The next couple of days after Yuriko and the others found the ruins by the lakeside were quiet and uneventful as far as the Wyldlings were concerned. If it weren’t for what Yuriko saw during her treetop scouting, she would have felt like they were on vacation.

The lake’s calm waters, the rustling of the leaves, the bending reeds, and the symphony of the cicadas settled over her like a languid wave. They had found the vine-choked ruins just as the sun was setting and they’d barely had enough time to find any other place to hole up in. They had eaten cold rations for dinner that first night and Orrin, Krystal, and Mikel soon collapsed into an exhausted slumber. Heron spent his remaining reserves to stitch his wounds.

Yuriko volunteered for the first watch, though she observed Heron activating the Animus technique for a few minutes instead of looking outwards. When he visibly winced and his glow faded, she bit her lip and watched anxiously. After a few moments, he managed to continue.

Yuriko had helped him replace the blood-soaked bandage with a fresh one before he started. The veins around his wounds stood out and the surrounding flesh became red and inflamed. Other than keeping the punctures clean and applying a bit of antiseptic ointment, there wasn’t much else she could do. As he proceeded with Recovery, new spots of red started soaking through.

Once he was settled in, she spent the rest of the watch going over their battle with the Hunter in her head. The entire time, she had barely kept herself from being overwhelmed and when she made a mistake, it was her friends who suffered for it.

She wanted nothing more than to sink into her Facet, to tease out more of the secrets it could give. There was no doubt that it was only because of the sword dances that she even managed to fend the thing off. Without it, they would have died then and there. It was a sobering thought.

Still, the night passed quietly and though she activated her Facet before she slept, the golden silhouette didn’t show her anything new. She got the feeling, instead, that she should continue practising the three forms to mastery first.

The next morning, Yuriko and Orrin explored the ruins. It wasn’t a single building as they had initially thought, but almost an entire village. Trees and other forms of vegetation had already claimed most of it, but Yuriko could see where the main thoroughfare was. A path of cobblestones was still very much present, though the missing and displaced stones made the road more of a hazard than anything else.

“I think most of these houses were made of wood,” Orrin said enthusiastically. “Look, only the foundation stones are left.”

What little they could see of the foundation stones were covered in vines, bushes, and mud. Several similar mounds lined both sides of the road.

The place they had sheltered in was probably the village’s watchtower but only the ground level had walls of stone. It also had a tree growing through it.

“How long ago was this abandoned?” Yuriko wondered.

Orrin shook his head. “I don’t know; probably longer than Faron’s Crossing has been around, I think. I’m also not sure who lived here but it couldn’t have been more than a few decades ago, otherwise, there wouldn’t even be any intact stones here.”

The two of them returned to their campsite after their cursory inspection. Krystal was boiling a pot of ration porridge while Mikel was clearing a bit more space for them. Heron was still asleep. The squarish building was about a dozen paces long on one side with the tree trunk occupying most of the northern portion. The tree’s canopy served as their roof and since it was the Season of Fire, Yuriko didn’t expect much rainfall in the coming weeks.

Heron woke up quickly enough after Krystal held a bowl of food under his nose. When he changed his bandages, Yuriko saw that while the wounds weren’t closed, they had at least stopped oozing blood.

“We have an important decision to make,” Yuriko announced after everyone had eaten their fill. “Do we stay here or head further north?”

“We’re only about a day away from the swarmlings,” Orrin noted.

“Do you suggest that we check how far they’ve progressed?” Krystal asked.

“Well,” Orrin looked at Heron and Mikel. The cut on the shorter boy’s cheek had been dressed immediately after the battle but was now left uncovered. A scab had already formed over the wound and it wasn’t really detrimental to his fighting strength. But then, there was Heron. “We need to stay until Heron has recovered, I think. Having him down one arm leaves a big hole in our defence.”

“What happens after then?” Krystal asked.

“We should at least scout out our next fallback option,” Mikel said. “In the meantime, we could prepare this area for defence.”

“We should also make this place a bit more livable,” Yuriko added. “Haah, I want a hot bath,” she murmured, then flushed when she realized she said that last bit out loud.

