|Goodbye Again| kazuscara

十

Cold Tea

🍁☂️

Setting up the fire was the easiest part. Once the fire was going, Kazuha used the pot they had found to wash to boil water. After he set the pot over the fire to boil, Kazuha began to clean up his pocket knife from the fish blood. He planned for sashimi as the main dish, and with whatever herbs Scara found, he would cook some vegetables too. He wondered if soup would be nice, but it was meant to be a light lunch so they could travel and settle down nicely in the evening without a stomach ache.

Setting down his knife and trying his hair into a high ponytail to avoid getting wet, he decided to get another fish. The pot of water would take a while to boil, so he figured to make his best work to present a full meal for Scara.

The second fish was sliced and nicely set onto a nice, big green leaf, in a way that reminded Kazuha of its freshness. The pot of water had reached boiling point and Kazuha already set tea herbs inside from which the consultant from Liyue gifted them. The aroma of tea, the bright sun, and the twinkling water all made him comfortable, almost too comfortable as he found himself falling asleep.

Kazuha decided to squeeze out the rest of the water in his clothes and put them back on. Though they were a little damp, the afternoon sun warmed him up. He took a breath and sat under a tree, taking in the sound of nature around him.

When a leaf fell into his lap, he picked it up and held it out against the sun, looking at the pattern of it. Then he brought it to his lips and blew, creating a nice note. At times like these, he wishes he would have learned an instrument as a child.

It had begun to take a while for Scara to get back. At least an hour had gone by and the fish was beginning to lose its freshness as the tea began to still. He had almost fallen asleep a handful of times because of how long it took.

Kazuha stood from where he sat and began to look around for any sign of Scara's return. The forest was quiet and peaceful, not a trace of human interference. In truth, he was beginning to get worried. Could Scara have gotten lost or into trouble?

After walking through the thick and thin of potato patches, a parcel of deer, and almost falling off a cliff, Scara came to terms that he had gathered enough. He looked down into his arms, his white sleeves now dirtied. "Let's see..I have two carrots, a tomato, three tomatoes, some sugar flowers and mint." It was a lot compared to when he had first started gathering things, but now it was time to head back.

Scara turned around with a spin on his heel, glad that it was all over until he realized. He was lost. If there was any way for his smile to have disappeared so quickly, it was at that moment.

"Oh, goddamn everything! This is like getting lost in Inazuma all over again!" he screamed out to the forest, watching as birds flew up into the sky disturbed. "What now?" he grumbled and leaned against a tree to rest. He had been walking for the archons know for how long, and now he was lost. Back when he was still in Tenshukaku, he knew all the hallways, secret rooms, and back ways through the palace, but now, he felt helpless in the vast real world.

It would be best to wait for Kazuha to find him, but who knows what might have happened while he was gone. The sun above had shifted farther to the west from when he had first checked for the time. He must have been out for at least two hours.

The prince had much dignity to himself, but after starting this damned journey he had found it fall apart bit by bit. He swallowed his pride and screamed, "KAZUHA!!!"

Scara continued to call, but his mouth was dry and his throat ached. He chewed his lip and continued on despite the pain, "KAZUHAAA!!!"

There was something wrong. The silence of the forest, the howling, cold wind, and the stillness of water in the river; he didn't like it one bit. Now that he was lost, it felt like the world caved in around him. The sharp shadows of the underbrush seemed to taunt him as he treaded cautiously through the forest, hoping he was going in the right direction. He would never pray to a god for help. In fact, damned them all for pushing him to this point.