A Place To Bloom

Pure Fucking Fire

I was going to talk to Ahmi anyway, but I only had one kren left. I should have just taken the money.

My assumption was that she'd gone off to the vita'o yard—that area to the left as you walked in through the main gate that stretched for a full mile all the way to the south wall, cordoned off by a line of old wooden posts without so much as a rope to stop anyone or anything from walking through. Thick fruit trees took up the space, massive mango trees, coconut trees, trees bearing red spiky fruits, trees with yellow fruits in a star shape, one tree had green spiky fruits larger than a baby, bundle and all, while below on the floor were thick ferns and vines fighting for scraps of sunlight beneath.

I saw no vita'o, but I knew they were there.

I looked at the stone shed where the day before I'd seen Miyani scrubbing Blue down with soap and looked around to make sure I couldn't see her again.

I wouldn't mind scrubbing her down with soap; if only. Maybe if I hadn't been so stupid as to say that to her.

Maybe I never had a chance to begin with.

I still had a chance with Ahmi, though.

I passed between two posts and hadn't made it two steps when I heard a sharp caw. Not twenty feet from me, two vita'o emerged from the ferns, ran up to me, and hissed. One of them was full gray with a light underbelly. That one was on all fours and dug its talons into the dirt, coiling its neck upward and bared its teeth at me, hissing hard. The other was dark gray with green vertical stripes along its body. It walked right up to me on its hind legs, bumped its body into mine, stretched its long neck to peer down upon me from several feet up, and hissed at me while resting its three-inch talons on my shoulder. As I looked up with my mind frozen, Light-gray brought its snout inches from my ear and hissed long and low.

Don't pull a weapon. My heart thundered, and I took several steps back. Then, as though following some unseen cue, they relaxed on their hind legs with their forelimbs out front, then brought their heads to my eye level and stared at me. I looked left and right; I was back behind the posts.

I lowered my gaze some, trying to slow down my racing heartbeat. Then with a deep breath, I looked back up and spoke. "I'm looking for Ahmi."

The light-gray one chirped. Then, it stretched out its neck towards the direction of the tall towers of the inner sanctum in the distance.

"That way?"

They both clicked. Then, the light-gray one accompanied me as I walked, keeping its body between me and the posts. Past thick trees and brush I walked. I knew there had to be other vita'o lurking in the shadows, but I couldn't see them. I spied what I thought was one crouched beside a large tree, only to find an old stump covered in yellow mushrooms.

After a time, we came to a narrow footpath of beaten grass between two posts where my guard stopped and chirped at me.

"Through here?"

It clicked. But when I tried to enter, it stood in the path blocking my way and peered at me through one gray eye with a black vertical stripe.

I wasn't sure what that was about. "May I enter?"

It clicked twice. I stood still for a moment, trying to work out what that meant. Then, the thing lifted its head around and sniffed at my arms and my neck before pulling away again.

"What's the point of showing me where she is only to tell me I'm not allowed through?"

It tilted its head slightly and shifted its body around without moving its head.