Ussun was dreadfully, horribly lost. Perhaps he should have expected it, given that he had some extreme limitations in what he could use as a frame of reference. The dense forest canopy blocked out most traces of the sun's warmth, leaving him without an easy means of telling directions apart. What little sunlight filtered through the thick leaves created patches of heat so scattered and inconsistent that they served only to confuse him further. The few animals close enough for him to sense through their emotions were far too active and erratic to use as anchors - birds flitted nervously between branches, small mammals scurried through the underbrush with single-minded urgency, and even the insects seemed to buzz with an energy that made his head ache.

He stumbled over another fallen log, catching himself against what felt like a moss-covered boulder. His fingers explored its rough surface, memorizing its texture and position in case he somehow circled back to this spot. He was fairly certain he wasn't walking in circles, mostly because he kept tripping over new obstacles - a different arrangement of roots here, an unfamiliar cluster of stones there - but he couldn't be entirely sure. The forest floor seemed deliberately designed to confound him, with its uneven terrain and constantly shifting carpet of fallen leaves that rustled and shifted underfoot with every step.

The emotional residue from his encounter with Lanvi still clung to him like morning mist. The foreign object embedded in his chest pulsed with an off-time echo of his own heartbeat, a constant reminder of the surreal events that had led him to this predicament. Every few minutes, he found himself pressing his palm against his sternum, half-expecting to feel some external sign of the mystical fragment that now resided within him.

Northeast, Lanvi had indicated through her carefully worded non-instructions. But northeast from where, exactly? And how was he supposed to maintain any sense of direction when every tree looked the same to his searching fingers and every path seemed to branch into three more equally confusing routes? The irony wasn't lost on him - he had spent years navigating the labyrinthine passages of the record halls with perfect confidence, reading the carved walls like a familiar book, and now he was defeated by simple wilderness.

The recently-jobless and homeless boy was, in fact, rather hopelessly lost. His careful mental map of distances and directions had become thoroughly useless almost as soon as he'd left Cuzcia, leaving him with nothing but stubborn determination and the vague hope that he was still heading in something resembling the correct direction. He was quite unlikely to find anyone, let alone his destined partner, this way.

The forest around him thrummed with life, but it was all wrong for his purposes. Too chaotic, too unpredictable. Unlike the ordered stone corridors of his former workplace, where every surface told a story and every turning was marked with familiar tactile cues, this wilderness offered only confusion. Branches caught at his clothes with what felt like deliberate malice, roots conspired to trip him at every step, and the constant symphony of natural sounds made it impossible to focus on any single auditory landmark.

Luckily for him, someone else had already found him.

What Ussun had assumed was simply a bird, given its height and general state of anxiety that flickered at the edge of his emotional perception, dropped on him like a pile of bricks. Or a woman of average proportions. Maybe she was carrying bricks, too. The impact drove him face-first into the forest floor with a bone-jarring thud that knocked the wind from his lungs and filled his mouth with dirt and decomposing leaves.

As if a callback to that once-assumed bird, Ussun let out a dreadful, pained squawking sound. Really not a healthy noise for a human to make, but given the circumstances it really wasn't that surprising. He groaned into the dirt even as the other figure shuffled around above him, her weight pinning him effectively to the ground. The emotional signature washing over him was a tumultuous mixture of paranoia, aggression, and something else - something that felt oddly familiar in a way he couldn't quite identify.

"Why the hell are you out here? Who sent you?" The voice of what Ussun assumed to be a human woman hissed into his ears, and he felt something sharp pressing against the exposed skin of his neck. The sparking-hissing sensation of paranoia and hatred felt like poison dripping onto him, making his skin crawl with phantom sensations. There was real danger here, he realized with sudden clarity - this wasn't some chance encounter with a lost traveler. This woman was genuinely prepared to kill him.

He winced, focusing in on her emotional state more carefully - he'd rather not die, after all. There wasn't much more to notice beyond the surface hostility and fear, but there was that slight fresh-grass feeling lurking beneath the more volatile emotions. The sensation was faint but unmistakable, carrying with it the essence of growing things and fertile earth. Maybe he wasn't as lost as he'd thought? Maybe this was exactly where he was supposed to be?

"I don't suppose the name 'Lanvi' rings any bells?" he tried, his voice somewhat muffled by the dirt pressed against his face.

"That one of the damn priests?" The blade pressed closer, and he could feel its sharp edge dimpling his skin without quite breaking it. Oh, nevermind then. "Well I ain't going back to them, so..." The threat hung unfinished in the air, but her resolve wavered beneath the aggressive words. There was a lot of conflict going on in her emotional landscape - duty warring with reluctance, fear battling with something that might have been hope.

