The Hollow

Onu

In a few days the terrain became more rocky, the path more jagged, slowing their progress. They camped early to find sufficient firewood and water in the area. Their rations were dwindling and the wildlife was tapering off, so they set some traps and deadfalls for extra provisions, and Dev started constructing a hunting bow with a hackberry branch he found, and bowstrings he had.

They settled around their fire as the sun began to set, and the three youths pressured Nom to reveal where exactly they were going to find the darkseer. Nom sat on a log, resting on his elbow and tapping his fingers on the crown of his head, and considered how much they knew about the Hollow.

Over the course of their journey with Nom, the trio had narrated the story of their trip around the Berm, from Whithom to Elocant. Omega added more detail to the awakening of her abilities, how it led to the farseer group in Ferox—touching on Dev's doomed relationship with that farseer—and how they battled through the strangeness of the Berm and the Hollow. During much of their journey they were pursued by a relentless and indiscriminately cruel warrior known as Sire Valta, who left destruction and misery in his wake. To Nom he sounded like a seerhunter—those who track and kill seers for various reasons—but seerhunters are not usually that indiscriminate. The trio gleaned that he was part of some group who was trying to stop them, which for them lended credence to the validity of their quest. They vanquished Valta outside the Berm in Debella, far north of Elocant.

Nom decided to share some of his planned route. "There is a person in the mountains who I've never told anyone about, for their safety and my sanity. But you've survived more strangeness than most, and helped me survive too, so you deserve to know this.

"Ten years ago when I fled my home across the Hollow, I faced the same dilemma we do now: how to cross the Rachis mountains, but from the other side. I searched some time for a pass, or someone who could help me. Eventually I found an old pathfinder named Onu, or strangely, he found me.

---

I was in the foothills, running out food and bracing for a miserably cold lonely night, when a man walked silently out of the dark, right into my camp. Before I could react, he dropped a pile of deadwood, sat down at my pitiful excuse for a fire and gave me a huge smile.

'I finally found you Nōm!' he said with relief, and proceeded to stoke my meager fire with the wood he brought. He was short, carried a big pack like Dev, plus some sort of staff with an axe on the end, had faded burn scars on part of his face, and wore goggles like Oa's around his neck, though he was no seer.

I just stared open-mouthed at him, my hand halfway to my spear, frozen in disbelief. 'W-who sent you?' I stammered in fear.

'Don't you know? I'm Onu! You sent me!' he said cheerfully. He then pulled out a small weathered recorder and whistled a ridiculously cheerful jig.

'Whoa whoa whoa, hold it guy. Stop. Stop playing! Argh—hey! I didn't send you; I've never met you!'

At that Onu finished with some sad blurts from the recorder. I could tell he was faking a frown, then he broke out laughing, flicked the recorder up in a twirl, caught it and held it out to me. 'A gift,' he said.

'Hey, this firewood you brought is as generous as one can get around here. Now how—'

'Thank you. It is yours,' he added solemnly, and placed the instrument down next to me.

Not wanting to upset this crazy man who knew too much, I picked up the recorder and said thanks. 'Onu, right? How did you find me in this wasteland, or more to the point, how in the Hollow did I send you? I don't even know where I am! Wait, is this real?' I peered uselessly into the dark for any sign of seers, then thought about reevaluating which of us was the crazy man.

'It is what I do. I find things in these mountains. People, things, paths, places. Those who can find a path will find where they're going. I found you Nom, and I found you again!' There was that smile, cracking his face in half.

'Um, yeah, I guess you could see it that way. But how do you know my name?'

'Nōm, it has been a long time, but how do you forget a man who saved your life? And how do you forget a man, the life of whom you saved?' he looked at me quizzically.

'You're asking that seriously? I've never seen you before in either of our lives.'

Onu looked less than happy for the first time. Scratching his head he said, 'You do have a lot more hair than last time we met.'

'Guy, we've never met. Not outside the Hollow, not in our dreams—'

'Only inside the Hollow,' Onu said slowly. We looked at each other, a realization dawning on us.

---

"Through a trick of the Hollow, he had met me in his youth, and then he met me in mine." Nom shook his head and clenched the log he was sitting on with both hands, still trying to grasp the whole of it. "But I had never met him. Dev, you're going to burn your bow," said Nom. Dev had been motionless, rapt during the story, distracted from heat-treating his bow wood. He jumped up and beat out the flames that threatened his task, while Nom continued.

"We stuck together for some weeks after that, and formed a tight bond in a short time. His joy and easiness was a counterpoint to my fear and practicality. And he truly was a great pathfinder. He led me through the mountains with cunning and skill. I came to call him a true friend, and invited him to travel further with me out of the Hollow, but he declined, having made peace with his place in the mountains.

"He had seen so much in the Hollow that the circumstances didn't faze him. But I didn't want to believe anything other than the Hollow was playing a trick on us. After Onu and I parted, I avoided seeking him out or sending anyone to him." Nom reached over into his pack and pulled out a small recorder. "That way I would never have to accept that I will have given him this in his youth."

"The same pipe he gave you." Dev said.

"If he gave it to you, and you end up giving it to him, then who made it?" asked Omega.

Nom shook his head, unsure. "There are things you see," he indicated Omega, "that the rest of us are blind to. My guess is there are forces in the Hollow that we all are blind to. It does not mean they do not act upon us."

"Throw it in the fire," suggested Ahden. "Maybe it will strike a blow on this cursed place."

Nom gripped the pipe in his fist and contemplated it. "This is our best way across the mountains," he said with conviction.

"So be it. In the morning we set out to find your pathfinder."