The next day, I was awoken by the smell of burning meat and spices. When I opened my eyes, the night was barely lightened, and most of the light still came from the witchlights outside. Rubbing the dream dust from my eyes, I rose to my feet and walked over to where Asunta was.

She was sitting by the pot once again, and she had made… was that porridge? Some sort of chicken porridge. “Ah, you’re awake. Good.” She thought for a bit, looking at me from head to toe while I walked over to the vacant chair. “Do you think you have a change of clothes?”

I shook my head. “I’ve got nothing but the clothes on my back and the weapons I have in that leather satchel.”

“Oh, speaking of that, make sure to bring it along. And, I guess my clothes will fit you.”

“Why? Where are we going? Oh, thank you.” I looked around as she handed me a bowl of porridge. It was warm and perfect for the current time, since the sun was barely up, meaning the environment was still cold and nightly.

As I ate, I surveyed the place around me. It had been cleaned up, no stray flowers or weeds anywhere. The bamboo house thing that we sat in was spotless, and all the dishes were arrayed cleanly on an abaca, or manila hemp, mat. That was a nice touch.

“Like I said, we are going to the river for the morning, and then heading back.”

“Why?”

“Two things. One, I need to buy a few more chickens from the traders, and two, we both need a bath.”

I tried to smell myself, but I smelled nothing. Perhaps I was just too used to my own smell? I mean, it is everything I’ve been smelling for 333,333 years now.

We finished our breakfast and began walking. I brought the leather satchel with me. “You think I can sell some of these?” I asked.

She perused its contents and said, “Probably, yes. Keep them. It would do good to earn some pilos.”

There was a path that scaled down the side of the cliff where the church was perched. As we reached the foot of the path, I was greeted with a refreshing wind, wrapping around me and rejuvenating me. We began walking as the sun peeked over the mountains to the east, shedding the first few lights of the world and chasing away the black hues of the night and replacing it with the blue and white. As the sun’s white rays painted the scene before me, I saw the lightly growing grass upon the plains. As we walked down a dirt road, I realized that there was a small blue line before me, twinkling in the morning light.

“Is that the river where we’re supposed to go?”

“Yes. That is Isuman River. Upriver of that is a mountain city that trades in ores. The river leads to the town of Ekis, down Isuman. There they trade with goods from the sea and outside of the island.”

“Huh, that makes sense.”

We walked underneath a sun that was not overbearing. I found out that we made it half way through without any trouble. We ascended and descended slight hills and went through small copses of trees and had to navigate around some wild dogs that roamed. I volunteered to hunt, but Asunta told me that time was of the essence. So truly, we faced no true trouble.

I came with my full set of weaponry—that is, the stone bow and the rusted kris and the steel krises—and that was it. Asunta brought with her a large rectangular abaca bag, which she carried on her elbow. She wore more concealing clothing now: a large robe that hid her figure, wrapped around her, and then the veil that she wore yesterday.

Eventually. We took a short break underneath a large narra tree with branches arching out to create a shade from the sun. The wind was cold. That was greatly appreciated.

“So this is how you’ve been living?” I asked as I took a sip from our bamboo waterskins.

Asunta nodded. “It is a relatively worry-free way to live. Thankfully when I arrived here, there were already no people in the village.”

“Huh. Where did you come from, anyway?”

“I prefer not to disclose my entire life story, especially when time is of the essence. Perhaps one day, when you’ve earned it. But for now, we need to make haste to Isuman,”

“Spirits, I hate it when people are cryptic.”

“An unfortunate effect fo your millennia long slumber, I suppose.”

“Maybe. I also have, like, 0 Manipulation.”

Asunta laughed. “Funny. That makes so much more sense. People talk in subtext, you see. So crypticness isn’t the exception, it’s the norm.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Speaking of my traits, that reminds me: how come I can’t see yours, even when you told me your name?”

“Only full true names can give that information,” she said. “I have not given you my full name. And neither my true name.”

“Wait, I gave you my name. Does that mean you can see my stats?”

She paused for a bit, blinking, seemingly in wonder, or maybe in worry? She looked at me with an eyebrow raised, staring deep into my eyes. However, she eventually shook her head and shrugged. “I do not, strangely enough. I suppose… that is weird. Perhaps you’ve forgotten your true name? Or maybe something else protects it entirely… ah, well, this is why I hate being with Attainers. They think like they’re exempt from the cycles of the world.” She rose to her feet, patting her but to remove stray grass, dirt, and soil.

