The trees above him.
Their branches reaching outward like something trying to hold the sky from a distance.
Ha Joon lay there looking up at them.
Still on the ground.
Still accounting for everything the sky owed him.
---
Eun Byol looked at him.
Then looked around.
Then back at him.
The realization arriving in her face all at once.
No food.
No shelter.
No weapons.
Nothing.
Just them and the jungle and whatever Chi-Long decided to throw at them and whenever she decided to throw it.
---
"Get up."
Her voice sharp.
"We have a lot to do."
---
Ha Joon looked at her.
Then slowly got up.
One thing at a time.
---
He stood.
Looked around.
Trees in every direction.
The green of it deep and layered.
Light finding its way down through the canopy in pieces.
---
"She'll have left something.", he said.", "A cave maybe. Some kind of shelter.", "She's a master in her own way.", "She doesn't waste anything.", "Whatever's here is here for a reason."
---
Eun Byol looked at him a moment.
Then gave a small nod.
Something between agreement and resignation.
---
They moved into the forest together.
---
The sound of it surrounding them immediately.
Birds finding their notes somewhere above.
The wind moving through leaves.
The specific quality of air that belongs to places that have been growing a long time without being interrupted.
---
Ha Joon's voice drifted out into it.
Easy.
Like the jungle was something to talk to.
---
"I think we're building something.", he said.", "Real momentum.", "You got most of my signals back there."
---
Eun Byol looked at him sideways.
A particular look.
The kind that required no translation.
---
"What signals.", she said.", "We did nothing.", "As usual.", "Did you hit the ground harder than normal this time.", "Because I always assumed something like this would happen eventually.", "But I was prepared to continue without you."
---
Ha Joon turned to look at her.
His face doing something complicated.
---
"Are we sure that wasn't you that got hit in the head a little harder than the rest of us."
---
"No.", she said.", "That's just you."
---
Their voices bounced off the trees.
Off the green and the bark and the shafts of light between them.
Found the birds.
Found the wind.
Became part of the noise of the place.
---
And slowly.
The forest swallowed them both.
Their voices fading last.
Still going.
Still at it.
Even as the jungle closed around them and there was nothing left to see but green.