After several minutes of ughter and jokes shared between Pip and Toni the two finally made their way over to join Temate and Tuiteam Righ. The two stood, a strange but appropriate duo, at least to Toni’s eyes. Both towered over her and Pip, Temate with his poncho glimmering in the light of the Righ’s fming pumpkin head and full moon eyes. Both were intimidating in their own way, and both made Toni’s knee’s weak… in their own unique ways. Toni coughed as she saw Temate and the Righ staring in tandem at her and Pip.

  “So…” she looked at the Righ and bowed in the same way Temate had the previous evening. Still smiling broadly. “First failing light shine on you, Tuiteam Righ.” She straightened up and saw the Righ’s eyes wide looking at her. “T-that’s right, right? I hope that’s polite, Miss Chtis said it to us this mo- twilight so I-” A hand came up to cut her off.

  “First failing light shine on you Toni, Temate. A bright line to hear fore we part way. Young Pip will be your guide, so Pipuck, stay by their side.” The Righ looked directly at Pip who bowed low.

  “I will Tuiteam Righ”

  Tuiteam Righ nodded at Pipuck stepping over to the wall of tree’s, a flourish of hands, a cane lifting and–

  “Apologies Tuiteam Righ but can I ask a question.” The hand paused and the Righ turned to look at the source of the question. Toni. She shrunk slightly.

  “S-sorry, it might be rude but I uh… I wanted to ask something before we left if I may.” The Righ looked up and away at some distant pce before turning and nodding.

  “A sore host I would be twere I not to answer thee, ask your question fairest Toni.” The Righ replied, Toni smiled.

  Toni took a deep breath and asked, “We had a friend, Jake, he was–” she turned to look at Temate, and corrected herself “– my friend was behind us. Do you know if he’s alright?” She waited as the Righ tilted their head listening for… something. A breeze blew. The tree’s moaned and twisted. The Righ stepped up to a tree and plunged their skeletal hand into the trunk of a tree and pulled out… Oh god.

  Toni screamed. The ughter and humor from moments ago gone, Temate stepped between her and the… the… oh god. Toni threw up on the floor, she heard something rumbling in the distance. Something pounded in her head. Jake was… JJ… was.

  She’d seen corpses before. Her dad had brought her to work once and she’d begged him to let her look. She didn’t mind the corpse then but it was whole, in one piece. Pallid and covered in a cloth it just looked like a cold, sleeping person. Sure she’d felt uneasy, and it had given her nightmares for a week, but… but…

  She’d hunted too, it was how her dad taught her to aim at moving targets. Over the years Toni had developed a certain desensitization to death. So she thought. This was… she tried to force herself to look, a huge body blocked her and filled her vision. Temate was crouched with a hand on her back. It was such a warm hand and she smiled weakly at him. God, she reminded him of her dad so much.

  “I–I’m fine now, it was a surprise, a surprise!” Her ugh was unconvincing, she could tell by the concern and skepticism in his eyes.

  “Are you sure? It’s”– he looked over his shoulder and Toni saw no change to his ft, unbothered face, so much like her dad –”pretty bad.”

  Toni nodded, and stood. Temate stood with her, he kept a hand on her back and looked into her eyes again. Why did he keep doing that, you don’t just stare into a person's eyes so… so… firmly! She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

  “Yes, I’m sure. Don’t give me that look. I’ve seen a body before, just never someone I… knew.” She waved her hand to brush his arm off her shoulder and he moved it without resistance. Temate slowly stepped to the side as she steeled herself with slow breaths. Even prepared Toni wasn’t ready, was that contradictory? Yes, but it was the only way she could describe it to herself.

  There y Jake, or what was left of him. The red polo he’d worn was torn to pieces as were the beige shorts. Where they had torn his body had shredded to bone, including many deep shes and gashes where the clothing wasn’t. It was indiscriminate. A huge hole was opened in his chest and Toni could see his heart was missing. Despite all the wounds no blood was to be found anywhere on him, or on the torn bag he still wore.

  “The Hedgelings tear, the Hedgelings bleed. In order to grow, from trespassers they feed. Loss is terrible, painful indeed. Yet perhaps it need not be so.” Tuiteam Righ spoke, a warm sound filling Toni’s thoughts. She blinked.

  “You can bring him back!?” She shouted, “do it! Please, he was just following me and I–” The Righ cut her off with a simple shake of its head.

  “Loss is loss, even here that’s true. But from his verdure, new fruit may bloom.” The Righ pced the bottom of its cane into the hole in Jake's chest. A skeletal hand rested atop the gourd, upon that it pced the hand of roots and stems. Above both came to rest two hands of branches, one dead and the other burdened with vegetation. There they were cupped as if to catch falling water. The Righ continued speaking as light began to glow from Jake’s body.

