We talked longer, but when I woke up again, that was the only part of my dream that I remembered right away. When I woke up, I was warm, still cradled in Koh’s arms. I looked up. Kohriko was watching me, ice eyes unreadable, but he seemed…calm. I snuggled against him for a moment—it seemed like it had been a while since I had been this warm and comfortable. And my stomach didn`t hurt anymore. He held me gently, but after seeing that I had woken up, he wasn’t watching me.
Which reminded me that we weren`t alone anymore. It wasn`t just me and one other person anymore. Now there were two. I looked up to see Shi still sitting near the edge of the overhang. He hadn`t come closer while I was sleeping. The rain had stopped though, which was why it was warmer. And the sky outside was red and orange. “Good Morning, Little One. How do you feel?” Shi asked voice gentle. “You slept all night. It`s dawn now.” Dawn? I had slept that long?! My stomach had stopped hurting though, so after a moment of watching the sunrise, I realized I should give Shi an answer. Mother had always said it was good to answer when she asked if I was feeling better after being sick. “…better.” Shi smiled. Mother had always smiled when I was better after being sick.
Koh was watching Shi, as if relearning what he looked like. But he had said, in the first dream, that he didn`t remember everything… He didn`t look back down at me until my stomach growled. Automatically his wrist went to his mouth. I shook my head and pushed his arm away before I could smell the blood. I knew by now that if I smelled it I would want to drink it. But it had made me sick last night! Koh let me with a Later then. Why didn`t he understand that blood wasn`t food for me? Thinking of food, I vaguely remembered something we had talked about in the dream…it had been a weird conversation about was and wasn`t food, was all that I could remember. Not what the actual answers to that had been.
Also thinking of food, I wondered if the wind and rain last night had washed away the potatoes and peppers. I didn`t know how to make Shi leave the overhang first, so if I wanted to, I had to go past him. Since Koh had said that we could trust Shi, I decided to try, and I only half kept an eye on him as I tugged away from Koh so that I could go out from under the overhang. I had to pass by Shi to do so, but he stayed still and didn`t move, so that was ok. Maybe he was a good person. Once standing I stretched, and looked around.
Shi and Koh had followed me out into the ravine. I looked at them, and saw that Shi was just a teeny drop taller. Shi was also wearing more clothes than Koh was. Koh still had on his brown pants only. I was still wearing my jacket, heavy shirt and leggings and skirt, and simple shoes. I had tried to wash them in the little stream, but it hadn`t worked so well, and by now everything was wrinkled and a little torn. I looked like a mess, I knew. It hadn’t seemed so important when only Koh could see. Shi, on the other hand, wore dark pants, a white shirt, and shoes that I`d never seen before. An odd shiny brown. I kept an eye on him and Koh out of the corner of my eye. I`d never had two people nearby at once before, never.
I picked up a stick as I walked over to where the onions and peppers should have been, absently drawing a line in the mud. It was too muddy to draw though, so the dirt and water almost immediately filled in the line I`d just drawn. I`d look for a slightly dryer patch of ground once I checked on the food so that I could draw again.
The food was where I`d left it, but buried by mud. I took them to the river and washed them off. “Potatoes, peppers, onions and berries?” Shi asked. He knew what they were! I looked up surprised, both because of that, and because he was closer to me than I had thought he was. He saw that him being that close startled me and took a step back. That was good. I liked that he noticed if I was nervous before I said anything. Mother had always noticed if I was nervous about something without me saying anything. Koh came over as well, to see what we were doing. He crouched next to me, in between me and Shi, who was standing. Plants… he looked at the food in my hands, then up at Shi.
I looked at Shi too. He contemplated the vegetables, and held out a hand. “May I try one?” I handed him an onion. Koh and I watched as Shi peeled the onion, and put a piece in his mouth. Koh seemed surprised for some reason. Shi? Shi half shook his head. “Good for humans, maybe. But it won`t harm us.”
Humans? Would Shi…would Shi answer questions like Mother had? I…I…there was only one way to find out. I hesitantly asked the question Koh hadn`t answered before. “Is Koh…are…are you…demons?” Koh looked at me. Demons? But I looked at Shi because he answered. “Yes, little one. We are. You know about demons?” I nodded. Mother had taught me. Shi looked thoughtful for a minute.
“I see. If you have any questions, little one, you can ask me. I will answer all that I can.”Because Koh didn`t know the answers? I looked at Koh. Koh half shrugged and reached out to touch my cheek. I leaned against him for a moment. When I looked over at Shi again, he was smiling at us. I looked from Koh to Shi, but…here I didn`t have books for answers to questions. I didn`t have mother for answers to questions. Koh couldn`t answer my questions. Shi had said he would answer questions. And Koh trusted Shi, so Shi shouldn`t be bad…
“Why…” I paused, thinking of how to phrase the question. “Why do you know what food is, but Koh didn`t?” Shi raised an eyebrow and looked at Koh. “You didn`t try to eat this?” he held out the onion. Koh looked slightly annoyed. Plants are not food. Shi`s lip twitched a little, then he looked at me. “Has Kohriko told you that before?” I nodded and after a moment of thinking about it, admitted, “But…but I don`t understand why. Mother and I always ate vegetables.”
