As the sunlight began to creep over the tree line, Ambrose stirred from his sleep. The night before he had sat for a good while, trying to process all that had just happened, eventually deciding that it may make more sense in the light of day. He had eaten some more of the food pile, gathered some wood for the fire, curled up next to it and gone to sleep. Now he was awake and could see his section of the forest, he could finally confirm to himself that what had happened last night was not a dream.

  He sat up from where he had been laying, not really sure what to do. He had never had any place he could call all his own and honestly, never thought he would.

  After a while of staring at the tree line and thinking, he decided that he needed to be practical. What did he need first?

  He looked over at the dying fire pit and decided what that was.

  Wood.

  He almost surprised himself at how accepting he was of all this, but whatever Faraleen had done to him the night before gave him the unquestionable knowledge that the land around him was his. He stood and like he had done the night before, started to gather fallen twigs and branches from the area around him.

  So, once I have wood, then what do I need?

  He looked back at the small area where he had spent the night and then looked up at the sky, it was a nice clear day but it wouldn’t always be. He looked around at what was in his vicinity.

  How do you build a house?

  Mulling over that all important question while he continued to gather as much wood as he could. Luckily the area that made up his new home was covered in trees and so had a lot of debris. He dropped the wood in a pile by his… camp? And added a few bits to the fire.

  His brain was swimming, he had decided that he needed to make some kind of shelter, but had no idea where to start. Plus, he was sure that there were a hundred other things that he should be doing that he wasn't even thinking of.

  He put his face in his hands and groaned. This gift is starting to feel a lot more like a punishment. He thought.

  Taking a deep breath he stood up. "Right, No moping around, I need to make somewhere I can keep warm and dry."

  He looked at the wood he gathered, while some of the pieces were somewhat large, none were big enough to be able to build with. I am going to need to cut down some branches and probably shape them too. He rubbed his patchy beard. I need a knife.

  Since the chances of finding a sharpened piece of metal conveniently on the floor of the forest were rather low, Ambrose began the process of looking for a sharp rock. As he searched, it gave him a chance to have a proper look at his new land. The white 'rock' that Faraleen had said marked its centre was just off from a flat opening in the trees where his small camp had been set up. North and south from it was mostly just trees of different types, and a few openings in the ground that he thought could led to caves. To the east he found his land ended just as you could see the main path through the tree line, and to the west it extended up to and over one of the rivers that flowed through the forest towards the coast.

  That's any water worries dealt with at least. He thought.

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  This little exploration also revealed something else to him. He wasn't sure how but he could feel where the boundaries of his land were, and once he stepped off it, the sense of safety that had been in him since Faraleen had touched his forehead, quickly left.

  He managed to find a number of candidates for his official sharp rock, though none of them were particularly promising. Once he had them back by the fire, he tried his best to shape the crude tools by chipping edges onto them, resulting in a number of them being ruined in the process. After a while, he had what he felt was three somewhat usable stone knives and possibly the start of an axe head. He wrapped some dried vines that had fallen onto the forest floor, around the base of them to create some basic handles and tried to get to work.

  After much sawing and bending, he managed to get a number of thicker, more sturdy bits of wood by cutting down some of the lower branches from the trees. Using his knife to score them, he attempted to break them into a uniform length. After some earlier attempts that only resulted in more fire wood, Ambrose managed to get the hang of it somewhat and was actually able to produce five good pieces. He was just starting to carve the top of one of them into a wide spike when the knife he was using snapped.

  One down. He thought

  Luckily for him it wasn’t till he was just finishing up shaping the last stake when the second knife also broke.

  Now he had prepared all of them, he started on putting together the frame shelter. Using at first his remaining knife and then his assumed axe head, he dug three pits not much wider than the stakes at an angle into the ground about his forearm’s length apart. He then buried each one in a hole deep enough that they stood up firm out of the earth. The way they sat reminded him of some of the wooden defences outside of the walls of Bramptonburg.

  His plan now was to dig two more holes, these ones straight down below the points of the outmost two stakes, hoping that he could secure the remaining two deep enough, that their tips would line up with the angled ones. This was his next task, as soon as he had a rest.

  He sat heavily next to the pile of food, he had been picking at it all day and it was starting to dwindle. Deciding he would finish the nuts, he threw the last one into his mouth and bit down and screamed as he felt his tooth crunch onto it. He spat it out and knelt with his hands on his face, and his forehead to the floor. The pain was so bad he thought for a second he may pass out but luckily he managed to breathe through the shock. Once he had gotten his thinking straight, he formed his magic into healing and then focused it on his tooth. As his hand let off a soft glow, he felt the pain in the jaw reduce. Now he had eaten a full meal he actually managed to make what felt like some actual progress in healing the tooth, though he still faltered long before it was completely fixed.

  I need to get enough coin for a healer. He thought.

  With his agony eased he looked at the quickly emptying pile of food and sighed. He had used a lot of his limited magic so even with having eaten recently, with his body trying to replenish it, he was going to get hungry a lot quicker.

  Should I try to set up a farm?

  This would be the most renewable way for him to get consistent food, but the issue that it would not solve his immediate problem wasn't lost on him. He decided to start gathering seeds and other things he might be able to grow and so might as well do so while foraging for some more food.

  This search continued for an exhausting amount of time before he fully accepted that he had no idea what he would be able to grow from around him. He was just putting a root that he thought might be a wild carrot in his mouth, when he heard a sudden crash to the south, followed by a pained inhuman cry.

  Ambrose rushed over and found himself at one of the cavernous drops he had seen when rock searching. He lent over the hole and saw the source of the noise. Crumpled at the bottom was a deer that seemingly had managed to wander directly over the drop without realising it was there. The poor thing was making blood curdling moans. It was clearly in agony.

  Ambrose slowly made his way into the cave, it dropped straight down at its entrance but he was able to use some roots and dents in the wall to make his way to the bottom. Once down, he was able to get a better look at the animal. It had clearly broken its front two legs, most likely from its landing he assumed. It was bleeding from multiple cuts on its body and had hit its head hard enough to snap off one of its antlers.

  "Shh shh, it's ok I won't hurt you." He said, as he slowly approached it.

  To his surprise the deer didn't seem to react to his approach much at all, and now he was next to it, he could see that severity of it injuries. He thought it was breathing so heavily because of panic or pain but now up close, he could see why. Where it had landed, a large rock was jutting out of the wall and it was now sickeningly deep in the side of its chest.

  He softly stroked the creature, looking at his hand as he did. As much as he wanted to try to heal it, he wasn’t even able to fully heal his own tooth. If he tried to heal this poor thing he might just prolong it suffering.

  Ambrose kept trying to comfort the animal as he slowly took his last knife from where he had put it on his belt. He pulled it up to its neck and put his head on its.

  "I'm really sorry. If I was better with magic, I might have been able to save you." He felt tears filling his eyes. "I am still a bit bewildered by everything that has been going on the last two days, but if this land is really now mine, then it's my responsibility to look after those on it."

  He stroked its head one last time, and plunged the knife into its neck.