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The walk through the forest was tranquil, capturing their attention with every step. Willa catalogued descriptions of the trees they came across with meticulous accuracy while Amy commented on the different species of birds and insects. Only ten miles from the three communities, and they were already experiencing a new world. Cameron warned the group not to touch anything, but of course, Amy didn’t listen. She had to handle everything, from the blue ladybugs to the stringy-winged birds that skittered across the ground to pick out worms from the soil. Of course, the stringy-winged birds didn’t care for the strange creature grabbing it, and Amy would usually end up pecked. She laughed it off, rubbing her wounds as if she were applying suntan lotion. Cameron never rolled his eyes so much.
“Why was this direction chosen?” Momo asked Tristan suddenly.
Tristan snapped out of his stupor and tried not to feel intimidated by the towering giant before him, looking like a wizard that had trapped herself in her study for decades. “Landon’s expedition is heading off in the other direction. I figured this would be best.”
“Then...there is nothing drawing you.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Our journey is completely unknown. You know nothing of what is ahead of us?”
“Uh...no,” Tristan winced. “Is that a problem?”
“We are a frontline,” she said, as if he should know what that meant.
“I’m not from Hearth,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
“You don’t know frontline?” Momo asked again.
“In war, there are usually contingency plans in place,” Willa interjected, walking beside them while she scribbled in her notebook. “You want to counter your enemy as much as possible, and often they will fall in line with one of the plans you’ve worked out, but you don’t know which one. To find out, you send in a frontline—fodder, or grunts—to die immediately. With their deaths, you can determine how the enemy is attacking, from which direction, and now you know how to proceed. The Great One is saying that we are expendable.”
“That’s not true,” Tristan said, unsure of how to respond. “I don’t want to die.”
“And yet we’re acting like frontline soldiers.”
“You, uh, know each other?” Tristan asked, trying to change the subject.
“If you are from Hearth, you know the Great Ones,” Willa said, looking up at Momo. “They enabled the three communities to build the Lasting Wall in the past. Current Great Ones like Momo keep it standing.”
“The Ancients built the Lasting Wall,” Lorelai said, appearing beside them. Cameron, watching from a few yards away, sighed, as he recognized that the procession had now come to a complete halt.
“The Ancients may have granted strength to the soldiers,” Willa said. “But it was the hands of Hearth that forged it.”
“Were you there?” Lorelai asked.
“No, I was informed.”
“By your commanding officers, no doubt. That means you don’t have firsthand knowledge of this event.”
“She has knowledge,” Willa said, pointing at Momo.
“Well,” Lorelai said, placing her hands on her hips. “What is it?” Momo said nothing, opting to stare down at her through the veil of her dark hair. Lorelai gave Willa a victorious smirk. “Suddenly, she’s lost her tongue.”
“It’s because she seeks harmony,” Desmond said. The group turned to see him sitting on the stump of a tree, running his thick fingers along his curly dark hair. “Both of you think you’re right, and she knows that even if she gives you the answer, it won’t stop the debate. Therefore, it’s better to abstain from speaking, and let you both believe what you like. Harmony remains.”
“And you are?” Lorelai asked.
“Desmond,” he smiled through his scruffy beard. “A self-proclaimed historian and a lover of harmony myself. We have a lot more to worry about than the past, especially with an uncertain future looming above us.”
“That’s what the future is,” Willa said. “Uncertain.”
“History says otherwise.”
“If what you’ve been told is true.”
“Exactly my point from earlier,” Lorelai interjected. “Now, listen, uh—”
“Willa.”
“Yes, Willa. I think that it’s essential that you think about the posts of your commanders, and what they are required to—”
“This tree was hacked down,” Desmond interrupted. “And not long ago. We’re not alone out here.” Willa snapped her notebook closed and walked ahead, surveying the area.
“What’s her problem?” Lorelai asked, folding her arms.
“It’s in her nature,” Desmond said. “An unknown entity requires examination, except in her case, it’s to identify threats, not seek understanding.”
“Tell me about it. Desmond, I must say, you seem quite knowledgeable about others.”
“I don’t get surprised anymore.”
“We should keep moving,” Tristan said. “We still have a few hours before dark, but it would be best to find a campsite. Amy, you’re from Comida, right? Can you find us a campsite?”
“Why would I be good at that?” she said.
“You’re from Comida. You know...you’re good with the land.”
“Comidians are good at farming, not camping.”
“Oh.”
“And just to let you know, I’m not good at farming either.”
“Then why are you here?” Cameron asked.
