The Quantum Wanderer

“Good morning, lord…”

“Marcelo” Autumnstart helps.

The other elf looks at him, then back again at me.

“Good morning, lord Marcelo. I would like to apologize for my behavior yesterday.”

“Sure, no problem.”

I feel a hard but comfortable hand holding my hand. I see a dryad. She is looking at the sales clerk with a smile, nodding. The sales clerk is still looking at me.

“Thank you… my lord.”

He looks around, as if he was going to tell me some big secret. I lean in, to hear it.

“Why are you wearing a fake armor?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“It is really well made, even the feeling is correct. The shine, even the mana feel. How did you fake the mana feel?”

The dryad by my side starts laughing hysterically. Her musical laughter, rolling out. The amount of laughter reminded me of Muninn when we approached Cecilia’s parents, though.

“You silly! You really think that big brother would be wearing a fake? It’s as real as possible!”

“But the scratches…”

I turn back. The girls were mixed in with the elves. The dragonesses were together, but still talking to some elves, with a couple of dryads by them. The dryad laughs again. Opal looks casually at me, I gesture her to get Ruby’s attention. When Ruby looks at me, I call her through gestures.

Ruby comes my way, and the girls end up accompanying her. Once they are all close, I turn to Ruby.

“Can I have your hand for a minute?”

Ruby extends her arm, and raises the other one. I hold it her arm.

“NO!”

There are a couple of people laughing, they are probably thinking this is a joke. I would like to be as sure as them. I continue.

“That was funny…”

I pull her hand against the scratches. She understands, she positions her fingers as if she was going to scratch something. The sales clerk looks at it and does a smirk.

“That is nice story, sir, but…”

“Well, I am not going to have it scratched again. If you bring your strongest shield, I can show you. But it is going to get damaged.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“I will buy it for twice it’s price.” I smile.

The clerk smiles at me. He looks really happy. The dryad at my side gives me a tug on my arm.

“But… What if it does get damaged?” She asks in an almost shy way. The sales clerk looks at me.

“You can have a pick in my store.”

The whole exchange start attracting elves around. I give him a yellow smile.

“Don’t get my wrong, but bow and arrows are not really my thing… And we all got our weapons made by master Brokkr, from the dwarves…”

The dryad starts jumping up and down.

“I know! I know! He can eat a purple pepper.”

I see a drop of sweat forming on the sales clerk’s forehead. Apparently this is scary.

“What is that?”

The dryad puts her hand over her mouth.

“It is what it is? A pepper?” The dryad answers while shrugging.

The elves around us have their eyes open wide. Some of them have a pitiful look. They all look at the sales clerk. He is considering, scratching his chin. The dryad looks at some elves with a smile that could have come from Muninn. The elves start murmuring.

“Yes, he is not confident his shield can hold her nails! I thought he had better fares…”

The peer pressure end up working. He tells us to wait, while he runs towards his shop. The little dryad is apparently very satisfied with herself. Her malicious smile is also on the faces of the girls. And the brâns. I am pitying the sales clerk. Whatever this thing is, it must be bad.

I turn to Autmnstart.

“What is a purple pepper?”

“Oh, it is a very strong pepper. We normally stay away from the seeds. It is not something that is sold a lot, because it is used so sparingly. A single one will last six months in a restaurant, and it is a small thing, around one inch long. It is the most potent pepper know to us.” He looks at the dryad. “And that is saying something.”

Muninn start a very heartfelt laughter. We are waiting with all eyes on us. The elves are anticipating something fun, apparently.

The sales clerk is back. He brings an enchanted mithril shield. I take a look at it. It is resistant, of course, but our armors are a level above. Way above. The sales clerk is looking at us, smug.

I hand the shield to Ruby. She looks at Huginn and nods. She holds it by one side, supporting the other side against her hips. She has her index finger out, the rest of her hand is closed. She starts scratching it with her nail. The coil of metal being scraped off the shield is falling on the floor. The noise is something that bugs me, it is an unnatural sound of metal being cut.Everyone is silent. She does some scraping, and then turns the shield on the side. More scraping, and turns the shield again.

