My rope is reeled up, and I’m dragged into the basket, scratched all over my body first by stone and then by wicker. I’m laid on my back, in the center of the basket. A glowing face with a wild, radiant smile is looking down at me. Seela.

“That was so much fun!” she squeals in my face.

“...Can I let go?” I’ve been wrapped tightly around the rope this whole time.

“Oh! Yes!” she stands up, and puts a belt around her waist, “You aren’t hurt or anything, right?”

“I don’t think so,” I say, letting go of the rope and relaxing my body. I can talk, so I’m probably fine.

“Ok good. We’d have a bit of a problem if a harpoon to the face barely left a mark on you but some whiplash gravely injured you,” she laughs. She goes into the crate below the bow, and attaches two of the hooks, or harpoons as I now know they’re called, to her belt.

I think this might be the most fun she’s ever had.

Sitting up, I look around. This basket does not have a single sign of damage! Not from the inside, anyways.

“So, we’ve landed somewhere?”

“Yes!” Seela answers. I would say that her eyes light up, but that would imply that they haven’t been gleaming nonstop since we’ve landed. “Come outside and check it out! It’s awesome!”

She jumps out of the basket. I climb out after her.

Outside, the first thing I notice is the wind. It doesn’t knock me off of my feet, but if I were to relax too much, I’d definitely be pushed off of this giant cliff we’ve landed on. This brings me to the second thing I notice- we’re in front of a giant cliff. A huge cliff. The plants at the bottom appear to be dark brown, almost black, and sharp. There is not a spot of green in sight. Off in the distance, I see a group of small figures surrounding a large fire. Looking around the cliff we’re on, I realize we are on the flat peak of a mountain, and it is completely devoid of plants. The ground alternates between bright red, orange, yellow, and gray.

“Isn’t this amazing?” Seela stands on the very edge of the cliff, the gleam in her eye not faltering for one second.

I never could have imagined anything like this. This is insane. No green, no sign of water. And yet there’s life all around. The dark plants at the bottom have adapted to survive the conditions. The group of figures surrounding that fire in the distance are loud, with sounds of laughter and revelry. Every once in a while, I can hear the cry of a creature, fighting for its life.

“Yeah,” I breathe out, “it really is.”

Where could the world tree be?

The next sound I hear is the rumble of Seela’s stomach. Mine rumbles in response.

She lets out a loud, screeching laugh, reminiscent of her great aunt’s. I wonder if Virdy looked like Seela when she was younger?

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“Go find something to burn,” she orders me, “I’ll go find something to cook.”

“Hey, why are you ordering me around?” I question, “I thought I was Captain.”

“Of course,” she responds, turning her back to me, ready to fly off, “and I’m first mate. You decide what we’re doing. I make sure it gets done. Now go.”

And she’s off, before I can say another word. Alright, I guess I’m going then.

~~~

The sides of the cliff, although intimidating on first glance, are surprisingly climbable. I emptied my bag into the crate earlier, so I just have my empty bag on my back to put any burnable plants I find in, and a little jar, which I figured I’d bring in case I found water. The plants all look really rough, and even spikey, but the spines on the plants don’t hurt to touch at all, and the branches just rip right off. And inside the plants flows plenty of water! I guess they just store up water, and that’s how they make it in the weather. Drinking it, it’s slightly sweet, with a bitter aftertaste. Interesting. I’ll bring some for Seela and I to share.

Once my bag and jar are both full, I scale the mountain back up to where the basket is parked. There’s plenty of rocks scattered around, so I arrange some of them into a circle, and put the plants in the center.

As I’m finishing with this fire pit, Seela comes back, holding one harpoon in each talon, each with the corpse of a small, brown, horned rabbit on the end. The skin of the one in her left talon is a lot more ripped up than the one in the right.

“Grabbed these little ones before they knew to run away,” she states, proudly.

She’s so amazing.

“I found us some water!” I hold up the jar.

“Really?” she lands next to me, handing me both harpoons, which I take, “Where? I didn’t think there was any!”

“It was inside those plants, when I ripped the branches off!” I point to the pile of spiked branches.

Her head cocks to the side, “How did you remove the branches?”

“What do you mean?” I mirror her body language, “They come right off.”

Her head cocks to the other side, “They really don’t. And they’re covered in spines.”

I mirror that motion as well, “Spines? They’re soft!”

She nods to the more shredded of the two rabbits in my hands.

“I pulled that one out of one of those bushes.”

I look at it. It’s covered in cuts, ranging from skin-deep to gushing blood.

“Maybe it was a different kind of bush?” I suggest.

“Nope!” Seela just laughs now, “You’re just a freak. My great aunt was right about you. Now sit down, I’ll start the fire and grab some stuff. You can skin the rabbits.”

I sit back on the ground as Seela runs into the basket, and quickly comes out with two pieces of cloth, one large blanket, a big bowl, and a jar of what appears to be teeth. Then, I watch her take two of the rocks, clacking them together at different angles. Finally, she hits the right angle, and a spark flies into the pit, which quickly catches fire. The dry wind must’ve dried the branches out.

I stick one harpoon into the ground, and remove the more ripped up rabbit, to skin it first. I’ve never done this before, and since there’s more openings in this one, I think it’ll be an easier start. It’s easier than I thought it would be! I just hooked my fingers under a deeper cut in the skin, and tear it off. The fat under the skin barely keeps it together, and I tear through it effortlessly, setting pieces of torn skin and fur in a pile on the ground next to me. When the rabbit is fully naked, I hand it to Seela.

“Beautiful job!” she praises, “See how much of the second one’s skin you can take off in one piece.”

She takes the skinned rabbit from me, and begins dissecting it. The meat is kept on the bones, while its organs are put into three piles. Its heart, livers, and kidneys are put into one pile. Its ears and lungs are put into another pile. Its brain, stomach, and intestines are put into the third.

While she does all this, I start on the second rabbit. Its only cut is from the harpoon, so I start tearing from there. This time, I manage to get all the skin off in three large pieces.

I bring it over to Seela, who is still sorting the first rabbit’s insides, and sneaking nibbles of the brain.

“Thanks,” she takes the corpse from me, and continues working, while I watch.

~~~

That was so delicious. We ate the hearts and kidneys. I thought it needed something extra, so I went into my crate and grabbed a puapol. I squeezed it into the bowl, which she filled with the blood, which made such an amazing sauce. She set the rest aside to dry. And then, we started drinking the water, and I don’t remember much of what happened after that.