After the tense conversation, Larisa’s and Farre’s trek through the dense jungle continued. The plant life around them was changing slightly here and there. There were even some plants Larisa couldn’t recognize let alone say whether they were dangerous or not. The safest way to proceed would be to avoid them as much as possible. She said so even to Farre, who nodded.

“I know that they’re dangerous. Aran got killed by one of them. He touched some stupid looking flower and dropped dead.” Said Farre. Her voice hiccuped at the end of the sentence and sadness flew into the Essence.

“I’m sorry. You were friends?” Asked Larisa. She suspected what that flower might’ve been. She’s never seen it and the passages written about it were short, but she could never forget such a dangerous plant. It was called a Quiet Death, because that’s what it literally did. When a beast, or in this case a person, would go and touch it, they would die. The poison was so potent the text said it was impossible to study. And it was truly a stupid looking flower. At least the drawing looked ridiculous.

Most flowers have petals, the centre with some weird little sticks and a stem with some leaves, but this one was much different. If there was a stem, the drawing didn’t show, but the leaves were huge and looked almost like the ones on the top of a palm. In the middle was a dumb, weird-looking yellow cone. The description under the drawing said that the cone was made out of some malleable substance that when touched would kill instantaneously.

“We were, I guess. Jul, Aran and I conscripted around the same time. We’ve been assigned as a unit immediately after the training. It’s been what? Two years now, I think.” Farre paused after that. “Soon we’ll be close to the place where Aran died, I think. I remember the ground was a kura to walk on. This—” She pointed at the ground. “—is the same stupid terrain. Bumps everywhere, roots everywhere. I don’t know how you didn’t lose your mind living here for so long.” Then she added in a whisper. “Commendable.”

It sounded strange to Larisa. As if the word’s meaning was not only applaud someone of something worthy, but there was also a hidden message that Larisa couldn’t detect.

“Thanks.” Said Larisa and Farre jumped and looked back to Larisa.

“You heard that?” She asked.

“Yes. I hear everything you say.”

“That— That’s some ears on you. Hah.” Said Farre and we went on walking.

“Should we look for that flower, and your friend? Do you want to see him?” Larisa asked. Previously she said to Farre that her friends’ bodies were probably gone, but considering that his corpse laid down next to such a deadly flower, the beasts hungry for him probably left him alone. He might still be where he dropped dead.

“I— I don’t think so. We should head straight to the camp. Others can retrieve him later. We would just go and stare at his body, with no way of getting him back. There’s no point.” Farre sighed and Larisa had a feeling that was the end of the conversation. Though, she had one more question to ask her.

“What about your other friend? This Jul. What happened to her?” Larisa’s question made Farre stop.

“It doesn’t matter. She’s dead and I’m not. Do not ask again, kur.” And that was that.

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The next few days passed mostly in silence. Farre’s quietness seemed to be brought on by her raising anxiety. Larisa was feeling it stink up the Essence. She wasn’t sure what was so nerve-racking about getting back to your friends but apparently Farre let her thoughts to wonder. At one night, Larisa could hardly stand it any more.

“Why are you so nervous? Don’t you want to get back to your camp? To your friends, this captain of yours?”

“Nervous? Where did you get that impression from? And all my friends are dead so… The captain’s not one of them, It’s the captain, not a friend.” Huffed Farre as she lightly bit into an alkanost Larisa managed to shoot earlier today.

“I can smell you. You’ve been getting more and more nervous every day.” Said Larisa.

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“Smell me?! What are you, a perv? Are you smelling me when I’m asleep or something? Disgusting.” Farre scooted further from Larisa on the log they were sitting in.

“Not that kind of smelling. It’s in the Essence.” Larisa explained.

“What do you—Aaah, I get it now. I heard bestian could do that.” Said Farre.

“Bestian? Does that mean beast-marked?” Asked Larisa as she reached for her piece of the alkanost. She liked some char on her meat.

“Yeah. Supposedly, you folks feel the Essence better. That’s actually why you get born at all. So people could use you for some magic stuff. At least, that’s what I heard.” Farre scooted back to Larisa.