After she is done, Ruby holds the shield in front of her. She smiles. She holds the shield then by one hand, and supports the other side against the ground. She opens her hand as if she was going to grab a lamp or a baseball. She pushes her hand against the center of the shield, her nails go all the way in. She twists her hand, the center of the shield comes off in her hand.

Ruby hands me the shield. It has a sentence scratched on it. ‘Don’t doubt my lord’. I pass the shield to the sales clerk. He is terrified. He looks at Ruby. She is admiring her nails, pretending to clean them.

Autumnstart picks up the shield and takes a look. He starts laughing, really bad. Then he shows the shield for the others. Everyone is laughing. Everyone but the sales clerk. After a long laughter, someone finally asks.

“Wait. Who has purple pepper?”

Three dryads get in front of us. They hold their hands in a small circle. A plant appears on the wooden ground, and it starts growing. It bends over, and a sprout starts to appear. It starts taking the shape of a red pepper. Initially small, but it keeps growing. When it stops growing, it has this bright purple to it. It is flaunting it’s colors to the whole world.

The elves start laughing again. I look at that and I tilt my head. I turn to Autumnstart.

“Wasn’t that supposed to be small?”

“EXACTLY!”

We all start laughing. We take sometime enjoying the comedy in front of us. Autumnstart is dropping tears. Someone in the back shouts.

“WHAT A NICE DOUGHNUT BURNER, LUÍN!”

Everyone gets back to laughing some more. Even Autumnstart, but he then looks at me, and tries to disguise it. I turn to him.

“What was that?”

“Oh, that… The pepper is so strong that some people say that it burns you on two different moments… Going in, obviously, and then coming out… Hence the nickname…”

I laugh at the whole thing. Ruby approaches the dryads.

“Damn, you savage, little girl.”

“Teehe!” The dryad hits herself lightly on the top of the head.

The sales clerk looks at the pepper. He is scared to pick it up. Peer pressure force him to. He gets close, and picks it up. He gets it close to his mouth, but stops. He goes back. He tries again, but he can’t force himself to do that. On his third try, an apparently drunk elf just pushes his hand into his mouth. The sales clerk starts running away, screaming.

The laughter restarts. After we are done, the elves keeping wondering around, enjoying music and talk.

“Lord Marcelo, would you mind if I spread word that you are friend to the elves?”

“I don’t mind.”

The party keeps going. A little after 1 in the afternoon, clouds cover the sky. At around 2 pm, it rains. It rains heavily, for around 20 minutes.

The water level never rises. There are small holes closer to the houses that take the water away, probably to the plants that make up the city. After the quick rain, everything is wet, the sun comes back out. The elves don’t even try to cover themselves. Huginn and Muninn just shake themselves.

The party goes on for another hour. The dryad asks me.

“Is big brother going to stay with us a little bit?”

“We were thinking about getting to know the city, touring around, yes.”

“Great! Autumnstart, find an empty place for big brother’s home with us.”

The old elf bows down.

“It shall be done, lady.”

He turns to me.

“Let us know when you want to have some rest, lord Marcelo.”

I look at the girls. They nod, indicating that they have also had enough partying.

“Let’s go, then.”

We accompany him, while he guides us around through several streets. We walk for another hour. He brings us to the end of a street. There is nothing there. He kneels down and touches the ground with surprising agility, much more than I thought he would have. He starts muttering something, and a house starts sprouting from the ground. A dryad is by his side. He looks at her. The walls start sprouting, they come together.

Windows appear with the wood separating itself. I get close to where the entrance should be. I only identify it because there is a path leading there. When I come close to it, the wall, or the wood that makes it up, opens itself. I take a look at the interior. It feels very comfortable. The air is humid, but it is cooler than outside.

A child human like shape starts to appear on the wall. It gets more defined, until a dryad comes out of it.

“Did big brother like his house?”

