Like a statue, a small, thin, and emaciated owl rested on one of the mana zone's massive trees' lower branches. It yawned and closed its eyes; it had spent days hunting with no success.
"Look, Paley!" A voice snapped it awake just as it was about to slumber. It looked up to see Bacha's face just inches away from its own. It wanted to take off, but it was starved, so it resigned itself to its fate stoically. "It looks hungry..." She turned back to Paley with a worrisome expression.
"We can skip fishing today, then." He slipped a large bag off his back and rummaged through it, retrieving a small box containing earthworms. "You wanna do the honors?" He teased, offering her the container.
"No, you go ahead," She recoiled at the writhing mess in the box. He carefully grabbed a handful of worms and offered it to the owl, whose wails of gratefulness as it chowed down on its first meal in several days produced a smile on his and his sister's face.
"What do you think is causing this?" Paley asked.
"Are you sure this isn't your fault?" Bacha petted the owl.
"Huh?"
"Do you have some secret weird collecting hobby or something?"
"You think I collect insects in my free time?"
"Probably. But, don't worry, I don't see you as any less of a man." She took his hand as he gently drifted with her back to the ground.
They continued exploring to fill in the last few empty sections on Bacha's map of the mana zone.
"It is weird, though. I mean, last year there were so many that Adimia even developed arachnophobia."
Bacha chuckled, remembering when a bulky, hairy spider climbed into Adimia's mouth as he slept in the canopy. It had startled him so much that he fell off the tree and forgot to use the Water Cushion runestone that Paley made for these occasions. Luckily, Paley was there to create a bed of thick water to save Adimia.
"Man, his face when you pulled it out," Bacha recalled further how Paley stepped on Adimia's chest to restrain him and thrust his hand into his mouth, yanking the spider out. Adimia's eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the size and hairiness of it.
They arrived at a large dell; Bacha almost stumbled into it as it was so overgrown it deceived their perception of how far down the ground was below the foliage. However, like a treasure, right in the middle, a bright red gem rested atop a tall flat-leaf plant. It emitted an irony smell that overpowered the humid, earthy and woody forest scent.
"Is that a runestone?" Bacha asked as Paley carefully approached it, wading through the vegetation.
"If it is, then... how was it made? Can a mana zone produce runestones? I thought a conscious effort was required to create one. Does the mana zone have a conscience, then? How strong is it?" Paley's curiosity peaked which produced a smile on Bacha's face. He placed his finger on it and channeled a slither of mana into it. Streaks of sparks erupted from the stone and from the opposite side to his touch a jet of bright flames burned massive holes through the trees. He removed his finger in time for the flames to dissipate without causing a major fire, whatever flames did come about were small and he quickly put them out.
"That's incredible," Bacha said as Paley moved to one of the trees. The runestone had blasted a perfect cylindrical hole in its massive trunk.
"Wow. Interesting." Paley felt the fresh scorches, but withdrew his finger immediately. "It burns effectively..." He looked up, checking how far the blast had gone, "And it goes far. I'm taking this with me."
"Be careful," Bacha watched him take the runestone carefully, encase it with Earth Magic, and place it into his bag.
"Let's hope it doesn't blast a hole in me," His words made Bacha gulp, "Shall we continue? How much more is left?"
Bacha produced the last few sections of her map that she needed to fill out. "Just one more bit. Straight ahead from here." She quickly looked around this section and marked down the locations of herbs before continuing.
They could tell they were reaching the end of the mana zone as the trees and foliage began to shrink. In the wider context of the whole world, 'regular' sized natural scenery was scarce. This is because 90% of the world, including the oceans, is Pericland. The world is, as such, one large mana zone. However, the remaining 10% of the world is made up of territories where mana is scarce or not present at all. In one of these territories, the human race evolved, thriving on intelligence at the cost of magic.
Bacha traced her pencil along her map. "We should be reaching the end... now-"
"Watch out, Bacha,"
She was completely occupied with drawing the map and would've stepped into nothingness, falling into a large canyon had Paley not warned her. Relieved, she kneeled and peered at the thin stream of water running along the canyon's floor.
