What The Fireleaves Danced

"Tesalmata is their way of giving absolute thankfulness to the earth, the spirit, and the cosmos. In our tongue, it roughly translates to: Thank you for the world."

- Savant Difim de Sadan, 1034th Year of Yavum's Slumber

"Before you leave," said Kundang as Andrado, Elona, and Kawatan settled in. "I should help you ready for the journey. While Barangay Talalisi is relatively close, it's still around six hours of walking time. You will need some provisions. Also, bandits and insurgents are rampant near the walls."

Kawatan was silent through all of this. "Elona is well armed and a very capable fighter," continued Kundang. "She will most probably defend you, Scholar. Unless, you know a thing or two about wielding a blade?"

The smug grin on Kundang's face made Andrado want to smack it from him the most elegant way possible. He nodded. "Swordplay is actually an important subject back in Phaedrus Academia."

Kundang raised an eyebrow at that. "Of course it is, bright man. Have you a sword, then?"

Andrado shook his head. He remembered then that he had a dirk with him, but the criminal king had already leaned back and snapped his fingers.

One of his Painted Men walked forward and handed Andrado a leather sack. "Inside is food enough for the trip and some gold just in case you need to bribe some bandits." The other painted man stepped forward. "And here's a sword." The Painted Man shoved a tenegre blade into his arms. It looked very much like a bolo blade, save for having a thinner blade and a much more curved handle, with the pommel resembling some sort of dragon head. "Unless you need a buckler – of which I cannot spare you any – then you will be able to defend yourself, I'm hoping?"

Andrado nodded. "I should be able to, yes. Thank you muchly, Kundang."

"Off with you then. Citro seems awfully perturbed at what that kid is."

Andrado was just about to turn around, but he stopped himself when he heard those words. "Truly. Would you have any idea as to why?"

Kundang shrugged, as he put a cigar in his mouth. "In truth? I am not sure. But surely he's told you before that he has some… roots in being a Yavotinus, yes?"

Ah. So the man is adverse against anything inherently demonic. "I understand."

"Do you? I don't think you do."

Andrado raised an eyebrow. "Is there anything more to understand?"

The criminal king removed the cigarillo from his mouth and puffed out smoke. "If you still ask that question, then yes."

* * *

Andrado walked in step with Elona, who gripped the boy's – Kawatan – hand.

"Follow me," she said, as she turned to her right, and Andrado followed her up the sidewalk. They were back once again in the wide cobblestone streets of Selorong, with the noises and the cacophonies and the smells and the sights that came with. It was late in the afternoon, the Sun far to the East, not quite dipping underneath the horizon.

Andrado followed Elona into an alleyway that diverged away from the main road, nestled in between two brick buildings and heralded by a small wooden arch. They walked inside it, and Andrado was greeted with the pungent stench of horse manure. In a grove to their right, was a stable, and on a grove to their left, was a bored looking woman rubbing her eyes.

"Deriada," said Elona, in Al-Kaigian. "I am in need of a horse."

Deriada – the woman – blinked. Her complexion – and truly, her entire appearance – perplexed Andrado slightly. Her skin was fair, but sun-tinged, as a normal Lakungdulan. Her hair was a light brown, and her nose was high bridged. She was tall, although not as tall as Andrado.

Deriada responded in Liwayan, of which Andrado could pick up little bits and pieces of. He somehow managed to extrapolate and form the thought, "Why are you speaking Al-Kaigian with me?"

Elona gestured to Andrado, and Andrado turned to her, and then Elona, and then licked his lips nervously. Deriada raised an eyebrow. Her white tunic lay underneath a leather jacket bound together by belts. She must've been either rich or she had very quick hands.

"You are… Al-Kaigian?"

"And you are… mystisa?"

Deriada shrugged dismissively and turned to Elona. "You need a horse?"

"Just a quick rent. Please, bring it up with Kundang?"

Deriada sighed. "Fine. But I have taxes to pay, Elona. Your bill with Kundang has acc.u.mulated muchly."

"He can pay it," said Elona. She turned and walked up to one of the horses neighing about – a tall, brown coated steed grazing on hay. She ran her hand down its neck, and then gripped its saddle and sat up on it.

