Mystic Heart Odyssey, Chapter 19. Yes, I took a little bit of inspiration from certain spirits from Japanese folklore for this one, albeit very surface-level and mainly based off a certain animated movie. I thought kodama were a neat concept and I liked the way they were portrayed in Princess Mononoke, so I thought I’d borrow a little from that, as well as (somewhat unintentionally and subconsciously) the deku peeps from the Zelda games. I haven’t really played much of the latter, but I see them around the net enough that I guess they subconsciously inspired me, too.

-Llox

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“H-how did you do all that?” Kuna asked, having finally calmed down enough for conversation. The two were sitting down on the thick branch they’d landed on, facing towards the spectacular canyon before them.

Lykou shrugged and smiled sheepishly, rubbing his neck. “Luck and good instincts, I guess.”

Boarshit, Kuna thought to himself. But he didn’t dare say so out loud.

“I’m just glad you didn’t faint,” the konuul said with a chuckle. “You uh, took all that better than I expected.”

“I’m… still letting it all catch up to me, I think,” Kuna replied, shooting little glances over at his friend. “I have to admit it… did feel… I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

“Yeah, that was quite a rush, wasn’t it?” Lykou agreed. “I haven’t felt one like that in… well, maybe ever. Sure felt amazing, though!”

Kuna stared sidelong at the konuul for a moment. “Yeah… yeah it did,” he quietly replied, only looking away when the canid turned towards him.

“Must be something to do with that weird mountain,” Lykou went on, then frowned a bit. “Although we never got any answers up there.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Kuna said reassuringly.

“Yeah,” Lykou said, then suddenly yawned. “Damn, that whole thing really wiped me out. We should see about finding a good camping spot. I know it’s still early, but I don’t think I want to try traveling any more today.”

I bet it did, the sereva thought. “Sounds good to me.”

They both climbed down off the backside of the branch, but Lykou stumbled over as soon as his feet hit the ground. Kuna quickly rushed over to help him up. “Shit, you alright?”

“Yeah,” the konuul said, standing up somewhat unsteadily. “Guess I’m even more exhausted than I thought, heh.” He rubbed his neck and leaned up against the tree. “Just, uh, give me a few more minutes I guess.”

Kuna gave the knouul a concerned look. “Are you going to be alright?”

Lykou nodded, then pulled out his waterskin to take several large sips. “Like I said, I think I just need a break for a minute. Let me just…” He let the waterskin drop and pulled a piece of salted meat out of his bag, then started eating it hungrily.

“Go ahead and have a seat, Lykou,” Kuna urged him, gently rubbing his arm. “There’s no rush to keep moving. Especially after what you just got us through. Heh, you got us down the mountain a whole lot quicker than we climbed it, after all,” he said with a smirk, hoping to get a grin out of the konuul.

Lykou was distracted by his food, but after a moment he swallowed a big bite and smiled back at the sereva. “True.”

Kuna started looking around. The forest they were in looked a little different from what he’d gotten used to on the other side of the mountain. There were a lot of thicker trees with darker wood, and hanging vines all over the place. The canopy was thick as well, and the air was slightly humid. Bright, colorful flowers lined any area of the ground that managed to get a decent amount of sunlight. Several different fruits hung from some trees and nearby bushes. Fungi clustered in thick bunches in the more shaded areas, and a small gully branched off from the nearby stream. The main mudflow had stopped back before the remaining treeline, but the water was still thick with mud in some areas.

“I think we better find a place to camp for the night,” the sereva eventually said, still assessing their surroundings thoughtfully.

“Hmm? I guess,” Lykou said after quickly finishing the latest chunk of meat. “I won’t object to calling it an early night.”

“Okay, wait here and finish snacking, I’m just going to scout around us a little bit,” Kuna said, setting his bag down next to the konuul.

“Huh? Wait,” Lykou started to object, starting to stand up again. “It could be dang-”

Kuna placed his hands on the konuul’s shoulders and gently encouraged him to sit back down. “I’ll be fine, Lykou. You need to recover your strength,” he said, smiling. “Give me a chance to prove myself, alright? I won’t be far, just getting a quick look around. Stay here and watch our stuff.”

