A Flickering Hope

A not-so dainty hand pushed away a low branch with lush leaves to the side, revealing a not-so young woman with a geeky frameless spectacle. The woman's head was full of random stray weeds and leaves, making her looked like a little bush. Hana emerged from between a thick thicket while munching on a white plump delicious-tasting Tarap fruit(1). She kept on grabbing another piece of the soft aril from within the already opened fruit, placed inside a shopping bag hung on her left shoulder. The texture of the soft flesh was akin to overripe banana, but the taste was similar to the sweetest of mangosteen. Hana nearly purred in delight with every single bite.

"This is so delicious! Guys, why are you refusing to eat something so delicious?" Hana couldn't understand the little ones' vehement rejections. She had long attributed them as omnivores; able to devour just about anything as long as it's delicious.

The aunty spat out the grape-sized seed and placed it inside the bag. She planned to boil all of them later tonight. Right behind her, Shiro was trotting with an elegant gait while observing the surrounding with caution. Kuro had flown a little higher to comb through the upper parts of the tree to protect Hana from any hazardous encounter from above.

[It's okay, Mommy, we're good.] Shiro answered curtly. Normal wild fruit was unappealing to the two brothers. They were only interested with spiritual meat and herb with the only exception was their Mom's cooking.

"Suits you." Hana shrugged.

She was still feeling the bliss of discovering the Tarap tree not far from their home, but at the same time, feeling quite conflicted. Although she didn't know how a Tarap tree looks like, she had the fortune to buy and taste the fruit once she went to Sabah (2) a few years back. It left an indelible impression on her before. She knew, although Tarap fruit grew in tropical region, the fruit had never appeared on the peninsular, only on the Borneo's side.

The animals and fruits around were a strong indication that she was in her own home country. But a few glaring discrepancies had already appeared, especially the presence of the beautiful white fox with antlers beside her. Kuro's presence can still be attributed to undiscovered new species from deep in the tropical rainforest, but not this little bushy one. Even if he came from somewhere far, it won't possibly be another continent, right? Hana had also tried to look for traces of humans or any kind of civilization, but still nothing. She kept on coaxing her heart by saying she hadn't explored far enough.

Hana had high hope on the map Markisah drew for her. Nevertheless, it had been some time since she had sent over the map, but neither Arash nor Hadi had said anything about it, making her somewhat helpless. In her heart, she was quite confident with the ability of these two most competent men in her life. She knew she won't be here for long! Anytime now, his beloved dressed suavely in cool crisped shirt and slack would've descended in a police-owned heli directly in front of her cave and save her! A white stallion is so old-fashioned!

[I still feel that we should try taking over the spirit crystal lode, Mommy.] Kuro's coaxing broke Hana's train of thoughts as it entered the public telepathic channel. Hana looked upwards around her but hadn't been able to locate her pet's position. He must be pretty high up in between the tree canopies. The little black snake hadn't given up in trying to convince the aunty many times over even when she had said no last time.

[True, true. Then, you can eat more nutritious food than this 'tarap' thing.] Shiro chimed in; yet another supporter to the militant idea. Both of them were extremely unhappy with the marine clan up north.

Hana sighed inwardly and purposely ignored the duo's coaxing. It was very morally wrong to do that! They didn't even do anything to them. Additionally, there's just the three of them here. Two fists could never contend against four hands and feet! How were they going to storm through a whole clan of marine lives without backup whatsoever?! The kids were being preposterous!

Several days had gone by, and no news came from Ara's side. It seemed that their little fish friend, Ara, wouldn't be coming anymore, which was a little regretful. The trio felt that the Crystal-veined stream Lord must've stop Ara and planned on reneging on their trade terms which had made the boys extremely incensed.

Hana could only sigh as she remembered how she had tried her best to stop the brothers from storming Ara's home multiple times. After all, she knew they've been a little hard on her, manipulating the little one wantonly before. She too, realized, she must've left a very bad impression on Ara's guardian before, getting herself extremely sick for prolonged period of time suddenly, while having the guardian extend a helping hand even before they were introduced properly to each other.

