XI

Adventurers would often tell tales in the tavern about how hard it was to travel in a party. The struggles of keeping everyone united and happy. Aroha had always thought that was just because they weren’t adventuring with their friends. She used to dream about going on quests with Rylan – sometimes Penelope would join them – and how amazing they would be together because they got on so well. Even when they had little spats or arguments, they had always made up almost immediately, or at least the very next day. She wished the same could happen now. She wished they could just laugh this whole thing off and go back to how they used to be. He had barely spoken to her for almost a week now, and he wasn’t that much better with the others. She couldn’t tell whether he was just being stubborn and sulky, or whether he had actually been hurt. She thought her actions had been justified and she knew she didn’t actually regret doing it, but she wasn’t sure if Rylan had seen it as everyone in the party betraying him or not. Either way, the situation was awkward for everyone.

The band itself travelled through the Sephia at a steady pace. Aroha was not fully recovered from her head injury so the going was much slower than it had been at the beginning of their expedition. Penelope and Damien had also taken over the duty of scouting ahead of the party using Aroha’s compass, taking turns every day to do so. Unfortunately (or perhaps not), they had yet to stumble upon anything else heretofore unseen on this newest leg of their journey. Aroha had been forced to leave her rapier behind in the fort because nobody could figure out a way to remove it from the lever slot and still get out of the fort safely. She was actually thankful for this fact. It was just one less thing to weigh her down on the long hikes they took each day.

Rylan, for his part, always hiked at the back of the pack with Aroha and, though he didn’t say much, she appreciated his presence and the care he still showed her. He would stop with her when she wasn’t feeling well or needed a rest, helped carry her already-lightened backpack to ease her burden, or any number of other small little acts that she loved him for greatly. She tried her best to make meaningful conversation with him during these times, but he always kept his responses to a bare minimum. It was during one of these particular rest stops when she decided that enough was enough.

It was midday, or thereabouts, and she, Rylan and Damien were resting beneath a tall oak. Damien busied himself with whittling a piece of bark in silence while Aroha lay against the tree to ease her latest headache. Rylan stood off to the side of the tree, ostensibly awaiting the return of Penelope. She always took a little while longer than Aroha and Damien while scouting ahead because she would get distracted by her habitual gathering of herbs, flowers and wild vegetables.

‘Rylan?’ Aroha piped up from the tree.

She had been mulling over how she was going to approach this conversation for days now. She had quite literally lost sleep due to running over all the possible outcomes and scenarios in her head. She had finally decided yesterday on how she was going to tackle this. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she knew she had to come straight at him. It was the only way to get him to drop the icy shell he had on. Even if he got angry, even if he exploded at her, she figured it would be better than what was currently going on.

‘Hmmm?’ he responded.

‘Do you hate me?’ she asked. The question felt like a lump in the middle of her chest. She wasn’t sure if she even wanted the answer.

She saw Damien pause in his whittling, but the man did not say anything or look at her. Rylan was equally as silent. Only the light chittering of birds somewhere overhead in the boughs of the oak broke it.

Eventually, he responded with a simple, ‘No.’

‘Why are you acting this way then?’ she asked.

She saw him stiffen, but he did not turn around to face her.

Damien shuffled uncomfortably. He looked over at Aroha, his eyes wide. They asked, Are you really doing this? Right now? She ignored him.

‘This is childish, Rylan,’ she continued. ‘Look at me. Talk to me.’

He turned to her. His face was cold and his gaze worse still. ‘What do you want me to say?’

Aroha sat up. She felt a dizziness coming over her from doing it too quickly, but she grit her teeth and forced herself to her feet. Damien jumped up as well and tried to help her when he saw her unsteady movements but she brushed him away. She stood to her full height and glared defiantly at Rylan.

‘Maybe you can start with why you’re being like this? Why you haven’t spoken to me – to any of us – properly in a week? Maybe tell me why you’re so angry at me?’ she said.

‘I’m not angry,’ Rylan responded. His voice betrayed him.

