A chilly wind whips against me, sending shivers across my skin. I exhale sharply and pull up my hood, not taking my eyes off the distant shores beneath the cliffs. There's been no signs of movement, no signs of possible pursuers. I still refuse to relax. The stone beneath me might as well be ice, but I still don't move. After having my night ruined by a new nightmare, I won't return to the stifling confines of the cave. If anything, I'm keeping watch by sitting outside here. My coat blends into the gray-brown and white landscape around me, so I shouldn't have any worries.

   Amidst the whistling wind, a small crunch of snow makes itself known. I whirl around, hackles raised, only to relax when I see it's Melva.

   "Len? I was wonderin' where ya went." She approaches me with a raised brow. "I thought Alejo was supposed to be takin' the last watch before sunrise."

   "He was, but I took it for him." I clench my fists as Melva gives me a disapproving look. "I-I couldn't sleep, okay? I was..." My knees pull up to my chest, and I hunch forwards to rest my arms atop them.

   "I thought Aedia was helpin' with the nightmares?"

   "She does, but n-not all of them are helped, especially not the one I just had." Deep breaths, I need to breathe if I want to discuss this rationally... "I-it was about... Rayne." Slowly, I tell Melva what I saw, unconsciously sketching in the snow with my finger as I do so. Rayne's small body slowly coming apart, piece by piece, torn away by black hands with nails like scalpels. All the while, I lay watching in a pool of my own blood as more of those hands gouge at my stomach. Completely helpless to stop it, even though I know I can if I just fight hard enough. "It was still my fault... I-I know I couldn't have saved those other children, but I could've saved her." My eyes burn, and my hands futilely try to wipe away the tears leaking from them.

   "Kid—"

   "And I was going to end up just like them, a-a damn experiment for him to toy with!" Rage burns through me, though it hardly dampens the sorrow that still wrings tears from my eyes. "H-he took her apart, Melva! He broke her down like a piece of meat, and I didn't do anything to stop him! The sounds, the smells, it was like watching Vio die all over again, I can't—" My body seizes as arms envelop me, but I recognize their hold and lean into them, continuing to cry. "I'm so sorry, Melva... I-I shouldn't be crying."

   She shakes her head. "Don't be sorry. I know I didn't give ya any time when I got ya outta that cell, so get whatever ya need to out. I'm right here."

   When did she become so caring? Had I finally broken her down with my years of instability and pain? Guilt floods me, but I force it back as I rest my head against Melva's shoulder. No, this sympathy isn't because I wore her down, she chose to be like this. For that, overwhelming appreciation and gratitude fills me, but it's brief as reality returns and hits harder than before. The reason we're even in this situation in the first place...

   "Why did things have to turn out this way? Why did Bondrewd have to be such an awful person? I-I thought we had something! I thought I had found someone who shared my passion for the Abyss, a mentor who was a White Whistle. All his notes and lessons were a distraction from those thoughts that kept beating at me day in and out! That's what hurts the most, and I hate that it does! Why does that hurt more than the fact he's slaughtered so many children?"

   Melva's silent for a moment, but then the corner of her mouth lifts in a bittersweet smirk. "A mentor, eh?"

   My stomach jolts, mouth falling open. "N-no, that's not what I meant! My apologies, I—"

   "I know what ya mean, kid. Don't worry..." A heavy sigh escapes her. "I just didn't think he really meant that much to ya."

   He had, far more than I'd realized at first. And what did I receive in turn for my interest and curiosity? Yet another slap in the face. The irony causes a pit in my gut, sinking with the last of my tears. "I-it doesn't matter now," I mutter bitterly, pulling away from Melva and wiping my eyes. "What matters is what he did, what he was going to keep doing. Since there seems to be no justice in this world, telling the guild will do nothing but hurt us."

   She scoffs. "An' that's fine, let him die without a word. People like 'im need to die without fanfare."

   That's true, but uncertainty churns in my stomach. We're still running for a reason. "He may be dead, but the Umbra and Praying Hands... Nobody has shown up all night, and I'm glad about that. Still, I don't know about the others, but I have a feeling Enri won't give up so easily."

   "If we get to the Third Layer without seein' 'em again, I think we'll be in the clear. They have more technology than us, so if they wanted to find us, they would've by now."