"He's Dakobo. Strong one he is," said Deriada behind them.

Elona urged Dagobo forward, and he reached out to Kawatan, who now made sure his hood covered his entire face. When he saw Elona reaching her hand out for him, he hesitated, his eyes blinking, brows furrowed, mouth slightly open.

Andrado sighed and walked up to Kawatan, and grabbed him by his waist, lifting him up for Elona to grab him. Andrado wasn't quite sure he would've been able to lift the child, but it turned out that he was as light as he looked. Elona set Kawatan in front of her, and then Andrado waited for Elona to tell him to hop on.

"Would you rather walk?" said the woman, grinning. Andrado chuckled, and hoisted himself up the horse as well, stepping on the stirrup and sitting behind Elona. He shifted the scabbard of the tenegre; Elona had shifted her bolo blade to her back, and had brought with her an extra one just as well, hanging crossed behind her in sheaths held together by loose leather, so the sheaths moved, allowing for easy movement. Andrado had seen her pack a sling with her, along with a bunch of rocks for, presumably, missiles.

He, on the other hand, had taken the time to bless his blade before they walked out of Kundang's place. He Invoked Uruthum, Merak of War and Death, to bless and guide his weapon. He felt, now, the Invocation popping into place, and he saw the slight gleaming sheen that covered the tenegre's blade. That Invocation was under Clause, of course, as long as he was with the Jeremian Order. Thus why he needed the book and the wand – should he lose them, well that's a lot of money gone, for one. And his Jeremian Initiate status is immediately revoked, for another.

Of course, that is, if the Jeremian higher ups found out.

Elona drove the horse – Dakobo – through the wider streets of Selorong. They galloped past a circular wide road that lay around a large circular center of the town, on the middle of it was a large seven-pointed star – the symbol of Yavum. Within, there were people dancing to the beat of a fast lute, while some cantered about with their wives and husbands, while others lay eating on benches. With it being Surin Day, the people rejoiced as they took times off from their workloads and enjoyed what they could. The dances they danced, though, were not any Al-Kaigian dance. Andrado wondered if this is because the Al-Kaigian people haven't fully taught them their cultures and their dances, or if they were a mark of rebellion. Either way, Andrado realized it not to be too big of a deal. Overthinking, he had always told himself, was one of his greatest strengths and weaknesses.

They veered out of the wide circular road, and into a just as wide road that shot straight. They cantered down that road, with Andrado watching as men and women ran to each other. He saw a nearby building that shot up four storeys high, and with a sign in front of them that said, "The Esteemed Building of the Magian Society of Selorong."

Andrado figured that that must be the building Citro had been talking about. Suddenly, he was eager to go there instead of retrieving his items, but he perished that absurd thought.

Soon enough, Elona maneuvered Dakobo into a narrower street, wide enough only to accommodate two kalesas. The buildings here were darker, but each had a lamp hanging in front of their houses. The density of streetlamps here were a lot less than the wider streets, Andrado realized. Here he could see Lakungdulans jumping from roof to roof, hanging underneath wooden beams, women walking from one house to the next so fragrantly, as if they owned the entire block. He could see washing basins and piles of dirty laundry, cats and dogs chased each other within alleyways.

Soon enough, Elona guided the horse out of that alleyway, and Andrado felt relieved. He felt as if he had been choked within the congested place that that was. It wasn't a shantytown, since their houses were still built like any other house in Selorong, but the people that lived within it must've been of the lower rungs.

The three of them emerged out into a wide road once again, turning right, and up to a large gate. This gate was open, and had traders and merchants coming in from all sides. Curiously, on both sides of the gate, were too, goliath beings, seemingly made of rock and metal. Their heads only resembled that of knight helmets, and they brought with them large swords that coud be mistaken for pillars. They must've stood at eight feet in height, and when they approached the gate, the giant hulking… automaton? blocked their path with a flat of its blade.

Are these automaton? Golems? What sorcery…

"Situation Number Two," it said, in a practiced voice that sounded like it was recorded. "Playing loop: What is your business in leaving, citizen?"