Hana had tried her best to appease the boys before they begrudgingly acquiesced their mom's request on not finding trouble with the marine clan. Hana distracted her two pets with a variety of seafood simmered in different kind of soup daily, though she herself was getting tired of eating freshwater products. Kuro and Shiro were delighted to see a variation of soups made with braising silver catfishes, prawns, little crabs and sometimes eels served on different days. Even the soups tasted differently; sometimes sourish, sometimes eggy, and sometimes spicy.

Hana would usually cook the food enough for two sessions of eating; for dinner, and breakfast. For lunch, she would make simple things like boiled cassava or random fruits and packed them inside banana leaves where she would eat during a short break outside. Little Markisah would drop by daily to give her a number of mind cleansing spiritual fruits and spiritual chilies and stayed for dinner before returning to her own home somewhere unknown to the aunty.

…

Hana routinely moved between her rainforest abode and the beautiful Crystal-veined stream daily after her previous near-death experience. Her days by the stream was filled with transplanting whatever herb trees she could find, watering them, and educating her two pets about them. From the initial sparsely populated garden, the varieties had increased multiple times. Even her tiny Bidara (3) seed had sprouted a mini tree with tender young leaves which gladdened her heart.

The aunty had built up enough of her own courage to step out from the cleared 'disaster zone' to forage for wild fruits and edible shoots with her pets. After all, she's already as strong as 'The Rock' at the moment, which somewhat puffed up her confidence significantly. Sometimes, she'll bring back a couple of fruits and edible shoots. Sometimes, she brought nothing back. Surprisingly, she had her fair share of wild durians, cassava trees where she could get the shoots and the tubers, cashew fruits, nuts and shoots, and even bunches of rambai fruits (4). She was very 'wealthy' at the moment.

Typically, in the late evening when Hana and co. finally returned home, she would make dinner which comprised of grilled seafood and a pot of random soups daily. Sometimes, it would be several grilled catfishes, climbing perches, and sometimes, even tilapias. However, she was careful to check with her pets to make sure they were normal fishes and not one of Ara's clansmen. She truly hoped the two brothers didn't lie to her just for the sake of eating more delicious high-energy marine produce! She didn't want to incur the wrath of the Crystal-veined stream Lord. She had an inkling that their relationships seemed somewhat strained, though she wasn't sure being sick had warranted enough to produce ire from the other party. The poor aunty didn't know she had really touched the reverse scale of the stream Lord by 'enslaving' his little genius descendant.

Besides that, everything else wasn't going well. After dinner was the time for her to spend with her beloved hubby as the kids will go out to do their own thing alternately. They never left her alone, not even once. Arash had flatly refused to plan out with her a relevant method to subjugate the gigantic termites. Hana could only shake her head when she was reminded by the tiny altercation between them.

For once, her darling supportive soulmate opposed vehemently on her radical ideas. He kept on prattling about 'weak mindset', 'resolve like weed' and so and so, which felt like a slap to her face, since it was essentially, true. He had not believed her when she said she had become stronger in body and in mind. Additionally, even if she did, he questioned her resolve and timidity. He was worried she would've gotten a panic attack during the operation if something suddenly went amiss! He even challenged her to write down the cultivation chant to proof that she was currently cultivating a Xianxia-ish technique she had gotten from her pet snake!

How could she write something that even she herself could not understand? Only with the help of Kuro was she able to perform a complete cycle! And that was only in her 'dream-world'. She wasn't able to do it by herself yet, either in her dream or when she was awake.

…

Arash shook his head in dismay when he remembered his conversation with his wife. She dared to ask him to make a plan to catch giant termites for her after her near-death experience a couple of days ago?!

Was she crazy or what?!

After fuming in anger at his wife, he instantly regretted it. He had just promised himself not to hurt her feelings, but lo and behold, he did it again!

He couldn't stop himself. His wife's story-telling sessions daily had always made Arash felt extreme worry for her. Sometimes, reading his wife's 'adventure-of-the-day' would make goosebumps appeared on his skin, which reinforced his believe in forcing her to stay put in one place and just wait for help. From how she told him, she didn't even realize that danger was near on multiple occasions! She's sooo, soooo, dimwitted, too easygoing!!! He was the one who got flustered all over!