   "Unless they take that elevator straight to the surface and wait for us there..."

   Melva's brow furrows. "Then I'll kill whoever I halfta to keep them from touchin' ya. You're gonna make it up there an' see Llyr again, I mean it."

   How many times has she said that by now? At first I could dismiss it as her stubbornness, but now she's genuinely starting to concern me. "What are you going to do, though? If none of that happens and we're safe, what about you?" That's when Melva really pauses, thinks. I don't break my gaze with her.

   "I dunno... Not like I can go back to drinkin' in good conscience, so I gotta make somethin' of myself." She smiles sheepishly, a strange look on her. "Hell, since I'm apparently half-decent with teachin' considerin' how good of a Delver ya turned out to be, I might go see if Sibil needs help at Belchero. She can't teach those kids forever, an'... She deserves to know 'bout Vio. I've been a damn coward not tellin' her before."

   That relief returns, another weight lifting from my shoulders to spite everything else. "I'm sure she'd appreciate it..."

   "Yeah." Melva gets to her feet, exhaling sharply. "Y-yeah, she would." There's silence for a few moments, only the wind filling the empty air. She then holds out a hand to me. "C'mon, let's go back inside. It's gettin' too light for my likin' if we wanna get an early start." Although I'm filled with a whirlwind of emotions, it doesn't stop me from giving her a thankful smile as I take her hand. She's right. No matter what, we have to get back to the surface, and I'll fight the whole way up.

   The fire has guttered down to embers in the time we've been outside, hardly giving off any heat. It's as good a time as any to wake Alejo and Iann, and I do it before Melva can. Iann's slow to wake while Alejo winces as his eyes open, clearly discomforted.

   "So this has been what it's like to sleep on the ground? It's awful..." He sits up and rubs his side.

   "Well, get used to it since this is gonna be some of the best we're gonna get," Melva replies as she takes to her bag and digs through it. "Be lucky we didn't freeze to death since the fire ran out." She pulls out ration bars and hands them out. "Eat quick, an' after we'll pack up an' go."

   With a sigh, Alejo nods before glancing at me. "How are you feeling, Len?"

   "Aching and tired, but I can push through it."

   "I think he means your stomach," Iann says, giving me a narrow-eyed look. Is he joking? It's already bad enough that I have Melva and Alejo on me about this...

   "It hurts, like everything else. Check it if you need to, but it's not as though staying here is a good idea even if we don't have to worry about being found. There's hardly any resources besides snow, and we're lucky some creature hasn't found us instead."

   "You're damn lucky you're right," Melva sighs.

   Despite my statement, I give myself over to be examined again. It seems the only inflammation now is from physical strain; the penicillin has worked its medical magic again thankfully. Alejo ensures the integrity of the stitches before forcing me to wear a new wrap of bandages that feel even tighter than before. I bite my tongue and don't complain, knowing it's for my own good. Finally, we pack up and abandon camp just as the air fully brightens, making sure to bury any remnants of our fire.

   "So we're aiming for the Fourth Layer today?" Alejo asks, and Melva nods.

   "We can get lost easier in the greenery there, though the curse is gonna be a bitch..."

   "I actually have an idea concerning that," I chime in. "While we were climbing yesterday, I noticed some thinner patches in the mist that makes up the curse. The curse also tends to feel weaker around the outer walls of the Abyss, so if we take both those elements into account, we could feasibly ascend with less casualties."

   "But it can't be escaped completely," Alejo says. He startles a little when he realizes Iann is staring directly at Alejo with a furrowed brow.

   "I can take it. I lost almost all my baby teeth on the stairs when I used to fall down them, an' I read the notes Bondrewd has about the Fourth Layer. I can handle pain, I've hurt a lot during my life already!"

   But it's not simply a matter of being strong enough to endure the pain. Even Alejo seems to understand that fact despite never experiencing the curse there before. Blood loss is blood loss, and whether it's all at once or the same amount throughout a single day, it will still take its toll on all of us. I desperately wrack my mind for ideas. Bandages aren't enough to stop the bleeding, we need to find a way to clot things so it'll naturally stop. But what can speed up the natural clotting process, or at least assist with clotting in itself? As even more dread for the near future starts to well up in me, I suddenly recall something.

