Sneaky conniving backstabbing betrayers!

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

There certainly hadn’t been last time, Fenn reminded himself as he cautiously took the first steps down the path. He paused every few steps both to maintain his balance and to listen carefully. The valley was home to many dangers. There were carnivorous plants, quicksand, enormous bugs, and sometimes dragons. Fenn was counting heavily on that word “sometimes”.

He looked around anxiously sniffing the air, hoping against reason that if there were a dragon it would give off some kind of noticeable odor.

There was nothing unusual.

For just a moment Fenn dared to allow himself to hope. Perhaps the known dangers were all lies made up to keep folks from the valley. If that was the case, it certainly had turned into a lucrative business for his family. For many generations now the Faraday family had held an undisputed stranglehold on the supply of energy to Hive Hollow. Usually that just meant cleaning and maintaining the energy pods, adjusting the settings to control the flow and output to the various lighting, chilling and heating coils in their mountain home. But today…

MIND THE PATH

Fenn looked at his foot hovering over a suspiciously loose looking rock. Spraining his ankle right now could make for a particularly unpleasant tumble. Fenn carefully stepped around the rock and continued down the path.

…

But today being a Faraday meant harvesting a Zaratharium Crystal.

The energy pods had already been in the mountains when Fenn’s people first found shelter there. It was fortunate that whichever of his ancestors had accompanied the first settlers had decided to harvest a crystal from the cave they all encountered during their exodus. At least, it was fortunate for the settlers. Fenn wasn’t certain the whole chain of events had been fortunate for him personally.

were narrating again.

Leave it alone, it helps manage the fear.

At least, last time had seemed easier than expected. He had seen enormous bugs but they had kept their distance. The quicksand was easy enough to avoid so long as you stayed on the path. The plants…well, he had encountered what was most likely the remains of cousin Phinavul. It was basically just an arm and it had landed suspiciously close to the base of a Strangling Red Vein. Phinavul had not returned from the harvest 5 years ago and so it had fallen to the next oldest unmarried son in the Faraday family to take up his quest. That should have been Jorgan, but when they went to collect him he had been found naked in bed with Arvallya Sanathron.

Technically not married, but Arvallya had made a fuss about how Jorgan had gotten her pregnant and she was ill equipped to raise a child without it’s father.

and rightly so! A child needs both parents.

So, the task had fallen to Fenn, and much to his own surprises, he had survived!

i still don’t see why we are doing this; we had an out this time.

It wasn’t love!

bah, you think Jorgan loved Arvallya?

They made a baby together!

We could make a baby.

Oh fantastic, now we’ve got that one to deal with!

i mean, he does make a good point.

Thank you

if we had a child we were responsible, for the duty would have fallen to cousin Sherm.

It would have?

???

???

???

why, what were you thinking?

Really? You need to ask?

Fenn caught his breath as a stream of ideas began flooding his conscious.

Was this the reason his mom had been pressuring him so much to “settle down” especially these last few months. The reason he kept coming home to find a different giggling girl had been invited over for a family dinner? Was she trying to play matchmaker, hoping to save him from this fate?

are we just now realizing?

Oh sweetie!

Damn!. … that’s a whole lot of missed opportunities

Had Jorgen and Arvallya been faking? Is that why she’d been pregnant for 11 months? Is that why they’d never gotten married?

i can literally see the synapses firing.

Is this what awareness feels like?

Is Arvallya available?

Fenn stopped walking. His body was centered on the path, but his mind was racing through time and space. Had Jorgen lied? How many other family members had faked a child, or an injury, or possibly even murdered someone’s love interest just to not have to take part in the harvest? Was his family just a collection of sneaky conniving backstabbing betrayers and only the simpletons actually undertook the journey?

This is going too far

stop spiraling!

BREATHE!

Fenn suddenly realized that he had stopped breathing while his mind raced. He gasped in a large gulp of air to compensate and immediately began choking.

We’re going to be sick.

SLOWER!

A few measured breaths caused the blinding white fireworks of realization in his mind to subside.

It doesn’t matter right now. Fenn decided, I am too far in. After this harvest I can consider what I would be willing to do to keep from returning to the valley, for now I just need to survive. Focus on that.

Fenn took a moment of silence and cleared his mind. Trying to recenter he reminded himself once again that although the other dangers were real, there weren’t always dragons in the valley.

Is that a euphemism?

Oh, you think the word “clam dip” is a euphemism!

Am I wrong?

in so many ways

THE PATH!!

why does that one have no inside voice?

Being farthest away, requires a shout to get …

ATTENTION!!!

Fenn hadn’t even noticed he’d started walking again. The voices in his head were certainly active today. He looked down at the path and gasped.

For untold generations the Faraday clan had sent one member at a time to retrieve a crystal. Most returned, some did not, but they had always followed the path. Comprised of what appeared to be a long winding line of solid rock, the path stretched from Hive Hollow to the mouth of the Crystal Caves. While not much help against a dragon, or even a particularly hungry bug; the path was the safest way to avoid the quicksand and was out of reach of the plants.

and now it is gone.

Fenn closed his eyes and strained every sense until he could practically taste the fragrance of the flowers near the path, could feel the cool water in the air from the morning dew, could hear the erratic beating of distant drums. Wait. That wasn’t right. Was that his heart making that obnoxious racket? Fenn placed his hand to his chest and felt the rapid beating in his chest in tune to the “drum”.

we’ve got to shut that down right now. If there is a dragon they will hear that noise for certain.

You don’t understand! Without the path this just got twice as dangerous.

also we now have no idea where the crystal cave is.

That is not helping.

Relax, there is no danger nearby.

How can you possibly know that?

No one is shouting.

Fenn took a few calming breaths searching for anything he had learned that might soothe his errant heart. He inhaled slowly filling his lungs with the cool morning oxygen, he exhaled even slower returning the carbon dioxide into the air in a never-ending symbiosis with the flora surrounding him. He stretched his body, standing slightly taller and spreading slightly wider inviting the sun’s rays into his cells. He listened to the back and forth chirping of the birds, the buzzing of insects, and he realized he had found his peace. The path would have been helpful, but he knew the basic direction he needed to go. Like everyone in the Faraday clan he had been trained to identify carnivorous plants. He knew how to avoid quicksand and he was prepared for particularly aggressive bugs. He needed to be careful and alert, but he could do this. So long as there wasn’t a dragon in the valley, and now he was certain, there was not. When a dragon was present the Valley was practically silent as every creature instinctively knew better than to draw its attention. The cacophony of sound was a clear indication that he was in the clear on that front.

Fenn waited one final moment to give the voices a chance for a rebuttal but thankfully none came. Smiling hopefully, Fenn eased his way off the path and onto the Valley floor.