James awoke to darkness, which he found strange. Not even the glow of the plant life or trees entered his vision. It was only a sheet of black that seemed to have no end. He clenched his fists, feeling dirt move between his fingers. He got to his knees, his body protesting the movement. After a quick swivel of the head, he reached out with his arm. He felt nothing, so he scooted forward and tried again. This time his hand touched something. He instinctively pulled his hand back, feeling the fear of the unknown course through him. Cautiously, he reached out again. His hand brushed something that crinkled and cracked at his touch. He pushed his hand further, reaching a layer of something hard. Wood, he suddenly realized as he ran his fingers over it. Or branches, at least. He was in a makeshift tent made from dozens of branches, each one having its bark stripped off to not create any light.

James ran his hand around the perimeter until he felt a side that was made entirely of leaves. James pushed some to the side and was rewarded with a faint glow from outside. He poked his head out and saw several other tents just like his. They all wrapped around a large mound of violet bark that added an extra level of illumination to his surroundings. Several rocks had been placed around the fire for sitting, and, on one, he spotted the familiar shape and hair of his sister. He scrambled up to her, relieved to see someone that he knew. She turned around at the sound of his steps and gave him an expression of relief nearly twice that of his own. She rose to meet him halfway, and James had the sudden irrational fear that she would hit him. It was simply how she expressed her emotions. If he told a funny joke, she would punch him on the arm. If he did something to annoy her, she’d give him a bonk on the head. It was because of this that he was stunned to find her hugging him.

“Are you alright?” she asked, grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him about.

“I’m fine,” he said, though she was barely listening as she inspected him for injuries. “What is wrong with you?” James finally asked.

She looked up at him, unamused. “What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you? You’ve been asleep for fourteen hours!”

James’s eyes widened. “How?”

“I don’t know. It’s your body,” she said, poking him in the chest. “I thought you might have an unseen injury that your body was recovering from—but no. You just felt like falling into a mini coma.” She shook her head in irritation.

“Well, good morning to you, too,” he said sarcastically.

“I believe it’s nighttime,” she said flatly.

“Well, goodnight to you, too,” he said, then paused. “Nope. Doesn’t have the same sarcastic ring to it.”

Celeste sighed, then bonked him on the head. He smiled, rubbing the spot she had hit, when he smelt something strange in the air. Reality hit him like a gust of wind on a ship’s deck while travelling at top speed. Indeed, he nearly stumbled over as he remembered it.

“Kiri! The Fire! What’s been going on?” he asked in a panic.

Celeste held up her hands to calm him. “Relax. The fire is too far away to be a threat right now, though we do have to move every day to make sure it doesn’t get too close.”

“They’re still burning the forest?” James asked.

Celeste nodded grimly. “Yeah. It seems like they aren’t giving up until they get their hands on Kiri.” She cast worried look up to the skies. “I hope Bron is okay.”

“I’m sure he is fine. This is Bron we’re talking about,” James said.

Though, despite his confident words, James was worried about his cook friend. If the forest was burning, then that meant that Shamran and the regulators had taken control of Vinci, didn’t it? He tried not to think about it, instead drawing his attention to another one of his concerns.

“And Kiri?” he asked.

Celeste’s face dropped slightly, and she shook her head. That told him all he needed to know.

A short time later, he and Celeste were inside another tent, this one much bigger and without all the bark scraped off the branches, allowing a faint glow to light up the inside. Kiri lay in front of them on a cot made from the intertwining of vines around two sturdy branches. She was still unconscious and breathing heavily. Her mother sat by her side, placing a cool piece of cloth over her forehead.

“It can be overwhelming, especially to someone new to the connection,” Kora said, looking up. “She can feel each and every living thing within this forest. Even the trees have a connection with her, though in a different way than with animals.” She sighed. “And right now, that life is in a lot of pain, enough to cause my daughter to lose consciousness. She has stirred several times, though only for moments. I have no doubt that she thinks me a part of her dreams.”

“Will she be alright?” James asked, shame starting to blossom in his stomach. Despite not being the one to do the burning, he still felt like it was partially his fault.

Kora gave him a reassuring smile. “Yes, dear. She will be fine as soon as the burning stops. Her body is keeping her asleep because she can’t handle the pain. Once it stops, she will wake.”

Her words were confident, but James could see something in her eyes. Uncertainty? It was there for only a second, just a quick flicker in her eyes, before disappearing.

