"Your father is from Venaru?"

"Both of them are, they're in business."

"The storm came from the east, so she was washed up here. Does your father usually come to the port before or after her? ”

"After that." After speaking, she gradually showed a look of sudden realization.

Mira looked out to sea, took a deep breath, and shivered.

"He's alone, still at sea." She said.

She hung her head and stood on the shore for a long time, watching the water reach her instep.

"But what if, he's already washed ashore?" She said.

Mira jerked her head up and looked to the west. The coastline stretches all the way until it turns around and disappears at the end of the island. The answer she wanted was in the depths of Natu territory.

The two traveled westward, passing through grass-covered sand dunes and sea stone arches that had been worn away by years of wind and rain. The coast became rocky and difficult to navigate, so they had to climb a volcanic slope and follow a ridge line that overlooked the sea. Far south on the sea, a boulder rises to the sky—the Pillar of Mourning, the highest point on the island of Venaru.

Mira scanned the coast, looking for traces of her father's cargo ship. She pointed to a reef below the hill where a pod of dead sea lions lay in between. Seagulls flew up and down, pecking at swollen corpses. Lucian nodded, but said nothing.

The two of them found their way down the ridge to the col. A river flows into the sea from a narrow valley. This is the natural dividing line between the two groups of people on the island.

Mira didn't say a word, and crossed the river.

They continued to climb up the next hill. Mira was an adept climber, and she weaved effortlessly through the dense trees, while Lucian was slowly left behind. With every step he took, a dull pain in his ribs radiated. The bandage had been loosened, and he had to stop halfway up the mountain. He tightened his bandages again, and his whole body shivered in pain. His breathing became thick and heavy.

Lucian watched as Mira climbed to the top of the mountain. She put her hand on her forehead to shield herself from the sun and continued to inspect the shore. She suddenly stopped, covered her mouth and took a step back.

Lucian's hands held on to the thick branches among the bushes, and he staggered over the gravel before finally climbing the ridge. He came over to Mira and looked down. There was a broken mast stuck between the reefs. Broken sails swing in the wind.

His gaze looked beyond the wreckage, along the winding shore to a sandbar, past a string of grassy islands, and finally to a row of cliffs in the distance. A flock of seagulls hovers over the shore.

A corpse lies on its stomach on a volcanic rock. The waves roar against the dog-toothed beach, ready to sweep the remains into the sea. Their only recourse was to venture down a near-vertical hill.

"Soon the tide will rise." He said.

Mira ignored him, staring at her father to herself.

Lucian grabbed her arm, "Mila." ”

She shrank and blinked, as if she had just woken up from a coma.

"Turten," she said. "We can weave a rope and make a ring."

He saw that she would do it, and for the first time understood how determined she was. Lucian took a deep breath and followed.

They gathered a large bundle of heavy vines from the bushes at the top of the hill. Lucian weaved thick rattan into ropes, and Mira deftly weaved a ring to bind the body.

Lucian tied the rope to a tree and tested the weight. It's sturdy. He threw the other end of the rope down along with the ring.

"I'll go down." He said.

"I'd better go. I'm used to climbing up and down. ”

"Me too."

"You couldn't keep up just now."

"I can." She shook her head anxiously. The cheeks and ears were red.

"He's too heavy," she said. "I can drag the ring and not let it hit the rocks. But it's up to you to pull him up. ”

Lucian looked down at the remains. With broad shoulders and thick limbs, he looks like a veteran of many years of sailing, and his weight is estimated to be close to two hundred pounds. He nodded and handed the rope to Mila.

She moved to the edge of the cliff and turned her back to slowly retreat to the edge. She finally tugged at the rope, tiptoe on the edge. She glanced back, took a calm breath, and descended.

Lucian watched nervously as Mira descended inch by inch—with ease—until she found a place to stay. After catching her breath, she spotted the next position and began to climb.

She repeated several rounds until she came to a wide platform, two-thirds of the way from the bottom. The wind is getting stronger, bringing with it the smell of the sea. Mila stretched out and shook her arm. She looked up and signaled to Lucian that everything was going well.

After the break, she grabbed the rope and began to look for her next place to stay. After a while, she looked at Lucian again and shook her head. There is no safe place below.

"I'll pull you up."

"Not yet."

Mira studied the rock wall to the right for a while, and pointed to a narrow beam a few yards away. She had to swing sideways. Lucian nodded, then glanced at the shoals and rocks below.

Mira wrapped the rope around her forearm a few times, and Lucian's throat began to tighten. Then she didn't hesitate to take a few steps and leap off the platform.

She skimmed over the rock wall and landed on the stone beam. Gravel and sand crumbled beneath her feet. She tilted, shook off the edge, and fell.

Lucian watched as Mira slipped down the rope, her legs kicking in the air. In the panic, one of her feet got stuck in the sand, and the whole person was turned over. Mila's hands danced wildly, stirring the vines and stopping abruptly. She let out a groan.

The rope suddenly unraveled. She fell on the reef and bounced off and fell into the water.

Lucian scurried over and grabbed the end of the rope. He was still desperately looking for a way down, and Mira had already emerged from the water.

She climbed out of the water onto the beach, exhausted and collapsed on the reef, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

"I'm down!"

Mira raised her hand tremblingly and waved it at him.

When her breathing had calmed down, she sat up. She stared at her father's body for a long time. She reached out and gently stroked his hair. Then she turned him over, rested her head on his chest and began to cry.

Lucian didn't look any further. He remembered his experience in a trance. He knew very well in his heart that Mira would be trapped in despair forever and would not be able to get out.

After a while, she stood up and reached for the ring. Lucian watched as she pressed her grief and turned into her father's strong daughter. In the face of the certainty of death, this is the only way to face it. She gently pushed the body aside, placed the vine under him, and wrapped it around again. Once secured, she gestured to Lucian.

Lucian dragged the rope upward, and Mira climbed with the body, carefully controlling the ring to keep it from crashing into the cliff. Lucian soon sweated profusely, and the dull pain under his flanks began to sharpen.

With each tug, the pain intensified, spreading to half of his body. His arms trembled, and the ropes began to slip. He gripped the vine tightly and wrapped it around a stump.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm...... Hold on. He gasped hard.

The pain subsided. He looked down from the edge of the cliff, the rings swinging in the middle. Mira sat straddling the rocks jutting out of the side and waited.

Lucian untied the rope from the stump, making small cautious movements, protecting his body with each pull. Like a sailor paddling an oar, he maintained a steady rhythm.

There was a sudden spasm in the ribs, and the rope slipped again.

Mira screamed from below.