The Calling Forest

Chapter 3- the cave of whispers

When Tum-Mah came back, she was holding a woven basket that had fish, a rabbit, and bamboo stalks in it. She jumped out of a tree and in front of Zuccia and Tul-Luh. She took out the stalks and offered them to Tul-Luh as the panda cub made a happy chirp sound and took one of them, rolling onto her back. She started to eat. 

Zuccia watched and he couldn't help but giggle a bit at the young cub. Tum-Mah looked at her and sighed, shaking her head before turning to Zuccia. She handed him a couple of fish she caught.

With a smile, he accepted the fish, almost burning his fingers as he held it. Smiling, he started to eat them. "This is really good, miss Tum-Mah!" Zuccia gushed as he ate. Tum-Mah smiled at the two and she sat down with them, taking the rabbit out of her basket. 

"thank you, Zuccia" she offered in a slow tone that Zuccia found weird as he tilted his head.  

"Also, you know, you smell like my grandpa. That's good because I like his smell" Zuccia chimed with a smile as the woman looked at him, tilting her head with her eyes wide. 

"What-" She paused, looking at the sky for a second before turning her head back to Zuccia "What was your grandpa's name?" she asked. 

Zuccia looked up at the sky as he took a deep breath. Then he tilted his head back down and looked at the woman with a smile. "His name is Jayson! He told me that the green light will guide me home, so when I saw a green star in the sky, I followed it and that is how I got here!" Zuccia said happily as he ate.

Tum-Mah had a sad smile "Tuv-Ham-Tam, Kalj caki jalk mah-ham-tuv" she said while looking at the sky. "Tina let mel gah" Zuccia looked at the cub who had stopped eating when the woman spoke and it's head was cocked to the side in an odd manner. 

The panda then got on its hind legs and it started to change until it became into a young girl who was a little shorter than him. 

She was fairly chubby, like the panda form she had. She took a bite of the bamboo stalk she was given, her arctic blue eyes, which still had the famous black panda rings around them, shifted between Zuccia and Tum-Mah. "Tum-Mah? " she looked towards Tum-Mah "Likal Tuv-Ham-Tam? " she said, her voice was gentle and soft as she tilted her head up to Tum-Mah.

"How did she do that? Can I do that?" he exclaimed as he looked at Tum-Mah and Tul-Luh.

Tum-Mah looked at Tul-Luh as the older placed her left hand on her hip, looking at her other arm that she held out in front of her, closing the fist. Tum-Mah then looked up at the sky "Tuv-Ham-Tam" she spoke "Tuv kalj sil cah" she seemed to recall. Zuccia wasn't sure what she said, though he could smell a faint scent of tears as Tum-Mah talked. 

She then turned to him, shaking her head "No, you can't do that, Zuccia." She slowly and deliberately told him as if she had to think about every syllable she said.  "That is-" she continued "That is a special thing reserved for tak-pena like Tul-Luh and I." 

Zuccia tilted his head "Tak...pena?" he questioned while looking between the other two rapidly, looking for some kind of answer. 

Tul-Luh looked over at him, smiled, and pointed to herself "Tak-pena!" she cheered and put her hands on top of the black skirt with white stripes. Her hands and arms were a deep black that had a sharp line at the end of her shoulder, showing that her torso with a milk white that matched her hair. Zuccia noticed that she was barefoot, not wearing black boots like he originally thought- and her legs and feet the same black coloring that ended at her knees. 

"What's tak-pena?" he asked as she tiled her head and narrowed her eyes, causing her eyebrows to scrunch together.

"Tum-Mah? Kiliam tuv humi umil?" Tul-Luh said, pacing emphasis on the "umil" as she turned her head to Tum-Mah while pointing at Zuccia. He didn't know why but Zuccia felt his ears turn red and he looked down and away from the other two.