Mystic Heart Odyssey

Naira’s Search, pt. 1

This is the first of a couple little side-chapters focusing on Naira back near Lakefire. This one actually takes place around two weeks into Lykou and Kuna’s journey. (So yeah, it’s kind of backdated- sorry about that! Should have written it sooner.) Her best friend just went missing without a trace, and she’s determined to find the truth!

-Llox

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“This… reeeeaallly fucking sucks,” Naira muttered to herself under her breath. She swatted away a fly that insisted on buzzing around near her ears as she stalked through the woods. “How the hell did Kou put up with it all the time?”

She was in a rough way, having switched to being a scout, despite her lack of experience in such things. It was a new title, having replaced the retired job of ‘spirit chaser’ after Lykou went missing two weeks prior. It took a lot of convincing for her to be allowed to take it up, especially given her lack of survival experience compared to her missing friend. But it became clear that nobody was going to dissuade her, so she was begrudgingly given a scout’s knife and pack.

It did mean she had lost weight and was frequently hungry, however. Besides being what was viewed as one of the least important jobs- since the hunters could, after all, double as scouts in a way on their own- she also struggled to feed herself on her long outings, since she’d never been a terribly good hunter. Her fur was also flecked with dirt and debris from her constant searching- she only occasionally took the time to clean up properly. Her hair, usually either tied up or braided, was mostly hanging in a loose mess. She and Lykou had always done stuff to each other’s hair, like braiding feathers and such into it. And he would often helped her tie the bulk of it back. Oren was willing, but he wasn’t as good at the braiding. And she seldom stuck around long enough lately for him to at least help tie it back out of the way, often leaving for her search first thing in the morning, after an early breakfast.

Still, even if it cost her in a number of ways, she was determined to keep up her search. Having been a gatherer so often, she at least was able to find the occasional edible plant to tide her over, but she’d never been a big fan of berries and the like. And besides, she was a konuul- she craved meat, dammit.

Naira passed a small pond and was briefly startled by a frog as it leaped past her. She pulled her knife on it and pointed it threateningly at the creature for a moment, before realizing how ridiculous she must’ve looked. “...yeah you’re not worth it,” she muttered, putting the knife away as the frog just sat there, watching her indifferently. She brushed some hair out of her face and looked around a bit. “I don’t suppose you saw a buff, goofy fluffball pass through here, did ya?”

The frog croaked briefly, then hopped away.

She sighed, then turned to continue her search. “Yeah, didn’t think so.” Not that she expected an answer, but she’d taken to just talking to herself, random wildlife, or even just the world at large on occasion, as a substitute for the social life she’d been missing out on recently.

The few times she’d ever spent an extended time out of the village, she’d been with Lykou, and possibly Oren as well, and they could help with the areas of survival that she was weak with. Now that she was doing it alone, the contrast was striking. What was once a fun little adventure out in the woods- sometimes against their parents’ wishes when they were younger- was now an unsettling, nerve-wracking, and stressful challenge where every sound and movement put her on edge, and all the annoyances were magnified without someone to chat with.

She’d only been at it a week, after the rest of Lakefire called off the daily group searches out of necessity to get back to normal. The chief didn’t like her going out on her own, but he knew only too well how close she’d been with the missing konuul. And she was far from the only one that missed him, too- even if others had started questioning the wisdom of it, everyone still hoped Lykou would turn up at some point, and having someone out there still actively watching for him on the fringes of their territory did bring his other friends and family some comfort. Occasionally, Oren would come join her, but this was not one of those days.

No, she was on her own for the time being. Which certainly didn’t help her nerves. Every time some unseen critter ran through the forest and made some noise, it made her jump slightly. Even after being at it for a week, she still wasn’t entirely used to being so far out away from the village. And she was slowly pushing herself further each day, despite her nerves and her rumbling, neglected belly.

The inexperience also showed itself in other annoying ways. At one point, distracted by a bird that flew past, she tripped over a root she hadn’t noticed hiding under some leaves, and stumbled into a bush that covered her in small, annoying burs. She ended up finding a small stream nearby, where she sat down and started picking them out after drinking thirstily from a small waterfall further upstream. “Fucking stupid damned prickly shit bush…” she muttered as she finally flicked the last of the annoying little things she could find into the water. “And I hope you drown!” She paused for a moment and thought. “...even if that’s not possible for you, I hope you do anyway!”

She was about ready to give up for the day when she caught sight of something. “What the...”

In a bald patch of dirt among the otherwise heavily debris-covered forest floor, she spotted a foot print. It was heavily worn away, but there was no mistaking it- someone had stood there when the ground was soft and wet enough to leave a solid print behind. It was miraculously still at least partly visible two weeks later. “Oh… oh yes, please…” she murmured softly, her eyes widening as she looked it over and spotted a few more nearby. “Talk to me… show me where to go...”

