When Sachiko awoke, it was to the most beautiful sight in her life. Green. There was green everywhere. Filtering through a canopy of green leaves, clear blue sky illuminated a rich understory of vibrant ferns and flowers resting between trees of mossy bark. Between the plants hovered and darted the distant forms of wild insects that in any other moment would give rise to concern, but in the warm blanket of sunlight and friendly giant, all she could feel was a deep sense of peace. Serenity.

Sachiko basked, for a time. Watching the comings and goings of wildlife, drinking in the experience. She had never been to Earth, and with her salary, it would've been decades before she could pay her own way. Even then, she could immediately tell that this world was incomparible; there were too many insects, and too many wildflowers that could only exist because of them.

Earth was... Earth was barren, in comparison. She'd grown up learning about the ecological collapses, about the accords that maintained the biosphere by mechanical means. Mars had been, among many other things, an attempt to understand how to avoid the final collapse. Terrestrial vertebrates, their invertibrate neighbours, then their aquatic counterparts, Sachiko understood that the loss was manageable, that the previous collapses could be overcome. But the last? Humanity was centuries away from understanding the workings of the micro-organisms that enabled plants to thrive.

Here, before her eyes, was something no-one without a millenium under their belt could have ever hoped to have seen.

Her wings twitched. There was still some soreness, but it was bearable in comparison. Sachiko's hand patted around, looking for a good angle that wouldn't result in her yanking at Jun's hair and waking up the poor soul. She grimaced when she felt the beginnings of grease towards the roots, slicking her hand like any other she'd encounter at work. She knew it wasn't his fault he was this gross, but it was hard not to judge. Hopefully, it'd wash away in the river.

Finished finding a grip, Sachiko collected herself, getting up on her knees before wobbling to a stand. She felt a bit rude doing this; walking on someone else with her shoes, but she figured that in the mess of hair, Jun was unlikely to notice. And what he would, ought to be washed out anyway.

Wasting no time, she took to the air, relief flooding through her with the return of mobility. This... this was how things ought to be; wide open spaces and the hum of her own wingpower. Sachiko angled, excited to see the foreign plants up close.

A flower, petals jutting outward to form a funnel soon caught her interest. She cupped it in her hands and looked into it. Nectar. Not saccharide solution, not 'nectar', but actual nectar straight from the flower met her eyes. Eagerly, she thrust an arm inwards, scooping out a drop of the tantalisingly aromatic substance.

Bliss. Where saccharide solution was harsh and strong, the nectar was subtle and mellow bodied. Sachiko sighed. It was a shame nectar wasn't concentrated enough to live off of; she'd give almost anything to trade it for the heartlessly utilitarian "food" in her heatsuit.

Sachiko released her hold and let herself drift away. Her actions must have drawn attention; as soon after she left, some nameless pitch-shelled insect was quick to cram itself into the flower, wiggling its abdomen so ridicuolously that Sachiko couldn't help but giggle.

The giggle died in her throat as she heard some whooping, whistling noise trill in the distance. All at once, her hair stood on end and she felt the need to cast her head around in search of the origin.

It was like an attack drone, suicidally diving at her with deadly certainty. Sachiko didn't have time to admire the striking coloration, or the peculiarity of feathers, as she tumbled out of the way of the predator. She couldn't breathe. Time slowed as her entire being hung on to the beast's every movement, studying its swooping curve back towards her.

It was bad at turning, Sachiko realised. The way its wings caught the air was like a exo-survey drone, brutishly cutting its way by force of might and weight instead of shaping the wind around it. She watched, terrified, as it came at her, savage beak open in preparation to snap her spine in a single bite.

She refused to let it. At the very last moment, she wrenched her body to the side, screaming, and raced for the sleeping mass of Jun. Sachiko slammed hard into the face of the sleeping giant, yelling as loud as she could for him to wake up as she crammed herself away in the crook of his neck.

"please please please wake up," she chanted, eyeing the creature as it turned away from Jun and alighted on a distant branch. Palm pressed against his neck, Sachiko could feel the rumbling groan travel up his throat in protest to her actions.

"What?" he moaned at last.

"Monster! Flying monster!" she insisted. She could feel him tense, his squishy neck taking on a solid quality pulsing with anxiety. When his head came to shift, eyes straining to see her in their corners, she pointed up towards the branch. They followed, bleary, and all at once, he relaxed.

"A bird?" he asked, without a hint of alarm. Sachiko gaped in disbelief. How could he possibly be so calm? Even if it was something he recognised, it was still a wild animal - a predator, even!

"What? Just kill it before it kills us!" she yelled.

Jun groaned and leaned his head back, eyes closed. "It's not going to kill us. They're harmless."

Sachiko breathed, opened her mouth to deny it, then breathed out instead. There was no point; it seemed 'predator' was a relative descriptor, and one that she was disadvanted in. Admitting that after running to his protection would just add insult to injury - she'd simply have to be more careful in the future.

