I must explain what's left of me to someone;
so many things that
used to speak and scream
now are silent.

-Ngetal from Savage Her Reply by Deidre Sullivan

Come a little closer, young one.

Please, do not be scared, I have no wish to harm you and never had. I've felt you here all this time, hovering behind my shoulder as I watched your fellow students and friends-some of them your loved ones-do what I could not truly do for my mistress. I do not know how much you know, under the circumstances, but even though I was able to help Goddess Kagami escape from the prison Akari created for her I could not prevent her from becoming untethered and formless. I could not ease the pain that came with that, but still I had to keep her hidden. It became a prison of its own, that state of being. Though we were her creatures and creations we were no true comfort. All she wanted was what she had always wanted-to return to the ocean and the skies, to the night and the stars and contemplation. And she wanted Akari to return to the land, to the day and the sun and the plants. Just as it should have been all along. Still, at least it is done now. Kagami and Akari as single beings are no more at long last. They are at peace.

I know you haven't been able to have that yet, young one, and I am sorry. I am especially sorry since it is my forest you reside in. Our forest, I should say. Mine and Goddess Kagami's. Regardless, I wish that I had been able to do something for you then, but I can only just sense you beside me, waiting and watching. I cannot see you, though I am sure that you see and hear me. I wonder if having the necromancer's essence here will do something for you until the time you can be found. Of course he, too, is returned to the land and his powers are no more. But the tree that he has become, it looks remarkably like a yew, don't you think? With those leaves from top to toe, green and glowing. Underneath, the trunk is the milky-white of bones, though it is not as smooth as bones. No doubt, this tree has retained some of the properties of the finished life it has grown out of as well as the ordinary tree he resembles. Rielle's tree has done the same.

I am not sure if her name is one you have ever heard, but you've met her, so to speak. From the things I have heard from students over the years, I know you call her the 'Angel Tree'. It is a fitting name, from what I have heard of her, for truly she was a lovely person. She may have pledged her allegiance to Akari in more ways than she could ever know but just as the rest of her comrades did, she did so for the right reasons. She believed in the lies that Akari allowed to take root, even despite being a victim of those lies. Just as her sister was-look, do you see? That is her tree there, right next to the yew. It is quite miraculous how the shape of her trunk brings to mind the long drapes of a skirt-even the glittering gold and white shades bleeding into each other look more like the silk of a gown than the bark of a tree. Its branches are slender and elegant as she was in her life, and the green of her leaves is easier on the eyes than the yew, the colour of summer itself. I am sure you can smell the perfume of those large blossoms too, the headiness of it.

It's amusing how summery her tree is though, considering that the tree next to her has leaves that are all the colours of autumn but with the same resilience of summer leaves. No flowers for this one, but this tree has a faint smell of honey and…cinnamon, I think. Yes, I am sure it is cinnamon, though I am sure you would recognise that smell better than I would. It would be nice to hear you, so this could be a conversation. It must be lonely for you here, knowing that I cannot hear you or see you but even so, keeping you company for a while…well that much, I can do for you.

In any case, I think you recognise the person this tree with its autumn leaves and smooth honey trunk once was. And if they could sense you they'd know you, too. In some ways, they were a lot like Akari, that endless needless hunger for love, the needle-sharpness of that hunger. The way it ended up being the un-making of them one way or another.

They are similar in terms of regret, too.

Oh well, I suppose that he is at rest now, just as this one is. Her tree's-how very like an ash tree it is- a fair bit shorter than the rest, which is fitting considering her diminutive size in life. But despite that her branches stretch out far and wide, as if trying to grasp the entire world, or perhaps shelter the other trees from it. It's hard to tell, but she is a remarkable tree nonetheless, with the way little threads of gold thread through the dark blue of her bark. She had been tired of her immortality for a long time, and she teetered close to what she once believed was darkness in trying to cope but she is surely at rest now. I hope she is at rest, in any case. Even with all that happened, I bear none of these warriors ill will. They may not have been people I could trust, just as at first I could not trust you, your fellow students or any of the many students who passed through Kawaakari over the years. But I never bore them ill-will.

