Her and Him: Act I

Regaining consciousness is usually a tough task, but when the drool of a small, benevolent black cat floods more than half of one's face, the task loosens its grip and becomes slightly easier. The sunlight that squeezed through the gaps of the dark grey clouds covered Eivör and Ryohu.

The weather was smoothly suspicious. Clouds made an empire that stayed and vanished every couple of moments, but the ground was dry. Only a couple of timid raindrops seemed to appear.

Obvious to mention, it was mere daytime, which only led Eivör to the conclusion that she was unconscious for a long-lasting while. The oak trees seemed different than the ones on the muddy road, which meant she had fallen quite a bit.

Then the questions appeared in a rushing fashion.

Then the subtle pain kicked in.

Then dead Masuda Honnin came to mind. A humble servant she had known ever since she was a small child — dead, just like that. All those successful missions and travels led them to this very moment — this tragic sundering of a destiny.

She began putting her light weight on her elbows, blinked a couple of times and rose her head up. A tiny number of birds were chirping, leaves shaking by the command of the wind, and insects practically growling. She glanced down and confusedly looked at the cat. There seemed to be no one else around for now.

"Meow."

Eivör squint her eyes and noticed that the par around the cat's mouth was dripping pale, snow white — it was milk, relatively fresh too.

This was someone's cat, there was no doubt about it.

She was ready for anything, even in that weakened state.

At first she thought of it as the rumbling of the wind, but as the sound came closer, she recognized the purity of footsteps.

She gathered the small amount of bees that were residing in the area and hid them behind the bushes and trees that were surrounding her, making them ready to fly out and attack if needed. Ryohu immediately noticed this.

"Hm?"

Not long afterwards, a figure of a man appeared. No, rather, a boy in his late adolescence. He began speaking and asking questions, but not to Eivör, yet to the cat. How unusual.

"Ryohu, who is this?"

"Meeow."

"Yeah. Looks like it hurts."

He had probably gone mad. The cat must have been his only friend, so he began communicating with it like a sheer madman. That is what Eivör thought in a glimpse of a second, anyway.

The boy made a curious movement with his head and pointed it towards Eivör, then started forming a set of questions. His accent was similar to Eivör's, however not completely identical, meaning he wasn't from the village Eivör was from or anywhere near it.

"Does it hurt? Or does it just look like it hurts, but in reality… It doesn't hurt? Or does hurt, but not as much as it looks like it hurts?"

He wouldn't stop to hesitate. On top of it, he seemed to have some curious questions.

"It hurts, I think that's enough. Who are you?"

"I'm just passing by, no trouble. What happened to you?"

"Your name? Hometown? Are you carrying anything suspicious in that bag?"

"Woah. Okay, um… I can't tell you my name, neither my hometown, however I spent my past years in Stoth district. What's up with all the questions? I said no trouble, right?"

Eivör started thinking to herself.

[Stoth… The district that shows most anguish towards us and our abilities… This guy doesn't seem dangerous, but for all I know he could be involved in the attack.]

"I don't know what you're thinking right now, but I think you need some patching up."

The boy started approaching Eivör gently, ready to reach out for band-aids, cloth and water, and squat down to get a closer look at her vulnerable state, but as soon as he started approaching, Ryohu meowed louder than usual.

It was a different meow that almost seemed like a scream — a warning of a deadly hazard.

"Meow!"

"Huh? No way…"

The boy immediately stopped as soon as Ryohu warned him. He didn't move, but cautiously looked around him. He kept quiet while uneasily observing his surroundings.

Eivör lied on the ground and didn't say a thing, yet she continued to be on the qui vive while watching in confusion. After a few uneasy seconds, the boy stopped looking around him. It was as he figured something out.

"I sense those animals. You got a herd of wolves or wild pigs after me?"

"—"

Eivör wouldn't answer.

"Meow."

"Some kind of insects?"

She caught herself in surprise this moment.

[No way… Is he able to understand this cat? I don't recall ever hearing about that kind of magic.]

"They're bees. One step closer and I'll send them all after you. The bees here have a different and stronger type of venom in their vertebrates, meaning you could die only after a couple of stings — the number is probably smaller than six. It doesn't sound nice, does it?