"Look, Paley!" She pulled him to her level and pointed to a thick grey goo seeping from the walls deep in the canyon. "Gorgoo."
Paley took her down and looked around as she harvested the goo. What seemed like a bridge of earth, running over the canyon in the distance, caught his eyes.
"Paley?" Bacha tapped him on the shoulder, "I don't want to go near it, it stinks."
"Why don't you breathe through your mouth, then?"
"Ho, good idea," She confidently approached the goo and grabbed it with her hands. Paley began to pull out a container from his bag, but she gestured against it and began applying the goo to her face.
"Can you wash my face?" She requested, and Paley directed a gentle stream of water from his hands. As the goo fell from her face, he saw it had become much smoother and lighter; the skin appeared to glow. "I bet you didn't think I could get any better looking," She said smugly.
"Of course." Paley took some of the goo himself and applied it to a scar on his forearm that he had received from a recent monster-hunting quest. Healing Magic can't remove scars as the body does not recognize them as a threat. He washed the goo off, but the scar remained - though it did fade a little.
"I can make something for that if you want,"
"That'd be great." Paley took them back up above the canyon and she began to detail in the remaining parts of the map.
"I thought guys liked scars."
"Not me, I guess." He watched her, always astounded by her skill in accurately depicting the mana zone and her memory, knowing so many herbs with such peculiar names. She began plotting out the canyon, looking around to ensure she didn't miss anything, and she too noticed the bridge connecting across the canyon.
"Is that a bridge?"
"I think so. Wanna go check it out?" They approached it. It was large and must've been there for a while as the grass had climbed up a significant portion of the bridge. There were large paw prints on it as well going both ways, which vanished into the dense grass.
When they returned home, Bacha eagerly showed everyone the map. Madella joined in, peering over their heads. The bridge caught her eye.
"Teerom, Jurie. Do you remember this?" She asked, reaching between Adimia and Reben's shoulders to point at the bridge.
Teerom racked his memory; he seemed to have somewhat of a recollection of that bridge, though most of it was a blur.
"How did you forget, Teerom?" Jurie seemed unimpressed.
"Is that how you came to Gouon, Mom?" Adimia asked.
"That's right."
"We found big paw prints, though," Bacha said.
"Those belong to Mr. Lion. We rode on his back to get here." Madella explained.
"You rode a lion!?" Adimia's eyes sparkled.
"Yes. It was so big it would take up half of this room and it had these deep dark blue eyes..." She trailed off, a confusing memory re-emerging momentarily, "Anyway. That bridge appeared out of nowhere. We found ourselves at the canyon with no way to get across, but the ground suddenly molded itself into that bridge."
"Mother thinks it was her boyfriend watching over her," Jurie teased, making Madella's cheeks turn pink.
"Boyfriend?" Adimia and Reben perked up, "I never knew about this."
"Did he not come with you?" Rauba asked. Madella stiffened and her eyes drifted to the floor.
"There's a reason we didn't know about this. Don't ask about it." Paley said sternly.
"No, Paley, it's fine, thank you. His name was Maro. The love of my life... But he died." Those words silenced the room, "Leia, he was so corny. He would always say the cheesiest things completely seriously. I thought it was strange at first. I laughed at him at first. But..." Tears flowed suddenly from her eyes and she crunched forward from the agony, "I want to hear just one more of his stupid lines."
The orphans quickly embraced her. Before that day, none of them had seen Madella shed a single tear. She relished in the comfort of these children, of her children. Had she forgotten to cry all this time? Had she forgotten to remember the man who stole her heart? It didn't matter anymore, because today the tears would continue to flow.
Once she calmed down, she began recounting her romantic tale with Maro. The first time he had seen her was at a luxury restaurant she had gone to with her friends without the knowledge of her family. He was a commoner and although he was going to be kicked out immediately, he still rushed into the restaurant in his dirty, torn clothes to talk to her. His very first words to Madella were "I must be in heaven, for you are an angel that stands before me.". Immediately afterward, the staff threw him out.