Though, if there is one out of all of them I truly felt any sorrow for it is the one who had a curse cast upon her mind during the Great War, gradually eating her memory and reason away. Not even the pact Akari in his new form had them take was able to truly ameliorate that. During Kawaakari's reign there have been many instances during which I had to guide her out of here as she wandered in with no memory of doing so. Sometimes, she had no memory of who she was, or of how to speak or walk. She had a ragdoll from her childhood days that she clung fiercely to in these final decades, and I do not know why it is one of the others did not make sure that she had it with her to provide some comfort at the end. Even so, I think she would like the tree she has become. The sparkliness of her light blue bark and little round leaves in multi-coloured pastels, the way it smells faintly of sugar and how the wind sounds softer and soothing when it whistles through her leaves. It reminds me of another lost child, that small girl who set out to save others despite having no real powers to call her own. She, too, was small and sweet and now although she is not dead as such, she too is lost.

Ah, are you leaving? Or perhaps you just need to wander. Please, do not stay on my account. If you need to wander then you may do so. The danger is over after all, your brave fellow students have restored the balance but…ah, you are settling, I can tell. Looking at all these trees that your classmates grew from the great warriors' finished lives, I imagine. The one I can sense you hovering by, that looks remarkably like a willow, doesn't it, the way those thin branches and the leaves tinted with purple almost sweep the ground? Though, admittedly the leaves resemble plaited ribbons more than they do any actual leaves. Still, it is fitting that she has taken on the form of a willow, this one, because though in life you'll remember she was tall and thin like one, she was as unbreakable as one too. She was cursed in the Great War also, but she was luckier than her more fragile friend in that it was not a permanent curse. Lucky, too, because she deliberately put herself in the path of the curse to save the person this tree here was, once. I heard whispers that before the curse fully took hold and spirited her away that she carried him back to the safety of their battle-camp and ultimately saved his life. He must have gone to look for her afterwards, because I remember lurking in the shadows on the outskirts and watching as he swooped in as a great bird carrying her as a smaller sleeping bird upon his back.

I wonder if he, of all of them, is the one who would be most satisfied by his new incarnation as a tree. He will never take on a different shape again, not now he is no longer alive, but trees have always been beings of transformation themselves, the way they have always been the truest indicator of a season. Even within a season, I see potential for more transformation with the way his bark shifts from black to midnight blue depending on how the light hits it, the flame like curls of his golden leaves twisting in and out, changing shape with every passing moment.

He had a lover, this one, did you know? Another comrade who died in the War. His ashes were scattered in the river but now the pact tying them is broken, his essence has all gathered in the middle of the river, turning it into two smaller ones as he becomes a bush instead. I have wandered to see it, and its leaves have the shimmering iridescence of water, with some shaped like tears and others more like waves, all gently flickering. There's a third comrade too, another young man, and he was already returned to the land. You know this land already, in your life you will have crossed it many times as you travelled from class to class. The central courtyard. I have heard the look of it described as soap-bubble rainbows, or as sunshine after rain. Both are fitting descriptions for that gentle gold and blue glowing, don't you think? I do not know if now his essence will also grow some sort of plant considering he is already part of the land as I have said. But there is always potential.

I suspect this one here, just across from us, knows something of that. I have heard her over the centuries calling out to students, reminding and encouraging them to stand tall and stay strong. Certainly in her death she is managing to do that despite how twisted and gnarled her golden trunk is. See how her branches also reach up into the sky, as if also grasping the sky? Her leaves are rather nice too, aren't they, all those rich jewel colours? The red leaves of the one to her left match nicely in their vividness, though these leaves are ever so unusual, aren't they? I know you probably cannot touch them for yourself but believe me when I say they feel as rose-petal-like as they look. She is not standing as tall as her friend-indeed, the way her pearl-white trunk bends over makes me wonder if the sheer volume of leaves isn't a little too heavy. Yet at the same time it is easy to imagine her as she would be in life, with her expression half hidden by whatever flower she had held to her lips at the time but laughter spilling between the petals all the same. Actually, now I am listening, it sounds like laughter, doesn't it, the wind going between her petal-leaves?

This tree comes with unusual sounds too, don't you think? The heart-shaped leaves,-some white, some silver and some in that warm shade I've heard you describe as 'rose gold'- they sound almost like bracelets jangling on a wrist, don't they? The patterns against their bark are also quite intricate too, the sort of thing you would expect on decorative jewellery. Of course, they wore a lot of such jewellery if the occasion called for it. They smelt of peaches too, just as this tree does and though I suspect those fruits are not ones that can be eaten they, too, look remarkably like peaches. This, too, is an elaborate tree, befitting of the flamboyant life it grew from.

