Interlude I: Casimir, My Quotient with Aria

The day after our conversation, Brad and Born picked us up at Briana's house well before I woke up. I didn't hear them come in. During the night, I had slipped off the sofa and was now sleeping on the floor, half wrapped in the blanket, a cushion on my head. Aria was still on the couch.

"What a refinement, this boy," Brad commented in his deep voice.

"Mmh... I whispered, barely moving under the cushion.

His voice roused Aria from sleep. Still half asleep, she reached by her side to check my presence. His fingers met only crumpled cloth; She then leaned over and discovered me on the ground.

"Oh... Ah, yes. You fell," she observed, still drowsy.

"Did you fall off the couch? Is the little one fine? Born asked, approaching to examine me with the seriousness he would have reserved for an unusual injury.

"I crowned him with my own pillow before stealing his own," she admitted without batting an eyelid.

"The method is strange, but the idea is touching," Born concludes after examining the feather dome that was suffocating me.

Briana appeared in the living room, still in her nightgown. Her braid was undone and her hair fell freely over her shoulders, which gave her a less severe look than the day before without altering the authority of her gaze.

"You arrived early. You could have let them sleep a little longer. »

"Impossible," Brad replied. "We were too eager to get started."

"In this case, show them the pond after training. I will be making fish with mushrooms tonight. »

"Very good."

From the couch, Aria finally reached an arm over my shoulder and shook me gently.

"Casimir. Standing. »

It took me a while to recover from my emotions. The hoarse noise of the parquet floor and the mockery around me ended up putting things back in order. I removed the cushion from my head and went to sit at the table next to Aria and Briana.

Morning light filtered through the windows, softened by the mist of Mushroom. Aria was eating quietly, as if my presence at her feet, under a cushion, was completely normal.

"You said you only eat mushrooms and fish?" I asked Briana.

"Of course not," she replied, shaking her head. "Mushrooms are our specialty, but we also hunt animals from the forest. We simply reserve their meat for special occasions or when we have guests over. »

"So there are really animals here... I was starting to wonder," Aria remarked, looking up from her plate.

"What types of animals?" I asked.

"Lipidenders, for example," Briana replied. "They are brown animals, very shy, with long ears. Their coat is so soft that it is reminiscent of the velvet of a porcini cap. »

The animals of this world did not have the same names as ours. The lipicendre must have been their equivalent of the deer, with some peculiarities specific to Mistmushroom.

"And does its flesh also resemble that of a mushroom?"

"Not exactly. The taste is closer to that of regular meat, but the texture is exceptionally tender. I'll let you taste it someday. »

"As long as we don't start to like it after the meal, I'm fine with it."

"You might also come across porcini mushrooms," she continued, laughing as she cut a piece of bread. "They are large, massive beasts that dig through the earth with their long snouts. Their coat is hard and rough, a bit like the surface of an old bolete. »

A pig or a wild boar, in short. I still had no idea if this ongoing connection to mushrooms was limited to their appearance or if it was hiding something more unsettling. Aria put down her fork.

"Are they dangerous?"

"Only when they feel threatened," Briana replied. "Or when they're hungry. Or when they protect their young. »

"So they are dangerous," I concluded.

"Let's say it's better not to turn your back on them."

Briana went on to describe several creatures whose names didn't allow me to guess if they were harmless. His gaze then shifted from Aria's bow to my bastard sword.

"Before Brad and Born start your training, I need to know how old you are. I have to adjust the weight of the pads and figure out what your bodies can handle without hurting you from the first morning. »

"I'm twenty years old," I replied.

"Twenty?" repeated Aria, immediately turning her head towards me.

"Yes. Why? »

"I thought you were younger."

I didn't know if I should take it as a compliment. Briana remained impassive, her rigor as a craftswoman taking over.

"And on your side?" she asked, turning to Aria.

"Nineteen."

Briana nodded, already busy thinking about what this information meant to her.

"You are both adults, but you have no habit of fighting. Brad will start slowly with you, Casimir. As for you, Aria, Born will check your posture before letting you shoot too long. The shoulder gets tired faster than you think with a poorly controlled bow. »

Aria waited for Briana to turn away to take the pitcher. A discreet smile stretched her lips.

