\|/ Turn 56, midlight

  Mik and I got infected.

  I stirred from light going into my eyes. I felt like I was waking up far earlier than usual but couldn’t fall asleep again.

  Sitting up, I realized I was in the clearing instead of the camp.

  Uhh…

  I checked the sky in case I was dreaming again, but all that met was the red dwarf rising. Early light.

  Why am I here…?

  …

  Oh… yeah…

  I was gazing at the blue lights with Mik, remembering things better left forgotten.

  Sighing deeply, I went to rub my eyes. As I did, however, I saw something white on my hands.

  “Huh?”

  I looked at my hands, blinking away the tiredness.

  And saw what was reflecting white. Fungal growths.

  “Ughhhhhh” I groaned loudly.

  Inspecting my hands closer, I saw that there were fuzzy growths between my fingers, leading up to my claws and growing intensely under them.

  Feeling dread from even more problems arising, I went to scratch my snout.

  I stopped just as I got my right hand up to my face.

  “No…”

  “No no no no no!”

  I scrambled to pick up my knife from the ground. I missed a few times, almost cutting myself, before I managed to get the handle.

  I angled the blade toward my face. I saw my eyes first, before I found the right angle to see my snout.

  Through the dim light, I saw another white spot.

  “Damn it!” I hissed, throwing the knife to the ground. I barely remembered not to immediately cover my face with my vile hands.

  I went to pick up the knife again but couldn’t find it at first glance. Only after a few spans of stressful searching did I see a glint in some taller grass. When I found it, I brought it closer to my snout.

  The spot itself wasn’t as large as it could be, covering only a few scales on the right side of my snout, but it wasn’t pretty.

  Not horrible…

  The one blessing about the growths were that they didn’t have a taste. I would’ve gone insane if I had to taste the rot from the bleeding fungal vines.

  Not going to get better on its own, though.

  Thinking about remedies, I figured that the parasitical white plant would probably be the best option. If I didn’t find that, lightbathing would help at least a tiny bit. It wasn’t my first time, but I had oils and medications back on Varanth, not just my own scales.

  At least Vera can’t make fun of me for it…

  Though Mik can.

  I clicked my tongue in annoyance and dragged myself towards the camp.

  Mentally, I prepared myself for Mik’s taunting, though I partially believed that it would be understanding of the awkward situation. If anything, Mik would at least be wary of making fun of me, since it’s still probably incredibly red.

  As I thought about it briefly, I still couldn’t fathom the concept of flesh dying from mere light exposure. I could understand overwarming, but the fact that Mik was basically shedding thin layers felt incredibly disturbing.

  Deep in my thoughts, I woke up as I made the short trip.

  And the itching started.

  And it never stopped.

  I started unconsciously picking beneath my claws as I walked, not even realizing I was irritating the infection. The more I scratched the worse it felt.

  Before I realized it, I was at the camp. Only did Mik’s “Maya!” and arm flail bring me out of my thoughts.

  I looked up, seeing Mik sitting by the tree, holding its open journal.

  “Heya!” I hissed to it. Mik flailed its arm again, smiling.

  In reddish blur that was its moving arm, I saw white.

  Oh no

  I hurried to Mik, dropping on my knees and taking its arm.

  It was covered in white spots, some clustering near each other. The damage from the last turn combined with the fungal infection made it look diseased. I leaned over Mik, looking at the other one. It was equally bad.

  I fumbled to take out my journal and wrote “Mik good????”

  Mik nodded, writing “Mik good. Maya good?”

  “I’m not making smallhiss!” I yelled out, dropping my journal and taking its other arm again. Mik pulled back a bit, but I didn’t let go.

  Unlike my scales, the fungus went into Mik’s flesh. It was sickening to look at, and I could guarantee it felt far, far worse.

  Before I could do anything else, Mik pulled its arm from me, writing “Mik good. Have before. Mik good before.”

  “We’ve both had-“ I started hissing, then went to writing: “Not on Tau!!”

  Mik moved its shoulders up and down, writing “Mik good Maya.”

  I groaned, rubbing my head before I remembered I shouldn’t be doing that. I could already tell that the turn was going to be impossible.

  “Fine, fine.” I exhaled, writing “Find white leaf for.”

