Night had cast its blanket over the forest.
Vrakhu and the twins sat in the clearing near the Tree of purple leaves. A newly born fire between them, pushing away the darkness and inviting light into their home.
The twins were hungry and their stomachs weren’t afraid to shout their opinions at the world.
They hadn’t eaten anything besides the berries Vrakhu brought back since the snake Corin roasted.
But they couldn’t say anything. Not now.
“Cultivators are supposed to be strong / Cultivators can’t be a burden.”
Vrakhu watched and listened, their inner voices rolled over him like water spilling from a leaf.
But he didn’t offer to help either of them.
Corvin desired strength.
Corin wished for recognition.
Both ideations stemmed from pride.
Everything in the sack was edible, and he’d collected enough to feed them both for a few days.
However, they’d only chosen the most appetizing fruits to consume.
That was acceptable for a mortal.
It wasn’t for a cultivator.
They’d eaten enough to sustain their bodies and minds tonight.
And this would be the last time they had the strength to turn away sources of energy.
Vrakhu shifted his weight, the movement instantly grabbed the twins’ attention, and they turned to look his way.
“Listen and listen well.” He stared into the fire while the twins stared at him. “You will rise with the sun, and you will sleep with the moon.”
Corin blinked the sleep from her eyes and stretched her arms above her head.
The rising sun began to warm the side of her face the instant she climbed out of the hollow.
She looked around the clearing, the Master was nowhere to be found, and their fire was on its last legs.
They would need to build another before day’s end.
“Hey.” She reached into the hollow with her foot and shoved Corvin with her toes. “Wake up.”
“Five more minutes…” He muttered into his bicep and attempted to roll over.
“Get up!” She swatted his backside with her right hand.
Her palm made a satisfying — Smack! — and suddenly, he wasn’t so interested in sleeping.
He rolled away from her and covered his butt with both hands. “Ahh! What! What’s wrong with you!?”
“It’s morning.” Corin hid a yawn behind her forearm and took a few steps back in case he decided to retaliate.
Corvin saw the dark circles under Corin’s eyes, and the way her hair stuck to her scalp.
She looked exhausted, and now he felt guilty.
“You were supposed to wake me hours ago. That was the plan, right?”
Corin shrugged and walked towards the fire to warm her hands.
“I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. Master said we needed to rise with the sun and I didn’t want to miss it.”
Corvin pulled himself out of the hollow and stormed over to her.
He put a hand on her shoulder and roughly spun her round. “That’s why you should’ve woken me up!”
“Enough.” Vrakhu’s voice shattered the tension like a boulder through glass.
He stepped into the clearing with his ever-present brown sack and dropped it into the hollow without so much as a glance their way.
The twins immediately performed a clumsy imitation of a bow, their earlier argument pushed aside until they were alone again.
“Morning Master!” Their overlapping voices were even more similar than Vrakhu realized.
You could almost mistake it for an illusion technique if you weren’t paying attention.
Vrakhu nodded, his way of accepting the greeting.
“The two of you should get moving.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Okay!”
The two bowed again, then sprinted out of the clearing.
As they ran, the memory of the night before surfaced in their minds.
Vrakhu sitting beside the fire; his voice filling their minds, directing their thoughts.
“Five times a day you will venture into the forest. You will have twenty minutes to secure a meal. Take only what you can eat, then return to the camp.”
Corin and Corvin glanced at each other mid-stride, the memory broken.
Corvin was taller, faster.
He knew he could outpace his sister if he wanted, but he was intentionally holding back… for now.
Corin was the smart one. She likely knew how to get food, even if he didn’t.
Suddenly her eyes caught a glimpse of something beneath a tall bush.
Mushrooms! Red and gray capped mushrooms growing together, under a single bush. What luck!
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Corvin spotted the fungi a moment after she did.
But there was a problem.
Corvin disliked mushrooms.
He crinkled his nose even as she split off to retrieve her prize.
The memory from last night returned to Corvin’s mind.
“We can get anything we want?” He’d asked, wondering how much freedom the old man was giving them.
“Anything you can retrieve.” Vrakhu locked eyes with him and waited.
“Even animals? I mean; can we catch animals too or…”
Vrakhu watched his face for several seconds.
Then, after a few long moments of waiting for an answer, he got one.
“If you can.”
Corvin shook off the memory and narrowed his eyes.
“If I can? I absolutely can! If Corin can catch a snake, then so can I!”
He broke off from the line Corin had been following and headed in a new direction.
Corin relied on a vague memory of her grandmother’s botanist's book to determine what she could and couldn’t eat.
Corvin used his greater physicality to sprint through the forest in search of meat.
He didn’t need much.
He knew he wouldn’t be able to eat an entire pig by himself.
At least, not yet.
But a bird?
A snake?
A monkey?
He could probably eat one of those by himself. Right?
Except, he’d run into a problem.
There were no animals in the forest.
He looked in the trees. He looked below the bushes. He looked left, right, and center.
He looked everywhere… And found nothing.
He looked to the sky.
Had twenty minutes passed?
Had he failed to find food?
Would he go hungry again?
