Chapter 72: Chapter 72: You trust the numbers, but the numbers are not here to be trusted. Fool. Watch your back

Hineni wanders outside, walking through the big-now-small forest.

 

It is late at night and the business is closed for the day. He’s just out here by himself, which isn’t entirely unusual. But it is at the very least, a tiny bit unusual. So it’s only marginally unusual, really.

 

This is a good amount of unusualness for something to have.

 

Old branches and freshly fallen foliage are crushed beneath his boots. His lantern swings out in front of himself, as he wanders through the wood.

 

It seems like an odd thing to think. But, it appears that during the frogs’ latest grand deceit, when the big-frog had kidnapped him herself, he had indeed learned a lesson that he can use even here, on this side of reality.

 

— Sometimes, it is nice to just take a walk by yourself.

 

It’s all a strange, blurry mess. But he recalls that in that other life, he had liked to take walks. They helped him clear his head when he was feeling stressed or pressured by being at home. Right now, he is stressed, sure. But he doesn’t feel pressured at the moment. He just wants to take a walk, is all. It’s good for your body and spirit.

 

His eyes wander towards the dark crowns of the trees, where nothing sits.

 

Obscura had a long day today too. There had been an unusually large amount of people coming in today to worship her. Honestly, he doesn’t even know how many of her enchanted weapons are in circulation at the moment, let alone what that means for her power. Maybe he should ask Sockel for an exact count? He’s sure that she knows.

 

Then again, does he really want to know? Does it matter?

 

Probably not.

 

In an odd way, he doesn’t really want to know how powerful Obscura is. It sounds strange, but he knows that he has issues with overcompensating his masculinity. So the thought of having a wife who is stronger than he himself is hasn’t quite settled, honestly. That’s probably one good reason to take a walk.

 

Eventually, he’s going to have to make it official too.

 

Sure, they’re engaged. The system had confirmed as much, back when they met. But there’s still another step after that. Has he been avoiding it?

 

Things are comfortable now, as they are, right?

 

— Another reason to keep walking.

 

Hineni nods, content as he listens to the sounds of the forest at night. Walks are good.

 

---

 

A loud, noisy chirping fills the forest around the large pond.

 

Frogs croak loudly in a sing-song night-chorus. Splashing fills the air, as fish jump up to breach the surface of the pond in their pursuit of the flashes of vivid moonlight, dancing atop the water.

 

Long branches, woven full of thick, green spring growth hang out over the pool, giving the space a secluded, secretive and very peaceful feeling.

 

— Despite the fact that he is not alone here.

 

Hineni turns his head, meeting eyes with a familiar face, who he hasn’t seen in a while.

 

The frog-priestess, the one who was there during the attack on his home, the same one who was there when he had gone to meet Avarice for the first time. She’s sitting on a log by the water’s edge.

 

They stare at each other for an awkward moment. “It’s spawning season,” she says, looking back out over the water.

 

Hineni looks around himself, checking if this isn’t some ambush. But then he realizes that it can’t be. This walk was a completely random idea of his, after all.

 

The man stands there in silence, looking back at the water.

 

Now, given that she’s a frog and one who is apparently higher up on the food chain, there’s honestly a good reason for him to take the initiative and to ‘deal with the problem’ right here and now. But he doesn’t like that idea. He’s not a murderer, after all.

 

Okay. Well. Maybe he is, actually. But if his parents and a room full of people don’t count, as well as the frogs who invaded his home to kidnap him, then he isn’t a murderer.

 

— It’s complicated.

 

“…I guess most everything gets born in spring, doesn’t it?” replies Hineni. He’s kind of stuck here now, honestly. A part of him wants to just turn and leave, but she’s started talking to him and now it would be weird if he just turned and left, wouldn’t it? Sure. She is a frog. But still, wouldn’t it be awkward?

 

He feels like it would be awkward.

 

Hineni blinks, realizing that that part of him still exists.

 

“It takes fourteen weeks,” she says. Her hands are resting on the side of the log, as she watches the pond. A frog hops out of it, landing on the log next to her. “After it hatches and becomes a tadpole,” she explains, picking up the frog. “— It takes fourteen weeks for it to become this.”

 

He tilts his head, looking at the frog in her hand.

 

*Ribbit* says the frog. She nods, stroking its head and setting it down onto the log. It hops away a moment later, landing on a waterlily and rejoining the frog-song.

 

“What’s your goal?” asks Hineni. “You people have been after us from the start. Why can’t you just leave well enough be?” He dims the lantern a little. It’s already very bright by the pond, because of the moonlight. “You already killed her parents and chased her out of the south. Why does this have to keep going here?”