  Mik looked at the words “white leaf”, probably failing to remember what was, for it, a very hazy time. I brought my left arm up a bit and made an enveloping motion around my wound.

  Mik’s face moved into understanding, and it nodded, writing “Where?”

  “Well, by the… lake…” I muttered the last words into my snout.

  The lake, which was a nightmare away from the camp.

  I stood in silence for a few moments, contemplating on what Mik asked. As I was thinking, I saw Mik scratch its arm, and I swatted its hand away. It gave an annoyed breath but stopped trying to scratch itself more.

  Well… we did say to explore…

  The white plant grew on trees around water, as far as I could remember, so going towards the river would be a good idea. Contradicting this, though, was that I hadn’t seen it where we caught pisca at the river.

  I opened the map, trying to think on what path to take. From what little I walked along the river; it seemed to continue to the right. Meaning that, if we went up and to the right, we would come across it eventually, using it as a landmark to get back to hunting area and to the camp. If not, going exclusively in one direction was a safe-ish bet, though it would probably take us longer to navigate back using our tracks and markings.

  I tapped the top right corner of the map, dragging the back of my claw along my journal from our camp and to the river, and then making a semi-circle along the river back.

  Mik took its map and traced it after mine with its pen lightly. When it was done, it nodded a bit, raising its hand.

  I brought my tail up, and Mik hit the tailend lightly.

  Mik handed me its journal and took the hatchet and water bottle, and we set off.

  We walked in silence, exchanging the usual hiss/Mik word. I was constantly fighting the urge to scratch under my claws, accidentally doing it a few times while I was concentrating on remembering landmarks for the way back.

  Mik did the job of marking the occasional tree with its hatchet, though it was losing the battle against scratching itself.

  Every few lengths I found myself in the same situation:

  “Mik, stop it!”

  “Mik, no!”

  It really felt like I was talking to a hatchling, not an adult alien.

  …

  Is Mik an adult?

  No, it has to be. No madscale (or otherwise) would send a hatchling to space. I hope.

  …

  Mik was acting like a hatchling about it, though. I was basically breathing down its neck, or rather, its shoulder, to keep it from scratching itself.

  We walked for a while, still not finding the damned white plant. My neck was aching from constantly looking up, and Mik was bored to the point of making weird, high-pitched melodical noises to keep itself entertained.

  Why can’t you translate that to hissing?

  About two marks in, I felt too exhausted to keep going. Mik didn’t seem to mind as much, with it just mildly wet, but I wanted to take a break.

  I hissed to Mik, sitting against a tree while panting lightly. Mik sat down next to me, offering me some water I refused.

  Of course, the moment Mik sat down and wasn’t as distracted with navigating through the forest, it started scratching itself.

  I thought about what we could do while we rested a bit, and had an idea:

  The word game. Specifically, I wanted to know some words Mik kept using, which I had no idea what they meant.

  I tapped Mik, feeling my snout scrunch as I saw it pick on another growth. I put my tail there so Mik would stop, and Mik finally turned to me.

  I gave it my journal, in which I had written “Bird” with “?” underneath.

  Mik doodled the scavenger, but without arms and with tiny legs. I wrote “Length?”

  Mik gestured to about the size of the sweetfruit we ate.

  “Huh.”

  I wrote “Mik home have?”

  Mik nodded.

  So that’s just normal to you…

  Wondering if they’re friendly, or at least unaggressive like the scavenger, I wrote “Mik friend bird?”

  Mik wrote “Yes YesNoYes”

  “Some?” I asked, writing the same thing. Mik tapped it.

  …Cool.

  “Alright, next word.”

  I wrote “feather”, tapping it. Mik drew a piece of cloak next to it. I had presumed that’s what it meant from the context of when Mik used it.

  I added “cloak?”. Mik wrote “feathers”.

  So, like a bunch of feathers is a cloak. Got it.

  I wondered what to ask Mik next, until I remembered a word that frightened me to ask.

  Hesitantly, I wrote “lizard?”

  Mik froze, staring at me intensely. I unconsciously coiled my tail around myself from fear of what that could mean, especially since Mik called me that word specifically.

  Then Mik drew… something.

  A flat, four limbed animal, the perspective from above. It had a tail and an elongated head.

