Chapter 4 : The Rebirth of the Misty Land

The next morning, when I left Briana's house, the village had not changed. Its inhabitants, on the other hand, seemed to be rediscovering how and how to live.

The same wooden houses still stood huddled between the mushrooms. The mist still hung over the rooftops and the spores slowly fell back, bathed in light. Still, the streets seemed wider now than anyone else was walking them, looking elsewhere at the forest.

Children were running near the well. A woman hung out her laundry while singing, while two men repaired a fence and argued without the slightest fear. In front of his house, an old man stubbornly swept away the spores that the wind kept depositing on the threshold.

We have been walking through this place every day for almost a month, and yet I am only discovering it now. Some opened their shutters wide; others talked about exploring the passages, meeting up with loved ones or exchanging their crops. Albert's death came to give hope to those who had stopped making plans.

Aria walked by my side, attentive to each face. When a man basically put his hand on her shoulder to thank her, she took half a step back and, reflexively, met my gaze. She answered him anyway, without moving behind me. A month earlier, she would have walked away before he even approached.

A little girl left a group near the well and stopped in front of us.

"Are you the ones who saved Uncle Albert?"

I didn't know what to answer. The word "saved" clashed with what we had done.

"Yes... Finally, we did what we could," Aria replied, crouching down at his height with her hands on her knees.

"Mom says you're heroes."

"We are only people passing through."

The little girl thinks about it with the seriousness that children reserve for important questions.

"Like the hero of the nursery rhyme?"

She ran away before she could be asked what nursery rhyme it was. Aria has been looking at her for a moment.

"Uncle Albert," she whispered, straightening up.

"Yes."

"For them, it was their uncle who was sick. Not a monster. »

"He seemed to be a very respected man."

She nodded and we started walking again. On every corner, someone waved to us or said a few words. It was not a celebration, only the quiet gratitude of people who had waited too long to express it.

An old lady handed us a package wrapped in a clean cloth as we passed her door.

"Mushrooms. You must be hungry after what you've done. »

"We cannot accept... Aria protested, raising her hands, caught up in the unexpected.

"Come on, don't make a fuss. Take them."

She takes the package into her bras and closes the door before we can insist. A slight warmth emanated from the fabric.

"Casimir," Aria said after a moment.

"Yes?" I replied, turning my head towards her and following hers.

She lowered her voice, as if this confession were to remain between the two of us, out of the reach of the village's ears.

"It's strange."

"What is it?"

"Thank me," she whispered, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "I don't think I'm used to it."

I let a few steps pass, listening to the rustle of our clothes in the newfound calm of the village. Maybe I was just looking for the right way to answer her without making this admission even more embarrassing than it already was.

"They're right to do it," I said softly.

She clasped the bundle tighter against her coat, without adding anything to it. We continued on our way to Briana's place.

After the battle, Bikao had taken advantage of the open passages to see his little sister and make a detour to the neighboring villages. He did not return until the middle of the morning, his face hollowed, his eyes dark circles, his beard shaggy. His clean clothes concealed nothing of his long solitude. When he arrived on the threshold of the living room, he remained motionless for a few seconds, as if he still had to make sure that his sister was in front of him.

Briana gets up before anyone can help her. A thick bandage encircled his left arm to the elbow, and the movement essentially tensed his face. She pulled Bikao against her with her good arm. The gesture was brief and awkward, but neither of them complained about it.

"You look awful," she says, stepping back.

"I must have heard that a dozen times since yesterday."

He sat down heavily beside the table. Aria pushed a chair before he even asked for it, then came back to my side. Bikao puts his hands flat in front of him.

"You want to know where I was."

"We're listening," Briana replied.

"I found Albert near Bérénice's house," he began after taking a deep breath. "She was standing a few feet away from him and he wasn't moving. He was just looking at her. »

"Bérénice... Is it alive? Briana demanded, placing a hand on the edge of the table.

