Evening settles over the hidden refuge. Sella sets a small iron pot beside the spring-fed basin, adding roots, dried mushrooms, and a pinch of salt to the simmering water.
Sella
My father returned to the fork. He will tell the keepers you arrived under his token, but the refuge answers to its own rules.
She stirs the meal with a carved spoon. Lanternlight glints across the keeper's map, where three routes fade toward lands beyond the shrine's boundary.
Sella
We do not steal from travelers, reveal a refuge, or promise shelter we cannot provide. We trade work for food, and every passage leaves a record.
Sella
Those rules keep the roads alive. They also make freedom slower than fleeing. What would independence look like for you in practice, Iris?
The question rests between them with the scent of mushrooms and woodsmoke. Beyond the door, hidden water runs steadily through stone, while the thorn gate seals the night outside.
Sella
Could you earn coin in a market town, find a place to sleep, and choose your next road without a keeper's mark? Or would you need something else first?
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach a market town