  … so you do know what tails are, then…?

  Though that didn’t resolve the meaning of “lizard”. It could be the general body shape or any number of things. I wrote “?” next to it.

  Mik wrote “Maya” next to the head.

  …

  “What.”

  I wrote “no” next to “Maya”. Mik scribbled it out.

  …

  “You have Scale?!” I screeched at Mik, making it flinch.

  I imagined meeting Mik’s version of us and understanding each other in the biological sense. Sure, they would be unusual and hiss weird, but they could very well be our relatives, or even predecessors! Did we share the same ancestor?!

  Why didn’t you tell me earlier!? This is the most important thing I’ve learned since I met you!!

  I immediately gestured to ask about size, feeling both excited and nervous. I didn’t even care that my tail was thumping stupidly against Mik.

  Mik shook its head, gesturing to a tiny size, smaller than its palm.

  And then it got up, gesturing to something twice my length, though flat against the ground.

  “…Ok…?”

  More unusual than what I preferred, but being bipedal isn’t the determining factor. I got to the important question:

  “Smart?”

  Mik wrote “?” next to it.

  …

  How do I even explain something like sentience?

  I tapped my head, hoping Mik would understand I was referring to having a single brain.

  Mik laughed, shaking its head.

  It laughed.

  All of my excitement vanished, replaced by pure disappointment.

  I thought I was about to learn about something that would connect Mik’s world and mine. A species that Mik actually understood.

  I was hoping to learn about something similar, where everything is so alien.

  Instead, I got my entire existence laughed at.

  The concept of “lizards” being smart being so absurd to Mik that it was funny felt crushing.

  “Was I that to you, when you first saw me?” I hissed silently, not feeling like even speaking at the moment.

  Mik’s laugh slowed as it saw my tail go still. I stared at the ground, not being able to look at Mik in the moment.

  Mik wrote “Maya good?”

  I didn’t respond. What could I say at that moment?

  We sat in silence for a few moments, Mik’s taste changing to worry.

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  Mik then decided to tap my snout, making me sneeze.

  “Why?!” I hissed, sneezing again.

  Mik laughed, though it felt forced. It was trying to get me to laugh through cheap comedy.

  It wasn’t like I had learned what Mik really thought of me, even if it was only in the beginning. I made a prime example of a stupid lizard, too. I kept making it.

  Maybe Mik’s right.

  Mik stopped laughing, staring at me awkwardly. It wrote:

  “Sorry, not want bad say :(

  Maya smart, lizard good Mik home”

  Again, the last sentence felt made up just to make me feel better.

  I wrote “Go?”, not wanting to stay sitting there, marinating in sadness. Mik nodded, shooting up and helping me get up, and we continued the trip.

  As we walked, I thought about all the things I felt so excited to say, were I ever able to get back to Varanth. My world has changed in so many ways, and I learned so many things. But out of all the things I would say…

  That wouldn’t be one of them.

  Maybe half a mark later, I started hearing flowing water. The air tasted moister, too.

  Mik turned towards the sound, and I followed, trying to rationalize Mik’s view of me.

  I’m being dramatic…

  Mentally, I decided to drop the thought for later, since we were still trying to find something important.

  As we continued in the direction of the sound, the plant life started growing denser and a deeper shade of green.

  And we found the source of the noise.

  It wasn’t the river, more of a stream. I jumped across it with ease, with Mik just doing a minor hop.

  Interestingly, the tiny stream was above ground for two lengths at most, appearing from nowhere and going back underground. There was still a lot of noise from flowing water, and it wasn’t just this stream.

  I took out my journal, asking “Mik have?” Mik gave me a frail head shake.

  For a moment I thought about asking more questions about lizards, but stopped myself, focusing on finding the white plant.

  We continued towards the noise.

  A few spans later, emerging from a thicker blue bush, we found a new stream.

  And many, many more.

  There were more tiny streams than I could count from where we entered, all flowing above ground for just a few lengths, making tiny islands. What surprised me most was the fact that they were all flowing in different directions, from what I could gather.

  “How…?”

  It seemed physically implausible to have so many changes in water direction, yet there they were. Some streams even merged into slightly bigger ones that would burrow all the same.

  While I was marveling at the impossibility before me, I saw movement in the corner of my vision.

