Far from the Sea

The Visitor

True to his word, Kai stayed out of the woods. He busied himself with the construction of new platforms. "For the babe," he claimed. He worked like a man possessed, stopping only for food and sleep. Questions needed to be repeated almost three times over before his concentration broke to answer them. He kept a close physical proximity, but Liesel wasn't sure he was much more present than when he'd been off in the forest. By the time the leaves turned amber and gold, the pair's little house grew to expand out in every direction. Liesel's rail thin body had started to round with signs of carrying a little life within her.

She climbed down the ladder carefully, clutching a cup of water and the plate containing Kai's midday meal. He put down his saw and stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow before taking it. "Aren't you eating?" he asked.

"I did already. Got hungry when I was preparing yours." She glanced at the grid of sticks he'd bound with lengths of rope fashioned from stringy dried leaves. "What are you working on?"

Kai's face contorted in mock injury. "Aw, you can't tell? I'm hurt."

"With you? Could be anything."

"That's true." He took a big bite of the dried rabbit meat leftover from their dinner the night before. Chewing heartily, he held up the structure and mumbled, "It's a cradle. For the babe."

Lately, he'd cited everything as being "for the babe," but the reveal of this particular piece caused tears to well in Liesel's eyes. "It'll do fine," she assured him and turned away, embarrassed by her sudden rush of emotion. Her eye caught something amongst the trees that seemed out of place. A slash of white. A gleam of ruddy red. Months ago, when she first thought she'd seen something in the forest, she shoved aside her assumptions and convinced herself that it was an animal or at best, a trick of her mind. On second sight, she found it far too human-shaped to be either. She narrowed her eyes and took a step toward the trees to confirm her suspicion. "I was right," fell from her lips as a whisper. As though the being could hear her, it swiftly turned and fled.

Liesel plunged into the forest. Kai's voice calling her name rung in her ears, but she didn't stop. This stalker was the only other human they'd seen in Arcadia. A girl, she deemed, by the white dress and long red hair. How many times had she watched them? And why had she not approached to make herself known? These questions circled in her mind as she chased the stranger. "Come back," she called out, but the girl disregarded the request, weaving an erratic path around trees and down steep slopes. Liesel's feet pounded over the undulating terrain, stumbling over tree roots and loose earth. Branches stung her skin, but she could not slow for fear that never discover the girl's intentions. Liesel watched her scramble up an incline and disappear over the top of the ridge. She clawed her way up in pursuit, but when she reached the top, she found herself completely alone.

The land extended out flat from the ridge. She could see far into the distance ahead, and the path she'd taken below, but there was no sign of the girl anywhere. No sign of Kai either. He'd remained in her wake for the entire pursuit, his boots crunching leaves and sticks underfoot as he called out to her to wait. But now the forest had gone still. No footsteps, no heaving breaths, no crack of branches. Only the low whistle of faraway birdsong.

Odd. Kai would have never abandoned her. Perhaps he got distracted by some marvelous find or had lost track of her and returned to the treehouse to await her return. Even worse was that she seemed to have gotten herself hopelessly lost. She wished she had paid more attention on all of the excursions into the forest instead of following blindly where Kai led. She cursed before beginning the difficult business of discerning where she was. Eventually, she ambled upon the stream and followed it back into familiar territory, stubborn hope quickening her pace. Dark was shrouding the landscape in hazy violets by the time the treehouse was in sight. "Kai?" she called out, but no answer came.