~Bilana, in a different fragment~

“Hello,” Psetha greeted the boy, clearly used to things like this and so not as shocked as me to see an animal turn into a boy. “I’m Psetha. What’s your name?” he asked.

“I’m Py’aguasu,” the boy replied. “And my mama is Mama.”

I almost smiled, he was so cute. But his mother’s condition stopped me from gushing over him. “I’m Bilana, Py’aguasu. How do you think I can help your mama?”

He pointed to the green hill. “There are lobeira there. She will feel better if she eats some.”

“Lobeira?”

What was a ‘lobeira’?

“It’s a fruit. She will feel better if she eats some.”

I worried my lip, considering Py’aguasu’s words. How would I find this lobeira? I was thinking about this when suddenly—

“Oh! Mama is waking up!” Py’aguasu exclaimed and knelt with me by his mother’s side. Her eyelids fluttered and opened. She let out a questioning noise, and I could feel her relief when her eyes found Py’aguasu.

Then she noticed us.

Suddenly she was completely awake and growling at us, jumping up and pushing Py’aguasu behind her.

Psetha knelt on the ground beside me, and we lowered our eyes, trying to tell her we weren’t a threat as we supported our actions with words, now that we knew she could understand them.

“We don’t mean you and your son harm,” I said.

Psetha followed up with, “We’re just trying to help.”

“Mama, it’s okay,” Py’aguasu supported us, holding onto his mother to stop her from attacking us. “Bilana will help us find lobeira. I told her where they were.”

The mother stopped growling and looked at her child, asking, “What were you thinking?” with her eyes.

He pouted, ready to cry. “But you were sick, and daddy is gone and…and…”

The mother let out a sigh, kind of, and when she shook her fur, she turned into a beautiful woman with dark skin, a body that looked like it used to be curvy and long hair with brown and red patches. And, of course, really long limbs. I thought she was even taller than Psetha, who was fairly tall himself.

“You know you shouldn’t let strangers get close,” she scolded her child softly and Py’aguasu sniffed.

“But…but…” he complained, and the mother sighed again. She patted his hair and turned to us.

“I guess you know everything. I’m Yvoty and this is Py’aguasu, my son. Your names are?”

“Bilana.”

“Psetha. Nice to meet you.”

She frowned but nodded, accepting our greetings.

“Now,” she said as she sat down. “What’s this about you helping us find lobeira?”

“Py’aguasu said you needed it and told us where to find it,” I said and added. “Unfortunately, we don’t know what it looks like and-”

Yvoty held up a hand and stopped me from continuing. “He told you about the green hill, didn’t he? I can’t let you go there- or wait,” she said like she suddenly realized something unpleasant. “You said your name was Psetha, didn’t you?” she asked Psetha.

He nodded, clearly understanding the situation better than I did because he looked nervous.

What was wrong?

She nodded. “Then I guess I can let you help me.”

~Psetha, on the way to the green hill~

She had sent us to die, I could feel it. I was used to the hate from all my travels, but it still stung every time. I looked at Bilana guaşe walking by my side and shook my head. We were going to come back alive. And then, since she clearly knew about Psetha—the real Psetha— I would ask her about Him as payment.

“What was that just now?” Bilana guaşe asked, and I shrugged.

“It’s because I said I was Psetha. Clearly, she knows about the great Tha and His downfall.”

“And blames you for it?”

I nodded.

“That’s not fair.”

I laughed humorlessly, “Sometimes being ‘fair’ isn’t what matters.”

She frowned and kicked at a pebble on the ground. “I don’t like her,” she decided.

I smirked, “Don’t forget about Py’aguasu. We’re doing this for him too.”

She smiled at that and started gushing over the ‘adorable little boy’. I chuckled as I watched her, she really looked pretty when she was happy.

Then she caught me watching her, and I turned my head, feeling myself turn red. “Yeah, he is cute, isn’t he?”

She was silent, and when I turned back to look at her she looked confused. Then she shook her head, and the moment passed.

“Yeah,” she answered. “He’s cute.”

The conversation stopped after that, and we walked on in silence until we reached the green hill. We put our hands on our hips, looking up at it.

“Well,” I said and wiped the sweat from my face. “Let’s climb it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what felt like hours, we were still unable to find any lobeira. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and sighed. It felt like we had looked at all the trees on this hill.

“Is there…really…any lobeira…here?” Bilana guaşe huffed and puffed as she tried to keep up with me.

I frowned. “Maybe we should rest a little.”

“No…yes,” she nodded and flopped down on the ground, leaning against a green tree and wiping sweat from her forehead. She gulped. “Do we have any water left in our bag?”

“We finished all of it, remember?”

She sighed. “Darn.”

I gulped and sat down by her side. Some water really would be good right about now but, no such luck.

We just sat there silently, trying to rest before we continued.

Moments passed by and was it just me, or was our breathing growing more ragged instead of calming down?

I frowned and put my hands on the ground, palms stretched.

“What are you…doing?”

“Hang on, I think there is a problem.”

She looked confused but stayed silent, letting me investigate.

I let the magic within me free and shook with the effort of keeping it under control when I was this tired and—just as I thought.

I pulled my hands back and stood up. “Come out!”

Silence.

I yelled again, “Come out before I get angry!”

Again, silence.

There weren’t even any animals on this hill. How had I been this late to notice it? But there was something, and I had a pretty good idea what it was.

“So be it,” I said with finality and, raising my hands, threw fire at a tree. The tree exploded from the sudden heat and started burning down.

“If you’re not going to come out,” I yelled. “Then I will make you come out.”