Archie couldn't wait to leave Jakha. The Bhantla had marked up their map before leaving, narrowing down the land they needed to search by half. With the path forward so clear to Archie, he itched with an eagerness to get going.

But Archie wanted to leave for more than just their mission.

The main street had become a never-ending funeral procession. The village monks made sermons at noon and at sunset. They burned the old clothes of the families of the deceased and presented them with new ones. Trinkets and belongings were thrown in with the flames.

None of Barley's parents or two sisters or three brothers had suffered any injuries, but the air in their home was still stale and stiff with mourning. Facing mortality made them cling to Barley, savoring any moment they could get with him before he set off again. None asked him to stay, but he knew they wanted him to.

Archie worked hard to help the people of the village but worked harder to not spend time around their grief. He brought buckets of water from the river up to the temple, but did not stick around to wash the bandages of the wounded. He cooked meals for the mourning, but did not watch them eat. He milked the yaks and collected their dung, but left them at people's doorsteps.

Despite rejecting the Bhantla's nihilism, he took some solace in it. He knew that the more distance he put between him and the villagers, the easier he would manage their grief. The easier he would manage his guilt.

He spoke to them as little as possible. He looked at the ground to avoid remembering their faces. He blocked out the names of the deceased as they were wailed by grieving family members during the sermons. He did his best to not make any memories.

But there was one person he had to face.

"We're leaving you behind."

Hawthorn snapped upright, groaning and wincing as he clutched his broken ribs.

"What?" he grimaced, trying to hide his pain. "I'm fine!"

Archie sighed.

"Really," Hawthorn pleaded. "The Bhantla's Chefs fixed me up. They said they cut my recovery time in half."

"Half of two months," Archie said. "It's been two days. We could wait a couple of days for Barley's injuries, but we can't wait weeks."

Hawthorn put his hands flat behind him and eased himself down. "Yeah, I know," he sighed. His frown made him look like a kicked puppy.

"I'm sorry, Hawthorn."

"It's alright, man." Hawthorn pressed his lips together in a tight smile. "I would have loved to see it out but…well, it was just nice to be a part of it."

Archie smiled. "I don't know that we would've made it without you. Any of it. That night. Even our time in Khaldeer." He put a hand on Hawthorn's shoulder. "Thank you, Hawthorn. You were a great host."

Hawthorn chuckled. "I like you, Archie. I never would've guessed that the first time I met you. Remember? You were so eager to beat something up that you ended up knocking yourself out."

Archie shook his head and laughed. "Yeah…"

"Who would've thought we'd end up fighting tariaksuq together? And being so close to the Bhantla? Talking to her? What an experience. You know, I had an inkling to try to become one of the Bhantla's Chefs once I climbed the ladder a bit. Now…"

They shared a laugh.

"No chance, huh?" Archie joked.

"No chance at all." Hawthorn's laugh ended with a big sigh. "I like fighting though. Even when I thought I was about to die."

"Be like Picea, then. Be a soldier for hire."

Hawthorn's mouth went to one side and his brow furrowed as he considered the suggestion. "As long as it's around Khala, yeah. Fighting monsters and whatnot. I don't know how I feel about fighting people."

"There's always the IKC."

"Ooo!" he said, his neck flexing as he reminded himself to stay flat despite his excitement. "I could become a legendary fighter. I'd have to go to Ambrosia City. All the best prize fighters do. I'd love to fight there. Oh! I'll bring Shiso. She seems like she belongs in a place like Ambrosia City. She's too good for anywhere else. And then we could see you guys again!"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Yeah," Archie laughed. "I think everyone would like that."

"I got some over here," Nori called out.

Archie kicked through the brush of the forest as he made his way to Nori. He looked up just in time to catch the blueberry that Nori threw at him. He recognized the altered essence and gave the hardened blueberry a little squeeze.

"That's better," he said. "Still a little squishy, but pretty soon you're gonna have to be careful about throwing it at me."

"You know, for as much time as we spent picking and cooking blueberries, I never really tried to figure out how to fight with them."

"Well, at first it wasn't about fighting, remember?" Archie leaned over to pluck a blueberry. He tossed it in the air and it exploded with a pop! "It was just parlor tricks. But I spent so much time getting good with these things that I had to figure out a use for them. Of course, at the end of the day, they're blueberries. I'm not throwing acid anytime soon."

