“Oh, well then, thanks mother,” the Reform-like Figment said to me. If I hadn't changed my mouth I would've let loose a twinkling laughter. At least, that was how Isaac always described it to me. Instead my canopy rustled in amusement. Mother, I would like that. He has to grow up a little more before I let him have little Sen though. I wonder what it would be like to have grandchildren. Would they be a quarter Reform, a quarter Environ, and a half Figment? I'm sure that would be a first. I wonder how I would decorate their room. Could I make it out of some of the pink trees Tifa has?

“Mother,” I was brought out of my musing by that very same daughter of mine, “Isencia is in my territory.”

“Yes she is. Is there a reason you brought it up?”

“Isencia said she was going to take care of something in her own territory.”

“That she did.”

“Mother,” Lianfa cut in, “why have you let her go so abruptly, yet keep us all here.” I looked at the sky for a moment. We have been here a while after all. I made my decision.

“What season is it?” I asked my remaining seventy-five sprouts. They all looked puzzled. For a moment no one spoke. For some time now they have all looked at me with reverence. It makes me so sad. Was it because I sealed my mouth? Was it because of my first request?

“There is no season Mother,” Nadian responded, “the climate is consistently temperate here.” The sky truly was beautiful here. I wonder how Isencia saw it. Perhaps she has the right idea. Does she really think I would hurt the little Figment? Over the inquisition? Please, they would just be donating fresh fertilizer if they walked into these woods.

“Fall is coming,” I said simply. Sometimes, it really is fun acting like the aloof, mysterious girl who fell in love with a Reform. To think I followed him all this way before finally winning him over. This forest has so many memories full of Isaac. I may never love another like him, but I can show my children a love for the world that they are missing. Perhaps, I can stop worrying about their safety, and be their mom again. Though they never asked, who would want to leave after how sad I was those first few decades. It may not be reverence they look at me with, it may be worry. It may be longing for their mother, for the fun we used to have.

“Mother, I'm confused I though—”

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted Nadian, my eldest. His five-hundred and forty-seventh birthday was soon wasn't it? “for too long you have followed my request. After your father died, of old age no less, I was worried the same would happen to you my children. So I made a request, that we take time from the world, and cultivate our bodies. We would research, and consolidate our power so that we could go back into the world. So we could travel the Pearl Necklace, as a family.”

Not one of my children said a word. Sometimes, being blunt could be just as fun as being aloof. The face of Lianfa was priceless.

“The time for us to leave has long come and gone. We grew content, I grew content, in our safety. Isencia has decided to make her own way in life. She found another kindred spirit, and now goes chasing after her dreams. I would like to follow her example.”

“Wait,” Tifa butt in, “Is Sen leaving? What if something happens to her?” The stolon tensed, and when I didn't so much as flinch at the outburst, they visibly relaxed. Do they think I’m some cranky old woman? Please, I’ve just been worried. Plus, I can promise no Reform would consider me an old woman. I bet I could still turn heads like I always have. Except for Isaac, he was the challenge of my youth. You always want what you can't have.

“Everyone prepare to leave in two months,” I stated, abruptly. The stolon all released an assortment of pheromones. There was joy, confusion, and surprise mixed into a beautiful aroma. The aroma of life. “We are going to the elevator. I would like to travel with little Sen if we could. We may embarrass her, but perhaps we could still journey together from time to time. I know I would love to meet the young man.

“Mother,” Tifa said after her shock had worn off, “what’s happening? I’m confused.”

“Forgive me my child, old habits die hard. It seems we have guests who will be joining us shortly. Travelling the Pearl Necklace is an ordeal, and I have thought that after we train with our guests, we can follow after Isencia.”

“But we gain nothing from training or combat. We are Environs, we gain by cultivation of our bodies and Soul Spores,” Lianfa said. It seemed he was more privy to information than I thought. Was he watching little Sen as well? A wonderful poker face he has. He must take after his Mother.

“We gain nothing from combat, yet.” The moment the words left my mouth, Lianfa’s eyes lit up, not because he finally understood, but because he guessed correctly.