"Yes. She was the one who prevented me from acting. She said he recognized him. He stayed close to her home, followed her from a distance and left objects in front of her door. When she spoke to him, he calmed down. »

Bikao paused, his eyes riveted on his hands. The further he advanced in his narrative, the less his absence presented itself to desertion.

"I wanted to attack him. On several occasions. Berenice begged me to wait. She said that he had never tried to hurt her and that, as long as no one provoked him, he stayed... himself. At least, partly himself. »

Briana didn't move. Only her breathing betrayed the effort she was making to listen without interrupting.

"Two months," Bikao continued. "Two months of watching over him and Bérénice so that she is not left alone. If he had attacked her while I was away, I would have blamed myself for the rest of my life. »

"You protected me by staying away," Briana said.

"That's what I kept telling myself."

"But that wasn't the whole truth," he continued, looking up at her. "A part of me refused to come back without Albert. As long as I stayed close to him, I could still pretend to believe that a solution existed. To return alone would have made his loss real. »

No one tried to interrupt him. Even Briana seemed to have lost track of her answer.

"And then, two nights ago, Albert left. It happens sometimes, but this time, he didn't come back. I looked for it all morning. As I walked back up the path, I heard your cry, then your voice. I ran. That's all. »

The simplicity of this conclusion has not deceived anyone. Aria leaned over him.

"This Berenice... How is she doing? »

"Bad," Bikao replied in a muffled voice. "But she is alive."

"I guess she cared a lot about him."

"Yes."

Bikao did not specify the nature of their relationship, and none of us asked him.

"Will she come back to the village?" continued Aria.

"Not right away. She wants to be alone for a while, where Albert spends his days. I'll go back and get it when it's ready. »

He runs a hand over her face before turning to Briana.

"I should have warned you," he whispered, his face marked by remorse. "At least once. I know you all thought I was dead. »

"We cried for you," she replied, nodding her head. "Pendant of the days."

His voice broke on the last word. She turned her head away, irritated by the tears running down her cheeks, which were harder to wipe away with one hand.

"Sorry... I promised myself not to give in. »

"I know," Bikao said, holding out his arm. "And I'm sorry."

Briana puts her good hand on his.

"We are here. Both of them. That's all that matters today. »

Bikao nodded. Aria stays by me without saying a word. She didn't need to say Tobias' name for me to understand what this reunion awakened in her.

Brad and Born joined us in the early afternoon. Brad was still limping slightly and Born was struggling to breathe because of his ribs. When they saw Bikao sitting near the table, Brad stopped in the middle of the living room and let out an expletive mixed with relief and a desire to hit him.

"We've missed you, you know," Brad growled as he stepped toward the table, his big arms dangling.

"I'm sorry about that," Bikao replied in a low voice.

The giant approached, placed his two massive hands on his friend's shoulders and squeezed so hard that his knuckles whitened. Born, still near the entrance, watched the scene with a smile despite the pain that twisted his chest.

"If you do it again, I'll kill you myself," Brad continued, his tone harsh but his eyes shining.

Bikao held her gaze without blinking, placing a hand on the giant's arm.

"I don't think I have any reason to do it again now."

Bobby enters last and settles in a corner without asking permission. He knew how to be present while being forgotten; it was neither shyness nor indifference, simply his way of occupying space.

Briana discovered a sign with her right hand and a bottle filled with an amber liquid came out. From the smell that escaped when she uncorked the bottle, I had no trouble guessing that it was not water.

When she wanted to take the glasses, Bobby stood up without a word and arranged them on the table in his place. She gave him a brief look of thanks, then filled the seven glasses one after the other.

"We drink," she announces. "To Albert. To those who have left us. And to those who are still with us. »

We each had a drink. The liquid burned my throat and made Aria wince, but she swallowed her sip without resting it before the others. No one tried to fill the void that had set in. He belonged to the absentees.

