Through the Forest
The sun finally reached its highest point in the sky causing the day to become brighter than ever. Kino had to squint a bit for her eyes to adjust properly as she sped down the dirt road that divided into two separate paths; one that continued to travel across the terrain and the other leading into a thick forest. Making a stop, Kino dismounted the motorrad, Hermes, and pulled out the map she had purchased earlier from a passing vendor. Several moments passed as Kino continued to stare back-and-forth between the map and two paths.
"Are we lost?"
Kino muttered a small 'no' at her companion's question and finally tucked away the map. She patted the seat of the motorrad as if to say; "Sorry, but you're going to have to bear with this for a while" and slung her body onto it.
"Don't tell me that you're going to go through that forest!" Hermes complained, "I've already gotten enough scratches just riding on this poorly constructed road!"
"Well, it's the shortest way into the next country." Kino responded as she started the engine. Hermes merely scoffed.
"Always have to do things your way, huh?"
With Kino's lack of response, Hermes knew it was the traveller's own way of saying; "Yup."
There was a significant increase in the road's roughness as their journey through the forest proved to be less than pleasant for both Kino and Hermes. The road was ridiculously bumpy that Kino had to tighten her grip on the handles to avoid flying off and the scratches received from sharp rocks being kicked up by Hermes' wheels didn't help either. Every so often Kino had to make a stop to wipe off the mud that continue to fly up and cover her goggles and Hermes' headlight. This being their twentieth stop, Kino found that both her sleeves and hand-kerchief were too filthy to clean with anymore.
"You look like a mud-man, Kino." Hermes said while watching his master search for something else to wipe themselves off with.
"Can't say you look anymore flattering yourself, Hermes." Kino smirked. The motorrad only grunted.
"So how are we going to clean up?"
Kino attempted to remove some of the drying mud from Hermes' headlight with her nails, but with little success. "I doubt there's anyone living here, so I guess we'll have to put up with it until we reach the next country."
"Oh yes, I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see two piles of mud travelling into their country." Hermes remarked dryly.
It seemed like an another hour as they passed through the forest. But with the tree tops covering the sky, it was difficult to tell how much time had passed since then. There was nothing but the sounds of screeching forest creatures and the squishing noise of mud they made as they travelled along the path. Due to the lack of light, Kino struggled to stay on the road because of the dim lighting the mud covering Hermes' headlight caused. It wasn't long until the wheels finally slipped against the wet and loose dirt, causing the both of them to fall.
Just as Kino got back up to pull up Hermes, who was already complaining, the sound of a pair of footsteps neared behind them. Alerted, Kino drew the Persuader hanging around her waist and immediately pointed it at the intruder, ready to defend herself at all costs.
It was a woman.
"Ah! Please don't shoot us!" The person cried desperately. She didn't raise her hands because in her arms was a brightly-lit lantern and something wrapped in many layers of cloth. Instead, the person got down her knees as if to beg for mercy. Kino cautiously lowered her weapon and examined the person cowering before her. The woman didn't seem to carry any weapons and her tattered and worn-out clothes were far from what any traveller would wear.
"May I ask you what you're doing here, ma' am?" Kino asked. The woman clutched the bundle in her arms tighter and only responded by giving Kino a paranoid and fearful stare. It was clear that this woman had been separated from her home for some time now -- if she had a home that is. "I promise I won't hurt you." Kino said more softly to comfort the trembling woman.
The woman looked up with tears and an anxious look in her eyes. "W-We're lost..."
"Who's 'we'?"
Holding up the bundle towards Kino with weak arms, the woman spoke. "My child and I."
Upon seeing the woman's filthy, unfed, and bruised body, Kino could only assume that the child wrapped in those cloths was in no better condition if not worse. With her usual indifferent eyes, Kino reached out to help the woman onto her feet. "Can I ask you a question?" Kino asked. The woman feebly nodded.
"What are you and your child doing in a place like this?"
"We were cast out from our country." The woman replied, a bit more calm under Kino's stoic gaze.
"I see."
Kino walked over to Hermes, who was silent the entire time, and rummaged through the cargo strapped to the back. Pulling out some cooking tools, Kino beckoned the woman with her baby over.
"I'll be setting up camp here," Kino said, "If you want, you and your child can spend the night with Hermes and I. I'll feed and provide the both of you with some blankets for the night." It was probably no more than day at the time, but since there was nothing but the bright lighting of the woman's lantern, Kino decided it was best that they rest so they can travel and hopefully make it out of this forest by tomorrow.
