Meeting the settling cold on the other side of the door, Chase felt as though she was reuniting with an old acquaintance. A wooden bucket in one hand and a black hand trowel in the other, she fiddled compulsively with a crumbled apron tied haphazardly around her waist. She winced as her eyes met the stinging brightness of the blush-white snowscape ahead of her. She squinted as they adjusted to the scene

  The garden behind Llana's cabin was little more than a patchwork of frost-dusted herbs and oddly shaped stalks. The entire menagerie was boxed in by a short and crooked iron fence that had long since turned to rust in the open mountain air. It looked to be one windstorm away from collapse. Just beyond the boundary of the collapsing garden unfurled a vast white field, stretching a couple hundred feet into the distance before meeting a sheer drop into whatever wilderness lay below. Flanked on one side by a dense tree-line, the field cut short only to give way to the sight of distant mountain tops. Slopes of lush green woodlands turned to snow smothered peaks, the entire scene so distant and lofty that low-floating clouds drifted by, obscuring the sight in a translucent fog.

  Though it was beautiful, the sight did more to unsettle Chase who couldn't help but ponder morbidly what kind of monsters --other than those she had already seen, could be living within the many folds of the picturesque landscape.

  Turning her attention back towards the garden, she allowed the familiar work to busy her. She crouched low by a cluster of crooked red bulbs --the strange flesh-like pockets of liquid produced by... Alcra stalks, if she remembered right. Dunking a watering ladle into a large bucket of water nestled in the corner of the garden, she wet the soil beneath each of the curling stalks with no more than three ladles each. 'Three ladles. No more, no less," Llana's stern face engraved it's visage into her memory. Though it wasn't just her advice that motivated her to ensure she did everything here right. She shuddered at the memory of what had happened the first time she'd picked a blueroot plum too soon.

  Speaking of --she walked over to the cluster of turquoise bruised stems tucked away on the opposite side of the garden, gently twisting off only those which appeared absolutely brimming with a bright purple undertone. It was strange, the way her body seemed to remember things before her mind had managed to. Over the last few days, she had somehow become almost competent at this --tending to the plants, mixing the herbs, distinguishing the roots from the weeds, remembering what each strange organism that populated Llana's garden did and didn't like as she called it.

  Though Llana had corrected her many times, she'd begun to call this place a 'clinic'. Referring to Llana as a doctor rather than a 'healer', which she requested to be called many times.

  She wasn't quite sure why. The words just made sense for what she called them. Important, and clear. But distant, too --like they were borrowed from a dream.

  The eruption of a sudden vindictive yelling interrupted her thoughts.

  At the sound, she straightened up, her eyes squinting again as she peered up past the fence toward the field beyond it.

  A familiar group of figures danced through the snow. Baggy furs bouncing on their childish shoulders as wooden swords swung wildly in the air.

  Well, not all figures on the field appeared so childish. A large grey-eyed boy stood at least three heads above the others, holding another boy by the back of his collar as the latter flailed wildly in protest. Roan appeared red-faced, shouting ferociously as he continued to writhe under the titan's grasp.

  "Let me GO, Tetsu! I've gotta beat the SHIT outta this guy-!" The spiky-haired boy shrieked as another boy, his hair growing over his face like a moss, stood a few paces away from the scene, utterly unbothered by Roan's threats.

  "This little fungus rat --no, this little shit fungus rat threw BOAR DUNG on my face! I've gotta plant his little mushroom-shit... rat-fungus... shit-FACE! --deep in the ground Tetsu! It's a matter of honor! Don't you know what honor is you little shit rat!?" Roan roared as he glared at Arton. "Who the hell does that in a duel?" A smear of brown decorated one cheek of Roan's face.

  Chase blinked as she watched the comical scene unfolding before her.

  "Real fights get dirty, Roan. It ain't always sunshine and boar dun- Ahem, I mean sunshine and rainbows. You gotta get used to it sometime." Arton shrugged his shoulders, donning a sagacious expression as he offered his advice.

  "You! I'll show you dirty you smug bastard!" Roan's face appeared to somehow turn an even darker shade of red as he flailed even harder in Tetsu's grip. Even a giant like him began to lose his grip from the constant struggle.

  "You lost, Roan." Tetsu finally spoke, his tone blank and unimpressed as he gave Roan a solemn stare. "Take it like a man. The duel's over."

  Roan turned to face him with a growing look of incredulity as he opened his mouth in protest. "But--"

  "You'd dishonor the duel if you try to get revenge. What's point in having duels you won't honor?" Tetsu reaffirmed his opinion, scolding Roan with a serious expression as he seemed to crumble under his glare. Tetsu finally released the boy from his grasp, causing him to crash sloppily onto the ground below from the sudden pull of gravity.

  "Still." Tetsu frowned as he turned to Arton. "That was cheap."

  "Never said it wasn't" Arton shrugged again as Tetsu's glare turned to him.

