Notes: A continuation the 'Travels of a Ryassophore' oneshot series. I would suggest reading the stories previous to get a basic gist of how this'll be going, though it's certainly not needed.

Warnings: This story contains various plot devices, and if it ends up being continued/finished... There is genderbending and there will be eventual slash. While it will not be hardcore anything (a kiss and hug at most, surely), be forewarned. Any criticisms of this or flames will be looked at and promptly posted for others to mock at.

Finally, any reviews are appreciated, especially those which contain constructive criticism. Thank you!

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The Country of Stumps

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Confessions

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/Travels of a Ryassophore/

The further the two continued on, the colder it got, until suddenly, it began to grow warmer. This concerned Cloe, and when she voiced her worries, Al reassured her with a story about underground hot springs. The prospect of hot springs was enough to help Cloe regain her enthusiasm, especially when they began to see a light off in the distance, just barely illuminating the end of the tunnel that they could see when they came around a sloping turn.

Their pace increased and the idle chit-chat ceased, their focus placed primarily on getting to the end, so much so that neither of them noticed another change in the air around them - the distinct smell of pine, and instead the speed as both broke out into a steady jog, overrun by the happiness of seeing sunlight again.

Their running also caused them to not notice a shallow, but wide spring a few steps out of the tunnel's mouth, until Cloe stumbled on an unfortunately placed rock. Al tried to reach out and grab her hand to stop her and instead the both of them ended up plastered in the water.

"Ooww..." Cloe managed through her laughter. The pebbles had scraped her hand when she tried to brace her fall, and Al had landed on her other arm. Despite the throbbing pain in both, she continued to laugh. "I hope you're okay..."

She started to lift her head to look at him through a curtain of soaked, now golden-brown hair. Her free hand moved her hair aside so she could get a better view of Al. Instead, her gaze focused on the surroundings behind him.

Tall thin pine towered over the smaller, spindly redwood and red-gum trees; the rocky ground ruffled by the shallow root systems, but cushioned by pine needles and sparse grass. A few bushes of waxweed also grew in a few dense clumps, taking over the empty place of where a pine had once stood before falling to the forest floor. The fallen trunk was covered by colonies of fungus of varying colors, matching the lichen covered boulders that poked up from the ground.

Against the base of an old and gnarled hardwood tree, purple-blossoms trillium bloomed merrily among the exposed roots, their leaves a deep, dark green, content to forever remain in the shade of the large tree they grew under. A bird twittered up in the trees and rustling echoed from different directions of a rabbit or a squirrel or other small animal moving about, and on the horizon, a silhouette of a deer moved gracefully against a wondrously green background.

"H-hey..." She moved her hand away from him and pointed with it at all of this behind him. "Are all forests like this...?" she asked, her voice soft with awe and wonder.

Al laughed as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder as he looked up at the gaping entrance that hung above them by a few feet. It seemed as if the land had split in two to accommodate the water that seethed up from under the cliff-face, one side falling several yards down, or perhaps the other rising up.

"It seems we've found our exit." He stood and helped pull Cloe to her feet, looking around as he did so, resting his hand on the cliff behind them. "What a splendid forest this is. Very grand and majestic feeling, isn't it?"

Cloe nodded, rubbing at her hand absently. "Yeah... ah!" She snapped out of her awe-stricken daze and turned to him, frantically taking his hands delicately in hers and looking at them. "Are you hurt? It's my fault that you fell!" She looked up at him with concern all over her face. "I told you not to trip and fall, but I ended up being the one who did... how embarrassing..."

Al reddened some, though it was hard to tell from his tanned skin. "Oh, no!" He pulled away, suddenly feeling rather shy. "I'm perfectly fine, please don't worry about me."

Cloe slowly retracted her hands, though the concern didn't leave. "If you're hurting, we'll rest." She leaned against the wall, looking out at the scenery. The deer was no longer in sight, though she spotted a bunny nibbling on one of the bushes not too far away. "I wouldn't mind resting here for a while..." She laughed cheerfully. "It's so pleasant. It would be nice to live here if, I think..."

The man looked around. "It is rather peaceful..." He stepped forward, startling the rabbit, which raised it's head and stared at them for the longest moment before slowly lowering back down and hopping a few safe feet away. "Though, I suppose it's lucky that we found water, though. It will be nice to wash the dirt from my hair."