“I want a bath too, actually,” Krystal grinned. “I’m feeling all grungy. More importantly, we need to secure our supplies. We’ll run out of rations in a week so we’ll need to hunt or forage.”

“I’ll look for berries,” Yuriko offered.

“We can’t live on berries alone. We need meat too!” Krystal rolled her eyes.

“Uhm, how?”

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“I can set snares. Rabbits, quail, pheasant maybe, or even squirrels can be caught. Or we could take down deer or wild boars,” Krystal ticked off on her fingers. “We’ll have to learn how to do it eventually otherwise we’ll starve.”

Yuriko let out a sad sigh. “I guess I could bring myself to hunt. But, will you?”

“Yes, I’ll help,” Krystal agreed. “That leaves you boys in charge of the fort. I want a bathtub by the end of the day.”

“What? Where are we going to find one?” Mikel yelped.

“I don’t know. It’s up to you,” Krystal said. “Orrin and Heron, you two work on our fortifications, though take it a bit easy, Heron, you still need to recover.”

“Why are you bossing us around?” Orrin groused.

“Why, do you have a problem with that?” Krystal said with a glare.

Orrin glanced at Yuriko.

“Well, I agree with Krystal’s proposal. Daylight’s burning, so we should get to it.” Yuriko handed over the dirty bowls and spoons to Orrin. “What do you need to fix my rifle, by the way? Maybe we can scavenge some of the materials.”

Orrin shrugged. “That Chaos shard we picked up from the Hunter will do. I have an ink bottle in my pack. I can draw a temporary fix so you could use the Plasma Caster in battle.”

“Thank you.”

Krystal grabbed a coil of rope and a knife from her pack. Yuriko handed over the rifle to Orrin but left her backpack behind. She hung her water canteen on her belt and pocketed a ration bar.

For the rest of the day, the two girls scouted around the area, with Krystal leaving snares in front of any rabbit burrow she saw. Yuriko, on the other hand, harvested a bushel of berries and some wild onions and mushrooms Krystal pointed out to her.

When they returned Krystal saw one of the snares had been tripped, and based on the fact that the bushes were rustling, their prey was still there.

Crack!

Krystal rushed into the bushes and Yuriko heard a loud snap. When the other girl came out, she held a brown rabbit with its neck snapped in her hand. The creature still twitched for a few seconds.

“Must you?” Yuriko cried out.

“It’s dinner!”

Yuriko shuddered and looked away.

Back at the camp, it looked like the boys had done a respectable job of making their space a bit more inviting. They’d managed to clear the mud that caked the floor, revealing faded brown tiles. Orrin had hung some cloth around the branches of the tree, creating partitions for privacy.

“How’s it going?” Krystal asked when they entered. “And where’s my bathtub?”

“Ancestors, Krys, I couldn’t find one.”

“Huh.” Krystal pouted. “I guess no meat for you.”

“Eeeh? Come on!” Mikel groused. “We made the next best thing.”

“Oh, show me later.” Krystal smiled. “I need to skin and butcher this thing.”

Yuriko dumped the bushel of berries on a stone counter. They needed some kind of water barrel too, she realized. Well, the sun was still an hour from setting, so they had time to look.

She explored the village a bit more, looking for any kind of furniture that may have been left behind, though she didn’t get her hopes up. As expected, she found nothing. Maybe she could carve something from the trees or driftwood? She paced around the shores of the small lake. Little shadows darted about in the water, her eyes easily following. Some of the fish were longer than her arm and could provide for their sustenance too.

Plop!

She saw a frog jump into the water when she came too close to it.

Crrrrk.

Came the cicada cries. The orange rays of the sun painted the cloud canvas with its bright colours.

Ssshhhh.

The wind bent the reeds, whistling as it passed through the gaps. Little waves swept across the lake, barely disturbing the waterfowl floating on the surface. A duck plunged its head under the water and came up with a bug in its bill.

Yuriko closed her eyes, feeling the rhythm of the forest. She felt her Facet flare to life, pulsing with the rise and fall of the wind. The warm rays of the sun washed away her thoughts and she lingered in its soothing light.

