Chapter 466: When the Forest Came to Mirath

The four days were used mainly to answer a question no one in Mirath had ever imagined needing to answer.

How do you receive a forest?

Damon discovered that Jian Li had far too many suggestions.

"Does she need a room?"

"Probably."

"With a bed?"

"I don’t know."

"A window?"

"I imagine so."

"Water?"

Damon looked at her.

"She’s a tree."

"She’ll be in a body."

"Still a strange question."

Jian Li wrote something down.

"Then we’ll put water."

"Are you making a list?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because someone needs to."

Damon looked toward the door.

"Isn’t Aria doing that?"

"Aria is trying to figure out how a distributed consciousness can occupy a temporary body."

"Naturally."

"And Aurelia is helping."

"Naturally."

"Ester is preparing the infirmary for Neria."

"Naturally."

Jian Li looked up.

"So that leaves you."

Damon remained silent.

"I don’t like where this conversation is going."

"You invited Eir."

"I said she could come."

"That’s an invitation."

"That was permission."

"It’s practically the same thing."

"It isn’t."

Jian Li continued writing.

"Room with a window."

Damon gave up.

Aria spent the first two days trying to figure out exactly how the manifestation would work.

She failed.

Eir answered the questions.

But the answers continued to be Eir’s answers.

"How is the body formed?"

I MAKE IT.

"With what material?"

MINE.

"Roots?"

PART.

"Wood?"

NO.

"Flesh?"

The answer took a while.

SIMILAR.

Aria stared at the tablet.

Damon, sitting on the other side of the table, drank coffee.

"It’s going very well."

"Silence."

She continued.

"Does this body have its own circulation?"

YES.

"Organs?"

SOME.

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Some sounds concerning."

Aria ignored him.

"Will you need to breathe?"

A LITTLE.

"Eat?"

The answer took longer.

I CAN.

Damon looked at the tablet.

"She chose the most dangerous answer."

"Why?"

"Liora is going to teach her."

Aria understood.

"Ah."

Another message appeared.

LIORA SAID CAKE.

Damon closed his eyes.

"It started."

Aria began to laugh.

"Maybe that’s good."

"You don’t feed a forest cake."

"It’s a temporary body."

"That doesn’t make it better."

The tablet vibrated.

I WANT CAKE.

Damon pointed.

"You see?"

Aria was laughing too hard to answer.

On the third day, Neria reported that she could walk short distances by herself.

Ester confirmed it.

With reservations.

Many reservations.

Damon received an entire list.

Neria should not climb stairs without help.

She should not remain standing for long periods.

She should not run.

She should not try to prove that she could run.

The last condition existed specifically because Ester knew Neria better now.

Damon replied:

DID YOU REALLY NEED TO WRITE THE LAST ONE?

Ester’s answer arrived:

YES.

Neria immediately sent another one.

SHE DIDN’T NEED TO.

Damon smiled.

THAT PROVES SHE DID.

There was no response for almost five minutes.

Then Liora wrote:

SHE’S COMPLAINING.

"Impossible family," Damon murmured.

Jian Yue was sitting nearby, sharpening her sword.

"You’re smiling."

"No."

"You are."

"Is it contagious around here?"

"You use that lie too much."

Damon placed the tablet on the table.

"Ester confirmed the trip for tomorrow."

"Eir too?"

"Yes."

"You still don’t know what she’ll look like."

"No."

"That bothers you."

"A little."

Jian Yue smiled.

"You’re worried she’ll appear as a tree with legs?"

Damon remained silent.

Jian Yue stopped sharpening the sword.

"You thought about it."

"No."

"You did."

"I considered possibilities."

"Aria is contaminating you."

"Take that back."

The next morning, Mirath seemed absurdly prepared.

Jian Li had actually arranged a room for Eir.

With a window.

Water.

A bed.

And, against all logic, a small pot of soil.

Damon stared at the pot.

"Why?"

"She might like it."

"You put soil in a room for an entity that occupies a forest."

"It’s symbolic."

"It’s strange."

"You invited a forest to sleep here."

Damon gave up arguing.

Neria would stay in the room next door, prepared by the infirmary. Liora already had a separate space, although no one believed she would actually remain there for long.

Ester had also demanded that the kitchen have enough food.

"How much is enough?" Mu Qing asked.

"For how many people?"

"Eir, Neria and Liora."

Mu Qing thought.

"Five."

Damon looked at her.

"There are three."

"I know."

"Ah."

Liora.

That made sense.

Transfer could not directly reach Eir’s core, so the first contact would be made in an area near the edge of the forest. Aria would open the passage as soon as she received the signal.

The signal came shortly after noon.

The black tablet vibrated.

Aria raised it.

"They’re ready."

Damon stood.

Ester was already in the Transfer room.

Jian Yue, Jian Li, Xue Lian, Xue Mei, Aurelia and Mu Qing also went.

Chen Mo appeared last.

Damon looked at him.

"Curiosity?"

"Yes."

"Fair."

Aria activated the passage.

Space opened.

On the other side was the forest.

Liora appeared first.

Carrying two bags.

One of them clearly full of food.

Damon looked.

"You brought food."

"For the trip."

"The trip lasts seconds."

"Now we have more."

"Of course."

Neria came behind her.

Walking.

Slowly.

But walking.

Ester immediately approached.

"Without help?"

"Up to here."

"How much?"

Neria paused.

"I didn’t count."

Ester narrowed her eyes.

"That was smart."

"Thank you."

"That wasn’t praise."

Neria smiled.

Damon approached.

"You look well."

"I am."

"Seventy-four steps?"

She looked at Ester.

"You counted."

"Everyone counted."

"Traitors."

