The pair proceeded on, crossing valleys by way of ancient bridges, wading through miles of tall grass and fording wide rivers. Ahanu’s hunting prowess and Makatai’s knowledge of edible vegetation kept them sustained through their journey, and as day and night ran their course the pair continued Ahanu’s training. He was, slowly but surely, becoming more proficient at forcing his soul’s energy through the blade. The leviathan steel allowed the energy to flow freely inside it, and so it was an excellent tool to begin teaching him with. Makatai had to admit, however, that Ahanu’s progress was nothing special at all. He could see why he hadn’t been picked for shaman training. Nonetheless he was slowly developing a better grasp as he went, and eventually Makatai would teach him to try and draw power from the Otherworld rather than just himself although that was still a long time away. For the time being Ahanu would have to be content with just practicing swinging the weapon around without breaking his focus and incorrectly channeling his energy.

As for Makatai himself, he had been trying his utmost to recreate the feeling he had felt at the time his tribe had been taken. That feeling of expanding his senses, reading his environment without needing to see it, was unlike anything he had ever known before. and yet no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t seem to replicate it to anywhere near the extent he had the last time. If he focused hard he could push the circle to the width of about ten meters at most, nowhere near the previous size, and so he turned to Noaidi for assistance. “As we travel and time passes, the dangers will only mount. Ghostshifts represent perfect unity between two souls, so we’ll become a lot more effective the more we use our abilities together and act as a cohesive unit. We shouldn’t fight separately either, as we did last time. Unison is crucial for an effective ghostshift according to your father’s research.”

As Ahanu worked on his own spiritual control, Makatai himself set about getting to grips with shaping two souls instead of one. He had done it unconsciously beforehand, but trying to do it manually was proving far harder than he had expected. Trying to lock Noaidi’s spiritual energy to match his own was excruciatingly difficult, the two flows of power seeming mostly incompatible. Makatai sighed, hoping desperately that this would ease itself out with practice. Thinking back to the power the rabbit had lent him he combed his mind and eventually managed to dredge it up from his memory, and he tried once more to incorporate it as he had done before.

To his excitement he felt the power once again to emerge in his legs. However, as this familiar feeling rose, he also felt an entirely irrational anxiety sweep over him. Ahanu swinging his axe in the background surprised him, causing him to scramble back in panic, and the wind rustling the leaves of a nearby tree caused him to whip his head around in shock and stare at it. Recovering himself, he tried desperately to bring that feeling under control and slowly but surely managed to. Makatai grimaced. That was going to be something to consider from now on, apparently. The rabbit had not only left him its powerful hind legs, but also some of its wilder instincts and characteristics. He would have to be very wary of that from now on.

He tried again, finding that after repeated attempts he could stabilise the feeling and begin to intertwine the two streams of spiritual energy (if only very loosely). He stood up and, trying to gauge the strength in his legs, gave a tentative hop off the ground. Where he would normally only have jumped ten or so centimeters, he instead ended up half a meter off the ground. He tried again, putting a little more effort into it, and leapt about a meter and a half.

Ahanu turned and took a seat, watching as Makatai played around the strength of his legs. A childish sense of freedom and elation started to fill him as he leapt left and right, each time a little higher until he jumped a little too far and lost control, crashing back down to earth and landing awkwardly on his elbow. This only served to remind him of the first time he had used his ghostshift, which in turn dragged the excitement away and replaced it with a grim cold feeling, that of grief and regret. He sat up and tried his best to fight the feeling with the knowledge that he was on a mission to restore things to how they were, but even still he felt guilty for allowing himself to forget.

Returning his attention to the task at hand, he found that he could also run considerably faster than usual, but began to tire far quicker. The sudden increase in power was doubtless putting a greatly increased strain on his body and so he would have to take it easier from now on. As a final test of his limits he ran toward the same tree that had startled him earlier and sprung toward the side, his boots hitting the bark as he connected. Pausing briefly, with the momentum keeping him against the tree, he kicked off again using the wood as a springboard and flying high into the air. He heard wood splinter behind him as he whirled in midair, spinning through the air like a soaring falcon, and just about managed to bring his feet around and under him before he hit the floor again. He stumbled forward, nearly overbalancing before straightening out, and turned around to look at the tree he had used as footing. A chunk was missing where he had rebounded, wood splinters and bits of bark scattered left and right. Ahanu had his eyebrows raised, clearly impressed by what he had just seen.

Makatai’s legs felt weak and he sat down on the grass, retaking his meditative position and closing his eyes again. With Noaidi’s energy beginning to match his own as they circulated, he found that he could push the boundary of the ring to about double that of what it was before, and with less resistance too. He could feel very faint traces of the spiritual energy of an ant colony, and could pick out each one from the rest. A bird and its chicks nested on the tree he had jumped from moments before, their souls standing out brightly against a black canvas.