“Eye candy?” she offered.
“I can do it,” Balin said. “I’ve gone camping plenty of times.”
“Thank you,” Tristan said.
“Did anyone bring a tent?” Lorelai asked. “Besides me?”
“We’re doomed,” Cameron whispered into Tristan’s ear.
“I shall return,” Momo said suddenly, and she headed further into the forest.
“Where are you going?” Cameron called out, but he expected no answer. Tristan sighed and looked up at the canopy of the forest. The foliage was so thick that the sunlight could barely pierce through, making it appear darker than it was. Should they stop there, or keep going? He didn’t know...the whole thing was a mess. He had no clue what he was doing.
“Hey, Tristan,” Cameron said, pulling him aside. “This is not what I expected. When you said we were going on an expedition, I thought you had insider information.”
“What would make you think that?”
“Because only an idiot would go haphazardly into the wilderness like this. Don’t tell me you did this on a whim.”
“The world is uncharted. What did you think we were doing?”
Cameron grit his teeth as he let go of Tristan’s arm and backed away. “This is unorganized and reckless. My father warned me about you, you know.”
“You should have listened,” Tristan said solemnly. “But that doesn’t mean this whole thing is a wash. We haven’t been out here long.”
“Long enough. You know, it’s not too late to turn back. I’ll front you some money, if you like. I don’t know what we were thinking.”
“And what about the rest of them?” Tristan snapped, pointing back at the group. “It’s not all about us. What if they want to stay out here and give this a shot?”
“Stop acting like you care. You’re using them to bolster your argument. You’ve barely said a word to them, and you’re supposed to be the leader!”
“I don’t know what to say!”
“All the more reason why you shouldn’t be leading!”
“Why don’t you take charge then?”
“I may,” Cameron warned. “If this ridiculous game goes on for much longer, I will. Trust me.”
“Fine, then in the meantime, do what your leader says and go somewhere else.”
“Fine with me,” Cameron scoffed. “I’ll head over there—to the rest of the group. I might even ask for a vote on whether we should disband this troop of misfits.”
“Well, you have my vote.”
“No one asked you.” Cameron stormed away, leaving Tristan to run his fingers through his hair. The strands already felt oily, and if they didn’t find a lake or river soon, what would their bathing situation be? Was there drinking water? He could already feel his father’s shame pressing down upon his shoulders.
* * *
“STOP IT,” MOMO WHISPERED sharply as she leaned the back of her right arm into the tree. “I said stop it,” she whispered again, softer this time. It was more of a plea than a demand. Her right hand continued to tremble uncontrollably, and the sensation began to reverberate down to her forearm. She fell to her knees and rested her head against the bark, caring little for the beetles and ants crawling into her hair. “Please,” she said weakly, as her right shoulder began to join in.
A crunching of leaves caught her attention and she leapt to her feet. The crunching grew closer, and she slammed her hand against the tree as hard as she could. It went limp, and the shaking subsided, but it didn’t cease. She swore to it that she would tear it off if it didn’t comply, and then she heard the voices.
That was new.
“Hello?” she whispered, tapping on her forehead lightly. The voice was like a fly buzzing around her head, and it was growing in intensity. “Who are you?” she asked, and then the buzzing cleared, and she could hear that the voices were outside of her body. She shook her head like a rattle and then crouched down behind the tree, unaware that the shakes had also ceased.
“I brought you something,” she heard Balin say. “I know it’s not much, but I can get more.”
Momo peeked behind the tree and saw him talking to some large creature, but they were hidden behind a massive tree. All she could make out were the edges of its bare red and tan shoulders, and the ends of its toes—the size of baseballs. Balin reached out to it, and it accepted a knapsack in the shape of a large ball. Momo reached under her robe and placed a hand on the hilt of her sword, but it offered no comfort. The familiar sensation of flesh on leather made her cringe, and a flash of battles past shot across her vision. She cringed and wrapped a hand around her eyes, trying to recover, and by the time the vision was over, Balin and the mysterious creature were gone. Telling Tristan would be the right thing to do as he was the “leader,” but he was from Musgrave. What did he know about taking care of physical threats? It seemed as if the burden would fall on her.
“I was wondering where you wandered off to,” Cameron said, approaching her from behind. Momo hummed in irritation. She had been so overcome by her trauma that her senses had dulled. “What are you doing?” Cameron asked, scowling at her. “Your face is flushed.”
Momo stared back at the young man with the fancy white coat. What would telling him accomplish? How would it make the situation any better?
