Chapter 6
Hoku had spent several minutes trying to find his bearings when he heard footsteps amongst the trees.
They stopped somewhere nearby, and as he brushed leaves from his coat, a faint scraping sound made him glance to one side.
A short distance away, a woman was crouched beside a pine, her back partly turned to him as she used a small knife to prise at something along the trunk.
Her thick, dark-brown cloak was drawn back from her arms. She wore a fitted white shirt with the sleeves pushed up, and several amber-coloured fragments lay on a cloth beside her boot.
Hoku made his way over, stopping a few paces away.
"Excuse me, miss."
The woman instantly withdrew the knife and turned towards him as she rose. Her black hair reached her shoulders, framing an elegant face with sharply defined features. She appeared surprised to see him and glanced past his shoulder before speaking.
"Have you come with another party?"
'Another party? Does she think I've been separated from someone?' Hoku wondered.
"No, I'm on my own. I was hoping you might be able to help me, actually, because I don't even know where I am."
"You're in the Nest," she replied, sounding a little puzzled herself.
"The Nest?"
Hoku pushed a hand through his fringe and left it there for a moment.
'How the hell did I end up here?'
"Where have you come from, then?"
"I was trying to get home," he explained, lowering his hand. "I followed that cat through a garden and thought he'd brought me back to the house I'd left. But I fell through the floor as soon as I stepped inside, and somehow I ended up here."
The woman was quiet for a little while, her gaze straying towards Cheshire, who had buried his nose amongst the old leaves around the pine's roots. She seemed about to ask something else.
"I see… why don't you come back with me?" she suggested. "My companions have stopped to rest. We could talk a little more there, rather than have you trying to find your way through the forest alone."
"All right." Hoku let out a quiet breath of relief and nodded. "Thank you."
"Give me just a moment, then."
The woman crouched beside the pine again. A thick, amber-coloured substance had hardened along a split in the bark, and she scraped a little of the brittle bark from around its edges with her knife.
"May I ask what you're collecting?"
"It's old pine resin, for the torches we're making," she replied. "Fortunately, quite a bit of it can remain in the bark long after the tree dies. I thought I'd be searching for a while, but there ended up being more here than I expected."
She examined the piece in her hand before setting it with the others and folding the knife shut.
"I'm Juno Mirai, by the way," she added.
"Hoku."
Juno gathered the cloth around the resin. As she secured the bundle inside her bag, Hoku called to Cheshire.
The cat pricked an ear and picked his way out from amongst the roots, brushing his tail against Hoku's boot. Hoku bent to stroke his head before setting off with Juno, glancing back occasionally to see that Cheshire was coming.
After a short walk, Juno brought him to an uprooted tree. A few leather bags and cloth parcels lay beneath the great tangle of roots. A young woman sat with her legs crossed on a piece of sacking, binding lengths of split wood together, while a man seated on the trunk wrote in a journal resting on his knee.
The young woman glanced up, keeping the cord pinched between her fingers, while the man turned from his journal as Juno approached with Hoku.
"Hm? Who's this?"
"My name is Hoku," he offered, meeting the man's enquiring gaze.
"He asked me for help while I was gathering," Juno explained. "He was trying to get home when he found himself here, but he doesn't know the Nest. I thought he'd be better off with us for a while than trying to find his way alone."
"Is that so?" The man slipped his pencil between the journal's pages and closed it before rising. "I'm Huan YuZe. Please, come and sit with us while we wait for the others."
He moved a small bag from the trunk, and Hoku settled into the cleared space with a word of thanks. The young woman drew her bundle closer to give him room as he eased his sore leg past it.
"I'm Fleur," she said, bowing her head politely before returning to the cord in her hands.
"It's nice to meet you," Hoku replied with a slightly awkward smile.
He shifted a little on the trunk and swallowed, his mouth still dry. A flask stood amongst the contents of Fleur's open bag, though she was still occupied with the binding. He waited until she had drawn the cord tight before speaking.
"Excuse me, do you have any water?"
"Of course." Fleur held the bundle towards Juno. "Would you finish tying this for me? I'll fetch the flask."
Juno took the cord while Fleur retrieved the flask and a small tin cup.
"I'm afraid the water isn't very cool," Fleur said, filling the cup before passing it to Hoku.