Liora raised her hand.

"I counted too."

Neria stared at her sister.

"You were on my side."

"I was near you."

"Isn’t that the same thing?"

"No."

Damon smiled.

Then he noticed movement among the trees.

Everyone fell silent.

A figure began to emerge from the forest.

It did not look like a tree.

It did not look exactly human either.

The body was approximately Liora’s height, perhaps a few centimeters taller.

The general form was feminine.

Pale skin, but with a softly greenish tone beneath the surface. Small root-like lines ran across the arms, neck and part of the face.

The hair was long.

Not made of leaves.

It looked like real hair, although some strands ended in small green fibers.

The eyes were the strangest detail.

Not because they were monstrous.

Because Damon immediately recognized the way they observed.

They were green.

With small golden points near the pupils.

Very similar to Neria’s.

The manifestation stopped at the edge of the forest.

Looked at her own hands.

Then at her feet.

Liora smiled.

"Mom."

The manifestation opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

She tried again.

"Li..."

The voice was low.

Strange.

As if Eir were learning how to use a throat for the first time.

"Liora."

Liora ran to her.

And hugged her.

Eir remained still.

Completely still.

Damon realized she did not know what to do.

Neria slowly approached.

"Hug her back."

Eir looked at her own arms.

Then placed them around Liora.

Far too carefully.

Liora squeezed even harder.

"Stronger."

Eir squeezed.

"Not that much."

She immediately loosened her grip.

Damon began to laugh.

Eir turned her head toward him.

Her expression was almost nonexistent.

But her eyes were clearly annoyed.

"You."

Damon restrained his smile.

"Me."

"Laughing."

"A little."

She released Liora.

Then stared at Damon.

He noticed something else.

Eir had no experience with personal distance.

She approached.

Very close.

Damon stepped back half a step.

She advanced another.

"You can stop there."

Eir stopped.

"Why?"

"Because people normally leave some space."

She looked at Liora.

The girl nodded.

"Yes."

Eir stepped back.

"Learning."

Damon smiled.

"It’s going to be a long day."

Neria approached her mother.

Eir looked at her.

This time she did not try to touch her.

She waited.

Neria extended her hand.

Eir took it.

Damon noticed that the connection was much weaker in that form.

Nothing happened to the ground.

No roots emerged.

No vegetation reacted.

Eir truly was far away from herself.

"How do you feel?" Aurelia asked.

Eir took a while.

"Small."

Damon looked at Jian Li.

She tried not to laugh.

"You said it yourself."

"Now I understand."

Damon smiled.

"That happens a lot."

Eir observed Mirath through the Transfer opening.

"There?"

"Yes."

"Big?"

"Depends."

"Bigger than body."

"Definitely."

Eir looked at the passage.

And did not cross.

Liora noticed.

"Mom?"

"I don’t feel the ground."

Aurelia understood.

"She’s used to feeling territory before entering."

Damon looked at Eir.

"You won’t feel Mirath beforehand."

"I know."

"Are you afraid?"

Everyone fell silent.

Eir took a while.

"Yes."

Damon had not expected her to admit it.

Maybe no one had.

He stood in front of the passage.

"You don’t have to go."

Eir looked at him.

"I want to."

"Then you’ll feel afraid on the other side too."

She remained silent.

Damon extended his hand.

He did not touch her.

Only offered it.

"Come."

Eir looked at the hand.

Then at Damon.

"Is this a choice?"

"Yes."

She took it.

The hand was warm.

Much warmer than he expected.

Damon crossed first.

Eir came with him.

For an instant, her body became rigid when the connection to the territory disappeared completely.

Then they reached Mirath.

Eir remained motionless in the center of the room.

Her eyes widened.

She slowly released Damon’s hand.

"I can’t feel it."

"Your territory?"

"Yes."

"Will that pass?"

"No."

"You knew."

"I knew."

"Knowing is different."

Eir looked at him.

"Yes."

Neria crossed shortly afterward.

Liora came almost jumping.

When everyone arrived, Aria closed Transfer.

Eir immediately turned to observe the point where the passage had disappeared.

Nothing.

No forest.

No extension.

No roots.

Only stone.

She took a deep breath.

Damon noticed the movement.

"You need to breathe."

"A little."

"But you need to."

"Yes."

She breathed again.

She seemed to find the need itself strange.

Jian Li approached.

"Welcome to Mirath."

Eir looked at her.

"Jian Li."

She looked surprised.

"You know my name."

"Liora talks."

Jian Li looked at the girl.

Liora was examining the kitchen in the distance.

"Naturally."

Eir began to walk.

Two steps.

Stopped.

Looked at her own feet.

Two more.

Damon watched.

"Any problem?"

"Ground doesn’t respond."

"Normally it doesn’t respond."

Eir stared.

"Bad."

Xue Mei began to laugh.

"She’s not going to like cities."

"Probably not," Damon replied.

Eir continued.

Touched a wall.

Stone.

Then another.

Ran her hand over the wood of a door.

Stopped in front of a window.

Looked at the courtyard.

People were walking.

Some were training.

Others were carrying boxes.

Nothing was connected to her.

Nothing responded.

But everything was alive.

Or being used by someone alive.

Eir remained there for a few seconds.

"Mirath."

Damon stopped beside her.

"Mirath."

She looked at him.

"You come back different."

"Sometimes."

"Why?"

Damon looked at the courtyard.

"Because there are people here."

Eir thought.

Then looked at Neria.

Liora.

Ester.

Aurelia.

Aria.

The others.

"I understand little."

"It’s already a start."

Jian Li appeared behind them.

"Want to see the room?"

Eir turned.

"Room."

"Yes."

"Mine