"Twenty... In that case, I'm going to stop calling you you. It was starting to get ridiculous. »

"What about me?" I asked, turning my head towards her.

"You can go on."

"Why does this rule only work one way?"

"Let's just say I appreciate deference," she replied with royal calm after taking a bite.

"A model of fairness," I said dryly.

"Absolutely."

The malice in his eyes made me understand that it was better to give up. If I persisted, she would inevitably find a way to take the game further. She pushed her empty plate towards the center of the table.

"Casimir, I'm done. Can you get rid of it, please?"

"Are you hurting somewhere?" I asked, giving him a surprised look.

"No, not at all. I just wanted to see if you would do it because I was asking you to. »

Faced with my silence, she resumed her plate with a smile that had already lost its brilliance.

"Forget it. It was stupid. I just wanted to check if you really meant what you said last night. »

The night before, she had seemed so happy when I told her that I could entrust her with certain decisions. Maybe she needed to know if those words still had meaning to her when she woke up, in broad daylight, in front of everyone.

I wasn't going to disappoint her just for the sake of pride. Even less so for a dirty plate.

"No, let it go. I will take care of it. »

I intercepted her hand before it had completely taken over the plate. This gesture surprised her. She immediately turned her head towards me, her face lighting up again.

"Really?"

"It's just a plate."

"For you, perhaps," she replied in a lower voice.

I was speechless. The gesture was not important in itself. And yet, for Aria, it seemed to mean so much more. Briana watched us for a moment, then cleared our plates.

"What are you two up to? Give me that instead and go get ready. The two tall skinny ones are already waiting for you outside. »

"Are you sure?" I asked. "We can help you tidy up."

"Go away," I said. I'll do just fine without you. »

With a wave of her hand, she motioned for us to go to the entrance. Aria put on her long coat, ran her bow over her shoulder, and adjusted the strap without difficulty. As for me, I spent a few seconds examining the leather strap that Briana had given me to attach my sword to.

"How do you tie this thing... I whispered.

"Leave it to me."

Aria came closer before I could even protest. She put the strap around my waist, placed the sheath in my lower back, and then tightened the leather with a sure gesture. Briana had advised us to carry our weapons to get used to their weight. Aria already seemed ready to go on an expedition; As for me, I was mostly afraid of tripping over my own equipment.

She stepped back to examine the result.

"That's it. You almost look like a knight. »

"Thank you, but I would have found the solution eventually."

"No pride in front of me, please."

"Oh, forgive me."

My tone was so insincere that she couldn't have ignored it. It didn't seem to bother her. On the contrary, she pointed to the boots she had left by the door.

"One service calls for another. Can you bring them to me? »

"Is it revenge for the plate?"

"No. It's a whim. »

At least she wasn't looking for excuses. I took her boots while putting on mine, then I came back to her. His face lit up immediately.

"Wonderful."

She did not take them. Instead, she calmly lifted her right foot toward me.

"Casimir?"

I stared at her outstretched leg, then at her face. She had become accustomed to it at an impressive speed. We were trapped in an impossible world, surrounded by monsters and strangers, and Aria was visibly managing her anxiety by asking me to put her boots on.

To each his own method.

I got down on one knee in front of her and grabbed the first boot. His foot slipped inside while I was adjusting the leather. The gesture was simple, but the silence between us suddenly gave it an inordinate importance, and a barely audible whisper brushed her lips:

"It suits you well... to be my knight. »

"Did you say anything?" I asked, looking up at her.

Our eyes met. Aria parted her lips, but a noise behind the door interrupted her.

"I was saying that... No, forget it. »

Brad's imposing shadow appeared behind the small window. Aria immediately removed her foot and bent down to grab the other boot.

"Wait, I'm going to finish on my own."

The door opened before I could ask him why Brad's arrival had suddenly changed the rules.

"Ah, you are ready!" he cried. "I was starting to think I was going to have to wait a while."

"We're coming," I replied as I stood up.

Aria turned away to quickly put on her second boot. A moment before, she had savored his caprice with sincere pleasure. She brushed against me without a word, looking haughty, but the blush that rose to the back of her neck betrayed her embarrassment.

