Part 1
10 years ago...
8 year old Ayuko Wa-Hu was chasing yubos outside Min-Cho's southern gate. He lived with his family in Hoï-Cho, but his parents often had to take business trips to Min-Cho, on which Ayuko and his older sister would come along. His sister invariably spent the time in Min-Cho's famous marketplace, but Ayuko hated shopping and preferred to play by the southern gate, watching out over the Kipee Mull. The strange creatures of Grove of Umbra, so unlike those around the Cities of Intuition, and the bustle of foragers scrambling about their foraging, combined into a sight that Ayuko could never get enough of.
This day too, he had left their family's temporary apartment early in the morning to walk to the gates. At least Ayuko considered it early, though his parents had already been up and off to work for several hours. His mother stopped by later in the day to check on him, giving him a bag of his favourite berries to snack on while he played, imploring him again not to wander too far from the guards, and reminding him not to come home too late. She also asked the gate guards to keep an extra eye on him, as she always did and as they were well used to by now.
Normally the area around the southern gates of Min-Cho was safe enough even for children to play. No kitin or predators anywhere near, and even the large herbivores native to Grove of Umbra tended to keep their distance. Only yubos wandered close to the gate, yubos that Ayuko would often play with, feeding them berries and chasing them (or being chased by them) around the trees. But on this day, the young Zoraï must've been too enthusiastic, as the yubo he chased became genuinely frightened of him and ran off the fields and into the forest, Ayuko in tow. The gate guards did not notice the boy disappearing from their sight as they were momentarily distracted watching a patrol of Antikamis in the distance.
Ayuko himself was so caught up in the chase that he didn't realise he was in trouble until he crawled after the yubo through a thick patch of bamboo, only to emerge on the other end and see the yubo he'd been chasing dead on the ground, with a najab standing over it. Najabs didn't usually come this close to the gate, but for whatever reason, this one had. As the najab looked up from it's fresh kill to peer at Ayuko with it's huge eyes, Ayuko screamed and ran in blind panic in the opposite direction, even though the najab had no real interest in him and quickly returned to it's yubomeal. Alas, Ayuko's scream had alerted the gate guards who rushed onto the scene only moments later and killed the poor najab. But by then there was no sign of Ayuko.
Ayuko ran blindly as fast as his little legs could carry him until he tripped over a branch and fell on his hands. Only then did he notice the najab was not chasing him. His panic subsided but for a moment before he realised he was now very far from the town gate, amidst jungle he didn't recognise. He sat up and quickly peered around, at the jungle that had always looked peaceful but now suddenly looked very menacing. He became aware of sounds, animal howls, in the distance. Sounds that he knew to belong to the predators that wandered Grove of Umbra, as he could always hear them outside the gates too, but that was from a safe distance. Now, here, he felt, one might jump out off the jungle at any moment.
He had to go back to town, he knew, just run back in the direction he came from. He retraced his steps for a minute, but the flight from the najab was a hazy memory, like a dream, he didn't remember enough details... just enough that he vaguely remembered zigzagging through the trees, circling around patches of bamboo, hitting a natural wall in the bark and changing directions... he definitely had not run in a straight line, so he couldn't just walk a straight line back. Ayuko looked up at the sun. He was old enough to know from the direction of the Sun where north was, and south, and east and west... but he didn't know which direction he was from the town. What if he ended up running further into the jungle?
Should he shout for help? Maybe the guards would hear him, or some nearby foragers? But what if the najab heard him instead, or some other najab, or something worse? Eventually, the panic drove Ayuko to simply hide in a patch of bamboo and curl up into a ball. There he sat for a long time, shivering and crying, as he prayed to the Kami to please save him, again and again until he fell asleep.
He woke up to a soft prod in his side. As he slowly and drowsily opened his eyes, he noticed a strange creature curiously staring down at him through the bamboo. Instantly awake, Ayuko shot upright, his movement startling the creature into backing away from his hiding place, though it continued to stare at him curiously. Cautiously peering through the bamboo, Ayuko now recognised the creature as a timari. He had seen timari before, but from a distance, never this up close. Ayuko's first thought was that timari looked much bigger from a distance than they did up close, then he realised this timari was just particularly small, and next he realised this must be a timari young.