   "Wait..." My brows lift. "What was it again? Ya... Yarrow, I believe?"

   Alejo frowns. "Yarrow?"

   "Yes, yarrow." The more I dig at the name, the clearer it becomes. Over a year ago, I recall reading with Llyr, or rather listening to him organize his stacks of notes about flora. He mentioned yarrow as a plant that readily stops bleeding, but he hadn't come across it in Orth besides the odd traveling ship caravan, likely because of the growing conditions and how it would only be available to the loftiest of Black and White Whistles if it could be sold commercially. I relay this to the others, though Melva and Alejo don't seem hopeful.

   "I'm glad the stick has the knowledge, but we're still in the same place if we can't get it 'ere."

   "I'm not finished," I retort. "Llyr had said we can't get it on the surface, but he estimated that yarrow can be found near the bottom of the Fourth Layer because of the growing conditions he's heard of from Black Whistles that visited the shop. Even then, there's alternatives. Burnet roots, nettle leaves, pyrola could work even better since it can help with internal bleeding, and that's where the majority of the curse attacks."

   A smirk curls up the corner of Melva's mouth. "Ya might be onto somethin' kid! What do these plants look like?"

   "That's the thing!" I laugh breathlessly. "I-I don't know!"

   Collective silence, and then an exasperated "Len..." from Melva.

   "Okay, I can recall some details," I say. "With yarrow, we're looking for tiny yellow flowers in clusters that grow on stalks, and pyrolas have tall reddish stalks with pink buds. It's not exact, but we can pick up what we find along the way and decide later when it comes down to it."

   "I don't know," Alejo mutters unsurely. "If it comes to Iann, I don't want to—"

   "It can be a failsafe," I say, looking from him to Melva. Meanwhile, Iann looks completely on-board with the idea, though we admittedly don't pay him mind during this. "If what I proposed before doesn't work, we can fall back on this, and it's better than nothing, isn't it?"

   Melva shakes her head. "Nah, nah, ya don't halfta convince me. If it has a chance of helpin', I won't fight ya on it. But before any of ya use it, we'll do it on me, an' it'll be before we ascend. I'll slice my finger, an' we can test it. Best case, it works an' we use it. Worst case... Guess I'll be losin' my pinky."

   Now I'm the unsure one, my blood running cold at the idea of someone losing a limb, even if it's just a finger. "Melva—"

   "It's either that or we go in with nothin', 'cause I ain't lettin' any of ya test it. I ain't drinkin' it, I'm doin' it on a part that won't be bad to lop off if need be if it goes wrong. It's why we risked leavin' your knee intact when you lost your leg... losin' somethin' but less than it could be is better than losin' it all." She looks at me with a firm but pleading gaze. Our gaze is broken when Alejo clears his throat.

   "I can do it as well if need be, I-I have two intact pinky fingers as well," he says, though he looks ashen at his own offer. I'm just shocked and sadly grateful that he would be willing to test things out as well.

   "Okay, I'll accept that. I'll offer my fingers to the pool as well, but I'll do all I can to recall information. We're only looking for plants of this variety that clearly stand out in some way. I know I can't get down to the level of recalling whether the serrated-looking edges of a leaf should be pointing inwards or outwards, that's always been Llyr's wheelhouse."

   "Yeah, I'll accept that," Melva says with a nod, and I'll accept it as well. We all have to be willing to put something on the line; I refuse to have sacrifices be done just for me. I'll only say otherwise when it comes to Iann's safety. With that established, we push on to the world above, not daring to look back at the dark stain of Idofront.

—~*~—

I never thought I'd be so happy to feel humidity.

   It settles over me, tacky and uncomfortable, but it's heavenly compared to the icy snap of the Fifth Layer's winds. It was like walking through a transition from winter to spring before my eyes, greenery forcing itself from the dirt and snow, quickly growing into the lush fullness of summer. We clamber out from the final part of the shaft separating the layers, and the world opens up to us on all sides, consumed in plantlife. A ring of white flowers gathers at the edge of the shaft, as if desiring the remaining cold air but needing the lush ground to still grow. The sky now hangs with a misty blue, the air growing murky beneath soaring flat-creepers.