Elona brought out a piece of stiff paper that seemed to have been punched with holes at intervals. She reached for a narrow slot near the c.h.e.s.t of the automaton and slid the hole within. There was a cl.i.c.k.i.n.g sound, and then Elona drew it back. "Special Exception, acknowledged. A servant of Kundang. What brings you out of Selorong's walls?"

The warrior woman put the card back and pulled out another one, inserting it into the same slot. "Special Exception, acknowledged. Please, be on your way." Andrado realized that the gates – which were exceptionally wide – had been barred by these four automata, and as the merchants and traders filed in, this exchange could be heard echoing within the northeast exit.

Elona spurred Dakobo into a canter, past the gate, and into the outside.

Outside, Andrado had expected lush greenery, maybe a vast white sprawling plain that housed a great many creatures and elephants, maybe the rare tyrant lizard here and there, with various megafauna.

Instead, the first thing he saw were more shantytowns, made up of cobbled together steel, wood, and leaves, all circled around large taverns and inns. It was like they had their own barangay system, yet were still connected to Selorong. Dirty scabs infesting the gleaming white wall of the City.

Andrado tried to look away from them, but found that he couldn't. He saw scantily dressed women walking to and fro, poking at boys and girls. A river ran through the land a few kilometers away, and people were coming from there with buckets full of sploshing water. Young boys and girls – filled with potential and time and energy – gambled on cobbled tables of broken wood, using drawn on cards. Men walked around with blades and slings and bows and with the occasional rifle, shouting at men and women alike, most of them had the strong, putrid stench of liquor.

Andrado wanted to urge Elona forward faster, because he was being sickened by the sight, but he held back. Elona and Kawatan both didn't look at the shantytowns, looking straight ahead, as the horse speeded up into a canter, and before long, a full gallop.

The wide cobblestone road of Selorong turned into a wide dirt road of the country. Elona guided Dakobo down it, and the dirt road gradually grew thinner and thinner the farther away they were from Selorong. The shanty towns seemed to die down and decay, and then spring up into trees, which became thicker and thicker, filled with green and lush browns and detritus kicking up and the sounds of proud eagles and hawks and owls and ravens.

Soon the forest grew so thick that the dirt road was much like that one narrow road they had ridden down back in Selorong, running forward into a road that could only really fit two at a time. Soon, that thin road diverged into two dirt paths, and Elona veered the horse to the one that went left.

The leaves and detritus kicked up and billowed behind them as the horse galloped. The trees became so thick that the warmth had become a humid moisture, and Andrado could only stare at the grand, untouched primacy of nature. The lush green verdances swirling up into grand canopies and thick vines, the wood blending perfectly into the soil, like a soft caricature, like an expensive painting from Affan de Ysdro. The soft bloom of thankfulness all the way to the touch of light from the Sun reminded Andrado of Yavum's greatness and awesomeness, the Great Painter, the Mighty Maker, who created every single piece of nature, every single iota and mote of prima materia. Such a grand design filled his soul with an ardent flame, and his spine chilled, sending goosebumps down his arm.

He let out a soft breath, right as the horse slowed, slowed, and then stopped. Andrado blinked. Soft leaves fell down in spirals, bushes crunched underneath the walk of the land. Andrado turned to Elona, who stood still.

"Why--"

"Stay silent."

Andrado furrowed his eyebrows. Kawatan was hunched over; the thief looked like he was expecting something. The Al-Kaigian couldn't sense anything save for the rustling of leaves and more twigs crunching underfoot... something.

Unless, those things moving about in the dark shadows in between the trees weren't animals.

Andrado placed a hand on the hilt of his tenegre, lowered his head. He prayed to Yavum, Invoking once again any of the Meraks to shed radiant illumination upon him, to give him revelations that would help his immediate need. Their immediate need.

Halfway through his prayer, Elona spurred the horse into a canter, and then to a full-on gallop. Andrado was surprised at the sudden burst of speed and held on to Elona. As the horse surged forward, he opened his eyes, and saw – as if his eyes were guided by fate—or more precisely, by the Burning God Himself—the thin piece of string flashing before them.

"Wait! Elona!"

But the horse barreled forward, and one of Dakobo's four legs tripped over the wire.