Lykou raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. “I’m fine, really,” he insisted. “I just needed to grab a snack and catch my breath, is all.” He suddenly wavered a bit and started to slump back, briefly confused by his own sudden weakness. “Er...”

“Trust me, Lykou. You need to give yourself a chance to recover. I just… call it a feeling, alright?” the sereva said, rubbing his arm slightly. “Let me repay you a bit for saving our asses back there, take it easy.”

“Well… if you’re sure…” he said, then smiled back as he relaxed back on the gorund. “Don’t hesitate to shout if you need help or something though, alright?”

“Of course.”

Kuna walked away, glancing back over his shoulder once or twice at the konuul after he was some distance off. He spotted the canid grabbing another chunk of meat from his bag and started chomping away at it. Man, whatever he did back there must have really taken it out of him, he thought to himself.

After a few minutes, when he was sure he was sufficiently out of sight and sound range of the konuul, he took stock of the nearby wilderness. After a moment, he found a relatively bare patch, where some of the mud flow had seeped through the treeline enough to bury some of the underbrush, but not knock over the surrounding trees. There was no natural shelter nearby. But after a few minutes thought, an idea came to him. What if I make one…?

It was risky. He’d have to be careful to make it look natural enough that Lykou wouldn’t question it, yet functional enough to protect them from the elements, and other potential dangers. And he wasn’t even sure he’d have the energy to pull it off, given what the spirit had warned him about. Still, he had to at least try.

He took a deep breath, then concentrated, feeling for the flow of life energy. This time it came much quicker than before- he realized after a moment that, with so much dense life around him, there would naturally be a lot more of the energy flowing around. Next, he carefully reached out and grasped it. He managed to get both hands glowing, then carefully approached a nearby, particularly large tree. After glancing at the other nearby trees, he got a feel for their normal growing patterns. They hard large, above-ground roots exposed all around their trunks, so he figured he could work with that somehow. Carefully, he touched the big one in front of him and focused.

After a minute, the roots started to shift and move, and several new ones formed out of the sides of the trunk. He could feel it starting to drain his energy, but he kept going, determined to finish what he started. He began to sweat as the tree formed a somewhat hollowed-out section under its base. Once he figured it was large enough to lay their mat, he pulled his hand away and stumbled back a bit, feeling like he’d just had another long run. He was fatigued from the effort, but felt good about the result.

He quickly turned and went back to where he’d left the konuul. As he left, a very small, glowing light appeared and drifted down from the tree. Once it touched the ground, the light faded, leaving behind a small, odd-looking wooden figure. It had a face with three round holes of similar, but different sizes. The light had retreated inside its apparently hollow head. After a moment, the figure stood up and began walking around on small branch-like limbs, making faint rattling sounds as it moved.

*****

Kuna and Lykou slowly made their way to the good camp area that the sereva had ‘found’, the konuul slightly leaning on his friend for support. He looked a bit embarrassed to have to have such help, but he appreciated it nonetheless. He perked up some when they rounded a cluster of bushes and he saw the place Kuna had told him about. “Wow, you weren’t kidding, that’s convenient,” he said, grinning a bit. “Good find, Kuna.”

The sereva smiled and helped him over to the hollow, where they both set their bags and the mat down. Lykou grabbed the side of the tree to steady himself and stop from immediately flopping down next to it all. Kuna took his other hand and gently guided him to sit down on one of the roots outside the hollow.

“I’m sorry, Kuna, I just don’t know why-”

“Don’t worry about it, Lykou. All that action earlier just wore you out,” Kuna assured him, as he tried to hide his own fatigue. “You said yourself you’ve never experienced a ‘rush’ like that before, right? It just took a lot out of you.”

The konuul smiled somewhat bashfully back at the sereva. “I guess so,” he said, rubbing his arm. “You sure you don’t want me to help with the fire?”

Kuna shook his head. “I got it. Go ahead and stretch out on the mat if you want. I won’t take long,” he said as he started collecting fallen sticks and branches wherever he could find them. He didn’t want to think too much about how wet the wood was going to be. It’d be harder than ever getting anything to light. “I’ll take first watch, as usual, if you want to go ahead and doze off early.”

