Chapter 223: Day 222

Day 222,

Taking another rest stop, this one on that island with the cave that marks the start of our deviation from Tristan’s route.  We took some time to walk around a bit and stretch our legs but soon realized we’d need to watch our step.  There are a few large trees scattered about, but for the most part any competing plant life is choked out by a carpet of leafy vines.  And these vines cover up holes.  It seems this island is largely hollow, or if not hollow, then actually multiple smaller islands with channels running between them and the occasional land bridge.  

Cass actually put a foot through one of these holes.  Fortunately she managed to catch herself and pull back instead of falling through.  Her shin’s a little bruised and her elbows are a bit scraped up from where she overcorrected and fell backwards, but Lin checked her out and she seems to be otherwise no worse for the wear.

We’re not telling James about that when we get back.

The really pretty part though came when…

And Cass is calling to get back to the boat already.  I’ll pick that back up this evening.

 

Maiko and Lin weren’t able to do much scouting this time before we made camp on the beach.  And yes, the beach rather than just inside the treeline like the last couple nights.  Most of the interior here is covered in brambles.  And where you don’t have those you have pitcher-plant-like flowers that start dripping some sort of goo or sap or something when you bump them too hard that burns when it gets on you.  Not a particularly hospitable place, but at least that doesn’t seem conducive to large predators.  

We did wind up spending the better part of an hour walking around the perimeter of the island, and Maiko claims she didn’t see any sign of anything coming down to the beach on a regular basis.  That doesn’t really satisfy her though and she’s insisted on having us stay up in shifts to keep watch.  I’ve volunteered to go first.  

And no, I’m not just writing instead of watching.  More like I’ll look out for several minutes, jot down a sentence or two while trying to still keep an ear out, then go back to more actively watching.

As I was saying earlier about the island this afternoon though:

The really pretty part though came when we found a crevasse too wide for the vines to bridge.  There they draped over the sides in great curtains reaching all the way down to the water.  Must have been the interior of the cave we were using as a landmark.  It was close enough to noon that we had fairly good light looking down in, so we could see the fish swimming about, nibbling on the tips where they reached the water.  More impressively, for whatever reason here the vines had purple flowers blooming in far greater density than we’d seen up above.  And between those flowers the vines were practically crawling with crabs.  A shimmering haze of red and brown movement contrasting on the green and violet background, sun glinting off their shells.

It was when we saw one of those crabs venture up to the top and then get snatched up by a thin, wriggling shape that we decided to head back to the beach.  A snake, not a predatory vine, as it turned out, but well enough camouflaged that we didn’t want to linger and risk stepping on one.  That said, our motion to leave didn’t stop Maiko from first taking a few minutes to break off and haul up a few of the hanging vines, crabs and all.

The nature sprite just appeared.  I started a bit when I noticed it, but not enough to wake anyone.  Nor am I going to unless it actually does something.  And I am sure the others are all asleep now.  I don’t think it would have made itself visible otherwise.

So far, it’s mostly just crouching over there staring into the forest with its back to us.  Every now and then it will glance back in my direction.

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If it’s followed me all the way out here, does that mean it becomes intangible as well when it disappears?  Or perhaps it flies?  Surely we would have noticed its weight on the boats.

I wonder what it thought of the island with the vines.  We left before I could really get close and examine them, but I’m pretty certain that the trees there were all long dead, their dried frames supported by the interwoven vines that had consumed them more than anything else.  Did the nature sprite feel kinship for them?  Mourn them?  Did it bear ill-will to the vines?  Fear them even?  Or was it indifferent, or perhaps even appreciative, viewing them as simply another part of nature?

Or are those all too human concepts to project onto it?

As for the vines Maiko brought back to her boat, she claims they’re edible.  We asked if she had eaten them before when she came this way with her mother.  She said she couldn’t remember, but had been pulling off pieces and popping them in her mouth while we weren’t looking, much to Lin’s distress.  In a similar manner, as we were making our way back to the boats we heard a crunching from behind us that could only have been Maiko plucking one of the crabs from her bundle and eating it raw.

Once again we found ourselves reminding her that her idea of edible is not necessarily our idea of edible.

Which isn’t to say we didn’t wind up trying them.  I volunteered to go first.  Well, technically Cass did, but I wasn’t about to go home and explain to her parents that I let her eat strange plants and die.  I mean, they probably weren’t poisonous if both Maiko and the fish and maybe the crabs were all eating them, and Lin was on hand with something she claimed would make me vomit up anything if I had a bad reaction (less reassuring than she probably thought), but I do have a responsibility for my apprentice’s safety.

As it turned out, the vines are pretty bland save for the leaves and little stringy root bits being salty.  The main stem you can practically suck on and get fresh-ish water out of though, but I had a tough time chewing it.  We tried boiling a bit of it with the crabs this evening though and it was… tolerable.

Speaking of the crabs, we tried picking them out of the vine bundles and shoving them in the pots we’d brought along for boiling water but Cass still wound up with having to deal with them scurrying around the boat for the next several hours.  As she let us all know at length once we made shore for the evening.  Of all the things to bother her, I’m somehow surprised it’s that.

And now that I’ve just written that, I feel kind of bad about waking her up to take the next shift.  But, she did volunteer along with me, arguing that since Maiko and Lin were doing most of the boat work they should get to sleep longer.  

I suppose I can let her sleep a little more.  I’ll just watch the stars over the water for a bit until I start struggling to keep my eyes open.  Well, I should probably be watching the woods, but it’s strange; for all my… issues with the nature sprite for some reason this I trust it with.  Writing it down like that, I know I probably shouldn’t.  But I do.

 

Just woke up with a crab on my face and the nature sprite’s laugh in my ears soon after.  Fortunately, judging by the moon, I don’t think I drifted off for more than a couple minutes.  Time to wake Cass for her shift.

If you’re reading this over my shoulder again: That doesn’t even come close to making up for everything else you’ve done, but… thanks.

 

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