   I take a breath, and then, so full of warmth and an odd sense of comfort. I can see Iann trying to focus on keeping up with us, but he still couldn't help but gawk at everything. In amazement, he pulls handfuls of the white flowers, looking at them closely. Smiling to myself, I allow him to bind a few clumps together with some twine and store them in a pocket of my backpack for later examination. I'm already putting my coat away in there, so what's the harm of putting flowers in there as well? I can't begrudge someone wanting to study aspects of the Abyss.

   Does he even recall what a world without snow even looks like? What flowers really are? He was so young when he was brought down here that it could all be a distant or absent memory. Those thoughts let me humor him as he looks at more plants further away from the shaft and keeps me from urging him to pay attention, though Alejo does it instead.

   "But look at this thing, it looks like that potato thing you mentioned once! We could cook it tonight or somethin'." Iann holds up a strange-looking fruit that had been attached to a hanging stalk a moment ago. To his credit, it does resemble a potato.

   "Potatoes are supposedly roots, meaning they grow underground. I wouldn't trust that at all!" Alejo then takes the fruit from Iann and throws it aside. It bursts on the ground with a wet plop, spilling soggy pink petals out in a fan around it. A groan of disgust leaves him, and I can't help but wince.

   Iann stares at the splayed-out bloom, nose wrinkling. "Ew..." is all he mutters before wiping his hands off on his sweater and hurrying to my side.

   "Okay, okay, let's head for the western most point 'ere," Melva says, and I agree. This likely means we'll miss the field of Eternal Fortunes, but I oddly don't mind it. Those petals are stained with more than just my blood, but the bittersweet memories that drip down and fester in the ground like roots. I don't think I can ever return there again without crying.

   "Wait, Len, can you tell us everything you know about those plants you mentioned?" Alejo asks. "We can look for them on the way a-along with hopefully something to eat?" He looks sheepish, and I smile while Melva snickers.

   "After that, you're hungry? You're just as bad as the klutz!" She laughs as my face warms. "I guess it's been a few hours, an' I did promise a real meal tonight. Don't worry, Len an' I know exactly what to look for when it comes to food 'ere. Just give us a couple nice ponds to look in, an' we'll find something good."

   Admittedly Silverswimmer sashimi isn't on my palate right now, but we could sear it if we find a thin and flat enough stone to burn a fire beneath. We could also do that with Shroom-Bear meat... I snap myself out of it before my mouth can start watering, not looking for Melva to embarass me more.

   We trudge through the grass, heading into a more open field where the grass reaches halfway up our legs. There's no room for shrubs here, it seems, and the ground is mercifully level. I'd be wary of how open and peaceful it seems if it weren't for one factor. With every step we take, bugs bearing a blue luminescence dart up from the grass and flutter away, their six wings making a light but whistling buzz as they scatter. Every movement stirs more, and soon the air is filled with them.

   "They have so many wings!" Iann gasps with awe, and Alejo stares up at them with shock and awe of his own. I extend my hand out into the air, and one of the bugs lands in my palm. It reminds me more of a dragonfly than a firefly, though it's due to the long, thin body needed to carry its wings.

   "Never seen anythin' like this before, not even when we were headin' down." Melva looks at me. "You, kid?"

   "I haven't seen anything like this recorded in any literature," I say, feeling a twinge of sadness when the bug leaves my hand and joins the glowing swarm. "It could just be yet another unnamed species that dwells down here."

   Melva arches a brow, smirking. "They don't halfta be unnamed."

   I give a small but amused smile, and I take a moment to think. "Azure Depthflies?" I say jokingly, and Melva shrugs.

   "Sure, why not?"

   "I hope they haven't already been named for your sake," Alejo says with a smile. "Every White Whistle needs to have some discoveries under their belt, and some deserve them more than others."

   A somber air settles heavily over our group then, but I alleviate it with an appreciative look and nod. I may have been able to have my findings recognized at some point, put down in a book and distributed for all to read and hear. But now considering things, I doubt that would be possible, at least if I try to use my name on those findings. Regardless, I'll still carry them in the vaults of my mind, and I let the Depthflies paint glowing trails in the air that I will happily allow to be forever seared into my mind's eye.