"Oh," she said, despirited.

After that harrowing experience, the two travelled in silence. Aside from the enchanting yet terrifying sounds of nature, Sachiko's only distraction was the scratching sounds of Jun's ameteur mapmaking. Occasionally, he would take out his phone and note their heading and time, marking a segment of the river accordingly.

So caught up in this routine, Jun failed to notice the hunched form of a man cleaning his knife in the river until he gave a friendly "Well met, traveller."

The sudden stop almost threw Sachiko from her perch. Crawling forwards a little to get a better view of the situation, she could immediately make out that this new person was both the same species as Jun, and an entirely different culture.

Glinting in the river was the coppery-gold of polished bronze, shaped into five-or-so meters of blade. Between the fingers, she could make out what looked like a rough leather grip. Of course, she didn't need to examine the knife closely to know this, as the only clothes he wore was a beige loincloth accompanied by a rope sash and an elaborate pair of leather sandals that gripped above the ankles. Suspended along the sash were a variety of satchels and tools of whose purpose Sachiko could not divine.

Beside the man was the corpse of a quadruped, belly slit open and entrails separated into a pile beside it.

"H-hello," came Jun's nervous reply.

Where previously the man had been focused on his knife, he now turned to consider Jun with his full attention. Great, bushy brows furrowed as he took stock of him.

"You look like you've never seen a kill before, boy," he said, his tone was disapproving - although for Sachiko it was difficult to take seriously given how his elaborately braided beard danced and wiggled with each syllable.

She could hear Jun gulp through his skull. "Y-yeah, I'm not from around here."

The man grunted, "Ya must be; I don't ever think I've seen such garb before. What brings you to these parts?"

Jun seemed to be relaxing, as his own tone eased. "We're lost. Is there a to-"

The man's eyes flashed with a keeness Sachiko had never seen before, and immediately darted up to meet her own. "Yer from the forest, aint'cha?" He wasn't talking to Sachiko, but to the both of them. Thick muscles rippled as he brought himself to a stand, knife raised.

With a swipe into the air, he yelled, "Be gone with ya!"

Jun didn't move. Sachiko could only imagine the terror on his face as he asked, "What?"

"Yer one of those forest spirits! Be gone with ya, or I'll kill ya myself!" he roared, approaching. Steps at first, but then in a run.

Sachiko cried out as all of a sudden, she was forced to grip as the world rushed and bounced around her. She had to be going well over a hundred kilometers per hour! Behind them the man's shouts and yells could be heard and Sachiko was terrified to look back.

Jun was panting, indescriminately cracking branches and bounding over obstacles as he ran for his life for what felt like hours.

It wasn't until dead trees surrounded them that the sound of yelling ceased. Jun seemed to sense this too, as he slowed then stumbled his way against one. Wary of being crushed between the two, Sachiko immediately took flight and hovered in front of his face.

He looked terrible. The entirety of Jun's face was bright red with exertion, "sweat" was pouring off of him and his eyes were without focus. Below, she could see his hand patting around the bag, clumsily unzipping it by touch before taking out the water bottle and greedily downing its gallons. She couldn't help but feel she made a good decision sticking with his head as she took in breadth of the wet patches about his shirt.

"We made it," she said, attempting to reassure the person who literally carried them to safety.

Jun gulped, swiped his mouth with the backside of his arm, and gasped, "Somehow."

Sachiko waited for his breathing to slow before asking the obvious. "What should we do? We can't just take another road; this is our best chance of getting to civilisation."

Jun nodded, distant. "We'll have to sneak around," he said, the words coming reluctantly.

Sachiko was surprised. "You just escaped him! And you haven't even had anything to eat since we came here! How can you be sure we'll escape this time?" she ranted.

Jun nodded along with her words, fixing his eyes on her when she'd said her piece. "He's a hunter, and after chasing us, he probably wont be the same place he was before. We just take it slowly and pray he doesn't see us." His eyes flicked over to the map in his other hand. He gave as sigh and packed it up along with the water bottle.

She didn't want to admit it, but she didn't have a plan. Everything about this was out of her depth. Hunter? She'd only read that term in fiction, and only in those precious few that explored pre-agricultural society. He was also the same type of "human". Without a plan or knowledge, all she could do was put her faith in him and hope he was right.

The second time going was slower. Terrified of being chased again, Sachiko drank in every detail. She was surprised to discover that the transition between the dead and living forests was incredibly stark - like interlocking mechanisms rather than some gradual buildup of life. Something about this seemed deeply wrong, but words escaped her.

It was evening. Jun's stomach had taken to growling. Coming from a giant, the noise was unsettling, and it took all her concentration to keep from pondering the implications. Nevertheless, the distraction was enough that by the time she noticed the hunched form in the bushes across the river, her voice died in the wake of three simple words:

"Well met, traveller."