‘Uh, maybe ye two want to talk in private?’ Damien suggested weakly.

‘Yes,’ Rylan replied, his voice like an icicle.

‘No,’ Aroha said, matching his coldness. Her eyes never moved from Rylan’s. ‘Stay.’

Damien shifted uncomfortably, unsure of which of them to listen to. He cleared his throat to ease the awkwardness of the situation. It didn’t help.

‘Well?’ Aroha asked, directing the question at Rylan. ‘You want to tell us what’s going on with you? Or are we just supposed to keep stepping on eggshells around you?’

‘I never asked anyone to do that,’ he replied. ‘That’s your thing.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Nothing. Let’s just drop it.’ Rylan said this with a finality in his voice that dared Aroha to continue.

‘No! I’m sick of this, Rylan! I’m sick of you acting this way! We did nothing wrong and you’re being a baby about it!’ Aroha screamed. She couldn’t stop herself even if she wanted to. It was all rising up now, it was too late to push it back down. She hadn’t planned on getting this emotional this quickly, but the way Rylan was acting just irked her at that moment.

‘I’m the one acting like a baby?’

‘Yes! This is supposed to be an adventure, isn’t it? We’re supposed to be friends, aren’t we?’

‘What about this is an adventure?!’ Rylan cried out, so suddenly and so forcefully that Aroha was taken aback for a moment. ‘This isn’t a— a make-believe game! This is real, Aroha! And you really got hurt! And yet, still, you insist on jumping into danger! Do you know how that makes me feel?’

‘No, I don’t! So tell me! I can’t guess your emotions!’ Aroha tried her best to hold back the tears, to feel only the anger, but she could feel herself fail at it.

‘Did you forget why we’re here? Why we’re doing this? This isn’t some big, fun adventure! People’s lives are involved. People we know and love and care about are in real danger and they need us to help them get out of it. Yet you go along with everything this man says,’ he pointed at Damien, ‘even if it means endangering your life? You jump at every single dangerous suggestion? You put yourself at risk unnecessarily. And for what? For some stupid treasure?!’

‘I know what’s at stake! Don’t treat me if as I don’t. And leave Damien out of this, he hasn’t done anything wrong. All he’s ever done this entire trip is try to help us. I don’t know why you’re behaving this way!’

‘Why I’m behaving this way?!’ Rylan replied, the incredulity in his voice falling on Aroha like a hail of arrows. ‘All of you are the ones behaving like idiots! I know he means well, but he’s clearly dragging you and Penelope into his— his greed or whatever it is. Making you all do stupid things for no reason!’

‘He’s standing right here, Rylan! Can’t you at least be man enough to speak to him about these things if it bothers you that much?’

‘Well, maybe I should! Hey, Damien, I don’t like the way you endanger everyone with your recklessness! How’s that?!’

Damien flinched, but he remained silent. He had no intention of jumping into the middle of this shouting match. Tensions and emotions were raging and he wanted no part of it.

‘You’re acting like a— like a child!’ Aroha screamed.

‘And you’re all acting selfishly!’ Rylan continued, completely unfazed. ‘I think you’ve lost the point. I think you’re too wrapped up in the, the— ugh—’ he grabbed his head as he tried to find the right words, ‘The wanderlust! You’re on this flight of fancy and you’re ignoring everything else around you. You’re running away! Like you always do! You’ve forgotten how horrible it all was—’

‘Don’t you dare tell me what I’ve forgotten!’ She couldn’t stop the tears now. She clenched her fist and steeled herself as they filled her vision. ‘I have nightmares almost every night! I can still feel the heat of the fire on my skin. I can still feel the hands choking the life out of me. Ma being carried away, limp and— and I never even got to say goodbye to Riario… What if— what if—’ she choked back the tears. ‘I haven’t forgotten anything… No matter how much I would like to.’

‘You have no idea how hard it is for me either!’ Rylan cried out, his voice shaking.

‘Then talk to me – to us – about it! We’re supposed to be there for each other, aren’t we?!’ Aroha’s tears and spittle flew through the air as she screamed this at Rylan and he was visibly taken aback.