Cloe looked down at the river as if surprised to realize that it contained water. "I heard that all water ends up in lakes... ah!" She brightened at the prospect, looking at her dirty, sodden dress. "I want to find it and try to clean the dirt out of this! I wouldn't mind taking a bath, either."

With this set in her mind, she started along the the end of the spring where it trickled downwards, following the flow of the water. "I can find my way back if you don't want to come, but I think the both of us deserve a nice bath!"

Above them, the wind blew, knocking about the pine-tops, needles falling down from above like rain.

Rubbing the fallen needles from his hair, Al smiled lightly. "I would like one, and I can stand guard to make sure no one peeks in on you."

"Hmm..." She looked over her shoulder at him, smiling almost coyly. "And I'm supposed to trust you not to peek just because you talk and act like a holy man?"

The girl tossed her hair as she turned her head to look ahead, chin slightly raised in a haughty sort of way, though her expressions and voice were playful in their demeanor. "You do succumb to things you deem sinful, like cherishing landscapes." A faux-sigh followed and she added, "Oh, but I am a person. Perhaps I'll be spared because I'm not unique scenery."

She gave a melodic giggle, gaining a small, childish sway in her verging-on-skipping steps, mentally wondering how the hell an honest vent came out like playful banter. Women were so weird.

"H-hey!" Al reddened some. "Please don't think such things about me! I would never do something that base!" He quickened his steps to follow her. After all, while the scenery might be peaceful, he had learned many things had undertones you couldn't pick up right away. It was best to be careful with this.

The two followed the water as it grew steadily more and more tumultuous until it finally pouring over a tall precipice, sending spray high into the air as it fell down into a boulder-lined pool. The man cautiously tramped over to the edge, as he had heard stories of the ends suddenly collapsing for no apparent reason, and looked about. Ferns covered around the rapid water, loaning the action a sense of stillness. However, beyond the cliff-face, there was a vast change from the forest around them.

Instead of the deep greens and browns and greys behind them, below law only yellow and burnt browns. Thousands among thousands of blackened stumps were all that poked up from the ground, only softened by the yellowed grass that covered the horizon as far as the eye could see

"Ah, there's a good way to go down." He smiled at the find, trying to ignore the land of stumps. It was easier to ignore when you stared at other things. The stones almost looked like well-formed steps. How lucky a find!

Cloe peered out at the scene, frowning lightly. "W-wait..." She clasped his sleeve while she bit her lips, ducking her head nervously to gaze at the water below. "Do you think it's safe? I mean, something happened to the grass and trees... what if it was something in the water?"

Al blinked and forced a smile. "Nonsense. Why would there be such a difference from the water up here to the water down there? If anything, it looks more like fire, and perhaps something more man-made than a water-borne disease."

Cloe sighed, holding onto his sleeve for a few moments before finally letting go. Back home, the water could never fully be trusted, as no one knew for sure exactly where it came from, beyond a body of water across the land.

"I just don't want to turn into a burnt stump," she said in a petulant tone, following him down. "or some sickly yellow grass."

Al laughed as he stepped down, hopping the final three to the solid stone bottom. He neared the edge where the grass began and tossed a rock out. It landed, rustling the grass as it hit the earth. "I doubt we have anything to worry about. In the very least, the pool should be safe, as it's coming from directly above, and nothing up there is affected." He stepped out, a bit cautious at Cloe's words, but when nothing happened, he stepped out into the shorn grass without any reserves.

Turning back, the man smiled. "Please, go and wash up. I want to see if I can decipher on what caused this." Without turning around, just in case she had already begun undressing, he wandered over to the closest stump and crouched down beside it.

Looking at the one beside, all the stumps, or rather what was left unburnt, were all flatly cut with the grain. Standing still, Al stared out across the plain. Compared to other lands he had traveled through, it was strange to be in a place that felt so strangely out of place. He nearly peeked behind to compare the desolate earth around him with the fresh greenery up on the cliff, but remembered in time that Cloe was cleaning. So, with a clearing of the throat, he determinedly faced forward.

That was how he noticed it.

