Aki stood in knee-high moss surrounded by trees.
No silver markers.
No trail.
No visible sky.
They took a slow breath.
Then another.
“Fine.”
Nothing moved.
“I am calm.”
A sapling leaned sideways.
Aki closed their eyes.
Tsukine’s voice appeared in their memory.
Do not show us what you can do. Show us what you notice.
“I noticed the forest is impossible.”
A blossom opened somewhere behind them.
Aki refused to turn.
“I noticed that does not count.”
The blossom closed.
Aki opened their eyes.
They looked carefully.
The Wood was not random.
That was the first useful thing they had thought in several minutes.
When Aki had said something false, the paths multiplied.
When they argued with the flowers, they shifted.
When a flower repeated the old line about naming a purpose, the same route had brought Aki back.
Not punishment.
Response.
Aki looked down.
There, half-hidden beneath moss, was another stone.
Not silver.
Dark green.
Very old.
They knelt and brushed it clean.
A braided pattern had been carved across its surface: two lines crossing, looping, and continuing together.
Threads and knots.
A few worn symbols remained beneath.
Aki could read only part of them.
ENTER...
...NAMED PURPOSE...
...ANSWERED...
A silver court marker had been driven directly beside the older stone.
Its base cut across one of the carved lines.
Aki frowned.
“That cannot be good.”
They reached toward the marker.
Then stopped.
Do not remove any object except the trial prism.
Aki withdrew their hand.
“Rule.”
The Wood remained silent.
They stood.
“I am following the rule.”
Nothing.
Aki waited.
A flower opened.
Seiran’s voice said:
“Follow these exactly.”
Aki nodded.
“Yes.”
The flower closed.
Another opened.
Tsukine:
“An ominous beginning.”
Aki scowled.
“You are not helping.”
The ground tilted.
“Right. Sorry.”
Aki sat beside the two markers.
The old stone disappeared beneath one edge of the newer one.
The court path told travelers where to walk.
The older carving apparently asked travelers to say why they were walking there.
Neither was necessarily foolish.
But together—
Aki traced the space between them without touching.
The silver glow pulled in one direction.
The old braided carving curved in another.
Where the two magics met, the moss had twisted into a tight knot.
Aki’s ears lowered.
“Oh.”
The rule was not the problem.
The marker was not the problem.
The old promise was not the problem.
They simply did not agree anymore.
And Aki had spent the last hour obeying one while pretending the other did not exist.
Aki looked at the flowers.
“All right.”
Several opened at once.
Aki held up one hand.
“No chorus.”
They closed.
One remained.
A pale gold bloom no larger than Aki’s thumb.
It opened.
“Those who enter shall name their purpose.”
Aki swallowed.
The instruction sheet seemed suddenly heavy inside their sleeve.
They could still follow it.
They could wait until someone came looking.
They could return to the capital and report that the route was impassable.
That would be accurate.
It would also be their first official errand.
Failed.
Aki imagined Seiran’s calm expression.
Tsukine’s silence.
The apprentice cannot know.
The apprentice is not ready.
Aki straightened.
“I am Aki of the Emberleaf Clan.”
The Wood listened.
“I am here under the Guardian office.”
The flower did nothing.
Aki glanced toward the silver marker.
“That sounded more impressive in my head.”
The flower waited.
Aki tried again.
“I was sent to retrieve a trial prism from the court waystation.”
A breeze moved through the leaves.
“I intend to take only the prism.”
The old carving beneath the moss glimmered faintly.
“And then I intend to go home before anything in here decides I should marry a mushroom.”
Silence.
Aki cleared their throat.