The freaky storm that came up on the day of Lykou’s disappearance had come as quite a surprise to everyone, especially when some swore the lightning had strange colors to it in the distance. As much as she’d wanted to search for her friend in the storm before something bad happened to him, the others had convinced her that it wouldn’t do any good for her to get lost and possibly hurt in the storm as well. She conceded at the time, but grew to resent it later on, when her friend had failed to turn up the next day.

But now it looked like something good had finally come from that storm. Clearing away some more debris, she found a trail of the prints leading off through the woods. As worn as they were, they were hard to follow at times, but she managed. Soon, another realization struck her and shook her to her core- there was a second set of prints, just ahead of what she assumed were Lykou’s.

Since that fateful day, she often wondered about the stranger they’d seen in the distance, which set in motion the whole disappearance in the first place. Had Lykou actually met one of the fabled aliki-ka? She’d frequently pondered that thought, partly in hopes that it meant he’d turn back up soon, wiser and/or richer somehow for the experience. But, looking at the prints, she wasn’t so sure- after all, spirits didn’t leave footprints behind… right?

Either way, she continued following them, her mind racing as she pondered what might have happened. The tracks eventually led her to a somewhat shallow cave. Fortunately, the sun was coming down at a good enough angle that she could see well inside it. On the other hand, as she searched around inside, she gradually grew more frustrated as she noticed a distinct lack of… anything, really. No discarded items, signs of violence, or anything else. The footprints had ended at the cave entrance, as if those that made them had simply… vanished.

She grumbled and paced around outside as she again pondered if there really was some kind of spirit involved. She paused for a moment and looked around. She’d always been unsure whether she believed the old stories, mostly just going along with them for Lykou’s sake. But his disappearance, and now especially what she’d found, was making her think there was more to it. “...I don’t know if you’re there or not,” she announced to the world, shivering a little and holding herself as she walked back into the woods. “But i-if there are any spirits around… please, keep Kou safe... and bring him back…”

Again, she stopped, and stared up into the tall trees. “Or… at least give me some kind of… of sign or something, just so I know he’s out there. Please…”

There was no response. She turned around on the spot, searching the tall trees, almost expecting to see something magically appear that hadn’t been there a moment before. “...I’ll suck your dick?” she finally snarked in exasperation, to try and mask her growing unease. After a beat, she furrowed her brow. “Wait. Spirits don’t even have dicks anyway. ...do they?”

The forest seemed eerily quiet for a minute. She hadn’t seen a squirrel, bird, chipmunk, or any other such small critter for a little while. That just made it even more startling when one did suddenly bolt across one of the tree limbs overhead. “Shit!” she swore, jumping a bit from surprise. She sighed, then continued onward. “Fucking chipmunk… you’re lucky you’re not in stabbing range,” she muttered under her breath

Eventually, her hunger got the better of her and she contemplated returning early. But soon after she started hiking off, more movement in the distance caught her eye. She ducked behind some bushes and peered around them, where she spotted a turkey some way off. It was slightly on the smallish side, but that was perfect for her- it’d be good to bring home some real food for herself for once. Unfortunately, she was only armed with her knife, like the one Lykou had left with. That meant she’d have to be especially stealthy so she could get close enough to strike.

On the one hand, she was pretty good at sneaking around- at least, back in the village. But just as she was closing in for the kill, she stepped hard on a twig, making a very noticeable crunching sound. The turkey immediately panicked and bolted as she leaped out at it. Her knife just grazed one of its feathers, and she immediately got back up and started scrambling after the bird. Soon, though, she realized she’d lost, and sighed heavily as she watched her would-be dinner escape through the woods.

She made a few more attempts with some squirrels, despite her disdain for squirrel meat. But again, she came up empty handed. She kicked some bushes nearby and swore in frustration, scaring off a bird that’d been hiding in it and startling herself in the process. To make matters worse, chasing after would-be meal plans resulted in her ending up a good bit further from the village than she’d intended.

Naira grumbled, then stabbed the knife into the ground before kicking a rock away and letting out a frustrated half-snarl, half-scream of frustration. “FUCK YOU TOO, FOREST!” she shouted, then sighed and slumped against a nearby try as the faint echo of her cry faded away.

Before she turned to head back, though, she spotted something lying on the ground a few yards away. She’d almost mistaken it for normal forest debris, but something about the wooden fragments stood out to her. Sure enough, as she got closer, she realized some of them had been bound together, and carved into specific lengths and sizes. And scraps of thoroughly tattered and decayed fabric was mixed in among the pieces of light wooden framing. She brushed some leaves and other debris aside, finding more of the… whatever it was laying around, some of it partly buried in the ground. Whatever it was, it’d clearly been there a long time. And she couldn’t figure out what it was meant to be.