Hoku thanked her and drank slowly. There was a faint metallic taste, but after his first mouthful he found little reason to mind it.
By the time Fleur returned the flask to her bag, Juno had secured the cord. She set the bundle beside Fleur's belongings and opened the cloth containing her resin.
"There should be plenty here," Fleur said, settling beside her to examine it. "I can break up these larger pieces when we need them."
Hoku noticed that most of the bags were already fastened. A cup hung from the strap of one, and the wood Juno had finished tying lay ready to be attached to another.
"When the others return, will you be leaving the forest?" he asked Huan YuZe.
"I'm afraid we'll be in the Nest for some time yet," Huan YuZe replied. "We came to look into a report of living vegetation in this part of the forest, though I haven't found any myself."
'So much for leaving with them. Still, the report must have given them somewhere to start. How much of the forest could they possibly have to search?'
"I passed through some lower ground on my way to the pines," Juno said. "The soil was still damp in places, but I didn't notice anything growing there."
Huan YuZe opened his journal as she went on to describe the ground she had crossed. He turned back a page to compare her account with something already written there, asking her to clarify which part of the slope she meant.
Hoku listened without interrupting. He had taken Juno's gathering of resin for her only occupation when they met, though apparently she had been observing the surrounding ground as well.
Fleur folded the cloth over the resin and slipped the parcel into her bag.
"Ah, Zhou Li," Juno said. "How did you get on with the tracks?"
Hoku turned to find a white-haired man approaching, dust clinging to the hem of his dark coat. A small sack hung at his waist.
"This is Hoku," Huan YuZe said. "Juno met him while she was gathering."
Zhou Li's light-green eyes rested on Hoku for a moment before he gave a small nod. Hoku returned it, rather glad that the introduction appeared to require nothing further.
"There were fresh hoof marks farther along," Zhou Li replied, drawing a corked glass jar from his sack. "I found something caught in the disturbed ground beside them."
Fleur leaned forward to see what was inside, then drew a handkerchief from her pocket and spread it over her lap. Zhou Li moved closer, removed the cork, and tipped a short, partly chewed green sprig onto the cloth.
One of its leaves had been crushed almost in half. The end of the stem was flattened and frayed, with several pale fibres protruding from it. A trace of moisture marked the handkerchief beneath the damaged end.
"It was pressed against the edge of one of the clearer prints," Zhou Li said. "There were smaller pieces trodden into the soil as well. I looked around, but I couldn't find anything growing nearby."
"I was beginning to think we had come all this way for nothing," Fleur admitted.
Huan YuZe glanced towards the page Juno had been discussing with him.
"Did you find the sprig on the lower ground?" Huan YuZe asked.
"A little farther on, actually. The prints were clear in the softer soil, but I lost them where the ground turned stony. I couldn't find any other sign of the animal after that."
Huan YuZe pressed his lips together as he entered a few more lines into his journal.
'A deer, perhaps? But where would it have found anything green in a place like this? I hadn't seen so much as a fresh leaf on the way here.'
Fleur returned the sprig to Zhou Li's jar, keeping the damaged leaf clear of the rim with her handkerchief.
Then, he replaced the cork and put the jar away.
Huan YuZe finished his note and read through the last few lines before turning to Juno, the journal still open on his knee.
"Would you fetch Abel and Marseau?"
Juno slipped the strap of her bag over her shoulder and went to find them.
"You're welcome to come with us when they return, Hoku," Huan YuZe said.
"Yes, I think I'd better," Hoku replied with a small smile.
"All right, then. We'll be glad to have you along," Huan YuZe said as he closed the journal and slipped it into his bag.
Fleur was gathering the prepared wood when Hoku stood to return her cup. As she brought the last bundle towards her bag, he held its other end steady while she secured the strap around it.
"Thank you," Fleur said, her expression brightening as she looked up from the bundle she'd secured.
'She really is beautiful…'
Hoku gave her a subtle nod, let go of the wood, and eased himself back onto the trunk. Cheshire wandered over and settled beside his boots.
The Memoir Chapter 4
Objective 3
The barrier has infinite forms. Each time you interact with it without caution, the barrier will try to kill you. Follow your guide to the manor from the only Sequel, and do not reveal your doubts about him. Otherwise, he won't bother saving you. That green-eyed monster is especially smug.