Another night passed, and the pair kept going. They weren't far from the grove now, likely two days of travel at most, but despite the best efforts of the duo their supplies were starting to dwindle. Finding somewhere to resupply was becoming more and more important, especially since they only had one sleeping skin between them and no tent of any kind. Ahanu was also beginning to grow more and more desperate to at least send Aitya a message, and so the pair decided on trying to find a settlement on their way. Makatai remembered that there were quite a few in the general vicinity of the grove, having visited for training a few times, and so they kept their course in the hopes that they would find somewhere to stay soon.

It was still early in the day when, after pushing on and on through an especially sloping area of terrain, the smoke of a bonfire came into view in the far distance. Ahanu gave Makatai a grin and then the pair turned to head off in that direction, hoping to find a thriving settlement that they could spend the night in rather than another night on the floor. It had been almost two weeks, and the pair were craving some kind of normality for at least a few hours.

As they drew closer the origin of the smoke came into sight, and the two were slightly disappointed at what they saw. Rather than a bustling settlement they found a single tent, albeit a rather large one, and a campfire surrounded by logs sitting at the foot of a steep hill with a cave trailing out of sight into it. A figure sat at the campfire with its back to them, gazing into the flame, but despite the lack of tents the two decided to go and try to play to the hospitality of the individual anyway. As they came closer they could make out finer details of his appearance. Shaggy and dirty black hair with streaks of gray wreathed his head, alongside a headdress in the design of a deer with two short horns protruding from either side of his forehead. The stranger had a rather wiry and thin build, with an unkempt and matted beard framing his jaw.

He must have heard them approaching, because he flinched and spun round to face them, strangely tense, before seeing them and relaxing. Ahanu smiled and raised a hand in greeting, to show that they meant him no harm, and the older man’s face split into a wild grin as he motioned for the pair to join him. Makatai kept a neutral expression, watching the stranger carefully as he pulled two sticks with what looked to be chunks of meat on them out of a chest that sat outside of the tent and placed them over the fire. “Hello!” He called excitedly, beckoning again for them to sit and join him. “Hail, old one!” replied Ahanu, all too excited to finally sit and rest, and maybe sleep in warmth for once in too long. The two young men walked past him and, as they had their backs turned, failed to notice the manic glint in his eye as he gazed at Makatai hungrily.

The pair took a seat on a log opposite the old Navahoan. Ahanu, always the talker, spoke first. “So what brings you out here, elder?” “Ah! I’m a man of many trades, son. I’ve been all over! Many fingers in many pies. A little of this, a lot of that, a few of these and a couple of those. Nothing I’ve never tried before, and nothing I wouldn’t try in future. Keh ha ha ha!” The old man gave a raspy cackle before continuing. “Today, however, I come as merchant and messenger. Words to send and wares to sell, son! Keh ha ha ha!” The old man regarded both of them, one eye glimmering and visible through the hair that covered most of his face. “A messenger, you say?” Ahanu suddenly took more of an interest. “Where are your ravens?” “Have you a message to send, my boy? One moment, one moment…” The man stood up and vanished into his tent.

Makatai took the time to look around. They sat outside the mouth of a cave, with the dirt in the surrounding area being mainly exposed. Tracks cut through the dirt in many directions. Perhaps this was a commonly used path for merchants such as the old man. A minute or so passed and the merchant returned, carrying a birdcage, an ink pen and a piece of paper. “Hey, an ink pen! Where’d you pick that up?” Neither Ahanu or Makatai had ever used one before “This one’s from Hikarikage. You’ve got a good eye, son! I’ve been all over!” The old man cackled again at Ahanu before pulling out a vial of ink and pouring it into the back of the pen. He screwed it shut and handed it over alongside the paper, upon which Ahanu started to write.

He wrote about the current situation and where they were headed, and told Aitya to expect another message from him as soon as he could send one. He smirked a little as he wrote, thinking of his dear tiger waiting at home for him, and when he was done he handed it back to the old man who slid it into a cylindrical case and strapped it to the raven’s back. “Where to, son?” “Does he know the Nine Cranes?” Ahanu pointed to the raven. “Why, of course! He’s been all around Navaho. The old man raised the bird to his lips and whispered to it, and upon it hearing whatever he said it spread its wings and vanished quickly into the distance, going the way they had come from. The old man sat again, looking up to observe the pair again. “Now then! Won’t you boys tell me a little about yourselves? What takes you all the way out here, so close to the grove?”