Kirsty walking up to the stump as Hassan spoke and began walking around it, observing it from every angle. It looked like a stump. She regarded the surrounding vegetation. When Hassan had first told her about the vanishing tracks she'd thought that perhaps Kevin had been snatched up but an attacker concealed in the trees but they were in a clearing and the nearest tree was too far for a human attacker to have grabbed someone standing near the stump from. A flying attacker, perhaps, but what kind of creature could fly off with a 200+ lb human male. She frowned, not liking any of the answers that could have explained that question.

"Hmm... I guess there is only one last thing to check." She prodded the stump with her foot then turned around and whispering to Hassan. "Perhaps we can trick it into happening again with a witness. You go and hide in the bushes and I'll try sitting here..." She lowered herself to sit on the stump as she spoke. "And we'll wait a bit and see what happens."

Hassan nodded, turned and went to leave her in the clearing but never got out of it before she sat and -

Kristy found herself in a room of stone. A thick wooden door was on the east wall and there were things here, a bookshelf with a couple of tomes and scrolls/ It had been if something shifted the second she sat dlown. As she sat there was some wort of a flash and she found herself her in the dank little room.

She was sitting on a filthy floor the smell was dank and musty. The air was a lot cooler than it had been in the jungle though she had to wonder had Hassan seen? What would he do? Would he follow? Get help?

She was unsure what had happened nor what Hassan would do. It occurred to her that his back had been turned, that he may not have seen at all and that to him she was there one moment and simply gone the next though he should figure things out right?

Kirsty blinked and the world had changed again. She wasn't really all that shocked this time as she had expected something to happen. Granted, she hadn't expected it to happen so fast but... She stood up and looked at the spot where she'd been sitting but there was no sign of the stump now. She suspected that had been the trigger. Kevin had apparently walked into the forest, stopped at the stump and sat down to rest upon it when...

"Oh Kevin..." Kirsty spun around to survey the room. "Kevin?!" He wasn't there. It was a small room with few places to hide. A bookshelf seemed to be the only furnishings and the rest of the room was mildewed stone walls and a few scattered books. That and the door. She ignored the books and the shelving unit and went straight to the door and tested it. Unfortunately, she expected it to be locked and sure enough, as per the logic of dreams, it was. She could start banging on it but feared that was more likely to attract her captors than anything else. She assumed this room was a prison cell and she wasn't currently in a rush to meet the one's who maintained it.

However, that left only the bookshelf. She turned to regard it suspiciously. Her first thought was that there would be a passage way behind it. That was good. Expectations translated to realities in dreams so if she thought there would be a passage there then there should be one. The only problem was the books. Books were tricky in dreams. She approached the bookshelf cautiously, avoiding the tomes strewed around the floor. Careful not to focus on them. Books worked one of two ways in her dreams, either they were unreadable garbage or they were... "doorways to distraction". She still could read them but picking one up or focusing too long on it could catapult her into a completely different dream. Kirsty didn't want that to happen. She was too interested in her current dream. She stopped in front of the bookshelf and reached out tentatively to touch the rough wood, willing that to be enough to activate the secret door.

Aegir directed the dream to a point. He had not challenged her and was all too accomodating to work with her expectations. The door was unlocked but she expected it to be locked and so it was. There was originally no secret passage in the chamber but that was something that he changed though, again at her expectations.

He changed things a little or rather allowed her to make those changes for it was like editting a script a little. He tested her ability though he challenged her. He was pleased that she wanted to see this dream play out some more and only made slight alterations so far, alterations he could easily work with as a section of the wall popped open at her prompting.

As long as he gave her the same information elsewhere it did not matter how she got that information, right? The passage was narrow and smelly, drafty and full of cobwebs given rise to the fact that it had not been used in to time. The passage ened at the back of another secret door that was obvious from this side. Opening it she found that the door appeared to be a boulder from the other side and the passage came out on a hill. She was in a small village it seemed, the largest structure had been the one she just left.

One three sides the village was surroumded by forest, on the other mountains ...

The passageway looked completely forlorn with its foul smell and thick cobwebs, as though even the people who had made it had long since forgotten it was there or had died. If Kevin had been transported to the same place as her then it seemed he much have exited by way of the locked door. Maybe it hadn't been locked when he'd been there or he had moved by his captors. Assuming they had been his captors... The activation of the stump transporter could have really been accidental and not a trap designed to imprison anyone.

The passage out let out onto a hill overlooking a small village, possibly the one Hassan had mentioned. She frowned at this discovery. She assumed that if the prison she'd just been in had been located this close to the village then they were probably the ones who maintained it. If that was the case she might not find them to be a very helpful lot. She looked back at the boulder facade that cut off the way she'd just come from. There was clearly no going back. She sighed.

"Oh well, guess I'd better bite the bullet." She muttered and turned back to the village. If Kevin really had come this way then the villager's were the most likely the only ones who knew where it was now. She had to chance it. If things got dangerous then she still had one trump card she could play. That thought reassuring her, she made her decision and started down the hill towards the village.

After debating it for a moment she made her way to the village armed with the knowledge sh could change things if it were necessary though Aegir had no reason to present such a situation to her just yet.

He hoped that he could keep her interested though he had assumed that he would eventually see more of her talent at work eventually. Right now though he was simply setting the stage for things to come.

As she moved toward the village she could see several tan skinned individuals working in the fields though there was a a field that had only one man working it that was safer to approach than those with multiple individuals.

Getting closer the man didn't seem concerned about her acknowledging her in the least. He was still plowing fields with his oxen when she came upon him, a tanned caucasion that flickered his gaze in her direction, nodded then finally acknowledged her.

