The sun was already sinking when Papa K finally reunited with the others they had rescued from the camp. I can't properly explain what I felt when I saw them. Was it pity? Sadness? Almost all of them looked like skeletons. Even the tall ones—the ones who looked like kapre—were reduced to skin and bone. Their skin was pale, their lips cracked and split. And the fact that these things weren't isolated to this world... the fact that things like this had happened in my world too. I mean, it hits differently now that I'm not just reading it in a book.
"Ate, are you okay?" Agustin asked as he gently tugged on the sleeve of my newly washed dobok.
"Huh?" I replied. He was staring straight at my face. That's when I felt something damp on my cheeks. I touched my face and tried to wipe it away.
"Giben, thank you for waiting," Supremo said to me. That snapped me back to reality.
I immediately grabbed several glasses and filled them with water. Agustin helped me pass them out one by one, along with whatever food we could give. Meanwhile, Agustin was reunited with the rest of his companions.
After a few minutes, we began our trek toward Mayari's hiding place. Kuroy guided us toward the cave. Along the way, he told us what had happened, how Mayari had basically got PTSD after seeing Nemo again, and how one of their friends had nearly died.
When we reached the cave, the stench of bat poops hit me like a slap to the face. But more than the smell, what overwhelmed me were the sounds, the grunts of pain coming from inside. Agni and an older man were wrapping bandages around wounded bodies. Meanwhile, Mayari was sitting beside Wan at the far end of the cave.
Papa K moved quickly toward a man lying on a woven mat near the edge of the cave. He was dark-skinned, with curly hair. And my god, this was the first time in my life I had seen a man beaten this badly (well, besides Wan). His face... it was already the color of eggplant, swollen and bruised beyond recognition. His lips were split open, covered in wounds. Just looking at him sent chills down my spine.
"How's Bay-an!?" I could hear the worry in Kario's voice.
"He's out of immediate danger, Supremo," Agni answered while continuing to bandage another rebel's wounds. "But it'll probably take weeks before he can move properly again."
Kario let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Kan-Laon." He stood up and walked toward Mayari, who was waiting for him. She was drenched in sweat, her skin pale.
"Dayang, I am glad you are safe," Papa K said. "Kuroy already told me what happened..."
Mayari bowed her head and spoke in a trembling voice. "Forgive me, Supremo. It's my fault that nearly half of our companions died yesterday."
Kario smiled and shook his head. "No. Because of you, more than half of our people are alive today." Mayari still didn't lift her head. "Unlike our past battles... for the first time, we didn't look like children fighting a tiger." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "This time, we fought properly."
After that, Supremo turned to the people rescued from the camp. "My friends! Allow me to introduce you to the mind behind this rescue." He gestured toward Mayari. "My brothers and sisters, Dayang Mayari!"
Murmurs spread when they heard her name. Some frowned. It seemed that Mayari being a noble leaves a sour taste in their mouths. Despite this, some clapped. From the back, Mayari stepped forward. She raised her hand, signaling them to stop clapping.
"My friends, my fellow Tunduvans..." Mayari began. Her voice was heavier than usual. "As Supremo said... I am Mayari of Tundun. Daughter of the late Datu Rakta. I will not tell you that I understand what you've been through. I did not come here to drown you in sweet words. I know you are tired of promises from nobles like me..." her eyes started to stare at the ground, "nobles who sit comfortably in their mansions while you are beaten by foreigners and forced to work..."
She scoffed, then continued, "To be honest, I'm probably one of the symbols of everything you hate... and I won't blame you."
Then, to everyone's shock, Mayari slowly moved. Her back went forward down, as her knee started to fold. She bowed so low that her forehead nearly touched the ground. Even Supremo looked visibly stunned. Agni was clearly unsettled, holding himself back from intervening.
"Forgive me," Mayari said. Her voice started to shake. "Not as a noble... but as a person who turned a blind eye towards your suffering..."
I saw some of their faces soften, though many still looked angry, bitter toward people like Mayari. Still, all of them seemed willing to listen now, unlike earlier. Mayari continued. As she stood, her gaze fixed on them, the people they just freed.
"You have every right to hate me, because I am also one of the reasons you are in this situation." She took a deep breath. "But I ask for your understanding on one thing..." She paused. "You may hate me, curse my name, mock me, hell, call me whatever you want. But that will not change our kingdom."
I saw her eyes begin to shift into a more piercing gaze. Beside me, I could hear Agni's breathing grow heavier, while Wan simply smiled at the edge of the cave.
"But do you know what can change everything!?" Mayari asked, pointing at the wounded rebels around them, and at the rescued captives. "US! ALL OF US—TOGETHER!"
She lifted her chin. Her presence swallowed the entire cave. The fudge is this girl? Here I was last moth trying to convince my mom to buy me a new phone. "I know how they move. I know how afraid they are of our unity! That is why they constantly try to turn us against each other. And so... this is what I guarantee. We can defeat them. Maybe not today. Not tomorrow. But in the right time, through each and every one of us, we will drive Iberia out of Tundun!"
