The forest of Excelsior was unlike any forest konstant had ever seen.
It wasn't just the trees though those were strange too, with thicker trunks and bark ranging from deep shades of dark red to almost black gray, foliage in shades of green that sometimes leaned towards blue. It wasn't just the sounds of birds singing in melodies his brain insisted were almost right, but not quite, or the creaks and snaps coming from places he couldn't identify. It was something more fundamental, deeper.
The forest felt different.
konstant didn't know how to explain it, even to himself. But as he followed Gareth along a narrow trail that snaked between the enormous trees, Luna hopping a few steps ahead while humming something without a clear melody, he could feel it. It was as if the air had texture, weight. As if the forest was aware of them somehow, watching, waiting.
Or maybe he was just too tired and his mind was making things up.
"Pay attention to the ground," Gareth said suddenly, his voice low but clear. "See how the earth is pressed down here?" He pointed to a spot on the trail where the ground was slightly sunken, with marks that could be tracks. "Something passed through here. Big and heavy. See the bushes beside it? Broken leaves. Recent."
konstant crouched to get a better look. The marks were indeed recent the earth still seemed damp where it had been pressed, and the broken leaves hadn't started to wilt yet.
"What is it?" he asked, trying to identify the shape of the footprints, but failing. They were too wide, with impressions that could be claws, but didn't look like anything he knew.
"Horned Stag," Gareth answered, continuing to walk. "Herbivore. Big as a bear, but with branching antlers and a territorial temperament. Usually peaceful, but if you enter its space during mating season..." He made a gesture that clearly meant 'you're in trouble.'
Luna, who had hopped back when she noticed they had stopped, added with excessive enthusiasm: "A Horned Stag almost trampled Gareth last year! He had to climb a tree really fast and stayed there for three hours until the beast left and when he came down he said swear words I can't repeat!"
"Luna," Gareth said in a warning tone, but there was a touch of amusement in his voice.
"What? You did say it! I heard!" Luna smiled innocently, then turned to konstant. "But don't worry! We're out of mating season now so they're calmer, well... probably most of the time."
"Very comforting," konstant murmured, but he was half smiling despite himself.
They continued deeper into the forest, and Gareth kept pointing things out konstantly. Plants that were edible and plants that were poisonous. Signs of different animals, scratches on tree bark, droppings with specific shapes and smells, fallen feathers indicating nearby game birds. He showed how to move silently, where to step to avoid snapping twigs, how to use the wind to their advantage so animals wouldn't catch their scent.
konstant absorbed everything with fierce attention, trying to memorize every detail. Some concepts were familiar; basic tracking worked similarly to what he had learned on his own. But most were completely new, specific to this world, this forest, these creatures.
"Here," Gareth stopped near a set of dense bushes. "First trap."
konstant hadn't seen anything until Gareth pointed, but then he noticed a thin rope snare half hidden among leaves, connected to a bent branch held under tension. A basic snare trap, the kind he had tried to make a few times.
"We check them every morning," Gareth explained, approaching carefully and inspecting the trap. "This one caught something." He pointed to the ground around it, where there were clear signs of a struggle churned earth, crushed plants. "But it escaped. See here? The rope is worn, almost cut."
konstant moved closer to see better. The rope did seem to have been partly gnawed or cut.
Gareth's fingers still touched the damaged line as he spoke, his voice a rough whisper. "Shadow Leaper teeth. See the pattern of the cuts serrated, not clean. They're fast and attack from behind." He grunted, unscrewing the wooden base with precise movements.
"... Luna, the rope. We still have three traps to check."
Luna, who had been exploring around with scattered attention, immediately came running and opened the backpack Gareth carried, pulling out a roll of rope. She handed it over with an exaggerated, dramatic bow that made Gareth roll his eyes.
"konstant," Gareth said as he began preparing a new trap. "You said you've made traps before. How?"
"Simple snares," konstant replied. "Bent a branch, tied a rope, made a trigger with twigs... like that." He gestured vaguely, trying to explain with his hands.
"Show me. There's material over there." Gareth pointed to a nearby area with several fallen branches and flexible vegetation.
konstant hesitated only a second before going over. His fingers worked almost automatically, muscle memory from weeks of practicing alone in the forest. He chose a young, flexible branch still attached to the tree, tested its resistance, decided it would work. Looked for rope in the backpack Gareth had brought, tied it to the branch, began making the snare and the trigger mechanism with smaller twigs positioned at a specific angle.
His hands trembled a bit from nerves, and exhaustion, or both but he managed. It wasn't perfect, the trigger was a bit crooked, but it was functional. He pulled the branch to create tension, carefully set the trigger, positioned the snare.
"Done," he said, stepping back.
Gareth approached, inspecting it with those penetrating eyes that missed no detail. He carefully tested the branch's tension, checked the trigger, ran his fingers over the snare.
"Principle is correct," he said finally. "Tension is adequate. Snare is good size for small prey. But the trigger is weak. See here? This twig will break with anything heavier than a mouse. And the placement..." he touched where the trap was set, "is too obvious. Needs camouflage, leaves around, something to make it look natural."
It wasn't cruel criticism, just factual observation. konstant nodded, absorbing it.
