Since it was just me and Ikfael in the glen, the uekisheile could hang out in the open as much as they wanted. I spent the next few days looking like a miniature fuschia bigfoot as a result; their tufts all over my face, arms, torso, and legs. They enjoyed the freedom, as well as the opportunity to eat different kinds of qi again. I mean, I was still the most delicious, but the fish and small game I caught were also good.

We were a little tentative with each other at first, and we did our best to be ordinary. Ordinary was a balm, a respite from the near fracture between us. And honestly, a couple of days of fixing up the glen, training, hunting, and fishing was exactly what we needed.

My visit to Voorhei had been a whirlwind of activity, and I’d gotten caught up in the villagers’ pace. I didn’t think that I’d made any bad decisions--what I’d learned at the Hunter’s Lodge was already proving useful--but it was good to take some time to properly process everything. My brain was stuffed with information; it was practically spilling out my ears.

Taking care of myself felt good. Some of that was the uekisheile’s enthusiasm spilling over, but it was also a consequence of all the training. I was young and physically fit, and my qi was denser and richer than ever. And while joined with uekisheile, I was able to experience my qi as they did--as a hearty stew, but with the delicacy of a consommé.

Then there was Dog’s Agility. The immediacy, the absolute groundedness in the present, and the rush of going fast, fast, fast--it was like being in the zone while playing an old school shooter, except amped up by ten notches.

My understanding of qi grew by leaps and bounds. The Qi Body Skill hit rank 9, and Qi Body Arts increased to 5. More importantly, when joined with the uekisheile, Dog’s Agility became practical. On my own, managing the flow of qi while also moving was out of reach and would take a lot of practice, but joined with the uekisheile, I flickered through the underbrush, one with the land, like a ghost.

Speaking of which, one interesting fact I learned: there were no ghosts in Ikfael Glen. The otter kept her territory spiritually spotless. Another fact: Ikfael was beautiful. As an otter, she was adorable, but looking at her through spirit eyes, she gave the impression of Diana Rigg from the days when she was in the old Avengers TV show with Patrick Macnee. Sleek, lithe, and refined.

Also learned during this time: the uekisheile never got tired of playing with metaphors. They didn’t have enough experiences to draw on though, so they pressed me for memories and comparisons they could appropriate. Ikfael even got into the game. She’d overheard me talking aloud to the uekisheile about the TV show and demanded I tell her the story, so that she could animate it with water.

It’d been too long since I last watched the Avengers, so I kludged together a plot about the two heroes, John Steed and Emma Peel, who were hired to protect a Land Knight from assassins. The protagonists also had to convince his daughter that her lover in the village was a scammer after her wealth. Well, of course it turned out that the scammer was part of a criminal Family plotting to kill the Land Knight and seize his fortune, and Steed and Peel had to fight the whole lot off.

Three nights in a row, we sat around the campfire telling stories of the knights Steed and Peel. I tried not to think too much about how much Billisha and Aluali would’ve enjoyed being there.

###

I’d promised Ghitha Woldecsbrotter that I’d retrieve his dead Family members, so on the fourth morning after my return, the uekisheile and I ghosted out of the glen. Crossing the boundary of Ikfael’s territory felt like moving from a sheltered bay into the wide open sea. The waters were rough and the waves choppy. We kept our footing thanks to Dog’s Agility though, and we steered a path between the waves.

Can we please stop with the metaphors? It’s distracting.

We should tell the story of Moby Dick. We want to hear it from Ollie/Eight’s voice. Ikfael would like it too. And she would animate it well.

We know so many stories. We were lucky our old world was full of them.

There are stories in this world too. The world is made of stories--we’d heard someone say that once. We just have to find the stories.

Or the stories find us, like Ollie/Eight found the uekisheile.

With Spirit Eyes and Dog’s Agility, we saw the forest in a new light. The world still tended to sway and shift--like a rocking boat--but there were steady paths we could follow that avoided where the forest was menacing.

We stuck to the brighter patches where the plants, small animals, and spirits seemed--not friendly, the forest was rarely friendly--but more straightforward, as if the creatures were too busy being themselves to take notice of us. As long as we didn’t disturb the green things with our passage, they let us go without interference.

Where we pushed through branches or tall grasses, we apologized. Where the bright path vanished, we moved through the murk quickly, avoiding the clinging vines and angry spirits.

Moving at our fastest, Dog’s Agility cost us four points worth of qi every minute. Moving slowly through the forest, the cost dramatically decreased, and we could stretch those four points to fill eight minutes. That meant, if we used all our qi, we could maintain at one with the land for seventy minutes straight.

We wanted qi left over in case we ran into anything dangerous, so we alternated between moving with the land and without; prioritizing our newfound power for the areas that were most dangerous. For example, the lightning bear’s territory.

We passed through without a trace.

###

At the top of the escarpment, above the dead chliapp lion’s cave, I scavenged the forest for two stout branches, each about six feet long. I stripped them of their twigs and leaves. Then I found two shorter branches, and I stripped them too. Together, along with the netting in my backpack, I’d eventually assemble them into a travois to haul the bodies out of the cave. For now, though, I bundled the pieces for easier transport and dragged them behind me using a rope harness around my shoulders and chest.

I took the path down; noting the areas that would give the travois trouble. There were places where, when the time came to bring up the bodies, I’d have to drag them directly to make sure they didn’t fall over the side.

