Following trails without knowing what you were actually looking for was always an adventure. In this case, the trail continued through the forest for a bit, narrowing to the point that it became invisible when observed from above and thus forcing us to be extra vigilant, as my scrying constructs were somewhat useless in these circumstances. However, eventually, after some thirty minutes of slow and careful walking, I was able to see where this path was going, quite literally. There, just at the edge of my usual surveillance range, was a small river, neatly crossing our projected path.

Given that fresh water was usually one of the most essential resources for any human, and unless one could conjure it at will, having a clear and secure path to one's water source was a necessity for survival. Having multiple sources was even better, just to make sure that it never ran out or was spoiled and in this case, I was fairly certain we were looking at one such path. Or maybe the local populace, whoever that might be, had taken to fishing as an additional source of food. Given that I had seen multiple large critters use the local streams and rivers to source their food, there had to be a fairly massive number of fish swimming through them.

Regardless, if the path we were leading on was headed towards the river, it was fairly useless for us, given that we didn’t want to investigate what these people were fishing for, but wanted to know who they were. Which, most likely, meant we would have to go in the other direction, unless they were crossing the river here, and the path we had originally been on was some form of long-distance path, connecting multiple communities.

Not that I considered that idea to be realistic, as I didn’t believe there were enough people in this area to form a single community, let alone multiple. And to think that these communities had managed to set up, connect with one another, form bonds and even create a somewhat large-scale path to ease travel between them? That pushed the idea from unrealistic to as close to impossible as I was willing to consider something.

However, this also managed to rouse my curiosity even further, making me wonder just what was going on here. People usually didn’t put in the effort to set up trails like these without a need. Hel, I would think that trails like the one we were on weren’t set up deliberately at all, they came about by people, or animals, moving along a certain path over and over, until the repeated traffic stamped out anything that might try to grow on the path while packing down the dirt into a somewhat solid surface. At least solid until it rained, then these paths would become a wonderfully muddy slip-and-slide, inviting anyone who wasn’t careful enough to take a refreshing mudbath.

Soon, we reached the river and, as expected, there were a few spots obviously set up for fishing of some sort, either using a net or maybe a spear. That was further confirmed when I noticed quite a few silvery spots where fish scales had been left stuck on a few rocks, likely because somebody had used those rocks to kill fish, though I couldn’t confirm that.

Either way, it was obvious that somebody had been fishing here repeatedly, to the point that a few large rocks were placed to form a comfortable seat for rest and relaxation.

“Look over there,” Lia called out, gesturing towards the other bank of the stream, pulling the rest of us, who had been investigating this spot, trying to find any additional clues telling us who might be using this area.

When I looked across the river, I could see a few faint marks on the ground and in the trees, hinting that there might be another trail on the other side of the river, meaning this might be the mid-point on a path, not the end of one. Or that multiple paths led to this fishing spot, allowing different groups to use it, simply because the river made fishing in this particular spot especially productive. I didn’t know enough about fishing to make a guess, but it felt plausible.

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“We should check that other path out,” Luna suggested, after seeing the same thing I did. I couldn’t fault her for wanting to seek out other spots, as this one seemed to be a bit of a bust. While it was pretty obvious that people had come here to fish for some time, it didn’t look like they had done anything significant. At least nothing that would leave much of a trace, be it physical or magical.

“Let’s see,” I agreed, looking at the river to check if there was a suitable way to get across. Sadly, while it looked like there were some rocks strewn across the river’s bed, the water was deep enough to be uncomfortable for us, making me wonder if there was another fishing spot on the other side, meaning people didn’t cross here.

Luckily, while the river was too deep to cross it comfortably, its flow wasn’t overly rapid, meaning Silva and Sasha could simply swim across. Lia stepped through the shadows, getting across without issue, though she looked a little out of sorts afterwards. Lastly, I easily carried Luna across, using my cloak to levitate us. At that point, Silva and Sasha just had to shake off the excess water from their pelts, making a bit of a mess, and we were done, able to continue our investigation.

Just like earlier, the path we were following was winding itself through the foliage, following the natural features of the terrain to avoid rocks, crevices and other obstacles. That simplicity did a lot to conceal the path from above, making it difficult, if not impossible, to estimate where it was leading or scout out any dangers beforehand, simply because we didn’t know where we were going.

Thus, our progress was once again incredibly slow, and we proceeded with a great deal of caution and vigilance, making sure that we didn’t bumble into trouble and had to fight. On our path, we also noticed that there were a few spots where some branches were broken off, as if somebody had made their way through the brush, but there were no spots that looked like they had been used repeatedly. That led us to conclude somebody had gone off the path there once or twice, maybe to relieve themself, maybe to gather something like mushrooms or other wild plants, or even to take down an animal during a hunt. Regardless, it didn’t appear as if we would find anything interesting if we went to hunt down these small detours; instead, we stayed on the primary path.

Soon, after a distance that could be crossed within twenty or thirty minutes of normal walking, we noticed a dense thicket next to the path, the vines and brambles tangled to the point that they formed what appeared to be a solid wall.

As we got closer, Silva stopped, her tail and hackles raised in warning as she sniffed the air, making all of us pause in response. This, especially with the soft growl accompanying her actions, almost certainly meant that something strange was over there, causing us all to take cover and conceal ourselves.

“I’ll go up, you cover me,” Lia quietly told us, before silently moving into the trees, using their elevation to her advantage. People rarely looked up and, by now, Lia could move through the trees as quietly as the wind, concealing her presence from all but the best scouts. Even I, with all my traits and high Intuition, had trouble locating her, unless I was especially vigilant or could continually trace her progress as she moved.

For a few minutes, nothing much happened as we stuck to the shadows between the trees, keeping our bodies hidden as we waited for my daughter’s return. Then, I noticed a presence in the trees and could soon identify Lia, allowing me to relax while she covered the last bit of distance between us.

“What did you find?” I quietly asked her, just as she dropped down nearby. Despite the darkness, I noticed a faint frown on her face, making me wonder if she had tried to sneak up on us, only to fail. Dear Lia had some way to go before she could manage that but the attempt was quite valiant.

“That’s a home,” she replied, making me blink in surprise for a moment.

“A home?” I asked, glancing at the thick, somewhat thorny brush near the path, making me wonder just how dense that thing actually was.

“Yes, that brush forms a nice, almost round, wall around an inner area. Half of that area is covered by more vines, woven with leaves and coated in clay to make it waterproof to form a roof. I couldn’t get too much detail, but I’m fairly certain I heard the slow, regular breathing of somebody asleep from above but I didn’t try to intrude just yet,” she shrugged, “No need to break into their home as our first contact, right?”

Now, wasn’t that curious?