We had just spent our first week in the Bloc. The training sessions had been as grueling as they were humiliating: Brad was teaching me how to hold a blade, while Born was correcting Aria's posture. After the exercises, they showed us the basics of fishing. That day, we had decided to go back to the pond alone.

"Come on, Casimir! Get moving! Aria shouted, already a few meters in front of me.

"I'm trying, you might slow down."

I was still limping slightly in my left leg after the last few days of training, but that didn't stop him from maintaining a good lead. She slowed down after a few strides, not out of compassion, but to turn to me with an almost offended expression.

"You just called me you."

It took me a moment to understand what she was accusing me of.

"You've been calling me 'you' for a week. It was inevitable. »

"What a shame," she sighed without slowing down. "The spell of your submission has just been broken."

"You can always start over on your own."

"Certainly not," she retorted, turning just enough to give me an incredulous look.

Her disappointment seemed real, but not enough for her to give up her advantage. I caught up with her on the path that ran along the fields to the pond. Beyond the water was the small hamlet where the hooks of the region were made.

"I wonder what the world looks like beyond this territory," Aria says. "And above all... How are the others. »

"According to Ben, each territory is different. We were extremely lucky to land in a place that still resembles our own. Some are supposed to be far stranger than anything we can imagine. »

"Imagine Victorian castles... or an abandoned kingdom, entirely covered in vegetation. It would be beautiful," she continued, her eyes suddenly shining.

"With all that lies ahead, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up seeing this kind of place."

The pond appeared between the trees. I carried our two rudimentary rods, made of wood, braided animal fibers, and a hook forged in Mistmushroom. They were enough to catch something to eat, even if the fishing and I had never been a good match.

Before I came here, I had two best friends. Their father, a renowned fisherman, had passed on his passion to his son. His daughter was as clumsy as I was. We spent so many days together after school that their house sometimes seemed more familiar than mine.

This memory brought a smile to my face, which faded almost immediately.

I knew they had existed. I also knew that they were dead. Still, their faces refused to come back to me clearly, and even their voices began to escape. This thought pressed my breast. The Bloc had already erased the memory of my crime. I did not want to discover that he was capable of taking the rest with him, until I had nothing left of the people I had loved but the certainty of having lost them.

"Casimir! My cane!"

Aria's scream brutally brought me back to the pond.

"Huh?"

Aria looked at me exasperatedly. I looked down. Without realizing it, I twisted his fishing rod in my hands.

"Damn... sorry. »

"I'm going to catch you with my line eventually," she sighed as she picked up her gear.

"I'd rather avoid that."

Aria prepared her bait with an ease that was beyond me. The Chipons, small caterpillars as harmless as worms, squirmed between her fingers as she attached them to the hook without the slightest hesitation. She was much more comfortable than me.

"It reminds me of the days I spent with my older brother," she said.

"I didn't know you had a brother," I replied, looking up at her.

"His name is Tobias. He is more like our mother, while I am more like our father. »

His tone had become more distant. She continued to work on her chain before adding:

"But he ended up leaving, leaving me alone to face everything I had to go through after he left."

During this time, I was still trying to get my bait to hold.

"I'm sorry. I'm an only child, so I don't even know what it's like to have someone like that in your life. »

Aria finally notices my difficulties and crouchs down in front of me. She took the hook between my fingers, then attached the Chipon to it in my place.

"Don't try too hard to understand. I had become too dependent on him. When he left, he just got rid of the weight I was. »

I remained silent. I couldn't tell if Tobias had really been cruel, but trying to change her mind would have been awkward. I wasn't going to pretend to know her brother better than she did.

"He would take me on his bike to a pier," she continued. "That's where he taught me how to fish."

She gave me back my rod once the bait was properly baited.

"That's it, it's ready."

"It's still a bit humiliating to have to learn how to thread a worm on a hook."

"Not in front of me. You don't have to feel humiliated, especially if I'm the one helping you. I'd rather teach you something than always depend on you. »

"As a leader, I'm supposed to lead by example."

"A leader cannot know everything. And if our proud captain bows to my every wish, what will become of me? »

"I don't remember pledging allegiance to you," I retorted, looking her in the eye, engrossed in the game.