   Eventually we leave the field behind and make it to a more dense treeline more characteristic of the Fourth Layer, though the trees grow largely and wildly. Melva and I break out our headlamps, one of which I give to Alejo while I use Life Seeker, and I bring out our glowstone lantern for Iann to hold. We're more readily on-guard here, keeping an ear out for the moment the sounds of wildlife drop out. Thankfully, our passage here is peaceful as well, with Iann only jumping at a Shroom-Bear that darted through the bushes beside him. It's a good omen in terms of finding food, at least, though none of the plants I hope to find are among the ground-laying flora.

   "If we find a clearin' or if these trees go up to the outer edge, we could probably make camp for the night in 'em," Melva suggests.

   "Are we gonna be rock-climbing again when we have to go up?" Iann asks as he jumps over a thin stream I had been able to cross in a single long stride.

   "Hopefully not... We'll just have to see where we can ascend the safest, though that'll be a worry for us tomorrow." I have to admit that my stomach is beginning to ache more painfully, both from hunger and again from overexertion. All I have to do is give Melva a glance before she understands and starts looking further out into the trees for a place we can settle down in.

   Our shelter for the night soon reveals itself as a hollow beneath a tree whose roots had partially torn free from the ground, creating a natural shelter. Even better, it isn't too far from that stream, so we have a source of running water. We make sure there are no signs of animal activity in and around the tree before setting our things down.

   "Let me guess, I'm staying here with Iann while you and Alejo go hunting?" I arch an eyebrow and sigh when I receive the looks I'm expecting, spiting the pain in my stomach. "My apologies, but I don't believe he even knows how to hunt!"

   "That's why I'm gonna teach 'im," Melva replies, to which Alejo shrugs.

   "Honestly I don't want to hunt. But if it's for the good of all of us, then I'll do it."

   I wince, guilt needling me at how harsh my comment was despite the apology. "I suppose it's for the best... I-I just don't want to seem like dead weight because of my injury."

   Melva frowns and shakes her head. "You know you're not, so don't even say ya are. Besides, you an' Iann are in charge of gettin' a fire goin', so ya still have somethin' to do." She pulls a net from her bag and slings it over her shoulder. "We won't be gone for long, hopefully. We'll be back before dark for sure."

   "I'll hold you to that," I say with a nod. With that, we split up again, Melva and a more reluctant Alejo vanishing into the trees.

   I sit there for a few minutes with Iann, neither of us saying anything. There's no awkwardness between us, rather at the fact we've again been left behind either because of our age or our health. The sounds of nature fill our silence instead, distant birds cawing while something chitters in the branches of a tree nearby. I almost forgot how beautiful the ambience of nature is, just how inorganic and alien the winding chambers of Idofront were. Like the vessels and chambers of a dark heart, wrung of true life and instead artificially powered. But being out here, it's relieving, revitalizing. I almost start to fall into a lull of relaxation, only to be startled as Iann jumps to his feet and gives me a wide grin.

   "Wanna race to see who can find the most wood the fastest?"

   I blink, surprised, before chuckling. It takes a moment to muster the energy to get back to my feet. "Only within sight of the campsite. We've been fortunate to not come across anything dangerous yet, and I'd rather keep us on that good streak. The Fourth Layer is off-limits to lower whistle ranks for a reason."

   "I'll stay close, don't worry," Iann reassures. "Okay, you feelin' ready? Let's see how much we can get in five minutes."

   "That sounds good, and I am," I say with a playful smile.

   "Then ready, set, go!" He runs into the trees, and I follow behind him at a more casual pace. It doesn't take long to catch up with him anyways.

   For the next few minutes I gather wood alongside Iann, though I'm more preoccupied with keeping an eye on him. I've already decided I'd let him win, but I still gather what I can to keep up the illusion I'm still in the race. The kid actually has a good eye for what kind of wood to collect, instantly tossing aside anything remotely damp to clamber for dead, dry wood and pulling back bark to make sure. He must have looked at the survival books Bondrewd had written, though Iann doesn't seem to grasp the difference between hard and softwood, as he grabs more of the latter instead of the former.

   Eventually, the time runs out, and Iann rushes back to the campsite with an armful of wood. I trail back with a few small logs tucked under both arms, the kind of wood that when more properly cut will sustain a fire for hours. Of course Iann brags about his much larger pile of sticks, and I let him enjoy his victory as I use them alongside Bronze Spark to light a fire just outside our shelter. We won't have to worry much about keeping warm tonight.

