As the evening settled over the warm tundra, the Rustler and Men'ma found themselves establishing a provisional campment with the help of the other members of the expedition.
Under the fading light of the tundra, a makeshift campfire crackled, casting a warm glow on the surroundings. The aroma of roasting meat and simmering vegetables wafted through the air, arousing appetites and creating an atmosphere of anticipation.
As the Rustler and Men'ma observed from the sidelines, the enticing aroma of the cooking food filled the air. Before long, the meal was prepared and generously served, presenting plates filled with hearty portions of roasted meat and savory vegetables.
One of the men approached Men'ma, a plate in hand, and addressed her respectfully, "This one's for you, Lady Men'ma. We hope it’ll be to your liking.”
Men'ma graciously accepted the plate, her gratitude evident in her words. "Thank you. I haven't tasted it yet, but it certainly looks delicious."
The man's attention then shifted to the Rustler standing beside Men'ma. He turned to retrieve another plate, but as he faced the Rustler, his gesture was met with a polite refusal. The Rustler smiled politely and declined the offered plate. "Thank you, but no."
A flicker of surprise crossed the man's face, momentarily pausing his movements. Perhaps out of politeness or even out of offense from him refusing, the man’s gaze sought out for Men’ma, who’d already started digging in.
“Eh, seriously?” Men’ma asked, “It tastes good just so you’d know.”
“No, thanks, but I don’t feel the slightest hungry.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“I see,” she simply concluded before turning her attention back to the man. “Well, you heard him, he is not hungry.”
“Understood, Lady Men’ma,” she simply said, withdrawing away.
Several minutes passed before Men'ma, nearing the end of her meal, made a playful comment. "If you're concerned about poison, I'm quite certain any symptoms would have shown up by now. So I can safely testify that the food is indeed not poisoned."
“It isn’t that.”
“It isn’t? Then what is it?”
“I’m just not hungry. You know very well that I’ll be just fine without.”
“I do but I don’t think that’s a reason to refuse a meal prepared for you, especially when eating doesn’t particularly hurt you in any way. Anyway, forget about what I just said.”
With a dismissive wave of her hand, she shifted her attention to the man nearby. "Water for me, please," she requested politely.
One of the men approached with a carafe and a glass, pouring water into it before presenting it to Men'ma. With a grateful nod, she accepted the glass and began to drink. However, halfway through the glass, she abruptly stopped and handed it over to the Rustler. "Here, you can have this," Men'ma offered, “you said you didn’t have anything against food, surely you also don’t have anything against water.”
“You…”
“Don’t worry it’s not poisoned I think. If it is, I’ll be done for just before you.”
"It's not that, I already told you," the Rustler replied, accepting the glass and taking a long drink from it.
"Good boy," Men'ma praised, her voice filled with playful teasing. She playfully extended her hand, intending to pat his head.
"Don't touch my head," the Rustler quickly interjected, pulling away slightly.
"Okay, okay," Men'ma chuckled, retracting her hand. "I was just trying to show some support. And no need to say it, I already know. You don't need support." she declared, with a mischievous glint behind her visor, before retrieving the glass from him and holding it up. "Another one, please.”
***
With things calming down and the night growing darker, the crackling fire began to lose its warmth, casting dim flickering shadows around the camp. The weariness of the day had caught up to the nearby people, and one by one, they scattered to find their spots to rest
The Rustler chose to remain close to the dying embers, finding solace in the fading warmth.
Men'ma's voice broke the silence, her gaze shifting from the stars to the Rustler beside her. "You're really not sleeping," she remarked, a hint of concern in her tone. "We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow. If you plan on walking again like you did today, you should take some time to rest."
Men'ma remained by the dying fire, she made herself a cozy spot near the dying fire, wrapping herself in a thick blanket to ward off the chill of the night. She leaned against a log, gazing up at the star-studded sky, lost in her own thoughts, at least until she came up with that suggestion.
“No,” the Rustler refused, “I’ll be fine.”
"Hm, is that so? Well, in that case, I can't do anything else but wish you good luck for tomorrow," Men'ma said, her voice laced with a hint of amusement. "You're really not built for a journey, are you?" She let out a chuckle, her laughter echoing through the quiet night. "When you mentioned having trouble with riding carriages, I wasn't expecting it to literally mellow--no, literally destroy you like that."
