What The Fireleaves Danced

"It has long been said that the gods of the land – the diwata – have a grudge against humanity. This is not true. They are merely pestered by us, as if we were ants walking upon their skin."

- Anitowan Ulap, 988 Seven Moons

Mayumi awoke to warmth and a surprising eagerness to rise and be on her way.

Her fever, she realized, had slipped from her like a light blanket as she returned to the shores of the waking. Starflies still hovered about, and the first few lances of the Climbing morning Sunlight pierced the gloom. The dark, bleak night of the Eaten Moon had gone, replaced by Adlayari's unceasing light.

She moved to sit upright, but something lay across her front. It was Angas, whoe had found the space between her b.r.e.a.s.t to have been the perfect spot to curl up into a ball and go to slumber.

She opened her eyes and saw Dakila right in front of her, eyes closed, and a white, perfect hand resting on her cheek. She realized he wasn't moving.

Why…? Is he… She breathed. Just to save me from illness? She didn't want to believe it, despite her not knowing what exactly it was she didn't want to believe.

Then the tamawo inhaled a long breath, that lasted for a good 5 full seconds, before he exhaled just as long.

Oh, thank Bu-an. May he keep us safe in the night. She moved her head and looked at the serene morning sky framed by a canopy of branches and leaves, dotted by the stars far above in the firmament, and then painted by the starflies drifting in and out of her view.

In the sight of that, as the Sun once again burned and bleached the indigo velvet of the sky, Mayumi realized how fast things had moved.

Only around two days ago, her entire family – her barangay – had been literally burnt to the ground. She could still feel the burning beneath her eyes as she struggled not to cry, even as she thought back to the past, to the life now gone from her. She closed her eyes and, facing the sky, asked Maykaptan to give her strength.

Her hands laid flat on soil and leaves; she curled them into fists, crunching the leaves within them. I have to be stronger now. My mother would've wanted me to. Her mother had always been just the kindly one. Womanly and strong, she wished for her daughter to have two children -- one boy and one girl. Now her mother would never be able to see her grandchildren.

At that thought, Mayumi bit her lip as she was overcome with a great grief.

The starflies now neared her, twirling about her in happy dances, in happy chants, as if to comfort her. She'd remembered one out of the many legends about the starflies -- that their lights were representations of the anito, ancestral spirits always watching. The starflies twinkled in a strange pattern, as if to intone some sort of song.

Then Mayumi heard it.

Early on to the cold, gray morning of the life she was chased into, came the low, almost haunting first cries of a song. It was this hallowed cry that wafted through the hollowed boughs and broken-down trees, writhing through shallow ravines within which even the animals stopped to listen.

Then the voices. The jubilant chanting of voices that sounded like children, intoning in a playful melody. One of the voices emulated the sound of clanging bells.

Mayumi knew what these were. She didn't bother to get up -- she'd heard these voices before. When she would sit at the edge of the barangay, near the bordermarches of the forest, if she would listen carefully.

"The Voice of the Forest." By Adlyari's three faces! Mayumi stifled a surprised gasp as Dakila opened his eyes and moved. He didn't even have any indication that he was about to awake…

The tamawo lifted his hand and c.a.r.e.s.sed it with his other hand, looking away for a short while. "They sing for us."

The starflies fluttered. Angas awoke as well as Mayumi lifted her head. Angas stretched his lithe body, and then – using the tall branch they slept beside as a springboard – leapt on top of Mayumi's head. He growled and then let out a low, guttural purr as he watched the dance of the starflies and the Voice of the Forest lifted their spirits.

Dakila rose to his feet and spread his arms. He seemed to bathe in the glow of the starflies, walking into a lightshow curtain caused by the burning light of these luminous beings.

Dakila stopped in the middle of it, right beside a babbling creek. He turned to her, his long, silver hair flowing like quicksilver cutting through lush greenery, and said, "They shine for you."

Mayumi blinked. She realized she was weeping once again. Dakila tilted his head to one side. "Are you okay, Mayumi?"

