “Oh uh, forgive my intrusions. Your topics were always… unnatural.” he replied, gaining back a semblance of intelligent thought.

  Rhilo’s fist hit the table. “Unnatural! That’s bull, it’s the most natural thing in the world! We were just talking about this, I think it’s a hard-coded piece of us everyone seems to stuff away.” Rhilo's dark eyes made it clear he had no intention of stuffing anything.

  Looking around confused, Ryvien was considering being rude and just leaving abruptly. Kurka smiled at him and scratched the back of his head. Wrinkles appeared on his forehead as he smiled and said calmly “Sorry Ryvien, he means exploring. Seeing the unknown. Finding what no one's found before. This group is somewhat obsessed with it. I can see why you and most of Fyrania would call that ‘unnatural’. Don’t worry, Rhilo isn’t about to wrestle you over it." Laughing, he glanced at Rhilo, whose expression suggested otherwise.

  Slightly embarrassed, Rhilo calmed down “Yeah, thanks Kurka. Yes back to the subject, I tell you Adohlia, that rock I found years ago. Same as your totem. It’s hard to describe the feel…” He and Adohlia got entrenched in their previous conversation and Ryvien was happy to sink back into the background. Ash quietly slid a bowl of stew across the table. “Sorry about this, I mentioned I recognized you and she grabbed the table. Consider it an apology. I see it’s one of your favorites…” Ryvien blinked at this but dismissed it as he started to think of how to get away.

  Time passed. Kurka would occasionally offer Ryvien some thread of context, pulling him back in. Willow stayed mostly quiet. She nodded to Ryvien as a greeting but then returned to swaying and drinking. After several more drinks around the table Ryvien had slunk down in his chair, slowly trying to sneak away.

  Kurka and Rhilo circled the same argument for several minutes. "We've been talking about this for a hundred shifts," Rhilo said. "Adohlia, back me up."

  Adohlia swayed — not to the music, Ryvien guessed. Before she could answer, Kurka cut in. “Nothing's changed, we can’t cross the borders the same as always. No matter how confident you are Rhilo. The danger alone —”

  "The danger," Rhilo interrupted, pointing a finger, "is manageable with a proper team. Six people. The right six." He paused. A slow smile. "Well. Now we have six."

  Kurka scoffed, “Six, what do you mean…” As he trailed off he understood something then looked over to Ryvien. Everyone's gaze followed his.

  Ryvien’s eyes were barely visible above the table’s edge, having made considerable downward progress. Rats, they saw me — what were they just saying? He sighed as he sat back up into his seat reluctantly.

  Adohlia studied Ryvien. Her words came out measured, despite the slight slur beneath them. “You, tell me about yourself. Ash tells us you wander around Timberreach looking for rare plants.”

  “M-me?” Ryvien stammered. “Well I’m from The Cradle. I grow herbs mainly to help with cooking food and heal wounds. Sometimes I wander out to Timberreach and Ashwatch to collect things not found in The Cradle.” Ryvien kept it plain and factual. He was just doing his job better than most. Those who traveled between the provinces were rare, especially from The Cradle. The results proved it. Several plants he brought back and investigated from the other provinces resulted in better flavours and improved treatments.

  Adohlia looked at him again, pausing as she stared. Ryvien noticed her copper-brown eyes sharply assessing him before she spoke. “Do you ever think about what’s beyond the borders of the kingdom?”

  “Yeah, death” Ryvien chuckled to himself darkly, getting a few laughs around the table.

  Internally though he couldn’t help but remember all the times he envisioned some new miracle species he could find out there — in the dark. Himself discovering it. Himself returning a hero. He stuffed the image down. Nothing but daydreams, the kingdom can't afford to throw even more lives away at expansion.

  Adohlia reached into her tunic and tossed something across the table. Ryvien barely caught it, fumbling it between his hands. On the end of the necklace hung a circular black stone. It seemed polished smooth and had the cord running through a small loop jutting out of the top. As he looked at it he felt a strange sense of peace wash over him. Something about this rock made him feel distinctly safe. The feeling unnerved him so he put it on the table and said “why are you throwing rocks at me? It looks nice enough, strange that you put so much effort into polishing it.”

  “What if I told you it wasn’t mine?” Adohlia replied, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. Ryvien squinted confused until she continued “I found that outside the borders, on an expansion that failed.”

  Ryvien stared as that sank in. This? Outside the borders? So what? It’s polished, that’s odd enough, but… His mind started racing about why such a rock would be out amongst the darkness.

  “Gets you thinking, doesn’t it?” Adohlia interrupted with the same grin from before. Pausing, she leaned back and lolled her head to the other side while looking at Ryvien. “Do you ever think about finding some rare plant just like my totem? Something no one has ever seen before? Something that could help everyone around you?”

  What, can she read my mind!? I’ve never told anyone that… He remained silent as he was taken aback. His thoughts were in turmoil. He started to understand what this Adohlia woman was getting at. Part of him reached toward the idea, toward the border. The sensible part he was proud of pushed back. No one thought about what was outside the borders other than trees needed to sustain the kingdom's constant fires.

  Adohlia got up, swayed a little, then righted herself. She walked confidently around the table, stumbling a few times. Her auburn hair swayed from side to side, trailing in a thick braid. As she did so she launched into a drunken speech “I think Rhilo is right. Now’s the time. We have been talking and waiting for too long. We have the opportunity now to - ow” she stumbled as she caught her foot on Willow's chair. “Uh yes we have the opportunity to actually venture out. We just needed one more crazy wildcard.” She arrived at Ryvien's side who recoiled at her presence and words like she was about to attack him. She scooped up her totem and gripped it tightly.

  “I’m going to explore out there.” She grabbed Ryvien with her free arm and lifted him, scrunching his body against hers with surprising strength. “And I’m bringing THIS person”.

  Ryvien realized she obviously had forgotten his name at this point as his face blanched. I absolutely will not be joining this woman's expedition.