His mood and posture seemed to shift greatly. He looked defeated and weak, deflated and spent. He seemed ready to collapse. ‘I just— I couldn’t save them… I couldn’t save anyone… Knowing that I couldn’t do anything for all of them except run away? Do you know how much that eats me inside?!’ His gaze fell to the dirt. His fists trembled as he continued through grit teeth, ‘I try so hard to keep everyone safe… And then you got hurt so badly. I— I was so— if anything happened to you… I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. You have no idea how scared I was. I can’t— I can’t lose you too…’

‘I know how you’re feeling, Rylan. I feel it too. I’m sorry I make you worry by doing dumb things. And I know you were scared when I got hurt. I never ever wanted to make you worry like that! Just knowing that you care that much… It fills my heart to bursting, it really does… But I’m also not a child. I’m going to do dumb things. I’m going to get hurt. This is real, and it’s dangerous, and it could happen to any one of us. I want us to always be there for each other when that happens.’

‘I’m just trying to protect you! To protect all of us!’

‘I didn’t ask for that!’

‘I know! But I can’t help it! I love you too much!’

‘I love you too, you idiot! But you can’t keep treating us this way!’ She could barely stay upright. She felt Damien’s hands keep her standing. Her voice was choked by intermittent sobs but she couldn’t stop herself now. She had to let it all out while it was there. ‘We’re in this together! All of us. You and me and Damien and Penelope. We’re all that we have. And yes, sometimes I get caught up in the adventure. Okay, that’s fair… But at the same time, is it wrong to be excited? Is it wrong to enjoy this journey while we’re here? Because it is exciting and I am excited and I am enjoying it. I’m happy to be here, doing this with people that I love. Does that make me a bad person?’

She could barely see through the haze of tears, but she was surprised to find Rylan hugging her tightly. She whimpered and snuggled into his warm embrace, breathing in his homely, comforting scent. She clutched his shirt tight and nuzzled her head into his shoulder. It felt like she could melt into him at that moment. She realized he was crying too.

‘You dummy,’ he whispered to her as he pulled her tighter into his bear hug. ‘Of course, you’re not a bad person… I’m sorry…’

They let go of each other after a time, somewhat reluctantly. Rylan looked at Damien, guilt writ all over his face. ‘I’m sorry, Damien. For the way I’ve been acting… I didn’t mean to treat you like that. I was just—’

‘Nah, it’s all good,’ Damien replied with a smile. ‘Water under the bridge, mate. I’m just glad we’re all talkin’ again.’

Aroha wiped the tears and snot from her face. She looked at Rylan. ‘Just talk to us next time, okay? I don’t want to do this every time we have a disagreement.’

He chuckled weakly. ‘Definitely.’ She hugged him again.

Penelope chose that moment to make her presence known. She stepped out from behind the tree and chuckled, ‘Well, it’s nice to see that everyone has kissed and made up.’

‘How long were you lurking around?’ Rylan asked.

‘Long enough,’ she replied with a shrug. ‘I’m glad things are back to normal. But also, I have something you guys need to see.’

‘What is it?’

‘You’re going to have to see this for yourself. I can’t explain it.’

*

Penelope led the party through the trail she had discovered. She was cryptic and wouldn’t answer any of their questions along the way. The only thing she would tell them was that they were taking a “little detour”, as she put it. No other information was forthcoming.

The band followed her for a short while through a relatively normal part of the Wood. It was nothing they hadn’t seen before. It, therefore, came as a surprise when Penelope steered them all wildly off course into a particularly dense grouping of trees, a path they would usually avoid. The trees here closed in around the party like towering walls of foliage and they had to squeeze in-between small gaps in trunks just to keep progressing onwards. Aroha noticed that this area seemed to be abundant with a large variety of colourful flowers, and she guessed that must have been what attracted Penelope to investigate it in the first place. The strange blooms grew all around them, even covering the trees in some cases. It was such a kaleidoscope of hues and shapes and sizes that Aroha couldn’t even begin to take it all in. It was a sensory overload, an exploded rainbow.

