Cha was less than pleased, but a person had to have proper priorities in any situation. "How's the horse?"

        Cha had gone to the back and tied the bags, and had come back into the front room planning to make himself some food when Jayari came back into his cave. A problem. "What kind of problem?"

        "Good," Cha said, and began rolling the hides to pack in the bags as best as they would fit. "I'll tie the bags up to the rope. Be sure to close the hatch properly after you pull them up."

        Cha raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You think what you brought is worth all this? Including dire badger teeth and claws? These claws are strong enough to dig through solid stone. The teeth can crush the shell of the iron beetle." He shook his head at the girl and gave her a bemused smirk. "I will give you all this, if you bring back a sack of manoomin. Today. Can you do that?"

        Cha stepped away from Jayari to open his dry chest. He opened it and began flipping through. He pulled out a few furs and pelts and folded them over his arm. He then pulled out a couple other items before returning to Jayari. He laid them out in front of her. Several animal hides; three deer, one wolf, two hare and five beaver. Then he set down a four large canines, and ten large claws all from what was likely a large dire badger. "As I said, I'll take it all. Now from what I'm willing to part with, you decide what you want."

        When Cha reached the end of his tunnel, he stood and turned on his lantern. He did not aim it like a spotlight this time, but opened the hood so that the light could spill out into the room. From there he moved  to the curtain that led to his kitchen and work area. Toward the back of the room the rope came down from a hole in the ceiling and the bags were there on the floor. He pulled the knots loose and carried the bags back to the front room for Jayari to unpack and show him the contents.

        "Would you feel the same if you watched all your friends and loved ones die around you on a bloody battlefield while you could do nothing?" Cha was obviously growing agitated. This girl knew nothing of his life, of his pain. "I do not wish to form more bonds to lose. I'm perfectly. Fine. Alone."

        "I don't do things for fun," Cha retorted. "The point of being alone is to avoid people. Loneliness doesn't factor in," he lied. "If I get badly injured then I made a mistake, and if I survive I will have learned a valuable lesson. Otherwise I'm dead. At that point why worry about it?"

        "That was the idea," Cha confirmed. "At least for now." He then got on the ground and began the crawl down into his cave.

        "My mother was not kicked out," Cha explained. "My grandmother left the Duhjari to marry an Essyrni merchant. As a result my mother was born in Essyrn to a Duhjari mother and Essyrni father." When they got to the bottom of the hill, Cha did not wait, and immediately moved to enter. "My mother told me stories of the flora and fauna of the Plains. The same stories were told to my mother by my grandmother."

        Had they been facing each other Jayari would have seen Cha's eyes narrow in a glare. "My mother is dead. I'm here to be in the land she told me fond stories of, not to be around people."

        "Most Adelan's do not live in cities," Cha corrected. "And I'm not Adelan. My father had some amount of Adelan blood, we know because he could move objects with his mind, though very weakly. Not like the strength my ability to push." Cha felt the load slacken, and he hooked up the rope and closed the hidden hatch. "I came out here to feel close to my mother, and to avoid other people." He then began to walk back down the hill to the entrance of his cave.

        Cha attached the other two bags and began lowering them down. "I've been here about a year."

        Leading the way up the hill to a small hatch hidden in a tree stump, Cha pulled it open and grabbed a rope that was concealed within. "Not for us," he said, attaching the saddlebag to the end of the rope. "We'll lower them through this chute. And then sort it after we get inside."

        "I'm sure it's fine," Cha said. "Bring it all and we'll decide what you'll take as payment." He lifted one of the saddlebags off the horse and started walking up the gentle slope past his tunnel entrance.

        "What is there to explain," Cha asked. "You went into my home looking for me. It is good I did not set traps. I only do that if I plan on being away for a while."

        Cha arrived to find a lone horse, laden with saddle bags and no rider. He knew it was Jayari's horse, but he wasn't sure he'd heard the horses name. That was fine though. He didn't need to know the horses name to pay its neck and feed it some dried berries from his pocket. She was a good horse. She only nickered a little as he approached. She sniffed his outstretched hand, and then took the berries he offered as he patted her neck. Cha could hear Jayari crawling out of the tunnel. She'd be out soon. In the meantime, he inspected her bow and arrows. The craftsmanship was good, but lacked refinement. Perhaps knowledge was another thing he could trade to her tribe.

        Cha was not in his front room today. In fact he was not in his cave at all when Jayari arrived. He was out collecting edible plants, and had been since that morning. He did not travel far though, as it was not advantageous to stray too far from home when the weather could turn nasty at any moment. Digging up potatoes and wild onions had proved a challenge. Luckily the stream that ran near his cave wasn't too far. Some cattails were growing along the shore up stream from the beavers he'd been trapping earlier that year. He already taken a few, but he had decided to dig up a few more. He was returning when he saw Jayari on her horse in the distance. He was not the type to call out, and she obviously had not seen him. She would arrive several minutes before him, but she could wait.

        Cha caught that. So she didn't like that he had Adelan blood. He always thought that was interesting. The Duhjari were technically Adelans but territorial disputes pushed the horse nomads out of the country. Well he didn't care about their disputes. He didn't even know how much Adelan blood he had. His father didn't know his own origins. Such mixed and diluted blood with an untraceable background was common among mercenaries born in the life. As long as she brought him what he needed, Jayari's xenophobia was of no consequence to him. She was just a nomad after all.

        Serendipity. A city? Cha had figured the nomads would at least know about countries. "Serendipity is larger than the Plains, and is the Kingdom that once conquered Adela." He was growing impatient. Mention of the dragon had perked him up, but he was not interested in talking about himself or his telekinesis. "The power is my own. It's one of the many abilities that Adelans can have. And I did not fly, I simply jumped and used my power to push away from the ground. When I broke the ground I pushed down on it with my power as I ran, crushing the frozen earth." Cha moved to pick up a mug from his low table and took a drink. "How long will it take for you to return? Tomorrow? Or perhaps the day after?"