A few feet ahead, the grass was remarkably shorter, cut near to the soil, with bare patches of soil visible in places. Squinting his eyes against the sun, it became obvious that further to the west, the grass was more spares, eventually ending in dark gold sand. "How curious..." He muttered softly to himself. This was a strange place indeed.

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Meanwhile, Cloe stepped daintily into the water. "I'm trusting you not to peek, Ryassophore!" She called over her shoulder to the retreating form. Once the water was just high enough to cover her breasts, she lifted the soggy dress over her head.

A little tune started in her head and, unable to resist, she hummed softly along with it while she started to wring the dress. It reminded her of doing the laundry with her mom and the other girls... Her expression grew lonely, but she kept up the cheerful humming as she reached her waist.

She grimaced at the amount of dirt that managed to sneak that far north (or was it south?). As the girl rubbed out the stains from her dress, she paused to look down at herself. She really wished she could get used to seeing herself nude in this way. Of course, she had known what women looked like before, having taken baths with cousins when she had been younger, but... It did take some getting used to, and whenever she had to take care of personal business, Cloe couldn't help but wish she had the external plumbing to make the job easier. God, women had it rough in that way.

The dirt now wrung and scrubbed free from the dress, she used it as a makeshift linen to scrub herself with. Her movements slowed as her thoughts wandered and she carefully turned her head, looking at Al out of the very corner of her eye. She needed to figure out how to get home and return to normal as soon as she could.

Her gaze snapped back to focus ahead of her. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to never part with him. However, he was, she chided herself, a solitary man who loved traveling and exploring, and refusing to leave him would hurt him more than it'd hurt her by parting ways.

The tune started over from the beginning as she moved onto washing her hair. The next town they were at (that wasn't underground or anything else strange), she'd bid farewell to him.

Now clean, and content with her plan, she started back toward the shore, slipping into the dress as she moved. At least, she tried to. There was a bit of struggle with the heavy, wet cloth that clung to itself and made it near impossible to get on. Cloe refused to give up, so she stood still and struggled for a moment until finally winning over the dress. It wasn't until she stood on the shore that she realized another problem.

Since the dress was wet and, before put on, clung to itself, now clung to her in very noticeable ways. She stared down at herself with wide eyes. There was also the matter that the dress was white... and wet. It didn't make one bit of difference whether she wore it or just her undergarments, as either way, she was just as close to being completely exposed.

She ducked behind one of the closer boulders by the cliff-face, though she had to crouch down and hug her knees to find any sort of cover from it. "Aaal..." she called, shivering from the onset of wet-cold and lack of protection from it, and her voice was already trembling from uncertain embarrassment. "There's a problem...!"

Jerked from his bemused thoughts, the man turned curiously to see Cloe peeking out from behind a rock. Catching sight of her face, he hurried over as best as he could. "What is it?" He called out as he stumbled over the burnt stumps to get back over to her. "What's wrong? Did something happen? Are you alright?"

Cloe wrapped her arms around her chest to make sure she was as covered as she could be and stood, the rock tall enough to reach up to the middle of her waist. When she did such, it was quite apparent what was wrong. She looked at him with a pitiable expression on her face. "I didn't even think about this happening..." she mumbled, gaze downcast out of shame.

Quickly jerking his head to the side to avert his eyes from such a sight, Al flushed as a virgin might. "I-I sincerely apologize! I had no idea that this might happen, please accept my apologies! Here, please wear my robes." He edged over to the side of his own rock and began slipping the thick brown clothe from his shoulders.

Cloe glanced up to see what he was doing and, at the first sight of the tanned shoulders, she flushed just as much as he and crouched back down, resting her forehead against the rock. "N-no... I'll be fine once I dry off. It was my fault for not thinking, so I should be the one to pay the price. You should take your bath." She didn't move from her curled up position. "It'll give me time to start drying off, anyway.'

"Oh, of course!" Al ducked down his head. "My clothes will only get you dirty, yes, of course. I'll wash now." Pulling the robed back up modestly around him, he scurried over to the water, his hands stretched backwards to cover his behind. Shyly turning his head around, he reddened. "Please don't peek."

"Of course I won't," she said, laughing softly, keeping her eyes closed. "You aren't enlightened enough as a Ryassophore. I know how it works..."