The discovery intrigued her, to say the least. Whatever it was had clearly been left there quite a while back, but she still figured it might be a clue of some kind. With renewed curiosity and determination, she continued searching around for a bit. Eventually, halfway to the base of a nearby mountain, she discovered another clue- some tattered, worn-down rags that looked like they’d been stitched together at some point. It was barely recognizable in its sorry state, but after examining the pieces and how they likely were meant to be connected, she realized they were the remains of some kind of clothing. The material wasn’t as badly decayed as the stuff she previously saw, but had still clearly been laying there for quite a while.

She pressed on. She didn’t know what she’d find, but she was fascinated, to the point of being at a loss for words. As far as she knew, there were no other tribes out that way. Certainly no konuul tribes- the only other tribe she knew anything about was in a different direction, and a minimum of several weeks of travel to the northwest. And the things she’d found so far definitely weren’t ursaran-made. For one thing, the fragments of clothing appeared far too small for an ursaran. Their village was in the opposite direction from Lakefire anyway, nowhere near where she was now.

Rationally, she knew there would be more tribes out there in the world, but as far as she knew, they were all incredibly far away. Somehow, Lakefire had stayed fairly isolated for as far back as anyone could recall. And with all Lykou’s scouting around the edges of their territory- and even occasionally risking a little further on rare occasions- he’d never said anything about seeing any other people out that way.

...and yet now she was finding evidence that there’d been at least one stranger in that neck of the woods at some point. How long it’d been since they were there, she could only guess. But there was a chance it was recent enough that they might have encountered Lykou, or at least seen what happened to him. So she was continued searching the nearby area. The forest seemed quieter, almost eerily so, but this time her curiosity overwhelmed her nerves.

Soon enough, she started finding more clustered fragments of things suggesting someone had lived in the area. Not a tribe, but an individual. There were more tattered scraps of fabric- or at least meshweed and other things that had been crudely cut in ways that suggested it was meant to be made into fabric, before being abandoned. And there were occasional footprints, and sometimes strange carvings in the ground that had mostly, but not completely been worn away. It was all scattered around sparsely at first, but she gradually found things more densely clustered as she was approaching a high cliff with another cave at its base, not far from a small waterfall. On the banks of the stream flowing from the fall, she found indications that someone had once been digging around in a few spots, for some reason. There were divots in the moist ground near its edge, and some worn down wedge-shaped rocks.

When she approached the cave, there was no question it’d been lived in- and fairly recently, at that. She couldn’t help but feel she was approaching some pseudo-sacred space. Someone’s little hallowed respite from a cold, cruel world. Isolated, yet comparatively safe. No village in sight. The relative silence of the surrounding forest only reinforced the strange feeling.

There were pieces of mostly-eaten plant matter laying around, now being finished off by a combination of decay and insects. There were also what looked like a number of abandoned attempted projects at making more complex tools or fabric from whatever the owner could find. The only intact item she found, a bit further in, was a heavy blanket, made from an unknown material. She didn’t see it at first, but rather discovered it almost by accident when she was feeling her way around inside. It was neatly folded in the back corner, well away from sight until she came further in. Almost like it was the single treasured possession the owner had. The sun was at just the right level to illuminate the area around the entrance, but it got pretty dark at the back, so she only discovered it by fumbling around nervously in what little dim lighting made it in there. When she did, she brought it out to examine it. It was heavily worn and showing its age, but the stitching was very well done, and it was quite warm, considering there was apparently no animal hide involved in making it.

The cave and its contents captivated her. It looked like it had been abandoned recently, but she couldn’t imagine by who… or what. These were clearly not the signs of some mindless animal, but a person. Yet there were no animal bones around, or any sign of butchering anything for meat. And despite some very old, dry wood being piled up nearby, there were no signs of a fire ever being lit near the site.

“Whoever you are… or were… you must have a strange story…” she murmured softly as she looked over the junk scattered around the entry area. For once, she couldn’t muster anything sarcastic or snarky to say.

Suddenly, the time began to weigh on her. She realized it’d be getting dark before she made it all the way back to Lakefire, especially given how much farther she’d wandered than she initially intended. And the setting sun was sure to get her disoriented and lost, even in slightly more familiar territory. Panic started to set in, but rather than let it take over, she leaned against the stony entrance to the cave and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

She looked around some, then decided that she may as well set up camp for the night. The others might worry, but she’d be sure to head back first thing in the morning. She wasn’t particularly well supplied, but clearly someone else had been able to spend an extended time at the cave, so why couldn’t she?