  Both Mik and I snapped left, taking out our weapons.

  And both saw a diver shaking off water after emerging from one of the streams further away.

  I breathed out, putting the knife away. Mik put the hatchet away a moment later.

  I took out my journal and wrote “Look for white leaf”. Mik nodded and followed after me. I meant to split up, but I wasn’t going to force Mik if it felt uncomfortable.

  Hopping over the streams was tiring, and I felt envious of Mik’s taller stature as I did. At least, in the thick shade, it felt quite a bit cooler than when we were walking through the forest, so Mik actually could function.

  Maybe Mik’s lizards are better at doing this than me…

  No, focus.

  But even with all the focus I could muster, there were no white leaves anywhere to be found.

  Not a single one in the dense trees.

  I started getting frustrated, feeling my tail lash as we searched, which didn’t bode well for me scratching my snout.

  At one point, I thought about something risky; finding an alternative.

  While we were looking around, I saw different interesting looking leaves and flowers.

  We’ll have to…

  As we explored, I started picking anything interesting I saw. A blue flower, a gray leaf. One particularly rough textured leaf caught my interest, since it had a weird feeling against my scales.

  When I had about a handful of random ‘herbs’, I noticed Mik wasn’t near me. I had completely forgotten about it while searching.

  “Mik!” I hissed out, scared it had wondered away. I heard a muffled “Maya!” shortly after, behind a bush.

  Relieved, I went around the bush.

  Mik was crouching over a stream, holding its arms in the water.

  “NO!” I hissed, letting go of the herbs and jumping over.

  Mik gave a surprised yelp as I yanked it backwards, both of us falling to the ground. The impact sent a bolt of pain through my left arm, causing me to hiss in surprise.

  Mik yelled something above me while I held my arm for a moment. When I recovered, I sat up, seeing Mik waiting above me, frustrated.

  I took out my journal, struggling to hold it up with my left arm, and wrote “Water food”. I showed it to Mik, tapping the growth on my snout.

  Mik read it, and just stared at me for a few moments, still tasting unhappy. It took a deep breath, wiped off its hands and wrote “Maya need calm”

  It probably was a bit excessive…

  I wrote “Sorry.”

  Mik nodded, patting my head once, making it wet.

  “OH YOU”

  Mik turned and fled, laughing maniacally.

  I ran after it, hissing “I’m not your lizard!!”

  We ran around for a few spans, with Mik easily outrunning me. I had no idea what I was going to do when I caught it, but it felt appropriate at that moment. Maybe a lizard instinct.

  As Mik jumped across another stream, a diver emerged from it at the same time.

  My anger turned to panic as I watched Mik, midair, crash into the diver.

  They both fell to the ground, tumbling in a heap of Mik and ‘feathers’.

  “Whoa!” I yelped, jumping after them.

  The diver was making nonsensical noises and fluttering wildly while Mik to untangle itself from the diver.

  I sprinted to the duo, grabbing the diver by the cloak and yanking it off Mik.

  It tumbled once, dropping something out of its chitinous snout, and fluttered away.

  “You alright?” I asked Mik, holding out my hand.

  Mik didn’t take it, though it did a small smile in thanks. Probably for the better, since I would’ve fallen over had I tried to help it up.

  We both looked up to where the diver flew off. I didn’t notice it until Mik gestured to a tree farther away.

  It was on a thick branch in a tree, with another diver next to it. They were wrapping their necks around one another, with the one that crashed into Mik extremely puffed up.

  …

  We really need them on Varanth.

  Staring at the divers, I had almost completely forgotten what I was mad at Mik about. As I raised my left hand to jokingly punch Mik, I started feeling pain in my left arm again, the adrenaline waning off.

  Mik noticed my strained wincing and crouched next to me.

  “I’m fine, I’m fine.” I hissed, trying to straighten up.

  Mik took out its journal and wrote “Maya good?”, holding it up for me to write in.

  I wrote “Yes, left arm ow, but yes. Mik no worry.”

  Mik read it and thought for a moment, writing “No white leaf. What idea for ?”. When I read it and looked back at Mik, it gestured to its arms and my snout.

  I looked around. I had no idea where the herbs I collected were.