The cave entrance smelled of old blood and rotting meat. Billisha and Aluali had done a good job getting everything useful from the chliapp lion’s carcass, but there were always bits of meat and gristle left over. I waved away the buzzing flies and tossed the bones down the cliff face. It’s something I should’ve done earlier. I’d always intended to return to the cave, and I would’ve seriously regretted it if the smell attracted a dangerous animal.

The next room was drier than I remembered, but then we’d been a couple of weeks without rain. I inserted mana into the candlestone around my neck and examined the floor. It should be okay, a little bumpy, but I’d be able to drag the travois over it.

Next came the spiral down into the depths of the cave system. Long fingers of stalactites reached down the center, and the path wound down around them. I’d have to save some qi and mana for this stretch. My muscles were going to need the boost on the way up.

At the bottom, the tunnel was flat and wide, like a predator’s mouth; the stalagmites and stalactites, its sharp teeth. A breeze blew past me, the air sucked from above and down into its gullet.

The tunnel’s ceiling was so low, I crawled through on hands and knees. This was one of the sections I worried about most. Coming back with the bodies, I’d have to disassemble the travois, bring the parts through, reassemble it on the other side, go back for the body, and then reassemble the travois. The whole process would be multiplied by four for each body. Five if I included the body of Woldec’s javelina companion.

Ugh. I knew that this endeavor was likely to be a slog, but the reality was worse than I realized. Still, I’d made a deal with Ghitha, and more importantly, I had an obligation to the dead for the gifts they’d given me.

Better to do it in stages. Bring the bodies here where it’s cool and far enough from the entrance to keep from attracting scavengers. Then the room next to the lion’s cave can be the next staging point. Then the morning Ghitha arrives, I move all the bodies to the glen for the pickup.

As I was reviewing the plan, it occurred to me that I wasn’t afraid. I was wary, sure, and paying attention to my surroundings, but the last time I was here, I was in mortal terror of the uekisheile, the eilesheile, the zombies, and the chliapp lions.

This time, though, I had light, and I knew where the exit was. The uekisheile was an ally, and the chliapp lions were dead. I was well armed and, with Dog’s Agility, had some confidence in my ability to defend myself. In a strange way, this time around, the cave was comforting in its familiarity.

The uekisheile urged me on, and together we found the eilesheile flourishing in the Red Room. The lichen grew on every surface, including the ceiling which had been the uekisheile’s spot.

That amused the uekisheile Let’s join. It’s our turn to offer something delicious to eat.

We became one.

We observed the swirling waves of qi. It poured down from the holes in the ceiling, rose up from the cave depths, and flowed down from the exit to mingle and circle the room. From long experience, we knew that these flows made the Red Room a place that nurtured qi. That nourished and made things tasty.

The eilesheile shivered at our return. They were dumb, and not once did any of them ever respond to our attempts to communicate. All they were good for--the concept was there, ready for us--was for farming. They were our livestock. Yummy--not as delicious as Ollie/Eight--but tasty food.

With our hands--thumbs were so useful!--we gathered some of the lichen. The eilesheile didn’t know their place. They fought back with a spike of qi--like a needle!--but we knew their ways. A spike of our own separated them from their qi.

With joy, we severed all the connections to the eilesheile’s qi, rendering their ability to fight back useless. We swallowed a mouthful, and our mind blanked as the flavors bloomed in our mouth. Umami. Salty. A little peppery. We were reminded of aged parmesan, truffles, and peppercorns.

A thread of concern arose from the Ollie/Eight aspect of our mind, a worry about poison and... addiction. The last time something was this good, our life was in danger.

It is safe; their parasitism is impotent before us. We don’t need to fear them. They are not like the Evil Golden Mushrooms. There is no poison. No...no… narcotics or psychedelics.

We spent ages with the eilesheile. We understood them, like… like a shepherd understood their flock. This was food dense with flavor and qi. We felt our reserves refilling from just one swallow.

Delicious and powerful, the eilesheile was a valued resource. And our ability to neutralize their parasitism meant we could process the eilesheile into a safe, edible spice. It occurred to us that we were surrounded by taak just waiting to be harvested.

We took some eilesheile the last time we were here. Now, we took more. We just needed to be careful with how it was sold; to protect the secret of its source and keep us safe. People have already died trying to get to the Red Room.

Our mouth watered--the eilesheile would be delicious on roast chicken or in a lamb stew, on pasta or even sprinkled on buttered bread. Oh gods above, it would taste amazing on french fries. We were deeply grateful that the children found potatoes in Voorhei. Our Family would love the taste, and we collected even more with them in mind.

###

Afterward, when I was just me again (and more clear headed), I checked my Status and found no weird Conditions. More importantly, I noticed how I’d regained ten points worth of qi. Gods, the Red Room really was a gold mine. I could only imagine how valuable a safe source of qi would be during the year’s darkest days.

The uekisheile was smug. See, we told you it was delicious. And we can trade the eilesheile for walls and live in the glen with Ikfael and Billisha and Aluali. The Family can stay together.

Was that your plan? I thought.

There was no plan. We just wanted to share something delicious. But now that we have gained the knowledge of how the eilesheile can be made more useful, we will. Their good mood spilled out into my heart dantian. Ollie/Eight was the one who taught us that knowledge is power. More and more, we understand that truth.