The ash wind softens to a hiss around the petrified roots, and the three of them crouch in a shallow lee of stone-gray bark. The Royal Courier dusts ash from her sleeve and looks out across the plain, where the horizon stays pale and distant.
The Royal Courier
There were once bright roads between kingdoms here. Markets. Lanterns. Border keeps. The Grey Slavers took them one by one, until only names remained.
She folds the map away, careful and slow, as if it weighs more than parchment should. Her voice stays level, but her hands do not.
The Royal Courier
I have seen villages emptied, and halls left cold. That is why I stopped for you, Embers. A child alone in the wild is not something I can pass by.
The Woodsman sits near the roots with his back against the stone, listening without interrupting. Ash gathers on his boots, and he keeps his gaze lowered, giving the moment room.
The Royal Courier
If there is a true home still left in this world, I would rather help you reach it than keep walking past people who need one.
The wind eases again. For a heartbeat, the ash plain feels almost still, and the question of home hangs between them like a lantern waiting to be lit.
“What should I look for in a home beyond being safe warm and fed i know not. But I would really like some place with large open fields that I Can See For Miles a place where I can be myself without fear a place that i can be safe”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled -1)
Embers Firestarter
What should I look for in a home beyond safe, warm, and fed? I would like open fields I can see for miles, and a place where I can be myself without fear.
The Royal Courier
Space, then. A horizon. A door that does not feel like a trap. That is not a small thing to want.
The Woodsman
It is a good want. A sensible one. Wolves trust high ground, hawks trust distance, and children should trust the view.
The Royal Courier
She studies Embers with a softer face than before, as if fitting the answer into a map only she can see.
The Woodsman
Then we look for ridges, clearings, and places where the light reaches first. A home should let you see what comes.
The Royal Courier
And it should let you choose how to stand in it. Hidden, bold, quiet, running, laughing. Yours.
The Courier sets her map across her knee and marks the distant plain with one gloved finger, tracing a route that leaves the ash shelter behind and runs toward the brighter edge of the world.
“I think we should go there now but I don't know the way can you lead me”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +4)