   As bright embers start reaching for the leaves above, a loud rustle in the distance catches our attention. We huddle in the shelter, waiting, only emerging when we see Melva and Alejo. Melva wears a self-satisfied smirk, holding the net clearly stuffed with something over one shoulder while Alejo is at her side, fighting an eager expression.

   "Let me guess: Shroom-Bear?" I ask.

   "That an' more. We followed the stream to its source, an' we found some Demonfish." Melva let down the nest, showing off their bounty. A decently large Shroom-Bear lays deceased alongside a trio of Demonfish, each one half the length of my arm with flesh to compensate, having spent their lives feeding on the lush underwater growth of the Fourth Layer.

   "We also found these?" Alejo shows off an armful of plants, consisting of the starchy white roots we had ages ago along with a few apple-sized fruits colored purple like plums but with white spots near their bottoms. They could have been mistaken for mold, but Llyr had mentioned those fruits a few times in the past, saying they were ripest and sweetest when those spots emerged. "I wanted to mix these with the fish, but Melva said that would ruin the flavor..."

   "That's incredible!" I exclaim, my mouth again preemptively watering.

   Iann's eyes widen at the sight. "Wait, those are Demonfish? They look awesome! How're we gonna cook them?"

   "We can roast them, bake them, perhaps stew them if we have any salt left over?" The possibilities are nearly endless if we do this right. Despite the lack of culinary expertise between all of us, I have no doubt in my mind we'll guarantee these come out as perfect as we can make them. With the fire crackling away, roasting emerges as the best idea.

   "Okay, so my friend showed me how to clean these bastards, an' I can do it pretty well." Melva lays a washed-off Demonfish on a cutting board we brought and begins descaling it, Alejo watching intently from nearby. Meanwhile, Iann and I get to work washing and preparing the starchy roots to be slow-roasted beside the fire. I set the apple-like fruits to soak in a pot of cool water, trying to lower their temperature so they'll be more refreshing to bite into.

   "Wait, you don't keep the organs in?" Alejo questions, and the look Melva gives him in return would have made me believe she ate lemon whole if I didn't overhear the context.

   "No? Why the hell would ya do that?"

   Alejo stares blankly for a moment before scrambling to save face. "I-I read that organs can be consumed? Like liver and onions, though that sounds vile..."

   "Because it is!" Melva exclaims. "People really eat some weird shit sometimes."

   "Well, you can apply the slime membrane from a Demonfish's liver to other food to preserve it for longer if we don't have salt to dry it with," I chime in.

   Melva squints at me, her lip curling up in pure bafflement. "How the hell do ya know that, but ya burned toast almost every other day back home?"

   "Reading does not mean personal experience!" I protest, face going red.

   "I remember my dad cooking deer heart back home..." Iann muses. "I don't think it was too bad if I don't remember being grossed-out by it."

   Melva scoffs. "I ate some awful shit back when I lived in Austerre, an' I have no plans on eatin' anythin' like it again." She punctuates her point by chopping off the head of the Demonfish, making Alejo jolt back in surprise and awe.

   "Th-that was such a clean cut!"

   A snicker spills from Melva as she smirks. "I know, thanks." She slides the fish head aside, where it falls from the cutting board into a pot. We'll simmer the head in water with some chopped herbs over a low fire once we're finished cooking everything else. Fish-head soup isn't my favorite, but it'll be more flavorful when we add the Shroom-Bear bones and Water Shrooms to simmer as well, and we can bottle the soup for a few days and take it with us. At this rate, anything's better than ration bars. "Okay, you're gonna descale the next one."

   "I am?" Alejo frowns with uncertainty.

   "Don't you want to try making all that food you read about?" I smile encouragingly. "Not everyone can make what you want in the way you want, so that's when you make it yourself to your tastes." That seems to spur Alejo, and he returns my smile.

   "Then I'll give it a try."

   Alejo takes to descaling and gutting fish like that Demonfish had once taken to water, to my surprise. He only misses a few small spots, and he hardly needs direction when it comes to the Shroom-Bear. Melva and I watch in amazement while Iann is now the one being shown the process; I suppose his medical experience helps him navigate easier when it comes to stripping skin and removing the organs intact.