Lifting her gaze to meet the Rustler's, Men'ma's held a blank and deadened expression, further enhanced by the golden visor. She immediately added, "Sorry, I wasn't trying to pick a fight or anything. It was just... unexpected."
"Even if it is, I fail to see what's so funny about that," the Rustler remarked, his tone tinged with confusion, as he observed Men'ma hugging her belly, unable to restrain her laughter.
"Well, you see," Men'ma began, lifting herself to a sitting position and attempting to wipe tears of laughter from beneath the visor, "actually, forget it. You wouldn't understand."
The Rustler's brows furrowed, not particularly pleased by whatever that was supposed to mean, but seeing no reason to pry further, he decided to simply let it go.
"But hey, you've made quite the journey with her and the other travelers when you planned to reach the Southern Continent. How did you manage back then? You're not going to tell me that even then you insisted on completing the entire journey on foot."
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“No,” the Rustler replied almost instantly.
“Then how did you deal with it?”
"Back then," the Rustler trailed off, reminiscing about the past before looking up towards the scattered moon. "During those times, she shared with me a trick to forget about the constant rattling and jolting."
“Oh, what trick?”
"The trick was to fix one's gaze on something stationary in the horizon, focusing solely on it. In this instance, the only object fitting that description was Phoebe, the scattered moon."
"Oh, the Moon of Darkness. It does make sense; after all, you can't get any more stationary than that," she said, looking in its direction toward the southern sky. So? Did it work?”
“It did.”
“It did, huh? I guess that means that it doesn’t anymore. Why, I wonder.”
“Who knows.”
“Wouldn’t we be lying saying that?”
Perhaps.
"I see," Men'ma mumbled, pondering for a moment before abruptly asking, "Say, I know this might come across as indiscreet and inconsiderate to ask, but is this place anywhere near where it happened?"
The Rustler paused, a contemplative expression crossing her face as she considered Men'ma's question. Yet before he could provide an answer to it, she stretched her arms above her head with a tired sigh, lay back, draping herself in her warm blanket. “Actually forget about that too.”
Yawning loudly, and she then turned to the Rustler. "But say, are you really planning on not sleeping at all? Tomorrow is getting closer and closer by the minute, and even if you don’t need it, you should at least try to rest too. If it’s you sleeping inside your chrysalid that you’re wary of, I don’t think it’s an issue if anyone here sees it. I’ll just ask and they’ll forget about this.”
getting blinding ”
Yawning loudly, she turned to the Rustler. "But hey, are you seriously planning on not sleeping at all? Tomorrow is getting closer and closer by the minute, and even if you don't think you need it, you should at least try to get some rest too. And if it's your chrysalid that you're concerned about, I don't think it's an issue if anyone here sees it. I can simply ask them, and they'll forget about it."
“It isn’t that.”
"Then what is it? Wasn't it your way of going back into hibernation after crossing a name off your list?”
“Yes. It was.”
“Was? Why wouldn’t it still be?”
"Yeah, why?" The Rustler wondered, but it didn't take him long for a moment of self-introspection to understand.
Staring at the girl standing across the dwindling bone fire, their eyes though separated by her visor, locked in a gaze, he confessed, "Because I feel like if I were to go to sleep right now, I might not wake up anytime soon."
After all, since the last name was scratched off the list, would there still be a reason for her to call him and wake him up from his slumber?
“If that’s what you’re worrying about, don’t sweat it.”
“??”
"Wouldn't that be just fine? And even if it were not, I'll wake you up just in time," she confidently declared, despite also uttering it with a yawn. "I'll make sure to wake you up properly." With that, she succumbed to a slumbering silence.
The Rustler watched the girl, her expression serene as she gracefully drifted into a peaceful slumber. Despite an air of clumsy if-not-straight-up oblivious confidence surrounding her, a cluelessness that did little to ease the Rustler's worries, there was in her own messed-up way something comforting about being in her presence. Observing her with a hint of amusement, he couldn't help but release a subtle chuckle.
“You’re going to do it?”
