Like most of the land near Haywar, the Buntail Woodlands consisted of a series of rivers, wetlands, and marshy swamps covered in plant life. The leafless oaks were just as hardy as he remembered, Giu rubbing the base of one as he passed. It felt like petting a cactus, albeit without the thorns stabbing him in the hand.
“Any of this look familiar?” Tea asked.
“Yeah. I think I was in a drier area, though. We were running for a while and I don’t remember Immy falling in a river.”
“Immy?”
Giu blinked. He’d said the name so casually he almost missed the realization.
Immy. That was the name he called the woman in his memories. He’d muttered it as they were moving through the forest, shade passing over his face. He didn’t know how long she’d been carrying him for, he remembered her holding him tighter when after an arrow grazed her.
“Gi?”
He sighed. Though it was better to have Tea around, the memories still felt unpleasant returning. The more came up, the less he felt like Giu Penhair. Whoever the woman was, he could hear her panting in his ear. How much blood had she lost? Why was she still protecting him? Giu stared at the water as their boat drifted through the Buntail swamp.
“Tea,” he said. “No matter what I remember- Ow.”
“You’re still Gi to me,” the pixie cut him off with a cookie to the face. “Enough with the wallowing, already. We’re partners now so you better pull your weight. And that starts with getting your head straight.”
He groaned, knocking the crumbs off his forehead. Stupid pixie. Tea pulled out the list, the boat halting as they came onto a section of dry land.
“C’mon,” Tea said. “First thing on the list is bicon berries.”
As the pixie flew on ahead, Giu felt another memory returning.
He saw a field of grass. The fox woman standing there, her body covered in sleek brown armor. He called to her. Immy! There you are! She smiled, a hand resting against her hip. You’re late.
A red berry bounced off his head.
“Stay with me, Gi,” Tea called. “You’re going spacey again.”
They tossed another berry, but he caught it this time. Evidently, they’d found their way to a bicon berry tree while he’d been daydreaming. The bright red spheres were at the very top of the already thin tower of wood. But Tea could fly so retrieval was a non-issue.
Giu sniffed at the berry in his hand. It smelled sweet. He gave it a bite and immediately spat it out.
“Ugh. What the heck is this?”
“Number one rule of the forest, Gi. Don’t just eat stuff.”
“You coulda warned me, pixie! Gross.” He scraped his tongue, trying to get the bitter taste out. For some reason, that too felt familiar.
He could hear Immy laughing in his head. Him yelling back at her. Her laughing louder from his protests. Whoever she was, it felt like he’d known her a while. More memories of her teasing and joking were trickling in little by little. Who was she to me? We’re both canines. But she’s a fox and…What am I, exactly? Giu looked down at his hands.
“Hey, Tea.”
“Huh?”
“What kind of dog am I?”
“How the heck am I supposed to know?”
“Well, you are the brains and all.” Giu looked at his tail, the thin strip wrapped around his waist. It didn’t really help. “What kinda of canines have skinny tails? Maybe I’m part bloodhound or something.”
Tea snickered. “Gi, I’m pretty sure you’re not a bloodhound. You’re not droopy enough. Maybe a wolf?”
Giu smirked. “I'll take that as a compliment.”
After a short bout of picking, Tea finally came down, handing Giu the sack to carry and moving on to the next item. Rosi blossoms. They were hidden behind a section of thorny bushes covered in angry hornets. The pixie immediately looked to him.
“Gi.”
He rolled his eyes, letting the magic flow. The minute he stuck his hand inside, the wasps were swarming and stabbing.
“Now try and look for the one with three sets of leaves,” Tea said.
He pushed the shrubs apart, trying to ignore the many insects crawling and stinging him. Even with the armor he still felt them moving up his arm. On his face. His legs were defenseless, along with his back, but the bugs didn’t seem to notice the discrepancy.
Past the bushes were a section of pink flowers dripping with sap. Hmm. Giu squinted at them all, passing over two and four-leafed blossoms until he finally noticed the illusive three-leafed prize. Gotcha! He snatched them up a couple, the hornets buzzing even louder.
“These it, right?” He waved the flowers in the air.
“Yep, those are rosi blossoms. Now hold still.”
Giu obeyed, Tea pulling a whistle out of whatever space they kept all their stuff. As soon as they blew into it, all the hornets scattered, fleeing for the safety of the thorny bush. Tea nodded tossing the item aside.
“Forest rule number two. Never leave home without a bug whistle.”
Giu let go of his form change.
“Could have led with that, y’know.”
“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”
Giu shook his head. Tea really was the most annoying pixie he knew. He handed over the flower, the duo moving down the list to the next section of items.