When I looked at my watch a little later, I noticed a new tab on the screen.

Quests

"Aria, look."

She walked over her chair and leaned over my shoulder. Next to us, Brad, Born, and Bikao continued to talk in low voices about the affairs of their village. But the sudden tension that had taken hold of us interrupted their conversation. One after the other, they turned their heads towards my forearm as the text scrolled under my fingers.

Mist Mushroom — Quests: 2 / ?

Get a Weapon — Complete

Find and Eliminate Parazampi — Infected Host: Albert — Completed

Achievement Unlocked: Mushroom Uncontaminated

Rewards: 100 Currency; 10 Mushroom Balms; 1 celery mineral

New feature available: Territory difficulty rating

"It's new," says Aria.

"It didn't exist before the fight."

I selected the Champi balm. A description has replaced the list.

Neutralizes parasitic or viral infections. Relieves minor wounds and pain. Does not regenerate lost limbs.

Sitting at the other end of the table, Briana leaned over enough to read the text on my watch. She didn't let anything show, even if, in spite of herself, her gaze fell on the bandage that surrounded her bras.

"At least your invention avoids false hopes."

"Parazampi," Born repeated. "Is that what it was called?"

"Apparently," I replied, "Albert was the guest."

A new ticket counter, worth one hundred, has appeared, without any details as to its usefulness. The Champi ointment was listed in the inventory, but its form, dosage and how it was shared remained unknown.

"So now we're getting rewards," Aria observed.

"Like a game," I whispered.

She swiped her finger across the list, the screen of her watch illuminating her focused face.

"And there's a mineral that can only be worked by a Mistmroom craftsman," she read aloud.

Briana's hand stops halfway, the glass still hanging in front of her. His eyes were fixed on mine.

"What are you talking about?"

"We received some kind of reward," I explain, raising my arm so everyone can see the interface. "A mineral that only a local craftsman seemed capable of working with."

"What kind of mineral?" Briana demanded, her voice losing all its warmth.

"Cephalosphere Minerals."

This time, no one raises their glass to their lips. Briana put hers down, Brad and Born exchanged glances, and even Bobby straightened up.

"What did you just say?" said Briana, her eyes fixed on the black watch.

"Ce, I insisted, pointing to the bright line. "It's written in black and white on the screen."

"It's impossible," she interrupted.

"Why?" asked Aria. "What does that mean?"

Briana stood up so abruptly that the table shook and she had to lean on it with her right hand to keep her balance. With a curt nod, she refused Brad's help and walked a few hesitant steps across the room, her back to the group, before returning to us, her face paler than usual.

"This mineral would have disappeared a hundred years ago," she began, staring into space. "My great-grandmother still talked about the time when some porcini mushrooms produced a crystal in the heart of their roots. Once melted and worked, this crystal made it possible to lighten heavy weapons without weakening them and to permanently fix the poisons extracted from our mushrooms. »

"Comment on has it disappeared?" I asked.

"The porcini mushrooms that produced it have not been grown for a century. We dug everything up, replanted, moved entire colonies. Nothing. All that remains is a nursery rhyme: a hero would have stolen the last fragments to forge a bronze armor. We tell it to children to teach them the price of selfishness. »

Aria, who had remained silent, looked at the screen of her watch before raising her wrist to the craftswoman's eye level.

"Briana... I have one too. »

"Excuse me?" says Briana, turning to her in a single movement, her face frozen in astonishment.

Beside her, Bikao let out a muffled, unintelligible stammer. Brad and Born had leaned forward, their hands crusty on the edge of the table.

"Comment, is that possible?" whispered Briana, her voice trembling for the first time that day.

"We don't know. The watch offers rewards after certain quests. We have no control over that. »

"If you have this mineral, I want to see it," Briana says as she sits back down cautiously.

Aria pressed the icon, swiped it, and tapped the screen in all directions, refusing to let me try until she'd exhausted all her bad methods, and ended up seeing the watch as a personal adversary.