The timari young was still staring at him, seemingly too shy to come closer but too curious to walk away. Ayuko remembered the berries he still had, took a few in this hand and stretched his open palm out as far as he could to offer them to the timari. The timari cautiously came closer until it was within reach, gave Ayuko one last look with it's strange eye-stem, then calmly ate the berries from his hand. Ayuko giggled to himself as he reached in his bag to offer it more berries. Now he could really see the timari up close. He was struck by it's beautiful green colour and the intricate patterns on it's skin, but must of all by the huge scales on it's back. In the late afternoon light, they seemed to glow like amber, no, they seemed to glow with a hundred different colours in a constantly changing pattern.
"Can you only see this from close, or are your scales shinier than other timaris?" Ayuko asked the timari, who only responded by looking up at him curiously while munching on it's berries. Ayuko cautiously attempted to pet the timari's head, which the timari allowed with a soft chittering throat-sound. "I shall call you Zo'li", said Ayuko softly, smiling to himself as he continued feeding and stroking his new timari.
As he ran out of berries, Ayuko began to remember the situation he was in, still lost in the jungle and with no way of getting back, and, he realised, now it was getting dark too. His cheerfulness at befriending a timari faded away, and a tear ran down his cheek. The timari seemed to notice his change in mood, and butted it's head softly against Ayuko's, as if asking what was wrong. "Oh Zo'li" cried Ayuko as he hugged his arms around the timari's neck "I want to go home. How am I going to find my way home now?" The timari stood still for a few moments, producing a soft, low and deep sound as the boy clung onto it's neck, then it squirmed itself loose, walked over to the boy's side and pushed him with it's head. The confused boy was forced to take a few steps backwards to avoid falling over, and the timari followed and pushed him again.
"You... want me to go this way?" asked the boy, as he cautiously continued walking in the direction the timari had pushed him in. Could it really be a timari understood him and knew the way to town? Had his new friend been sent by the Kami to rescue him? The timari followed behind Ayuko for a minute, pushing him until he walked with steady pace, then darted in front of him and continued in the direction he'd pushed the boy, occasionally looking back to make sure that boy was still following him.
The walk seemed to last forever to the 8 year old boy. He became more and more scared as night quickly fell and it became darker under the trees, but Zo'li's scales in front of him glistened a hundred shades of silver in the light of the moons and stars, like a reassuring beacon leading the way. Ayuko pushed out the creeping fears that the timari was just leading him further into the jungle to be eaten, confident now that Zo'li had been sent by the Kami in answer to his prayers, as he continued following the shiny beacon through the night.
10 years ago...
8 year old Ayuko Wa-Hu was chasing yubos outside Min-Cho's southern gate. He lived with his family in Hoï-Cho, but his parents often had to take business trips to Min-Cho, on which Ayuko and his older sister would come along. His sister invariably spent the time in Min-Cho's famous marketplace, but Ayuko hated shopping and preferred to play by the southern gate, watching out over the Kipee Mull. The strange creatures of Grove of Umbra, so unlike those around the Cities of Intuition, and the bustle of foragers scrambling about their foraging, combined into a sight that Ayuko could never get enough of.
This day too, he had left their family's temporary apartment early in the morning to walk to the gates. At least Ayuko considered it early, though his parents had already been up and off to work for several hours. His mother stopped by later in the day to check on him, giving him a bag of his favourite berries to snack on while he played, imploring him again not to wander too far from the guards, and reminding him not to come home too late. She also asked the gate guards to keep an extra eye on him, as she always did and as they were well used to by now.
Normally the area around the southern gates of Min-Cho was safe enough even for children to play. No kitin or predators anywhere near, and even the large herbivores native to Grove of Umbra tended to keep their distance. Only yubos wandered close to the gate, yubos that Ayuko would often play with, feeding them berries and chasing them (or being chased by them) around the trees. But on this day, the young Zoraï must've been too enthusiastic, as the yubo he chased became genuinely frightened of him and ran off the fields and into the forest, Ayuko in tow. The gate guards did not notice the boy disappearing from their sight as they were momentarily distracted watching a patrol of Antikamis in the distance.
Ayuko himself was so caught up in the chase that he didn't realise he was in trouble until he crawled after the yubo through a thick patch of bamboo, only to emerge on the other end and see the yubo he'd been chasing dead on the ground, with a najab standing over it. Najabs didn't usually come this close to the gate, but for whatever reason, this one had. As the najab looked up from it's fresh kill to peer at Ayuko with it's huge eyes, Ayuko screamed and ran in blind panic in the opposite direction, even though the najab had no real interest in him and quickly returned to it's yubomeal. Alas, Ayuko's scream had alerted the gate guards who rushed onto the scene only moments later and killed the poor najab. But by then there was no sign of Ayuko.
