Goroh – Autumn – Kuo – Gitta (5th Month 3rd Day) Year 827 GE

The storm clouds were hanging over the city dropping its payload all over the ground below them. Zira watched from the warmth of her room in the inn. She hadn’t left the hotel since the completion of her last mission six days before. The city was still on edge from the appearance of a Kander on the hunt. Her heart had sunk when her blade had cut into the man she hunted, Anton Reed, she would add his name to the growing list of those she had “dealt with” for The Goren.

Zira didn't notice when the sun sunk low enough it could no longer be seen through the window, leaving the room in darkness. The sound of the rain beating down on the windowpane was soothing for her to listen to, as her mind sorted through the events of the hunt and her kill just days before. The feel of her daggers tearing through muscles and scraping bones as she removed them from the dead Anton Reed still haunted her.

“Good heavens,” A woman gasped as she entered Zira's room, pulling her from her memories. “You could at least turn on a light.” Zira didn't flinch when the light flashed on overhead. “I swear, when I heard of “Fearsome Kanders” you're the last thing I expected,” she placed a tray on the table next to the one she had brought for breakfast that morning. “You didn't eat much of your breakfast.”

Zira shifted her gaze to the woman, “Sorry, I'm just not that hungry right now.”

“Well, you need to eat,” the mother inside the woman called out to her. “What in the world do they have you Kander do,” she walked around the room, Zira did not look, but had the feeling she was tidying the already clean room. “First, I find you zoned out walking in the street, covered in gore, and looking like you had seen a ghost. Then I bring you here and it's like your soul took leave of your body.” She kept cleaning, “I swear you're just as bad as my children,” speaking louder she added, “Are you going to help in the kitchen tomorrow?”

Zira didn't know how long had passed since the Inn Keeper left the room; her mind had slipped from the words the elder woman was rambling. It didn’t take much for her thoughts to slip back to the blade, to her Shade Darkness holding him by the back of the neck, her blade sunk deep into his throat, another she had to pull from his shoulder. Some part of Zira’s mind understood she needed to stop dwelling on the past, she did what she had to.

The side effects from having suffered from The Hollow for so long had caused a break in her mind, making it easier for her to drift from reality taking her some effort to come back from it. But come back, she always did, she struck herself on the cheeks, not enough to leave a mark, just a slight sting. Her mind came back to the rain on the window, which was now more a drizzle than the down pour it had been earlier. The Inn Keeper had left the light on when she left, Zira looked around to figure out the time, it was well past the midnight hour, pushing to her feet, she slapped herself on the cheeks again, “Gotta get it together.” Zira grabbed a roll from the plate and took a bite. It was hard to swallow, her stomach refusing the substance. She flicked the light off and climbed into bed, willing her mind into silence.

The next morning dawned with no sign of the rain from the days before. Zira pushed up from her bed, she had barely gotten any sleep that night, but was feeling much more like herself than she had the last several days. She checked in the mirror, there were bags under her purple eyes, her pink hair was a mess, and her pale skin was even paler than usual, but she could work with that. After cleaning up, Zira plaited her hair down her back, pinched her cheeks to try to give them color and changed into fresh clothes for the day. Pleased with the change she turned to head down into the rest of the Inn. Part of her remembered the Inn Keeper asking for help in the kitchen the night before.

The Inn Keeper followed her nose down the stairs, the sweet and spicy scent of cinnamon pancakes was wafting up to her there. Her nose drew her into the kitchen, where she was pleasantly surprised to find her Kander tenant flipping a pancake on the stove. “Dear heavens! I didn’t expect to find you in the kitchen first thing in the morning,” she stopped next to Zira, “It smells wonderful.”

Zira pointed at a small stack of finished pancakes. “Help yourself, those are ready,” and grabbed another plate out of the cupboard, the next pancake went onto that one.

When Zira filled up another plate and turned the stove off, she turned, the Inn Keeper was at the table with an untouched plate in front of her, piled with pancakes and covered with syrup. Zira smiled before she took a few pancakes off the pile, slathering it with syrup, and took the seat across from the Inn Keeper. Without a word the elder woman took the first bite, and Zira joined her.