“I see. Still, you haven’t said why you are nervous.” Larisa reminded.

“Hal, you won’t let this go, will you?” Larisa opened her mouth, but Farre continued. “It’s just— I was the leader, y’know. I was supposed to keep those dorks safe. But this kurnet jungle is a real piece of shit to navigate.” Larisa huffed at that.

“ Don’t sigh. You know what I mean. Anyway.” Farre took a big bite. “Damn, this shit’s good. What was it again?” She said with a mouthful of juicy meat.

“Alkanost. A bird.”

“Right. I won’t remember that.” A pause. ”So, I’m nervous, because I will have to explain to the captain what went wrong. I’m not sure what I’m gonna say. Everything? He won’t like that. I worked hard on this, y’know? I trained and I did everything they wanted of me, but when I get back none of all of that will matter. I’ll just be another failure. Discarded and forgotten. Just like those two. Jul and Aran.” Farre put her alkanost next to the fire and turned to look at Larisa.

“We were the first ones sent in. We were supposed to gather info, get back and report. This whole expedition is time-sensitive, you get me? We are all one small part of a bigger plan. I wasn’t allowed to fuck up, but I did. You are basically the only thing I’m sure will get me out of a court-martial. A person like you, even though you aren’t, will be invaluable to the expedition. You have an intimate knowledge of this place. If the people don't find out about… your condition, let’s just call it that from now on.”

Farre turned back to eat her alkanost and left Larisa with many more questions. Some were answered, like why was Farre nervous and this expedition’s goal.

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At night Larisa wondered how long was it going to take to reach the edge of the jungle. They have travelled for many days, and it felt like it was taking way too long, but Farre assured Larisa that they were making good time, despite Farre’s injury.

At one point vegetation started to thin out and trees of a different kind started to appear more and more often. Apparently those were the kind of trees that Farre was used to. They were thicker, and their crowns were more robust. They were more evenly and scarcely spaced. Larisa could smell the characteristic scent of the jungle less and less as well. The ground was also getting less bumpy and it was much easier to walk on. It reminded Larisa a little bit about parts of the land near the mountain. There were some plains made out of stone there. Here, the ground was soft, and the grass was short. There was also more light than Larisa anticipated. Even though the crowns of the trees were wider and more robust, the leaves were thinner and light was able to reach the ground in more and more spaces.

The night-seeing paste was not as necessary and Larisa looked at the world with different eyes. The colours looked brighter, the green and brown and yellow were almost out of this world. They were so prominent in everything Larisa looked at. It was wonderful.

Farre also felt a happier, but Larisa suspected it had more to do with the ground being more even, than with the vibrant colours of flora around them.

There were also some different animals and beast residing here. They looked to be smaller, more squishy somehow. Larisa saw a squirrel for the first time on one of those trees. Small and cute creature.

At one point, when Larisa and Farre were going through this new brand of vegetation, a sound started to echo through the forest.

Larisa couldn’t make out much, of what she was hearing, but she could tell it was a voice. A person’s voice.

Farre must’ve understood something or known something Larisa didn’t because she immediately went to open her pack to pull out a thin metal box. The box with the blue powder inside.

“What is that?” Larisa asked.

“Crushed halcite. Now shut up.” It didn’t tell Larisa anything so she shut up.

Farre opened it up and put some of that powder on her finger. She then brushed it deep into her mouth. Larisa couldn’t comprehend what she was looking at. When Farre spoke she felt a spike in the amount of the air essence around them.

“It’s Sergeant Farre Lerto. I’m back to report my findings. Keep projecting the words as I approach.” Farre’s voice carried with the wind. The echo of her words vibrated in the nearby air. Larisa was suddenly very curious about that blue powder.

“Our lucky day, it seems. Camp is five hundred steps ahead. We’ll soon be out of this shitty jungle.” Farre then smiled and laughed like never before. She was truly happy. Larisa thought she looked beautiful.

“Let’s go. The party awaits” The two women moved swiftly to meet the expedition.