"This watch only obeys me when it feels like it."

"Hold your finger on the icon," I suggested.

She would give me a look that meant she had thought about it, even if she hadn't. She put her finger on the symbol and waited.

A white light bursts from the screen. A walnut-sized fragment appeared in his palm, between amber and dark red, crisscrossed by golden veins that pulsated slowly.

Briana hesitates before putting her fingers on her surface. Brad, Born, and Bikao had approached; Bobby had left his corner.

"That's it," she whispers. "That's really it."

I put my finger on the icon in turn. My fragment appeared in my palm. Side by side, the two pieces seemed to beat to the same rhythm.

Briana looked at them for a long time before raising her head.

"I will prepare for you everything you desire. Free of charge. And with all due respect to what you hold in your hands. »

"Briana, you don't have to..." Aria began, caught off guard.

"Yes, I do. You can't imagine what you're entrusting me with when you ask me to work on this material. »

Aria and I exchanged a look. I looked down at my fragment. After all that this mineral had meant to them, from the totality would have been like snatching something that belonged to them a second time.

"For my part, I only want the amount necessary to use my weapon. The rest will remain in the village and will be used to protect its inhabitants. This is their story. »

"It's rare that you say that," Briana replied after recording me for a few seconds.

"You hosted us for a month. It would seem unfair to me to leave with all our money. »

"I'll remember it."

Aria squeezed her fragment between her fingers without announcing what she was going to do with it. The decision was hers, and I had no reason to take it away from her.

"We're starting tomorrow morning," concludes Briana. "Enjoy the days ahead and rest. You deserve it. »

Evening was slowly falling on Mushroom. Briana and Bikao had retired to the back room to talk in private. Brad and Born had returned home, and Bobby had disappeared without me hearing him open the door.

Aria and I found ourselves alone in the living room. The fire crackled in the hearth and the glow of the mushrooms hanging from the ceiling mingled with the flames. For the first time since our arrival, nothing demanded our attention. I no longer felt the need to listen to the slightest creak of wood or the slightest step in the street.

Aria had settled on the sofa, her legs folded under her, her watch lit in front of the flames.

"Regarding the levels of difficulty, do you think this information can be useful to us?"

"I thought it was just an indicator," I replied as I sat down next to her. "It may be a warning. The stars measure the danger, or the value of what is there. For the moment, we don't know. »

"The more stars there are, the more likely we are to die."

"That's the only thing we can be sure of."

"Mushroom and Point A are both one-star," she continued, unfolding the map. "How high do you think you can go?"

"No idea. But if a territory with a single star has already taken us a month to prepare, I prefer not to imagine what awaits us next. »

Exhaustion had obviously not been enough to make her lose the desire to smile.

"Above all, this indicator can prevent us from believing that a place is harmless just because it is pretty," I added.

I turned my head slightly towards her. I could already see what was going to happen.

"Let me guess. Is it up to me to take care of it? »

Aria didn't answer right away. She slid her thumb across the screen, as if the answer was self-evident, then barely looked up at me.

"Exactly. You check that there are no enemies, you open the door and you enter first. Then you come back and tell me if the place deserves my presence. »

"I am risking my life while His Highness awaits his report?"

"I knew you'd like this role."

"Don't go too far either. I can still refuse. »

This time, she really looked up, with that little satisfied look that I was beginning to recognize.

"You can try."

I let out an amused sigh. It was exactly the kind of response that made me want to stand up to him, even though I already knew how it would end.

"You're way too sure of yourself."

She patted my chest twice with the tip of her index finger, just hard enough to make me take half a step back.

"No, Casimir. I'm just getting to know you. »

She immediately returns to her screen, as if the matter had been settled, and can scroll several lines before stopping.

"By the way, I got something extra."

"What is it?"

