Tsuki ✔️COMPLETE

Chapter 17: Location, location, location

"I have to do this for Mimi." Rubi said. "She's far too important to me. I can't let her get worse and still have no more answers than before. Unless we run into someone who can magically read minds, we're going to have to piece this together ourselves."

Gaku seemed to think for a while, the sheets tucked up to his chin and his forehead wrinkled.

"You know," he said thoughtfully. "If Mimi can use what she does know, she might be able to pinpoint a more specific area of where she's from. It wouldn't be super precise but it'd be cut down to an approximate region..."

Suddenly his eyes opened wider as if he had just realised something profound. Then the words came so fast he seemed to surprise himself.

"We know it's in the east where it's hilly or mountainous. Some of the tallest mountains in the world, and their foothills I might add, intersect the northmost part of Akali. We know the people spoke Breytpleytsii to the west. You're going out east, so in the direction Mimi walked away from and the direction in which Breytpleytsii dies off. So you definitely won't be going backwards. I am willing to bet any money that the place where she came from is on the same route as you're about to go."

"How can you be so sure?" Rubi asked.

Gaku hopped up, kicking the sheets off and throwing them over Rubi. He lit a candle on the table to illuminate the night air. Then he started to empty his satchel noisily, scattering miscellaneous bits and bobs all over the tabletop. He picked up a rolled map and unfurled it with a flourish, pinning down the edges with random items as makeshift paperweights.

"Here. Kai is going here." he explained. "Daikoku, where the forge and the Fire Tsuki are. We're here, Akali. Here is where they speak Breytpleytsii; the country of Breytpleytsik and surrounding areas south-east of it that have adopted it. That's where Mimi walked to, so we can cross those off. Remember how she said they read books in and spoke Mainlander too? So if we keep moving east, following the trend of Mainlander as a common language, which also skirts around the very prominent mountains that are pretty much void of permanent settlements, all the way to Daikoku-"

"Gaku, what's the short version? Where do you think she's from?"

Gaku jammed his finger to the map a little harder than he intended, making the candle wobble. Rubi hauled the blankets off the bed with her and hurried to look at where he was pointing, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest like a drum.

"Anywhere from here to here, right at the end of the mountain range. Using all the clues we have, I am certain she's remembering this area in particular."

"Oh my gods." Rubi breathed. "It can't be that simple. It just can't be."

"It makes sense." he said triumphantly. "I'm a genius."

"Gaku, you are the only person who could look at a map the way you just did." she replied, dumbfounded. "This could change everything for Mimi."

Then Gaku yawned in her face.

"Wow." she muttered, smelling more of his breath than she ever would have wanted to. "Like I'm not even here."

"Sorry." he murmured, finally covering his mouth. "I think I just used the last of my energy being so brilliant."

"Better rest that big brain, huh." Rubi said, feeling a responding yawn building up. "Tomorrow we can talk with Mimi about it. Indra's parents will hopefully arrive. Maybe we can go out for the day and enjoy the city for a while before we leave."

"That'd be nice." Gaku agreed. "You coming?"

"Yeah. Let me just..."

She blew out the candle and the room was plunged into darkness once more. They shuffled back to bed and rearranged the blankets back to their proper place. Together they hunkered down in the dark, shoulder to shoulder in the small bed. Rubi rolled to her side as she finally started to doze off. Gaku's arm draped over her body as he eventually shifted to his side too, bringing with it the warmth and security of a hug between friends. Too cozy and tired to think anymore, she eventually fell into a pleasant and uninterrupted sleep.