"Not bad for a first day," Gareth continued, surprising konstant. "Most can't make it work at all on the first try. You have a foundation. Just need refinement." He began disassembling konstant's trap to show how to improve it. "I'll teach you to make stronger triggers, show you camouflage tricks. It takes time, but you'll learn."
Something warm settled in konstant's chest. It wasn't exactly pride, it was too small for that, but it was... validation. Confirmation that he wasn't completely useless here.
Luna had approached too, watching with interest. "You're good at this! Much better than I was at the start. I broke like five traps before making one that worked and Gareth got so frustrated he almost sent me away, but he didn't because I'm adorable and he likes me even though he pretends he doesn't."
"Luna," Gareth said in a tired tone.
"What? It's true! You like me!" Luna grinned widely, then turned to konstant. "Do you know how to use a slingshot? I'm learning! Look!" She pulled a small, well made slingshot from her belt, made of polished wood and something that looked like dried tendon. "Gareth made it for me! I can hit things that are standing still like six out of ten times now!"
"Five out of ten," Gareth corrected. "And only when you're really concentrating, which is rare."
"Details," Luna cut the word in the air with her hand, as if shooing a mosquito. Her eyes lit up when a better idea came, and she extended the slingshot to konstant. "Want to try?"
konstant took the slingshot carefully. It was surprisingly well made, balanced and solid. He had never used one before, but the principle seemed simple pull back, aim, release.
"There are little stones in my pouch," Luna said, pointing to a small bag tied to her waist. "You can take one!"
konstant took a small, smooth stone, positioned it in the slingshot, pulled back. The tension was considerable, more than he expected. He aimed at a distant tree, trying to calculate the angle and force, and released.
The stone flew... and hit a completely different tree, far to the left of the target.
"Almost!" Luna shouted encouragingly. "Try again!"
"Luna," Gareth interrupted, "we have seven more traps to check. We don't have time for slingshot practice now."
"Aww," Luna pouted, but took the slingshot back from konstant. "Okay. But you practice with me later, yeah? We can practice together!"
"Yeah, later," konstant agreed, somewhat amused by her inexhaustible energy.
They continued through the forest, checking trap after trap. Most were empty. One had caught something Gareth called a "Crested Squirrel" a creature that looked like a squirrel, but with a tail that had feathers instead of fur and made a horrible screeching sound when Gareth approached. He broke its neck quickly and efficiently, then showed konstant how to clean and prepare the carcass on the spot, explaining which parts were good to eat, which parts could be used as bait in other traps.
It wasn't pleasant. konstant had done it before a few times, but never enjoyed it. The smell of blood and viscera, the feeling of cutting through flesh and bone. But it was necessary. It was survival. So he watched attentively, memorizing techniques, ignoring the slight churning in his stomach.
Luna was less interested in this part, making faces and moving away. "It's still gross," she commented. "Even after seeing it like a thousand times."
"You don't have to like it," Gareth said as he worked. "You just need to know how to do it when necessary."
When they finally finished checking all the traps and repositioning some, the sun had moved considerably in the sky. The blue ring shone brightly, creating strange shadows through the tree canopies.
"Let's head back," Gareth decided, wiping his hands on a cloth he carried. "Tomorrow I'll show you more. Today was enough for you to start getting a sense of the territory."
The way back was quicker, Gareth taking a different trail that cut more directly to the village. konstant tried to memorize landmarks a specific fallen tree, a rock formation, a narrow stream they crossed by jumping from stone to stone. Luna chattered konstantly along the way, jumping from subject to subject with no apparent logic.
"...and there's that place with the blue flowers that glow at night, have you seen them? No? Ah, I'll show you someday, they're so pretty and Gareth says I can't touch them because some are poisonous, but I think if I don't touch them and just look it's fine and do you like flowers? I do, especially the yellow ones, yellow is my favorite color, or maybe red, or... hey did you see that bird? The big green one? That kind is rare, Gareth said, they usually stay deeper in the forest, but sometimes they come here and..."
konstant half listened, half let the words wash over him like background noise. Part of him appreciated the konstant noise it filled the silence, didn't leave much room for unwanted thoughts. But another part was starting to feel exhausted just from listening.
*How does she have so much energy? Does she never get tired?*
But then he remembered the expression on her face when she had mentioned her father. *Daddy always said...* and that moment of raw pain before the cheerful mask returned.
*Ah. That's why. She fills every silence so she doesn't have to hear her own thoughts.*
konstant understood that better than he liked.
When they finally emerged from the forest back into the village, the sun was beginning to descend toward the horizon. People still worked in the fields, children still played between houses, but the light had a different quality, more golden, softer.
"You did well," Gareth said suddenly, stopping near his house. "Better than I expected. Tomorrow we start earlier. There's more to learn."
It was sparse praise, but coming from Gareth, it felt significant.
"Thank you," konstant said. "For... for giving me a chance."
Gareth just nodded, already turning to go inside. Luna gave konstant one last wide smile.
"That was fun! See you tomorrow really early! Don't be late!" And then she was running after Gareth, disappearing inside the house.
konstant stood there for a moment, feeling the weariness hit him all at once. His feet ached in the new boots, his back hurt from crouching to look at traps and trails, his hands were dirty with earth and dried blood he hadn't managed to clean completely.
But he had survived the first day. He had learned things. He had made... not exactly friends, but perhaps something close to the beginnings of connections.
It was a start. Small, fragile, but a start.