It was dark already so I said to her "We need to camp here. I have a few animal skins with me so we can use that as our beds. Let me make the fire first". She nodded slightly while I went to collect some wood for the fire. A while later, I returned with enough wood and lit the fire.
I took out some animal skins and fur to use as our beds. I wanted to hand some of them to her but she looked at me and said "I'm fine, I don't need to sleep". I was a bit stunned and asked "What? You don't need to sleep at all?" to which she laughed and said "No, I do sleep but I'm not tired. I don't have to sleep as often as you humans do". I responded "Alright, as you like" and started to make my makeshift bed.
It didn't take long for me to finish. I laid down in my bed and closed my eyes. 'I'm tired, that past few days were too eventful. I better get some proper rest' I thought. Before I could fall asleep, I could feel something moving next to me. I opened my eyes and looked behind me.
"What are you doing?" I asked. She replied as if it was natural "I just want to sit next to you, why do you ask?". "... Just do whatever you want then" and closed my eyes again. I wanted to fall asleep but she had different plans. She asked "Hey, what is your name? I told you mine, shouldn't you also tell me yours?". My first thought was 'Will I even get some rest with her around? Can't I just fall asleep peacefully?' and then replied "I'm Nex".
She said "Nex… that is a weird name". 'Just... What the fuck? Why am I the one with the weird name all the time?' I thought but I decided to not comment on that. She then asked "How old are you?". I opened my eyes and turned around. "I'm 24, do you have any other questions?" to which she said "Yea, I have a lot".
I gave up at that point. She would probably pester me for the whole night. I decided to ask some of my questions instead. I asked "What is that aura or power that you spoke of? I clearly never felt anything like it. Are you sure I have something like this?" to which she nodded her head and said "Of course. Otherwise I wouldn't be this strong. The aura seeps out of you when you sleep and I absorb it".
'Hmmm... Now that I think about it, the only thing that could be connected to that aura or power is the Dark Traveller from my dreams. If so, what is the purpose of that aura or power?' I thought and decided to ask. "What is it exactly? Is it an aura like this?" I said and released an Aura of Dominance. She seemed stunned a bit but shook her head and said "No, it's nothing like this. It's like a dark cloud or smoke coming out from you, I collect and absorb it. I don't know how you can produce it either but it is beneficial to me".
'So that's how it is! When I dream, the aura must be enveloping my body. This may be the reason why I use so much energy in my dreams. The aura consumes my energy and therefore, I feel hungry when I wake up. Besides that, due to energy used, I get stronger and my body is able to improve. This makes sense now!' I thought.
I knew that I was getting stronger thanks to my dreams but I didn't know how exactly. Doing some exercises in my dream would not impact the reality. 'This is where that aura comes in. The more I use it, the more energy I spend and the more my body improves. There also seems to be rules on what is improved, it probably depends on which dream I have. It doesn't improve my body alone, it can also do so with my sense and my mind. Now I finally know how my dreams work!' I thought.
'This is good and all but wouldn't that mean, she took a bit of my aura? Wouldn't I suffer due to that? I mean, I don't know how much she is taking. I should ask!' I thought and asked her "How much of that aura do you absorb?". She thought about it and answered "Very little actually. I can't absorb much of it because it is very strong and takes me a long time to refine it. I don't think you should be worried about anything".
'If what she says is true then there is no need to be worried, I guess. It's not like I won't get something out of it either. I will get to learn those stealth skills. I think that is a fair trade' I thought and said "So you are called Laly, right?", she responded "Yes, you remember". I asked her "Then how old are you Laly?". She thought about it for a while and said "Do you want to know human years or Eterian years?". I was confused 'What? What does that even mean? A year is a year'. I asked confused "Isn't that the same thing? A year means a year, four seasons pass meaning a year". She laughed a bit and said "No, I didn't mean it like that. We Eterians live longer, a lot longer than you humans. My Eterian age is longer but human equivalent is smaller. I will give you an example". I was still confused but I waited for her further explanation.
"For example, when Eterian is 100 years old, it means that it reached adulthood. It would be equivalent to human's adulthood. When you are about 16 years of age, you reach adulthood. That is what I meant."
I was shocked to be honest. '100 years to reach adulthood? Then how long can those Eterians live? 1000 years?' I thought and asked "So you have like over 100 years?". She said "Yes, I'm 113 years old. Which would be about 17 years old human equivalent". I had only one thought in my mind 'Damn!'.
Who wouldn't want to live that long. I decided to ask "So you want to tell me, you can live like 1000 years?" She smiled and replied "No, of course not. The oldest Eterians live up to 500 years but that is rare. Our lifespan ends at around 420th year". I said "Still, that is couple of human generations. No wonder you have such constraints placed upon your race". I then recalled the Cliff Walker. Those moving plants also had huge constraints placed on their kind. They didn't have predators but reproducing was very difficult for them. 'Eterians seem to be in the same boat' I thought.
I said "Wow, you are 4 times as old as me. I should call you grandma Laly". I said it as a joke of course but she didn't seem to like that. Her response was quite angry "I'm not old! I'm still very young, younger than you!". I thought I will tease her more and said "How can you be younger than me? I lived for 24 years and you for over a 100. Everyone would say that you are older". She again argued back that she wasn't old. I decided to drop it and said "I don't really care how old you are. I was just messing with you. Do you have any other questions? I would like to get some rest".
She realized something and said "Right, you must be tired. I don't have any other questions. You can sleep now". I said "OK, grandma Laly" and closed my eyes. I could still hear some grumbling behind me but she soon stopped. I was able to get some sleep finally.