"Let yourself be convinced otherwise," she whispered.

We launched our lines almost simultaneously. Almost an hour passed. Little by little, the lapping of the water and the presence of Aria relaxed my vigilance. We have said little. The silence was nothing like that of our first day.

A first jolt ran through my cane. She came back, more lively, and the wood bent slightly in my hands.

"I have something, don't I?"

"Pull towards you," Aria replied immediately, turning her head towards me. "Like you want to get him out of the water."

"Okay."

I pulled too the cane. The line tightened, vibrated for a few seconds, then fell softly to the surface. The fish had escaped.

"I think it was... »

I didn't have time to finish my sentence. Aria put her boot between my shoulder blades and pushed me into the pond before I could even react. I tipped over and hit the surface in a spray of water. The cold immediately grabbed my throat. Shaking my hair to chase away the water, I found Aria on the bank, bent in half with an uncontrollable laugh.

"Go get him!" she managed to articulate between two bursts of laughter.

I looked at her without answering. I should have been annoyed, and I was a little, but her laugh was too frank for my anger to last. Since we arrived at the Bloc, I had never heard her laugh like that, without restraint or mistrust.

"It wasn't very nice."

I swam to the edge and put my hands on the wet earth to pull myself out of the water. Aria walked over, put her palm on my forehead, and pushed me away. I fell back into the pond with a splash.

"You forgot the fish," she said. "You will not go out until you find him."

I looked up at her. Her triumphant smile vanished when my hand closed on her ankle.

"Casimir, don't even dare—"

I fired. She let out a scream before falling into the water in turn, her fur and hair disappearing in a cloud of foam. When she came back to the surface, she gave me a scandalized look.

"Hey!"

"With two people, it will go faster."

"My watch could break with all this water!" protested Aria, pushing her soaked hair back over her shoulders.

"You didn't worry about mine."

"It's waterproof. Nothing to worry about," she said after examining the screen by touching her wrist.

"So? What do you think of swimming? »

Aria puffed out her cheeks. His face slowly decomposed, until it took on the wounded expression of someone struggling not to cry. I immediately stopped smiling.

"Sorry, Aria. I didn't mean to hurt you. It was just to get revenge for... »

I understood too late.

Not a single tear flowed.

Aria threw herself on top of me and put all her weight on my shoulders to get me under the surface.

"You were fooled like a beginner, Casimir! You're way too naïve! »

I had a hard time underwater.

"Gulps... behind... »

"Are you trying to resist me?"

"Behind you... Aria... »

"What?"

Two groinios sprang up between the trees, crushing the bushes in their path. Their long snouts lashed the air, their hooves tore away the damp earth, and their rough coats resembled wet bark. Aria's laughter died abruptly. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the opposite bank.

"Come on, quickly!"

We came out of the water, heavy clothes and full boots. The coast guard went around the pond, one on each side, and blocked our way. I spat out the water I had left in my mouth and drew my sword from its soaked scabbard.

"Get out of the way. I'm going to get their attention. »

"There's no way you're going to ask me to walk away while you're alone in front of them," Aria protested, turning immediately to me.

"I'm just asking you to get out of the water on the side so you can use your bow."

"I prefer this wording," she conceded after a brief hesitation.

Aria swam to the other side while I stood facing the two groinios. I raised my arms and struck the water with my blade to get their attention. I looked ridiculous, but it worked. The two beasts turned to me, their hooves lacerating the damp earth.

An arrow whistled behind them. She stuck herself in the thigh of the first one. The beast let out a hoarse cry and, panicked, threw itself on its companion. I took advantage of the opening to get out of the pond and rush straight ahead, sword raised.

The wounded groinio turned abruptly and charged at Aria. The arrow still stuck in his thigh, he zigzagged. She didn't have time to prepare another shot and dived back into the pond just as the beast reached the shore. The other groinio was still near me.

I stuck my sword in his side with all my might. The blade barely penetrated the thick cloak, but deep enough to bring it down with a muffled scream. I pulled on the handle. The gun remained on file. The crotch that had chased Aria was already coming back to me.

"Be careful!" she shouted.

From the water, Aria tried to bandage another arrow, hampered by her soaked sleeves. My sword still refused to be freed. I let go and prepared to face the enemy with my bare hands.

