The girl had just finished another line of her wistful song when she suddenly lost consciousness. Aaka was startled, but then she looked closer. The girl was neither asleep nor dead. She was deeply entranced, her soul turned inwards, like she did with the serpent to keep her suppressed, but it had not taken her place, instead, they were in there together. Were they finally having their talk with each other?
It took a while, but the girl woke up again and sat up with a movement so sudden Aaka made a little jump back. Before Aaka could greet her, the girl stalked talking.
“Ssila-… -na? …-mo? I can’t remember. I know I heard it. It was ancient and long and powerful. But I can’t remember it. I know it!”
“What are you talking about?
“Ssil showed me something, like a memory, but not recognizable... memories of rites and worship... and a name... Ssila-… -ka? …-ho? I know it, why can’t I remember?” She tore at her hair, trying to pull the memory forth. “I better write it down fast!”
Aaka wanted to tell the girl what Ssil had said earlier. “Ssil told me she shed its name when it entered your body. You won’t be able to remember it, Ssil is all that remains, that is the name now.” But the girl was already deep in her notebook, writing something down, hastily and at length. Aaka knew to not disturb her. While she was bringing to paper what was still fresh in her head, she murmured about what she had seen.
[Entry into the girl's notebook]
Ssilame- No. Ssilaho- No! Assilash- NO!
I almost heard the name. Ssil had shown me a vision of her “home”. I want to go back there. There was a amazing temple, made of white and red stone, painted reliefs, and a great pit in the courtyard. Inside the pit was an accused a snake, a mundane one. The onlookers surrounding the pit cheered for justice & for me. They cheered my name, Ssila- & then some more, but I can no longer make sense of it in my head. Like a half-remembered dream that seemed to make perfect sense at the time, but is just stupid when I think about it.
The just serpent was there too, but she was huge, encircling the entire temple. She guided the snake’s fangs to deliver justice, whether it be hit or miss. I could not see the outcome, but I remember that justice was served.
Was that home? Was that where my people are? I did not see my people in the memory. What do I have to do with those people? What did Ssil want to tell me?
[End]
The girl was scratching her head, messing up her bandages. “Do spirits forget when they enter a body through a bond?”
“You have to remember that spirits are more like concepts of living beings than actual living beings. Our names are important parts of us, not just a designation. The serpent changed to enter your body, and so her name changed. It still has all the parts of her former self, just smaller.”
“ So that memory wasn’t just a memory?”
“Maybe it was important rites, often repeated, to become part of her being. The spirit within you is not just like any animal spirit. It also represented abstract concepts.”
“And why show me?”
“You sang of wanting to go home, and the people important to you. The spirit wanted to show you its interpretation of home.”
The girl ruminated for a while, then she seemed to remember something. “Wait! That was not really my intention for all of this!”
“The way you talked earlier, it seemed like you sought strength in your teachers, who aren’t here. So Ssil lent you some of her strength. Maybe? I don’t know. It is trying to tell you something, but your mind is not receptive, you are blocking off.”
The girl let herself fall back into the grass.
“I’m still not an inch closer to even an idea where to look for this damn forest!”
There it was again, the blocking off. No sense in trying to break through.
“Stay calm girl, you almost were close enough to achieving a calmer state, don’t mess it up now.”
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Her words had effect. The girl again breathed slowly and calmly. She pondered, that much Aaka could see.
“I have an idea.” The girl finally said.
“What is it?”
"If I try, I can still feel the ley-lines, even if I can’t tap into them, I can use them to see far. I just need time.”
Aaka had decided to stop helping the girl by telling her not to do stupid things. Out here, she needed to move very far away from reality to even feel a ley-line properly. She could end up having an unending out-of-body experience. It was not that she liked the girl in some peculiar way, she merely wanted her master’s words to be true. “Let her fail then,” She thought “or succeed in the most unforeseen way.”
The girl turned around again, facing the valley. She observed her surroundings, looking for a place to get as close as possible to a ley-line. In mountain ranges, ley-lines seldom shifted directions or course, so she should be able to find a stable place to test her assumption.
