Gloria shook her head, fixing her coat and stepping towards the door, listening to Morio's muffled yells of either fear or excitement for another task. She couldn't tell.

"He said it a thousand times or so already." she scratched the back of her head. "Anyways, I'm surprised you're not complaining about the lack of tea. I'm gonna ask Bancho for some later in the e-evening." Gloria shook her head, before putting the empty wooden cups into a small bowl filled with water.

Victoria sighed, putting her hand on her forehead. "Avoiding the topic again?"

Gloria ground her teeth, looking to the side. "Look. Morio's doing well enough by himself. He doesn't need those other stories."

"You're saying all that as if you ever told me of them. All I know is that you became a Demonear, something happened, and you gave up. I'm starting to think that someone forced you to become one."

"Huh? Why would they?"

"I don't know. Okay, I'm rambling. Nevermind." Victoria sighed. "Just... consider it as a thought. Morio desperately wants you to be the hero, and I'm sure he'll search for a way to prove his claims."

Gloria sighed, before turning away from the weapon.

As their words implied, Jyuzou was a calm kid. He spent most of his days wandering around town or the nearby forests, valleys or even hills, (that were still a part of Mistwick) searching for any interesting flora to ponder over the next few hours, analyzing it bit by bit. He seemed to be way more mature than Morio, but you could easily tell he was still young from the way he spoke to people who weren't as educated on the obscure flowers he found in that red book of his, even though he had trouble with the letter 'r' and often stuttered on a few harder words such as 'development' or 'purple'.

Besides that, Jyuzou also knew some things Morio didn't. For example, he could cook very well, and Morio tended to burn his fingers if he put them anywhere near an open fire. Jyuzou knew how to mix seeds and plant-based food to make the greatest of meals, courtesy of Victoria's words, while Morio had hands-on experience with hunting animals, because of him joining Bancho's missions once or twice. Through the most challenging of such, he hunted... one bunny, and asked Jyuzou to cook it for him with a side of that delicious stew.

Despite their differences, one wouldn't let go of the other, and this wasn't something you'd choose sides on. It was always Morio and Jyuzou, two of the many, more quiet kids in Mistwick.

Morio hummed a song while strolling through a small copse, not far away from his house. He picked up a twig, and then another, putting down a basket he carried on his back and barely stuffing it in.

The area he ventured in was, curiously, one without much of the juniper trees, and instead, most of the twigs were carried here by the surrounding, cold hazes. Most of the path he trod was comprised of a wooden road with smaller torches at the sides, and houses here and there with these triangular ends on their rooftops or the few other trees, with the small, nearby mountain casting a shadow over the wider ones along the footpath to the hamlets.

After about twenty minutes and seventeen more jile-wood pieces, Morio calmly looked for more between the tree houses. However, he spotted something else.

"Jyuzou!" Morio raised his voice, as he gazed at the brown-haired boy, fixing his glasses. Jyuzou turned around and sighed, as Morio ran down from the hill and almost tripped into the snow.

"Please don't interrupt my work today." Jyuzou shook his head.

"You're collecting wood too?" Morio asked, curiously, as Jyuzou's basket was filled to the brim with sticks.

"I always have, Morio. Bancho asked me last time, why would it be any different now?" he fixed his glasses.

"I've never seen you do it beforehand!" Morio pointed.

Jyuzou smirked. "Did you think half of that Jile-wood appeared out of nowhere?"

"Argh! We could've done this together, hand in hand!"

"With you? You're way too l-level-headed for any cooperation!"

Morio frowned, angrily. "I think I know what that word means and that's not true!"

"I can't keep up with your pace, that's all!"

"Then, you have to learn to run! To reserve that stamina!" Morio clenched his fists, clapping twice. "You call yourself a Morian if you're running out of energy so quickly?!"

Jyuzou breathed out again. "I don't run out of energy. I just don't want this to be some s-sort of competition." Jyuzou muttered and sucked in air through his teeth, then gulped a bit.

"How much Jile-wood have you collected?!" Morio pointed.

"THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Jyuzou raised his voice.

"FORTY-THREE!"

"FIFTY-TWO!"

"Oh." Morio stepped back, as his eyes shrunk. "Damn it!" he turned on his heel and started running.

"Ghh..." Jyuzou growled as he looked down at the ground. He picked up a shrivelled piece of paper, opened it and analysed its contents.

Morio ran back, breathing heavily. "It fell out of my pocket!"

"A map of Mistwick? I thought you were working on Shimori,"

"Already finished that! Why did you think I was so joyous and almost killed that stupid flower the other day?" Morio asked. "The answer was obvious, and yet the smartypants Jyuzou failed to connect the dots."

"It's not stupid!" Jyuzou raised his voice, before looking back at the map. "Phew, though. A-all the routes, the houses, they're all marked. Even the shapes."

"It's not finished!" Morio snatched it from his hands. "Even if it was, you weren't going to be the first person to see it in its full glory."

"Wow." Jyuzou crossed his arms. "Mama, then?"

"Heck yeah! She will be yelling out at the top of her lungs in joy, so proud of me!"

"That's totally how adults work. Classic Morio," Jyuzou grinned, and Morio sighed, turning on his heel, with almost all of his twigs and branches pouring out from the side.

Jyuzou stared for a moment, concerned, before clearing his throat. "By the way, um." he blinked. "Do you want to... work together, maybe?"

"Huh?"

"You make the maps, I can tell you where certain plants grow. We can make something cool together, like in the tale of Karin and Anders, where-"

"-they created a bridge over the lakes of Lignoria! Hoo!" Morio opened his mouth, shocked. He jumped up twice. "How would that work with plants, though?"

"I don't know. We'd be the ones writing the story, this time!"

Morio gasped, before clenching his fists. "Then it's set!" Morio raised a finger. "We're creating something for the world to remember! A new goal!"

"Sure." Jyuzou fixed his glasses. "We could start working on it after the ceremony. I remember all the Callothia spots by heart," he added, enthusiastically.

"No, no, Jyuzou. I'm talking about a faraway future, here." Morio grinned, as the two marched through the town, passing people who walked around the centre, preparing for the night's celebration. "After this map's done, I'm training at least three hours each day!"

"Why?" Jyuzou muttered.

Morio stopped in disappointment. "To become a Demonear, Jyuzou!"

Jyuzou gulped. "Right. That."

"Think about the opportunities, though!" he put the basket down, signalling with his hands as if he was creating a story just by swinging them right and left. "No matter where I go, I have my trusted weapon with me, so nothing gets in between me and map-making! Then, when I'm finished with all the atlases, we can work together to mark its... flowers." Morio looked to the side. "So yes, faraway future!" he repeated, laughing.

"You'll be leaving Mistwick in a year, then," Jyuzou uttered.

"Precisely!" Morio replied. "I can't let Mama down! She'll see her son a successful warrior!" he laughed, snorting. "...and now that I have a map of Shimori, I can go to Magna all by myself as well!" he strutted forward. "I guess I could tell you all about it once I'm done with all my travels!"

Jyuzou put a hand on his forehead. "Do whatever, Morio."

"There you two are." An older man said as Morio and Jyuzou put down the baskets in front of an open and stiff, massive wooden box, with some ash lying on the inside. "How much wood have you collected?"

"Fifty-two!" Morio raised his voice, quickly snatching five little branches from Jyuzou's basket. The other turned, but barely paid as much attention. The sight from the circle itself was more of something Jyuzou always wound up admiring. The river clashed with the erected footpath, and soared towards the rocky peaks of the nearby hills stretching over the bridge towards the other huts, and where trees grew as small as those seeds they dropped.

He squinted his eyes for a moment, imagining the nightlights shining from the sharpest peak up there, and saw himself sitting in that bigger wooden house along the road, starting through the ceiling windows and admiring the sights, once more.