“`Mother`?” Shi questioned. His voice was still gentle, and he hadn`t tried to hurt either me or Koh. And Koh trusted him. So he was a good person. I looked at Koh, and he stood, but a moment later came back with a stick to offer me. Shi raised an eyebrow, but I understood. Koh remembered that I had drawn a picture of mother before! Since I wasn`t really sure how to describe mother to anyone—mother was mother--that was probably the best idea. And I was better at drawing than talking anyway.
With Shi and Koh following, I walked all around the ravine to find a patch of dirt that wasn`t completely as soaked as the rest. The lines still blurred a little because the ground was so wet, but it was ok. I studied it for a moment, making sure, then looked at Shi. “That`s Mother.” I dropped the stick and gave Koh a hug, and he put his arms around me. “But Mother`s….mother is…she`s dead, so I only have Koh.” Shi studied my drawing for a moment, then said “And me as well, little one.” He promised. I looked at him surprised. “I will always be where Kohriko is,” he told me. “And I will always be there for you as well.” …he would?
I looked at Koh. We can trust Shi. He told me again. I studied his face for a long minute. Mother had never said she trusted anyone, but if she had…if she had, I would have trusted them too. So…so…Koh trusted Shi, and I… this time I believed it completely. If Koh trusted Shi, I could trust Shi. Shi and Koh were good people. And while two was a lot of people, Koh…didn`t really seem like a person, maybe because he acted so much like an animal sometimes, maybe because he didn`t really talk, except when I dreamed. So with Shi and Koh, it…almost…sort of…felt the same as when it had just been me and Mother. Safe. Almost like home, even though my home was gone. I liked that feeling. I didn`t feel quite so lost, if it felt like home.
Later, in the afternoon, Koh and I showed Shi were the old cottage was. I wanted to get more potatoes to replace what had washed away. Shi climbed in the window though, so Koh and I looked after him, even though I didn`t want to look inside. Looking at the inside made me sad, and Koh gave me a hug. I hugged back, clinging to him and turning away from the cottage. I didn`t want to look at the cottage that wasn`t mine anymore.
“Little one,” Shi called me. I glanced up to see that he was back outside, next to Koh. “How long ago did you leave here, can you remember?” I shook my head. All the days blurred together. But I did remember one thing that might sort of answer the question. “…The day after I met Koh we came back and the—the cottage was already old.” I rubbed at my eyes a little. I didn`t want to cry again. …back. Koh decided scooping me up.
“Koh, I wanted potatoes and peppers,” I protested. But I didn`t really want to be here either. Seeing the cottage made me sad. Back. Koh insisted a little more firmly. “I`ll get the potatoes and berries you want, little one. You go with Kohriko.” Oh. If Shi would collect them, it was ok. He knew about vegetables, so probably fruit too. So now I nodded and leaned my head against Koh`s shoulder. He could take me away from here. Koh smoothed my hair, and looked at Shi, then turned and carried me back to the ravine.
The next couple of times I wanted potatoes and peppers and berries, Shi went to get them, and Koh and I only got onions and sticks. Shi knew how to make a fire too, and he had a weird spark stone that looked like metal. But it sounded like there was water in it. How…? Shi saw me watching curiously, the second or third time he used it, and held it out. I took it warily, because he had made it spark with only a touch. It did make a water sound, but it wasn`t all metal, some bits were weird shiny colors. So it wasn`t a stone.
Confused, I looked at Shi. He was watching me study his odd spark stone that wasn`t a stone. “This is a spark stone?” I asked. Shi shook his head. “It does the same thing. But its name is `lighter`. Have you not seen one before, little one?” I shook my head. “Mother and I only had spark stones.” Shi looked thoughtful. He had shown that he wasn`t always expressionless in the past couple of days, and that he had more expressions than Koh did. Shi`s expressions were closer to mother`s.
“Little one,” he asked. “What year is it?” I looked at him blankly. That was an odd question! “Do you know?” he asked gently when I didn`t answer. I thought about it for a minute, trying to remember. Mother had taught me about years, and months and days, but I had lost track when she died. I…I didn`t really want to know how long I`d been alone. “When…when Mother died…” I said finally, and Koh was suddenly there, arms around me. He always did when I said something about Mother. I think he knew that I was sad. I hugged him back for a moment, then looked back at Shi. Shi was waiting patiently, like Mother had always waited patiently when she asked a question and I had to think about the answer.
“When Mother died, it was `the year of our lord 1645`.” That I would always remember, even if I had lost track of time since. Shi still looked thoughtful, and he had a gentle expression too. “I see. How long ago did she die?” I shrugged a little. “I…I was alone so long…I…I…” I didn`t know. Long enough to understand that I did not like being all alone. I much preferred being with Koh, and Shi. Not alone. Shi nodded slightly. “It`s all right, Little One. I understand.” His voice was gentle, a little soothing.
I snuggled against Koh a little. It was getting dark, which is why we had lit the fire, and with dark, it got colder. Koh cradled me in his arms, for warmth. Shi stayed closer tonight than he had the other nights, but still a little away. I gave him back his spark-stone—lighter. Since Koh was curious too, Shi showed us how to make the lighter spark. If you pushed the colored part of the lighter, the spark appeared. And stayed! “Magic?” I asked. Shi shook his head, smiling a little, and let the spark die. It was interesting. “I`ll explain it another time, little one.” I nodded. Mother had told me that sometimes, when it was going to be a long explanation and she had to think of how to get started. Shi was a lot like mother. More than I had thought originally.
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