“Tifa, Lianfa, follow little Sen from a distance. Keep her safe. I believe they will be running into some interesting individuals before they reach their destination. These interesting individuals are in need of help, my children. They have a very large book full of names, and they need ours in them. Do you not agree?”

“Mother, are you saying what I think youre saying?” Tifa was drowning us all in her excitement.

“Our journey is about to begin, my loves, how about we start by ‘leveling up’?”

d [https://i.imgur.com/CkSEeqv.png]

“So I was trying to mimic Ember Gotem, he is able to catch creatures in a small ball to use in battle,” Yuclaus explained his logic to Isencia.

“But you didn’t have a sphere.”

“Yes but that's beside the point. Anyway, Ember would use these to capture and train creatures to get stronger, kind of like a Soul Spore.”

“Soul Spores don’t work like that.”

“Yes, as —apparently— both of us noticed,” Yuclaus gave up describing the intricacies of a pocket spore. A light seemed to go off in Sen’s eyes.

“Did he have a blue hat?” Yuclaus was taken aback for a second. He never mentioned a hat in his tale.

“He did, but how did you know?” Cause’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. A warm smell danced across his nose, almost mockingly.

“Don’t you fight him in some of the games?” Yuclaus’ eyes bulged.

“NO! Have you known from the beginning?” A ghost of a smirk danced on Sen’s face, but sadly it was as illusory as a spectre. “So you made me tell you the whole thing over again, knowing I’m embarrassed, just for fun?” The scent from earlier washed over Cause again. He could only hold his fake exasperation for another few seconds before he let out a chuckle. “Ok, that was good. You’re evil Sen you know that? How did you know about all of that?”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“It was in the memories you gave me of games,” she didn't shrug, but her voice heavily implied it, “I guess you included it because of its parallels to Soul Spores?”

“I did, but shouldn’t I have forgotten then? Same with you being able to speak common words. In my understanding you should be more ‘hath thine no shameth’.”

“I believe this is something we should look into, shant I not append to quill and reed?” Isencia teased with a straight face. Granted she always had a straight face.

“Ha ha ha, I am dying of laughter,” Yuclaus mimicked Sen’s tone of voice. “On a more serious note, I would love to take notes of things we need to look into, but I lost my note...book…” Cause trailed off as Sen pulled his notebook out of her dress. He didn’t know where in the vine outfit she had kept it. He told himself he didn't want to know. That was a lie.

The two looked at each other in silence. Cause opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking for something to say. Eventually, he settled for simplicity.

“Sen, why have you done this?” Yuclaus let out a snort of amusement at his own reference.

“You dropped it in town a while back, I found it heading to Mother. I was going to give it back, but you were committing mass ecoterrorism.”

“You really aren't holding back tonight are you?” Cause said from across the fire. This was their second day since the astounding view of the elevator. They had finally gone far enough to exit the territory of the Environs, hence, they were allowing themselves a nice break. Neither needed to eat, so no fabulous aroma filled the clearing they were reclining in. Yuclaus also couldn’t feel the heat. He would have found the fire irritating, but it set a nice reflective mood for the two.

With the fire inbetwixt them —that was a fun word— it allowed for embarrassing or painful topics to come up easier, and they had already had wonderful conversations. Isencia had vaguely caught Yuclaus up to date with why they were fleeing. In his understanding, when he “ripped memories out” people could discover their location. These people wanted to recruit or kill them. At the moment they were trying to leave Start, as supposedly the limit on having multiple systems only applied on the beginning planet. Alas, the topic of Gourami had yet to arise.

Besides the reason for escape, they had also discussed the memory system, as the two of them started calling it. It turned out Isencia had not progressed as much as Cause thought. Where his memories were already sorted into crags upon arrival in the mindscape, Isencia’s was evenly dispersed in a soft loam. So when she made trees in her mindscape, it was a simple way for her to better organize them. Other than that, she had made a discovery of the actual ability the system granted.

Supposedly there were fourteen slots representing different physiological systems. There was a diagram of the user with circular slots dispersed upon it. The slots seemed to be the size of a hand, which meant none of the gems the two currently had would fit. Yuclaus had a suspicion of what the SLOT console command would do now. He had still not fixed his blue screen, the search for a restart button was unfruitful.