Ussun relaxed slightly, reading the uncertainty in her feelings even as the weapon remained pressed against his throat. He was already fairly confident he wasn't about to be stabbed to death. Probably. The woman's emotions told a different story than her words - whatever her reasons for being out here, whatever had driven her to such desperate wariness, she wasn't actually a killer. Not by nature, anyway.

"But you aren't willing to do that, are you?" He voiced his musings aloud, perhaps a bit ill-advised given how it added to the woman's turmoil. Her emotional state immediately shifted, confusion and anger swirling together in a volatile mixture.

"Like hell I won't-" Yep. Definitely the wrong thing to say. Her resolve was rising rapidly, crystallizing into something hard and determined. Something Ussun might have labeled 'blue' had he possessed the context sparked within her - cold, sharp, and utterly unforgiving. Maybe he was about to get stabbed, after all.

He immediately started babbling, of course. "S-Sorry, I just meant that, well, you might not want to kill someone who's not here for you? I mean probably I don't think you're the one I'm looking for, but even if you were I'm not here to hurt that perso-"

"???" There weren't really words for the noise she made just then, but the wave of confusion that accompanied it clarified its meaning rather well. Stabbing was once again postponed, it seemed, as bewilderment temporarily overrode her aggressive instincts. "...who're you looking for, exactly?"

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"Ah! I'm looking for my Partner," Ussun explained, seizing on the momentary reprieve. "Lanvi told me to search for them." He paused, considering his words more carefully now that he had her attention rather than her immediate murderous intent. "Now that I think of it she was extremely vague on who that was supposed to be. Kinda wish she'd given me more specific directions instead of just pointing me northeast..."

"Right. Uh..." The maybe-not-homicidal woman seemed to be at a loss for words, slowly backing off. The pressure against his neck disappeared, and Ussun heard the subtle sound of a blade being sheathed. "Sorry. Damnit." She didn't seem entirely trusting at this point, but she was clearly embarrassed by her actions. Though the embarrassment leaned more towards frustration than genuine apology - the emotions of someone who had been caught acting against her better judgment.

"Oh- it's okay. No harm done," Ussun assured her, though he could already feel the beginnings of what would probably become spectacular bruises along his ribs and shoulders. "Except maybe to my ribs." He started to push himself up from the forest floor, spitting out dirt and leaf fragments. "Hey wh-" He caught himself, realizing that perhaps given what little he knew about this woman's circumstances, she might not appreciate being asked something like 'why are you out here hiding in the woods.'

The paranoia still radiating from her suggested someone who had good reasons for avoiding contact with other people. Pivoting quickly, he tried a safer approach. "Who are you, if that's okay for me to ask?"

"Oh uh, you can call me Yolotli." She had finally gotten off of him entirely, though she didn't seem inclined to offer any help with getting up. Her voice carried a slight accent he couldn't quite place, and there was something off about the way she'd phrased her response.

As Ussun struggled to his feet, brushing debris from his clothes and hair, he became aware of something unusual about how she moved. There was extra weight to her footsteps, a subtle dragging sound that followed each step, and something heavy trailing behind her through the underbrush. Perhaps a large pack or sack of some kind? The sound was too consistent and controlled to be accidental.

"Right, I'm Ussun," he replied, completing the introductions with as much dignity as he could muster while still picking leaves out of his hair. "It's uh, nice to meet you?" He really wasn't entirely sure if he was happy about this encounter or not, but being polite couldn't hurt. Especially given her apparent readiness to resort to violence when startled.

"Yeah, right." Her tone suggested she found his courtesy somewhat absurd given the circumstances. "Well, uh, I guess I'll just..." She started walking away with just enough confidence in her movement to suggest she probably had a destination in mind, rather than simply fleeing his presence.

Ussun, having no idea where he was and even less idea where he should be going, decided to trail behind her like a timid lost sheep. It seemed like a reasonable plan - she clearly knew her way around this forest, and following someone with actual navigation skills had to be better than continuing to wander aimlessly through the undergrowth.

As they walked, he noticed that he hit significantly fewer obstacles when following in her wake. The path she chose seemed to avoid the worst of the tangled roots and low-hanging branches that had been plaguing his solo journey. Even more interestingly, the ground seemed somehow different in her trail - more even, less treacherous. Maybe it was whatever she was dragging behind her, smoothing out some of the forest floor's natural irregularities.

The walking was almost pleasant after his earlier struggles with navigation. He could focus on the rhythm of their movement rather than constantly scanning ahead for obstacles, and the steady pace was soothing after hours of hesitant stumbling. The forest around them was alive with the sounds of late afternoon - birds calling to each other through the canopy, small creatures rustling through the underbrush, the whisper of wind through countless leaves.