"Great work, as always." he nodded, before sitting down on a chair not far away from the circle where the ceremony was to happen. "Hoo, I think tonight's gonna be great. We'll be celebrating during this time of year, which means..." he looked at the sky, which began dimming, with the sun already setting in the distance. "The lights above will shine the brightest, with the most vivid of colours. I expect lots of Morians to dance around the fire."

"Mr Bancho, do you have that thaduk with you?" Jyuzou asked as Morio put the wood into the box, eyeing Jyuzou for not doing the same from time to time.

"Oh, I almost forgot. You wanted to learn a song or two, right?"

"Might be fun." Jyuzou beamed.

"Stealing my idea, huh?" Morio asked.

"I'll try and ignore the wood you took from my basket." Jyuzou continued, and the two passed smacks from one another but stopped when Bancho turned around.

"I left it at my house." Bancho moved, putting his hand into the pocket of his pants, made out of square cotton patches. "Why don't you go over there and bring it for me, Jyuzou? It should be right by my bed. I've been practising." he passed a red key to Jyuzou and nodded. The boy took it from his hand and walked up a flight of brown stairs, right behind the carved-out, small, valley-like space for the ceremony.

Morio seemed to be annoyed by something.

"Is everything okay?"

"I hate that the inside of the Jile-wood's yellow," Morio muttered. "I hate that colour." he made a sour face.

Bancho laughed, putting his other hand on his rather short beard.

After a small walk, comprised of passing by other houses, trees stretching on the small hill towards the Camp Forest and another bridge separating the riverside from newer copses, Jyuzou made it to a rather big, leafless tree, with branches extending left and right, and the main log bending to the side at the halfway point, carving the way for a small balcony facing the Uvo Forest.

Bancho's house in the town's centre, far from it, actually, but near the circle where Shin Ceremonies were held, closer to the hamlet part of Mistwick.

He stepped inside, unlocking the strangely-shaped door and looking around. He gazed at the tree's massive crown, hollow on the inside and basked in a warm orange. On many shelves, or hanging from wooden racks were items, which Bancho collected from the many adventures he's been on. During the ceremonies, the youngest of Morians always gather around and listen to one of the many tales he never seemed to have run out of.

Jyuzou looked at a dark, torn-apart coat. He recalled Bancho's story, something with him setting out for Malikan with a trusted friend and exploring its grassy terrains, finding a hidden stash of Silver behind a waterfall in Prope Portam.

Not wanting to take too long, though, he fixed his glasses. Jyuzou turned the corner, and eventually found the instrument, calmly sat on a small shelf near the bed.

***

The day changed into the night, and fires were lit all around Mistwick, closed within sheets of thin material. The ones shining the brightest cleared a path towards the ceremony.

Older Morians played the guitars, while women danced with their newfound partners. The kids tried jumping in on the fun, but some were scolded by an adult, telling them to wait for their turn.

Others enjoyed a nice meal, consisting of Metho and Shato seeds combined with vegetables preserved from the last Gorro. Other Morians focused on big clumps of meat from the animals hunted the day before.

After the main dance, a newly married couple stepped in, and the song shifted to a different tune. They jumped around in their decorated robes and jackets, with a coat of paint smeared beneath their eyes. As someone added a log to the fire, the two kissed, against its fiery backdrop.

The Morians clapped their hands in joy, signalling for some to come over and enjoy the food.

Gloria stared out of a window in her house. Her hands landed on a small plate, and when the burnt Metho Seed tumbled to the floor, she seemingly ignored it, squinting her eyes a bit. She turned to the weapon on the wall once more, before moving to the door and setting out towards the ceremony.

"Clavis Crystal." Bancho rubbed a white stone in his hands. "I was out there, far from Mainland Errarion. We travelled by boats, to defeat the vengeful and extremely powerful demons, which protected their temples. On the last few days of our adventure, when the waters began creating massive waves which lasted to this day. I found multiple of these, hidden in between stashes of-"

"Lapuna flowers," Jyuzou muttered.

"How did you know?" Bancho asked.

"You told us this once already!" Morio raised his voice.