“I thought the Herrah were all hundreds of years old?”

Breto claps his hands for the dancers before answering. “Honestly, I don’t ask too many questions about them. They protect us with the magic they harness from The Wood. That’s all I know.”

“So, prophets are that rare, huh? I wonder how accurate Nuri’s visions are. Has she ever mentioned any of them to you?”

Breto works his tongue around his teeth and then spits some bit of food on the ground.

“Never. She doesn’t really tell us about them. Only the Minea. And Rianne.”

“What about you? Do you have any special powers?”

“I’m just a man, like you. Only, I’m no Prince, and I didn’t arrive here with a bunch of friends.” Breto barks a laugh and slaps my back.

“When did you come here?”

“Oh, I’d say it’s been about eight years now. Eight years! I didn’t even realize until you asked. Almost a decade…” He lifts his bottle and swallows a good portion.

“It’s still hard to believe this place exists,” I say and hand him my bottle when I see he’s finished his. “I’ve scoured Baelliles my entire life and never even heard of it. We know so little about The Wood.”

“In Aeradian, we knew even less,” he says. “But I suppose it’s more strange for you since most of The Wood runs through your Kingdom.”

“Aeradian?”

“It’s where I hail from. Not that it matters now. I’m an Idunn, through and through.” Breto declares brashly, smoothing down his mustard hair.

“So, how did you find this place? As you say, Aeradians know even less than Baellileans about The Wood.”

“The only thing I knew about the Florian Wood is that most people who went in never came back out.” He lets the remaining alcohol slide down his throat and then grunts. “I didn’t enter the trees to find Idizina. I entered them to die.”

“What?”

“I lost my family. A wife and two children. Twins, if you can believe it. Nerry and Nimwe. The two loveliest little girls you’d ever seen! And my wife!” He gives a low whistle. “So tall and so beautiful; I was a very lucky man to have married her. I still can’t believe she chose an imp like me.”