Adanis was very intrigued now. To him, a fit, twenty year old Artemis was like a flying pig, or maybe a nice Midas. “I remember that day as if it were yesterday. I was a naturalist at 20, a flaming environmentalist, who would never chop a plant in his life. You could imagine my immeasurable distress when I was forced to become a woodsman to support my family! Anyways, I was lopping down a rather big tree, when I heard a voice behind me say, “Leeeeeaaaave ussss!!!!!” That scared me out of my wits. Instinctively, I turned around to meet face to face with a wood spirit. It’s ancient eyes stared into mine with a fury that was profound. With one sweeping motion, it swung its arm- I mean branch- into my body and hurled me into a rock. By that time, I could feel the blood oozing out of me.” Adanis was listening intently. When Artemis didn’t continue, he got annoyed. “Yes, yes, what happened next?” “I don’t remember.” “What do you mean you don’t remember?!?!” “I got knocked out. I was lucky to escape with my life.” “Oh.” “Well, the moral of the story is basically to know that a wood spirit will never kill you. It’ll only cause severe collateral damage.” “You know what?” “What?” “That’s comforting to know,” said Adanis with a laugh.

He didn’t even care if the story was true or not. After many more hours of story telling and getting to know each other, Adanis and Artemis decided to set up camp, well on their way, having covered 75 miles on horse today. However, they were only about one quarter of the way through the Ancient Forest. After feeding their horses and giving them something to drink, Artemis got out his bow and arrow and shot a deer, which they roasted for dinner. They also found some turnips growing and boiled those to serve as vegetables. Both of them knew that hunting would be their only source of food for another 90 miles, until they reached the civilization of Oshira. Their entire route was dependent on the arrival of Oshira, otherwise they would run out of food. After much talk, Adanis and Artemis ceased to stay awake, both falling to sleep happily, blissfully unaware of the events that will occur the very next day.