Ayuko ran blindly as fast as his little legs could carry him until he tripped over a branch and fell on his hands. Only then did he notice the najab was not chasing him. His panic subsided but for a moment before he realised he was now very far from the town gate, amidst jungle he didn't recognise. He sat up and quickly peered around, at the jungle that had always looked peaceful but now suddenly looked very menacing. He became aware of sounds, animal howls, in the distance. Sounds that he knew to belong to the predators that wandered Grove of Umbra, as he could always hear them outside the gates too, but that was from a safe distance. Now, here, he felt, one might jump out off the jungle at any moment.
He had to go back to town, he knew, just run back in the direction he came from. He retraced his steps for a minute, but the flight from the najab was a hazy memory, like a dream, he didn't remember enough details... just enough that he vaguely remembered zigzagging through the trees, circling around patches of bamboo, hitting a natural wall in the bark and changing directions... he definitely had not run in a straight line, so he couldn't just walk a straight line back. Ayuko looked up at the sun. He was old enough to know from the direction of the Sun where north was, and south, and east and west... but he didn't know which direction he was from the town. What if he ended up running further into the jungle?
Should he shout for help? Maybe the guards would hear him, or some nearby foragers? But what if the najab heard him instead, or some other najab, or something worse? Eventually, the panic drove Ayuko to simply hide in a patch of bamboo and curl up into a ball. There he sat for a long time, shivering and crying, as he prayed to the Kami to please save him, again and again until he fell asleep.
He woke up to a soft prod in his side. As he slowly and drowsily opened his eyes, he noticed a strange creature curiously staring down at him through the bamboo. Instantly awake, Ayuko shot upright, his movement startling the creature into backing away from his hiding place, though it continued to stare at him curiously. Cautiously peering through the bamboo, Ayuko now recognised the creature as a timari. He had seen timari before, but from a distance, never this up close. Ayuko's first thought was that timari looked much bigger from a distance than they did up close, then he realised this timari was just particularly small, and next he realised this must be a timari young.
The timari young was still staring at him, seemingly too shy to come closer but too curious to walk away. Ayuko remembered the berries he still had, took a few in this hand and stretched his open palm out as far as he could to offer them to the timari. The timari cautiously came closer until it was within reach, gave Ayuko one last look with it's strange eye-stem, then calmly ate the berries from his hand. Ayuko giggled to himself as he reached in his bag to offer it more berries. Now he could really see the timari up close. He was struck by it's beautiful green colour and the intricate patterns on it's skin, but must of all by the huge scales on it's back. In the late afternoon light, they seemed to glow like amber, no, they seemed to glow with a hundred different colours in a constantly changing pattern.
"Can you only see this from close, or are your scales shinier than other timaris?" Ayuko asked the timari, who only responded by looking up at him curiously while munching on it's berries. Ayuko cautiously attempted to pet the timari's head, which the timari allowed with a soft chittering throat-sound. "I shall call you Zo'li", said Ayuko softly, smiling to himself as he continued feeding and stroking his new timari.
As he ran out of berries, Ayuko began to remember the situation he was in, still lost in the jungle and with no way of getting back, and, he realised, now it was getting dark too. His cheerfulness at befriending a timari faded away, and a tear ran down his cheek. The timari seemed to notice his change in mood, and butted it's head softly against Ayuko's, as if asking what was wrong. "Oh Zo'li" cried Ayuko as he hugged his arms around the timari's neck "I want to go home. How am I going to find my way home now?" The timari stood still for a few moments, producing a soft, low and deep sound as the boy clung onto it's neck, then it squirmed itself loose, walked over to the boy's side and pushed him with it's head. The confused boy was forced to take a few steps backwards to avoid falling over, and the timari followed and pushed him again.
"You... want me to go this way?" asked the boy, as he cautiously continued walking in the direction the timari had pushed him in. Could it really be a timari understood him and knew the way to town? Had his new friend been sent by the Kami to rescue him? The timari followed behind Ayuko for a minute, pushing him until he walked with steady pace, then darted in front of him and continued in the direction he'd pushed the boy, occasionally looking back to make sure that boy was still following him.
The walk seemed to last forever to the 8 year old boy. He became more and more scared as night quickly fell and it became darker under the trees, but Zo'li's scales in front of him glistened a hundred shades of silver in the light of the moons and stars, like a reassuring beacon leading the way. Ayuko pushed out the creeping fears that the timari was just leading him further into the jungle to be eaten, confident now that Zo'li had been sent by the Kami in answer to his prayers, as he continued following the shiny beacon through the night.