“Heh, now who hates crypticness?” I said, rising to my feet as well. I stretched.

“I suppose I am a hypocrite. Come, let us away. Before the sun intensifies its beams.”

And so we were. We made our way down the path even further. Right before the sun completed its quarter venture to the top of the sky, I heard the sounds of a rushing river. We descended down a rocky path that eventually ended in a sandy banks. The river of Isuman was beautiful. Almost crystalline in the light of the sun. Rocks and boulders peppered the sides, but the river itself was wide and clean. The rushing sounds of the river complemented the daybreak hues. It felt like a true morning was dawning, and for once I didn’t feel out of place or weird. I felt like I was meant to be there.

Okay, to be fair, that’s kind of a wierd thing to feel.

Asunta put down her bag behind a boulder and also stripped naked, stretching her clothes out on that same boulder. Once she was naked, she walked over to the water and, using her hands, sprinkled some water upon her body. She shivered, smiled, and then waded into the river. “Come in! The water is cold!”

I shrugged. Like I said, I didn’t know how much I smelled. so it was better to be safe than sorry. I removed my clothes as well, and went over to where she was, sinking into the shallow banks and immediately feeling rejuvenated. In my mind’s eye, my Ginhawa Hearts and Kalasag Orbs both gained a single hazy heart and orb respectively. More temporary hearts?

“The water rejuvenates both soul and body,” said Orlok, even though she was submerged into the water. “It would do you well to remember to have a bathe every now and again.”

Additionally, I saw that I gained the Status known as Clean.

Clean

Status.

Lasts for 12 hours or until removed by dirtying banes.

A +1 bonus to Charisma when socializing with people of towns, villages, or cities. One can gain this status from bathing, dressing up, or fixing one’s appearance with oils.

I mean, that certainly made sense.

We eventually finished washing ourselves and sat out to dry our bodies. We sat there in silence, for the most part. I was eager to learn more things. Asunta, however, was sitting cross legged, crouched over, and closed eyed. Both of her hands were on the rocks before her, as if she was really into rocks.

“You alright there?”

“Silence,” said the Orlok. “She is harmonizing.” Tilting my head to the side, I asked what she meant exactly by harmonizing. “It is a thing that those sensitive to the spirit do. Do not worry, as a Dabbler, you will be able to learn what she is doing eventually.”

As I stood there and watched as this naked middle-aged lady harmonized with the earth, I heard something scrape against a boulder behind us, followed by annoyed whispering. Blinking, I shook my head and rose to my feet, turning to them.

“Who’s there?”

I stood there, naked, staring at the three rocks that were, surely, enough to hide the bodies of humans. Even as I did, even as my roar was loud enough to echo across the valley, Asunta did not stir. Or if she did, I did not see it.

I had a hand raised and ready to fire a quick Hamok spell if needed. Subconsciously I was paying attention to the four orbs of Kalag I had.

After a few more moments of awkward me standing there, raising a hand out at some invisible menace. A young man rose to the top of the boulder, wearing a green shirt and white pants. His hair was dark brown, the color of burnt chocolate, and his eyes were a shade of brown as well. He had, in one hand, a simple itak. That is, a machete with a flat tip, mostly used for chopping away stray vines or foliage when farming or adventuring. On the other hand he had a ceramic pot lid that he used as a makeshift shield. I had the politeness to keep myself from laughing.

“Hail, fair maidens!” said the boy. “I am Julio, and I’ve come to protect you from these garish beasts!” And then a lamanlupa leapt up on another boulder, wielding a bow and some daggers.

“Argh, I am Yagik, and I was about to feast upon the supple flesh of these young maidens.”

And then from behind him rose an eight-foot tall humanoid, covered in light fur, wearing a large poncho and a bahag. A bahag being a loincoth wrapped around and between the legs, and the cloth reaches until just above the knee, so it acted like a short set of shorts.

“Roar! And I am Ragul, and I wish to kill you for I am a Kapre, and I wish to be with women! And ravish them!”

“Beware you foul beasts. I will not take your schemes lightly! Prepare to meet your doom, and the blade in the name of the Godhead!”

And then Julio ran up to Ragul and swung, and his itak lightly bit into the flesh of the thighs of the kapre, and he yelped. “Ow… Julio! You said you weren’t going to hurt me,” he muttered. I felt bad for the guy.

“I can’t pass this off for real without you acting your part. Come on!”

