Keith shook his head to get rid of most water before getting back home.
But when he walked through the door, he was surprised by someone.
"Auntie?"
She kneeled next to him and grabbed both of his hands. She whispered.
"I was worried. I knew you would do something such, but I wouldn't imagine you'd come back this soon. Listen, here, it's a safe place. You don't have to 'protect us' or whatever, me and Reis can protect you okay? Why are you wet?"
'Just lie.' The voice in his head said.
"I wanted to go to the city tonight, because you wouldn't let me go tomorrow morning for sure. But when I reached the river I couldn't see a thing under my knees. Everything was dark, everything was unknown. I got scared and came back. I am sorry."
Tiya smiled and replied.
"Then I hope it will serve you as a lesson. Here."
She gave him a nearby towel-like tissue and helped him dry off his head a little more. She wore a radiant smile mocking child's foolishness.
'A successful lesson I must say... I hope you have questions, I worked hard to create this curse.'
And once more, Keith wanted to be alone. He wanted to have a private talk with his inside-mate. He had absolutely no care for Tiya. He thought she was trying to substitute his mother. That was the worst thing she could do.
She did not intend to do that at all. But hate began to grow in Keith's mind, he wanted her away. He couldn't hide aggressiveness in his behaviour, which was mistook for adrenaline from his earlier runaway by Tiya. She spoke.
"If you go to sleep now, I will wake you up later than usual, we won't work too hard."
A step easier than expected.
The moment Keith fell asleep he woke up to a new place. What seemed to be a cylindrical room was a round mouth where a circular dentition upholstered walls. He was hanging mid air, sitting on very thick black strands, webbing a rigid floor.
There was no throat hole to be seen. Keith could discern above the webbing over his head, a wooden ceiling.
"The wood coin?"
And under his feet, a pool of thick blood bubbling. He soon realised it, he was in the curse he had learnt.
After trying to understand every element in this weird dream, he called out the missing one.
"Show! How can a wood coin could help curse a person in particular. Could you explain me your... 'recipe'?"
The monster seeped through the dentition and shaped itself before putting arms on the gigantic wooden coin, scratching it slightly.
"You don't see everything you should. Wood isn't the important part. That contains Ned's spit from earlier. It doesn't matter if it's dry! What else don't you understand here?"
'Swallowing wood seemed relatively fine until now. Now it's disgusting.'
"How did you get his hair for the webbing?"
The monster shook his crooked body.
"That's not his, that's Avati's. This little girl has a very good hair, long one, very delicate yet solid, and not as smelly as his. I chose it for its quality only. Ned's wouldn't have held long, it breaks too easily."
Show's description made Keith feel unwell. The fact he liked a part the little girl, even from afar sounded wrong to him. But what if he had only the curse in mind while talking about this matter? Keith let the matter sled when he heard Show saying.
"Next question."
"Yes, it was night time. Why did you not go out and then pull out every of his teeth yourself? You can touch things right?"
"I wanted to experiment your compatibility with curses. Not everyone can do such things, I was pretty sure you were, because you birthed from one. Could it have gone dangerous for you? I don't think so. Did we not have fun, looking down on such thick fur, looking down on a person you consider a giant? Did we not enjoy?"
Keith was deep in thoughts... Didn't they? He had some food. He made a problem vanish. Show had begun to explain curses, as asked.
"Yes."
The circular mouth opened. There was a deep night outside. A crescent moon orbiting around it could be seen by the opening.
Keith held the thick hair to move around and get close to the edge of the bizarre platform. He held himself to a huge tooth and stared down. No ground. They were floating in the night.
"You called this place the Explanation, right? How come it is an explanation without foundation this time? What kind of place is this, a dream?"
Show's hands scratched different places, he was thinking.
"This place changes every day. You just don't visit me often enough to observe it. I'll tell you how I comprehend it. You are here in this curse, with me. Those are the two things you currently need because you have no backup. You have nothing else that can let you fly in the night. You have nothing else preventing you falling from the sky. And the fact we don't see the ground let me suppose you don't know where you are, nor what direction we are going to."
Those words made sense. It was just an image of hidden thoughts he had deep inside. He wasn't certain if those thoughts were his or Show's.
"We'll find him, don't worry."
To a brand new day, Keith woke up. Reis was already gone for his routine. While Tiya had arranged the table for conservation preparations. There were knives and a mountain of salt next to her hands while she chopped the meat out of different fishes.
Her movement were agile and precise. The tool she had wasn't sharp, but the width of her movement made her cut almost effortlessly. Keith remarked her solid shoulders and thick forearms. Her build was closer to his father's than Raima.
She saw him approaching.
"Salt gives it more taste, but also prevents it from rotting too fast."
Tiya was a little tense. Her speech was a little faster than usual and she pursed her lips once so often. She was very focused for such a simple task, indeed she was stressed about her husband and the stranger.
She put the meat into a pot already half filled with salt, and she added more to cover it all, then she used a compartment Keith hadn't noticed yet. It was half a meter deep and half a meter wide.
"That's not a carpet?"
Keith asked.
"It is a carpet. But under is a cold hole. That's how we conserve, it's an old family thing. But it works! We sell a minor quantity and we keep more for us when the river gives less."
She left more meat than usual on the table once she wrapped up her condiments.
"Today is Avati's fourth birthday, we'll have more than usual. She likes it grilled so that's the way I'll cook for today."
The little girl was staring at the table with envy, she had her fingers in her watery mouth and couldn't avoid drooling. She saw Keith, uninterested by the food, obviously. She asked.
"When is your birthday?"
"My mother used to say at the hottest day of the year, the one that gives the hardest labour. I'd be seven next."
The girl nodded.
"And what is your favourite dish?
Keith could hear Show's loud laugh resounding in his head. But he answered with a wry smile.
"I don't think I have one yet. There are too many different things, when I'll be sure of the one I prefer, I'd let you know for sure."
Later the same day, Reis came back from the market. The eyes of wife and husband met and a word escaped Reis' mouth.
"Nothing."
'Nothing? No fish? No sale?'
Keith had completely forgotten about the main problem.
"This hunter did not show his face for the whole day! What a sick guy, scaring us like that. Just to be sure, you won't go out yet. My love is really creative to find some activities. Stay home, that way I won't have to find something else to cover you up. I am the worse liar of the village."
Avati and Tiya nodded while Reis was unsure which of his sentences they approved.
There was a second day where the man did not come. And a ta third day. Ned didn't come back. The family's worry vanished at a slow pace while Keith's hunger grew anew.