Surprised at the words, the man twisted around and stared at her for a moment before remembering that he shouldn't, whipping back around. "Oh, so you know about that... I'm glad." He smiled. "Not many people seem very interested in the ways of the God, and even fewer know of it deeply." He sighed lightly as he sank down into the water, rubbing at the sleeves of his robe before slipping it off in the water. "I've only been asked about it even by only a spare few people, even."

"Is that so?" She laughed softly. "I believe I loved a Ryassophore like you once... or perhaps I simply heard a story of someone falling in unrequited love for one. It's too hazy of a memory to tell which." There was a pause where she sighed. "But I remember the ways of a Ryassophore, at least, and I won't peek."

Al smiled as he stumbled backwards, his robe now at least serviceably clean, leaning over to toss it over a rock to dry. "Any memories are good, regardless." He sighed and rubbed at his arms, watching the grim fall away. "I hope to have a try at becoming a Krestonosets soon. Perhaps if you're especially nice to me, I might tell you my reasons for devoting myself to this journey." He laughed happily.

"Eeh? You have multiple reasons? Like what? Travel the world, break women's hearts, and have an excuse for both?" She gave a cheerful laugh, matching his. "How do you know when you become a Krestonosets, though... does someone tell you, or is it a personal choice sort of thing?"

Arching his neck to rub his long hands along it, rubbing out dirt marks, he smiled absently. "Every third year, all of the monks have to go to the Capitol and visit with the Head Schema, who is the highest cleric one can be. If judged to be worthy, then you can choose whether you deserve the right to advance a step. I've missed the chance to go the last time it occurred, but I hope to make it this time."

He paused. "Of course, there are plenty of men who refuse to advance, and instead remain as they are, but I doubt that I would be able to restrain myself and be that humble." Al laughed again. "See? I still have much to learn yet, but I'm not that old."

He dunked his head with a splash, raising back up and running his hands through his hair to get out all of the grime that had nested there, using his nails to rub against his scalp. He dunked himself a second time, spitting and sputtering water from his mouth. "So there's hope, yet."

"Well, what happens when you become a Krestonosets?" She shifted some to rest her back against the rock, making sure her eyes never opened (though it was much tempting to do otherwise). "Maybe it's not a matter of being humble, but not wanting whatever it means to advance?"

Al closed his own eyes, leaning back in the water, allowing it to cover him to his chin. "Nothing happens at all. It is simply a title showing others that you have gained enough enlightenment to be able to marry and love others without allowing that love to distract him from spreading the love and kindness of the God."

"Is that so..." She wrinkled her nose. "I could never do it. If I met someone I could love, I wouldn't have the strength to turn away. In a way, I kind of admire you for being strong enough..." She paused, then added, almost tentatively, "Is that why you have to move around so much, so you don't develop any attachments to anyone that will get you in trouble?"

Al hunched himself under the water in embarrassment before slowly lifting back up. "No..." He replied shakily. "I'm traveling to see the world and learn more about it, but..." He paused, trying to find the words without appearing weak. "I... I'm also searching for my special person. That way, I'll be able to come back to them when I become a Krestonosets." The man forced a laugh. "That sounds quite flowery for a man, doesn't it?"

Cloe giggled like a small girl. "Hmm, I wouldn't call it flowery... I think it's very romantic." She sighed dreamily. "But you have to pick the right special person... any ordinary person might get lonely after you leave and give up because she thinks you'll never come back. I think, though, that your special person will wait for you, if they really are the one just for you."

The Ryassophore sunk slightly. "Would you... dislike me if I confessed that it wasn't a woman that I want waiting for me?"

"Ehh? Is that so!" She turned her head, unable to fight opening her eyes for a brief moment before she remembered and shut them again. "Do you already have a special person, or?" She smiled, albeit painfully.

Al nodded meagerly. "I've found someone, but I don't want to say anything too soon." He turned and smiled in her direction. "I'm going to become a Krestonosets and go to him. Maybe he will have me, maybe he will not, I'm unsure... However, I think it will be worth the risk."

He paused for a moment and smiled even wider. "That's who you remind me of! You have the same eyes as he does!"