There was a split second of silence, as everything registered immediately. The horse lurched forward, onto its shoulder. Kawatan was in the air, tumbling, and looking like he was going to land on his knees. Elona had a grimace on her face as she leapt away from the horse.

It was only Andrado, much to his chagrin, who reacted too slowly as all this happened, despite the forewarning he had given.

The split second of absolute clarity ended with a bang. Quite literally.

An explosion of concussive force detonated, fire erupted from both sides, engulfing the horse. Andrado was flung forward by Dakobo, the hourse, as it fell to its side; Andrado slammed against the dirt floor, twisted, and slammed again, twisting and rolling to a stop beside Elona. He looked up to see Dakobo enveloped in flames, neighing and kicking helplessly. He felt sorry for the animal, and was just about to pray toYavum to guide his Spirit when two men in what looked like water buffalo hides leapt out of the forestry. They lifted their crossbows and fired.

Crossbows? How did natives get their hands on those…?

Perhaps it had been the loud cacophony of the cussers exploding, or perhaps the flames and the smoke clouded their vision. They missed Andrado widely, and seemed to be aiming for Elona, who had dived out of the way. The crossbow bolt struck a tree twenty-feet behind them.

Kawatan had done the same, diving forward, narrowly evading a crossbow bolt as well. Andrado had the illusion within his mind that Kawatan was not very well learned, and that Andrado himself vastly outwitted him when it came to arcane and religious knowledges.

But, perhaps, Kawatan had some wit to him. Because as he hit the ground, rolled, and came up to his feet, he whipped off his hood, revealing his demonic semblance. The two men pointed their crossbows at him, babbling suddenly about demonyo or yawa and Aman Malakas. The little blazing spectacle that the bandits had thrown only seemed to amplify his semblance, as the flames danced across his eyes.

Elona spared no time, however. As the two men struggled to reload their crossbow, she was upon the first one, the nearest one to her. Her two blades were unsheathed as she pounced, both blades slicing cross-wise, and then followed up by a dancing, almost weaving motion with her blades that ended with the crossbowman's head falling to the dirt floor and blood defiling the sacred forest grounds.

The second bandit saw the whirling dervish that was Elona and turned to her, stepping backwards, stuttering and failing his reloading. Kawatan moved up to him, his strides shuffling like shadow, as he leapt up and pounced at the crossbowman. The Anakyawa didn't even move his hands from his dark cloak, only using his lithe feet to kick away the crossbow in the man's hands. As the crossbow clattered to one side, and as the man screamed from the demonic apparition that assaulted him, Elona was upon him. One bolo blade suddenly puncturing deep into his collarbone. Screams filled the forest.

And then abruptly stopped, as the second bolo blade severed the head from the neck.

Andrado had realized he had gotten to his feet, and his tenegre had been drawn, glowing faintly with the ardent burning of the Sun. The action and the combat had spiked his adrenaline, and despite having done nothing, he was breathing heavily.

The sight before him, however, was one to behold. Two Lakungdulans – well, one and a half – breathing from the adrenaline, two decapitated bandits signifying and showing them the capabilities of the native warriors.

Elona turned to Andrado, and raised an eyebrow. "Keep your wits about you, scholar." She whipped her blades to the ground, fl.i.c.k.i.n.g the blood to the floor. She fell on her knee, closed her eyes, and muttered something. With that done, she rose to her feet and approached the scholar, the Anakyawa trailing after her.

"You are slow."

"Thanks for not killing me as well."

"Why would I do that?" She asked, rolling her neck. "That is unneeded. Kundang would disapprove as well."

"It's just that," Andrado began, sheathing his cutlass. "You were a tornado."

"Or a tiger," she said, shrugging. She turned then to Kawatan, who stood silent once more, a shadow following after Elona. "Are you okay?"

The Anakayawa nodded.

"Man of few words, it seems," said Andrado.

Elona sighed. She turned around and at the conflagration that erupted, with the body of the dead in the midst of it all. "We must leave quickly. If an engkanto finds us here, they might blame us for destroying their forestry."

"How much further before Talalisi?"

"Five more hours," said Elona. "More or less, from here. We would arrive there at the dawn, should we make camp."