“Yes, thank you. You didn’t have to.”

“We are happy to make big brother happy.” She giggles.

“Thank you. Again.”

She disappears into the wall. We sit on the couch.

“This was fun.” Cecilia mentions.

“I second that!” Muninn exclains.

We chat a little bit about the stuff that happened, both yesterday and today. Even at home, we have to avoid a couple of subjects in front of Charles and Lucille.

It is getting close to dinner time, we jump a portal back home.

The next morning, after having some morning fun, we go down for breakfast. I am thinking about the sheer amount of meat we have in the safe now. The girls and I could be gone for millennia and still not consume it all.

We go down for breakfast. After Cecilia and I finish eating, I look at Cecilia.

“Cecs, you never told me your new level…” I smile.

She looks at me, then at her parents. I continue.

“We can talk about that later. Have you been training the railgun spell?”

“Yes! Shandon has actually helping me with it!”

I look at Shandon.

“Thank you. It makes me happy that you are helping your sister.”

“I also helped her train with the sword.” Ruby comments.

“Thank you too. All of you girls make me the happiest.”

There is some silence around. A happy one. Cecilia looks at me.

“Are we back in the elves again?”

“I was thinking that yes. We could enjoy some days there. Specially since we have a base there now. Just like the beach place, it can have some new fun stuff. Remember the nail painting?”

Aquamarine stops the fork before putting a piece of steak in her mouth.

“Do you like the way they look, my lord?”

“I do. You girls look nice either way, but I do like the way it looks. It was something common in my… In the place I come from.”

The girls smile. After breakfast, I dress more casual. My plans are not involving any kind of fight, so I don’t think I will be needing armor. I meet the girls in the living room.

“Hi girls. Let’s go?”

Cecilia stays in front of them, as if protecting them.

“We actually made up other plans, if you don’t mind.”

“Ok.”

I kiss each of them in the mouth.

“Take care. I love you all.”

“Love you too.”

Aquamarine seems undecided on what to do, looking at the floor, thinking really hard. Then she jumps me just like Ruby usually does. “Love you too, my lord.”

“Love you too.” Ruby answers, smiling lasciviously.

Opal and Shandon were beet red. They say at the same time.

“Love you too, my lord.” And then they both get way too red on the face. I sigh, looking at them.

I open a portal and jump over to my house in the elves with Muninn by my side. I take a look around the house. From the ceiling, there are some lower branches, close to the wall. These have fruits hanging in them. I take a look at them. It looks like a fruit with a thin peel. I look at Huginn.

“Do you think we are supposed to eat this with the peel as well? Or are we supposed to remove the peel before eating?”

“Everything in here is healthy, big brother.”

The voice behind us startles me a little. I turn around, there is a dryad in the living room.

“Hi, good morning.”

“Good morning, big brother.”

She does this little courtesy, holding her skirt to the side.

…

…

“I am sorry, I didn’t expect anyone to be here. How can I help you?”

She tilts her head. She throws me the weirdest expression.

“What do you mean, big brother?”

“I didn’t expect anyone here, inside the house.”

She laughs a couple of times, really entertained. She smiles in a non-confrontational way.

“But big brother, I *am* the house.” She laughs a little more. “This whole city is us. It is grown, it is not built. It is alive. It pulsates.” She giggles. “We are happy to live with the elves, they have protected us in the past. But it is friendship.”

…

…

“What do elves do with this fruit? Do they peel it?”

She smiles.

“Not that one.”

I grab the fruit, and bite it. I take a piece and hand it to Muninn. The fruit is very sweet. It is at the very perfect timing for eating. It is juicy, I kind of drool a little. I try to hold it in, but some of it falls on the floor. I open my bag of holding to grab a cloth to clean it, but the dryad gestures and the wood on the floor absorbs the spilt.

I pass my foot on the floor. It is completely dry.

“Is there anything big brother desires in the house?”

I take a look at the floor. I start to wonder…

“Can there be carpet?”