Now tell me. Are you able to understand this cat?"

"Understand… The cat? You hear that, Ryohu? Hahahaha."

"Meow…"

The boy recklessly burst out in joyful laughter.

Eivör's despair aligned with utter confusion. The tragic loss she had endured and the trauma of the attack were still somewhere on the thick surface, trying to mend and settle in. Additions and extra emotions only made things worse and weirdly unbalanced.

"I don't speak cat language, no. But in a way I get why you ask that question.

A few weeks ago, one farmer in the sunflower fields asked me the same thing. I remember the looks on his face. Old man got confused so quickly. He was nice though, gave us rice, oil and some old clothes. Also wished us luck on our journey, but we get that all the time.

I do understand Ryohu, in a certain way. When you have no one and you finally meet this one person... A warm companion, human or not… You connect quickly. And the people you connect quickly with are the most valuable thing ever, don't you agree? They give you a safe feeling. They also show understanding. That's what's most important. True however, I've been with him a lot and he does talk too much — of course he's going to engrave his meows in my brain!"

"Meow! Meow!"

"Anyway I'm not going to lie to you. I'm pretty scared now. What's up with the threats to kill me?! And bees…? You can control bees? How? I find that pretty hard to believe, person. Unless you're a Witch. Don't tell me you're a Witch."

Just as the boy spoke these words, bees progressively started coming from above the bushes, left to right, making sure to stick proof that the boy truly was surrounded. Ryohu stared calmly, the boy, dazed, threw his looks all around him until he started thinking out loud.

"Bees… You're really controlling them… Wait.

Are you… One of the seven?"

A hard feeling of distraught merged with the air they were heavily breathing in. The boy, now in awe, nourished the situation that he was in. This was complete proof that him and Ryohu stumbled upon one of the seven — no mask, no shade, no transparency. No denial.

In a world like this, much was at stake. A human no longer reached out to desires, affection and love. They fell far out the grasp of many. Without trust and fully doubtful, warm hearts seemed to have become almost extinct. It was understandable, however. Desires were broken. It was hard to identify who was a threat and who was a helping hand — who was a loved one.

People become skeptical without compassion, and what was definite to say was that Eivör herself was one of many just like that. This was a reasonable description for a fighter, but a tragic case for a daydreaming bee that kept her reveries locked inside of her, eating her up, night after night, day after day.

She was surprised to see the boy and the cat taking a different approach. Only a first impression, consider, however they surely seemed like someone who was not under these dark, grey clouds. Someone with a last modicum of a ray of compassion and it was no question that they caressed it gently.

For all she knew, it might have been a masquerade.

Her uneasy thoughts in this terrible state weren't the ones that covered up the doubt, that was definite to state, but the moment the boy continued to take feather-like steps even after realizing all the bees around him that were ready to kill — kindly approaching her with bandages and water in his dry hands, she had no heart to let the bees on him.

The boy took a daring kneel and started nursing the wounded spots on Eivör's skin. Everyone should have seen her eyes in that moment.

They were glowing.

"You look like you know what you're doing. I'll give you that."

"Thanks" —

But before he was to finish, that was, of course, not all Eivör had to say. That certainly wasn't a compliment being just a compliment.

"I'm still not letting the bees go off guard."

"Hahah. Fair enough. We haven't got much time anyway, do we, Ryohu?"

"Meow."

"Time?"

Eivör asked in confusion.

"Time. We should have passed Teutoburg a long time ago."

"Teutoburg…"

[The forest… Masuda précised the destination near Teutoburg… That means the others can't be that far away.]

"We're only a couple of kilometers away from it. You can notice the few black leaves around us. They'll only start maximizing in number as we head further on."

The boy explained their whereabouts briefly, which only gave Eivör useful knowledge. This was where the calculating might have begun. She thought about it even more.

[Without me knowing the exact longitude and latitude, it's near impossible to find the others. We stay hidden, sometimes even from each other…

Ugh. Also giving the circumstances, I've been unconscious for a while. They've probably moved on and went on "Hunt Hiatus". So it can only mean…]

"There. You shouldn't move much now, but taking note that you're one of the seven, I probably shouldn't command much neither."