“It's good to see you up and about,” The Inn Keeper finished with her breakfast, she cleaned up her plate and Zira’s, taking them to be washed. “You’re looking much better,” Zira watched the older woman’s back as she scrubbed the dishes, “So what is our fearsome Kander going to get up to today.”

With a smile Zira pushed up from the table. “I think I have imposed on you long enough.” Grabbing a fresh towel, she started to dry the clean dishes. “I’ll get my stuff together and be on the move this afternoon.” The Inn Keeper paused for the briefest moment, before she handed Zira the utensils she had been scrubbing.

The afternoon came quick, Zira was on the threshold bidding her farewells to the Inn Keeper. It was a simple affair; the elder woman was a no-nonsense type, helping Zira out with a bag of food that should last a while, “Well, that should do you,” was all the Inn Keeper said, before Zira headed down the street.

By the time the sun was setting, Zira had made good progress. She looked up at the tall trees that surrounded Suthen City toward the south. She understood from her maps this was called the Colour Woods, and not frequented by travelers. Not recalling why this area was avoided, Zira felt she could use a nice quiet trek through the woods. It made it even better knowing that going around the woods would add another two or three weeks depending on the conditions.

Watching the sky, Zira headed into the woods. It was nearly dark, and she would need to find a nice tree that would help shelter her camp from the rain that was sure to fall at some point.

Under the cover of a tree with a large area guarded by its leaves and branches. Zira set up her camp, that night she would not start a fire, Zira did not like risking the sparks endangering the forest around her. Instead, she pulled out the satchel the Inn Keeper had given her, enjoying two of the steam buns she had tucked inside. Zira pulled her sleeping mat from the pouch she kept pinned at her back, situating it as close as she could to the tree’s trunk.

The sun was just setting when the rain started to pour in earnest, Zira was tucked against the thick trunk of her tree, its foliage kept most of the rain off. But the chill would be hard to deal with during the night, reaching back to her pouch she spoke softly, “Fire globe.” It only took a moment for the warmth of her fire globe from within her pouch to settle into her hand. It let off the faintest of glows, as she held it in her lap, the warmth starting to chase away the cold of the night air. Curled up on her sleeping mat she closed her eyes, thinking back to when she got her wondrous pouch and fire globe.

When a Kander gets their 4th Zitta they become official Kander and receive their first missions. As for Zira’s initiation, it wasn’t until her 5th Zitta was installed and she had learned to use the power it had awakened in her. When she received her first mission they issued her a small pouch, called the Infinity Pouch, inside it was the Fire Globe. They taught her how to pull the fire globe from the depths of the pouch, it was like an incantation, one just simply had to speak aloud what they wanted the pouch to give up to them at the moment. Then, with an older Kander as her escort she was taken to the place she would have to complete her first mission. It had been a courtesy that the mission, she received at the time was a capture and not a kill. Zira had struggled with the capture, the perpetrator was much older than her, and stronger. It had been her Shadow Vine that had disabled the man, and her Shadow Snap that had removed his will to fight, allowing her to complete her mission successfully. She had learned on that first mission that few actually paid attention to what their shadows were doing, and where their shadow cast its darkness, which was to her benefit.

The cold was miserable that night, Zira curled up around her fire globe to stay warm, her clothes growing gradually more soaked as the night progressed. Sleep was an elusive creature, she drifted in and out of sleep, at some point exhaustion must have taken her, for the next thing she knew the sun was glaring into her eyes. Her body was stiff with the position she had fallen asleep in, it screamed as she straightened her limbs, and stretched the sleep out of them. Finally, Zira felt like she could stand without her legs refusing to hold her, when finally on her feet, she pulled a change of clothes from her pouch.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Once changed into dry clothes, her wet one tucked around the fire globe and returned to her pouch with her sleeping mat, Zira was on the road again.

It was midday when the sky decided to drop its wet payload once again. Zira was soaked clear through before she knew it. Slogging through the wet grass her clothes clinging to her body she pressed on. That night was just as miserable as the one before as she clung to the fire globe greedily soaking up all the heat it could offer. When the sun finally peaked through the retreating clouds, there was no warmth from it as it filtered through the trees. That didn't stop Zira from allowing herself a moment to appreciate its light before changing out of her wet, frozen clothes.

