They returned to camp just before dusk.
The fire crackled in the center of the clearing, casting long shadows on the tents. Leina was roasting something that looked vaguely edible. Alimi was sharpening a knife. David was leaning against a tree, arms crossed, watching everything like a general waiting for a war.
Mia sat alone, tending to her arrows.
As soon as Rumi and Sarah emerged from the forest, all eyes turned.
Leina blinked. "Wait... you're alive?"
Rumi tossed the strip of boar fur into the dirt beside the fire. "Not just alive," he said calmly. "Successful."
Alimi picked it up, examining it with quiet amazement. "Boar... young male. Clean snare marks. You did this?"
Rumi nodded.
"You... didn't even break anything," Leina said, stunned. "No bruises? No tree bark in your teeth?"
Sarah smirked. "I saw him do it. Smart. Clean. Precise."
Mia looked up.
For a moment, her expression shifted—something unreadable. A flicker of surprise? Admiration? Or... regret?
Rumi didn't hold her gaze for long.
Instead, he sat beside Sarah.
Mia watched that, too.
David straightened slowly. "So you caught a boar and let it go?" he asked, voice just loud enough to reach everyone. "What, we supposed to clap for that?"
Sarah turned. "He wasn't trying to kill something just to prove a point. He knew what he was doing."
David's jaw clenched. "I'm just saying, maybe next time bring back food, not souvenirs."
Rumi didn't rise to the bait. He just poked the fire with a stick and said, "Next time I'll catch something you can eat. Or maybe a bigger ego."
There was a long pause, then a ripple of laughter from Leina and even Alimi.
David said nothing.
But Mia… she smiled. Just a little. And this time, it was her who looked away first.
Night fell. Stars blinked through the canopy above. The group huddled closer to the fire as the forest breathed around them. Crickets. Distant owls.
And something else.
Something that wasn't part of the usual nighttime chorus.
Sarah stiffened beside Rumi. "Did you hear that?"
He nodded.
A low hum, almost like wind—but thicker. Deeper.
Like it came from the ground.
Mia stood slowly, scanning the treeline. "That sound... it's coming from the old part of the forest."
Leina shivered. "The elders say no one should go past the ridge. That's where the forest changes."
David scoffed. "Old ghost stories."
But even he looked uneasy.
Rumi stood, gripping his spear. "Maybe it's a challenge. Or a warning."
Sarah met his eyes. "Or an invitation."
The fire popped loudly, sending sparks into the air.
None of them slept well that night.
And somewhere beyond the ridge, the forest whispered.
It knew their names.