  Just to the side, a fourth boy busily swung his sword, appearing to perform his movements with incredible focus as his eyes didn't dare to move so much as an inch from the wooden blade in front of him. It was only when Tetsu's gaze finally turned to him that a crack appeared in his diligent facade.

  "Rafal, it's your turn." The fourth boy's sword zigzagged wildly as the giant spoke to him mid-swing. He immediately froze up under the larger boy's piercing gaze.

  "U-uh, I think I need to practice my form a little more before--"

  "You've been practicing the same swing for a week now, Rafal." Tetsu quickly refuted the boy's words, but Rafal wasn't about to give up that easily.

  "Yeah, but I haven't mastered it yet." He said quickly, trying his best to emphasize the word 'mastered' to convey the importance of the matter.

  "There's no such thing as mastering a move you've never applied practically. You won't master it without fighting." Tetsu explained.

  "I-I don't think I'm ready yet--"

  "No one ever is." Tetsu cut him off, digging his heel behind him before raising his sword parallel to his torso. The snow audibly crumbled under the weight of his heel as he prepared to take his first step.

  Taking a single step forward, he raised his sword as he approached Rafal, moving in before-

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  "I YIELD! I YIELD! PLEASE, DON'T KILL ME!" Rafal surrendered immediately, lifting his arms as the sword he'd been so diligently swinging just a few seconds earlier fell limply into the snow below.

  "Ugh. Coward." Roan groaned at the sight.

  Then from the garden, a burst of laughter sounded in long waves. Chase couldn't help it.

  All four boys immediately turned to the source of the noise, seeing Chase as she stood at the fence, arms resting lazily on the wood as her hands cupped her cheeks while she stared back at them. "Hey, giant. Are you training to fight honorable duels or to harass children?" She asked in a tone barely disguising her amusement.

  Tetsu blinked at her. "We're all the same age." He said blankly.

  "Oh, right..." Chase squinted as she once again found herself awing at that simple fact. She studied the boys, marking the stark difference between that of the giant and the rest of the group. "Still. Have you never heard the phrase 'pick on someone your own size'?"

  Tetsu tilted his head, his gaze landing on Roan beside him who quickly averted his eyes, before landing on Arton who, too, only shrugged in response to his questioning gaze.

  Then, he looked back at Chase, sporting an expression of genuine befuddlement as he did so.

  Chase sighed at the sight. With a quiet huff, she untied her apron, dusting off the loose soot which adorned it before peeling it from her waist. The motion, though casual, appeared to set off a miniature crisis within Roan's brain.

  "W-What are you doing!?" He shrieked, spinning around and clasping both hands over his eyes as his cheeks flushed red.

  Chased blinked at him, bemused at his gentlemanly display of courtesy. And to think Llana had told her there were no chivalrous men in the village.

  Roan felt a sudden sting from his nape as he turned to see Arton staring at him with another revolted expression. "It's just her apron, you filth. What exactly are you fantasizing about?" He scolded, not allowing the disgusted expression on his face to fade by even a hair as he did so.

  "Maybe I was wrong to throw that boar dung on you. I think some of it might've gotten to your brain." Arton quickly added, his voice reflecting a sudden melancholic nature as he looked at Roan with a pitying gaze.

  "You!"

  Relieved of her encumbering apron, Chase hopped over the crooked in a single smooth motion.

  'Woah...' Rafal watched the movement with awestruck eyes. He wondered at that moment if he was capable of doing that too.

  Chase walked up to the boys, dusting off the snow from her palms before phrasing a casual question. "So, what exactly are you training for out here, then? Even if it's only been a week, I haven't seen so much as an angry boar running around here. Let alone another troll." Her curious eyes studied the boys as she awaited a response.

  "Boars are all hibernating right now. Won't see 'em till spring." Arton replied curtly as he adjusted one of the overall straps hanging over his shoulder.

  Chase took a moment, nodding to his adequate response before asking again. "What about the trolls?" she raised an incredulous brow. "They hibernating too?"

  "You won't see any trolls near the village." This time it was Tetsu who answered --his voice flat, yet a hint of pride present in his tone.

  "What? Because they're scared of you?" Chase asked him incredulously in response. "You're big but, they're wayyy bigger." She stated simply, widening her arms as if to demonstrate the difference in size.

  He blinked once. "Because of my brother." He responded curtly.

  She titled her head in response. "Your brother scares them?" She asked, puzzled.

  "No. He kills them." Tetsu said bluntly.

  "Oh." There was a short pause as Chase mused that she had received at least an answer of some kind to her questions.

  Rafal seemed to pick up on this, however, as he took a few moments to build up his courage before picking up the explanation where Tetsu had so curtly left off. "Th-There's a fort up on the mountaintop. Warriors from the village stay up there year-round. They keep the trolls away from the pass." He explained as Chase's eyes trailed over to him.

