“Aureus!” Ava squealed as we landed next to the now huge garden. At this point it made more sense to call it a small farm. She was covered in dirt from head to toe and dropped a potato nearly half the size of herself when she saw us. Is it really alright for her to be out here alone?


    “Hmph” Aureus responded as he crossed his arms over his chest and avoided her when she ran towards him. Stupid human children, so clingy and loud!


    “Heya Ava, is Paige or your father around?” I asked as she attempted to catch Aureus in a hug. He was likely the only childlike figure she’d seen in a while. I felt bad, she must be so lonely and bored. Especially since kids were used to the internet and ipads, but now her daily life was potatoes and well… nothing else really. There wasn’t much for a kid to do.


    “Paige is inside, she’s sick. Dad went out looking for something to help her.” Ava responded and quickly became sullen. It was always fascinating how fast her emotions went from zero to a hundred like that.


    “Then do you mind if I take a look at her?” I asked while squatting to her level.


    “Hmm…” She mimed stroking at a beard as she considered. Finally she gave me a big grin and tugged us into their little house, “Alright, but you can’t tell my dad. I’m not supposed to let people in when he isn’t home. Plus I wasn’t supposed to come outside anyways. So our secret alright?”


    “Alright, alright, slow down!” I laughed.


    I hadn’t been back to the house since we built it, we’d always met at the garden and I gathered potatoes. The large rock he’d asked for as a door was still where we left it. We pushed aside a patchwork sheet that covered the door and walked inside. Paige was laying on a pile of fur pelts to one side of the room. There were drying racks for jerky, tanning racks for the pelts, another pile of fur pelts on the other side from Paige’s and a small plastic bowl on the ground next to her. She was sprawled out and sweating heavily.


    “What happened?’ I asked as I kneeled next to her. She was hot, probably not quite a high fever though.


    “Dad said she got the flu.” Ava replied.


    “Other than her being hot, has she been doing anything else? Coughing? Throwing up?”


    “Hmm… Nope. I don’ think so.” she shrugged.


    I frowned and tried to focus on Paige, and sure enough she had a debuff. She’d been poisoned.


    ~~*~~


    Poisoned


    Description: User has come into contact with various minor poisons, and will lose 1 HP every 12 hours. This debuff inflicts other debuff(s).


    Time Remaining: 1:21:28:09


    ~~*~~


    ~~*~~


    Feverish


    Description: User has an elevated body temperature. This debuff can cause dehydration, lack of appetite and various pains.


    Time Remaining: Dependant on [Poisoned]


    ~~*~~


    Looking at the window that popped up when I focused on her was strange. It wasn’t like my window or monster’s windows. It just had three sections, human, health, and status, which was where her debuffs presented. The weirdest thing was that it didn’t show her name, but I hadn’t ever tried to open another person’s window before so maybe it was normal. She had only lost three HP out of a total of 30. Thankfully it looked like she’d be able to handle the detoxification on her own.


    “How long has she been like this?” I asked.


    “Uhh bout a day I think?” Ava replied as she sloppily wrung out a rag and placed it on Paige’s forehead. Paige frowned but didn’t wake up, or she was awake and just didn’t have the energy. Water dripped down her face and pooled with the sweat she already was soaked with or it was just water from Ava’s previous ‘help’ with the rag.


    “Well, the most important thing to do right now is to make sure she’s getting liquids and maybe some soup or mashed potatoes if she’s up to it.” I didn’t wait for a response and started gathering a small amount of water in a little orb above Paige.


    Carefully I lifted her up and used my mana to push a small sip worth of water into her mouth. After she swallowed most of it I followed it with another. A portion of each orb dripped out of the corner of her mouth, but she swallowed most of it. I wasn’t sure when to stop, I didn’t want to over do it, but giving her too little was dangerous.


    “Where has Paige been recently?” I asked as another orb was swallowed down.


    “She stayed home!” Ava was a poor liar, but if you didn’t ask the right questions you’d never know, she was good at avoiding topics she wasn’t supposed to bring up. Quite impressive for a kid under 5.


    “Is that so? So unfortunate to lose your big sister at such a young age. Tsk tsk tsk.” I shook my head.


    “Paige isn’t my sister.” Ava interjected pointedly, then added. ”But she’s right here? She ain’t got lost.”


    “Oh, I didn’t know that.” I paused, “And that’s not what I meant. Did your dad not talk to you about death?” I asked.