"Wait," said Andrado, raising a finger. "Camp? Where are our camping supplies?" His gaze shifted from Elona and then to Kawatan, who was looking at the burning horse.

"Oh, by Yavum's Great Snores," he cursed when the realization dawned upon him. Elona turned and loped into the fire, quickly grabbing at the frayed leather straps of the bag filled with their camping supplies. She yanked it out and ran back to the two of them, padding out the flame by slamming the bag against the dirt.

With that done, she sighed and turned to Andrado. "We might be able to salvage some items within."

Andrado looked at the smouldering pack. "We better be."

Elona nodded. With the last few bits of ember gone, she slung it over her back. "Hay. Let us journey. We have a day ahead of us." And with that, she moved forward.

Andrado walked and fell in step with the woman. Kawatan stepped lightly and silently behind her. The Al-Kaigian heeded the words of the woman, but he didn't know just how long exactly the day would've been.

* * *

A few more hours along the trail, they looked like they were in the middle of an utterly alien world. The dirt road had been pocked with grass, frayed by leaves, and crisscrossed by roots. The felling Sun, the pride and heart of Yavum, the Burning God, fell behind the mountains once again, and with that weird strange trail of his pattern, he left behind a pink sky, which only strengthened the strange alienness of it all. The pink descended upon the green and brown and gray of the trees, only to mix and then turn into darkness as they cascaded past the large canopies.

The deeper they followed the trail, the larger the trees grew. Soon enough even the sky was becoming harder to see, with large tree branches forming woody firmaments over their heads. Little flitting starflies now fluttered to and fro.

As they ventured down that path, mostly silent, Andrado broke. He wanted to talk, to break the thick and frankly insufferable silence. The silent air was something he wasn't used to. He was used to shouts, to commands. "Cheria! Get that!" and other such orders to her maids and coach drivers. The incessant, ever-flowing of gossip like the stuttering stream of sorcery. The steam engines working full-time beside his bedroom, clanking and burning. The chatter of Yavumian Priests and Clerics, preaching on top of crates and other wooden fixtures, gripping, in one hand, gaslamps that held the Miracle of Everburn, that allowed the gaslamps to burn for almost an extended amount of time – even when doused with water.

A double-edged sword, if I've ever seen one.

And now he walked with these two foreigners, their skins the color of that warm color right before the dawn. And they utterly ignored him.

Can't blame them. They must be focused on keeping their wits about them.

"So," Andrado began, and his voice echoed across every hollow and hole of every tree, between hollow groves and twisting vines and uplifted roots. The Al-Kaigian grimaced and listened to his voice – piercing the silent pall and sounding all like a heretical destruction of some sort of holy silence – before continuing. "Do you know what the machinations of those… machines were?"

Elona turned to him as they walked. "Guardians."

Succinct, but not exactly the answer I was looking for. "Yes, but you do know what powers those things, yes?"

Elona only shrugged. "I am not entirely sure. The scholars advertise them as being powered by alchymized sorcery."

"Alchymized… sorcery?" Yavum's breath. Do the Savants in Selorong practice sorcery? "How?"

"I do not know," Elona said. "Just that they can bend reality to their will, and I would rather not spend a night with them."

Andrado snorted at that. "But that's amazing. They've managed to create automata that follow set codes."

"Do you not have those in your home country, white man?"

Andrado raised an eyebrow. "What? Automata? Not… exactly, no."

Elona blinked. "Why is that?"

"In simple terms, it is because Sorcery is the weavings of Zhayfrithum, the Great Deceiver."

"Is… that so?"

A flitting shadow that jumped from one shadow of a branch to another. Andrado could faintly make out antler horns atop a tall figure. "Was that-"

"A tamawo who only seeks passage." Kawatan's voice cracked. Andrado turned to him, wondering at the boy. So, the boy speaks louder than a whisper…

"He will do us no harm, I hope," spoke Elona now. "Do not make eye contact. Now, what was that you spoke of? About the Great Deceiver?"

Ah, is it story time? How long I've waited for an opportunity such as this.

