274 7.2 Making Acquaintances

I roused the next morning to the chirping of birds above my head. The partition that I had put together was perfectly in line against the east where the sun rays did not manage to infiltrate. "How long was I asleep and I find that I felt much better to slumber on this type of ground instead than a proper bed. It might be due to the grassy lining or merely that I'm simply too tired.

I missed my morning breakfast readied by the 'aunties' and the daily tea that I had been consuming tea for almost 7 months. I brushed myself off some of the dry grass that had gotten on myself while I tossed about when I sleep. I peered out from the partition and saw nothing out of the ordinary and chose to wash up a bit before heading upstream.

"I wonder if there's a town or village up there. Most likely I could find something out there." I mumbled to myself as I splashed cold stream water on my face and dabbed it off using the blanket as a towel. "There's no clue of time and I hope to discover someone to talk to. This would drive me nuts!"

The silhouette cast on the ground by an upright stick was short, implying that the time would be either 8 or 9 in the morning. The basket of fruits and vegetables that I had filched earlier in the market had some fruits and I gnawed an apple since the other fruits wouldn't appear too fine for me to consume early in the morning. Grapefruit, lemon, cucumber, zucchini, bell peppers. Ara ma... How to eat all those without readying them first?

"What year was I in, and since I am Robin Hood, have I commenced to rob people of their fortune and where are my so-called merry men? I do not seem to have a blowing horn with me, so that means, I am still unassisted in some way." I whimpered to myself as I shattered the temporary partition and strewn the grass elsewhere and scattered the ashes on the ground with my foot.

I looked at the name above my head and it has become slightly clearer now. from being dark red, it has now seemed bloody red. Haisshh... I wondered how long would the name be normal again. Don't tell me it's a 24 hours rule that I must adhere to and is there a loophole in the system that I could bypass this?

I covered the blanket over my head like a shawl and walked just a short distance away from the stream and I find some shrubs with dark purple berries on it. As I approached it, some birds flew out from the underbrush and flew up to the branches of the trees nearby. "These must be edible, if birds can eat them, so would humans."

I picked a berry that was half the size of my thumb and gave it a slight squeeze. I rubbed a bit of the juice on my skin near my wrist and it doesn't cause any irritation. I pinched at one of the berries and placed a drop of it on my tongue and it immediately tasted sweet and I plopped the whole fruit inside the mouth.

I settled the basket on the ground and picked more berries and deposited them inside. At least I would be able to replenish my energy through this wild berries as I had gathered more than half a basket full. "This would be able to last me the whole day. It would be enough for this moment, at least those birds also wished to survive."

I gingerly grabbed the basket and arranged the shawl over my head and hiked on through. I could breathe in some wood burning, implying that there were some lifeforms close by and it's either good nor evil I won't know for certain.

There wasn't anyone on sight, not a cabin, but the unmistakable smell of wood burning was lingering in the air, probably from some settlement nearby. I hoped for the best as I trudged on as wisp of smoke uncovered where the trail of smoke was coming from.

I had wandered for about 30 mins when I saw a secluded thatched house a short distance from the stream and there was certainly indications of the burning wood from the outside within the courtyard. A small fire was burning and there was a small black cauldron hanging on top of it, supported by a tripod made of 3 thick branches, shaped like a teepee.

There was a makeshift preparation table at the side of the house and was created by strips of bamboo, and there were cauldrons of different sizes upturned on it. A cutting board and a small kitchen knife were nestled with the small space of the thatched wall.

I hid in the bushes and within the shadows, munching on a few berries as I watched the thatched house from a distance. There were no activities within or around the house and I had consumed about a handful of berries when I saw the front door slowly creaked open. An elderly lady hobbled outside and called out to no-one in particular.

'You can come out now. There's no one around here except for a harmless old lady. Come...I'm brewing some tea. My...my...you've got a red name over you and it would take almost 24 hours before it turns itself into yellow, then green once more. White is meant for NPCs only, they could attack you but attacking them in return would turn your name to yellow instead. If you were to kill them, it would turn to a bloody red."

There is no one else in this segment of the wilderness and she was actually beckoning to me. I walked out from the thicket I was cowering from and held the basket in the crook of my arm. I walked slowly to her and I greeted her.

"Hello, elder. How can you sense me hiding over there? And I maintained this shawl over me but yet you are able to see the red name over me. But you do not have any name over your head, so would it be customary to know your name, elder?"

"Just acknowledge me as Elder should be enough. It seemed you had come a long way, far away beyond this time and right now it seems that you are in a bit of a muddle since you had slain 15 lads in the marketplace, last night."

"Oh, alright Elder. Yes, indeed I have come a long way from here. How did you able to perceive such matters? Do you practise in such witchcraft? I'm sorry for being rude, but it seems that way, doesn't it?"

I said in a matter-of-fact to the elderly woman as there is no other way she could have sensed these matters unless she had a radio of some sort and able to listen to the breaking news at the marketplace last night. Hahahaha.

"The birds and the trees tell me so, child. You are not who you think you are right now. As I've said earlier, you had come from a long way before this time. Come...sit close to me so that I could see you clearly. Being an elderly woman my age, you should be aware of my poor eyesight. Don't worry, I won't gobble you up. Heeheehee."

I went up closer to the elderly woman and sat down on a tree stump near the fireplace as she sat there near the small cauldron. As she lifted the lid, I could smell the unmistakable scent of cranberry tea.

"Are you making cranberry tea, Elder? It smelled wonderful." I asked as I smacked my lips as the scent wafted through my nostrils.

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"Yes, I am sure you are familiar with the herbs around this woods. Come, have a cup of freshly brewed cranberry juice. I will tell you more about yourself than you already know and also to get rid of the red name above your head too."

I extended my hand and reached for a wooden cup that was fashioned out of some hollowed-out wood and sipped a bit of the cranberry tea after blowing gently into it.

"*Ahem* Let me begin...you are not Robin Hood but someone who had mysteriously adopted over the body of Robin Hood..." she began to foretell my existence as she cleared her throat.