“But big brother is wearing shoes. How are you going to feel it?”

I go the place the door outside would be, I take off my shoes. I walk on the wood, back in to the living room. There are four squares on the floor. All of them green, of course. One of them is like a moss. I step on it. It feels soft on the foot. Contrary to what I would expect, it is not slippery.

Next to it, there is another square that is green like the outside of a velvet leaf. It feels like a hairy leaf, one of those that feels good against the skin. The other two are a very short grass, and the other one is a higher one, that my foot almost disappears in it.

The most comfortable one is the short grass. It is almost like having the soles of my foot massaged on every step. I step around a little bit. The dryad is having fun with this, apparently. I look at her.

“Should I worry about the grass? I mean, stepping on is going to damage it, right?”

She giggles.

“Big brother still sees only the tree. We are the forest. We are one. We are all. We are I.”

The forest unity hits me at once. I realize now how bad the dryad thing in a couple of weeks would have been. How cruel this had been in them. She catches me looking at her.

“Big brother shouldn’t look at little old me like this, your wives are going to be jealous…”

I laugh at it.

“What is your name?”

“I am Ipê, big brother. If you ever want something, just let me know. I will always be… around.” She gestures toward the house.

“Thank you, Ipê… Just throwing this out there, but can you help me find cooking condiments? Cinnamon, some peppers, stuff like that?”

She smiles.

“Just let me know what you need, big brother.”

“Sure. I just don’t want to feel like I am exploiting you.”

“You are way too kind for your own good, big brother.”

She throws me a kiss, while merging with the walls in the house. I come over to the door, I put my shoes on. The wall opens itself for me. I walk outside. An elf was sitting on the floor, on the other side of the street. He stands up and start running.

I wonder if there is any secret on this side, but they already saw everything I have to hide. The dryads already know what everyone is, and they carry no malice.

I start walking in the streets, breathing in the air around. Because of the time I have spent already, the day is advancing. It is around 11 o’clock already. As I am walking around the city, I feel the smell of bread and pastries.

I walk another block and I see a bread store. They have a lot of varied sweets. Everything here is way more elaborate than anything I have seen on the human side. There is this layered bread, it looks like a croissant. I ask for one. I reach in my dwarven pouch for copper and silver coins.

“Good morning. My name is Marcelo. How may I call you?”

“I know.” He giggles. “Everyone knows… I am Bram Faelan, lord Marcelo. How can this humble servant help?”

“Your bread is making my mouth water. Can I have one of this?”

I point to what looks to be the croissant. He hands it to me, on top of a big leaf, that has a consistency of a banana leaf. I grab it. I reach in my pouch, but a branch comes out of the counter. Out of the branch, a couple of flowers start germinating, and they become a couple of seeds. The branch then dries up, and the ashes flow away with the wind. On top of the counter there are a couple of seeds.

Both me and the bread maker are looking at the seeds. They are big. One is half an inch, the other one is about an inch. They are almost spherical, but not quite. After some time staring at it, I look at Bram.

“Excuse me, but what are these?”

Bram snaps from an almost hypnotical state. He shakes his head, he kind of had forgotten that I was there.

“That is… Money. Our currency.”

He looks again at the seeds. I do too. I end up babbling.

“That was… weird.”

“Believe me, this was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. And I have been around for some centuries..."

I don’t really know what to do. I put the hand in my pouch.

“How much do I owe you?”

The elf laughs.

“The money on the table is more than enough. Just a second.”

He hands me another, smaller, seed.

“This is your change.”

I look at my hand.

“… Thanks?”

“Of course.”

I continue walking around. I start nibbling on the pastry. It is absolutely fantastic. It is sweet, without making one sick. I pay attention to how things go around. There are insects here and there, but they only target the actual trash. The food that is about to be eaten or sold is skipped, but crumbs on a banana leaf are game for them. There is a cooperation about life here.

The stores appear one after the other. There are a lot of people in this city. People are moving around. The city is very alive. After walking around, I see something that I didn’t really expect.