She took a deep breath, her gaze sharpening once more. Yet her voice softened. "You have suffered more than Sulad. Many of you lost family, siblings, friends, and your freedom. I know you are tired. I know you are angry. Hold on to all of that. Because that is what they fear most about us—our ability to remain standing."
I saw some of them begin to nod. Others still looked skeptical. She continued, "To my fellow rebels, you may think we lost today. BUT WE DID NOT! On this day, we planted something that bullets alone could never plant. In Kubiz, we planted a seed! A seed greater than Penumbra! A seed that will soon spread throughout the land! A seed that declares it is POSSIBLE to crush IBERIA! THAT THE CHILDREN OF TUNDUN WILL NOT REMAIN SILENT! THEY MAY BREAK OUR BONES; THEY MAY BRUISE OUR HEADS! BUT OUR SOULS WILL REMAIN UNBOWED!!" Chills ran through my entire body.
And judging by their faces, I wasn't the only one. Because after Mayari finished speaking, all of them erupted, cheering and clapping. Beside me, I heard Agni quietly sob as he discreetly wiped away his tears.
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Under the cover of night, Wan lay alone across one of the thick tree branches that formed part of the perimeter of their temporary stronghold. The full moon slipped once more through the dense canopy of leaves, casting a faint silver light over the forest. As always, Wan found himself unable to stop staring at it.
For reasons he himself could not explain, the moon seemed to carry some kind of spell meant only for him. A pull he could never resist. It wasn't just the moon's glow that held him there, but the strange weight it pressed against his chest. Sadness. Longing. And something else... something even he could not name.
He took a deep breath and folded his right hand over his chest. From the very beginning, ever since he could remember having memories at all, this had been the constant theme of his nights whenever the full moon peered through the clouds. It felt as though it was calling to him, like a devoted suitor serenading him with hymns of sorrow night after night.
Wan's lips parted as he tried to match the word the moon seemed to whisper to him, a name that felt like a divine secret, forbidden.
"Bak—"
"Wan..." Mayari's voice cut through his words.
Wan blinked, the sound of her voice pulling him out of his daze. He quickly wiped at his eyes, and leaped down from the tree. Mayari instinctively stepped back, giving him space to land.
"Oi, what is it?" Wan asked, the moonlight catching in his silver hair.
Hesitation flickered across Mayari's face, but a single word slipped past her lips.
"N—nothing..." she murmured. "I—I just don't want to be alone..."
Wan raised one eyebrow. "Why? Is Given already asleep?" he teased.
"Idiot, no— I mean, yes, she's asleep..." Mayari walked to the opposite side of the tree and leaned against it. Her shoulders slowly sagged. After a few moments, her back slid down the trunk until she was sitting on the ground. She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms tightly around them.
"I lost," she admitted. Her voice was low, bitter, heavy, words she seemed unwilling to swallow. Wan remained silent, standing on the other side of the tree, leaning against it. He said nothing. Instead, he let Mayari fill the spaces born from the silence.
"Because of me... many of them died..." her voice came out hoarse. Her breathing grew heavier as the tears she had kept locked away since fleeing the palace finally broke free. "Ear - earlier, I couldn't even face Tata Islaw... because of me, Toto... di - died... Toto, who was like a son to him." Her words broke apart as sobs tightened around her throat.
"Many of them died because of my arrogance and carelessness." By now, she no longer tried to stop her tears from flowing. "F—fuck... I was so arrogant... I didn't even plan for contingencies..." She loosened her grip on herself and stared at her trembling hands.
"I—I killed them..." Mayari sniffed and spoke again. "But despite that... earlier, in the cave... everything I said to them... all of it was part of the plan. How I would gain their sympathy and trust..." She pressed her palms to her face. "Am – am I becom – becoming a monster? Wan... what should I do!? I don't know what I'm supposed to do..." She wrapped her arms around herself again as her shoulders collapsed even further.
After that, a suffocating silence settled between them, broken only by the chirping of crickets and the girl's quiet sobs. Her fingernails dug into her skin as she hugged herself tighter, as if the entire forest could feel the grief weighing her down.
Moments later, Wan finally broke the silence. "Are you letting all these go in vain?" There was no mockery in his tone. No teasing. Just a simple question, one that made Mayari stop.
She swallowed hard, forcing back her sobs to shape the words she needed. "I—I have to keep going..." She took several deep breaths. Though her voice still trembled, determination slowly returned to her eyes. "For my father... and for the people who died today..."
She rose gently to her feet and looked up at the sky. "I will free Tundun," she said. "No matter what happens. No matter the cost."
Mayari embraced the weight of the grief she carried—a merciless weight, unforgiving. "I know there are lives that will have to be sacrificed," she said. "But even so..." She lifted her head, staring straight at the moon.
"For a greater purpose... I have to be strong."