"—"

Eivör now had spots on her knees, elbows and hands covered in cloth and band-aid. Still, her doubts were lurking close by. In the middle of her doubts, the boy euphorically jumped in with words of disbelief.

"Whoa Ryohu — if anyone said I'd meet, let alone nurse one of the seven, I wouldn't believe it!"

"Meow…"

But Eivör wouldn't hesitate to add something as well.

"We're heading in the same direction, I suppose. You're going to listen to what I say and for the time being, you'll be a decoy on a string. Got that?"

"Huh?"

The boy's warm joy unexpectedly died as he slightly jumped over his shoulder while he wondered about what the girl he just met commanded to him. He stared for awhile until he bravely decided to raise a revolt.

"I don't think so, person."

"—"

"I don't think you're authorized to command like that… Wait, a decoy? On a string? What do you mean by that?"

"Less talk, please. Come on, follow the leaves."

"You're turning your back on me…? Hey, wait up!

And careful with the steps, you just got wrapped up."

The low-light sunshine was dazing in a tedious fashion, soon ready to fade away and let the night lights slide dimly into its place.

With every few seconds, one night chirp emerged.

With every few minutes, a couple of dry and fallen black leaves fished for the corners of their eyes. And the figures to be seen walking around restlessly — oh, what a fascinating group that was to stumble upon.

A pilgrim boy with no concrete name.

A pitch black cat, Ryohu, that talked (preferably meowed) too much.

And a soft blue haired girl, Eivör Stitch was her name, with abilities and destiny written down before she even knew it.

Followed by the bees and the cold forest breeze, they didn't seem to talk much.

By all common sense, Eivör was not in the mood to talk. No one would be, given her subdued state and tremendous lack of energy. However, to add up to her despair, the boy wouldn't stop talking.

Along Eivör's generosity, it was like as he was talking to a brick wall. Asking questions, hinting words, but all that he would receive was the drying of the mortar. When he realized that it was no use, someone else took his place and another person jumped into his tired skin. He crafted steps now silently, allowing the crunching of the ground and the splatter of the mud to reach its full audible glory.

Eivör's mind was once again a mess, only this time, all of the mines exploded and what was once a minefield was now a death valley. Resembling the dead crew, flashing images of Masuda's decayed head jumped from one corner of her mind to another. Unraveling the plan, the rest of the seven, the changed objective, the "hiatus", the decoy on a string.

His time might be soon.

"Earlier, you said time. Are you rushing to somewhere?"

"—"

The boy wouldn't answer.

"You're backfiring the silence, aren't you? I think we made a deal. We're in this together, at least for now, so you might as well speak up."

"—"

Nothing, again. He still went by his own persistence. Even though not highly interested and with a plate full of despair, Eivör didn't seem to stop on her behalf neither. She was just like that.

"Well?"

"Eh… I can't tell you where, but yeah, we've got ten days left. I think we might have already lost. But we will fight for it, right, Ryohu?"

"Lost? Lost what?"

"You sure are one interested person, and I don't even know your name."

"From that perspective, I don't know yours either."

"And one more thing… Would you mind explaining the decoy on a string?! I'm getting kind of nervous!"

"Nervous? You're doing just fine."

"Just… Fine?"

"If you didn't blabber so much, you would notice at least some of the few bees around us, preferably behind you. They're making a string."

"Wait a minute… Am I in danger? What am I connected to?"

"Nothing in particular. The bees are just spread all across the area, making specific threads everywhere."

"Why would you do that?"

Their steps became uneasy. The boy's confusion was greater than ever before, so he kept on wondering what she was exactly up to. But as he glanced around himself, he would only bare to notice dozens of black leaves and petals, dead flowers and ashy, black ground, barely even seeing Ryohu standing on his four paws. His unsettled curiosity was ticked by this appearance for a couple of moments.

It was safe to say they had started entering the dark Teutoburg forest.

"It's a procedure. We call it the "Hunt Hiatus"."