It took her several minutes to notice that he was still following her.

"Oi, stop that." She whipped around to glare at him, though the effect was rather diminished by the fact that his clouded eyes stared straight through her without focusing. She winced slightly upon seeing his unseeing gaze, clearly unsettled by the directness of his sightless stare. Most people found his eyes creepy, he'd been told - both the pale purple color and the way they seemed to look right through whatever he was facing. Both his appearance and how long it had taken her to notice his presence seemed to disturb her. Most people weren't nearly as quiet as he was when moving through familiar terrain.

"Stop what?" he said, halting at what he hoped was a probably-safe distance. His enhanced hearing picked up the subtle shift in her posture that suggested readiness for sudden movement. "I wasn't doing anything." He genuinely couldn't think of anything particularly annoying he'd been doing. He'd been walking quietly, keeping his distance, not attempting conversation. Was he thinking too loudly somehow? He'd been told off for overthinking situations before, though never quite in this context.

"Following me! Why!?" she hissed at him, and he idly wondered if she might be part snake. The thought was quickly dismissed - couldn't be, given how human her emotional signature felt. Nevermind that speculation. Given the way her emotions were currently boiling with irritation and suspicion, he'd probably better respond quickly before she decided to resort to weapons again.

"I have no idea where I am," he explained reasonably. "I thought you did, so I've just been walking in the same direction. I don't suppose you have some idea where the nearest town is?" The hope in his voice was probably more obvious than he intended. He really, truly did not want to spend a night sleeping outdoors. His experience with wilderness camping was essentially nonexistent, and the thought of trying to find shelter and safety in unfamiliar territory was deeply unappealing.

"...not really." Her response was grudging, accompanied by what sounded like embarrassment. "I'm just uh, heading back to my... uh... cave." She ended rather awkwardly, as if the word didn't quite fit comfortably in her mouth.

That sack or whatever she was dragging had begun shifting in a distinctly non-luggage-like manner, moving back and forth across the ground with what seemed like independent motion. The pattern was too regular, too controlled to be caused by wind or terrain. Maybe she was part snake after all? Was that movement actually a tail of some kind? She seemed so thoroughly human in every other respect, though - he supposed he'd never actually asked Lanvi what form 'Partners' were supposed to take.

"Oh, wonderful, lead the way." The words came out more enthusiastic than he'd intended, born from relief at finding someone who at least had some kind of destination in mind. She narrowed her eyes at him - he could hear the subtle shift in her breathing that suggested the expression - clearly considering whether to try scaring him off.

After a moment's consideration, she seemed to decide that he was largely harmless despite the potential inconvenience. Whatever internal debate she'd been having resolved itself with a mental shrug that he could practically feel. If he wanted to follow her to her cave, apparently that was his business. She certainly wasn't going to go out of her way to help or hinder him.

The rest of their time walking, and eventually reaching the cave, passed in something of a blur. The sun had begun to set during their journey, painting the forest in long shadows that Ussun could sense more through temperature changes than any visual cues. While the growing darkness didn't seem to impede their travels much - his companion moved with the confidence of someone intimately familiar with the terrain - the evening chill and accumulated fatigue combined to make them both rather sluggish.

The cave, when they finally reached it, felt like a genuine refuge. Ussun's enhanced senses painted a picture of a space that was clearly lived-in - the lingering scents of cooking fires and stored food, the subtle echoes that suggested a chamber of moderate size, the feeling of safety that came from solid stone walls on all sides. It wasn't luxurious by any stretch of the imagination, but it was shelter, and that was more than he'd dared hope for when the day began.

They both practically collapsed upon reaching their destination. Yolotli settled onto what sounded and smelled like a cobbled-together pile of leaves and soft plant matter - a makeshift bed that spoke of extended residence rather than temporary shelter.

Ussun found the least painful patch of bare stone he could locate and gingerly lowered himself onto it, grateful simply to be horizontal and stationary after the day's adventures.Their 'goodnights' consisted of a pair of mutually exhausted grunts, neither having the energy left for proper conversation. As Ussun settled into what he hoped would be restorative sleep, his last conscious thought was a mixture of gratitude and apprehension.

He had found shelter and survived his first day of freedom, but tomorrow would bring new challenges. And somewhere in this wilderness was the partner he was supposed to find - assuming he hadn't already found her.

The thought followed him into dreams filled with trailing sounds and fresh grass scents, and the persistent rhythm of something alien beating in harmony with his own heart.

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