“I’m at least going to wait until you’re over here near me, dammit,” the konuul playfully insisted with a small grin. “Not going to conk out while you’re busy working.”

Kuna just chuckled and rolled his eyes. “If you insist. I’ll be right back, I’m just going to see if I can find some dryer wood outside the muddy area.”

The sereva stepped away back into the thicket and gathered whatever small bits of branches and kindling he could find that looked driest. He ended up going slightly further than he’d planned, just to find things that weren’t utterly soaked. He jumped and nearly dropped everything when a small branch he’d been reaching for moved on its own. The entity from the tree shuffled out from the bushes it’d been sticking out of on its wobbly legs, turning its head 180 degrees to look up at the sereva.

With wide eyes, Kuna slowly stepped backwards, ready to bolt if needed. The entity clicked and rattled a bit- and after a moment, his medallion began translating.

“You. Tree-shaper. Yes?” came the odd voice, which sounded, appropriately, like it was coming through a hollow wooden tube.

After staring at it for a moment, Kuna slowly nodded. “Y-yes? Wait, you’re a spirit aren’t you?”

The figure’s head rattled around a bit. “Spirit am. Tree tender. Yes.”

“Oh… oh!” Kuna said, then smiled apologetically and nervously. “Uh. Was that tree, um, yours?”

“Yes. Tree is. For I. Of I,” the spirit confusingly explained. “Protect and. Guide.”

“I’m s-sorry if I caused any harm!” Kuna quickly apologized, hoping he hadn’t offended the spirit. “I-”

“No harm,” the spirit cut him off. “Only strange. Growth. Guide. Why?”

“Uh, well… my friend and I need shelter to rest in tonight. To protect us from things,” Kuna explained, then glanced around nervously, making sure Lykou hadn’t come looking for him before continuing in a quieter voice. “I’ve, uh, only recently started learning life magic, so I was hoping I could put it to good use. I hope that’s okay.”

For a moment, the spirit just looked at the sereva, its head tilted and rattling around periodically. “Okay. Yes. If no harm. Tree,” it said after some consideration. “Growth. Good. Big flow. Break many friend. Tree.”

Kuna nodded after a minute. “Oh. Yeah, I saw the effects of that slide. I’m sorry for your friends,” he said with a genuine sympathetic look. Once his nerves had subsided, he had to admit the little figure was kind of cute and charming, in a way. And it was friendly so far. He’d hate to think a bunch of its friends had been wiped away. But then again, they were spirits, so if anything, they were probably just displaced. “Will they be alright?”

“Forest. Regrow. In time,” the spirit said. If it had any emotion, it wasn’t clear from its tone, any more than its static, wooden face. “Much work. But happy. Work. Tree tenders. Always. Around.”

“That’s good,” Kuna said with a small smile.

“Why take. Branches?”

“Oh, this,” the sereva said, glancing down at the bundle in his arms with a sheepish grin. “I hope it’s alright, but we usually make a small campfire to keep warm and ward off-”

“Fire?? Fire??” the spirit asked, somewhat urgently, shifting around in alarm.

Nervous that he’d slipped up, the sereva set the branches down and waved his hands in a placating manner. “No no, it’s alright! We’re very careful with it, it won’t harm the trees!”

“Fire… burning… dangerous…”

“I promise we won’t be dangerous! We just need it to protect us!” Kuna frantically tried to calm the spirit.

The spirit settled down slightly and stared at him for a moment. “Protect. With. Fire?”

“Yes,” Kuna explained, trying to calm his own nerves as well now that the spirit no longer seemed as upset. “To keep dangerous animals away, and keep warm at night. That’s all.”

The spirit was silent for another few moments. “Show,” it eventually said.

“Oh, uh, s-sure,” Kuna said, gathering the collected wood back up. He turned to start heading back to their campsite, with the spirit following along beside him. “Um. By the way, I’m supposed to not let my friend know I can do magic yet, so… please don’t say anything about that to him, alright?”

“Magic. Secret?” the spirit asked, rattling around again. “Why?”

“The other spirit that’s teaching me said so,” Kuna said, shrugging with a small sigh. “I’m not entirely sure why, but I don’t want to upset them.”

“Other. Spirit?”