  Suns…

  I wrote “Find leaf, any”

  Mik nodded and put the journal back.

  It stayed next to me for a few moments, while the pain passed.

  Guess I have my own buddy too…

  I sat down, letting myself recover from all the jumping around. Mik went to sit next to me, but I pushed it away with my right arm, not wanting to waste time we probably didn’t have. It was really difficult to gauge what time of light it was.

  Giving an annoyed huff, Mik went off behind some bushes.

  The drivers, unfortunately, had moved from that branch while I was dealing with Mik, so I couldn’t look at them anymore. I felt disappointed I couldn’t look at them, so my gaze slowly fell to the ground.

  And I saw a half eaten pisca.

  …Oh.

  I had overlooked what the diver had dropped during the scuffle. Looking around, I couldn’t see it anywhere near me, trying to get back its prey.

  “Sorry” I muttered to the long-gone diver and took the pisca.

  After some time, I went back to collecting herbs. I even managed to find my original pile, since it was so ridiculously colored.

  I spent a lot of time quietly contemplating about lizards while I collected herbs.

  Are they happy…?

  Can they even feel happiness…?

  After a while, I felt like I really needed to ask Mik more about them, even if they disturbed me. Only then did I remember Mik wasn’t anywhere near me.

  “Mik!” I hissed out. No response.

  …

  “Miik?!”

  I heard a faint “Maya!” from far away.

  I went towards the sound, occasionally hissing to Mik until we found each other.

  When did, Mik presented its piles of herbs. They were… interesting, alright.

  Between being slimy and having thorn-like protrusions, Mik had definitely managed to find the more interesting looking ones, even if some tasted weird.

  “Good job!” I hissed, giving a forced smile.

  We had been there for a while, though, and I was getting suspicious of it being midlight or not. I put down my own herbs and the pisca and brought out my journal.

  I was about to write when Mik asked “Maya?”, tapping the pisca.

  I shook my head, writing “Bird” and showing it to Mik. Mik looked confused, so I gestured the divers wrapping their necks around each other. Mik nodded, if still not completely sure.

  After, I opened the map and tapped MIK MAYA. Mik nodded, probably as tired as I was.

  We picked up our respective piles (though I put the pisca onto Mik’s, since my left arm really didn’t like the added weight), and we went through the blue bush, towards the camp.

  We walked for a few spans, getting away from the streams area.

  Every step we took, it got warmer.

  Mik was fine, at first, but it starting leaking water pretty quickly. I wasn’t sure how much was left in its bottle, either.

  When we got to a tiny clearing where we could see the red dwarf, I saw that it was late midlight. The worst possible time for Mik to do anything.

  How long had we been there…?

  Mik tried to ignore the warmth, from what I could gauge, but it wasn’t working. The streams cooling down the area really had tricked us, and if we tried to make it back, it would be dangerous for Mik.

  “Mik.” I called out.

  Mik turned around, its face red and wet.

  I put down the herbs and pulled out my journal, writing “Maya Mik go back”. Mik didn’t understand “back”, tapping it. I tapped the top right part of my map.

  Mik contemplated for a moment. I was about to start arguing with it when it nodded.

  We’re resting at the streams now.

  I managed to fear Mik into scratching its arms less, but it’s still doing it too much. I can’t blame it, though, it’s a horrible feeling, and I can only imagine what Mik feels like.

  Mik wanted to start a fire here, but I voted against it. I think we would start a raging inferno from all the plants nearby, so it’s better to stay hungry and wait until we get back to the camp.

  I wanted to ask Mik more about lizards, but it’s already asleep, so I won’t bother it for now.

  When we get back to the camp, I’ll try using the herbs on us.

  I hope the idea is smarter than a lizard’s.

  \|/ Turn 56, dark

  Mik tore up its arm.

  I fell asleep sometime after writing. The constant sound of the streams was calming, especially after last dark.

  I woke up about a mark or two later.

  The first thing I did after stretching was check whether the pisca was still there. Mik and I had put our herbs on a pile next to me, and the pisca under it, to hopefully mask the taste. I wasn’t sure if the diver would come back and steal it from us when we weren’t looking, but it was still there when I checked.

  Good.

  Then I looked to my right, expecting to see Mik sleeping or writing something in its journal.

