[Stomoxys]

A roar from Hylda woke me in the morning, but I quickly realized they were only ordering food for Grogg. Ajaw was barely peeking over the horizon so there was no need to hurry. Inspecting my scales, they now seemed as tough as before the shedding and the camouflage was also back to normal, though still a bit sluggish. Like everything else with this shedding, the hardening of the new skin has been much faster than normal.

From the grunts coming through the wall, I could tell that Wolfram was doing their morning exercises and joined them downstairs when they were finished. Nuur-Karif and Yana were already eating breakfast in the common room and did not worry much about the Amrosh riders. They ride wherever they want whenever they want, but it was a reminder that we should not attract too much attention. Making sure nobody were close enough to overhear, I told Nuur-Karif and the others about Vaxo and Vaxoan. I had expected a bit more of an reaction when I told them of the snakes guarding Vaxoan, but they only looked pensive, even when I told them of the priest of Vaxo with a split tongue. The mammals believe that the land of the dead and The Underworld are separate things and that the land of the dead lies below The Underworld. Ashtar's sibling was supposed to be on the far side of the gate and they did not think there was much of a connection to Vaxo.

I checked the mirror shard again when preparing my backpack and it seemed like more energy had disappeared. I could not feel any energy leaking from it, so I decided to ask Wolfram about it. While they have many strange ideas, they do know a lot about magic and perhaps they had some illuminating suggestions. However, Grogg immediately confronted me when I came down, asking if I was contagious and pointed at their skin. The scales forming were now becoming obvious, but they had a more metallic sheen than is normal for The People. While the scales are strange, I am certain that I am not the cause and pointed out that they had been struck by lightning. Another strange thing was a grey powder on their fingers that smelled like something burnt, but not quite. I asked them about it, but they were busy rounding on Nuur-Karif and demanded to know if they were the cause of the scales. Nuur-Karif said no and explained that they did not really look like snake scales, which seemed to please Grogg so much that they gave Nuur-Karif a ring they said was a gift from Kra.

After packing our luggage on the cart, we started walking. I asked Nuur-Karif if I could have a look at the ring. It was made of silver and inset with a single yellow stone that Yana called a sun stone. It did shine prettily when held up against Ajaw, but I could not detect anything special about it, except the same grey dust and burned smell I had detected on Grogg. While I was curious about the dust, it struck me that it could be some kind of ash and that Jori, one of the remaining demons, was associated with ash. Grogg has a keen nose, but they could not smell what the dust was, so I asked Wolfram. In their bear shape, their sense of smell is even better than Grogg's but they did not wish to turn into a bear where someone could see them and we agreed we could set up a tent during lunch.

While Hylda was dragging the cart, I asked Wolfram about the energy disappearing from the mirror shard. They looked very concerned and wanted to do an experiment. I have been carrying the shard lately and my ability to manipulate the star threads has increased greatly. This is unheard of among the mammals, especially without a teacher, and perhaps I was absorbing the energy from the cube. Of course I do not know what is normal for one of The People, but their theory sounded plausible. To test it, Wolfram wanted to keep me away from the cube for 24 hours and see if I was affected, preferably burying the shard. While I thought the experiment sounded exciting, it would be impractical while traveling. However, we should not bring the shard to the star circle, so we could test it then. Surprisingly, they also almost agreed to let me study their aura before going to the circle. In case someone got possessed, it should be possible to detect changes in their aura.

Before lunch we encountered another control post and paid our way through. We were also asked where we were going, which Yana and Nuur-Karif thought was a bit strange, but simply answered Byblos, the capital. Having put a few kilometers between us and the control post, we had lunch by the wayside. Hylda had a tent that was large enough for Grogg and Hylda together and it should be big enough for the bear if they lay down on their stomach. Having thoroughly sniffed the ring, they turned back to a human. The grey powder was indeed charred plant material, but somehow it had not been burned, but smelled more of stone. It made me think of the molten rock that sometimes spews out of Vaxoan, but as far as I know, there are no volcanoes in Arland. In fact, I had to describe the concept for the others earlier in the day. While in the tent, I weaved the threads and gathered Nuur-Karifs aura. It mostly looked like it did after Gritt left, but there were differences. Their aura has a dark stillness about it that reminds me of death and this part had gotten stronger, but there was also another, red jaggedness that had changed and become more distinct. Nuur-Karif also wanted me to inspect the ring again and I did, but even when casting a very tight net about it, I did not catch any traces of magic.

With our current speed, we should reach Byblos before nightfall the next day. Going all the way to Byblos might get us registered by soldiers at the city gates and we might have to explain where we were going if left through the gates in an easterly direction. Traveling around in Arland off the main roads is frowned upon. It would be better to leave the main road before Byblos and hopefully not meet any patrols that asked too many questions and could not be bought off with a generous toll fee. Yana and Nuur-Karif claimed there were apeoids that would not accept bribes, though I find that hard to believe. Our supplies were running low, so we stopped by several inns along the road and picked up a weeks worth rations, not wanting to raise any questions by buying everything at once. Just before nightfall, we reached a suitable inn.

I shared a room with Wolfram this night and they wondered if I was female. At first I was a bit confused by the question before remembering the apeoids' weird shame around members of the opposite sex. Considering Lunari's behaviour, it might be some kind of self defence mechanism. Anyway, I reassured Wolfram that I am not female. Hylda was screaming out Grogg's name from their room and I asked Wolfram to go talk to them. They seem to get the most response from Hylda. While the screaming continued, "Grogg" was replaced "monster slayer". While an improvement, it would be hard to get any sleep and would raise some questions. Showing the mirror shard to Wolfram they agreed that the light was fainter than it used to, but apparently they could not feel the energy in it. I was about to pack it away when a thought struck; perhaps I could could detect were the energy was going if I stayed up and monitored it. Wolfram grudgingly agreed to let me try but would not go to sleep before I finished, which would be good in case something strange happened. Sitting down with the shard in front of me, I tried to concentrate on the cube and ignore the screaming.