"I guess I am. After all, is there anything for me to lose by trying except time?" The Rustler thought, raising his arm up. From it, Odo began to leak, quickly submerging his entire body.
“I guess you’re right, good night then.”
***
He felt himself floating, there amidst nothing, just floating around in a very peaceful and comfortable position. Which exact position, he couldn't tell, for in this dreamlike world, there was simply no physical perception of himself. He was floating without the ability to do much about it except think about it. He simply floated alone, moving like a scale in the ocean's currents. As alone as he was, it was nothing short of peaceful, making him feel that perhaps being here and forgetting about the waking world for as long as needed was just fine.
But deep down he knew it wasn’t.
Something was waiting for him on the other side, and he was waiting for it to call him, but as he did he realized.
Oh, I almost forgot, I am not going to hear that again.
It was true, he had completed his quest of avenging everyone who had wronged them. He hunted them all down, as they deserved, sparing no one. Consequently, there was no longer a reason for him to hear her voice, asking what he would have to do next, as he had already done it all.
Knowing that he felt something aching somewhere deep within him.
As of now, his heart or whatever he felt that emptiness from was longing for one simple thing, someone or something to ask him or to order him what to do next, thus taking him back to the world.
But as delusional as he knew himself to be, he also knew that no one would do that for him. After all, even he who’d been by his side from the beginning, who had gone through so much together, and who had always bossed him around so much, didn't. And, after so much time, certainly wouldn't.
It was there as he waited helplessly that he suddenly started to feel something: A physical sensation. It was a strange sensation, similar to a faraway echo that suddenly replied across kilometers to finally reach him.
It started subtle but gradually he’d gotten more and more pronounced soon, it felt like loud and powerful booms. It was then as it reached that height that it suddenly came to a halt replaced with a far much more disturbing sensation: a swaying sensation followed by a violent tossing.
Compelled by an unknown force, the Rustler abruptly awoke. He retracted into himself, withdrawing from the realm of dreams, and cautiously opened his eyes. The sight that greeted him froze him in place, if only for a fleeting moment.
“What the…” He cursed at the sight.
The ground lay dozens of meters beneath his feet, gradually converging upon him. In actuality, he was the one approaching, not the ground.
Harnessing his aero-elementalis abilities, he deftly maneuvered through the air, skillfully evading the inevitable violent impact with the ground that would have otherwise met him face-first.
"Whoa, impressive reflex," the Rustler heard applause the moment his feet touched the ground.
Looking up towards the source of the voice, his eyes met those of Dae Odoe’s, who was retracting her long, golden tail.
"You... Did you just toss me into the sky?" he asked, his voice accusatory and reproaching.
"I mean, no matter what I did, you wouldn't wake up, so I figured I'd give it a shot and toss you up. Maybe that would do the trick and wake you up. After all, I did promise to wake you up," Dae Odoe explained, a mischievous glint in her eyes behind the visor. “Didn’t I?”
“You did, but that wasn’t a reason to wake me up like that.”
“Well, I guess you’re right, but we’ve arrived so I thought it imperative that I wake you up first,” she said, pointing behind him.
"What do you mean we've arri—" The Rustler's words trailed off as he turned around, his eyes widening in awe.
Driven by curiosity, the Rustler followed the sound, ascending a small grassy elevation ahead.
Finally, as he reached the top of the elevation, he stood and observed the scene that unfolded before his eyes. The vast expanse of the blue sea spread out as far as he could see, meeting the sky on the distant horizon. The sound of crashing waves filled the air, creating a serene ambiance.
“You should thank me, had I not woke you up,” Men’ma remarked, as she walked up to his side, “you would’ve missed this sight.”
“This is…”
“The Slithering Sea. Beautiful, isn’t it?” She smiled.
“Just how long have I been asleep?”
“Six days.”
“Six days…”
"Before you start blaming me for not waking you up earlier," she said, slamming his back, "I actually tried to wake you up on the first day. You simply wouldn't wake up. So I thought, maybe the swaying and rattling would do the trick. But it turns out that sleeping makes you pretty much immune to any external factor. In any case, you're awake now. Now we can proceed to the portuary city of Oceanview."