"Stop! You're going to get crushed, Casimir! Jump! »

The beast accelerated. The ground shook under his hooves. A sidestep, maybe two, would have been enough to escape him. And yet, I stretched out my arms to his horns.

I wanted to protect Aria. I also wanted to prove to her that I could be the one who stayed in mind without needing her to save me. These two ideas were so quickly mixed that I could no longer distinguish courage from pride.

"Let me take care of it."

"Casimir... »

The fear in his voice should have made me give up. Yet I stayed where I was. At the moment of impact, a spear sank into the animal's ribs and deflected it from its trajectory. The creature collapsed a few feet from me.

A man stood further away, several spears clenched in one hand.

"Brandon?" I whispered.

The master craftsman from the neighboring hamlet approached the carcasses. He made the tools used in the villages, just as Briana handled weapons. Shorter than the other inhabitants, he had blond hair framing a beardless face, although thick fur covered his arms and chest. He looked a little older than Briana.

He retrieved his spear from the side of the groinio.

"A little more and you'd have turned into a ball of fur."

The two animals had stopped. Aria stepped out of the water as Brandon examined their wounds. She moved slowly, her clothes heavy, her hair stuck to her face.

"I was so scared... she murmured. "I don't want to see you risk your life just to look strong."

"If I can't even handle a groin injury, I can't even imagine how it's going to be against Albert."

She stopped in front of me. His gaze ran over my arms, my chest, my face, as if to check that nothing was missing. For a moment I thought she was about to approach. Then his hand gushed.

The slap slammed in the cold air. My cheek immediately began to burn.

"Never," she whispered. "Don't ever do that to me again."

Her voice trembled more with fear than anger, but she no longer tried to conceal either of them.

"I told you to jump, Casimir. I told you to get out of the way, and you stood there as if your life was worthless. »

"I just wanted to... »

"I don't care!"

She raised her hands, then let them fall back, unable to decide whether she wanted to hit me again or make sure I was alive.

"Stop being a hero. Not in front of me. Not when I'm there watching, helpless. »

I was speechless.

"Do you think it reassures me to see you throw yourself in front of such an animal? Do you think that makes me want to count on you? No. It makes me rather afraid that you will disappear as soon as things get complicated. Like the others. »

His words hurt me harder than a slap. I was beginning to understand. For me, standing in front of her meant protecting her. To her, my recklessness resembled above all another form of abandonment.

"She's right," Brandon said, standing by the carcasses. "Attacking a fish by the horns is extremely dangerous. The intention was courageous, but the idea was bad. »

I looked at the beast lying a few feet away. Brandon was right. So is Aria. At the time, I had thought only of preventing them from reaching him. Now that it was over, all the other possibilities came back to me in one fell swoop: my hands slipping, a support giving way, Brandon's spear coming a second too late.

I had wanted to be useful. Above all, I had come close to providing them with one more corpse to take back to the village.

"Aria, I..." »

She interrupted me before I could even find the words. Her hand closed on my wrist, firm, almost too firm, and forced me to stay in front of her.

"You. You don't move. »

I looked down at his fingers.

"I wanted to apologize."

"You can apologize by walking."

She hadn't screamed. It was almost worse. Her breathing was still too fast, and even now that the animals had stopped moving, she refused to let go of me. I could have insisted, but I knew it would be another way to scare him.

"Okay."

Aria stared at me for a few more seconds, as if to check that I wasn't going to protest, then pointed the way to the village without letting go of my wrist.

"You stay with me until we get to the village."

"Yes, I was planning to walk home with you."

His fingers clenched immediately.

"By the wrist, Casimir."

Ah.

"Seriously?"

"Very seriously. Consider this your punishment. »

I suppressed a sigh. Part of me thought the situation was absurd. The other still remembered too well the throbbing pain that pierced my groin. If holding my hand captive could help him catch his breath, my pride would probably survive the walk.

A few meters away, Brandon was watching us, hesitating between intervening and pretending to look at the carcasses. I spared him this choice by pointing to the two animals.

"You can keep them. We didn't come for them. »

"I had noticed the fishing rods," he replied. "But you leave without a single fish?"

