67. Shared Time

My father came early in the morning to meet me and Rion at the log house. Luckily, I woke up feeling fine and not having any dreams; I always knew Rion could be the antidote to my nightmares. I didn't know why it was like that either. Rion and I were enjoying our morning together, making breakfast.

"I'm glad to see my daughter happy like this because I know she cried too much and kept all her problems to herself."

My father's words made me smile embarrassedly, mixed with sadness because what he said was true. Rion then hugged me and kissed my forehead.

"I'll take care of her with all my heart and soul, and as for her smile, I won't let it fade from her face," Rion promised, making me blush. I glanced at my father, who was also smiling and looked embarrassed. Then, he sipped his coffee at the high granite table. Last night's events were unknown to my father; only Rion and I knew. We decided to keep it a secret not to cause my father any concern or overreaction.

I helped Rion serve breakfast while my father just sat and waited. We had breakfast before leaving for the hike up the mountain and into the protected forest. Rion helped my father prepare the fishing gear while I prepared our provisions.

A white Jeep Rubicon offroad car was parked in the front yard of this wooden house. Near the car were my father and Rion, who were busy loading fishing equipment, a pickup truck, into the back of the car. I climbed down the stairs and approached them.

"Are we going to ride this?" I asked my father, who was currently sitting behind the wheel, warming up the engine of this very masculine-looking car.

"Yup, I always use this when exploring the forest and finding new hunting spots."

My eyes looked at my father in surprise as my eyebrows raised.

"You hunt too, Dad?" I asked again. My father nodded while folding his lips into his mouth.

"Being a werewolf or a Lycan means having two sides to us—human and animal. We can't fight or suppress those instincts; they have to come naturally," my father explained. I grasped the top of the car's steering wheel, pressed my mouth together, and asked again.

"Can the two instincts be balanced?"

My father paused and thought for a moment.

"Not really; sometimes there's a bit of overkill, depending on the situation."

That's an acceptable answer; having two sides to us takes harmonizing work.

"Everything is ready; we'd better get going before the fog gets thicker up there," Rion interrupted my conversation with my father, and we got into the car. My father drove while Rion sat in the front seat, and I was in the middle seat.

I lowered the windshield as the car passed through a vast land with yellowing grass, in front of which a mountain rose like a sturdy peg for the sky partially covered by clouds today. Even the sun is hidden behind the clouds. The cold wind touches the skin of my face and blows away a few strands of my hair. However, I wanted to feel it like sticking ice on my face.

I saw a puff of smoke from the mountainside; I turned to the empty seat beside me, picked up the binoculars, and used them to look at the objects close to the source of the smoke. There were villages there, houses made of wood and stone. There was some activity from the people in the village: a man splitting wood, a woman cooking something in a vessel over a fire produced from firewood.

"Dad, have you ever met the people who live in the mountains?" I asked curiously, maybe my father had interacted with them.

"There have been a few times. They are native to this region," my father replied.

"It's not just the Norden who are indigenous to this area?"

I wanted to know.

"Of course not. This region was once inhabited by three indigenous tribes, including the Norden; the rest were Qeskimo and Nushka. The Qeskimo and Nushka chose to live on the mountainside because their ancestors believed that the guardian gods of nature and the ancestors' spirits resided in the mountains and forests."

The village I saw was getting farther away as the car moved away. I lowered my binoculars and returned to enjoying the view of nature.

"Do they believe in mystical creatures like you and Rion?" I asked. I was the only human here, and the two men I was with were mythological creatures in the language of modern people.

"They believe, but they see such things as gifts from the will of the gods, or they may see us as ugliness stemming from evil and demons. It depends on how far they see our ancestors."

"They must have a witch or a diviner who spearheads their communication with the gods and ancestors," Rion said, which I thought would also be the case.

"That's right, although they are now starting to open up to modern civilization, the deep-rooted things about their beliefs remain as they have always been."

My father's explanation ended when we started to enter the forest area. Our road began to narrow and passed through many trees and bushes. I don't remember my and Rion's route last night, but it would have been similar if we had gone in the morning like this.

We came to a large grassy area, part of it being a lake. The car stopped by the lake, and we got out. It took us about an hour to get here. I stood staring at the eye-soothing scenery spread out before me. It's so quiet here. I smile and enjoy the serenity.

The distinctive smell of the rainforest invaded my sense of smell. Some trees were shedding their leaves so that some of their trunks were visible.

"Do you like it? I often go to this place when I'm tired from work."

My father's words made me turn to him, who was standing on my right side. I looked back and saw Rion unloading some things from the car's pickup. I got up to help Rion organize our things and started fishing.

I set up a medium-sized dome-shaped tent made of dark red and black parachutes. I saw my father and Rion talking seriously about fishing gear when I exited the tent after putting my things and Rion's inside. I approached them and listened to my father explain how to use this fishing rod.

"This lake must be pretty deep," I said as I waited for my fishing rod to catch a fish.

"Not really, only five meters. The lake's water comes from a stream from the top of the mountain; there's a spring sacred to the Qeskimo and Nushka tribes there."

I love hearing stories like this. It's like listening to a horror story from the past, but it's partly true.

"Then, are there any rituals performed in the spring?" I asked. My father didn't answer immediately because his fishing rod caught fish. It was only a short time before Rion's fishing rod did the same. The fish they got was quite big. I clapped my hands in delight and amazement at this success. Meanwhile, my fishing rod hadn't caught anything yet.

Our previous conversation should have been remembered as we set up the equipment to prepare the fish and lunch. This time, of course, Rion took over the task. I did as much as I could while my father built a fire to grill the fish we got.

"Are the Qeskimos and Nushkas dangerous?" I asked Rion while we were chopping vegetables and onions for cooking.

These people tend to be unruly towards new things. In the Cardinia region, some tribes live in the forest's interior and along the coast. They are only slightly open to civilization, and the rest live by carrying on the traditions passed down from their ancestors."

"Have you met them?"

Rion nodded; I noticed the speed of his hands chopping the onions and the sound of the knife colliding with the wooden board beneath him, like a professional chef's style.

"My father once invited their chieftain to dinner and discussed a cooperation agreement regarding the security of their respective territories."

I, who had just finished cutting potatoes, stopped to listen to Rion's story.

"They're also werewolf and Lycan?"

"Only some of them; the rest are ordinary humans and witches or clairvoyants," Rion replied.

Our attention was distracted by a few people coming towards us on horseback. They were dressed in broadcloths of hidden colours. My father got up from his seat and approached the men while Rion and I watched their interaction.