Chapter Text
Quantara had walked through the forest for a long time now. She hadn't eaten for days and was so tired that she thought that she would faint. Lucky for her, she wasn't alone. She held the part of the shield tightly in her hands, not wanting to lose her grip and drop it.
That shield was her best chance at surviving this.
"Voice!" She called. "Voice, I know you're around! Come here, will you?!" Said ‘Voice’ appeared immediately, as if summoned.
Voice looked like a bat. They were smaller than Quantara. Their fur was white and they had a purple glow all over themselves. They had only one eye and Quantara was pretty sure they were undead. But they helped her, so she didn’t really care about their current stadium in life.
"Sorry for being gone, my friend. But it's been so long since anyone found me. Normally it takes decades, not centuries. It’s just so good to be free, albeit just like this…" With 'this’, they meant that they were still stuck. But they could look and move around in this world. They couldn’t touch anything though. “Why were you going so slow? You look terrible."
She shot them a glare at which they simply shrugged. "Voice, I’m serious. I need to rest."
"And you need food too, you’re like a stick." Voice added helpfully. They grinned at Quantara, but their smirk faded when they heard her sniff. "... Quan? Are you…?" They went silent when they did really see tears on her cheeks.
She turned away from them and quickly wiped her eyes. "Sorry."
"You’re leaking. Why?" They asked, looking actually confused. Then they got an idea. “Close your eyes, maybe the leaking will stop.”
But her eyes were already closed and it didn’t help. “Oh… You’re crying, aren’t you? I completely forgot you guys do that sometimes. Why, are you sad? That’s what makes people cry most often.”
Quantara sat down. She had stopped crying and was now staring at anything but Voice. She looked annoyed, and Voice could recognise that look all too well.
“I’m not sad.” She said eventually. “I’m just… Tired. And hungry. And that makes me feel miserable.” Voice mentally noted that. Exhaustion + Hunger = Crying Quantara.
“I guess you can rest for a little while…” They looked around. They were in the middle of a forest, in China, if Voice had to guess. That was an explanation for the exhaustion. They had come a long way.
Quantara nodded. She looked back down on the piece of shield she held. It was just a small piece, but as soon as she touched it, Voice had appeared. And then she ran, ran until her legs gave out and then some more. It had brought her here. She nodded again and laid down. “I’m going to sleep now… Can you…?” The undead bat nodded.
“No bug will bother you.” They said, already grinning again.
It was a matter of minutes before Quantara fell asleep.
Exhaustion solved. Now hunger.
A strange, happy humming caught their ears. How great it was to hear things again. Voice went to investigate. Some sort of dog was walking through the bushes, pushing a pushcart filled with… mushrooms, Voice guessed. The dog was a brown Chow Chow. She was wearing a bright pink robe. Voice snorted. The Fucsia pink didn’t fit the colour of her fur at all.
The Chow Chow walked on, humming, singing something about ‘the Harvest’. The dog didn’t notice Quantara’s sleeping form, nor Voice - of course. They were invisible to anyone except Quantara, because she held a piece of the shield.
Voice approached the pushcart, floating next to it and looking at the mushrooms.
Edible? Possibly.
Worth it? Unsure.
Voice thought about waking Quantara and asking her if her intestines were able to digest the mushrooms, but decided against that for obvious reasons. Besides, ‘the Harvest’ sounded promising.
With a flick of their wrist, the Chow Chow froze, her fur prickling and fluffing up, eyes darting around, but she couldn’t move a muscle. Voice couldn’t touch her, nor the cart, but they could still use (a limited amount of) magic. The cart moved on its own, riding itself towards the sleeping weasel girl. Voice sat down cross legged - floating just a bit higher than the ground. The magically frozen dog could only protest weakly, not moving, words coming out muffled and inaudible. And she wasn’t even actually frozen, so she wasn’t cold. Voice was really kindhearted.
“What is that?” Quantara asked, stretching. Voice snapped up. Finally, she was awake.
“I’ve got you food!” Voice said proudly, puffing their chest out a little. “I just don’t know if it’s actually edible. But you probably know. You’re an expert at eating, of course. You do it almost every day.” The female weasel just sighed deeply, put the piece of the shield in her lap and grabbed a few mushrooms.
The mushrooms seemed edible. And if they weren't, Quantara was too hungry to notice. “I mean, why else would she collect so many.” Voice said, waving her concerns away.
“She?”
Voice pointed at the still-frozen Chow Chow. “The dog.”
Quantara frowned and then gasped. The weasel hadn’t even noticed the Chow Chow. “What? How? WHY is she so still like that? What did you do?” She got up and approached the frozen dog. “Oh my gosh, you can’t just do that to people!” Voice grimaced.
“But she deserved it!” They got a look from Quantara. “She was annoying.” Voice clarified. Quantara just shook her head and sighed again. The weasel wanted to say something else but Voice cut her of with a gesture. Their ears were perked up. “Wait… I hear more annoying.”
Another Chow Chow was walking through the forest, humming just like the frozen dog had done. Voice and Quantara hid behind some bushes - well, Quantara did, Voice just floated next to her, knowing nobody could see them. This dog looked younger, not much older than Quantara, who was almost nineteen. Her fur was white-ish, and her robe was a blue-greenish colour that Voice approved of more than the fucsia of the other Chow Chow.
Voice looked at Quantara. The weasel stared at the white Chow Chow with her mouth open slightly and brown eyes wide. “You’re staring,” Voice told her sharply.
“Am not!” Quantara quickly answered, loud enough for the humming dog to look up. Quantara ducked behind the bushes, Voice chuckled.
“I wasn’t staring, okay? I was just… looking.”
Voice rolled with their one eye but didn’t say anything else. The young Chow Chow looked around. She could swear that she heard someone. But there seemed to be noone there. She shrugged and continued her walk.
Quantara automatically wanted to get up and follow, but quickly caught herself and stayed seated.
“What’s up with all the dogs in this forrest?” Voice asked retorically. But Quantara started smiling widely. “There must be a village nearby! That must be why that dog that you froze collected so many mushrooms.” She bit her cheek. “And that must be where that girl lives too, then…”
“Do you like her?” Voice asked curiously.
“Whatnohahawhywouldyouthinkthat?!” Quantara answerd, way too fast, way too awkward. Voice smirked. “Just wondering.”
Quantara groaned. “Fine… but - not for any stupid reasons! - could we, maybe… follow her? Just to see if there really is a village.” Voice shrugged but nodded, seemingly not wanting to pry more.
And so they followed the Chow Chow, staying behind far enough for her not to notice them, but making sure not to lose her, leaving the frozen Chow Chow behind. Quantara had completely forgotten about her already, focussing solely on the young Chow Chow. After a while, over a small hill, they saw a village indeed. There were many Chow Chow dogs walking around, all women and girls. Neither of them noticed. There were warm fires, and the dogs were setting a table. Then Quantara spotted the young Chow Chow. She handed her basket - filled with mushrooms and some berries - over to an adult. “Thank you, Shèng Nu.” The lady said. Shèng Nu smiled and walked away.
“Voice, did you hear that?” Quantara squealed. “She said her name! Her name is Shèng Nu!”
“Mhm…” Voice hummed absently. Quantara scoffed at them, but Voice just frowned and shifted. Their ear flicked. “Something is wrong… Stay here, I’m going there.” They moved to leave, but first shot Quantara a look. “Seriously. Stay.”
The second Voice was out of sight, Quantara jumped up and slid down the hill. She quickly ran to hide behind a wall.
“Hello,” Quantara heard a voice. Her head snapped up, and her heard skipped a beat.
“Who are you?” Shèng Nu asked her, smiling kindly.