"Creation of a clan," she read. "Based on the description, this option is available to one of the participants in a major or rare quest."

"Do you want us to see what it feels like?"

"No. Later. There are only two of us and we still don't know where the other participants are. »

"That doesn't stop you from being the official leader of our little duo."

"I don't need a watch for that."

I laughed. She turned off the screen and focused on the flames again. After the noise, the fighting, and everything that had happened to us since we arrived, there was something almost strange about the calm of the house. And yet, I got used to it far too easily.

"Give me your hand," she suddenly demanded.

I turned my head towards her.

"Why?"

"Give it to me."

I stared at her for a second, but it was clear that she had no intention of explaining herself.

"Yes... Okay. »

I reached out. She took it between hers without taking her eyes off the fire, then moved closer until her back was pressed against my chest.

I stiffened for a moment. It wasn't really the kind of choice she had announced. Her fingers were cold despite the heat of the flames, and yet she did not try to remove her hands from mine.

I ended up relaxing without saying anything.

"I still have his face in front of me," she whispered. "Every time I close my eyes, I see him charging at me. And I see myself there, motionless. »

"Albert?" I asked softly, tightening my grip on his hand.

"It's not just fear," she whispered.

She took a deep breath, but the next few words refused to come out so easily.

"I was ashamed, you understand? I was there, with my bow, after a month of training, and my body decided for me. I wanted to move. I knew what I had to do. And yet, I remained frozen. »

I didn't answer. I didn't see anything weak in what she had just described to me, but I doubted that she would listen to it.

"Ever since we arrived, I wanted to believe that I was getting strong," she continued, tightening her grip on my fingers. "The villagers respected me, Born had stopped correcting my every move... I came to believe that I could keep our promise and protect you. »

"Aria..."

"Let me finish," she cut in curtly.

The anger in his voice wasn't directed at me. She only uses it to prevent others from giving in.

"I don't want to be the one waiting for things to happen to her anymore. I was happy to finally have my place with you, to be able to decide sometimes without you thinking I was ridiculous. And in front of Albert, you had to come and save me once again. »

"I was afraid that you would end up seeing me as a weak person," she admits, looking down at our hands. "Unable to keep my promise."

I brought our fingers together. Words will never follow me easily in this kind of moment.

"You stood still for a few seconds in front of a creature capable of killing us. That doesn't make you weak. »

"I know that a few seconds are not enough to start all over again," she whispered. "But I felt them passing."

"Me too. But I especially saw Aria who lodged several arrows in her vital points. When I saw you shoot, I thought we had a chance. If I was able to deliver the fatal blow, it was because you had weakened him and your arrow put his head within reach of my sword. »

Aria didn't budge against me. A few seconds passed before she dared to speak again.

"So you still want to stay with me?"

The question was asked so low that I could almost have pretended not to hear it. At that moment, I understood that she was not just looking for reassurance. She wanted to know if what we had built during that month really mattered to me.

"Of course," I replied, tightening my fingers around hers.

"I can't believe you can say that so calmly."

"I'm not going to leave because you hesitated in front of a creature that could have killed us. And I'm not going to promise you that nothing will ever change, because that would be stupid. But here and now, I choose to stay with you. »

"Don't lie to me to reassure me. Not you," she whispered, straightening up enough to turn to me.

"I'm not saying this to reassure you," I replied without looking away. "I really mean it."

She peered into my eyes for a few seconds, searching for something, as if she expected to detect a hesitation that my words had concealed. She finally stopped looking and came closer again. This time, she snuggles up to me and rests her head on my shoulder.

"So... Do you mind if I keep your hand?" She demanded in a barely audible voice.

"No."

"Even if I fall asleep?"

"Keep it," I whispered, gently closing my fingers over his.

His breathing remains irregular for several minutes before calming down. His fingers never fully extend around mine.

I watched the flames die out into embers, awake, wondering how many such calm nights we were waiting for before the next storm. When a log collapsed, Aria tightened her grip on my hand. I responded with the same pressure, without waking her up.

