[R because Lajaka has a potty mouth]

When she was young, her ma told her the story of Henny Penny, a chicken who thought the sky was falling and was on a mission to warn the king. Henny Penny found a few other animals, like a goose and a duck, and in the end, they were all lured into a fox's den and eaten. The moral of the story was not to believe everything one's told, and that was all well and good, but Lajaka was pretty sure that the sky really was falling, because she was seeing it with her own good goddamn eyes.

When it had all started, she wasn't sure what to make of the going-ons, just that she needed to run before huge balls of flame came crashing back down and struck her. Lajaka vaguely recalled hearing about this sort of thing having happened before, but that was years before she was born. Besides, back then, people had stopped it, hadn't they? Must have, because the world was still standing. This seemed worse than the old stories, much worse.

Off in the distance, Lajaka saw something shimmer, like when light hit water, only there wasn't any water there, and the sun was hidden behind thick clouds besides. Desperate, she made a bee-line for it, hoping that maybe she'd find some way to magic herself to safety. What she found was… familiar, and that didn't give her comfort.

It was a portal, but the only way she'd know anything was there was because of the way it shimmered. Looking though it, she saw… more Highlands. Exactly what she'd expect to see if it wasn't there. Same green grass and rolling hills. The only real difference was, the sky was clear. No clouds, and definitely no balls of fire raining down. It was like the last one, the one she'd closed, the one Galin had build a fort on. That portal had lead to another world, like her own, except the Godslayer War had never happened, and all the things that followed that war, they were different. But the portal couldn't lead there, could it? Lajaka had destroyed that portal, and the world…

That world had come crashing down around her. Was that what was happening to her world, now? Lajaka started to turn back, to run home, warn her ma, warn everyone. Then the portal started to fade away, and she knew it was collapsing, and there wasn't time to turn back. Without thinking, she jumped.

Passing through the portal wasn't easy, as though this other world knew she didn't belong. At Lajaka's back was fire, and she knew that turning around wasn't an option. She pushed her way through, and eventually set her foot down on the grass and felt the cool autumn breeze on her face. All she had was a simple broadsword and the clothes on her back. In front of her was a world that was both familiar and new. Was anyone around? What about those she loved?

"Shelter first," Lajaka said to the empty landscape. "An' food. Then I'll see who's here."

His mother told war stories, lessons of combat and survival and victory. They took a bit of a stretch to imagine as a moral tale, though they were a good enough resource for a life devoted to conquest. It was his father who taught him how to tell the difference between the natural, primal energy of the mountains and the twisted magics of other lands. The electric stench of one such magic had settled over the valley and persisted through the clear morning, leaving it bare of more intuitive animals. Gaius, on the other hand, was curious.

He was over a hundred feet away when the air opened up at the crest of the hill, crackling and rippling and spitting out a strange woman. He dropped low when he first recognized what she was, immediately combing his memory for stories of interdimensional mages or secret witch gatherings. Though he could not discern what or who she was, he pulled the polearm from his back and wielded it carefully as he set forth in pursuit.

By the time he was close enough to do anything about her, the energy of that foreign magic had all but dissipated. Whatever had brought her here would surely not take her back, and yet as he tracked her he could not see whether she had any particular destination. Perhaps she had already spotted him, and was leading him into some trap of the same arcane origin as her portal. If that was true, he would most certainly be ready. He had lived in these mountains all his life, had never heard of godslayers or falling skies, and there was nothing he wasn't prepared for.

However well he had hidden before, he stopped trying as soon as he could get a proper look at her. The foliage rustled and cracked beneath his heavy feet as he held the point of his blade toward her middle. His stone grey eyes glared down at her from higher ground, curiosity peering faintly through his otherwise defensive stance. "You don't belong here," he said.

Lajaka looked around, trying to get her bearings. The place sure looked familiar, but was it? If she went west, was she going to find the fort, and her ma? Maybe the portal there opened up again, and the people she loved, the home she knew, would be there. At the very least, she'd know more about the word she'd just jumped into, and that was as good a reason as any to go there.

It wasn't long before the hair on the back of Lajaka's neck stood up, and she stopped. Something was off. There were no animals about anywhere, as far as she could tell, but she could hear some rustling nearby. Then she saw him, the business end of a polearm pointed at her. She didn't belong, he said. Well, fair enough, but she wasn't about to stand around defenceless, either.

Lajaka jumped back and drew her own blade, holding it in both hands. "Highlander hospitality, eh? Greet a stranger by pointin' a weapon at 'em? I prefer the places that offer whiskey. I'd've brought some myself, but alas, didn't have time to pack much." Taking another step back, Lajaka lowered her broadsword, but didn't sheath it. Unless the man was ungodly fast, she'd be able to parry his attack if he tried, but her posture was purely defensive. She wasn't looking for a fight, not right yet, but she wasn't going to be stupid and leave herself defenceless.

As far as first impressions went, Lajaka probably didn't paint an especially good one. Her hair was dishevelled, her tunic was grungy and probably needed mending again, and she probably needed to wash. The man in front of her was a bit off-looking, too, however. Covered in warts or something, it looked like.

