Ambrose stirred from his unconsciousness. Where he was laying felt soft, calmingly warm and comfy. He rolled onto his side and felt his brain slam against the inside of his head, he grasped it and let out a gargled moan. This was the worst spell fatigue he had ever experienced.

  As he laid there clutching his skull, he realised that there was a light glowing not too far from him. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that a fire had been lit in front of him. The sudden panic that a forest fire had somehow started while he was asleep caused him to flinch, which caused his head to throb so bad he buried his face into the ground.

  As he continued praying his skull would just explode already, he felt something tickle his ear. He turned his head and through his blurred vision thought he could make out a small pink nose surrounded by golden fur.

  "Rabbit?" He said weakly.

  He brought his hand up to rub his eyes but when he looked again all he could see was the forest floor illuminated by the mysterious fire.

  After a few minutes Ambrose found the will to sit up despite his pounding brain. He looked around still confused about his current situation. He was right, there was a small fire that had been lit near him that was giving off enough warmth to ward of the night's chill, and next it on a bed of leaves was-

  "Food!" Ambrose exclaimed, almost reflexively.

  He moves as quick as his weak limbs could carry him and dropped to the ground next to the pile of fruits, nuts and wild veg that had been neatly piled closed to the fire. He forced handfuls of the banquet into his mouth, barely being able to catch his breath between bites. He reached to see if there was anything left in his water skin and found it was full. He took a massive swig and then continued to inhale as much food as he could.

  "Wow she was right; you most definitely were hungry."

  Ambrose jumped back from the pile, nearly landing in the fire and looked around for the voice.

  "Well based on the display of athleticism you're clearly feeling better."

  "Who's there?" Ambrose asked. The voice sounded like it was coming from all around him.

  "Oh me, I am just a bearer of good tidings." The voice replied. "Here to give you a gift." It said, suddenly right next to his left ear.

  Ambrose instinctively leapt away from the voice and turned, finally getting a look at the source of it. Standing next to where he had been sitting was a slim humanoid creature, its skin was a light tan and its eyes were the greenest he had ever seen. It had short brown hair and was naked from the waist up, only having what looked like a fur loincloth covering his lower half.

  "What- who are you?" Ambrose asked, his voice shaking.

  The person gave him a cheeky smile "I, my dear Ambrose, am a servant of the lord of this forest, he who owns every tree, every animal, every blade of grass. I am Faraleen." It said, giving him an exaggerated bow, which let Ambrose see the folded wings that where pressed against its back.

  Once Faraleen had finished their introduction they sauntered over to the pile of food and popped a blackberry into their mouth. "In regards to the what, I'm an Imp." They said nonchalantly as they sat by the fire.

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  Ambrose shuffled over to sit across from them. "An Imp?"

  Ambrose had heard of Imps before, but only in fairytales and scary late-night stories he and the children had told at the orphanage.

  "A forest imp specifically." Faraleen said, moving on to the elderberries.

  "Is there a big difference?" Ambrose asked. "Between a forest Imp and... other Imps?"

  "Oh loads." The Imp replied, leaning back on to their arm casually. "Infernal Imps have red eyes."

  Ambrose gave a nod, his bewilderment still plastered on his face.

  "But anyway, I'm not here to discuss the racial and geopolitical issues between different denominations of imps." They said, jumping so gracefully onto their feet it almost seemed like they had floated. "I am here to give you a gift." Opening their arms in a grand gesture as they spoke.

  There were a few moments of silence, before Faraleen spoke again. "I'm sorry are gifts not appreciated in the city or something?" They said letting their arms drop dramatically.

  "Oh no sorry, it's just I don't know what it is, or really why I am being given it?" Ambrose replied

  "Still though, a gift is a gift.” The Imp said rolling their eyes. "But I guess I should explain."

  Faraleen made a gesture with their hand and a piece of rectangular wood appeared in it. Ambrose assuming it had been carved from the trunk of a tree as the back of it looked like bark.

  They cleared their throat and began to seemingly read something off the side of the wood he couldn't see.

  "By decree of the lord of the forest, for the act of saving his daughter and grandchildren from those who would defile this sacred wood. To the-"

  "Wait, what do you mean I saved his daughter?" Ambrose cut in.

  Faraleen gave him a dirty look over the wooden tablet "The rabbit." He said, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. "She brought you all this food and set the fire for you, very rude to forget who she was." He shook his head and continued. "As I was saying. For the act of saving his daughter and grandchildren from those who would defile this sacred wood. To the kind hero, you are granted six square chains of land in this most holy forest with the center dictated..." They traced with their outstretched finger until they pointed at a large white rock not far from the area illuminated by the fire. "There from the piece of bone of the giant Garg."

  "The what?" Ambrose asked.

  Faraleen simply spoke louder and ignored the question "Granting them the right to live, farm, hunt and invite others to reside with full protection from those who would do them harm." They put down the tablet and look at Ambrose expectantly.

  He stared at the Imp; his mouth slightly agape "What?"

  They rolled their eyes and huffed "look stand up." They quickly walked over to him, pulled him of the ground and walked him to the location they had pointed out. "From this point out, for three chains, all of the land is yours."

  "...What?" Ambrose repeated.

  The Imp rubbed their brow in frustration "OK, maybe this will explain"

  They put their finger onto a symbol on the bottom of the wooden tablet, which now he could see look more grown then carved. As they did the tip of their finger glowed with a green light which they quickly brought up and touched to Ambrose's forehead. Before he could react, he felt an energy flow down his body and through his feet, expanding in a circle out through the forest.

  As it did a feeling that he felt was familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on slowly rose within him. It was a nice feeling, one that made him feel calm and safe.

  Faraleen looked at him and smiled. "How do you feel?"

  Ambrose looked around at the forest around him. "I feel, I don’t know?"

  The Imp placed their hand on his shoulder. "That feeling my friend, is the feeling of home."

  Ambrose looked at them, his eyes widening as he realised, they were right. He could barely remember the feeling of home, only really ever feeling it rarely at the orphanage but this was unmistakably what it was.

  "This place, this place is my home." He said, with a mix of bewilderment and certainty. It wasn't a question, a part of him knew deep down that this place was now his.

  "Yep, you got it" Faraleen said, with a grin. "Anyway, I will leave you to it, I need to get back to the palace."

  Ambrose was so entranced looking around his new home that it took him a moment to register what the Imp had said.

  "Wait the what?"

  He turned and Faraleen was gone.