As they combed the forest, picking through alcoves, underwater logs, and even more insect nests, Tea’s enthusiasm only seemed to grow. It was slightly infectious. Despite being bombarded with memories every so often, he didn’t mind the journey so much as he’d thought.
And it wasn’t lost on him the reason why.
“Hey, Tea.”
“Hmm?”
“Thanks for this. Helping me with my memory crap.”
“Oh. Anytime, Gi.” The pixie beamed. Giu scratched his head. To think at one point he wanted to eat the little extortionist.
Tea stopped flying, hovering in front of a swampy green river.
The final item of the list was a brown suntrout, of which Tea had a fishing spear ready and waiting to launch. Their gaze narrowed at the water, eyes tracking their prey like a trained hunter. They threw, metal landing straight through an unsuspecting fish while the rest scattered. Giu whistled.
“Nice shottin’, T.”
Tea proudly plucked the spear, brown suntrout flopping on its tip.
“Skills of a master, Gi. And we got a juicy one, too. If this doesn't make a God Dish, I don't know what will.”
The fish vanished, spear and all.
“C’mon,” Tea said. “Elly will get antsy if we're late.”
The sun was already growing low in the distance. Giu nodded, both running for the boat.
***
It took a couple hours to make it back to Haywar, but the sun was still slightly visible. Giu and Tea ascended the apartment stairs as fast as they could, the latter offering their stamina potions so they could race up the many flights of stairs.
“You said her name was Immy, right?” Tea asked as they were flying ahead.
“Yeah,” Giu said trying to keep up. “Imona actually. Why?”
“Just a hunch, Gi. She was a fox, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then it could have been Imona Alis. She fell off the grid months ago, but she used to travel a lot. You two were close?”
Giu thought back to another memory. He saw the fox scowling as she dangled him in the air, kicking and screaming. Giu smirked.
“Yep. Something like that.”
He recalled the woman waving a hand beckoning him to attack. Him rushing to meet her only to get thrown on his back. Again. And again. And again. She kept egging him on until he finally managed to land a form-changed punch. It had bounced off her armor.
“She was a special kind of annoying. You’d probably like her.”
“The heck's that supposed to mean?”
They finally reached Elly’s room, the broken door yanking open before they could even touch it.
"There you are!" the rabbit shouted, immediately pulling them both inside.
Giu was shoved in a chair while Tea got dropped in the kitchen, getting forced to frantically pull out all their supplies. Elly whipped out her knives, chopping away at flowers and herbs while Fledge stood growling at Giu as usual.
The smells brought back even more memories. Immy in a chef’s hat as she was hacking away at fresh salmon. Her grinning ear to ear as she pulled the baked fish out of the oven. And…
Don’t stop! No matter what!
Giu frowned. The details had been fuzzy, but as he sat there watching the cooks at work, the rest seemed to come flowing back like a steady river. He sat forward, focusing on the voice lingering in the back of his mind.
Don’t stop. I’ll find you when I can. Whenever that is.
Immy was standing over him, her eyes shining blue as she held him up against a tree. He could hear distant footsteps. Shouting. Immy pulled him close, her fur nuzzling his.
Stay safe, Yisto. For me. Tiluvon giu.
As she said those words, he felt her grip falling away. Her face growing distant as he saw something inky and black rising over her body. He tried to reach out but she was already stepping away, a pool of liquid gathering under her feet.
The world shifted around Giu in a split second.
The naked trees of Buntail were replaced with lush greenery and tall oaks. Sounds of the swamp disappeared, instead only the chirp of cicadas reaching his ears. Giu stared around, the smooth grass devoid of Immy, the soldiers, or the black liquid. It was only him.
“Giu?”
He came out of his thoughts, looking down to see a steaming bowl of pasta. Flecks of fish glistened over the base.
“You alright?”
He met Tea's gaze, the pixie staring back at him with their emerald saucers. He hadn’t even realized until then he’d been crying.
Giu wiped his eyes with a smile.
“Yeah. Just more memories is all.”
He tried to force a laugh, but Tea lingered next to him. They flew closer, grabbing his hand and touching it against their paw. A silent gesture they made without looking away once. Giu's smile faded, the canine looking from the pixie to their hands.
"Right."
He put a hand on his own chest. Silently nodding back to the pixie. They both pulled away as Elly made her presence known with a cough, both the rabbit and Fledge staring at Giu impatiently. He quickly picked up his fork getting his first taste of the Final Deru.
The tangy broth and sweet fish exploded over his tongue, Giu nearly falling out of his chair in shock. His eyes grew, Giu gripping the edges of the table as sensations flooded his mouth.
He could barely stop himself from inhaling the rest.