The large, shimmering, translucent stars here on this one, they hang the way fruit does but they are even less like fruits than the peach-like ones. But her tree is probably still one of the most understated ones despite that, for although the trunk glows from within and the moss-covered branches become golden at the tips it is still an ordinary-tree-brown. An understated sort of beauty, don't you think?

They are all so very beautiful, I think.

I apologise, if I am boring you. As I said, if you need to wander then you may. I will admit though, talking so freely and without inhibition is something that I am not used to. Even with my mistress, there was little need for words. Still, she is no longer here and I am, still. It is exactly as it should be, it is what she wanted and needed and therefore it is what I wanted and needed. All these centuries, right from the beginning, there is no real way to describe them. Those curses that the warriors endured, and even the wider experiences of the war, they marked them one way or another. Things like that transform you irreversibly and not always for the better. The things that Akari did to her and said about her…yes, it is true that Kagami was not perfect in her actions at the start of it all but she was at least innocent when he decided to take it a step further. Innocent in the truest, purest sense. But at least Akari's warriors still had a body, and most of them had a mind. Can you imagine what it is like to not even have a body, a tangible form for your mind to be? To not even have a true voice except for remnants of a song?

Ah, I am sorry. I did not mean to take it out on you, young one. I hitched my life to hers for so long that this emptiness is unusual. I do not know if it is a comfort that Akari is returned to the land, along with the person whose life he shared, and those precious comrades of his, his warriors. It was a necessity and I am glad that finally he admitted his wrongdoing and that he finally did the right thing. These trees though…this one that only has a few turquoise leaves at the tips of its silver-blue branches, made from a person who once loved to paint. And then there is this tree with all its points and angles, the shape of it so angry.

I think they were particularly loyal to every lie Akari spread, so it is not a wonder that they were amongst those who found it hardest to accept the truth that the students managed to discover. I know, too, that they were amongst those who were the most enthusiastic about the building of Kawaakari and all that it entailed. No wonder the shape of its medium-pink trunk is so jagged, the texture of the bark so much rougher than usual. No wonder the white and gold and silver leaves flash and glimmer like lightning bolts. In time this tree will calm, I am sure. It is part of the balance after all, and the balance protects. It's all they ever wanted to do.

And this one, this one wasn't happy either but that I know was for a different reason. He was already betrayed once, you see, by another person who was meant to fight with them. This person, she believed in the lies that had been spread as much as the whole world did, but her conclusion was different. The type of conclusion that only helped the mistruths spread further but in any case, the point is that she was particularly precious to him, this person, and she betrayed them all in the worst way. To realise that everything he believed in was a lie too…that all he had endured for was pointless. Despite the protests he raised, I wonder if he was not in need of rest as much as some of the others have been. His life might be finished now, but the tree that has grown from that life, it's remarkable for a tree grown from someone as closed off and monochrome as he had been after the war. The deep purple of his trunk, the long sunset-hued leaves that drape over the sturdy branches like scarves or ribbons, do you see them? Do you think he knows how magnificent he has become?

I wonder about that, how much they will know and understand as the world adjusts to the new balance, and life goes on all around them. I feel the one who is most contented is this one, here. The russet hue of his bark is calming just to look at, don't you think, as are those small and neatly formed leaves in peach and gold. And those flowers, they look a lot like clouds don't you agree, a child's conception of clouds for how soft they are, but with the colours of sunrise. Many of these trees have such colourful leaves and blossoms but none as vivid as this tree here, rainbow coloured from root to the tips of her branches, festooned with blossoms equally as bright as though getting ready to celebrate. These two reached out to me from time to time, I remember. She liked to collect samples of plants and to find out about how they grew while he used to bring books and news of the world's changes to me. I remember the discussions we used to have. I had to be careful, of course, to not say anything that would betray the secrets I was keeping, but nonetheless I know that it is not just I who learnt from him but he who learnt from me. He will at least be able to see the world continue on, a silent witness to history as it continues on. And I will now be the one to share news with him, which will be a novelty. So I think he will be content. She will, too, I could tell from the moment she felt the soil that your fellow students had put around her and realised what was coming. She was so very, very proud of them all, and of course her magic means she is more inclined to such a death in the first place.

