The Last I Remembered

Hospitality

While I was reading this, we reached a bridge. The structure was largely see-through and allowed us to view the ocean below us. The train swiftly crossed the bridge across a rather large bay. Before we knew it, we were speeding east through an actual rainforest. To protect both the track and the wildlife of the area, some concrete wall had been built, which ruined the view completely. Only the tips of the trees betrayed our current environment. Every now and then, we crossed through a tunnel which allowed fauna to cross the tracks and prevented the rainforest from being split in two.

This boring ride went on for a few days, during which Jada and I conversed. We had actual talks as I was finally able to truly speak. How wonderful after having been mute for all my time with Maina and Jarro. I spent this time telling Jada about all this, as she was really curious to everything. The closer we got to Murug, the more she seemed invested in everything I'd known. It was also then that I started to really think about what I'd done, or rather, what my presence had done to her. Instead of growing up like a normal girl, this sixteen-year-old had spent practically all of her savings on getting to a mythical mountain that might our might not hold the answers we were both looking for. I couldn't guarantee her anything about it. Yet I took comfort in the fact that, despite not preventing her from doing so, I also hadn't encouraged not forced her to do it.

At one point we heard a loud cracking noise, which worried me for a second, especially when I saw debris flying past the window. Jada laughed when I voiced my concerns. "Don't you worry! They made sure that the train can break through fallen logs and such! There's even a special thing built on front of the train for that... Well it wasn't there yet when we left, because it would make the train less pretty, but they installed it right before we left Achmereg through the gates!" Of course they had.

After a few days of the boring jungle, we crossed back into the open, climbing the foothills to an expansive mountain range. They looked quite like the foothills I'd been climbing with Maina, all that time ago! Unbelievable! I truly could not believe that I was finally getting close to Murug again. All of my answers were finally going to be answered!

Soon we rolled into Pokhanan, the biggest city this close to the mountains. It was a gorgeous city, even without all the gaudy display that Achmereg had. The low, beautiful houses were interspersed with temples to various gods and entities. Everything was colourful with tones of terracotta red and ocher dominating the view. It looked like a peaceful sea of houses.

When we disembarked, we also noticed how nice, welcoming and helpful the locals were. This was in stark contrast to both the people in Amr and Dharakh, which had been isolated and very cold, the loud and talkative masses from Iyanes. They weren't even anything alike the haughty, better-than-thou citizens of Achmereg. Jada inquired a station clerk about the final train we'd take, a local one that would stop at a bunch of villages before finally arriving at the secluded monastery of the Ii-yin monks. After he answered her in great detail about the train, we were all but invited to join him and his family for a single night, as he said that it was unthinkable that a pair of sweet youngsters like us would stay outside, even for a single night.

In the end, we did actually join him for dinner and he promised to wake us on time for our train. Deep into the night we talked about our journey and the far-off lands we'd come from. He entertained us with folk legends about the sacred mountain Murug his people had always dreamed of reaching. When we told him we were making our way there, he was thoroughly impressed. The people here were so secluded that very little of their folklore and stories had made it out into the world. He voiced interest in joining us, but his wife stopped him. "Xi-ining, you're way too old for these youngsters, and from what I've heard about this gentleman, they know where they're going. Don't leave us behind." And that was that. Strangely enough, they weren't even suspicious of the fact that I refused to show my face, which they explained as me being some benevolent, wayward spirit visiting. There it was again, wayward spirit. Was I a spirit?

The morning after, he declined any payment. Even though Jada's money was running low, we felt obliged to pay this kind soul for his good deed, but he was having none of it.