Eventually, the scenery started to change. The path opened up a little more and the flowers thinned out as they had no more close growing trunks to cling to. While they were no longer struggling to fit through small gaps, there was something else that was incredibly off-putting about this part of the forest. It took a moment to notice because one couldn’t possibly expect it, but once you did notice, it was impossible to un-see. The trees were no longer just trees. If you looked closely enough at them, there seemed to be what could only be called a kind of construction happening. There were pieces of wood attached to trunks at irregular intervals. Even in the higher canopies, there seemed to have been built a few shoddy treehouses of a kind. The thing was, these structures made no real sense in any way. They were haphazard pieces of work, cobbled together to create facsimiles of what someone thought a house might look like, but they were completely uninhabitable, and, thankfully, seemed to be uninhabited.

They seemed to have stumbled into a village, constructed right into the forest itself, but whose village exactly, nobody knew. The mood in the group shifted completely as almost everyone was instantly put on edge. Only Penelope was unfazed at the head of the pack.

‘Penelope…?’ Rylan ventured, his voice low. ‘What exactly is this?’

‘Shush,’ she replied, placing a finger to her lips.

She led them to a part of the forest village that opened up into a tiny clearing. It was barely larger than the room they had stayed in with the Priests in Bergia. She motioned for the band to stay low and they hunkered next to one of the shoddy homes. Up close, Aroha got an opportunity to investigate the moss-covered planks a little. They were not well-cut or smoothly sanded like the kinds usually used in construction. They had not been treated in any way, with the moss and bark still present on them, and the shape could only just barely be classified as rectangular. They were also not secured to the trunk they stood on by any nails or bolts but rather slotted into place by a groove made on the trunk itself. Smaller bits and pieces of wood were placed on top of larger ones to construct the rickety dwelling, often also slotted into place, oftentimes not even that. It was a like house of cards, ready to be blown away by anything more than a light breeze.

‘Look,’ Penelope whispered.

She pointed to something a few metres away from the party, across the clearing. Everyone stopped and followed her finger. At first glance, it appeared she had just drawn their attention to an ordinary bush. One topped with a handful of colourful flowers, but still just a bush. It took a moment for everyone to realize that it was actually moving.

The bush rustled slightly, but then it actually stood up. It appeared to have been crouching down because when it did stand up it was as tall as a person, perhaps the same size as Aroha. Even the body proportions seemed to be largely the same as that of a slender human, yet even from their vantage point, the group could quite clearly see that it was not. Its entire body was completely composed of foliage – tightly wrapped leaves and vines and bark that somehow came together to form a person. It turned around and they could see that it had no facial features at all. The only thing that stood out was the flowers atop its “head”. The bush carried a plank of wood under its arm. It hauled this over to a nearby tree-dwelling it appeared to be working on.

Penelope stood up and strode towards it, quickly snapping the rest of the group out of their stunned stupor.

‘Wait!’ Rylan hissed, not daring to raise his voice too loud.

‘It’s fine!’ Penelope chuckled, refusing to stop and explain what was going on.

She walked right up to the bush person as if this were some routine thing she always did. She tapped it on its shoulder and it turned around to face her. She gave it a light bow and it responded with a creaky, wooden one of its own. Then it simply turned around and continued with its work.

‘What in all the hells is going on here?’ Damien asked the world in general.

‘Come and say hello,’ Penelope called to them.

Sharing concerned glances, the band followed her, albeit very slowly and tentatively. Up close, Aroha could clearly see that the bush being was composed more of leaves than it was of anything sturdy like bark or tree bits. It was such a weird amalgamation of shrubbery that she couldn’t quite even understand what exactly she was looking at. It did not look to be sturdy in the slightest – indeed it rustled slightly whenever a breeze passed through the small clearing – yet she had clearly seen it carrying a hefty plank of wood and, if the rest of this little “village” was anything to go by, it was clearly strong and smart enough to build it in the first place.

Penelope tapped it on the shoulder again as the others finally arrived next to her. It turned to look at her.