“Yes, I met them up on the mountain. They’ll probably visit tonight sometime for my next lesson,” he explained, then shrugged and chuckled nervously. “Although… honestly I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to do. I’m pretty worn out already. Still new at the while magic thing...”

“Other spirit. Also. Tree-tender?”

Kuna shook his head. “No, they’re some kind of- oh, shh, we’re getting kind of close now. You can stick around later if you want to meet them, but remember, the magic thing, including my teacher, are a secret for now, okay?” he reiterated, keeping his voice low.

“Secret. Okay.”

“By the way, do you have a name? I’m Kuna.”

“Tender name. In spirit. Tongue. Not for. Mortal ears,” it explained, then paused for a moment. “But sometimes. Use name. Koki.”

“Nice to meet you, Koki. Thank you for letting us camp under your tree,” the sereva said as they rounded some more brush and entered the muddy patch.

Lykou looked up to greet the sereva, but paused as he took noticed the extra guest. “Uh… I see you met someone,” he said, one eyebrow raised. “Hi there…?”

Kuna smiled and carried the wood over. “This is Koki. He’s a spirit,” he started explaining.

“Tree-tender,” the spirit pleasantly chimed in.

“Right, a tree tender,” Kuna continued. “And apparently this tree is under his-… er, her-… its?” He paused, looking over at the spirit uncertainly for a moment.

Koki shuffled around in what might have been a shrugging motion. “Not mortal. Word. Not matter. For tree-tender.”

Kuna smiled slightly awkwardly. “R-right. Anyway, this tree is under his care, so apparently we’re kind of his guest tonight. Koki, this is my friend, Lykou.”

“Oh,” Lykou said, his brows arching up. “Well, thank you, Koki,” he said after a moment, smiling. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice meet. Lykou too,” Koki replied.

“He’s a little anxious about the fire though, so I was going to show him we’re careful with it. Although to be honest I don’t even know if we’ll be able to start it anyway,” Kuna said as he tiredly started setting up the firepit as best he could. There were few rocks he could use to form a ring, but he figured that the ground was muddy enough that it wouldn’t be an issue, and there was nothing close enough nearby to risk catching fire. “I tried to get the driest stuff I could, but everything is still soaked from all that rain.”

“Hmm,” Lykou said, then got up to join the sereva by the wood. He tried helping to start a fire for several minutes, then shrugged and sat back. “Well if nothing else, we’ll still be taking turns on watch and can cuddle up for warmth. It’s pretty warm down here anyway, though. Better than up on that mountain.”

Kuna sighed and nodded. “True. I guess we’ll be alright without it tonight. As long as there isn’t anything too dangerous lurking around here.”

“Small creatures. Only,” Koki chimed in. “Koki. Help watch.”

“Oh, you’d do that for us?” Kuna asked, perking up. “That’s awful nice of you.”

“Koki always. Watch tree. Anyway,” the spirit said, making another little shrugging motion.

“Wow, thank you!” Lykou said, then turned back to Kuna. “The spirits around here sure are nice.”

“Sure are,” Kuna agreed.

The konuul yawned and stretched. “Well, I’m pretty beat. I’m going to get to bed now. You going to eat before you join me, I assume?”

“Y-yeah. Go ahead and get some sleep, I’ll be with you soon,” Kuna assured him, hugging the konuul before pulling a couple things out of his food bag.

“Goodnight then. To both of you,” Lykou said, smiling sleepily, before turning and crawling into the hollow area under the tree. He was fast asleep within moments of laying down on the mat.

Kuna took a few quick, hungry bites out of the earthy root thing he’d pulled out of his bag. Now that he’d finally taken the time, his appetite had quickly caught up with him.

Koki just watched him curiously for a few minutes. “Lykou. Also. Tree shaper?” the spirit eventually asked, quietly.

“No, he doesn’t do that kind of magic,” Kuna said after swallowing. Then he looked up thoughtfully, with one eyebrow arched. “...I do have a feeling he has some kind of magic, though.”

The tree spirit’s head rattled and tilted again. “Different kind?”

