094: Cynosure - Mushishi - Sure-Footed

[elidelio]

Title: Sure-Footed

Fandom: Mushishi

Author: timegoesby

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 1,000

Characters: Ginko, Isaza

Summary: Ginko's brief stay with the Watari had left a lasting impression on his life, not only due to the wealth of experience it provided him, but also by giving him the first friend he ever remembered having.

As brief as his stay with the Watari might have been, Ginko couldn’t deny that those few months left a lasting impression on his life.

First and foremost was the fact that travelling with the Watari, that tribe of wanderers that moved about the land with the River of Light as their constant cynosure, taught him many things about surviving on the road and provided him priceless knowledge for his burgeoning journey as a Mushi Master.

Secondly, but no less importantly, was the fact that his stay had given him the first friend he could ever remember having.

“Oh, it’s you.” The dark-haired boy had first looked at him and smiled like he’d expected to see him. “What’s your name?”

Ginko had stared at him for a few seconds, his clothes worn out and caked in dirt, eyes tired and alert, wary of this new unknown before him, until finally responding, “Ginko.”

“Really?” Then, the boy had scrutinised him for a few seconds as if judging the sincerity of his words, then shrugged and stepped closer. “I’m Isaza.”

Their first meeting had been brief, though its impact had been anything but.

When he was brought before the Watari elder, Ginko had explained his situation to the best of his ability, repeating things that had been told to him by adults whose faces had begun to blur together. After he was done, the old man had simply held his gaze for a few seconds, then informed Ginko he was going to consult with some others about him, dismissing him to wait while his fate was decided.

Isaza had come up to him not long after, and sat down next to him in the corner he had carved for himself at the edge of their camp.

“Is it true that you attract mushi?” he began as soon as he touched the ground. “And that you don’t have any memories?”

Ginko only nodded, far too busy wolfing down the food he’d been so generously given.

“Huh.” Isaza stroked his chin in a motion that was almost identical to that of the old Watari leader. “Well, Grandpa says you can stay with us for a while, as long as you don’t cause any trouble.”

He’d been surprised by that, having fully expected to be turned away yet again.

“It’s not like I do it on purpose,” he mumbled between mouthfuls.

“I know, but that’s the way it is.” Isaza shrugged with a nonchalance Ginko found a little irritating.

Ginko didn't say anything else, but Isaza didn't seem to mind, he just sat by his side and talked about the next leg of their journey until someone called him away and parted with a friendly ‘catch you later’.

After that brief interaction, Isaza seemed to have taken a liking to him, talking to him even when he barely responded and occasionally dragging him around to explore the areas surrounding each leg of their journey.

Through these interactions, Ginko soon learnt that Isaza was the future leader of the Watari, and even though he might have seemed like an average child, he understood his place in the world with enviable certainty. Unlike Ginko, Isaza knew who he was and who he was meant to be, with no qualms about either or any desire to change.

“Why do you follow the River of Light?” Ginko had once asked as they sat before the light of a campfire.

“Someone has to,” Isaza didn’t even hesitate as he answered.

“Don’t you wish you could have a home?” Surely he couldn’t be the only one with that deep ache in the pit of his heart.

“If you mean a house,” Isaza laughed, “then no. Our home —my home— is out here on the road, following the River.”

Ginko frowned, not understanding how anyone could feel at home drifting from one place to another, but didn’t ask any more questions after that.

It was only later, after he’d left the Watari and had gone on to apprentice under a handful more Mushi Masters, that Ginko came to understand Isaza a little bit better, and was even more awed by the strong sense of belonging such a young child possessed. It took Ginko himself quite a few years to start feeling at home in the world, and even he had to admit that feeling he had as a child still flared up in his heart every once in a while.

One thing that always seemed to help, though, was reuniting with familiar faces, especially those that brought a sense of home with them wherever they went.

“Oi, Ginko!” Isaza, now the young leader of the Watari, always greeted him with a smile that seemed unchanged from the one he sported when he was ten. “How have you been?”

“Good,” Ginko’s responding smile came from a genuine place, warm like the campfires they’d shared in their youth. “I went to the mountain you told me about last time, Taku sends his thanks. He knew you were the one that sent me.”

“He’s doing good, then? I’m glad.” Isaza’s eyes brightened. “I’m surprised he still remembers me.”

“You’re a hard man to forget.” It was half-joke, half-sincere compliment. “Besides, you didn’t forget either.”

“You got me there.” Isaza laughed. “I guess we just can’t help but carry the places we’ve been with us, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess we can’t.” He was guilty of the same himself.

In the end, what he and Isaza and the Watari did wasn’t drifting, it was travelling. Taking with them both possessions and affections, souvenirs and memories, all in search for their next destination, and the one after that, and the one after that. It wasn’t always a straight journey, there were always stops and stalls and doubling backs, but it never ended.

And even if their paths were only meant to converge for the briefest of times, for all it was worth, Ginko was glad to have stumbled into such a sure-footed companion when he needed one most.