Ever since he was old enough to leave the home yard on his own, Yugo’s parents have made it very clear that going to the Border Forest is out of the question. All the children Yugo knows have the same rule, and most adults avoid the forest too, if they can.
The Border Forest is a narrow stripe of trees between the Southern River and the Midorigawa River. It only takes half an hour to walk directly through from river to river in a north-south direction if one is not hindered on the way, but the forest is wide from east to west, following the two meandering riversides downstream until the rivers meet at the Rivercross and continue southwest, towards the sea.
To get through the forest safely, they say, one has to know how to deal with its spirits that dwell in everything animate and inanimate. And people like that aren’t many - mostly just the local monks and priests, and those that some grown-ups call the Guardians, though no-one seems to know who they are or where they come from. Everyone else prefers to go round the forest rather than through it, even if the detour adds a good two hours to the traveling time. It’s better to walk some more than get tricked and mislead by mischievous spirits or demons.
Yugo spends all his free time in the forest.
He likes to wander around, making his own paths. He likes to climb the trees and the rocks, and to build little houses out of fallen branches. He likes to leap from stone to stone to get cross little streams that start somewhere under the ground and soon join the Midorigawa River or the Southern River. He likes to wait quietly under a tree, holding a handful of nuts and waiting until a squirrel or a bird will come catch some. He likes to lie on the ground, his eyes closed and his arms and legs spread out, feeling the steady coolness under his back. And he loves to play with the spirits.
He can’t see them, but he feels them, and they are curious little creatures. They play in his hair and frolic around his feet when he walks, and sit on his shoulders and cuddle up to his sides when he takes a nap. They are his friends.
He knows the forest, and what’s more important, the forest knows him. The trees don’t let him stumble on their roots, and no animal in the forest would hurt him. The spirits never lead him astray, either. Not even the evil ones - even they seem to recognize him. They avoid Yugo and he won’t disturb them.
There isn’t any other place in his world where he would be safer than the Border Forest, but somehow he knows his parents wouldn’t understand even if he explained. That’s why he’s never told them where he spends his days, letting them believe he plays at the mountain slope near the shrine instead.
On the rare occasions that someone walks through the forest, Yugo stays out of their sight, and he has never actually met any grown-ups in the Border Forest, let alone another child. Until the the spring of his fourteenth year.
Yugo was about to cross the meadow, but he quickly hides behind the nearest bush as he sees something unexpected: There is a boy standing in the middle of a small meadow.
He seems to be about Yugo’s age, but Yugo has never met him before. He’s smiling at something in front of him, but there is nothing there to see. Yugo frowns and wonders if he should flee or reveal himself. He is so used to wandering the forest alone, he doesn’t want to get caught now. Then again, if the other boy is from somewhere else, he might not know about the dangers of the forest. Yugo should probably lead him back to the village.
“Would you like to come over here?”
Yugo startles as he hears the call and crouches lower, holding his breath. How did the boy see him?
“I know you’re there. I was sent to get you.”
By whom? Who sent him? Yugo frowns, slowly stands up and starts to walk towards the other boy.
“Who are you, and how did you find me?”
The boy smiles at him. “The spirits told me I should come here. My name is Hokuto, and I suppose you must be Yugo.”
The spirits? Yugo’s heart speeds up. He’s not the only one?
“You can feel them too?” he asks, surprised by his own eagerness. Sure, everything in the forest is his friends, but as he has always spent his free time here, he doesn’t really know the other children of Midorigawa that well. It never bothered him much, as the spirits were much more fun, anyway. But now, the idea of having a human friend suddenly feels important.
The boy tilts his head. “I hear them. And I can see them too, sometimes.”
“You can- Who are you?”
“I already told you, my name is Hokuto,” the boy laughs, though he looks a bit shy. “Come on, let’s go. There are other people you should meet, and the Guardians will explain everything.”
“The-” Yugo starts, but is once again interrupted, as Hokuto grabs his wrist and tugs him along, and they run.
“Where are we going?” Yugo pants as they cross the bridge over the Midorigawa River and turn right up the road, away from the direction of the village.
“To the shrine,” Hokuto says, “wait and you’ll see!”
Alright, he can save his questions until the shrine. It’s a long run, and half of it is uphill, but Yugo hardly feels out of breath. It almost feels like the wind itself is pushing them ahead.