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One of the first things Lindi liked to do when placed in a new part of the world was to see what life was like for other humans.

Everywhere she went, people and societies were incredibly varied, and the continent of Zafrikaan was no different. However, unlike most of the places she’d been to, the ways humankind lived here were completely contrasting.

One part of the continent held tribal people who lived in small wooden huts and predominantly hunted and gathered to survive.

In another part, not very far away, was an entire society of those who had houses made from clay with straw-thatched roofs.

In another, they lived among the trees, their homes so different from those who lived in the drier plains of the desert in the north.

But there was always a constant that Lindi was used to: destruction.

Just like the rest of the world, people were struggling to survive against the chaos of Demons.

This continent was apparently one of the largest in the world, and the Anzúli were spread thin in order to protect as many people as possible.

Those who had ventured into the forest did not return to any of the temples, but Lindi had seen that out of the handful that had gone there, only three had survived the journey.

They used all their means, with the aid of the humans, to push back the nightmarish beings of fang and claw.

But there seemed to be a solution the entire world had constructed without ever speaking to each other: walls.

The grand and beautiful people to the east, between the northern desert and the southern rainforest, had erected such barricades to protect themselves. They’d held back the Demons with spears and arrows, and built something impactful.

Wooden walls stood tall with jutting spears that had been wisely nestled between logs and pressed clay that sealed them in.

It was almost like an echidna in the shape of a snake had been jammed into the bottom, ensuring that any Demon that did attack struggled to even reach the top of the wall.

The ingenuity of it was something to be admired.

This was the first continent she’d been to, other than Austrális, that had such a large desert.

Upon realising that the trees were filled with monsters, and that the sun brought peace and protection, those who hadn’t erected walls fled to the north and into the desert. There, as a large community, they kept the monsters at bay, working together to ensure everyone’s safety.

The way they allowed everyone into the fold showed Lindi that humankind, when in dire peril, was a unit of people. She’d seen that same open-heartedness all over the world.

She’d also seen much cruelty, but she often tried to ignore that. Or sometimes she didn’t, and she intervened to offer up quiet justice where she could.

Many of the animals had felt a similar instinct and fled to the grassy desert plains, finding relief in the tall, shading trees when they could.

Upon seeing quite a few familiar animals, Lindi realised this was a location from which Weldir had stolen some creatures and placed them in Austrális.

She had yet to learn where he’d taken the wolves and bears from, but she was sure one day she’d be sent there.

There were still many places and lands she hadn’t visited, but she thought fondly of the city she’d recently been to.

Houses there were strong, tall, and sturdy. The bottoms of them were a clay brown with swirling designs, and then white to the roofing. The roofs themselves were all made of a similar thatching and often needed replacing.

The city, a part of the Shanti Empire, was grand, vibrant, and full of life despite the occasional Demon that sniffed outside their walls.

They’d managed to expand an already erected wall outside of its original foundations to include basic farms, as well as giving homes to many refugees who sought sanctuary.

The darkness of her clothing had looked out of place compared to the bright and colourful loose clothing the other humans wore, but she’d done well to remain hidden. She’d perfected the craft of stealth over her many years.

From a distance, she’d seen a woman with swarthy-brown skin who wore a yellow wrap around her short, tightly coily black hair.

Her dress had been a bright blue, and similar to the colour of the flowers she’d seen blooming between farming sections.

Many beads made up bracelets and even a heavy necklace, each one clacking as she stepped with a grain winnower on her hip filled with an array of food.

Her male companion had dressed similarly in beads but also wore chunks of gold.

He’d worn a patterned yellow shirt with long, wide sleeves over a matching knee-length waist wrap.

Both had worn sandals to protect their feet from the impacted dirt and sand.

She’d liked the vibrancy of their attire, the draped clothing perfect to shade against the dry sun, but loose enough to allow a draft.

At night, the city men had patrolled the outside of the city with spears and fended off Demons with practised swiftness, minimising casualties to the occasional death.

They were strong, hearty people – survivors – just like the rest of the world she’d seen thus far. Only the bravest, the intuitive, and the quickest thinkers as a unified group had managed to survive the first unexpected waves of Demons.

Lindiwe liked to see that in humankind. Liked seeing they were capable of survival even amidst the carnage. She adored that this was a trait she’d seen everywhere she’d gone.

They were thoughts for a later time, but it allowed hope to swell in her chest as she completed her very important task.

Lindi was doing what she liked to call ‘nesting.’

Her stomach was rounded, swollen, and already the aches and pains that came before birthing were riddling her back, ankles, and sometimes came in the form of headaches.

She was lethargic, but despite that, she’d been collecting and cleaning cloth to make herself soft bedding, among other things, like for cleaning any messes.

Flying while this heavily pregnant came with its battles, and she could only do small jaunts.

She often went to a nearby watering hole, returned to boil the water, and then was almost tapped out of energy for a few hours.

Thankfully, she’d been wise enough to find this collection of clay huts that had been abandoned and mostly lay in ruin due to the Demons. She’d evicted all those that huddled in the other buildings through the day and then erected a magical barrier around the small village.

Weldir had been silent, likely slumbering. Or maybe he was just avoiding her as much as she was him.

I hope he just remains asleep forever except for when he wants more kids, she thought with a grumble as she pushed her bedding around into a comfortable bundle, refusing to speak out loud in case he somehow heard her. I’m still so embarrassed. Maybe even a little traumatised.

Lindi hadn’t gotten over their terrible sex experiment. She’d been so excited to try it and was now completely disinterested in the idea.

Not with him, and not with anyone, for that matter.

In some ways, there was a relief in that.

It was something she no longer wanted, so she no longer thought about it. She found solace that she didn’t feel so alone because she was no longer attracted to the idea of a physical connection.

And then there was the whole Jabez issue that she was still furious over – although her hormones might be making her angrier than necessary.

She was a little angry at Weldir, too, and at herself for not listening to him, but she was tired of feeling so utterly out of place and alone in the world she was born into.

So she was trying to let go. To get over all the things that constantly nagged and bothered her.

She’d just focus more on herself and their children, doing what she could for them all. She’d already been considering what kind of horn variations she’d like for the one currently in her belly, and what other characteristics she could give them, like Nathair’s fins or Orson’s spikes.

I don’t think it’s wise to make them aquatic on this continent. There was plenty of water, but there were also a lot of Demons that filled it. They found shade in the thick reeds or buried themselves in the sediment during the day. There are a lot of big cats.

She smiled at the idea of a spotty Duskwalker, and hoped such fur patterns like a cheetah were possible. The options seemed endless.

Once she was happy with her bedding on her recently swept flooring, she sat down and leaned against the intricately threaded stick wall.

The outside was coated in clay, leaving it watertight – it also helped to keep out the worst of the day’s heat and the cooler night.

Then she pulled out her journal, one where she detailed the lives of humans and all the different animals she’d seen.

As she was staring at a drawing she’d made of a large and imposing tusked creature, one with big, flapping ears and thick, wrinkled skin, she thought, I really do need to make a proper home.

Austrális would always be the place she returned to, like her heart belonged there. She needed to find or build a place where she could store her precious items.

She turned a page, seeing she was close to the end of the thickly bound leather book.

She’d stopped using a quill and ink a long time ago, preferring to use the ink stick she’d found in her travels.

Her fingertips were often stained, but she didn’t mind – except for when it went under her fingernails.

She brushed the pads of her fingers over the description and drawing she’d done of a crocodile, wondering if such a skull would be too heavy for one of her children.