With a grumble and a silent curse to herself, she set off once again.

It was mid-day before she stopped for a meal, the sun had warmed up, chasing all the clouds from the area. With a hope for a dry sleep that night she brushed crumbs from her hands, her lunch finished and set off again.

The birds chirping along her path warmed her heart as she traversed through the woods. Zira was starting to notice more and more trees in different colors the further she entered into the Woods. “So, this is why it's called the Colour Woods.”

Zira paused, her breath caught in her throat as she stepped into a clearing, the most spectacular tree she had ever seen in all her travels could just barely be seen reaching above the forest before her. Between her and this great tree stood multitudes of smaller trees in so many colors her mind couldn’t fathom them all. There were blues, greens, reds, pinks, oranges, and even purples, all in so many different shades she couldn’t even consider how to describe them. She drunk in the sight before her for a time longer, when Zira finally noticed, the sun was starting to go down she headed into the clearing, aiming in the direction of the golden Colour wood tree. The sun reflecting off the golden tree’s leaves made Zira wonder. Who could create such beauty? The tree was so large she imagined that all of Suthen city could fit under its cover. “What kind of tree is that?” She wondered aloud, it was getting harder to see the tree in the distance, having moved closer to the edge of the clearing, and starting back into the trees.

When she entered the trees again Zira started to choose a tree in the distance as her focal point and would continue to head toward that tree. Out of curiosity for this golden Colour wood tree Zira had decided she would go see what this amazing tree looked like up close. “How did no one know of this tree outside these woods?” She asked herself as she made it to her first tree and chose another one. When finally, it was getting too dark to continue heading toward the golden tree Zira decided to set up her camp.

The clearing, she stepped into was just large enough for her to set up a comfortable camping site and get some food. Zira would start a fire tonight to enjoy a warm meal and some warmth as she slept.

She collected branches that had fallen from their host tree some time ago and set them around the space she had marked out as her camping ground. After clearing the ground for the fire, she stacked the wood and reached back into her pouch, “Flint and Steel.” And with that small stone and a metal piece came into her hand. She struck them together over the small pile of wood she had set up, causing them to spark. When the wood caught fire, she gasped, the wood burned in just as many colors as the trees she had seen in the woods during the day. Pinks, Oranges, Reds, Greens, Yellows, Blues, the dance of the fire was mesmerizing at first. Zira didn’t know how long she stared at it before her stomach growled, bringing her back to the task at hand.

Her meal finished, she reached back into her pouch, “sleeping mat” and with that a large fleece cloth came into her hand, rolled up as she had done after that first night. It was still slightly damp from the rain that first night in the woods. Zira hated the scratchy material, but it kept the small rocks from digging into her joints better than any others she had tried. She held the mat toward the flame for a time before she grumbled, rolled it back up and returned it to the pouch at her back. The ground cover here was mostly grass, she should be fine sleeping without the mat.

The fire had just shot sparks of blue into the night sky when a voice spoke, “Mind if I join you?”

Zira was on her feet, a knife in hand, facing the direction she had heard the voice come from. Her heart beating a quick thrum in her ears as she looked at the strange woman who had entered the clearing. Zira was unsure of her race, she had never seen or heard of a being that looked like this one before. She resembled the trees around them, her skin hardened and cracked like bark, in the color of a dark blue trees just as she had seen around the Golden tree in the clearing. The stranger raised a brow at Zira as if to remind her of the question, at first Zira didn’t know what she should do. This woman had appeared out of nowhere without even the slightest hint of her presence until she had spoken.

Zira cleared her throat before she straightened and put away her knife, recalling what the stranger had asked, with a sweep of her hand, she indicated toward the fire, “Please join me.” Still watching her closely as she approached the fire and took a seat across from Zira.

“Tonight, sure cleared up, hasn’t it?” The woman’s voice filled the night, the crackle of the fire the only other sound Zira could hear.

“Yes.” Zira started to sit back down again. “What brings you to this part of the woods?”

“Like you I was traveling through.” The woman’s face glowed a yellow as the fire changed to another color, Zira doubted this woman had ever left the woods. “You know they say if you cut down a Colour Wood tree you’ll have to deal with the guardian of the woods.”