“Well… my mentor mentioned something about how his people can sometimes use certain energies in less obvious ways, maybe without even realizing it,” he explained, then turned to watch his friend’s slumbering form. He smiled fondly as he watched the konuul’s tail idly twitch in his sleep. “And after today, let’s just say I’m pretty inclined to believe it. He’s… pretty amazing, either way.”

Both were silent for a while. Eventually, Kuna snapped out of his staring and blushed as he turned back with an apologetic smile when he heard the spirit rattle around some. “Sorry, I get lost in thought sometimes,” he apologized, then took another bite of his food.

“Lykou. Kuna. Mate?” the spirit said out of nowhere.

Kuna practically choked on the mouthful and coughed for a minute before he could respond. “W-what? No!” he quickly answered once he was able to. He blushed intensely, giggling a bit as he ran his hand through his hair awkwardly. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re close. He’s a big sweetheart, and he’s helped me so much I don’t think I can ever repay him. And…” he trailed off for a moment, side-glancing back over at the slumbering konuul. “Yeah, okay, I can’t deny how attractive he is. He’s sexy as fuck. And has a cute face. And he’s just all around amazing.” He turned back to the spirit and smiled, his cheeks still slightly flushed. “But we’re just friends. Close friends, but that’s all. We’ve only known each other a relatively short time, anyway.”

The tree tender just stared at him again for a moment, before shrugging. “Mortals. Strange.”

“Hmm? How so?”

Before the spirit could respond, it suddenly freaked out and started scrambling backwards as a familiar ball of fire materialized in the air nearby. “Danger! Danger! Danger!” it began repeating urgently.

“Oh, it’s okay, this is just my mentor, er… well, Mentor,” he explained, then turned to the fireball. “Mentor, this is Koki. Lykou and I inadvertently ended up picking his tree to spend the night under.”

The fire spirit shot the shaking wood-thing a bemused look. “I see.”

Koki glanced back and forth between them a couple times, then made a strange grumbling sound before suddenly transforming back into an orb of light and floating up into the tree’s side, vanishing.

Kuna frowned. “Huh, that’s weird, he was pretty friendly…”

“Fire and wood don’t always get along, unfortunately,” Mentor said, chuckling lightly.

“Oh. Yeah. I guess there is that,” Kuna said with a sheepish grin. “I probably should have warned him…”

“Hmm, yes, you don’t seem to have much trouble telling people about these meetings, after all,” the spirit said, narrowing its eyes at him. “Or should we call them dreams?”

Kuna’s eyes shot wide and he fidgeted nervously. “Oh. Uh. Umm. I-”

The spirit drifted closer, eyes fixed on his. “I thought I told you. To keep our little meetings a secret from him. Did I not?”

The sereva’s ears folded down and he shrank back with a guilty look. “I’m s-sorry! I just didn’t like lying to Lykou, a-and-”

Suddenly, the ball of flames pulled back as the spirit began laughing mirthfully. “Oh, relax, Kuna,” the spirit said after the laughter subsided. One eye pinched shut for a moment, the way someone’s would if they were briefly rubbing it. “You’re fine. I actually applaud your clever little work-around.”

Kuna’s eye twitched for a moment, then he took a slow, deep breath as he calmed back down. “Y-you’re not mad?”

“Goodness, no. That kind of cleverness will serve you well in the mystical arts, well done,” the spirit said. “I’ve been watching you at times, and you should be proud of yourself in general. Well done working with that tree, by the way.”

“Oh, y-yeah,” Kuna said, rubbing his shoulder as he glanced back at their shelter briefly. “Thanks. O-on that note, though, I’m still pretty beat from today, so I don’t know how much I’ll be able to practice tonight,” he continued with a sheepish look.

“That’s perfectly fine, Kuna. Not all lessons need have an immediate practical use,” the spirit assured him.

“M-makes sense,” the sereva said, nodding. He paused for a moment and glanced at Lykou briefly. “Hey, um. Last time you mentioned how konuul sometimes had certain ways of tapping into different energies…”

“Indeed. And I take it you took my advice about keeping a curious eye on your… friend?”

Kuna nodded. “Today, he… well, it’s a long story, but let’s just say he did some really amazing things and when I focused, it definitely felt like there was something… else going on,” he tried to explain. “And then afterwards he was completely drained. I had to help him walk to this campsite.”