She eventually found a place where the nearest ley-line ran along the inner wall of the valley ahead of them. “I would have to climb from here, along the right side to the ledge over there.” She told Aaka. “But I don’t think it would be wise to take all my stuff there.” She got to sorting her equipment. “I’ll just take the sleeping bag, water, and rations. I have water for two days left; I can make it last for three. I’m sure we’ll find a spring further down the valley.” She stashed the rest of her equipment under a rock to protect it from rain if it were to come. Aaka decided to stay by the equipment. It was safer, she could defend it against scavengers if need be, and if she couldn’t catch her own food nearby, she could at least nibble on the crumbs of the rations in the backpack.
The girl’s carefree attitude almost fooled Aaka again. She wasn’t as carefree as she showed on the outside, she was merely incredibly desperate to not get lost again. Her tiny almost-breakdown in the tunnels showed she dreaded the state of being lost. These were her first steps into the outside world and alone. She would not have expected to be alone this soon.
The girl carefully stuck to the walls on the side of the mountain, employing her remaining claws and slowly inched along the inner wall. She had around a hundred feed to go sideways and twenty feet upwards. When she finally made it, she let out a big sigh of relief, Aaka could see and hear that from that far away.
From that vantage point, the girl started her meditation. She sang herself into a deep trance, in which she didn’t even seem to have the need to breathe, holding notes loud and clear for far longer than should be possible. For hours, she remained in that state, sitting on her shins. As the sun slowly set behind the mountains, she awoke from her trance a first time.
For the next three days and nights, she sat on the ledge, singing, meditating, occasionally stretching and exercising, such as holding a handstand on the edge, a hundred and sixty feet above the rocky hard ground. She slept little, even throughout the nights, her singing voice would echo through the valley, lulling even the grazing animals and the eagles’ chicks to sleep.
The fourth day broke, and the girl made her careful climb back. Three days of mostly sitting, barely drinking or eating, had worn her down, her grip was no longer confident and she had to reaffirm the steadiness of the hold her feet had. When she finally returned to Aaka, she had a big, satisfied smile on her face, albeit with big bags under her eyes and dried out eyes and lips.
“What is it? Did you find something?”
“I found nothing.” She said with a relieved grin.
Aaka did not understand what she meant, had the thirst gotten to her? “You seem happy about that.”
The girl nodded. “I touched the ley-lines, I tugged at them a bit, like on the string of and instrument, and listened to the sound. Again and again, I listened. I could hear sounds from the east and the west, the north and the south, but I noticed something. In all the echo I heard, there was one dark spot from where I heard nothing. Like a part of the forest where no birds sang. That must be it. Even in these harsh mountains, energy flows, but there, to our south-east, is a black, dead spot. A blank spot on the map. From far away, it would seem normal, but up close like we are, it’s apparent if one knows where to look. Something is diverting the streams of life force away, a powerful ward maybe, like the spirits protected the hidden village. But I have you with me, so they should let us in, right?”
"That’s probably one of the most important reason for why I’m here, yes.”
After the girl was done stretching again, she finally stepped to the slope. “Today we’ll head down there. We’ll have to walk for two days, maybe three, to get to the edge of the blank spot on the map.”
“I hope you’re right. If you expire here, Louissos will take ages to find me.”
“Didn’t take me long to get here. Just a month or two.”
Aaka had to admit she lost track of time when she was near death. “Did you know what day it is?”
“No. I don’t even know how long I was living with the rats in the sewers. And the mine just threw me off further. I know what day I have to be back by. Second day of first dozen of third month. The next time we come to a settlement, I’ll ask.”
The girl’s relaxed attitude was not sitting well with Aaka, but she had grown willing to let the girl fail if she continued down this path.
The girl had packed all her things and Aaka crawled back into the jar. Then the girl stepped onto the slope and started skidding down on her feet. She kept her balance admirably well and arrived at the bottom unharmed. They set out into the valley, keeping their eyes open for any potential passes on the sides of the valley.