You can tell, can't you, that I liked them? Still, I could not trust them because of the state of this world and the beliefs that Akari had managed to successfully sow across it. Just as I could not trust any of you students. You were innocents, children, I would not harm you unless there was no other way. Indeed, I knew that I would have to protect you and all those who came before you as much as I had to protect my mistress because of that youthfulness. But still, I never dreamed that there would be a time when so many of you would trespass not with malicious intent, but with warmth and hope. Curiosity and vitality. When that started, that's when I knew for sure that in one way or another, it would be all of you who saved us all in the end.

I was right about that. I'm glad I was right about that.

But believe me, young one, I am not glad at how many of you had to be lost to death or other sad fates in order to ensure that. I am not pleased that more of you will be lost…you can hear it, can't you, everything crumbling? Even through the beautiful sounds some of these trees leaves make, I cannot help but hear it. It's an effect of the pact those two had the rest of the warriors partake in, the way they bound it to the building of Kawaakari. I hope…ideally, I would hope that no more lives would be lost but I know that is a foolish wish. Rather, I can wish that the ones amongst them that you love are not the ones who will perish in the collapse and that if they do that you will be reunited on the Other Side. Because you will get there one day, young one, you will. You will not have to wander for long and while I may not have the power to ensure it I know that I can promise this.

It is not something I should have to promise though, and I admit that angers me. The student who called them arrogant had it right. Those two, they were so very, very arrogant. I suppose they had the reputation and the long history of impressive feats in battle to back up such arrogance but nonetheless. I remember, when they first came out to get the lie of this land I could not tell at first which one of them had Akari residing in them. Him or her, it could easily have been either. It became clear soon enough, though. But yes, it has always been them together-there are barely any stories of either of them before they met each other, and any that do exist are even more shrouded in mystery than the stories of them together before the Great War. It is no wonder that they are one tree, rather than two separate trees.

Yes, that's them, this tall tree in the centre of them all. If you look closely down here at the bottom, you can see the roots are two separate sets but the further up this golden trunk you go they meld together, twisting around and around like a braid before the branches go up. And what branches they are-those are not leaves at the ends, young one, but just the branches themselves, curling up into delicate filigree patterns, tangling with each other. It is fitting, I think, and though they certainly do not deserve my forgiveness it is only right that they should remain together like this for all eternity. For all the damage they have caused, their love was true. For each other, for the rest of the warriors, even for the school and all of you students. All of that love was true. Still, that does not excuse the damage they caused, which is why I suppose it is fitting that the glow this tree gives off is not gold to match the gold of the bark, but red. Not just any red though.

Blood red.

Their connection started stained in blood, and though their deaths did not shed any blood nonetheless it is a blood-soaked ending. But at least it is over, and the rest will be over soon too. But before that, I think….yes…I can hear this, too. Something else that I can still do to help the students who still remain. So, I will go and do that and once this is finally over…well, we shall see.

Would you like to come with me, young one? You are more than welcome to.

Alright then, let us go.

This chapter was meant to just be a poetic/abstract descriptive thing, similar to most of the other interlude chapters but at some point it ended up being a monologue from the viewpoint of Kaguya, talking to the spirit of one of the students who died in the forest without the proper rites to send them off safely. I've left it deliberately vague as to which one, and though I'll offer a possible answer in the next chapter, for the most part I'll still be leaving it up to you to decide who it is Kaguya is talking to.

Speaking of interpretation, the format this was meant to be in is why I haven't named the staff members when describing their trees. Some are going to be more obvious than others, and the ones that are my three OCs should be easy (because Rielle is named, and Eita and Lowen are the only ones described here who aren't trees at all), but I wonder-can you guess them? For reference, the staff list that I worked from includes both professors and faculty and is based off of the Staff page on the Kawaakari CB website. That page seems to have been replaced on the menu by the Seven Wonders pages, but it's easy enough to just ad /staff to the home page's address. Plus, in my case, I looked at the staff page often enough when writing The Weight of the Light that all I have to do is type 'k' in chrome's address bar on my laptop and that page comes up as suggested...

But yeah, anyway, I'm definitely curious to know which trees are easily recognisable to you all, and which ones are not. I will be giving some of the answers (so to speak) in some of the epilogue chapters, though there is still one more main-story chapter (if it gets too long it'll be split into two though) and one more interlude before those.

Regardless, I hope you've enjoyed this double update!