  Instead, I saw a few small trails of blood flowing down Mik’s arm.

  “Ah!” I flinched, moving back from the sight. I had missed the taste from my drowsiness, but the sight snapped me wide awake.

  I was horrified to see Mik picking at the same growth on its left arm, it now hanging off its flesh.

  “MiK!” I hissed, my voice cracking. “What are you doing?!”

  I immediately grabbed Mik’s right arm, pulling it away. The sight of Mik’s blood on its own flat claws was sickening.

  Mik flinched from me suddenly pulling it and tugged its arm back. I didn’t let go, standing up while holding its arm.

  “You’re hurting yourself you-“

  Mik’s face contorted into annoyance, and it pulled back its arm sharply.

  I lost balance, falling over myself and onto my back. Pain exploded on the left side of my body, pulsing from my arm.

  Mik started getting up to apologize, but I was furious.

  I stood up, getting in Mik’s face.

  “Can you fucking stop it?!” I growled, baring my teeth. It wasn’t smiling that time.

  Mik held its hands up and looked genuinely scared at that moment.

  I got out of its face, storming off a few lengths away while clutching my head.

  WHY do I keep getting thrown around?! Is it the lizard thing?!

  “Does it make that much of a difference to you?!” I hissed, not even looking at Mik.

  I was beyond tired of Mik’s irritability from the entire turn. I just wanted to help it, for Suns’ sake, and all Mik did was get annoyed and humiliate me.

  Mik’s hand tapped my shoulder.

  “Oh get off.” I growled again, shaking it off and going to a nearby stream.

  “Scratch yourself to death for all I care.” I muttered.

  Standing over the stream, I stared at myself, my tail still lashing behind me.

  …

  I didn’t mean that…

  The pain got worse, though.

  Gritting my teeth, I crouched, cupping some water with my right hand and pouring it my back. I wasn’t thirsty, but the action felt like it would help me focus on something else.

  Completely ignoring my own advice. I realized, staring at my claws.

  I sat down, holding my left arm and watching the stream flow.

  When the pain was almost gone a few spans later, I stood up, turning back to Mik while taking a deep breath.

  “Sorry, it’s just-”

  …

  “…Mik?”

  Mik wasn’t there.

  I stepped towards the tree where we had rested. The pile and pisca were gone, too.

  Mik’s journal was on the ground, on an otherwise blank page Mik had written:

  “Mik go MAYA MIK. Sorry :( “

  “Oh, you have got to be kidding me!”

  I pocketed the journal and bolted towards the blue bush. I could tell Mik went that way from its taste, though that method of tracking quickly gave way to panting.

  Still, I knew where to go.

  I jumped over a stream, praying a diver didn’t crash into me like it had with Mik.

  Then I hopped over another stream.

  And slipped on some wet grass on the other side.

  I fell on my back and tail, rolling a few times before I came to a stop.

  At that point, I was out of adrenaline to null the pain, and my arm was tearing me up internally. Overexertion was nothing compared to how many times I had fallen this turn.

  I wailed, lying on my back in the moist grass. Suns, it hurt.

  “Why… Why did I do this to myself…”

  I tried getting up, but immediately fell over when the muscles on the left side of my back contracted, causing another bout of agony.

  It took me another few spans to force myself up. I was still crying, but I couldn’t let something happen to Mik, or myself, from us splitting up and getting lost.

  My legs shook as I stood up and limped out of the streams.

  I continued in the direction of the camp, barely keeping my thoughts straight. The world spun around me at every step.

  I felt it get warmer as I got farther out from the streams. Somehow, I felt unbearably hot for the first time in my life.

  After an eternity of limping running, I finally saw Mik, walking quickly in the direction of the camp.

  I wanted to hiss out to it, but my voice gargled from my own saliva.

  Mik heard the noise I was making, though, and turned around to look at me.

  As I got closer, my body finally failed me.

  The last thing I saw was Mik’s worried face, and everything went black.

  It was dark when I stirred awake.

  I felt incredibly confused and disoriented. I remembered everything that had happened to the moment of me falling, but past that was just nothingness.

  I opened my eyes, but they failed to adjust. I felt my back pressed against a tree, and that it was colder than it had been when I fell. The itches, unfortunately, were still there, accompanied by a dull ache in my left arm.