“Balin was talking to someone,” she said suddenly, the words sounding foreign to her. “Someone not in our group.”
“Where is he now?” Cameron frowned.
“I don’t know. He left.”
“We should find him then,” Cameron said. “If this is first contact with an unknown, we need to do this together. It could be dangerous.”
“Big.”
“Hmm?”
“The creature was big.”
“It’s a creature now? I thought you said someone.”
“They were talking.”
“Okay,” Cameron sighed. “We’ll go find him and see what’s going on.”
“What about Tristan?” Momo asked.
“What can Tristan do that we can’t?”
Momo didn’t have a comeback for that, so she nodded, and walked over to the spot where Balin had stood. Sure enough, there were faint footprints where the creature had stood, and she was surprised to learn that it was tri-pedal. There was a leg in the back that provided extra support—it would be difficult to throw it off-balance.
“Follow,” Momo said, and Cameron stared off into the distance.
“Do you have a weapon? To defend ourselves in case this creature gets hostile?”
“No,” Momo lied.
“Alright, then we’ll be extra cautious.”
* * *
“I’M NO MATHEMATICIAN,” Desmond said. “But it would seem we are missing members.”
“Perceptive,” Willa said, still writing in her notebook. Tristan pinched the bridge of his nose and performed a brief count. Four down, and only one was given an order. Wonderful. Wait, four?
“Where’s Lorelai?” Tristan asked.
“Not sure,” Desmond said, picking up a red-yellow leaf and examining it. “Looking for the Ancients, I suppose.”
“We need to group up and discuss where we’re camping tonight.”
“Considering we’re the focal point of the dispersion, I would say we already have.”
“Fine,” he said, looking over at Willa. “What are you writing down?”
“I’m comparing the trees in the forest to the ones in Comida. They’re a completely different species.”
“Understandable, considering our proximity.”
“No, I mean that they look like trees, but they don’t act like them. They’re showing signs of sentience.”
“How so?”
“Since we’ve left the compound, they’ve kept their leaves facing us with their red-yellow hue, but whenever we have a chance to glimpse the other side, the leaves flip, almost as if they do not want us to see what’s on the other side.
“Case in point,” Desmond said, holding up the red-yellow leaf. As he turned it to face them, and explore the secrets of the other side, it curled up, as if an invisible hand crushed it. Desmond tried to pry the sides loose, but it crumbled into ash from the attempt.
“It’s actively preventing us from seeing something,” Willa said. “I call that sentience.”
“Any ideas on how to break the ice?” Tristan asked.
“We could burn one down,” Willa suggested.
“Or we can use our heads,” Desmond frowned.
“Threaten them then.”
“No,” Desmond said adamantly. “We’re the strangers trespassing on their land. It’s not right.”
“We’re here to bring back something of value. Alien life fits the bill.”
“That’s up to our leader to decide.” They both looked to Tristan who felt his face go warm. “Let’s leave the trees alone for now. We should find the others and rest. We have a long way to travel in the morning.”
“Where to?” Willa asked. When Tristan didn’t reply, she stepped closer. “You have a destination in mind?”
“Do we ever?” he asked, and Willa frowned.
“Who sanctioned this expedition? Who are your backers?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said, brushing her off.
“OW!” Desmond cried out suddenly. He put his wounded finger under his armpit as he sucked his teeth. “I should have known better. That was stupid.”
“What happened?” Tristan asked. Amy rushed over to see, but Willa ignored them, back to writing in her notebook.
“I stuck my finger between the folds, and it bit me.”
“So, there are teeth on the other side?”
“No, it wasn’t the hidden side,” Desmond said, holding up the leaf with his unwounded hand. The red and yellow side of it expanded as if it was in the middle of a stretch. It faced him as he stared at it. “It was the red and yellow side.”
“It’s a leaf,” Amy said. “It can’t bite.”
“This one did,” he sighed. “For the sake of science...” he took out his wounded finger—raw and mangled, and he slowly put it closer to the surface of the red-yellow portion of the leaf. Little jagged spikes appeared out of its skin, as if it was once flat beneath the surface, but was now being coaxed to the top.
“What the hell,” Amy said, looking around at all the fallen leaves around them. She noticed that the red-yellow sides were all facing up.
“When leaves show their undersides, be very sure rain betides,” Desmond recited.
“Meaning?” Tristan asked.
“I think we are the rain,” he replied. Tristan didn’t need an explanation. He looked upwards at the forest canopy and watched the fully leafed branches, bending slowly towards them as they swayed back and forth. What scared him most was that there was no wind.