  Chase's eyes widened slightly in response. "There are people who live up there? And, they just -fight trolls...? All day?"

  Rafal shrunk silently under her gaze, recoiling like a turtle trying to retreat to it's shell.

  "It's a huge honor," Tetsu quickly added, his face remaining stoic though his tone had grown considerably more proud. "Only a few boys are chosen each year to become a fortsman. My brother was chosen two years ago."

  "And that's what we're training for." Arton added on, his tone appearing somehow even less passionate than even Tetsu's.

  Roan, now mostly recovered from his embarrassing display, piped up with a smirk. "If you don't train hard enough as a boy, you'll end up stuck in the village doing something way more boring --like carpentry, or laying stone. Or--" He suddenly paused as his eyes glanced back up at Chase who looked back at him with a puzzled expression.

  "...or, uh... definitely not herbalism. Because anybody would wanna do that."

  Arton rolled his eyes.

  Tetsu, however, didn't bother to correct Roan as he slandered all the domestic positions for men in the village. It seemed that even he was capable of being childish at times, Chase mused.

  "But that's weird." Chase started as she tilted her head in an expression of confusion. "How come nobody ever told me about all this?" She finally said.

  Tetsu's face distorted at her words, growing uncharacteristically telling. "Llana didn't?"

  Chase simply shook her head in response. "No."

  Tetsu's confusion seemed to only grow at her words. "But she's... you're her assistant, right? The fortsmen always visit the clinic before going up the mountain. There's no reason she shouldn't tell you." Tetsu attempted to argue with the reality being revealed to him as he took a step towards Chase in the heat of the moment.

  "She never mentioned anything about it," Chase repeated, her voice grew a little quieter under Tetsu's fiery gaze.

  It only seemed to throw Tetsu off even more, however, until Roan decided to insert himself into the situation. He stuck out a scrawny arm in front of the giant, his face beginning to contort as he appeared to be trying to push Tetsu back with the back of his arm. The giant, however, didn't so much as budge an inch under his force.

  "Uhm... Ahem... I think you're getting... a little too close there, Tetsu..." Roan spoke in between gaps of effortful work. It was only when Tetsu noticed the growing force on his abdomen that he realized how close he had come to Chase, immediately taking a step back as Roan's hand was finally given the relief it desperately needed.

  "Ah. Sorry." Tetsu apologized quickly.

  "Ahem... Well," Roan began after taking a moment to discretely catch his breath. "I think that kind of makes sense, doesn't it?" He finally said, the color returning to his face. "A girl like you shouldn't have to worry about something like trolls. That's what warriors like us are for." He stated proudly as he brought his fist to his chest.

  Arton immediately rolled his eyes upon hearing Roan's words.

  Chase stared at him with a blank expression. Her face didn't scrunch in confusion, break into laughter, or so much as look amused in the slightest.

  "So, what?" She suddenly began, her tone sharp. "A weak, stupid girl like me doesn't need to know about things like that because I can't do anything about it anyways!?" She asked, irate.

  Roan's proud smile dissipated almost immediately at her words. "W-wait, no, I didn't mean it like tha-"

  Chase suddenly took a step closer as Roan shrank under her glare. "Should I remind you, that I'm the only one here who's actually fought a troll?"

  Roans mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words escaped his lips. "W-well, you didn't technically f-fight it." He finally said, and Arton almost immediately held his face in disbelief at the words.

  'This idiot...' He thought as exactly what he expected came to pass.

  "W-What did you say!?" Chase nearly immediately let out an angry shriek in response. "Aside from me, none of you have so much as been in shouting distance from a troll. So don't talk like you know anything about what it feels like to be hunted by one!"

  Rafal was nearly toppled over by the fear alone as Chase suddenly burst into anger.

  "God!" She shouted again, this time almost to herself before turning back towards the cabin she came from. "Whatever! You guys can go play pretend where you want! Just don't do it here. -Ever -Again!" She looked back to shout at them once more time before continuing her angry march back to the garden.

  "Wait. You don't have the right to-" Arton slapped a swift hand over Tetsu's mouth before he could finish his sentence. Tetsu glared back at him as he pulled it back but Arton didn't back away from his gaze.

  "Not the time, man. Not the time." He said simply. Tetsu looked back at him with a confused tilt of his head, his eyes trailing back up to Chase's fleeting back as she kicked at the snow around her in a vitriolic show of anger.

  "And you..." Arton said suddenly as he directed a disappointed gaze in Roan's direction. As his eyes happened upon the sight of Roan's tear-stricken face, snot dribbling sloppily from his nose as his eyes welled up with another wave of his regret, he almost felt bad.

  Arton reached over and gave Roan a slow, heavy pat on the back. "Hey, man..." he said dryly. "You really shit the bed on this one."

  Roan looked back at him with wide, watery puppy eyes. And Arton wondered if he should try and find a nice, big bone to cheer him up.