“Guys, seriously,” I cut in, lowering my hands. “It’s not funny.”

“A-Aye, fair maiden!” Julio said, raising his sword. And judging from his form, that wasn’t the only thing that was rising. “This is not a laughing matter!”

“Stop. You’re making fools of yourselves. What do you think I am, that you would put this play up and think that I would fall for it?”

“A fair maiden, of course!” said Yagik, the lamanlupa. He wore a simple oversized salakot as headgear, and then wore a shirt and shorts that were both colored that hay gray-yellow.

“While I think that you are a bunch of shit-for-heads. Drop the act and go home. What were you planning on doing initially?”

“Stealing you away for ourselves,” said the kapre. Julio turned to him and cursed in the name of the Godhead.

“Well, I’m not going to let that happen. Sorry.” And I raised my hand again, muttering, “The fibers of my soul are enough to shatter! Hamok!” And it was so. An invisible hammer of force slammed straight into Julio’s chest, sending him flying backwards and onto some of the other rocks in the back. A fourth of my Orbs was consumed.

Ragul’s eyes went wide, and he turned to me, screaming: “Hey, you don’t do that to my friend!” The kapre dashed out from behind the boulder and went straight for me, giant hands open and ready to grab. I performed a quick Hamok to slam against his knees, and that caused him to double over in pain and fall into the river.

“You’re killing ‘em! You’re killing em!” said Yagik.

Raising an eyebrow at that, I looked at their hearts, and saw that they each had 2 Ginhawa hearts left, far off from being dead. I suppose they were just shocked at the sudden attack.

And then another notification arose when I analyzed their forms.

Shocked.

Those with this condition cannot move for six seconds.

Huh, called it.

“They’re not dead,” I said to Yagik. “Now go collect your friends, kid, and don’t come back here.”

“The Witch of the Church has a daughter and they’re both devils!” Yelled Julio, who I suppose had come back to his senses in the intervening time. “Come on, let’s get out of here!”

Julio and Yagik dashed out of the way. “Yeah, that’s right, skedaddle you no good pieces of juvenile shit!” I looked around—wanting to turn and stare down at Asunta mostly to find out if she was still harmonizing and whatnot, but I saw that the kapre, Ragul, was still groggily pulling himself out of the water.

I turned to Yagik and Julio. “Hey, you left your friend behind!” But they were no longer there. I suppose they did need to move as quickly as possible so that they could put their shit somewhere in a nice place, and not their pants.

Turning to Ragul, I saw that he sat down on the banks of the river, looking about him, seemingly utterly lost. I kinda felt bad for the guy, to be honest. It looked like being abandoned wasn’t new to him.

He was still sititng by the bank of the river, the water rushing around him as if he were a boulder, when I walked up to him. “Hey, kid, you alright?”

“Oh, hello devil daughter.”

I blinked. “I am not a devil daughter. The name’s Dalita.”

“And I’m Ragul!” He said, grinning and beaming for a bit, before suddenly turning glum again. “At least, that’s what they named me when I first arrived there.”

“Hey, hey,” I said, rubbing his back. Now I couldn’t help but be sad for the guy. “Hey, it’ll be all right. What did you have to do with those guys anyway?”

Ragul sighed. “Their village took me in when I was young and abandoned. I do not know where my parents went! Or if kapre really do have parents in the first place.”

Do they?

Of course, so as to not add any more existential questions into his life, I kept that back. Giants are a weird bunch, after all.

“Hey, it’ll be all right. You uh, you can come with us!” I turned to Asunta, who had stopped her harmonizing and walked over to her clothes and began putting them on. “Right, Asunta?”

Asunta didn’t reply at first. After she put on her clothes—which she pulled out from the abaca fiber bag—she went over to me and gave me some clothes as well. These were more in line with her fashion: butterfly-sleeved blouses and a skirt that was high and good. She added in some wooden clogs in there as well, and a red bandana.

Clean Baro.

New. Subtracts 1 damage to the protected area.

Red Skirt.

New. Subtracts 1 damage to the protected area.

Wooden Clogs.

New. Subtracts 1 damage to the protected area. When used to attack, deals 1/2 damage.

“Oh, thanks.” I began putting it on. As I did, Asunta crossed her arms across her chest and looked him up and down.

“Can you use an axe?”

“Aye,” said Ragul. “I am competent with all forms of violence.”

“Then you can stay with me. I’ve been meaning to have someone cut the trees for me lately, so I can have better-cut firewood. You need pay?”