When Kino finally got a fire going, she handed the woman a few nutrition bars she had saved from the previous town and took a few of her own to eat. With Hermes at her side, the both of them watched as the woman attempted to feed the child with the nutrition bars by chewing on it herself and transferring it into the baby's mouth with her own. The two companions said nothing as they witnessed the less than pleasant looking process.
"So why were the two of you cast out from your country?" Kino finally spoke, "If you don't mind me asking."
Once the woman finished tending to her baby, she looked up at Kino. A look of remorse was evident in her eyes, but Kino managed to catch the hint of bitterness that lurked among those lifeless orbs. It was as if she was struggling to find the right words for hers and her child's misfortune, but it appeared that words could not even begin to describe whatever it was that they had experienced. So instead, with a look of sorrow and despair, the woman unraveled the cloths that had been shielding the baby's appearance from Kino and Hermes' sight all this time.
The baby's skin was thick, bulgy, and with a greenish-yellow color to it. Its eyes were barely visible due to the swollen skin bulging over them and a mouth was nearly non-existent. Two tiny holes sat in the centre of its face and it was clear that the child could barely breath as its intake of oxygen seemed forced and strained. The skin had a greasy look to it but as the woman stroked her child's face affectionately, the skin seemed crack under the pressure.
Kino's unwavering gaze slowly made its way from the baby's face to the woman's. "Is this why you two were cast out?"
When Kino asked this, it seemed like the woman struggled to find a sense of judgement from Kino. The woman didn't understand why Kino did not scream or even look away in disgust. All she could find was the traveler who always held an aimless and desireless look in her eyes.
"My country deemed those who are born with deformities, even with something like a twisted leg, to be unfit to function properly in society and were considered only a burden." The woman said softly, "So they cast out the weak and keep only the strong."
"Then where do you plan to go with your baby?" Hermes piped up.
The fragile body of the woman trembled, "I don't know," she began to sob, "There's no place in this world for my baby. But even if I continue to wander through lands like the both of you are, I won't even be able to protect him!"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Kino said, "But this country you speak of, is it the one that's a few miles ahead at the end of this forest?"
"Yes, why?"
"Just wondering."
Nothing more was said, but while the woman and her baby slept, Kino and Hermes knew that this was going to be one of those rare and sleepless nights for them.
"Ma'am?" Kino shook the flimsy woman carefully as if she was a delicate piece of thin paper. "My companion and I are leaving now."
There was no response.
Kino kneeled by the woman's side. Taking her wrist in her hand, Kino checked if there was still a pulse. But all she could feel was her two fingers on lifeless, cold skin. It seemed that the woman's health was far from being saved even if Kino had given her all her nutrition bars. The traveller said nothing as she gently placed the motionless arm at the woman's side.
"What about the baby?" Hermes asked, who stood behind Kino.
The baby lay in his mother's arms, his arms faintly squirming. He seemed to be staring up at the person hovering above he and his mother, wondering what she would do to him.
There was a sudden click at Kino's side. Hermes said nothing while watching Kino remove the Persuader from her waist, ever so slowly. Kino's gaze remained on the baby and it was only until the deadly weapon was pointing at the baby's head did Hermes see her tremble so slightly. Then she immediately withdrew the gun and placed it back at her waist.
Getting up, Kino mounted the motorrad with a soft; "Let's go."
Their trip out of the forest was nothing but silence. But even when they were finally travelling along hills and plains, nothing was said between the both of them for a long while.
"Why did you do that, Kino?" Hermes asked curiously. Kino didn't respond for a few long moments before speaking.
"Do what?"
"Why did you think about killing him?"
There were so many things Kino could never answer or at least fully explain. But it was only because she didn't even understand it herself.
"When that child was left without his mother," Kino began, "I wondered if it would have been cruel..." She trailed off, leaving Hermes debating whether she was re-gathering her thoughts or simply couldn't say it.
"What would have been cruel, Kino?"
"To let him live." Kino finally said, no hint of emotion in her voice.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Kino's body tensed as she tightened her grip on the handlebars and said nothing. At all.
They drove on for another half an hour, leaving Hermes' question in limbo. It seemed that Kino wasn't going to, or couldn't answer his question.
"But in the end," Hermes finally broke the tense silence, "You let him live, right?"
Taking a turn that led away from the country that they had intended to visit, Kino stared down the new path they were taking and finally spoke.
"I don't know, Hermes. I don't know if killing him or letting him live is any worse than the other."