"We mostly rested a little. That's okay. »

Brandon nodded, picked up his spears, and then leaned over to the carcasses.

"In that case, I will take them back to the village. Their meat will not be wasted. »

He soon moved away with the animals, leaving us alone in the clearing. I waited a few seconds before trying to gently release my wrist. Aria didn't move an inch.

"I have to go get our things."

"You have another hand, don't you?"

I looked at her. She held my gaze with a seriousness that was totally foreign to her.

"Do you really plan to do the whole walk like this?"

"Yes."

"Aria, I'm too old for that."

"Today, it's not very easy. So you're going to make yourself very small. »

I exhaled through my nose and picked up my things as best I could with my left hand. Aria only let go of me to take hers. No sooner were our bags back on our shoulders than her hand found my wrist, as if she had never left it.

I didn't add anything. Neither did she. We simply took the way back to the village like this.

Two weeks passed, punctuated by exercises, patrols, and work around Mistmushroom. We sometimes went back to the pond, but never alone. Brad, Born or a villager would always find a reason to go with us.

I had learned to recognize her gait even before she crossed the threshold. She, on her side, guessed my state by the way I put my blade down. Some evenings, we talked at length. Other times, exhaustion left us with only a few half-finished sentences.

Aria continued to provoke small, unimportant commands: to hand her a tool at hand, to hold her bow, or to follow her on the path she had just chosen. Sometimes I refused. She protested, then moved on. She had also relaxed with the villagers. With me, his fear had almost disappeared since the first night. With the other men, progress was slower, but real. She no longer stiffened when Brad or Ben approached, and she sometimes even responded to Born and Bobby's jokes.

When sleep carried me to the ground, his arm would reach out in the darkness to hold me back. More than once, I pretended to sleep. I didn't know if I was afraid that she would see through me too easily, or if I was afraid to admit that these moments had become indispensable to my existence.

That morning, Briana had instructed us to bring provisions to the hamlet. Since the attack of the groinio, we hadn't come across anything dangerous, but I remained on my guard. Albert or some other beast could emerge from behind the trees.

I was still a little angry with him after his slap. Really a little bit. Aria had made up for it in her own way, without really apologizing. Between her provocations, her whims and those rare moments when she suddenly became attentive, it became difficult to blame her for long.

"You're so cute, boy."

I regretted all the positive thoughts I had about him. Aria walked in front of me, her hands perfectly free, while I carried my own bag as well as the one Briana had entrusted to her personally.

"It was your business."

"And now you wear them. Sharing is a beautiful thing. »

"That's not exactly my definition of 'sharing.'"

"You will learn."

She slowed down until she was at my level. For several days, she had this annoying ease of deciding my pace, as if it were self-evident.

"So you are Franco-English, but you have always lived in France?"

"Yes. My mother came from Oxford. She met my father on a business trip organized by the university. »

I readjusted the two bags on my shoulders. She had talked a lot about me since we arrived, but I realized that I still knew her very little.

"What about you?"

"I have absolutely no memory of my mother. I only know that she was a writer. She kept diaries set in a fantasy world, which doesn't tell me much about her. »

I slowed down slightly. She spoke of her mother almost as a stranger of whom she had only a few scraps of memories left. The details of the diaries haunted me. Stories from an imaginary world... In our situation, it's hard not to find this troubling. However, I had nothing concrete to go into the matter further.

"As for my father, I don't know his origins either," she continued, pushing aside a branch that blocked the way. "But since I speak French and Tobias was fluent in Italian, I assume that one of our parents was Italian or had Italian roots."

"What was your father like? If I may, I may ask. »

Aria was silent for a few moments, staring straight ahead. His expression had changed. It wasn't embarrassment, but rather the impression that she was rummaging through memories she wasn't used to sharing.

"He was strong. Really strong, physically. He had the same hair color as me, right down to his beard. I'm happy to look a little like him. I admired him very much. »

The trail went deeper under the trees, away from the fields and houses. Only our footsteps and the rustling of the leaves accompanied his voice.

"Ten years ago, my parents were away for almost a year. My brother and I were left alone. That's when we got closer. He took me fishing, among other things. »

She slows down slightly. Up to this point, she had spoken without difficulty, but what followed seemed to demand more of her.