   While we watch, I glimpse Melva taking a deep breath. Her look turns melancholic for only a moment before she smiles again, and my heart twists in an odd mixture of sadness and joy. We don't need to speak to know we're thinking of the same thing, and we pick up where Iann and I left off at the fire.

   With the fish and Shroom-Bear cleaned, they're skewered and set to roast over the fire as the roots sit buried in separate hot coals for a slower but deeper roasting. While I wish I could sit and savor the resulting scent like the others, I make it my dutiful job to flip the fish whenever they need it. I still have ground Eternal Fortunes in my bag, and I'm sure to sprinkle some of it on the fish. If only we had some kind of citrus-like fruit like a lemon that I could add as well... I remember both Father and Aedia adding lemon to fish, and the result was to die for. Still, the Eternal Fortunes seem to do their job, and a rich, salted flavor joins the scent of roasted fish.

   "Okay, I believe they're finished!" I announce, careful when taking the skewers off the fire. The fish are a tad crispier than they should be, but the Shroom-Bear meat is cooked all the way through. Thankfully they're all more than salvageable, and I divvy the food up along with the roots, each of us getting one. The skin turned smoky and hard in the fire, but slicing into them reveals a soft interior that can be easily mashed with a fork and flavored with seasonings.

   "Shit, this looks amazin'..." Melva says breathlessly, tearing away a piece of fish filet with her fork. She doesn't hesitate to start eating while Alejo looks more... hesitant? No, it's not that.

   "What's wrong?" I ask, and he jolts a little at the sound of my voice.

   "Nothing! I just... I still can't believe this is happening. I honestly never thought I'd have this opportunity, and although everything that has happened up to this point feels like a nightmare, this feels like a dream, almost." He glances at Iann and looks surprised to see he's not eating either.

   "I'm not eatin' until ya do, Uncle Alejo. We all said we'd try surface food together!"

   Alejo winces. "It's not exactly surface food—"

   "Just eat it already!" Melva exclaims. "Or else I'm takin' it from ya." Her sly grin spurs Alejo to finally try the fish. Iann takes the chance to dive in as well, and his reaction is immediate and expected, still to my amusement.

   "This is awesome! It's crunchy, but like a good crunchy? It doesn't grind down to sand after a couple seconds too!" He takes another mouthful, brows furrowing. "What was wrong with Bondrewd that he didn't find a way to farm these things?"

   Before I can ponder on whether it's possible to farm fish, I turn my attention back to Alejo. He's completely quiet, eyes closed as he seems to dwell on every small bite he takes. I expected a more vocal reaction from him as well, so I can't help but feel tense at the silence. I can't tell whether he likes or despises it. As we all look at him in confusion, he finally responds to us.

   "M-my apologies for not saying anything... I'm taking my time, trying to fully commit this moment to my mind." He opens his eyes, and small tears bead in their corners. "I never want to forget this."

   "Conversation makes the memory stick more," I say with a smile, and he looks sheepish as he nods.

   "See?" Iann grins smugly. "Now we tried it together, an' we can talk about it."

   "I know, I know, you don't need to tell me either!"

   "Too late!"

   I chuckle and dig into my own portion. Real food after weeks of ration bars is already amazing, but sharing it with a group somehow makes it taste even better. We exchange conversation throughout the meal, Melva's remarks as snappy as the fish's crisped skin and the stories we tell of previous cooking endeavors as rich as the seasoned mashed roots. For that short time, everything feels... okay. I don't worry about anything, and I let the moment carry me. I'm sure the others feel the same.

   Once we finish picking bones clean, a slower, more definite feeling of relaxation falls over us. I pass out the fruits, and we either take to cleaning, resting, or doing idle activities. Well, it's more like Melva and I clean while Alejo analyzes the flavors of the fruit and Iann examines the bundles of flowers he picked earlier.

   "Honestly, I think we can afford to stay a couple days 'ere if things go well tonight," Melva notes. "If anyone's actually after us, they'd probably think we'd just be makin' a break for the surface. We need a better opportunity to just sit an' recover, an' we can keep lookin' for those plants too."

   "I didn't see anything resembling what Len described while we were out hunting, unfortunately," Alejo says with a sigh, taking another bite of his fruit. His expression becomes more pensive. "If this is that 'sweet' flavor, I guess that means dinner counts as 'savory?'"