  My eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, and I saw a campfire illuminating the tree in front of me and the hull piece above me.

  …camp…?

  I craned my neck to the right, seeing Mik, adding a branch to the fire.

  “Mik” I rasped.

  Mik flinched slightly, immediately snapping towards me. It ran up and crouched next to me.

  Mik took out its journal, immediately writing “Maya good?”

  I nodded, leaning forward a bit as I regained my senses.

  Mik then flipped to another page, which already had a sentence:

  “Mik sorry sorry. Arm ow, Mik know, sorry. Not want ow. Mik arm ow, but not ow ow. Maya not get ow from Mik.”

  …

  It took me a few moments to understand what Mik was saying, especially with how drowsy I was feeling.

  I took the journal, writing “Maya sorry too,”

  Mik took it before I could finish, scribbling out what I had written.

  …what

  Mik tapped its own sentence again. It wasn’t going to let me apologize.

  It’s not a competition. I sighed internally.

  I let it be for the moment, since it would be a waste of paper if I tried to convince Mik otherwise.

  Mik then put down its journal and went to the fire.

  And returned with a warm, cooked pisca. The full one.

  I went to take out my knife, only to find it missing. Mik realized and handed it to me from off to the side.

  “Thanks.” I hissed, thinking: why did you take it…?

  Mik sat down next to me, looking at the hull above us.

  I split the pisca in half and put the head side on Mik’s lap.

  Mik looked down and quickly handed it back to me.

  I sighed, taking the journal and writing “Maya know Mik sorry. Mik still eat.”

  “Don’t be like me.” I hissed while Mik read it.

  Mik shook its head, writing “Mik eat before. Maya eat.”

  What did you eat…?

  …

  Oh right, the half from the diver.

  I wrote “Mik not eat enough.”, giving the pisca back.

  Mik put it back in my lap.

  Oh living Suns you’re impossible.

  Even when apologizing, Mik was still Mik.

  My tail twitching, I put Mik’s half off to the side, carving and eating my own half. I was trying to avoid using my fingers as much as possible, making the process much slower and more difficult.

  While I ate, I wondered why I had been out for so long.

  Collapsing felt understandable after such an exhausting turn, but I was out for marks.

  Why was I so warm?

  A cold chill went down my tail as I came across a thought.

  Am I dreaming right now?

  It was possible. I could’ve very well been dreaming right next to Mik, back at the streams.

  Everything felt real. Everything was consistent.

  But my dreams were always consistent as well. She knew how to make unreality feel real.

  I stood up, almost falling over as I did. Mik got up after me, asking “Maya?”

  I gestured to Mik to stay, just as it had taught me.

  Mik looked confused but stayed. Consistent.

  I walked into the clearing, looking at the sky.

  It was completely normal.

  “How…”

  “How did I get here?”

  Still not certain, I went towards the scavenger’s bush.

  Maybe she would pop out of it, wearing the scavenger’s body this time. Anything to mock me.

  I approached and ruffled the leaves.

  A shallow warning hiss came from inside. I took a step back.

  “So I really am here...” I hissed, staring at the sky again.

  I went back to the camp and sat down next to Mik.

  Mik had seen the entire sequence of checks but didn’t bother asking. I wouldn’t have answered, anyway. I went back to eating the pisca.

  But the question still stood. How did I get back to here, when it took us more than 2 marks of walking.

  When I finished eating, I went to grab my journal, since Mik was using its, only to find it missing.

  “Mik?” I hissed.

  Mik looked at me. I gestured taking the journal out of my pocket.

  Mik opened its mouth for a moment and handed me my journal from off to the side.

  You really looted me, huh?

  I wrote “How Maya go MIK MAYA?”

  Mik hesitated for a moment, which made me doubt whether I was dreaming again.

  Can’t think up an answer?

  Mik then started drawing.

  It drew itself in line form…

  Holding me by the stomach, with my tail dragging on the ground.

  Mik even added the detail of my closed eyes.

  …

  This can’t be real.

  I wrote “How?” gesturing to the pile of herbs I noticed on the opposite side of us.

  Mik then added a whole bunch of leaves balanced on my back.

  …

  …

  Oh Suns it’s real.

