A/N: happy birthday to Ryu and Fou-Lu!
They do not talk a lot. Fou-Lu would say that it is because they are halves of a whole and understand each other beyond words, but that is plainly a lie as Ryu baffles him more often than not. Yet they stick together. Of course, Fou-Lu has nowhere else to go, but Ryu seems in no especial hurry to get back to his mortal friends either. They are simply... taking each day as it comes.
Ryu sometimes voices a thought unprompted, or comments on the landscape. "Look at that dragonfly, it has two tails," Ryu will say, and Fou-Lu will answer;
"'Tis because it be of the species twintail, not a true dragonfly but rather a species of moth."
That is the extent of their usual communication, apart from when Ryu takes a wrong path, or they have to decide how to set up camp. They do not argue in particular. Ryu has more conviction Fou-Lu thought possible, believing that the world will change if he simply loves it enough. It is more than Fou-Lu has the energy to argue against, even though he is skeptical. Thus Ryu makes most of their decisions.
They are journeying across the Western Continent, though Fou-Lu could not say that they are heading towards any particular goal, or even sticking to only one direction. Nothing is hunting them, and they are chasing after nothing either. Ryu's whims are all that guide them.
One day they travel through a mountain pass and arrive in a forest, and they both stop. It is almost like a smell, or the sense of a storm approaching, ozone in the air – there is a hex nearby.
Worse, Fou-Lu realizes. He recognizes this area. This hex.
Fou-Lu clenches his fists, expression twisting, and Ryu must sense something off because he looks at Fou-Lu and notices his stormy expression. "Fou-Lu? Should we turn back? Are you okay?"
"Wretched humans…" Fou-Lu takes a few measured breaths. There is no use in raging. Not now. "I am fine. Let us continue."
"Are you sure?" Ryu's concerned expression remains.
"We must take a path around this hex, lest it harm us," says Fou-Lu briskly. They are mortals, now. Due caution needs to be taken.
He takes the lead, and after a moment, Ryu falls in step with him.
If only the memory could be swept away so easily. Mami's kindness had touched something deep inside Fou-Lu, something which her death then tore and left to bleed. Human cruelty is senseless.
Does Mami's house now stand empty or has the landlord already thrown out all her things and let someone else move in? Is there anything in this world left of her?
The hex is large, the ground around it uneven with boulders. Fou-Lu, lost in thought, stumbles over one and nearly falls were it not for Ryu steadying him.
"Are you okay?" Ryu repeats a third time.
He is kind, too. Mami had been kind and brave. She does not deserve to be forgotten, remembered only by the villagers who sold her out or by Fou-Lu, who is the sole reason she was killed.
"This hex… it be all that remains of a young woman who helped me." Fou-Lu looks into the dark fog that still clings to the ground, making the area unfit for all life. "She took me in and tended to mine wounds. Her name was Mami."
Ryu looks into the fog with him. Eventually he says, "I'm sorry that your friend died."
Fou-Lu says, "At least if thou knowst her name as well… I am not the only one keeping her memory alive."
"Mami," says Ryu, repeating it. "Alright. I won't forget it."