Itoî and Uyan turned around and spotted a large beast hiding behind the trees.
What was it?
"What is that?!" Uyan asked, terrified.
"Don't tell me..." Itoî said.
"It's the Quashti!" the two boys screamed, hugging each other in fear.
Vars laughed.
"Yeah, hahaha! It's the Quashti. Seems like she respects me since I beat her!" Vars said, proud of his performance during the fight.
Itoî and Uyan looked at each other, somewhat surprised, but then remembered the phenomenon that was their big brother. They shrugged: it almost seemed normal to them. Vars was "out of the ordinary."
Vars looked at his two brothers, eyes shining, and said joyfully:
"Guys! Titi's gonna show us the way! She knows where Grandpa lives, or at least, she knows the way out of this forest!"
"Titi?" Uyan asked, intrigued.
"Don't tell me you actually named the Quashti, hahaha!" Itoî said, cracking up.
"Yep! Come on, Titi, come here!" Vars said with a smile, beckoning her.
The Quashti shyly stepped out from behind the trees where she'd been hiding, then ran over to give Vars a hug.
Woooorgh...
"Hahaha! Easy, Titi, easy!"
The Quashti rubbed her head against Vars's in a sign of affection, then hoisted him onto her shoulder.
Uyan and Itoî exchanged an awkward look.
"Hah ha... So, can we go?" Uyan asked.
Titi nodded, but she also seemed to want to draw something on the ground. She traced three small circles, then a large one. She pointed at the large one, then at herself, before pointing at the three small circles.
Once again, she patted her chest twice. She then mimed someone crying, and drew a line separating the three small circles from the big one.
Itoî and Uyan didn't understand.
Uyan then asked: "Are we the three small circles?"
Titi shook her head from left to right, then patted her chest again before indicating something small with her hands.
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Itoî scratched his head, then said: "You lost something?"
The Quashti nodded.
Vars jumped off her shoulder, looked at the two boys and Titi, and smiled: "I got it!"
Itoî and Uyan looked at each other and thought, stunned:
He got it?!
Then they shrugged.
Meh, it's Vars.
They watched their brother with curiosity.
"Yeah, I really got it, guys! What Titi means is that she lost her babies! She's a mom. We should help her!"
Titi nodded rapidly, then started to dance, swaying from left to right. Her steps shook the ground, and snow fell from the trees, revealing their dark, glossy bark. It seemed Vars was right.
Titi picked up Vars and the other two boys and settled them on her shoulder.
"Whoa!" Uyan said with apprehension.
"Easy, I'm scared of heights!" he added.
Itoî giggled as he was lifted to the Quashti's shoulder.
"Hahaha! This is fun!" Itoî said, clearly enjoying the moment.
Vars asked Titi if she had any idea where her babies were.
Titi gently shook her head. She looked saddened.
"Listen, I promise we'll find them, but I need to know where they are. Drop us off near Grandpa's place. I'd also like you to give me some of your fur. I think I could use it to track them down," he said.
Titi nodded, then plucked a few tufts of fur from her coat. Vars took them and stuffed them in his pocket.
"Have you already searched the area, Titi?" Itoî asked with a smile.
She nodded frantically, as if to say she had searched the forest from top to bottom.
Vars looked at her, then asked: "Did you lose them a long time ago?"
She shook her head, held up one finger, then began moving gently toward the kids' grandfather's house.
"A week?" Uyan asked.
Titi shook her head.
"One day," Vars said, thinking it over.
Titi nodded.
If Titi lost her babies just a day ago, there's still a chance. There are two possibilities: either beasts even stronger than a Quashti attacked them, or it was humans. That would explain why Titi attacked us. Quashtis are territorial. Yet, we weren't in her territory: Titi was looking for her babies. I have to conclude they probably suffered multiple attacks from people who came into the forest. No one is crazy enough to come here during this season.
"What are you thinking about, Vars?" Itoî asked, intrigued.
"I'm thinking they're poachers," he replied.
"Poachers?!" Itoî and Uyan exclaimed.
"Yeah. That would explain why Titi was wary when she first saw us."
"But this place is a giant maze! Nobody would come to a place like this," Itoî retorted.
Vars looked at the boys, then said: "Yeah, true. Except three days ago, we weren't in the illusory season yet."
"The illusory season?" Itoî asked.
"I've heard of it before. This season appears somewhat randomly in large forests. It's a pretty rare phenomenon. We really had no luck."
"And what does this season do?" Itoî asked.
"It makes the temperature completely unpredictable. Monsters become more hostile due to this imbalance, and temperatures hit extreme highs and lows. So, when there are visitors in the forest during this season, it's simply impossible for them to make it out alive."
Vars added softly: "The weird thing is, according to what Titi told me about the forest, it wasn't like this two days ago. So we hadn't entered the illusory season yet... And now, the temperatures are back to normal... Well, normal enough."
Uyan nodded, then said: "I know what you mean. Itoî and I were also surprised by this phenomenon."
Vars murmured thoughtfully: "What caused this?..."
Titi kept walking, looking sad. Vars stroked her head and said:
"Don't worry, Titi! We'll find your babies! Promise!"
He gave her a big smile.
The Quashti seemed to take heart and started to sing:
Wah wOh Woh gAH gAh...!
Itoî and Uyan covered their ears.
"Please, Titi, stop..." the two boys said.
Vars laughed. The Quashti blushed, giving her fur a faint red tint, just like when she was angry. Then she started laughing too:
Gah gah gah gah!
Vars dove back into his thoughts:
But who is stupid enough to go after Quashtis? Let alone this female's babies?