"My mother finally came back. Alone. Tobias had understood what this meant before I did, but I had been kept away. He was the one who had to tell me that my father would not be coming back. »

I had nothing to say. He had to carry this news for two people when he was still young himself. And Aria had learned the truth from the mouth of the one she already needed most.

She brought her arms close to her before adding:

"Shortly afterwards, Tobias disappeared in turn."

A slight tremor ran through her. I wanted to know more about her, not to reopen a secret that she may have kept for years.

"I didn't want to make you think about all this..." »

"It's nothing. I just wanted to talk about it. »

I slowed down to stay at his level. I didn't have anything useful to say, so I didn't try.

The little hamlet appeared shortly afterwards in the middle of the trees. It was even more modest than the village where we were staying. Four houses surrounded a dirt square, each with a workshop or vegetable garden. Only four people lived there.

They had come to meet us from the very first days. This time, we were no longer just strangers fallen from the sky: we arrived with a cargo, weapons in our belts and nearly three weeks spent among them.

"Well, well... Here are our famous visitors from the sky! »

Brandon had spotted us from his workshop. He dropped the tools spread out on his table and crossed the square to join us. I put down the bag that Briana had entrusted to me.

"She sent us. She asked us to bring you this. »

"Perfect. His sister was waiting for these supplies," Brandon observed after opening the bag to check the contents.

"Briana has a sister? I thought she only had one brother," Aria asked, turning her head to him.

"Bathilda is the youngest of the family. She lives here with Beldorin, Bucky and me. »

"Since you've come this far, you could help us with the harvest," he suggested, closing the bag and pointing to the cultivated plots behind the houses.

I watched the rows of plants that stretched out behind him. It vaguely reminded me of the nights I spent on Stardew Valley, except that I had never had to wonder if my crops would try to infect me. Some looked like simple vegetables. Others wore hats I'd never seen, or small, spongy growths that didn't inspire any confidence in me.

"I've never done any gardening in my life. I've always lived in the city. »

"Casimir, I swear to you..." Aria whispered, closing her eyes.

"What? I prefer to warn him before destroying their crop."

Brandon didn't seem discouraged.

"We happen to have an instruction book. It dates back about five centuries, but the techniques it describes are far more effective than ours. They could come from your world. »

"Five centuries? You mean five hundred years? Aria asked, immediately forgetting about the plantings.

"Pretty much," Brandon confirmed.

"It's strange. I never asked myself how long this world had existed. »

Since we arrived, I had asked myself dozens of questions about the territories and the Passives, but never about the age of the Bloc. A work that is five centuries old... The revelation left me speechless. This world had a memory, a history that had begun long before we arrived. This idea troubled me more than I had thought.

Brandon disappeared into his workshop, then returned with an old book closed with a worn strap.

"Here it is," he announced, handing me the book. "You may recognize some things in it."

"Give it to me," Aria demanded, her hand already outstretched to me when I had just picked up the book.

"Let me at least look at the first page."

"You have just admitted that you know nothing about it. Admit it and be docile. »

I held his imperious gaze for a brief moment. She had obviously decided that the book belonged to her before I had even had time to open it. Finally, I placed the precious work in his hands.

"Good," she whispered.

She opened the book triumphantly, a pouting pout on her lips, and devoured the first few paragraphs as if the rest of the world had disappeared. His happiness was short-lived. His face immediately tensed in frustration.

"It's English... I don't understand anything. »

"English? That's new," I remarked, leaning over his shoulder to examine the page.

"The author is known in many territories," Brandon explained, watching us with interest. "It is said that she taught writing and our language in several of them. Her first works used these symbols, then she adopted our language. It is also said that she passed on the first farming techniques to Mistmroom and elsewhere. »

Marjolaine Simone. There was something too banal about this name to belong to this world. Here, no one had a surname. Here, no one should have written in English. And yet, this book lay in my hands, worn out by five centuries of reading, as proof that the Bloc had already swallowed someone up before us.

The name was almost more jarring than English itself.