To start with, she set her things down and scouted around to find any extra food she could. She had some dried meat in her pack for an emergency, but it was barely enough for a meal- and she’d already gone most of the day with very little. She did finally manage to nab a somewhat fat, slow squirrel, which she didn’t look forward to cleaning, cooking, and eating, but it was something. She averted her gaze and winced as it twitched and died on the blade that’d skewered it. Luckily, it went fast.

And fortunately, she at least knew how to start a fire, so she quickly set up a small firepit near the cave entrance and got to work. She ate the little bit of dried meat she’d kept in her pack while the meat she’d managed to get off the squirrel roasted on a makeshift skewer-stick over the fire. At least she didn’t have to worry about water, with the stream and falls nearby.

After she settled in and the stars started filling the sky, she went back inside, carefully setting the old blanket aside, away from the entrance. She’d put together a makeshift torch- little more than a stick with a scrap of the various meshweed bits she’d found scattered around the place wrapped around one end, tied off with a bit of sinew and soaked with whatever little leftover fat she could get from the squirrel. It wouldn’t last long, but the flame gave her a better view of the cave. Other than the blanket, it didn’t look like anything else had been stashed at the back. In fact, most of the back end of the cave looked fairly barren, with most signs of activity being near the entrance.

The torch did cast new light- literally- on something she hadn’t noticed before. She’d been so busy looking at all the other debris, she’d missed some paintings on the wall. They were limited in terms of colors- notably all likely made with some kind of plant pulp or juices, due to the colors. And one piece of chalk stone laying nearby, alongside some divots in the floor that were stained with the various colors used in the paintings- likely where the paint was made and stored.

The paintings themselves fascinated her. The oldest and most faded were a little on the crude side, but whoever it was clearly had plenty of time to practice, as they got a lot better in the newer-looking ones. A lot of them were just random flowers, mushrooms and trees. But a few really stood out, and made her breath briefly catch in her throats. They seemed to suggest people of some kind… but definitely not like any she knew. She was struck by how much they resembled the admittedly somewhat vague and variable descriptions of aliki-ka from the old folk stories. But all the other evidence in the cave clearly indicated a living, flesh-and-blood person, albeit a strange one, not a spirit.

One image showed two tall figures standing behind a much smaller figure, with a heart symbol drawn around all three. The taller ones had strange horns of some kind on their heads, and one- a more feminine looking one, had a hand on the little one’s shoulder. There were some wet smudges in certain parts of the image, for some reason. And occasionally the lines were shakier than many of the other paintings. And while it was all quite detailed for whatever tools they had, they clearly lacked the ability to get fine enough detail for the faces, leaving only a couple small dots for eyes, and nothing else.

Another painting showed another individual in slightly more detail. She looked older, from the way she appeared slightly bent over and leaning on some kind of walking stick. She also had what looked like a blanket draped over her back. Naira briefly looked back at the blanket she’d found in the cave, wondering if there was a connection, or if it was just coincidence.

Turning back to the paintings, she spotted another one that looked a bit darker- another small, hornless individual, presumably the same as the one in the other image, curled up in a fetal position, with random red splotches scattered in a circle around it. And then finally, what looked like a simple, crude portrait of the hornless individual, seemingly older. But it was messed up- as if the painter was upset by it and had tried to wipe it off, then given up.

Finally, there was a simple handprint on the wall. She couldn’t be sure if it was deliberate, or just an accident where they’d leaned on the wall during or after painting one of the other images. She looked back over all the other paintings, then down at the blanket again. She felt certain haunted feeling overcome her for a moment. There was very clearly a story there… and not a happy one, she could tell. But she could hardly even begin to piece it all together. The whole place had a very strange, melancholic feel to it. It was as if everything radiated a faint sense of sadness and isolation.

And whoever it was just… seemingly vanished. Perhaps they’d died somewhere out in the woods, but she’d seen no signs of a body or anything anywhere out there. And the cave had clearly been abandoned for a short while. Perhaps… two weeks.

She walked back up towards the entrance and stared up at the rising moon. A cool breeze briefly interrupted the stillness as a few wispy clouds passed in front of the silver disc. Despite going along with Lykou for his own sake, she’d been uncertain about the spirits and whether they still took an active role in the world since their mid teens or so. But now she was starting to wonder. The whole situation felt strange.

Whoever this stranger was, she knew they were somehow involved in Lykou’s disappearance, the more she thought about it. Were they a hermit seeking peace with the spirit world after some tragedy? A lunatic killer exiled from their strange tribe? Or perhaps something stranger…?

Naira turned her attention back to the wall and slowly walked along it, tracing her fingers carefully around the paintings involving the strange-looking people, especially the hornless one- who she was starting to assume might be the one who’d made them. When she reached the handprint again, she slowly placed her hand next to it, noting that the paint seemed the least faded. “Who are you…?” she wondered aloud, then narrowed her eyes. “...and where did you take Kou…?”