"Zhayfrithum," spoke Andrado, his eyes wandering to both Kawatan and Elona. Kawatan had drawn his hood down, revealing the sharp horns erupting from his bow, and sharp ears that had been such a common trait for those touched by the supernatural. Those sharp ears twitched, attentive. "Was Yavum's second creation. His first creation was the Merak of Light and Justice – Mikhaithum. His second creation was Zhayfrithum, Merak of Darkness and the Tester.

"In the days before Creation, a Host of Merak led by Zhayfirithum waged war against Yavum, breaking down His gates and slaughtering through the Empyrean, until the Empyrean Host fought back, with Mikhaithum leading them. The army of Zhayfrithum were cast down to Zhayfrithem's domain – Darkness, and they were chained and locked within.

"But of course, all things Created are affected by Time. Only Yavum is Timeless, after all. Thus, the bleak, dark cage they have been stuck within frayed and weakened, allowing some of the Fallen Merak to escape. Thus why even until now the Merak fight."

The two Lakungdulans were quiet. Their footfalls were silent; Andrado's footfalls crunched and snapped every twig, leaf, or any type of detritus that lay in his path. It felt like the two Lakungdulans revered nature, while Andrado only destroyed it with every step he took.

I'm guessing there's some sort of metaphor there, he thought as he realized what he was doing. He shrugged it off, of course.

At the silence that greeted him after that short spiel, he took it as an introduction to continue a little train of thought that had popped up in his brain. "You know, picking up from that train of thought, there is this line of philosophy amongst the Intelligentsia in Al-Kaig. The philosophy of "Cascading Light". In that Yavum's Light is the Truth, but it cascades down to Mortal Creation, incomplete and not Truth, but rather, a pale shadow of what the Truth is. I'm sorry, I must be boring you or you might not be able to comprehend-"

"That is a popular line of thinking amongst the Meriganians as well," Kawatan spoke, surprising Andrado with his Al-Kaigian. It had no intelligent accent, that was for sure, but it had a learned sense. As if he had been reading and studying it for more than a decade. "They live near the Meriganian Sea."

"Y-Yes, I'm familiar with the Meriganians," said Andrado. He found that he had stopped. Yavum's breath, this child is not what he seems, is he? Firstly, being a fiend, secondly, being smarter than he looks? What is this? Oh, Lakungdula, you do surprise me.

"Surely you are." When Kawatan spoke, he still looked away from Andrado, still looking down. "Anyway, the Meriganian Philosophers call that the 'As Above, So Below' line of thinking. They say that there is a Truth, and we live in a Lie."

"Fascinating," said Andrado. "I should book a ship to Merig whenever I get the chance."

"They are smart, Meriganians," said Kawatan. "If not a bit too focused on themselves. They usually choose to ignore the truths of Spirit, and chalk it up to natural forces, despite it being right in front of them that they are experiencing Supernatural Forces."

"Interesting," he said. "They are… atheistic?"

"More or less," said Kawatan.

"Where did you learn how to speak Al-Kaigian, child? Why did you not respond to us when we questioned you?"

There was another silence as they walked on. More rustling of leaves, more twigs being crushed underfoot. There was a call that resembled a cry from a human throat imitating an eagle.

Then, "Because I was afraid, bright man."

The Al-Kaigian let the words linger, riding upon the stagnant air like dust motes. "Why were you afraid?"

"I've committed a major crime, have I not?" he said, his eloquence surprising Andrado. His voice was sonorous and clear, despite the occasional puberty hiccups. "You would've wanted me dead."

"Yes but," Andrado shrugged. "I would've not. Maybe the Civil Guard would, but in a city that already has a very public and well known Criminal Underworld and Hierarchy, I don't think that stealing would've merited such a large consequence."

Elona snorted. "That is true, I mean."

Kawatan was still silent.

"Alright," continued Andrado. "Well, you've been a much more eloquent companion than Elona, that's for sure. No offense intended, Elona."

"None taken."

They walked on in silence. A breeze passed by them as they waked up to denser forestry, now large trunked trees blocked parts of the dirt road that had been found, forcing them to walk around and even climb up and over these wooden obstacles. The mosses of one particular root had caused Andrado to fall.

"Oh, Yavum! That's going to leave a mark." He writhed on the ground, groaning at the blunt force impact on his back. He felt like the earth itself had flung itself toward him, a hammer against his behind. Elona and Andrado dropped to both sides of him, lithe and athletic.