Aria

When I woke up, my hand was still in Casimir's.

His fingers had loosened during his sleep, but they still clasped mine. I could have gotten out of the way without waking him. I didn't.

That's probably what surprised me the most about him. A month earlier, I would never have asked for the hand of a man I barely knew, let alone agreed to fall asleep against him. With Casimir, this mistrust had dissipated so gradually that I didn't even realize that it had disappeared. And yet, he had started very badly.

As soon as we arrived, His Highness had accepted a mission for the two of us without consulting me. Then he had chosen to throw himself into the lion's den, with the annoying habit of believing that risking his life was a perfectly reasonable solution. However, Casimir had a particularity that I was much less familiar with in men who made decisions for me: when I made a remark to him, he really listened to me. He sometimes grumbled, defended himself, and then ended by admitting his crimes. And above all, he had changed.

That first evening, he had even confessed to me that he liked this ease of deciding for others less than it seemed. Carrying all this weight exhausted him. If someone could relieve him, he wouldn't complain. I think that sentence started something in me.

Since then, I have been testing it. The plate. Boots. The little futile requests, just to see if he accepted them. The kiss on my hand that I demanded from her a few weeks later. I loved the moment when he understood that I was still enjoying him. He sighed, protested, sometimes refused, and that was precisely what made the rest so tasty. If he had obeyed me without thinking, I probably would have grown tired of him. Casimir could say no to me. So when he finally gave in because the request came from me, I had really gained something, and the idea interested me much more than I would have liked.

And then there was that ridiculous knight's fantasy that my father had probably instilled in me when I was little. The first time Casimir had knelt down to help me put on my boots, his sword on my belt, I had to refrain from telling him exactly what I thought. Since then, seeing him play knight, when it was I who had decided to do so, made me very happy. To see him decide on his own to sacrifice himself was even better.

He had learned it the hard way, with his groin injury.

I had shouted at him to get out of the way. He had stood in front of this thing, ready to be crushed, just to protect me. I was so terrified that the slap almost went away on its own. Bringing him back to the village by the wrist was a punishment, certainly, but also my way of reminding him that he was not the only one to decide the value of his life.

Albert had been worse for another reason, and this time I had failed.

After a month of training, despite all the progress I was so proud of, I was frozen when this thing hit me. Casimir had come back to help me, and I still hated needing him at that time.

But there was a difference with the groin. He hadn't decided everything for me.

In the heart of the fight, he had listened to my voice. I showed him the way and he obeyed. My arrow had then thrown Albert's head into the path of his sword. He had saved me, but he had also trusted me to help him accomplish this mission.

That's probably why I can't stay really angry with him.

The night before, I had ended up asking him if he still wanted to stay with me. Just thinking about it, I wanted to hide under a cushion. I almost expected him to make me a nice promise to reassure me. Instead, he simply told me that he didn't know what the future held for him, but for now, he chose to stay with me.

I had believed him.

My gaze rests again on her sleeping face. I still didn't know exactly how I felt about him. What I did know, however, was why I loved giving him orders so much.

Casimir naturally took on responsibilities that no one had asked of him. I had spent far too much time enduring the tests that others had given themselves in my place. With him, the roles could finally be reversed without one of us needing to crush the other.

I could take power. And I loved it.

I like his embarrassment when I went a little too far. I love his protests, his occasional refusals even, and even more so, the moment when he finally gave in of his own accord. I didn't want to take away this resistance. Without it, all of this would lose much of its interest.

But if he really needed someone who could give him a little relief, I had every intention of becoming that person. Not only for him. It touched me far too much to pretend to be indifferent.

Her fingers tightened slightly around mine in her sleep. I looked down at our hands with a smile that no one could see.

I'd give him a little more time before he understood what he was getting himself into.

After all, I already had some ideas for the future.