Fika trudges along, though she may occasionally get dis-tracted by cool nature things she sees.

There are plants, and birds, and bugs. The sky is blue. There is horse dung by the side of the track.

Bugs! Bugs can be exciting. Like that brown one with antennas.

"Ew!"

"Hm?"

Pet pet. This bug is very pettable as long as she's very careful.

"It's so crawly-looking - why are you touching it -"

"Cause it's cute?"

Pet pet.

"You wanna try?"

"No! It's icky!"

"Oh. Okay."

Fika can stop petting the bug and they can go back to walking.

At length the land flattens out a bit and there are what look like crops around, planted in strips and rectangles.

How'd they taste?

Unripe.

Well, then they can keep walking, least till it starts getting late.

"I think that's a house."

"Oh yeah!"

Fika can run a bit faster then last bit of the way to the house if Kota would like to?

Yeah, he'll break into a run to get to the house!

There is smoke coming out of the chimney. And a well, in the yard. The windows have shutters and no screens. And there's a chicken coop. Kota slows down a little, taking this in.

"Pet birds!"

"Or they're for eggs. It looks like there's a real actual fire in there, that's weird..."

"Amentans don't have real fires?"

She guess she's never seen any.

"Not like that, like, we know what it is, but you don't do it in your house, with smoke, it makes your air gunky."

"Gunky?"

Walk walk walk.

"With all the smoke bits."

There is indeed smoke rising from the chimney. Kota sighs and knocks on the door.

"Just a minute!" calls a voice from inside.

That voice sounded sort of weird!

A person bustles over. She's tall, like most Amentans, but with brown hair braided down her back, wearing stain-mottled linen and drying their hands on a dishtowel. "- well, now, who's this?" she asks them.

"Oh! You're an Amentan!"