"She has a last name," Aria remarked, looking up at me. "No one here uses it, except foreigners. But that a woman of our world could have walked these clearings centuries ago... it is inconceivable. »

I turned the first pages. The paper had yellowed, but the ink was still legible. This handwriting was too similar to ours to be ignored. This was not absolute proof, but enough to rule out mere coincidence.

The more I progressed in my reading, the more the content absorbed me. I ended up sitting on the floor with the book on my lap, not paying attention to anything else. Aria stayed with me for a few moments.

"Well... now I am all alone. »

"Would you like something to eat while he studies?" asked Brandon, pointing to one of the houses.

"Uh... No. No, thank you. That's nice of you," she replied, immediately looking up at him.

"Very good. I will let the others know of your arrival. »

He walked away towards the fields. Aria waited until he was far enough.

"Are you almost finished?" she asked as she came to stand in front of me.

I didn't look up.

"It's kind of nice to see you kneeling at my feet," she continued cheerfully, "but the charm fades a bit when you ignore me. I feel neglected. »

"She writes in fairly old English," I explained, finally looking up from the book to look at her. "Some of the turns of phrase resemble those that were still found in the second half of the twentieth century, perhaps even in the seventies."

"And so?"

"So this text was not produced by someone from here who invented a language at random. The person who wrote it knew English perfectly. »

"But Brandon just said the book was five hundred years old," Aria remarked, crouching down next to me to look at pages she couldn't understand.

"I know. And given his condition, I don't think he's lying. »

The blanket threatened to come loose at the slightest movement. Some pages had been repaired with thin strips of fabric, and the leather bore signs of wear that could not be replicated in a few years.

"So what was a woman doing here, five centuries before us, who knew our language?" asked Aria.

"I don't know."

This discovery would have deserved hours. There was nothing to prove that Marjolaine Simone came from our world, or that she had lived five centuries. I had only one name, one language, and one book, the full history of which the inhabitants had forgotten.

Brandon was waiting for us for his harvest, and the noise wouldn't go away if we closed the door for a few moments.

"Should we help them?" asked Aria.

"I don't see any objects—"

"Silence," she cut in, raising her hand in front of me. "The order belongs to me. And I order that we lend a hand to these people. »

"Understood," I conceded.

"Perfect. From that moment on, you enter my service. You will be the voice of this grimoire, and I will assign you the tasks. »

"You have a very romantic view of working the land," I said, amused. "I am a city dweller cruelly deprived of a green thumb."

"You misunderstood. You will learn on the job. You give me the essential information, and I train you directly in the field. »

I slowly closed the book.

"So you're going to help us, since you know how to do it."

"I never claimed to know how to garden."

"Am I dreaming?"

Aria looked at her hands, which were perfectly clean, and then at the fields where Brandon and the others were turning the earth.

"Are you going to ask a person like me to get his hands dirty?"

"Your crocodile tears don't work anymore."

"Uh... Very well. I agree to help you. »

She reached out in my direction, the back of her hand turned to the sky.

"But first, you have to kiss me here."

I looked at his hand, then at the villagers working in the distance. There was no worse time to demand the treatment of a princess. We turned the earth over while Aria waited for me to kiss her hand before agreeing to participate.

"You are a threat."

"Come on. Before Brandon or someone else comes back."

Her voice had become lower and she was looking around, as if she feared being surprised. She felt the same embarrassment as she did with Brad, when she asked me to put her boots on. She loved this facet of our relationship without wanting to display it in public.

I took his fingers between mine and brushed his skin with a furtive kiss, barely a breath on the back of his hand. His face lit up with an almost childlike joy.

"It's so touching to see you surrender," she whispered.

"It's decided, I'm coming to help you," she announced, withdrawing her hand and standing up with all the dignity she was capable of. "But listen to me carefully when I show you what to do."

"You just told me you didn't know how to garden."

"Of course I have. I just wanted to tease you. »

She walked towards the crops with the confidence of an experienced agronomist, she who had probably never turned over a single clod of earth. Our days in the Bloc now looked like this: training, disconcerting discoveries and Aria constantly inventing new ways to test how far I was willing to give her ground.

We were nearing the end of our first month. I still had no idea of the crime that had led me to the Bloc. The faces of my two former friends remained blurred. Of all the people I'd met here, only one became more and more familiar to me every day: Aria's.