The Journey Begins

Throughout my life, I lived on our modest family farm. I never left because I never had a reason to, nor did I try to find one. Although I had some curiosity about the outside world, it was only mild curiosity. After all, we live on a relatively small island isolated from vast areas like the Northern Empire.

So, any idea of leaving and exploring seemed distant and unrealistic, especially for the little girl I once was.

The locals call our island "Red Twiles." I always thought it was a creative and beautiful name, but that feeling vanished as soon as my mother explained the origin of the name. It turns out that the word 'Twiles' is short for 'Two Isles,' referring to the Old Lady River that divides our island into two parts from north to south. The word 'Red' simply highlights the red nature of our island, where both trees and plants have varying shades of red.

A large proportion of these red plants growing on the island are blood-red fungi, varying greatly in size. Some are the size of a finger, while others are as large as a house. These fungi are the primary commodity for bartering with neighboring islands. After all, apart from the fungi, there aren't many edible plants except for a few. This is also why there are various specialized farms here and there, like our hibiscus farm.

But this doesn't mean self-sufficiency. Farms don't necessarily compensate for shortages. There are many influencing factors such as soil fertility, changing weather conditions, water availability, and the overall environment. This is where trade becomes important.

Our island, Red Twiles, is part of an alliance with a group of neighboring islands. The main goal of this alliance is to compensate for each island's shortages through maritime trade to achieve some form of self-sufficiency. Each island must contribute something. In our case, it's the red fungi, and we receive its equivalent value from the specialties of other islands.

This type of trade creates mutual trust and effective communication between the islands, greatly facilitating interactions in other areas such as inter-island transportation, visits, or even full migration. This also gives me some confidence that I won't face any problems moving between the islands.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I've barely taken a few steps into the rainforest. First, I need to reach the Old Lady River, then follow it until I reach the town at the river's mouth. I mustn't forget that our island is located in the southwest, the farthest point of the island alliance.

So, I took a deep breath, pushed away wishful thoughts from my mind, and focused on my surroundings and destination.

I was moving through the rainforest on my father's old horse. The air was filled with the scent of wet wood, and the red leaves adorned the ground like a velvet carpet. The white trees, with their smooth silver bark, rose majestically towards the sky, and the fiery red leaves glowed under the gentle sunlight, giving the place a magical aura.

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Everything seemed balanced and in place. The bright colors blended with the light mist that flowed between the trees, creating an atmosphere of infinite calm and beauty.

As I moved through the wild grasses and plants, I thought about my next step. I knew the path wouldn't remain as smooth as I delved deeper into the forest, and soon I would have to dismount. I didn't mind that at all because it was my original plan.

But even so, I couldn't help but think about the usefulness of the horse I was riding. As I delved deeper into the rainforest, its usefulness would diminish but not disappear entirely, as it would continue to carry my belongings and the things my mother left with the horse at midnight last night. But its true value would appear when I reached the town at the river's mouth. Most likely, this was my dear mother's intention in giving me the horse in the first place.

To sell it!

When I think about it, horses don't hold much value on our island because the mountainous terrain makes travel more difficult on horseback and easier on foot. So, their true value doesn't lie in transportation. Instead, they can be valuable in farms that need them as a workforce, or as food if you're feeling luxurious, but in most cases, it's not worth it because the value doesn't match the price.

But selling it, benefiting from its relatively high price, would provide immense value at this initial stage of my journey. After all, I lack money significantly. I was grateful to my dear mother for this gesture. I don't know why she would want to help me with something she doesn't agree with, but she helped me anyway. Maybe because she knew that I wouldn't change my mind no matter what. Whatever the reasons, I was grateful to her and unable to express my gratitude.

My heart became heavy with deep emotions, so I pushed this topic out of my mind. I had been traveling for a while now. The morning sun was close to setting on the distant horizon, casting a beautiful orange hue on the red vegetation, intensifying its redness from a light shade to an uncomfortable bloody color.

I needed to find a place to camp soon, but this wasn't a difficult problem to solve. The rainforest itself is a safe place to camp as long as I'm away from human eyes.

I dismounted lightly from my father's old horse and led it off the path to a suitable spot for camping tonight. I had to give up the idea of reaching one of the riverbanks today, but I knew I was very close, so I wasn't too sad about it.

I tied my father's horse to a nearby tree, set up my modest tent near a thick-trunked tree for protection from the night sea winds, and prepared something for myself to eat, even though I wasn't that hungry. But I did it anyway before darkness fell and visibility became nonexistent. I didn't know if there would be a moon tonight, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

After finishing my preparations for the night camp, I leaned my back against the old tree and enjoyed the current tranquility as I watched the sunlight disappear on the horizon. I didn't think about anything in particular; my thoughts were as calm as a still lake.

I stayed like this for a while until a faint sound entered my surroundings. I focused my senses on this sound. After a few seconds of stillness, I concluded that the sound was the flowing water.

I felt my mood lift significantly because I was close to achieving today's goal. I was ready to get up and check it out out of sheer excitement, but I pushed the idea away as quickly as it blossomed. I wasn't in a position to move; the sun had already set, so taking this step would be an immature choice. So, I decided to stay in my camp, and in the early morning, I would follow the sound.

Although I didn't achieve the goal I set for myself on the first day, I was still happy with the progress I made.