Cloe blinked her eyes open and, unable to shut them, turned her head to gaze off in the opposite direction. Her heart started to beat faster despite her begging thoughts for it to do stop. "The same eyes?" She laughed softly. "I don't know... blue eyes are blue eyes, aren't they?"

She leaned back against the rock once her heartbeat settled back to relative normality. "Surely you can talk a little bit about him without breaking any rules, can't you?" She paused to giggle and add, "I want to know more about him than he has blue eyes."

Al stood up suddenly. "I think I'm going to get dressed now." Grabbing the robes and draping it over himself, he quickly hurried to hide behind one of the boulders by the cliff-face.

Cloe blinked a few times at the stumps she had been gazing at and softly asked, "I'm sorry if I said too much..." She looked down to fiddle with the still wet hem of her dress. "Curiosity got the best of me, and all..."

"N-no, please don't feel that way, I certainly don't blame you." He laughed weakly and stood, tying the robe around himself. "I suppose because I'm used to being alone, I've grown shy talking about personal feelings. I'm sorry for it."

Cloe nodded. "It's fine." She smiled, continuing to play with her dress, finding it easier to stare into her lap than keep her eyes shut or averted. "I'm just happy that you have someone. I was worried you only knew how to love land and God for a little while there." She laughed, finding humor in the mental image of Al cuddling with a tree. "It's good to know that a part of you is still human!"

The man winced. "I'd like to believe I'm still completely human." He sighed lightly and looked up in the sky. The sun wasn't setting, but it was growing heavy just above the horizon. "Perhaps we should ready a site for the night, as I don't particularly want to sleep out there." He twisted around and peeked over the top of the boulder. "Would you like to go back up or stay down here?"

"Back up is a lot prettier than down here... but I wonder what kind of animals live in the forest that only come out at a night?" She hummed thoughtfully. "But it also would be more comfortable up there... Prettier and more comfortable. Those two kind of outweigh the possibility of scary animals, if you ask me."

"That, and up there, there is are trees to climb up to be safe, while I don't know what we could go to be safe if something came upon us in the desolate plain." He adjusted his sleeves and revealed himself. "I think it would be safest to go back up."

"Then that's what we'll do." She stood, keeping her arms folded over her chest. The dress had dried to the extent that it no longer clung to her, but she didn't want to risk anything. She started toward the makeshift stairwell up the side of the cliff, glancing up at Al. "What do you need me to do to help with the site? I don't believe it's something I've ever done before..."

He smiled at her. "Don't worry about it, I am able to prepare everything..." He trailed off for a moment before conceding. "Well, perhaps you could gather pine straw and leaves to make a bed for yourself."

Cloe nodded. "I can do that!" She smiled with enthusiasm and, once they were at the top, she went straight to work, lifting the hem of her dress just enough to use it like a basket to hold the pine straw and leaves she gathered. "How much do you think is needed?" she asked, pausing to examine one of the leaves she picked up. It was fringed around the edges due to being away from its mother-tree too long and was gold in color, splotched with decaying brown. She dropped it into the pile and moved onto a handful of pine needles.

"That should do fine. "Al said absently from his kneeling position in front of a small pile of pine straw and small and large pine cones, a metal fire-starter in his right hand. Patiently, he knelt his head down sideways against the bare ground, as he had scratched a wide circle to prevent any escaping embers from starting fires were they weren't wanted. He would click the fire-starter, the metal scraping roughly against a small metal-encased flint drum, burning sparks fluttering down to the straw.

However, due to the relative wetness of the material, it took a many a try before a few meager flames licked and ate at the straw, quickly growing size as they started on the cones. This was fortunate, as twilight had set, and the forest had grown dark quickly once the sun disappeared past the horizon. Slowly, Al sat by, feeding it small twigs and then larger and larger ones until a friendly fire was burning merrily.

"There we are." The man smiled at Cloe. "Beds, a warm fire and I have some travel bread in my knapsack." Reaching and handing her one such bit of bread, he nodded in satisfaction. "Now you, dear, please get some rest, for tomorrow will surely also be a long day, and I will make sure nothing sneaks up on us by chance. Though, just in the case, I will wake you, and you are to immediately run to the cliffs and stay there, in the middle. That will be easier than climbing a tree, and you should be safer there. Understand?"