When she opened her eyes again, the sun was already setting in the mists and her jacket and shirt were hanging from her hands, leaving only her thin camisole to protect her modesty. Her bare skin tingled and she felt as refreshed as if she had a full night’s rest.

The stylized sun pattern in her Anima glowed like banked embers and at the center of the circle, a spot of light had appeared. It expanded and shrank, as if it were breathing, though after a moment of observing it, the light began to fade.

The cool evening breeze raised goosebumps on her skin. She shivered and put on her shirt and jacket. While she always enjoyed the sun, she had never felt as drawn to the sunlight as she did just now. It was most likely due to her Heritage and Facet but to what purpose, she didn’t know.

She found several pieces of driftwood, figuring that she could probably carve and tie them together to create a pail. She didn’t have the least notion of how to go about it but then again, there was literally a forest full of trees and piles of deadwood to be had for the purpose.

Back at their quarters, she found Krystal tending to their dinner. There was a pile of offal in a dirt pit a few paces from her and ragged patches of fur scattered here and there. The scent of the stew was quite enticing though Yuriko didn’t feel too hungry.

While it was completely impractical not to hunt for their dinner, she still felt a bit uneasy. Da had never taught her how to hunt animals for food nor did he instruct her on how to dress and butcher a kill. Not that she ever asked him anyway. She vaguely recalled Da, Marron, and Kato leaving for a camping trip a couple of years back but she had opted to stay home that time. Well, thank the Ancestors for Krystal.

“Miki! Stir the pot for a few minutes, I need to wash up,” Krystal said when she saw Yuriko. She ducked into the building and came out with both of their backpacks. “Come on, Yuri.”

Mikel took over in front of the firepit while Krystal dragged her along. Once they were out of sight, Krystal giggled. “Hee hee. The boys dug us a little pool near the lake. Here.” She handed Yuriko a bar of soap.

Opposite of where Yuriko had wandered off to was a cosy nook sheltered by a thicket and some spare blankets. In the middle was a shallow pit about a couple of paces wide, barely enough for two people to fit inside, with a channel that connected it to the lake waters. A block of wood controlled the flow of the water to and from the pit. The water inside was about only thigh-high for Yuriko and the water was cool to the touch.

“Wait a sec.” Krystal ran back out and arrived with Mikel in tow a minute later. “Heat it up,” she commanded.

“Fine, fine,” he grumbled. He rolled up his sleeves and stuck his crimson glowing hands into the water. It bubbled and steamed less than a minute later and Mikel, face drenched with sweat, fell on his backside with a gasp.

“Thank you!” Krystal said cheerily, but then stared at him with cold eyes. “Well, are you expecting to get an eyeful? Shoo!”

“You’re welcome,” he snorted before marching out of the thicket.

Krystal shucked her clothes. Her skin underneath was pale, while the rest of her was tanned. Yuriko undressed and folded her clothes in a neat pile.

The two of them scrubbed each other down, cleansing their bodies as well as they could, using a couple of bowls as dippers. Then, they both settled into the blessedly hot water.

“Ahhh.” Yuriko moaned as she sat down. Krystal sidled up to her and poked her side.

“What?”

“Looks like you grew a little bit.”

“Whatever.”

“Ehehe.”

The sun had set by then and the night was illuminated only by the moon. The Chaos flows in the night sky were unexpectedly tame today, colours dull and barely moving.

“I wonder if dinner is ready,” Yuriko mused when her tummy started rumbling. The water had cooled to lukewarm by then and they really shouldn’t stay any longer. “I hope they didn’t finish everything off.”

Krystal smirked. “They might be too busy to eat.”

“Huh? What makes you say that?”

“Nothing, ehehe. Well, let’s go.”

They alighted from the pool and for the first time since they left the Watchtower, Yuriko felt her tensions ease. She luxuriated in the feeling knowing that it was likely to be short-lived. They were still in the woods, far away from the outpost and still within range of the swarmlings. Their troubles were far from over.

However, facing them now, this side of a hot bath, everything seemed far more manageable. Now Yuriko felt more prepared to face what may come head-on.