   Iann shrugs. "I didn't see any either. There's lots of other cool flowers though, but they probably can't help us."

   "In that case, I agree with sticking around." I heave a deep, audible sigh. "I truly don't want to risk what the ascent may do to us, especially if anything finds us while we're recovering. Praying Hand or not, it's still a risk, and the last thing we need after us is an Orb Piercer... But tomorrow we can leave camp a bit further to search." I make sure to continue the conversation before any mention of that cursed creature can bring it to a halt.

   "Too bad these aren't one of those flowers." Iann tugs some of the flowers aside to observe the stems. "These have really thin, tall red stems like ya mentioned, but the flowers are white, not pink. The leaves are a cool shape, though. They look like fat water droplets."

   I pause at this, glancing over at Iann. Something about that leaf description strikes a familiar chord with me. "Can I look at those with you, Iann?"

   "Yeah, you let me put them in your bag after all." He holds out a small cluster to me, and I leave the pot I was cleaning with Melva to take a look. I take one of the flowers in hand, examining it closely. Now that I'm really looking at them, I notice several flowers growing on each stem, clustered near the top while the leaves are situated near the bottom. They definitely do look like wide water droplets, and this gets my mind going even more.

   Curious, I push one of the bloom's petals aside, only for my eyes to widen. Their undersides have a distinctly pink tinge to them. I gather the petals with my fingers and pull them upwards, trying to simulate how they would have looked before blooming. Pink buds.

   "Iann..." My voice is hesitant, unsure if I'm correct. He looks at me. "I-I believe you may have found something after all."

   "Wait, what?" Melva looks over as well, confused.

   Now I need to say it. "If I'm not mistaken, I believe this is actually pyrola." I hold up one of the stems. "Llyr noted pink buds, but I can't remember the colors of the flowers themselves. Otherwise, the descriptions match up."

   Melva almost tosses a pot aside as she hurries over to us, and Alejo joins as well. "Then let's test it! What do ya do with these things?"

   A bit of nervous excitement starts to rise in me, tainted by concern since I don't fully trust this plant. "I believe we need to remove the flowers, cut one of the ends of the stem, and flatten the stem. The juice that comes from it then can be applied to wounds or consumed to stop bleeding both internally and externally." I'm surprised to see Melva grab the now-clean cutting board so quickly. We also find a knife, and Melva pulls a small glass vial from her bag. It still doesn't cease to amaze me how she can fit so many random things in her bag and still find them all.

   "Allow me," Alejo offers, taking the job of wringing the juice from the stems via the flat end of the knife. We watch him squeeze a few large drops of the juice into the vial before repeating with a couple other stems. It takes about three stems to fill the vial with a bit of juice to spare.

   "Okay, my turn." Melva thankfully gets a different knife and washes it clean. I don't watch her inflict the wound, but it slices open the entirety of the fleshy pad of her left pinky finger. I can't help but grimace at the blood that starts leaking from it. "Hey, it needs to be enough that we can actually see it stop," she remarks when she sees my expression, wiping the blood from the cut.

   "I-I know, just—"

   "I'm bein' careful." She gives me a reassuring look before applying two drops of the juice to the cut. She doesn't react much, just blinking. "It stings a bit, but it ain't burnin' or anythin'. How long did the stick say it would..." She trails off, watching along with the rest of us as the blood seems to stop welling. We all wait a minute or two longer, and by then the blood has stopped for sure.

   Iann's eyes widen in amazement. "Did it work?"

   "It certainly seems to have," Alejo replies.

   Melva and I exchange looks. She holds up the knife, and I sigh inwardly. We both need another test before we can confirm for sure that it worked. After Melva bandages the first cut, she makes another, longer one on her right pinky. More blood issues forth, and she applies the juice again. It takes longer this time, almost two minutes compared to the previous one and few odd seconds, but the bleeding again stops. Now I'm the one to feel amazed, mouth falling open a little but no words coming out. Instead, Melva speaks for me.

  "Looks like we got it! Ya did good, kid."

   A breathless, relieved laugh leaves me, my gaze traveling to the remaining flowers. It wasn't me at all, and a melancholy appreciation fills me. I hope I can thank him in-person.

   Thank you, Llyr.