[I'll treat her right tonight. No more getting angry out of nothing. Without me helping her plan, she won't be able to proceed with her ridiculous ideas.] Arash promised himself as he looked at the watch. It was time to go back and fetch the kids from the nursery and kindergarten.

Arash opened the new group chat 'Family Ribena II' specially made for his wife in the new app in passing to check for updates. Everyone had downloaded the app and remade a new family group chat for Hana's sake, but she barely replied anything at all. Arash shook his head again with his wife's insensitivity. She should've realized they did that because they were worried for her and hoped to hear from her. But his little wife totally ignored the group and had perfunctorily replied once a blue moon. He was worried their relationships will get worse due to this.

Thank goodness she hadn't neglected contacting her own mother. He heard that she was seriously ill before. He knew Ma'am Shaza must've thought that her daughter had encountered a life-threatening mishap and had broken down due to heartache.

...

Hana sighed and looked upwards towards the beautiful open sky at edge of the Crystal-veined stream as her pet snake landed on her shoulder and habitually encircled himself on her left arm. Chilly winds blew amongst the bushes, making a serene-sounding melody which appeased her heart.

[It is nearly dark. I need to go back.] She whispered in her heart melancholically. Suddenly she felt so down. She thought she would be happy learning a cultivation method. She thought she would be happy talking to Arash after not being able to contact him for so long. But she didn't. She only felt the urge to cry, but she suppressed it deep inside.

She squatted down and washed her sticky fingers silently. The last of the Tarap fruit's arils had all entered her stomach. She washed her face, picked around ten different types of fish from the fish trap and cleaned them efficiently. After she was done with the fishes and washed her hands again, she moved slowly on the newly made mosaic path to her sojourn under the gradually suppressed twilight, as the darkness slowly descended. She will contact Bro Hadi directly tonight and clearly ask about the progress of the map after dinner. Hope that there'll be some good news.

Maybe this time, she'll finally be happy.

...

Author's Note:

(1) Tarap fruit = a local fruit around the size and shape of a football. The insides is like jackfruit where you can get a lot of grape-sized arils with seed enclosed in soft and white delicious flesh. You eat the flesh (taste like mangosteen), boil the seed and eat too (taste like nuts). In one fruit will have about 20++ arils. It's about RM20 per fruit for the football sized ones (at the time Mrs Mooncat bought them). Scientific name: Artocarpus odoratissimus

(2) Sabah = a state in Malaysia, it is located on the Borneo Island. Top half of Borneo is occupied by Sarawak and Sabah, states of Malaysia, while another half harbors Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Sipadan Island, a renowned diving spot in the world, was located at the tip of Sabah, ( https://asiadivingvacation.com/blog/6-facts-about-sipadan )

(3) Bidara = the other name of the mind cleansing fruit

(4)..wild durians, cassava trees where she could get the shoots and the tubers, cashew fruits, nuts and shoots, and even bunches of rambai fruits = all are tropical trees where you can really find them in the jungle if you know how to identify them.

wild durian - a smaller version of the conventional durian. Usually with bigger seeds, less flesh, and more tart in taste (D24 is all the craze now and is extremely expensive, known as Musang King/Fox King variety)

cassava trees - we ate the shoots around here, but must blanch first to remove the sap. Even the tubers must be boiled. If the uncooked tubers is sliced thinly, dried, and milled, it will turn into tapioca starch (use for thickening soup, add to fishballs, etc). Usually old people like to eat boiled cassava tuber with fresh grated coconut and a tiny bit of sugar and salt mix together.

cashew trees - we ate the shoots too, no need to blanch, quite minty and delicious (and expensive haha), we can eat the fruit but not too much (red in color), and the nuts must be baked/roasted before you break the pod and eat the cashew nuts inside (its poisonous to eat raw, please take note)

rambai - a kind of sweet and sour fruit that arranged itself like grapes (but only 2 panel and quite long), white yellowish in color, texture-wise is like..hmm...can't explain..langsat or dukung, never found the exact equivalent from a Mediterranean fruit