  I wrote “How long?”

  Mik put a “?” next to the question, not understanding. I took the journal and drew the red dwarf above us, and then the camp, tapping a few possible spots for the red dwarf.

  Mik added it being at lightend.

  It had carried me for almost half the turn.

  I covered my eyes with my tail from embarrassment.

  Realising it had been dragged through the forest, I uncovered my eyes and rubbed them a bit with my arms.

  I self-mockingly wrote “Mik carry lizards home?”, referring to Mik’s home.

  Mik laughed once, writing “No, just Maya.”

  I felt myself unconsciously grab the dirt. That was smooth, though I didn’t think Mik was trying to be.

  Then I saw Mik’s exaggerated smile.

  Oh Suns you were trying to be smooth!

  I laughed uncomfortably, Mik joining loudly a moment later.

  Jokes aside, I still felt… wrong about the whole lizard comparison. It had been bothering me the entire turn, and I needed answers.

  When Mik stopped laughing, I wrote “Mik think Maya stupid lizard? Why is funny?”

  I didn’t want to completely ruin Mik’s joke, and it made it seem that way, but I had to ask.

  Mik’s face did something complicated and confused me a bit. It wrote “No. No. Maya smart. Mik say not good before.”

  I wrote “What mean?”

  “Mik” it stopped writing, hitting the pen against its head lightly. “Mik funny lizard, not lizard not smart.”

  Breathing deeply, I repeated the same question that led to all of this:

  “Lizard smart?”

  Mik, sighing just like me, wrote “Mik home no. Lizard not Mik home smart. Just Mik home not. Maya smart. Smart than Mik.”

  It felt like Mik was trying to force me to feel better about it again. I went to write, but Mik did so before me:

  “Mik know Maya smart than Mik. Maya ow, like Mik.”

  When I read it, Mik tapped “ow” and then its head.

  …

  …yeah. We all do, don’t we?

  We sat like that in silence, no one having anything smart to say.

  After the discussion, I offered Mik the pisca.

  It kept refusing its half, despite being bigger than me. In the end, we managed to compromise on splitting the bottom of the pisca, both eating a fourth.

  Mik fell asleep almost immediately after we ate. Exhausted from dragging around a Scale the entire turn, I reckoned. I left it be.

  Mostly.

  I checked on its arm. The wound had clotted but looked incredibly agitated. I had no idea how Mik’s flesh would heal from that, and it was risking infection, like mine. The damage from light was much better than last turn, so at least that would pass.

  This can’t go on.

  I paced around, thinking about solutions for the fungal infections.

  I took out my knife, watching the blade. My first idea was to try and cut the ends of the fungal growths, or at least trim them.

  But that seemed way too unreliable, since the knife wasn’t a single edge, being a collection of scraps. I would harm myself trying and just stab Mik to death.

  … And I eat using this…

  I pocketed my knife, looking at the pile of herbs.

  It was a cacophony of tastes and colours, all completely unhelpful on whether they would help.

  …

  “Trial and error.” I sighed.

  Before I do that, however, I wrote this, since having random powders/oozes on my hands would ruin my journal.

  The idea, essentially, is to crush the leaves and put different ones on different claws. I don’t intend on experimenting on my face quite yet.

  I’ll catalogue which ones I picked out for now.

  1, left – Red-blue flower, thick, surprisingly heavy

  2, left – Dark-grey leaf, flat, has large “veins” (whatever those on leaves are called)

  3, left – Black… berry, thing. Extremely weird shape, reminds of a tumour.

  Thumb, left – Yellow-orange flower. Perfectly symmetrical.

  1, right – A few very thin, very prickly green leaves. Brought the tiny branch.

  2, right – Odd-feeling rough leaf. Brown colour.

  3, right – Almost ripe berry which we eat. Faint red.

  Thumb, right –pisca blood

  The last one seems a bit insane, and I won’t tell Mik I did it, but it could very well help.

  Maybe Tau animals have some antifungal gene to prevent this very situation. It’s a wild guess, but I have to try anything with potential to help. I’ll use the scraps we hadn’t eaten, before I throw them to the scavenger.

  I hate that I’m about to test on myself, but one of the herbs has to help.

  Even if the others hurt, finding one that doesn’t will be worth it.