As he looked at her eyes, he noticed something else—something that made his mouth open and his eyes widen. Her eyes weren’t glowing. The mesmerizing purple that her eyes and nails had given off were now void of all light.

“Your eyes. They aren’t glowing,” he said without thinking, then cringed at how rude that statement might be.

“Yes. My connection to Kodama—to life—is gone, but she made the right decision. Kiri needed the connection more than me.”

James’s mind flashed back to the image of Kiri on the ground, not breathing, and then the pulse of light that had gone through her body.

“She was dying from the smoke. She stopped breathing at one point. That’s when it happened.”

Kora let out a sigh of relief. “I assumed it was something of that nature, but it’s still nice to hear confirmation. A small part of me feared that Kodama’s Will fled my body because I had failed to protect the forest from the fires.”

“How did you survive?” Celeste asked hesitantly. “From what James said, it sounded like you were trapped within the building.”

“Not trapped, dear. Just too weak to leave on my own. The connection flooded my senses with pain just as it is doing to Kiri. Truth be told, I was unconscious when I was rescued.” She turned to James, smiling. “I suppose I partly have you and Kiri to thank for my rescue. You spoke to the village elder before running into the building after me, yes?”

James thought back to the old woman that Kiri and he had run up to. Her calm, almost emotionless expression came back to him. He nodded.

“She was in shock,” Kora continued, “unable to comprehend what she was witnessing. It happens to people sometimes… but she said the sight of you two running into a burning building to save me brought her back to her senses. She rounded up a group of people who were able to douse the fire enough to drag me to safety.”

“I’m glad,” James said.

Kora chuckled. “As am I.”

Celeste and James smiled, but felt them slip off as they looked back down at Kiri. Even while unconscious, her face was scrunched up in an expression of pain.

The three of them sat in silence for a long while. James felt powerless, looking down at her. His brain pleaded with him to do something, but he couldn’t decide on what. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he hardly heard the sound of a horn from outside the tent. It wasn’t until the second one that he looked up at Kora in alarm. Though, he immediately relaxed upon seeing her calm face.

“It’s time for us to go. We must move further up the mountain.”

James and Celeste found themselves in the middle of the swarm of villagers as they climbed up the uneven terrain. James was shocked by how many of them there were. Nearly a thousand covered the slope, making ominous shapes in the rare patches of darkness. Four of them carried Kiri, each one taking one corner of her makeshift stretcher. James could see that some of the vines were wrapped around her to make sure she didn’t slip out.

He hadn’t been walking for long when he felt something moist touch his hand. He jerked his hand away and jumped to the side. When he looked down, he found himself looking at Tor’s scrunched up face. James felt a little tinge of guilt at the fact that he had forgotten about him. Tor opened his mouth into what almost looked like a smile and began breathing heavily. Despite himself, James shook his head and smiled at the creature. He knelt down, scratching Tor behind the flaps that he assumed were ears.

“Thanks, Tor, for saving my life.”

Tor let out a high-pitched grinding noise in response that seemed to say, I knew I’d win you over.

The walk weighed on James, whose legs still felt sore despite his prolonged slumber. Despite the running around he had done growing up, he had done so only on flat surfaces, minus the various sets of stairs. Regardless, he was unequipped to deal with the uneven slope where rocks and roots threatened his balance. From the sound of her breath and the way she continuously stumbled, James could tell that his sister wasn’t doing much better. The villagers, on the other hand, had no problem maintaining their pace. Even the ones carrying Kiri charged up the mountain like something was pulling them. James and Celeste were running themselves ragged just trying to keep up with them, which must have been noticeable because James eventually felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Kora looking down on him and Celeste.

“Move at your own pace, children. Kiri will be fine,” she said.

James nodded reluctantly, looking over at Celeste, who was leaning against a tree, hunched over and breathing heavily.

James watched Kiri uneasily as she was carried further up the slope. He had this indescribable desire to be by her side. He knew he couldn’t do anything for her but being close to her just felt right.

After a moderate break, James and Celeste resumed their climb, this time at a much more manageable pace. Tor stayed behind with them, which made James happy. James cursed inwardly. He had been won over by him. He found himself smiling at Tor’s scrunched up face, mouth partially open, breathing audibly. He was becoming his sister, a thought that terrified him.

“Look. Over there,” Celeste said, pointing to their right.