Lajaka looked from the man's face to his polearm and back again. "Alright. Count o' three, we both drop our weapons an' maybe you can help me figure out where the fuck I am, eh?" She lowered her own weapon and began to count.

"One.

"Two.

"Three."

The stone grey of Gaius’s eyes narrowed behind his scrutiny, wandering over her unarmored body and defensive stance. He did not quite catch the humor in her tone; he probably wouldn’t have even if he wasn’t distracted by the nature of her arrival. His weapon remained steady, his demeanor severe, as her rocky diplomacy filled the otherwise silent valley.

He wore hide armor, well-used but well-mended, and smelled and seemed much like any ranger that might be encountered in the Northern wilds. His weapon, though it was precious to him, carried no memorable markings or decoration. The countdown prompted his arms to tense on it, but then the halberd faltered and was ultimately rescinded. He did not sheath it, choosing instead to plant it in the gravel at his feet and lean on it like a walking stick.

Perhaps too quickly, his unarmed hand reached up to his chin to scratch the warty blotches she had observed there. “You are in the Canelux Highlands,” he said at last, as if that could explain everything.

Gaius wanted to believe that she was a liar, that she had said the exact sort of things a witch might say if she wanted to lure him into a trap. But his gut reminded him that she had not yet shown any harm to the valley or its inhabitants. The benefit of the doubt cringed on his knuckles. “The magic that brought you here is not of the earth. I am not the only person in these mountains who would treat your power with caution. Where did you come from?” He paused a moment, then decided in favor of a quick addition. “Why should I trust you?”

A cautious man, this one, Lajaka decided, watching his eyes. At first, he held his weapon steady, tensing as she lowered her own and started to count. At three, she sheathed her blade, and was revealed to see he was leaning on his halberd rather than pointing it at her. Well, fair enough; she was the stranger, after all.

"Canelux Highlands, eh?" Lajaka looked around. They looked like the Highlands she knew, but Canelux, that was a strange word. Considering the man pointed a weapon at her just for appearing there, she decided maybe she shouldn't reveal just how foreign she was to their world. At least, not until she knew more.

It was a bit of a shock to learn that he had seen Lajaka's arrival That would count against her. No wonder he'd been so hostile. "Aye, I know," she said carefully, "but wasn't me usin' the magic that brought me here." At least, she didn't think so. Lajaka was capable of magic, but she didn't really use it; it just sort of happened, usually in life-or-death situations, and it had saved her life at least once. And weren't you just in one of those? Lajaka asked herself. But a portal to another world? Deep down, she knew that was far beyond her abilities, no matter how dire the circumstances.

She decided to answer his last question first, since that was easier. "Ain't no reason for you to trust me. I'm a stranger to you, and there's nothing and no one to back me up when I say I am who I say I am, and I'm not interested in hurtin' nobody unless I have to. And who I am is Lajaka, of someplace that ain't here, and it's gone now. What I'm wonderin' is, you seen any more of those portals at all? Or maybe heard of any? I'm just tryin' to figure out if maybe… If anyone else got out. My ma, maybe, or my step-da, my friends. Not an army or nothin', I swear. Just people I care about. You understand, right?"

Now she just hoped he didn't pick his halberd back up again.

He considered her words for a few long and thoughtful moments, enjoying the same edging quiet that some might consider awkward. A small breeze swept between them, like a sigh to interrupt the silent stagnation which had followed her from the portal. The rustling leaves seemed to breathe new life into the area, beckoning the return of wary wildlife. Gaius’s attention was brought to a pair of cave swallows stumbling upward in the distant air.

“If they did come, it would not have been here,” he answered finally, and without the sort of sympathy such an answer might have warranted. “The portal closed as soon as you left it, and the magic is gone from this place. It may return, but I do not know any more than you—”

Before he had even met her eye again, an idea dawned on him. A vague gesture urged her not to be alarmed as he dropped to the ground, one hand sliding down the shaft of the halberd while the other pressed into the moist soil below their feet. If she should try to sneak an attack on him then, he would most certainly take the first blow–but this was as much about her trust as his. A pulse of magic surged at the edges of tangibility and rippled from his palm, showing him what his eyes could not see. He perceived beetles and moles stirring among the deep roots of old trees as agile hooves moved tentatively on the valley’s fringes. And as the arcane echoes of the lost portal quickly faded from the earth, so did they seem to swell in another place, as if moving on a current of liquid magic.

“There is another portal,” he concluded, the impassive stone of his voice cracking under the unknown implications of this strange new magic. Standing again, he avoided her gaze in an attempt to hide the growing apprehension in his eyes. “Northeast of here, maybe an hour’s walk straight across the side of the mountain. There is no telling when it will open, or how long it will remain. I hope whatever comes out is only your family, for your sake and mine.”

He picked his weapon up again, and this time it was truly not meant for the confused wild woman. His attention turned northeast. “Are there many monsters, where you come from?”