Before the Journey
A sharp whinny from Agro rouses him from his reverie. He detects the approach of the Shaman moments later, when the hooves of many foreign horses clatter over the small wooden bridge leading to their simple one room hut. His first instinct is to look for Mono, ensuring that she is safe inside before he removes his sword from its sheath and goes to the entrance of their home to bar the way.
He stands there unflinching and silent, blade at the ready as the Shaman dismounts in their garden and approaches the hut alone. The man preaches, lectures and then pleads to him and Mono at length, but he has heard it all before and nothing will make him budge. It is the third time this season the Lord Emon has come to their home from the great temple all the way across the woods. It is the third time he turns the man away, unsuccessful, and forces him and all his men to depart in defeat.
Even after the Shaman is gone, his words linger in the air. He can see that they weigh heavily in Mono's mind because they cloud her features with sorrow. She cries silent tears hours after the horses have left, and seeing them he curses the man that brought her such grief. He is aware the lives of many hang in the balance, but all of them combined cannot measure up to the worth of the woman he loves.
The next day, she requests a bouquet of flowers from him, a bouquet of a rare bloom found only at the foot of the mountains, days and days away. His sole hesitation before assenting is in regard to whether or not she can keep herself safe in that space of time. With her assurance that she will keep out of sight and the observation that the Shaman has yet to return sooner than once a moon, he agrees to fetch her the flowers that have so caught her fancy and dashes off to ready Agro.
She says goodbye to him with the most mournful of smiles. Even after he has mounted Agro and is ready to leave, she reaches out to take his hand and hold it one last time. He knows it must be because she is sad to see him depart; the journey will take a long while, after all. He feels the same pain at leaving her side, but he assures her they will be reunited soon. Then, he sets off.
When he returns days later, he finds the hut and the garden deserted. The flowers he'd gathered are forgotten in his haste to locate her. He combs the countryside with Agro, calling her name. He fears the worst. They must have come again when he was away.
He finally finds her body in the local village shrine, perfect but lifeless, splayed out on the central altar. When confronted, the elderly priest denies seeing anyone with her when she entered the holy house days and days ago, but he knows the Shaman and his men must have taken her there by force. Clutching her pale body, his rage and grief overwhelms him and sends the aged man dashing away for fear of his life.
Left alone with her body, it takes him some time to set aside his turbulent emotions and recover his thoughts. When he is finally able to do so, he takes the white altar cloth and wraps her lifeless form carefully in it. A plan has already set in his mind.
He refuses to consider the fleeting possibility that strikes him when he carries her body over to Agro—the possibility that she may have sent him away on purpose, with the intention to relinquish her own life. The possibility that she could love anything more than him, and could willingly leave him.
He will head to the great temple and take the ancient sword. He will set out to the Forbidden Land and save her, no matter what the cost.
He loves her, and would do anything for her.