“That does indeed sound like some intense magic at work, of some kind,” the spirit mused.

“Yeah, I definitely got that impression. And I got the feeling he definitely wasn’t doing it consciously,” he continued. “He only did something like that once before, to a smaller degree. I’m not sure what triggers it, though.”

“That’s something only he could answer, and even then it’s doubtful,” the spirit replied. “But it’s good that you were able to pick up on it.”

“How could I not?” Kuna said in amusement, thinking back to their wild ride down the mountainside. “He was amazing. He moved and reacted so quickly, like he could see things happen before they did, or something. And he was grinning the whole time. That big, dumb, adorable grin. Like all the danger in the world suddenly couldn’t bother him a bit, and it was all a big game,” the sereeva went on, gushing a bit. “And I swear he had this, this faint glow around him, and in his eyes. His pretty, focused eyes…”

“Sounds like you were paying a lot of attention to detail,” the spirit noted with some amusement.

Kuna snapped out of his reverie and grinned sheepishly, blushing. “Er, yeah…”

“It all seems to have left quite an impact on you. Or he did, at least.”

The sereva sighed and looked away with a smirk. “Y-yeah. It was pretty intense.”

“Indeed.”

“So uh… now what?” Kuna eventually asked after a short, awkward silence and a semi-stifled yawn.

“Well, seeing as how you haven’t the energy for a full, practical lesson, feel free to ask some questions until you’re too sleepy to continue,” the spirit said. “And I’ll answer any I am able and willing to.”

Kuna thought for a minute, trying to blink away the fatigue. Then he glanced down and lifted the medallion hanging around his neck. “What about these spirit signs? Can you tell me anything about them?”

“Well, there are many of them. They’re also called glyphs, runes, and a few other things,” the spirit explained. “You activate them with different kinds of energy, and in response they do different things depending on what kind of energy you feed into them. Although many will only respond to one or two kinds of energy.”

“And I guess this is star- er, whatever the real name is, energy?” the sereva asked, tracing his fingers over the symbol.

“That is correct.”

“What would happen if I were to push life energy into it?”

“Well for now I would advise against it, as that would cancel its current effect. And I don’t think you want that until it runs out naturally,” the spirit warned. “In any case, probably less desirable results. That sign is primarily associated with thoughts and ideas, and how they are transmitted between individuals. With… ‘star’ energy as you call it, it’s more or less universal. With any other energy, it might give you a more limited ability to speak specifically to elemental spirits of the associated type of energy.”

“Oh. Wait. I didn’t even think about it, but without this, would you and I…?” Kuna trailed off, suddenly slightly worried, in case the thing ran out of energy before his lessons were finished.

“Why, are you looking for an easy way to shut me up?” the spirit asked, its eyes slightly narrowed in a playful way. Again, there was the faintest hint of a smirk somewhere under the flames.

“W-nonono! I just-”

The spirit chuckled. “Take it off for a moment and see, Kuna.”

Kuna hesitated for a moment, then carefully lifted the medallion up over his head, then set it in his lap. He then looked up at the spirit expectantly.

“Blorp sveep grongo fl- nah, I’m just fucking with you,” the spirit joked, catching the sereva off guard. “See? I speak your tongue. No worries.”

Kuna couldn’t help but snicker a bit as he put the medallion back on. “You know… you’re really different from what I expected most spirits to be like.”

“Oh? And how many spirits have you chatted with?”

The sereva rubbed his arm and smiled sheepishly. “Er, point taken. I guess I just always assumed most spirits were all, I don’t know… mysterious, aloof, and-”

“Uptight?” Mentor suggested.

“Er,” Kuna hesitated, taken a bit off guard. “I wouldn’t-”

Again, the spirit chuckled. “Oh believe me, there’s plenty of that around. I’ll even play it up from time to time myself, but frankly it gets old after a while.”

Kuna smiled a little. “So… yeah, spirit signs. Can you teach me any of them?”

“Mm, not yet. Perhaps later, when you’re better rested. Besides, it’s more fun to experiment with any you find out in the world, trust me,” the spirit suggested.