    “She’s gonna die?!” She jumped up with wide eyes.


    “Oh I’m not sure, but to me it looks like she got poisoned somehow. I wanted to see if I could go look for what she got poisoned by but if she didn’t leave then that can’t be the case.” I shrugged.


    “What’s poisoned mean?” Ava asked.


    “It means she touched or ate something that made her sick.”


    “Oh… Uhhh…” Ava debated as she tugged at the bottom of her tank top. Finally she resolved herself and sheepishly said, “She sometimes goes out to explore when dad leaves. She don tell me much, but I think she went that way.” She pointed sort of towards the forest while looking at the floor.


    “I see, alright then. Me and Aureus will go out and look at the area she went and if we find what made her sick then it’ll be easier to know how sick she is and how to fix it.” I replied with a big smile.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I knew that Paige was going to be fine, but I was worried that something around here had poisoned her. I needed to make sure that there wasn’t anything around that could threaten Ava’s health. She was too young and had a much smaller health pool at only 10. If she got injured or poisoned by something she’d be gone before anyone could do anything about it. She really shouldn’t be out on her own.


    We could move the rock door in front of the house. Aureus offered.


    Yeah that might be a good idea, but if she gets in trouble for going out why didn’t her dad put it in front of the house?


    I dunno. Aureus just shrugged.


    “Ava, why didn’t your dad put the rock door we made against the doorway?”


    “Oh, cause then I can’t get water for Paige.” Ava pointed at the well worn plastic bowl that was sitting next to Paige. It was what she’d used earlier to put wet the rag,


    “Okay, then here''s what I’ll do, I’m gonna make two big bowls of water. One for drinking and one for anything else. And then I’m gonna put the rock in front of the door to keep y’all safe, okay?” I rested a hand on her head as I asked.


    “But dad left it over there…” Ava replied quietly, she was apprehensive.


    “I know. If he comes back you can blame it all on me, I just moved the door as I wanted and everything.” I replied and booped her little nose.


    “Well… alright.” Ava relinquished.


    Aureus made the bowls of water before our conversation ended and we popped the rock over the door as we left. “Don’t worry Ava, we’re gonna go and look around and come back very very soon. Make sure to keep an eye on your sist- on Paige and give her some water every once in a while.”


    “Okay!” She replied chipperly from inside the home.


    It was a relief that she wasn’t crying or anything, I didn’t know how to deal with upset children. But at the same time it was a bit concerning that she was so lackadaisical about the whole situation. She seemed worried, but that didn’t bleed over into interactions that weren’t directly related to Paige.


    We flew over towards the area that she’d pointed, I figured that she wasn’t super accurate, but I’d rather trust the area she pointed than miss something because I thought she was wrong just cause she was a kid. We got to the transition between the plains and forest that was the closest to the entrance to the Underhollow and lightly landed.


    “Master, do we have to look around here? She’ll be fine in the end anyways I don’t see why we need to look around for stuff.” Aureus whined and lightly kicked at the grass.


    “Well, it isn’t as much for her as it is for us. We need to learn more about the forest anyway so we might as well check it out and try to learn something from her. Plus if we find something good we might be able to help her.” I replied as I looked at the grass he was kicking at. It was the same ‘Sorthle Grass’ as we had found deep in the forest.


    I doubt this is what poisoned her, she doesn’t have any swelling around her eyes so that’s a no. I thought and moved on towards the treeline. I could feel Aureus’ apprehension behind me, “Well if you’re not coming then you might as well have just stayed with the girls.”


    “No way! I’m not sitting on my own with that chatterbox!” Aureus frowned and took a few decisive steps forward before stopping at the first tree and looking up at it.


    I wondered if he was examining it for falling seeds. I glanced up too, I didn’t see any but at the same time I wasn’t sure since I’d never noticed the seed before it smacked into us. So there wasn’t any hurt in being careful. I pulled out my daggers and bit into the bark with a quick slash, and nothing happened. Well a seed didn’t fall, but soon after a strange substance started oozing out of the cut and bark of that tree and several of the surrounding ones.


    “Oh gross…” I muttered as I poked at the puffy looking liquid with my dagger. When I tried to pull back it nearly got stuck in it. It clung to the metal stretching until finally releasing it.