"Are you okay?"

"No," said Andrado. Still groaning.

"I've a few salves here," said Elona. "I can apply it to your back."

"Are they medicinal?"

Elona blinked at that, and then said, "Yes."

"Fair enough. Hurry on with it then."

Elona put the satchel down and brought out a small vial filled with a green liquid. She paused and then said, "We might as well set up camp here. It should be safe enough."

Andrado g.r.o.a.n.e.d again. "Yes. Agreed. Quickly, then."

They had brought with them rolled up blankets to place on the dirt ground, and apparently that was all they had managed to salvage from the fire when Andrado asked about tents over their heads. They decided to lay their sheets near a large root that formed a small arch over their heads.

Once they had set that up, Andrado lay on his front while Elona dabbed the strangely warm liquid on his back.

As she did this, Kawatan spoke again. Something in Liwayan. Elona replied in Liwayan as well.

"What did you say?" asked Andrado, turning so that his voice could be heard.

There was a pause. Andrado couldn't quite see because of the angle, but he could barely make out that they were moving and communicating with each other through looks. "Well?" Andrado pushed. I swear to Yavum, if they elect to ignore me then I will show them what a miracle worker can do…

"Kawatan was just speaking of the legends and myths about the tamawo."

"And what would that be?"

"Our folk tales are unknown to you, it seems?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Part of the reason why I came here is also to learn, after all."

"I am worried about the tales that are famous amongst us Lakungdulans," said Kawatan seemingly taking it upon himself to say the words. "Seeing a tamawo means one thing – Luck. They are seen as creatures of spirit and fate. Should you see one, or meet one, they say that some kind of luck is befallen you. Whether this be good or bad luck is not distinguished. After all, luck, to fortune, is just luck. Fate has no faces, it is simply Fate."

"Kapalaran," Elona says. "The Weave of Fate."

"Ah," Andrado managed a nod, and then turned away once again, back onto the not very fluffy pillow that he had placed underneath his chin.

Soon Elona had finished rubbing the green salve onto his back. "This would be a good time to rest," she said, as the pink sky turned dark. Soon, it looked like they were in pitch darkness. Outside of civilization, of human light.

Kawatan had been whetting at a dagger while Elona applied the salve. When Andrado had been healed, he stood and opened his hand, palm up. He whistled, and it echoed across the forest. Soon enough, starflies fluttered out of bushes and leaves and from the hollows in between branches and roots. The bark on the tree they rested upon suddenly lit up as the starflies awoke, and they pushed themselves off of their resting place and started flying in lazy circles around the anakyawa.

Andrado grasped. Elona watched with a large grin on her face.

Kawatan turned to him. "Do you not have starflies in Al-Kaig, scholar?"

Andrado raised an eyebrow at that, amused at how he had addressed them. Andrado shrugged. "Not exactly, no. But that's more of my fault than nature's – I rarely left Phaedrus after all."

"Oh," said Kawatan. "Unfortunate. You miss out on beauty that has existed from the beginning."

Andrado opened his mouth, and had set his mind to argue, but decided against it. Instead, he let out a long breath and said, "I see that."

The starflies bathed the three of them in a serene blue glow, with the fat crescent of the Lune – the heavy-lidded eye of Yavum – shining moonlight upon them as well. Kawatan sat and watched, as did Andrado and Elona, watching these natural, organic lights illuminating their night without the use of alchymy or fire.

Yavum truly is great. He has created these starflies to illuminate out way during the days when we haven't been given the gift of fire as of yet. Little flittering lights to illuminate our nights, to conquer the world, to give us entertainment. Watch them as they dance, and give us light, and warm us with their happy little giggling lights. What great creations. What a great God.

Soon enough, the starflies dispersed, scattering into every direction slowly, like a slowly unravelling thread. Kawatan watched them, and he spoke something in Liwayan. So did Elona, and Andrado decided that maybe he should follow along. Maybe they were paying respect to nature, and if they were, it wouldn't be out of line for him to give respect to the Creation of Yavum, and by extension, Yavum Himself.

"Tesalmata."