When their group turned up unannounced at the gateway that allowed entry into the village, it caused a stir amongst the guards whose days were generally spent in boredom. The guards were part of a rudimentary militia that existed to protect the village from raiders and hostile merchants who didnt play by the rules. The Valley of flowers made good money for the settled villagers so it paid to have security around in the event that greedy eyes looked their way.

Fortunately for the travelling group of avians, the village headman had been passing by and he recognised Riaku.

Respect was accorded and they were swiftly led inside the walls of the village. The headman had them escorted to the best inn in the village. And on their way, Syryn noticed a funeral procession carrying a dead body wrapped in a white shroud. The mourners were ringing four large bells that sounded just as gloomy as the entire affair. The bell sounds were believed to keep the deceased soul, if it hadn't moved on, from entering the bodies of the living.

At the front of the procession, a woman in her 30s was sobbing and being led along by her relatives. Two little children trailed behind the woman, presumably her children. Syryn stared at the white shroud that covered the figure of a dead person.

"You seem inordinately fascinated by the corpse," Riaku remarked quietly.

"It has been a while since I last saw a formal funeral."

Dark grey smoke wafted out of the incense pots that the mourners carried in front of the body. Incense sticks were originally used to ward off the smell of decomposition but they had gradually become a common sight during most funerals. Some even believed that the sacred incense had the power to ward off evil spirits that were attracted to an empty vessel - the dead body. And according to many cultures, it was an accepted belief that a body continued to remain a viable vessel up to two days after death.

"Sirs, please turn away from looking at the corpse. It is unlucky." The village headman who had noticed the two of them looking towards the body gave them a friendly warning. It wasn't that Syryn hadn't heard of that particular superstition - Corpses were unlucky, they were a gathering point for negative energy, a source of diseases, an instrument for evil spirits. He'd heard it all - but when a corpse was considered unlucky, it was usually because of the circumstances that the person had died of.

The funeral procession passed by them and Syryn noticed one of the children stumble and fall. A lady walking behind the child helped her back onto her feet and they carried on, marching and crying, leaving behind the fingers of gloom that curled into the spirits of all the onlookers.

----

When they reached the inn, Syryn and Lucien were put in a room together. Navi and Milky immediately claimed a pillow on the bed, and Syryn had to ask for another one from the innkeeper.

"Luci, how are you feeling?" Syryn asked the redhead.

"Better. But I'm still sleepy and tired."

Syryn was getting concerned by the amount of sleep that Lucien was getting. He had slept for the duration of the entire journey and now he wanted to sleep even more.

"Aside from the sleepiness and fatigue, what else are you feeling?" He asked the little boy.

Luci sat cross-legged on the clean polished wooden floor of their room. He rested his chin on both palms and yawned twice before falling backwards and curling up on the floor to sleep.

"Luci?" A very concerned Syryn walked over to the boy and checked his temperature. It was normal. He then pressed two fingers to the boy's neck and checked his pulse. That too had a steady thrum without any abnormalities.

"Lucien, hey," Syryn shook the sleeping boy awake. "Wake up and tell me how you feel, Luci."

Lucien lazily blinked open his red eyes that were heavy with sleep. "S'okay Syryn. Sleepy. Tomorrow. Red says s'okay. Everything s'fine. Don't worry."

"Lucien, don't go back to sleep." Syryn lifted the redhead and attempted to shake him awake again. The boy's head swung back and he fell asleep while remaining propped up by Syryn.

The alchemist was now extremely concerned. He couldn't understand what was happening with Lucien. He recalled the list of conditions that caused uncontrolled sleep. He crossed out half of them just based on Lucien's medical history. The other half of the list could not be verified till Syryn saw more symptoms aside from excessive sleeping. Luci had said that Red told him not to worry. Did it mean that Red was privy to the reasons for what was happening? Or did the child himself have something to do with it?

"Red. RED!"

The redhead continued to sleep peacefully, his chest rising and falling in even intervals. Syryn pulled open an eyelid but nothing about it indicated any irregularity. Unable to understand what was going on, Syryn decided to let it be and allow Lucien to sleep while keeping an eye on him. If the younger boy's sleep persisted till the next day, Syryn was going to take drastic measures.

A knock on his door drew his attention away from the redhead in his arms. Syryn laid him down gently on the floor and walked over to open the door.

"Syryn, I just came to see if your accommodations are to your liking." Rei stood at his door looking fresh after a change of clothing. His purple mask had also been wiped free of travel dust that had encased them all in thick layers.

"We're fine," Syryn answered. "But I need a bath. Can you ask for three buckets of hot water and a sponge?"

"Alright, but the washing room is outside. There's a public bath area designated for guest use so you can head there through your back door."