    ~~*~~


    Bungum Sap


    Description: Gum like sap that is excreted as a last ditch defensive effort. If a Bungum tree is damaged significantly it will excrete a danger hormone into its environment causing the affected tree and those around it to coat themselves in their sap to prevent further damage. It has a sweet smell and taste. The sap is heat/flame resistant and helps to protect the trunk. It also contains a minor poison, Bungum Poison.


    ~~*~~


    ~~*~~


    Bungum Poison


    Description: A minor poison produced by the Bungum tree. It can be found in almost all parts of the tree, but most that are afflicted with it came into contact with Bungum Sap. It can cause loss of energy and exhaustion, it will not cause health reductions in typical exposure cases. However, very large doses or longer exposure can cause low blood pressure and a dreamlike state that will eventually lead to death if not treated.


    ~~*~~


    “Well that will make it much harder to get wood than I expected…” I whined as I wiped the surface of my dagger carefully. “We might need to keep a distance from the girls when we go back. There’s no telling if a little bit of poison might get brought back.”


    “What if her dad brought it back in the first place? I mean Ava said Paige was exploring, but it could also be him.” Aureus asked.


    I hadn’t even considered that as a possibility. “You’re right, we need to talk to him asap. Could you go look for him while I explore just a little bit more?”


    “Absolutely not! No way am I leaving you in this crazy poison death trap!” Aureus protested. He stamped one of his feet as he turned away from me for emphasis.


    “We’re at the entrance now there’s no way the little itty bitty monsters that would be here could hurt me! Plus he can’t have gone that far! You’re the mighty Aureus, you''d definitely be able to find him and come back faster than I’d even realize you’d left!” Hyping him up was my preferred method of getting what I wanted from him. I wasn’t sure if he’d figured out that I was just complimenting him for my own gain and didn’t mind or just wasn’t aware.


    “Well…” He hesitated, “I’m not sure… I guess if you’re careful. Don’t go more than five, no three trees in! And if you see anything weird, turn around right away! And don’t touch anything if you’re not sure if it’s safe. And if-”


    “Okay! Okay, I’ll be careful.” I interjected, “We need to be quick about it alright?”


    “Fine.” He eyed me suspiciously, “I’ll be back before you can get yourself into some kind of trouble anyways.”


    He took off so fast that I nearly fell into the squishy piles of Bungum Sap that had been accumulating at the base of the trunks near me. Unfortunately, I did lose my balance, but I did manage to stop myself before I completely stuck my hand in the sap. Just the tip of my finger lightly grazed the sticky sap and promptly was pulled back into it.


    “Ewww gross!” a shiver ran down my spine, flashbacks to my slime hunting days overtook me. “Not again, what is this, the squishy and gross section of the Underhollow?! Why does everything have to be slimy and squishy and sticky? It sucks!”


    I promptly yanked my hand out of the sap, and a small chunk came with it just stuck to my fingertip. I walked in a circle with it held out from my body glancing around at my surroundings trying to figure out how to rid myself of the wretched substance. I hate being sticky dammit! The only options I was presented with were gummed up trees, poison grass, and my own clothes.


    Cringing and unsure what else to do I just backed away from the trees and gum and shoved my finger in the ground. Focusing on earth elemental manipulation I spun the dirt and rocks around my finger carefully blending off the gum. When I finally pulled my finger back out it was filthy, coated in dirt, but clean as far as I was concerned. A small bubble of water resolved the lingering dirt and I inspected my finger for any changes.


    After a few seconds of scrutiny I decided it was safe and rubbed it against my thumb for the final test. Stickiness. If any remained I was going to have to find a way to get rid of it. Thankfully it felt normal, nothing sticky as far as I could tell. I let out a sigh of relief and opened my status to check if I was poisoned.


    ~~*~~


    Poisoned


    Description: User has been poisoned by Bungum Sap, the effects are minimal due to User’s Poison Resistance [Minor]. User will feel slight fatigue for the duration.


    Time Remaining: 1:58:33


    ~~*~~


    Wow I didn’t think I’d spent a whole minute on trying to get that sap off of me.


    [“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” laughs at your fervent method to get rid of the sap.]


    I paused after reading their message wondering if they’d forgiven me or if it was just that I looked like an idiot. The Playwright was hard to read sometimes. “Wait, what?” I mumbled as I looked back over at my debuffs. Poison resistance? Sure enough, a new skill had been added to my list. When did I get poison resistance? No, more importantly when did I get poisoned before now?