Ragul turned and shook his head. His eyes were pleading, with a twinge of new hope. “N-No ma’am! All I want is a roof over my head. Back in their village, they would always laugh at me and poke at me and cut me and call me names. I did not like it one bit ma’am.”

“All right. That’s settled. Now come, get out of the river. The traders are coming.”

I eventually put on clothing like Asunta. Asunta wore a darker version of what I was wearing, but her butterfly sleeves were longer and her skirt had a much more intricate design compared to my flat and dull red. She was standing by the far side of the river, with Ragul at her side, as the waters of the rivers rushed. Upriver, I could already see them: three large boats carved from ironwood, unsinking. They were wide and had outriggers, upon which were wide slats of bamboo where trade goods sat. The people rushing to and fro the deck were adequately dressed, with rolled-up dirty red slacks and white camisa shirts. Others only wearing simple shorts and bahags.

As they neared, I could clearly see the goods they had. Horse saddles and bridles, porcelain ware, tapayan or more earthen jars with intricate designs upon them. Some of the boats even had horses tied to posts on its backside Others had chickens and cows. I was awed by just how much the boats could handle.

As I stared, I found a strange boy with unruly white hair curling about his head and eyes of magenta. He was walking about the deck, carrying boxes and earthenware jars. Our eyes met, inexplicably, but then he quickly averted his. Strange kid.

Asunta walked up to the men, raising her hands. One of the men wearing nothing on top but wearing pants and a cloth that wrapped around his waist and fell to his knees leaned out from the boat. He grinned, and his face was hard but somewhat friendly. He wore a crimson bandana, and his hair was braided and fell to his shoulders. “Yes, Miss Asunta, witch of the church.”

“Your moniker for me is why people hate me, Tonyo.”

“Ah, what’s a little harm in giving my favorite cougar a nickname?”

I almost barfed. “Shut it, Tonyo. Give me the usual.”

“Alright, that’ll be 10 pilos, as usual, discount guaranteed. You know, I’m pretty thrilled to have a suki as you. What do you do with the eggs and the chickens you buy? Do you use them for your rituals?”

“No, I just enjoy a bit of cooking myself.”

I was standing beside Ragul. I leaned in and whispered, “Suki?”

“Oh, that is when a person is a frequent buyer to a certain trader or vendor or merchant. That seller will give them benefits, like discounts or some such, because the suki is such a constant buyer.”

“Huh, that’s cute.”

The man, Tonyo, swept his gaze across the land before Asunta and his eyes caught on to the both of us. “Oh, look it’s Ragul! And a new hotness. Is she for sale?”

“Just load the wagon, Tonyo.” Tonyo sneered and ordered his workers to do so. They set down a simple bamboo wagon and placed chickens, bags of rice, and some pre-cut pork and beef there, which was sealed within tapayan.

“I could probably buy her if I could.”

“I’m not for sale, dumbass.”

“Whoa-ho, feisty! Just like her eyes,” he said, his gaze shifting to Ragul. “Ah, Ragul my man! I see you have left your friends.”

“Yeah…” And he looked down at the water.

“That’s good. I really hate how they treat you in the village. I hope you find a better place.”

“He’s coming with me, Tonyo,” said Asunta.

“OH! Heh, that’s cute. Well, here’s to hoping that little giant finally gets some action, eh?”

As he said that, his workers were back on the boat, and told him that everything was loaded and that they were ready to go. Tonyo nodded, turning back to Asunta. “I’m guessing you don’t need to hire another carabao?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got a kapre. Nice doing business with you again, Tonyo.”

“The feeling’s mutual. I hope we get to keep doing this for the foreseeable virtue. Long live and stay safe.”

“Long live and stay safe as well.” And with that, the boat procession continued down the river, moving at a rather quick pace that surprised even me. As the boat went its way, I could see that same magenta eyed, white-haired boy, watching me as the boat eventually became too far down the river to see.

The three of us made our way back to the church, just as the sun rose and almost reached its peak in its daily travel around the world. Ragul was pulling the bamboo wagon along.

As we saw the stone cliff and the church from afar, I also beheld a strange black thing snaking its way up to the sky from behind the church. I turned to Asunta and asked what that was.

Her eyes were wide, and her fist clenched. “An infection,” she said, and she began walking faster. “I have to cleanse it.” But as we strode toward the village, I heard her mutter beneath her breath: “How could have the Malign broken past my wards?”