 

She looks at him for a moment, shaking her head. “You’re asking the wrong person. I just like frogs,” she says, sadly smiling as she watches the pond.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because they’re neat!” she replies with surprising enthusiasm, planting her elbows onto her knees and leaning down closer to the water. She turns her head towards him. “Last winter, while you were out here, digging through the snow, I tried to get your attention,” she says. “I wanted to show you them.”

 

Hineni looks at her for a moment in confusion, before remembering. Back during his thirty-three day anniversary with Obscura, he had been out here searching for a flower. Someone was following him. So it was her? The frog-priestess?

 

“Look,” says Hineni. “You seem nice enough. But why the hell would you want to show me some frozen frogs?” he asks. “Weeks after breaking into my house and trying to kidnap me? After trying to get Avarice to confiscate my property?”

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She stares at him for a while, her head stays tilted and her eyes remain open. Her throat almost seems to move a little as she breathes, pushing in and out as she stares at him, like a curious frog.

 

“So you could see too, that they’re neat.”

 

Hineni sighs.

 

Talking to frogs is just as strange as talking to a god. It’s all weirdness, from start to finish. But he’s here now, so he’s invested. “Okay. I’ll bite. What’s neat about them?” he asks, looking back towards the water.

 

She turns her head back to the pond too. “They have five cycles in their life,” she explains. “First they’re an egg.” The frog-priestess lifts a finger, tapping the surface of the water. “Then they’re tadpoles,” she says. Hineni watches as a series of small, swimming creatures move towards her disturbance. “Then they get legs,” she counts, spinning her finger in a circle across the surface of the water. The tadpoles of various growth stages swim after her digit. “Then they start turning into a frog and then, finally, they complete their metamorphosis, having arrived at their fifth stage of life.”

 

Hineni looks at her. “…So? Besides, I thought you frogs liked the number four?”

 

She nods. “Four is good. All things ought to be,” she states. “But there are things in this world that are three and there are things in this world that are five. Four is right in the middle. It is good.”

 

“You realize that counts for just about every number, right?” asks Hineni. “There’s always one more and one less.”

 

She nods. “This is why three is untrue.”

 

He narrows his eyes.

 

“Fourteen days to grow,” says the frog-priestess. “Fourteen is one and four. One and four added together are five.” She leans back, pulling away from the water. “It equals five and they have five stages of life,” she explains. “Doesn’t it make you think too?” she asks, looking his way.

 

Hineni looks at her for a moment, before turning to watch some frogs hop over each other.

 

The forest is abuzz with life, spring having made itself felt and signaling that this year will be one full of life abundant. This is somewhat ironic, he supposes, given that there’s a war going on and all.

 

Five…

 

Does the number five mean anything to him?

 

He isn’t sure.

 

He feels like… if he really thinks about it, that there were a lot of fives in his past, even his recent past. Just yesterday, for example, the account balance that Sockel had shown him added up to five.

 

Himself, Obscura, Rhine, Sockel, Eilig, the five of them are the ‘base’ group of their operation.

 

Surely there are other fives that he’s missed.

 

His paranoid eyes scan the pond. But what does it mean?

 

…Does it even mean anything?

 

It could be that she’s just playing mind-games with him. This is probably just some frog-deception, right? She’s trying to lower his guard. Five is a common number, it could be anywhere for any reason whatsoever.

 

Hineni feels like it’s time to go home. He’s been here for too long.

 

“There’s no chance of this stopping, is there?” he asks, looking over his shoulder towards her as he turns away. “It doesn’t need to escalate more, does it?”

 

She shrugs, shaking her head. “I just like frogs,” she says. “It’s not up to me.”

 

He sighs. “…Right.” Hineni begins to leave.

 

“— So do you think they’re neat?” she asks, interrupting his escape.

 

Damn. He was hoping to get away from the conversation smoothly just now. He looks back at the pond and shrugs. “I guess I have a lot to think about,” he replies. That seems vague enough to be a good, non-committing and non-combative answer.

 

“I’m Anura,” she says, looking back to the water. “Thanks for letting me tell you about frogs.”

 

He raises an eyebrow. “…Sure.”

 

Hineni leaves, this time successfully.

 

---

 

Hineni sits in the hot bath at home, his clothes off to the side as he scrubs himself clean. Wouldn’t want the smell of frogs to come into the house.

 

Was talking to a frog crossing some kind of moral boundary?

 

He isn’t really sure.

 

It seems like a normal thing to do, talking to someone else. But he realizes that he wouldn’t tell anyone here about it, especially not Obscura. Hineni sighs, ducking beneath the water to rub his face and hair clean.

 

As he’s submerged beneath the surface, he realizes that she didn’t mention the big-frog even once.

 

…Maybe she really is just a person who is very excited about frogs?

 

How strange.

 

Hineni ducks beneath the water another four times, reaching a total of five, before getting out and drying off and heading to bed. Though he doesn't really notice that.

 

 

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