Syryn hadn't noticed the other door. From the moment they'd entered the room, his worry over Lucien's excessive sleeping had taken precedence over everything else. "So are they taking the water to the public bath?"

"Yes," Rei replied as he finally saw the child sleeping on the floor. "Is he okay?" It wasn't just Syryn who had noticed the boy sleeping the entire day.

"I don't know," Syryn replied. "He fell asleep as soon as we reached the room. I have no idea what's going on."

"Could he have ingested something toxic?" Rei asked with concern.

"Not that I know of. Lucien ate the same food and drank the same water that we all partook of. There has to be another reason for why this is happening. I'll give him time till tomorrow."

"And what if he still keeps sleeping?"

Syryn crossed his arms and turned to the sleeping child. "I'll start by having his blood tested."

-----

All that dust on Lucien's hair and body was going to cause more problems so Syryn chose to bathe the sleeping child. It hadn't been an easy task sponging the sleeping Lucien. Rei's indispensable help facilitated a quick cleaning and a change of clothes before Luci was tucked into bed.

"There's a garden to the left of the inn and that's where they serve meals. Join us over there when you've cleaned up," Rei told Syryn before leaving him alone in the room.

When Syryn was done bathing and changing, he checked on Lucien one more time before leaving the room. Navi and Milky were curled up on their pillow so Syryn left them food and water near the door. Navi ate like a normal cat but Milky only ate the best of everything. It resulted in both cats getting luxurious meals that not even Syryn was getting on a daily basis.

"Milky, if something happens to Lucien, come find me where you smell the food." Syryn wasn't sure if the cat would cooperate but Milky blinked his light blue eyes at him. "I won't be gone for long though." It was weird talking to a cat but the alchemist believed that Milky understood him perfectly.

He then left the room and made his way out of the inn. Just as Rei had informed him, Syryn saw a path that headed left where an enclosed section of the compound was buzzing with low sounds of human conversation.

"Syryn, over here!" The alchemist heard Emi's voice. She was wearing a new veil but it only covered the top half of her face. He could see a pair of pink lips parting in a pretty smile that showed teeth in straight lines. A single beauty mark on her chin added more charm to her lovely smile.

Riaku was missing. Syryn could make out Rei, Emi, Fei, and Kai. Wen and Gosan were also absent. A few other patrons were eating at the garden and all of them were keeping to themselves. The alchemist sat down beside Fei who was drinking a green liquid from his clay cup.

"Where is Lucien?" Kai asked when Syryn was seated.

"Sleeping. He's not feeling very well."

"Anything to be concerned about?" Emi asked.

"I'll know tomorrow. Anyway, what were you guys talking about? You looked thick as thieves from the way your heads were bent together so close to each other."

"Haven't you heard the rumours?" Emi leaned over and whispered to him. The others were also listening quietly.

"What rumours?"

"About that dead guy. They're all saying that he was possessed by an evil spirit." Emi's veil was just transparent enough that Syryn could make out the outlines of beautiful round eyes.

"A possession? What did he do to make them think that?" Syryn asked the veiled avian

"From what I've heard, he fell sick and started acting strange. He stopped eating food and would stare towards the forest whenever he wasn't complaining of a headache. And right before he slipped into a coma, he kept pointing towards the forest and talking to himself about how had to go there. The next thing the villagers knew, the comatose man was missing from his bed. He sleepwalked and died in someone's garden while on his way to the forest."

Syryn had a lot of questions. "How accurate are the rumours? And how did they know for sure that he was heading to the forest?"

"I don't know. I just heard it from the innkeeper's daughter. You'll have to ask around if you want to know more," Emi replied. "I think the innkeeper can give us more details if we press him a little."

"Where's Riaku?" Syryn asked the group in an abrupt change of topic.

"He'll be along," Emi waved her hand in the air. "Aren't you curious about the possession of the dead man?"

"Yes, but it sounds to me like someone had a severe mental condition that wasn't treated on time. Cranial injuries and pathologies can cause debilitating mental illnesses and strange behaviours that are sometimes attributed to possession by ghosts and demons."

"Well," Kai interjected. "I heard some people whispering about it. They were saying that he had completely stopped getting any sleep for several days before slipping into a coma without any warning."

"You guys just want to believe that he was possessed, don't you? I'd like more proof before believing that ghosts were involved," Syryn informed them.

"Then how do you explain his death? Mental illness doesn't just randomly kill a person within two weeks of going crazy."

"From what you've just told me, it sounds like he died from malnutrition," Syryn answered. "Hardly a surprise since he stopped eating and sleeping."

"But the forest, he kept wanting to go there," Emi persisted.

"Why are you trying to make sense of the ramblings of a crazy person? That's what they do."

"What are you talking about?" Riaku asked as he sat down next to Syryn.