Corvin seethed; he couldn’t go hungry… No, not couldn’t.
He refused to go hungry again.
He pushed off the dirt and sprinted for a place he knew would have food.
He had to get his bearings a few times along the way; thank the ancestors the Tree of purple leaves was so tall.
He could see its bright purple leaves from miles away, even in the midst of the forest.
With it in his sights; Corvin circled the Tree of purple leaves until he came across a tall, skinny tree with long leaves.
A dozen bright yellow fruits hung from its branches, each one fat and heavy with juice.
He slowed to a stop; chest heaving from exhaustion, lungs burning from barely gathered breath.
His arms and legs felt like stone. No way would he be able to climb the tree like this.
But, then again, he didn’t need to climb it to get to the fruit.
Four yellow fruits lay scattered across the ground.
He could just take those and be done with it. Right?
He tucked a couple yellow fruits under his arm and began walking back towards camp.
Along the way, he stumbled across a bush covered in bright red berries and couldn’t resist taking a handful or two for himself.
He didn't leave until his pocket were overflowing with plump spheres.
By the time he returned to camp, Corin was already there and waiting for him.
She grinned and offered him a small wave.
He narrowed his eyes at her smug expression.
“Just wait until she sees what all I’ve got. She won’t be feeling so smug then.”
“You’re three minutes overdue.” Vrakhu stood from his seat beside the fire and motioned for Corvin to sit beside Corin.
Which he did.
Then he noticed she’d placed what she’d gathered on the ground beside the fire.
He glanced between her and the small piles of mushrooms, berries, and roots she’d found.
He snickered.
He’d gotten so much more than she did.
Proudly; Corvin emptied the red berries from his pocket and placed the two yellow fruits beside them.
Corin’s eyes widened at the amount he’d returned with. But, after seeing exactly what he’d gathered, she couldn’t help it.
She snickered.
Vrakhu stood over Corvin first and inspected his pile.
He bent at the waist and picked up a fist full of red berries.
“Poisonous.” He dropped five berries at Corvin’s feet and tossed the rest into the fire to burn.
Then he walked around to inspect Corin’s pile.
“Poison?” Corvin’s voice was barely more than a whisper. He picked up a berry and held it up to his eye, as if that would make it reveal all of its secrets.
“These things kill you?”
“You won’t die.” Vrakhu bent and picked two different mushrooms out of Corin’s pile.
The first was a red cap with a single white spot on the underside of the crown.
“Poisonous.”
He tossed the mushroom at her feet.
Then he looked at the second mushroom; a white and black mushroom that could’ve been a gray cap covered in dirt.
“Deadly.”
This mushroom he tossed directly into the fire.
“Eat the rest. You have seven minutes.”
The twins looked at each other, then at their respective piles.
“What should we do with the poisoned ones?” Corin picked up the mushroom Vrakhu had tossed at her feet. “Do we burn them?”
“Eat them.”
The twins both flinched at his command.
He’d just told them to eat poisoned fruit.
Why?
Had they done something to displease him?
They individually searched Vrakhu’s face for a sign, any sign.
They were both left wanting.
Vrakhu watched them expressionlessly; seemingly neither offended nor angry.
“Can… Can I ask why?” Corin was stalling. She knew it, Corvin knew it, and they both knew Vrakhu knew it too.
“Yes.”
His answer surprised both of them.
“Then why? Why make us eat poison?”
“Yeah! Did we upset you or something? Are you mad at us?”
Vrakhu stared at the two of them.
“You needed to be told they were poisonous.”
Now it was the twins' turn to stare.
“So… We have to eat them… Because we would’ve eaten them anyway?” Corin grabbed her head and stared at the mushroom still turning black inside the fire.
He’d said ‘deadly’ not ‘poisonous’ when he tossed it aside.
It would’ve killed her... and she would've died without knowing why.
She glanced at Corvin’s pile of food.
He’d found more poisoned berries than she had. But none of his had been labeled ‘deadly’ by Vrakhu.
He would’ve lived.
Corvin, unaware of the thoughts running through his sister’s mind, was having his own internal struggle.
He’d wasted so much time looking for an animal. And now, look what he had to show for it.
Five poisoned berries and two yellow fruits.
Corin’s pile was much larger than his.
She had fruit. She had nuts. She’d even found some edible roots.
She had a proper meal, while he had…
This.
“You have four minutes left.”
Corin and Corvin blindly grabbed something from their respective piles.
Corin placed a dark purple berry into her mouth and bit down; a tart juice flooded her mouth in an instant.
Her stomach and tongue rejoiced at the flavor. Though her mind was too preoccupied to notice.
Corvin sank his teeth into the flesh of a yellow fruit.
And immediately wanted to spit it out.
It was sour; almost to the point of being inedible.
But he refused to let it go to waste.
He took a second bite, larger than the first. And fought back the urge to throw up.
This was his meal.
He’d gotten it with his own hands, and he’d waste none of it.
Vrakhu watched all of this while sitting beside the fire.
His eyes drifted over to the brown sack sitting feet away; it was filled with edible fruit, plants, nuts, and herbs he’d found around the tree.
He wondered how long they would resist peeking inside.