The sereva scratched his head. “Actually, we did see one several days ago, before we came to the mountain. It was behind a waterfall,” he said, then grabbed a stick from the pile of unused wood he’d collected and drew the symbol in the mud. “It looked like that. What does that one do?”

The spirit glanced down at the sketch for a moment. “Ah, yes. A doorway.”

Kuna looked mildly perplexed. “What’s that?”

The spirits gaze rose back to stare back at him for a moment. “Ah, yes, your people wouldn’t have doors, would they,” it said in a mildly amused tone. “Ask Lykou sometime. His village likely has doors. Albeit mundane ones. This is more the magical kind. Suffice to say it grants access to another place when supplied with the right energies. Given that it was behind a waterfall, it was probably used by a water spirit.”

Kuna looked thoughtful for a moment. “People can make these, too, right? And make them work?”

“Yes, in theory. Though making them tends to be a bit more complicated than simply using existing ones,” the spirit explained. “And no, you can’t just draw one and have it take you all the way home, I’m afraid. Two places have to be linked first.”

“Oh,” Kuna said, frowning a bit as his hope was quickly dashed. “So much for that.”

“Unfortunately, life seldom offers such simple solutions to such big problems.”

The sereva sighed. “Yeah, silly me for getting hopeful,” he said sardonically. “Still, maybe we’ll find one that’ll help somehow.”

“Oh you will, trust me,” the spirit assured him.

Kuna looked up, raising an eyebrow questioningly at the spirit. “Oh yeah?”

The spirit narrowed its eyes slightly and chuckled. “Like I said. At the end of your lessons, you’ll be able to find your way home, and it’ll involve finding and using a number of those things.”

“That’s… good to know,” Kuna said, perking up a little. Suddenly, he yawned again, then rubbed his eye. “As much as I want to keep asking things, I don’t think I can stay awake much longer, and it’s getting harder to think...”

“Get some rest, then. We’ll meet again tomorrow night.”

“Sounds good,” the sereva said as he slowly got up. “Good night, Mentor. Thank you again.”

“Sleep well, Kuna,” the spirit said before vanishing.

The sereva trudged over across the soft muddy ground and practically collapsed next to his friend, then snuggled up under the blanket with him. Within moments, he was sound asleep.

*****

A light breeze stirred the branches higher up in the tree the boys were sleeping under. A dark figure gradually appeared, lounging idly on one of the larger branches. After a moment, it reached up and knocked lightly on the tree’s trunk. “Come on out, I won’t bite,” a slightly distorted, androgynous voice said.

After a few moments, a glowing light slowly emerged from the tree. It drifted in a wide arc around the stranger and landed a short way past their feet, transforming back into the form of the little tree-tender. Although its face was static, the light peering through the holes in its head still managed to give off a leery expression as it stared at the shadowy figure.

“You made a promise to guard those boys tonight, yeah? Make sure you keep it, little guy. I don’t want to have to babysit them all night myself,” the voice said. A stylized depiction of eyes made of indigo light appeared floating several inches away from the figure’s head, much bigger than their normal eyes. Their normal eyes appeared behind them, on the stranger’s otherwise still-hidden face, also glowing with indigo light.

Koki briefly looked down, then back up at the figure before making a series of little rattling, clicking sounds.

“Nothing you have to worry about, little buddy,” the stranger said, a glowing indigo smirk appearing below the floating eye-lines, over the shadowy head. “And by the way. Trying to warn him? ‘Danger’? Really? You know us better than that, I’d hope.”

The tree-tender made another series of little sounds.

The stranger chuckled. “Yes, I suppose my reputation does precede me. Still, I’ve got no reason to mess with your little tree,” they said, knocking lightly on the wood with their knuckles, then leaned forward. Both sets of eyes narrowed and gave the tree-tender a look. “As long as you don’t go blowing my cover. They’re not going to meet the real me until I’m damn good and ready, got it?”

Koki shifted uneasily, then made another few clicks.

“Good,” the figure said cheerfully, leaning back again. “Well then, byebye.”

In a small gust of wind, the figure vanished. The tree tender shuddered slightly, before dropping unceremoniously down to the ground in front of the hollowed-out area. It turned and looked at the sleeping boys for a moment, then turned around and sat down to begin its vigil.