Cause asked Isencia if she could show him hers, to which she went silent for a moment. A suppressed scent flowed back and forth, as if in the tune to a fast heartbeat. She declined after a moment saying “Even if you could somehow enter my mindscape, I wouldn't show you.” Yuclaus was mildly hurt at her announcement, but assumed she had a reason. She may not trust him too much yet. That must be it.

Her comment had brought up the topic of whether they could arrive in each other's mindscapes. They had discussed the possibility, but were hesitant to experiment. Instead they went on to summarize what happened when Isencia left, which led to Cause finding the mangrove, attempting to capture it, then Sen asking what he was doing.

They were finally going to discuss how Gourami was born, but their conversation got derailed.

“I would stop,” Isencia responded to Yuclaus’ mock hurt, “but I have discovered a new passion in life.”

“Which is?”

“Making fun of you. It's too easy.” Yuclaus found himself agreeing with her sentiment, but in a different way. He felt they were finally getting less awkward around each other. They both knew a different side of the other, but this dynamic felt much more natural. Cause would banter with his friend on Earth, but it was different. Here he had to discover a relationship from scratch, figure out who the real Isencia was, and form a friendship. It was what he always wanted on Earth, another companion. The process of growing close with another was as fun as he imagined.

They lapsed into a comfortable quiet. Yuclaus found himself constantly watching the fire. He could have sworn it flickered differently on Start —what he discovered was both the name of the current planet, and a historic event— than on Earth. The flames still danced, but it seemed they whipped more, but were slower at the same time. Like kelp swaying in the tide. Isencia likewise was watching the fire, but for a completely different reason. She was trying to figure out what was so interesting about the flames.

“Some sausages would be great right now,” Yuclaus shattered the silence.

“The ground meat in intestines? The meat that has tumors cut off before being ground with other body parts, and then shoved into another creature’s innards to create a delectable sausage? Oh, and don't forget the seasoning.”

“Nevermind, sausages would not be great now.”

“Yu,” Isencia tried a nickname she has been considering for a while. Calling him Yuclaus all the time felt too distant. He already had a nickname for her after all, it was only fair. She also was unaware of the genius nickname that the narrator used. “Neither of us need to eat.”

“Yes, we've talked about this, but just because I don't need to, doesn't mean I don't want to,” Yuclaus reasoned with impeccable logic. One never needs a reason to eat. For example, drowning your sorrows in ice cream. Sen pondered the moral dilemma.

“I've never eaten before,” she whispered, barely audible. Yuclaus grinned evilly. Oh how sweet revenge would be. Hopefully, this one wouldn’t result in the elimination of an endangered species.

“How about tomorrow night, we catch some food and roast it over the fire?” Yuclaus finally suggested.

“Will your Soul Spore have enough energy to light another one? I remember you mentioning something about fuel.” Sen thought back to a few hours ago. Yuclaus threaded a stick through the dried branches of the tumbleweed, allowing a current to pass through it. The stick lit, but Gourami’s energy decreased further. It seemed Gourami had been using a small amount of energy to follow them in their travels. With some testing, Cause discovered that if Gourami went faster, it would use significantly more energy. Isencia suggested they add the electricity producing tumbleweed to the list of things they should discuss.

“It should be fine if we find a water source of some sort. It recharges somehow in water.”

“Want to add the recharging to the list?”

“Are you actually making a list?” Yuclaus looked at the nymph, finding no notebook in sight.

“In a way. I'm just making a separate memory tree of things we said we should discuss.” Yuclaus felt himself shiver. The talented were truly terrifying. Isencia then switched topics completely before continuing, “Also why not eat something tonight?” A sickeningly sweet scent reached Cause. A foreboding made itself known in Yuclaus’ heart.

“Sen I’m not sure I like where this is go—”

“How confident are you in your Spore?”

“Not confident, not confident at al—”

“You have five minutes to prepare.”

“Sen, let's talk about this. We gain nothing from having me fight whatever you're bringing. Think about it, if I take its memories, then those people will find us. The inquisition you said?”

“Then don't take its memories Yu.”

“THEN WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? BLUDGEON IT WITH A TUMBLEW—”

“Four minutes.”