~Bilana, in the den~

Yvoty carried Py’aguasu who was asleep, tired from playing, onto the grass bed and turned to us after patting his hair.

“How can we ever repay you?” she asked.

“No, you don’t have to—” I started saying, but Psetha cut me off.

“Do you know anything about Psetha— the real Psetha?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“We want to revive Him,” Psetha answered.

Yvoty blinked and then sat down on the ground, motioning for us to do so as well. She thought for a few minutes and then wiped her face with one hand. “All I can think of is the Weavers.”

Psetha leaned forward. “Weavers? They exist?”

“What—who are Weavers?” I asked, confused.

“They are a people who keep stories. They would know what exactly happened to Psetha and how to fix it.”

I hummed. “Are there any in this fragment?”

Yvoty shook her head sadly, and I felt the small hope inside me crush.

“But,” Psetha said with determination. “They should be in one of the fragments, right?”

Yvoty smiled a small smile and shrugged. “They should be.”

She didn’t seem to be holding onto much hope, though. After all, they would have done something if they knew how, right?

Right?

“Let’s sleep,” Yvoty suggested, and we nodded. We took out blankets from the two bags we had brought with us and laid down on the floor, side by side since there wasn’t much of a space, while Yvoty laid down by Py’aguasu’s side.

Our hearts were heavy that night as we fell asleep.

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

Fire.

Fire is everywhere.

The den is on fire.

Yvoty is on fire, screaming because Py’aguasu is on fire as well.

Psetha is laughing with his short white hair and golden eyes.

I woke up, gasping for breath because the taste of burning flesh was on my tongue. I sat up and touched around where I remembered him falling asleep.

“Psetha,” I called out.

I touched someone and questioned, “Psetha?”

I shook them. “Psetha!”

“Wha…” I heard him say suddenly, and I grabbed him, holding onto him as he sat up like he was my lifeline and death warrant in one.

“I…I saw…” I gulped. “I saw you…”

“Shhh,” he said and patted one of my hands that were holding onto his shoulders. “Look,” he said, bringing it to his head.

“Touch.”

He was showing me his long hair.

I stroked it, finding relief in its length. I stroked his hair for hours it felt like, not able to let go of it, and he let me.

I felt myself calm down slowly.

Then I realized just how close we were. My cheeks burned, my heart beating in my ears.

Had we been this close the whole time?

I pulled away, feeling shy, and started playing with my own hair. “Thanks,” I whispered.

He cleared his throat, and I wondered if he was feeling as shy as me.

“Don’t worry about it,” he whispered back.

“How did you know to show me your hair?”

“I…I had the dreams, too. Before.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah.”

“Would…would you like to check on the seeds?” I suggested, not wanting to go back to sleep and stay in this den on fire—for more than one reason.

He nodded, and we exited the den quietly through the gate that was still active. We weren’t worried about the gate being open—it only let those with permission through, after all. Yvoty and Py’aguasu never woke up—they must have been more tired than they let on.

The day was breaking outside. I took a deep breath of the morning air and let it out slowly through my mouth. I made myself smile as I looked at Psetha. “Good morning.”

He smiled back hesitantly. “Good morning.”

“Well!” I said with enthusiasm. “Let’s go.”

“Wait.”

I turned back. “Yes?”

“Let’s get our stuff, we don’t know when we’ll see another whirlpool, after all.”

I didn’t like the thought of leaving without saying goodbye, but I understood. “Okay,” I said, and we went back in.

We gathered our blankets and put them in the bags.

Just when we were about to leave…

“Where are you going?” asked a sleepy Yvoty.

I turned to where her voice was coming from. “Oh, sorry. Did we wake you up?”

“It’s okay. Where are you going?” she asked again.

“We’re going to look at the seeds,” Psetha answered quietly so Py’aguasu didn’t wake up as well.

“Why are you getting your bags?”

“That’s…”

“We need to leave,” Psetha answered for me.

Right. My dream.

“Yes, we need to leave,” I supported him.

“Why—wait, let’s talk outside. I don’t want to wake Py’aguasu up.”

We exited the den again, this time with Yvoty.

We narrowed our eyes as the morning light hit them.

Yvoty took a deep breath as I had done before, then turned to us. “Now, why do you need to leave?”

“We need to look for the Weavers.”

“Couldn’t this wait until a more reasonable hour?”

Psetha shook his head. “It can’t.”

Yvoty narrowed her eyes at us, but seeing we were determined, she sighed. “Let me bring Py’aguasu here. He would want to say goodbye as well.”

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

“Why do you have to go?” Py’aguasu asked, his lips wobbling.

Oh no, he was going to cry.

“Shhh,” I said as I wiped away his tears from his cheeks, trying to soothe him. He grabbed onto my hands and complained again, “I don’t want you to go.”

“I don’t want to go either,” I whispered.

“Then don’t,” he whined.

“Py’aguasu,” Psetha said and knelt in front of him.

“You need to be a big boy now. We need to go, or else why would we ever leave you?”

“But…but…”

“Shhh….no buts. Please smile as you send us on our way? We love your smile.” Psetha looked at me. “Don’t we, Bilana?”

“We do,” I replied, feeling myself close to crying like Py’aguasu.

Psetha turned back to Py’aguasu, nodding. “Yes, we do. So, please smile?”

Py’aguasu sniffed. Then he smiled through his tears, his lips wobbling.

“There we go,” Psetha said as he wiped Py’aguasu’s cheeks and then placed a kiss on one. “Goodbye, Py’aguasu.”

Py’aguasu sniffed again. “Goodbye.” Then he hugged me. “Goodbye, Bilana.”

I smiled, my lips wobbling, and kissed the top of his head. “Goodbye, Py’aguasu.”

We hugged Yvoty and said goodbye to her as well.

Then we went on our way to the garden, to check on the seeds.

Py’aguasu waved until we were out of sight, probably even after that.

~Psetha, in the new garden~

The seeds were planted close to the den so it didn’t take us much time to reach. They looked fine—no animal seemed to have dug them up. I knelt by them and placed my palms above them.

“What are you doing?” Bilana asked.

“There’s something I want to try.”

I infused them with magic, having a much easier time controlling it rested. The mounds rippled and then cracked open, the seeds growing out of them. They grew and grew as I kept infusing them with magic until they became fully grown and then bore fruits.

“Wow,” I heard Bilana whisper and felt my cheeks heat.

I shrugged. “I told them they wouldn’t need to stock.”

She was smiling when I gained the courage to look at her, and I felt my cheeks heat up even more.

“You’re good,” she decided.

I laughed, surprised. “Why suddenly?”

She shook her head with a small smile on her lips. “It’s not sudden. I think you were always good.”

I was suddenly reminded of my şıphunahıj.

You’re good, she had said, even as I killed her.

I looked down. “Do you really think so?”

She came closer and bent her head, chasing after my eyes. “I know so.”

I frowned. “You should still kill me if I go mad, don’t forget.”

Her eyes grew wide, but then she nodded. “I won’t forget.”

I nodded as well. “Good.” Then I smiled. “You’re good as well.”

She smiled mischievously. “I know.”

Right then, we heard the noise of a whirlpool.

“So it’s really time to go,” Bilana sighed as she looked at the whirlpool.

It was.

And so we left, leaving a piece of our hearts behind.