Mayumi tried to nod, but felt Angas still there on top of her head, no doubt still spellbound to the starflies dancing about their heads. She instead said, "I am. Thank you, Master Tamawo."

Dakila shook his head. "I am the master of no one. I simply aim to fulfill my oath to your Datu -- you are the living legacy of Datu Sariman's barangay."

Mayumi nodded. Angas jumped off of her head and stood on top of the root. He stood on his hind legs, still staring up at the starflies. Mayumi realized the Voice of the Forest was probably keeping him enthralled even more, thanks to their lulling chanting.

Mayumi tried to rub the tears from her eyes the back of her hand. "I hope I am up to the task."

Dakila paused, turning around and staring at her through that weird intermingled light. The serene starshower of the starflies provided a blue sea for his eyes to see through, yet the now orange halogen light of the Sun – of Adlayari's semblance shining down upon the world – cast the pale-skinned tamawo in an orange glow.

His eyes seemed to twinkle in that weird state of dawn twilight. "That is yet to be seen," he said.

Mayumi blinked. She processed that -- tried to, at least -- but found that the two responses she could conjure was a depressed nod that agreed completely, or a furious backlash at the absurdity of it all.

In the end, she only nodded.

"But I may train you. In time."

Mayumi nodded again, not moving her eyes from the detritus below her, on the forest floor. "I will hope that I am up to the task."

She couldn't help but almost cry again. No. No more weakness. I have to be strong. I have to carry on I live alone now. I have to be strong to carry the burdens of my barangay. My… family.

"Your family will always be with you," said Dakila. She tilted her head up to see a starfly flutter down to Dakila's outstretched finger, twinkling astral blue light, before hopping off. "You only need to remember."

The Voice of the Forest slowly receded from her senses, as if being dr.a.p.ed over by some sort of sound-dampening gossamer that removed it from her immediate surroundings. She suddenly felt a sense of longing as the childish, playful chants and hums of the Voice of the Forest receded from her world. Growing quieter and quieter until…

Until it was so quiet that she couldn't hear it anymore, yet she knew it was still there. The Voice of the Forest hummed in such a frequency that strummed the very strings of her soul. She suddenly missed her four string buktot.

"I must go," said the tamawo, suddenly. "The Forest has blessed us with her voice. She favors us. This is good. I will not enter into Biringan without fulfilling my oath of bringing you safely to Pinagsama, so I am cut off from my most immediate blessings. I pray to Bu-an that this should suffice."

"Where are you going?" Mayumi asked, stopping herself from jumping up to her feet. She resisted the urge to ask him to not go as well. "Wh-where must you go?"

"It is morning," said Dakila, staring straight into her. Light flashed, a brilliant scintilla erupting from his hand. And then suddenly, there was that thin, long, curving sword in his grip. "Let us break our fast."

"Let me go with you," she said, almost desperate. She had slept with the kampilan strapped to her back, so she reached back and pulled it out. The blade was too long for her to pull out fully, and so she had to pull it out at an odd angle. "I have weapons. I can fight."

"You have weapons you do not know how to use. You can fight, but not well."

"I have trained under Datu Sariman himself. Let me go with you." And with a scowl, Mayumi stood her ground. Angas ripped himself away from the dance of the starflies, now disenchanted from the Voice of the Forest, but nonetheless definitely still hearing it. He hopped up onto Mayumi's shoulder and – Mayumi blessed the little civet – growled at the tamawo warrior.

Dakila, apparently, found this slightly amusing. For for the first time since she'd met him, the tamawo smiled. A slight smile, yet it was an expression. Mayumi couldn't help but soften up, suddenly her stance faltering. She managed a smiled as well, the tension bundling her muscles together relaxed.

"You may ask what is funny," said Dakila. "It is the fact that you think you may stand up to me and have a chance."

Mayumi blinked. Caught off guard, she took a step back. "I… No." She shook her head. Is this man going to be this insufferable for the rest of our time together? "No. I will go with you. We hunt together. You will train me to become a better fighter."