“Is that so,” Zira was still on guard, ready to attack if this woman did anything suspicious, “Good thing I didn’t cut down any trees.”

“You don’t say,” the woman’s bright eyes stared at Zira, it took a moment for Zira to place why they unnerved her so. This woman looked like she could be a young adult, much like Zira herself, but her eyes, they held the knowledge of many lifetimes in their depths. Making Zira feel as if she looked into the eyes of an elderly woman who had been through the ages. “Then tell me, how did you get the wood for your fire?”

Zira pointed to the ground around some of the trees, there were several more broken branches littering the ground that could be seen. “I just collected them from the ground,” her palms sweating, this stranger was making her feel uncomfortable.

Is this woman the guardian of the woods? She thought to herself, have I done something wrong.

The woman took a moment, leaning toward the fire as if she was listening to something Zira couldn’t hear. “I guess it is as you say,” she gave a smile that showed teeth that would have typically been found in a carnivorous beast’s mouth, not what Zira would have expected to find in the mouth of someone who looked so similar to a tree. Zira visibly swallowed as the woman relaxed across the fire, “I am Puurimi Osisi.”

Not like being rude, this woman had just introduced herself, so Zira said, “Zira Lanni,” she did not want to put the woman on edge by mentioning her rank and the name given to her when she became a full Kander. Lanni was her families last name from childhood. She was supposed to shed it when she reached the rank of Kander, but Zira still hoped one day to catch a glimpse of the people who had been her birth family.

“Zira… Zi….ra…” she drew Zira’s name out in a haunting note, then added, “I like how that names sound, it is like a bird zipping through the trees.” The tree woman Puurimi said her mouth still pulled up in a smile. Zira was starting to notice her smile was not meant to be threatening, but to show her joy, in what, Zira did not know. “What brings you to the forest?”

Having relaxed without realizing it Zira responded, “I’m just traveling through, I didn’t feel like going around.” It was then that Zira remembered why most people skirted around the Colour Woods instead of chancing a path through them. People disappeared in these woods, even Kander rarely returned from them. It was too late to worry about that now, so Zira, resigned to her fate, whatever that might be, just watched as the woman sharing her campfire glowed with each new color. She made no threatening moves or advances, but still Zira remained on alert.

“It has been so long since I have run into anyone in the woods,” Puurimi started, “I was shocked when I smelled the Colour Wood burning.”

Zira stiffened again, maybe she should just get up and start heading away from this clearing and away from this strange woman who would try to put her at ease one moment and say something that sounded threatening in the next. Zira could see she was no longer trying to hide that she was not from outside the Colour Woods. When she opened her mouth the tree woman raised a hand, “I am not trying to put you on edge,” she spoke with that even voice she seemed to use most, “I am simply stating a fact.”

“Oh, I see,” Zira said trying to relax again and failing. Stifling a yawn, she looked down at her hands. How could she be tired, she was half scared out of her skin, there was no room for exhaustion.

“I would like to ask if there is any news of the world outside these woods?”

After thinking a moment Zira asked, “How long has it been since last you talked with someone?”

There was a long pause before she responded, “I have lost count of the frozen seasons between the last time I talked with another.”

“Then do you know about the cities that border the Colour Woods, or…” A yawn tore through what she was about to say, “or…” another took over before she could finish her thought. “I’m sorry…” she started and yawned again, her mind reeling at the thought of falling asleep with this stranger by her fire. “I’m not usually this… tired…” her mind was starting to grow fuzzy with the exhaustion. Zira caught sight of a puzzled look on Puurimi’s face before she laid down on the soft ground coverage, she had cleared for her sleeping area that night.

The grass and moss were cold, but her mind was ready for sleep and her body settled onto the ground, a sigh of content when she closed her eyes. Part of her mind thought, there was a stranger, the other part said only, sleep. It was the sleep side that won, she could feel herself being drawn off into her dreams.

“Oh dear,” she heard a voice that sounded far away from her, “You seem to have added Gamiani’s branches to the fire…”

The voice sounded further away when she heard just the words, “Causes true dreams.…” then everything else seemed to fade away.

END