“Fine day we're having miss. That's strange attire for these parts. Did you get your clothes in the northern terrotoies?

Kirsty realized something was off as she drew nearer to the man with his oxen and plow. The man didn't look anything like an African tribesmen. His skin was tan though no more than might be expected of a farm worker. She slowed down her approach and looked around the town and the surrounding forest. Was she still in the Congo or had she been transported even further than she realized?

The farmer noticed her then and asked about her attire. She turned to blink at him bemusedly for a second before answering. "My clothes are from America... I'm sorry if I seem a little confused. I have traveled quite a long way today and I'm afraid I've gotten myself terribly lost. Can you tell me what town this is and what country it is in?"

The man gazed at her, a bit confused but he did not linger on her answer for too long, he merely reflect upon it.

“America? I a, mpt fa,olar with that territory.” He looked at her for a monet then bestowed her a small mile. “You are in Bakersfield about fourteen kilomenters from Lomdo.”

The man had never heard of America? Oh dear, that didn't bode well. She raked her brain trying to remember where Bakersfield was. He clearly wasn't referring to the one in California... England, maybe. She couldn't remember. Only one thing was clear, she was not in Africa and if she had to venture a guess she'd say she probably wasn't in 2012 anymore either. "Bakersfield, huh? Boy, I really did get far..." She looked back to the man skeptically. "You haven't heard anyone talking about another strangely dressed travel passing this way, have you? My husband was came this way a few days a head of me. His name is Kevin." She called him husband out of convenience. Fiance was a French word after all and might not have even been invented yet. It was easier to just say husband.

The man nodded. “Come to think of it there was about a day back I hear. I never seen him though there was a meeting about what to do with the sorcerer. He had much in the way of spellcraft and knowledge though he arrive back that way,” he pointed back the way that she came towards the house on the hill.

“The Smith's discovered him and brought it out over the emergency meeting last night but before anything was decided he got away so I guess the talks we moot after all. The headmaster knows more than I, as the Smith's. No doubt they know more and shared a few things with one another that they did not bring up at the meting.

“It must be remarable being married to the sorceror though.”

A sorceror?! Oh dear... The villager's thought Kevin was a sorceror. Well, I suppose that wasn't too terribly surprising. A man in strange clothes suddenly appears out of nowhere in a medieval village. Of course, they would assume he was magically. He was just lucky he hadn't been burned at the stake. Remarkably it didn't sound quite as inconvenient as she would have expected. Nothing the farmer had said seemed to imply he thought being a sorceror was a bad thing.

"It has its moments, I expect. We haven't been married long but already it has caused us some rather interesting problems. Like our current separation, for example." She looked around dejectedly. "You say he has already left town? Do you know which way he went. Or does this headmaster you spoke of? I should like to speak to him if at all possible. Where does he live?"

Clearly things didn't seem too bad at this point even as she professed being married to this sorcerer the farmer had not showed any undue conern. He simply eyed her strange attire and took it in stride as a wizard thing.

“I don't know that miss. I do know that he was staying there,” he pointed to the house on the hill though not by choice. He escape, let's see a day back or so. We discussed a little in what we were to do with him but he was gone before a decision could be reached.

“Thed master, Ren, lead the investigation into matters so he might know. He's in that building there, the one with the cart outside of it,” he pointed at it.

Kirsty found herself wondering what kind of place she'd landed herself in. At first, she'd thought she had traveled back in time to some medieval European village but now she wasn't so sure. The farmer spoke so easily about sorcerers, with no hint of dread in his voice. He openly admitted that Kevin had been held prisoner here for a sort while but his words seemed to imply it was not by the village as a whole. They had been discussing what to do about him once they discovered him but nothing the farmer had said seemed to suggest they meant to burn him or anything. "Do you know why my husband was in such a rush to leave or is that another question best directed at Headmaster Ren?"

She looked towards the house with the cart in front of it. "Well, I suppose I shall have to speak with him either way. Thank you for your help sir." She bowed her head courteously to the farmer before starting off towards the Headmaster's house. She hoped her instincts about this village were right and that they weren't going to attack her for being the "wife" of a supposed wizard. She approached the house and knocked once on the door before calling out. "Hello? Is Master Ren in? I need to speak to him urgently about the incident that happened a couple of days ago."

“I'm afraid not. I just know he had an incident with the Smith's who had been disturbed by him, though I imagine he took the first opportunity to escape not knowing what was in store for him he probably didn't want to stick around to find out what the consensus was.

Aegir changed and tweked things a little as he went. He had answeres to Kristy's questions of course and this was clearly not historical England. No fear or wizards, or so it seemed for one thing so a parallel?

She made her wa to the indicated house seeing a tabby cat on the window sill of a porch window lazily sleeping away.

“Come in! Make your self at home, I'll be right will you.” An older voice called and a few minutes later she was joined by a stopped over old man, bald with a dark gray mustache. His eyes were virtuall cosed completely and he used a cane to better balance himself.

“I am Ren. Please, no Master, no need to be too formal but you have me at a loss. I'm afraid I don't know who you are unless I've forgotten in my old age which has been happening more and more as of late.”

Kirsty entered as bidden and smiled at the harmless looking old man who greeted her. "No, you have not forgotten me, sir. We have never met before. My name is Kirsty Barker. I believe you met my husband though. He is the sorcerer who appeared here a few days ago. I am trying to find out where he might have gone. I knew he was not here long but did he mention anything to you about where he might be going?"