‘Bow,’ Penelope whispered to them out of the corner of her mouth. To the bush being, she said, ‘These are my friends, Aroha and Damien, and my brother, Rylan.’

The introducees shared a look, then bowed slightly to the strange being, who responded with one of its own. With the introductions over, it turned back to its work once more, completely ignoring the group. It placed the trunk it was carrying onto another already secured to the tree and then wandered off to go fetch another.

‘Does it understand you?’ Aroha asked quietly as she watched it leave, her brain still trying to process what was happening right now.

‘I honestly don’t know. It hasn’t done anything except greet me, but only if I greet it first,’ Penelope responded.

‘More importantly,’ Rylan interjected, ‘just what is going on here? What is it?’

Penelope shrugged. ‘It’s some kind of plant being and this is its home. I assume it’s its home, anyway. I named it Dandelion, but I don’t think it really cares.’

‘How—’ Damien began. He paused and thought his question through a little. ‘How does it see?’

‘I have no idea. I assume its got some kind of sense other than sight? I honestly don’t have the first idea of how it works. It’s a walking plant!’

‘An’ how does it walk?’

‘That one I’m really not sure of. I’m guessing it's some kind of magic, right? That’s the only “logical” explanation I could think of.’

‘How did you even find it?’ Rylan asked suspiciously. ‘How did you find out it wasn’t hostile?’

‘That’s a funny story actually,’ Penelope chuckled. ‘You saw those flowers at the entrance to this place? I spotted them while scouting and just had to go over and investigate. It was so fascinating, really. There are some species growing there that I’ve never seen before. Never even read about! It was so exciting! I think I’ve discovered some species of flower that have never been documented before. I made sure to grab a bunch of them. I’ll test them all out later. Maybe we could even add them to the treasure collection and see if any scholars will be interested—’

‘The point, Penelope.’

‘Okay, so, I investigated the flowers and followed them just like we did. I came across the weird wooden structures and treehouses and I was obviously intrigued. We thought the Sephia was uninhabited after all. The curiosity got the better of me.’

‘That was incredibly dangerous,’ Rylan sighed. ‘You should have come and got the rest of us first.’

‘Anyway,’ Penelope continued, ‘I literally bumped into Dandelion over there. I wasn’t paying attention and was looking at all the houses and I just… walked right into it. It helped me back up and then continued what it was busy with like nothing had happened. I figured that must mean it wasn’t hostile or evil or anything like that. I guess it’s just working here in the forest and I happened to stumble across it? I stuck around a little and watched it work. It just goes about its business without caring about anyone or anything around it. If you greet it, it mimics your actions, but other than that it doesn’t seem to do anything besides build.’

‘You’re lucky it isn’t hostile,’ Rylan warned her. ‘It could’ve just as easily attacked you for wandering into its home. Next time, come and get us before exploring things on your own.’

‘Sure, sure, but, I have something even more interesting to show you!’ Penelope responded with a wide grin.

She walked off to the opposite end of the clearing that the group had entered, with everyone tagging along behind her like lost puppies. Tucked away in the shade of two tall trees was the first and only structure that Aroha would classify as a proper dwelling. It looked like a rickety shack, but it was the only one that was standing upright, and even had a roof. Penelope took the lantern from her belt, lit it, and shone it into the shack without entering it.

‘Come and see,’ she instructed them.

Aroha peered into the murky gloom of the shack, her eyes adjusting to the low light of the lantern. The shack was small and cramped and largely empty. It took more than a few moments before Aroha realized that it actually wasn’t. On the ground – either curled up in the grass itself, in the process of standing up, or kneeling down as if in prayer – were more plant beings. There could only be about ten in total, all smaller than “Dandelion”, and none of them moving at all. They appeared to be coming right out of the forest floor itself.

‘I think they’re growing,’ Penelope remarked cheerfully.

Aroha realized she suddenly needed to lie down.

She heard Damien whisper breathlessly behind her, ‘Oh gods above, just what have we stumbled into?’