  “Death is a fire, burnt to coal  From which old fme may not be known”

  Jake’s body began to burn, yet it did not bother Toni. In fact, it was almost mesmerizing. The cloth, flesh and even bone all caught light. Not a violent, ravaging fme but a soft one. The warm glow and soft flicker of a campfire. The fmes were small, yet where they spread all disintegrated into particles of blue and red light which ran up the length of the cane. Toni watched in awe, she knew what she was watching, but didn’t understand it. Not truly.

  “In the twilight of life, when essence falters  Reignite the Hearth, Rebirth the Soul”

  Magic, that was what this was. Oh sure this pce was magical, whimsical, even strange. She’d spent half an hour st night hugging a crying bear which would tower over even Temate but this. This was Magic. With a capital M. The motes of warm red and blue light drifted up, spiraling around the silver cane. Faster and faster they rose and twisted right up and into the tips of the Righ’s skeletal hand.

  As the lights melded with the Righ’s bottom hand, the one resting on it began to glow emitting a prismatic array of light. The lights spiraled and twisted up into the two cupped branch hands above where a small many colored fme grew. It expanded, shook, roared into life until it was the size of a rge apple and then. All at once. It stopped.

  The motes finished climbing, the rainbow vanished. The Righ’s hands closed and the fme went out with a roaring woosh of air. Tuiteam Righ stepped up to Toni, the light from their head of fme was softer. It felt as if the very warmth and fme was consotory as she looked up into the two cool pools of moonlight that served as the Righ’s eyes.

  Tuiteam Righ stretched its cupped hands out to Toni, the hand of roots taking one of hers to bring it up. She was confused but brought her other hand up to match it, cupping her hands beneath the Righ’s. It brought its huge hands down, somehow settling into her own hands. They were so warm, Toni thought. The Righ brought its hands back, flowing away like roots through the ground and they left… a seed?

  Toni looked at the small brown seed pod in her hand, perfectly spherical and fuzzy. It was soft, warm to the touch, and it felt so… familiar. Toni ughed softly as the Righ pulled away. Jake was her oldest friend at her university. Sure he pulled stupid stunts every now and then. Trying to set up one on one time and show her they could be a great couple if she’d give him a chance.

  She remembered te nights working on group engineering projects. How excited, and intense, he got before each of his races. How he’d listen to her talk about the newest firearms or a new dance she was working on. Really just about anything. Heck he was the one who started the double letter nicknames. Toni smiled. Jake was a good friend… most of the time. He didn’t deserve this.

  “Thank you, Tuiteam Righ.” Toni turned her smile up to the Righ, who nodded slightly towards her. She turned towards Temate who… was not there? She looked around confused for a second and saw him standing over something.

  “What’s that big T?” Toni asked, confused. They had just witnessed Magic and he was just picking through something.

  Temate spoke over his shoulder, not bothering to stop working. “The camping gear, the stuff Jake had and the spare bag I tore while running. It’s all here.” He picked up a knife, unsheathing it to check the edge. He stowed it in his bag and continued picking through the debris.

  “We just witnessed actual magic and you’re… you’re… How are you going through that right now!” She was fbbergasted, not angry, but she still yelled. Temate turned to look at her over his shoulder and blinked. He looked confused. How? Why?! Did he not care?! For once, she didn’t know what to say.

  “I saw it, it was amazing,” Temate nodded his head “but after, when Tuiteam Righ handed you the seed you looked… In your head…” – he turned back to the pile of camping gear and tattered cloth on the floor – “I figured it was a better use of my time than just waiting.”

  Toni blinked, opened her mouth to say something. Then she closed it. He had a point but… It still felt a bit wrong to just… just… move on like that!

  “Well you could act more impressed at least!” Toni said in mock agitation. Temate grabbed a first aid kit from the ground and came over to her. He looked at her and ughed. It was a deep, rumbling ugh and it made her eyes go wide.

  “Hahahah, oh, hah sorry. I did react, I just…” he trailed off and she punched him in the arm. Not hard enough to hurt.

  “No trailing off damn it!”

  “Ow.” Temate rubbed his arm where she hit him, she gred with insincere agitation at him. He smirked, “To be fair, there’s no trails here for me to be off of.”

  “Hahahahaha!” Pip started ughing loudly at that, Toni groaned

  “You know what I mean!” She punched him again. Pip ughed louder.

  “Careful d! She’s gonna beat ya bck and blue if ya sass ‘er again!”

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” Temate raised an eyebrow as if confused, but he was still smirking. Toni couldn’t help it, she started ughing too.