Cloe nodded slowly, though her furrowed brow suggested otherwise. "You plan to sleep, too, don't you? You've had just a long day as I have." She laid down, closing her eyes. "I don't mind losing a leg or an arm if it means you get to sleep. I can survive just fine with one."

"Don't say such things idlely." Al laughed softly, reaching over to pet her head. "Don't mind me, I'll be fine. Sleep well."

"Before that..." Cloe frowned lightly at him. "I'm curious now. Why do you want to become a Krestonosets?"

Al laughed softly. "I suppose you've been nice enough." He looked ahead into the darkness of the forest. "You do know of the war in the south, don't you?"

"Yeah, I've... heard stories. Nothing good, though..."

The Ryassophore nodded slowly. "I have heard of a group of southern men planning on an assassination."

The girl nodded slowly, trying to figure out how this was relevant.

"It's not known who they are, nor where they're meeting. All that's known about them is that all have a marking on their body, and many are trying to find them so their heinous crime can be aborted. That's one of my reasons."

Cloe cocked her head. "What? What do you mean?"

Al merely smiled. "Get some sleep. You'll need it for tomorrow."

While the girl scowled petulantly at him, she did as asked.

As the man pulled back to lean against the tree and stare at the burning flames of the fire, the girl who tried to sleep could not do so. After hearing Al's words previously, it was all she could think about. Despite trying to focus on other things, her thoughts ran back full circle, despite her wishes for the opposite.

What if the man he meant was her? Oh, that would be almost too much for her heart to bear! how fortunate it would be! Perhaps her heartfelt feelings had reached Al's god and the being has decided to reward her for some unknown reason! Just as her hope raised up to a crashing crescendo, gloomy thoughts softened it until her hope grew frail and weak.

What if it wasn't her? What if it was another? After all, as she had said, there were plenty of men with blue eyes. Gloomily, she shifted and curled up as her thoughts only grew saddening.

What if it was true? It wasn't as if it would matter anyway. If Al had fallen in love with her, then it wasn't really her he loved, was it? The man would have been in love with her as a male. So, it wouldn't matter either way. It was with these thoughts that the poor girl fell asleep with.

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Meanwhile, the Holy man who watched the fire had other, less oppressive thoughts, though certainly no less important. Silently, he went over what had happened that day, filing away memories and thinking back on minor details to see if they would fit the various puzzles he was trying to understand. The largest one at the moment was the mystery of what had caused such a desolate plain to come to be. Was it truly man-caused, or something more natural?

Over and over, he mused on this, and it was with these thoughts that he fell asleep, leaned back against a pine. His final waking thought was a silent prayer to the God to protect him and his young charge, so that they may sleep safely through the night.

Al awoke suddenly with a snort, jolting upright and hurriedly peering around through the gloom of night, trying to figure out what had awoken him. It was a soft sound, but one that was not natural in tone. It would have to be for him to awaken from such a deep sleep. It was comparable to that of a stomp in sand, a smooth, silky sort of sound.

He peered about, but saw nothing but forest. Nothing but... Amazement filled his face as he stared wide-eyed down at what had been a dead flatland only a few hours ago. Instead of lifeless stumps and grass, tall, lush green trees stood, pines and oak and elm and fruit-bearing trees. A muted willow waved it's fronds to and fro in the light wind caused by the waterfall it stood beside, water licking it's hunched roots.

However, while the man's eyes were wide, they only grew wider when he saw it.

Rising from below the cliff-line was a shadow, dark as if it sucked in what little light the moon and stars could offer. Softly glowing amber eyes peered straight back at him as the shadow reached it's full height, completely obscuring the midnight sky. Slowly, slowly, it shifted and oozed over the cliff, growing nearer and nearer the Ryassophore.

Al, for all his tries, could not make his body move, for he was frozen in unnatural fear.

One amber orb caught his gaze, as the shadow gently touched his cheek and washed over him. Darkness filled his sight, deafness his hearing and warmth mixed with cold his body. Against his will, his muscles slowly relaxed more and more, and finally, as he slumped over backwards, his eyes drooped down on their own accord...

/from the traveling diary of a wandering Ryassophore/

...to be continued as we please (signed, kris-et-dan)