Dakila stared at her once again, his eyes starlit eyes still ripping into her. The tamawo's eyes glided over to Angas. Mayumi could see the leaves falling from the branches, and the intense gaze of the tamawo looked like he could cut through one of those falling leaves if he looked at it hard enough.

Finally, Dakila breathed through his nose. "Very well." He inhaled once again. "I apologize. What I've said seems to have troubled you. Let us go. The Sun dictates our time." He turned around and strode over to a corner of the clearing, plunging into the thick shadows of the trees. Mayumi sighed. The young girl grabbed the hard, narrawood bow from the root and ran after him.

He wasn't running. Instead, he had gone through the shadow between the trees and stopped before a pond. Mayumi stopped in her tracks, and slipped down a very innocent incline. Angas leapt off of her to steady himself.

Dakila knelt before the pond, cupping water to his lips. He didn't gesture for Mayumi to come down and partake, but she did anyway. She got down to her knees and cupped water, bringing it closer to her lips. The water was clear, fresh and unpolluted. As the clean water coursed through her and rejuvenated her, Mayumi's eyes lit up. She no longer felt sleepy and didn't feel like she was trudging through that strange in-between murkiness of sleep and unsleep.

Angas had partaken of it as well, and immediately he drank more and more, lapping furiously at the water.

"This pond comes from a creek that breaks away from the Bokosan," Mayumi heard Dakila beside her. "It is especially clean – water diwata take care of it very well, and bless it in the name of the God of the Seas."

"Ama-ni-Kable?" Mayumi lifted her head away from the pond, scooping up and gulping one last cup of water. As she finished, she wiped at her mouth with her b.a.r.e arm and turned to Dakila.

The tamawo did not answer, but rather, gave her a slight glint of approval. "This pond is blessed. It heals us. We are rejuvenated." He turned around, eyeing a narrow pathway cutting through the thick trees of the forest. "Prey awaits."

"Have you spotted one?"

The tamawo shrugged. "It shall be easy during the morning. Let us hope for something large, such as a boar. Those always make delicious meals, and if we ration our food right, it can last us the entire journey to Pinagsama."

"I am not a heavy eater…" said Mayumi. "Rice and fish is my usual diet."

The tamawo still stared at that narrow pathway. "You will not have that until we arrive safely in Pinagsama. Until then, you must make do with pork."

Mayumi nodded, despite Dakila not looking at her. "I will."

"Good. Now follow."

Dakila moved. He still ran, but without his preternatural tamawo speed. His footfalls were like feathers cascading down onto stone. Mayumi followed suit, brandishing the kampilan beside her. Her muscles showed a bit, undefined, yet there underneath a layer of soft fat. She dashed after the tamawo through the narrow pathway, b.a.r.e feet smashing detritus, ducking underneath branches, vaulting over fallen vines and thick roots. The blaze of the dawn penetrated the thick canopy now, orange bathing green. She cut through a thick vine, following Dakila still, and slid underneath a large, arching root. When she got up, she found herself staring at something that she had rarely seen during the time she had lived in the barangay.

The pathway continued on, the tamawo standing in the middle of it, crouched down low and looking at them with a finger to his lips. Mayumi just stood and watched the swaying, thick trunked firetrees. Their leaves of conflagrating browns and yellows and orange and limes, flames conjured from the depths of elemental chaos, their trunks pure white as ivory, their roots and trunks thick and stable.

She stood in awe as the firetrees swayed, and as the fireleaves fluttered to the ground, failing flames.

Dakila turned around and moved in a sudden burst of speed. In the next instant he was in front of Mayumi, pressing her back to the thick root. "Hide!" He snarled in a low whisper.

She saw Angas there, underneath the arch, a low growl rolling from his throat.

Mayumi followed, hiding underneath the arch, and expected Dakila to do the same. Instead, he turned around and opened his left hand; a green flame erupted from it.

And that was when the earth shook.