Nori tossed a blueberry in the air and it exploded with a whimper. "Blueberries are better than you think. I like the different ways you can use them. Flexible solutions. Citric acid is kinda...Got a problem? Burn it."

Archie plucked two more blueberries and closed his fist around them. He squeezed—more with his essence than with his hand.

"I guess." He felt the blueberries combine into one and opened his hand. He jostled the blueberry around his palm, assessing its essence. He had the basics of consolidation down, but still had plenty of room for improvement. He figured he managed to put about fifty percent of the essence from the second one into the first, the other fifty percent having been lost to his inefficiency.

"No, really," Nori said as she put a handful of blueberries into a little canvas pouch. "It suits you. And you have your pasta. You're an actual problem solver. I tend to just brute force it."

"You just gotta branch out." Archie put another blueberry in his hand with the first and consolidated it. It got harder each time, resulting in only a third of the essence transferring over. "Work on something else. Seafood?"

Archie immediately regretted the suggestion. He bit his tongue, wishing he could take the words back. Nori walked away toward a bush that was clearly not a blueberry bush, but it served well enough as a reason to turn away. The unspoken topic threatened to come forward. Archie wanted to stop it a little longer.

"Or something else," he said. "I mean, you're super talented. I'm sure whatever you pick, you'll be good at."

Nori smiled at the piece of flattery. "I had Hawthorn show me some stuff with bamboo. I got the basics down. But I think it's harder to conjure plants than food. Maybe it's just because I like eating things so much more than growing them." She forced herself to laugh.

Archie consolidated two more blueberries into his original one before deciding it had reached its limit. He compared his supercharged blueberry to a regular one, satisfied with himself for making it twice as potent. He put it into one of his jacket's pouches and started the process over again.

"Maybe fizz," he suggested. "Or cheese?"

"Maybe fizz, yeah. But I really…I really want to learn blueberries from you."

They were silent for a while as they fished through the bushes for blueberries.

"You doing okay?" she asked. "About…you know."

Archie swallowed the lump in his throat. He had told Nori about his fault in the attack. She had spent the last two days offering mild, vague consolations. Nothing sharp enough to make him really think about it. Just check-ins.

"Yeah," he said. "I mean…Most of me feels responsible. But part of me knows that I had no control over it. I…I try to listen to that part, ya know?"

"Yeah…" Nori sucked in her lip, undoubtedly thinking of her own sense of responsibility and fault.

They walked in silence for a moment, Nori looking for blueberries and Archie pretending to. She pelted him with a blueberry.

"Another way to look at it," she said. "The Bhantla almost losing to the wendigo had nothing to do with you. So maybe you saved everyone from the runaway Glutton."

Archie smiled and tried his hardest to make that his new truth. He was a hero. He saved the people. Saved the man that had turned into a Glutton. Maybe even saved the Bhantla.

The memory of weeping villagers flashed in his mind, wiping out any notion of heroism.

"It's too bad we're not allowed to talk about it," Nori continued, trying to cheer Archie up. "People would go crazy for the story."

Archie imagined himself back in Ambrosia City. He thought of his friends and his teachers. Rowan and Chandler. The Serving Bowl and Cafe Julienne. Waldorf. Nori?

"You'll come back, right?" he asked.

Nori's expression broke into a thousand anguished pieces. "Archie…"

"If we figure out an alternative, I mean." Even though the sun was at his back, he squinted as he looked at her. "You'll come back, right?"

"If we figure out an alternative." Nori took a heaving breath. "Now come on. We've gotta find some more before it gets dark. After the other night, I don't like the thought of being out after sunset."

"Yeah. Let's just find one more good bush and call it a day."

They spread out as they searched. For a while, the only sound in the air was the buzzing of bugs, the chirps of birds, and the gentle woosh of the wind through the trees.

"Hey Archie?" Nori asked, a hint of vulnerability in her voice.

"Yeah?"

"If you wanted to find blueberries…" She took another step away, keeping her face out of sight. "Wouldn't it have been faster to ask Blanche to help?"

Archie snuck a glance at Nori, but she stayed facing away.

"Well…" Archie took a deep breath. "I guess I just wanted to spend time with you."

This time, Archie turned away. If Nori looked at him, he didn't notice. There was a silence—even the forest seemed to hold its breath. Archie couldn't stand the tension.

"Besides," he said. "Picking blueberries is our thing."

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