James followed the finger and saw several shapes circling a glowing tree. He found this strange until he realized that the tree was glowing a different color from the rest. A faint white light lit up the bark, shining light upon the dirt, leaves, and roots at its base. James became immediately transfixed with the tree. He found himself walking towards it. Celeste joined him, but Tor simply tilted his head at them, then rolled onto his back to relax.

The tree was… jagged. James didn’t know how else to describe it. Branches poked out in every direction, like a group of magnetized spikes. A fruit dangled at the end of each one, waiting to be plucked. They didn’t have to wait long, James realized, looking at the group of people around and in the tree. People were climbing the branches and retrieving the fruit. At the bottom, two women walked around picking up the plucked fruit and putting them in baskets. James walked up to one of the baskets and timidly reached inside. The woman closest to him made the movement to whack his hand away, but then realized who he was and restrained herself. James wasn’t sure if his reputation with the people was good or bad, but he was pretty sure that anyone else would have been smacked across the head. James quickly took four Para Paras from the basket and fled back to Celeste, fearing the woman would suddenly decide to be less lenient. He shoved one into Celeste’s hands and another into his mouth. They stayed, watching the villagers climb the luminescent tree.

“To think that all this existed beneath the clouds… It’s still difficult for me to wrap my head around,” Celeste said, taking a bite from her fruit.

James nodded. “And our own people are burning it to the ground.”

Celeste let the fruit fall from her mouth. “James, that’s not our fault—”

“I know!... I know. But I still feel responsible.”

He turned, looking downhill where an ominous orange glow took up the sky.

“No,” Celeste said. “I know that look. No. This is above us. There isn’t anything we can do.”

James looked at her for a few moments before nodding.

The third fruit was for Tor, who munched it down in large bites, causing more of the fruit to end up on his face than down his throat. His tongue took care of that quickly enough. James watched, half disgusted and half amused.

After traveling for another couple hours, the villagers slowed. Either they had reached their new camping ground, or they had stopped for a brake. Either way, James and Celeste didn’t stop with them. They wanted to catch up to Kiri and check on her condition. James hoped she was awake because he honestly wasn’t sure how long Para Para fruits stayed edible after picking them from the tree. Jesper jerky and whisps, he knew the life expectancy of, but fruit was a nonexistent commodity on the ships. Most of what James knew about fruits came from stories or rumors. He was honestly still amazed that they existed, though he was also amazed that any of this existed.

He watched the villagers as he passed, some shooting scornful looks at him and Celeste, others offering kind smiles. Should he be hated? James didn’t know, but Kiri didn’t hate him, and that was enough for him. He smiled to himself, quickening his pace. Celeste cursed behind him as she struggled to keep up, Tor at her side.

After what felt like an eternity, James spotted Kiri. He deflated slightly, noticing that she hadn’t woken up. Kora was standing beside her, speaking with several elderly men and women. As he approached, their discussion became clearer.

“…no way of knowing,” one of the elders stated. He was wearing thin clothing that glowed a faint green, though James didn’t see any bark on him. It was as if they had ground the bark of a tree into dusk and melded it with the fabric somehow.

“Her experiences differ greatly to yours, lady heir,” one of the elderly women said, wearing the same clothing, only glowing purple. “She is new to her connection and is facing a greater strain than anything you have experienced in the past.”

“I am well aware,” Kora said. “But Kiri is also stronger than me, in mind and body.”

“We are not debating that,” said another person. James recognized the voice. It was the village elder, her voice old and withering. “We are simply making our concerns known. Her condition might be more severe than we think.” She leaned in closer, but more as a gesture than anything else. James could still hear her words. “There is a chance that she doesn’t survive this. Her breathing is getting heavier by the day and sweat pours down her cheeks like water. Actions must be taken.”

“I will not turn us into killers,” Kora hissed. “I will never allow us to stoop so low.”

The group of elders looked away, ashamed.

“It might be the only way, lady heir,” the woman in glowing purple said.

“I will not allow us to survive at the cost of others’ lives. No matter how foul or twisted, they are still children of Kodama.”

“Children who kill their parent!” the old man in green argued.

James had stopped next to a tree. Celeste stood beside him, listening to the group of people argue. She watched as James lifted the Para Para fruit—the one meant for Kiri—and took a large bite out of it. Then he turned, starting to make his way down the mountain. Celeste sighed. There would be no talking him out of this now. Just when she had pointed him in a direction that didn’t put his life in peril… though she had to admit that what the elders said troubled her. Kiri was a thorn in her side, but in a good way. She walked after her brother. Tor tilted his head, then trotted ahead of them, leading the way.