[u]Aergar[/u]

"Hm?" Aergar had apparently been distracted by something, but whether it was this strange cave or some stray thought it was hard to tell. He had been very quiet since they'd left the wagon, unusually so. But it wasn't just him, the forest was also quiet, as if waiting. Like the calm before a storm, though the skies outside were clear and blue. Quiet, like when the trees sleep in wintertime beneath a blanket of snow. So quiet. So still. It was not apparent to the imp whether it was he who was influencing the wood or if it was the wood influencing him, he'd been a part of these wilder lands for so long that he could hardly tell the difference.

And now Fritz was asking him questions, asking him how he was of all things. It surprised Aergar, no one ever asked him things like that or was in the least concerned for his well being. But this silly little human wanted to know how he was. He hardly knew how to answer.

He knelt and placed his hand on one of the strangely perfect spheres. The surface was smooth and glassy beneath his hand, and warm. The air around them was also very warm. In the distorted reflection he could see his own face and Fritz's. "This world, unlike yours I think, is very old," he began, glancing back at the boy. "Time goes back so far that no record can be found of it, and none are alive who can remember more than myths told them by their grandparents. And yet, some things from ancient times are still found now and again, turning up in the most unexpected places and often unrecognized for what they truly are. Many are magical, but not in the sense of the kind of magic I or Ada can use, or that you're learning. It's an old, strange magic. It's wild and dangerous and difficult to understand, probably left behind from the gods before they vanished, a choice few relics left for us to ponder over.

"I can't say that staff in the trader's wagon is one of them, but I have never encountered anything like it before. It… frightened me." He fell silent again, pondering the sphere and why Ada had wanted to come here. He had a strange feeling like he'd been here before, but could not quite remember. He stood and turned his eyes toward the gypsy woman, surely she had sensed the same things he had about the staff. Or not. One never knew how ancient magic worked. His mind returned to the children, who were now frolicking in the forest somewhere, all memories of their previous torment forgotten. He had not meant to change them, but it had happened through him nonetheless. Perhaps it was for the better, as it was likely most of the girls had been orphans or else their families were no good for them, they had nowhere to go, but now they'd been given new lives and a second chance to be happy. He somehow knew they would be safe, that no trouble would come on them anymore. It was his forest, and he [i]knew[/i].

But he had to stop thinking about that now, how foolish to be distracted. Since when had he cared about the fates of the odd travelers to cross his path? Since a very long time indeed. Shaking his head to clear it, the imp seemed to snap back to being his old self. He leaned casually on the sphere and gave Ada a quizzical look. "You know I think I remembered why I don't know where we are, it's because I don't make a habit of trespassing into other's homes, and I would bet my last meal on that being what you've just had us do. And you didn't even think to knock."