That night, after the scouting team returned from escorting Surveyor Hannick to the edge of the Wildwood. Samuel lay in the guest bed in Lianna’s residence, lost in thought. Tonight however he would not be alone in his thoughts. From seemingly the wall, a spirit appeared and laid itself down on Samuel’s chest.

“Hey, Samuel, it’s Mai,” said the spirit.

“Hm? Oh,” said Samuel.

It was night outside and with no lighting in the guest room, Samuel couldn’t really tell visually who had entered. Mai, being a spirit, could find her way regardless. The two had built enough rapport over the past few days to allow Samuel to trust the voice he was talking with.

“Hey… Mai?” Samuel asked.

“Yeah?”

Samuel had a forlorn look on his face, something Mai did not fail to notice.

“Can… I say something that I didn’t say earlier?” Samuel said.

“Yeah,” Mai answered.

“My father’s father… was a Foch. A lot of the stories he would share involved him,” Samuel began.

Mai nodded slightly.

“My father grew up in the Wildwood. He only truly started travelling when he met my mother, but he was always fond of here.” he continued.

“...I’m guessing you’ve always wanted to see the place that your father talked about?”

“Yeah… but then there was the thing with Captain Gillan, and…”

“Samuel, let me ask this: Do you want to be with your convoy?” Mai asked.

Samuel paused. He’d been asked about being in the village before, but the phrasing here caused his thought process to reset.

“No wrong answers,” Mai added.

“...no,” Samuel said.

“Okay. Why’s that?”

“I’m not good at it! The Captain asks too much of me, and he gets mad when I can’t keep up, and--”

“Shhh, not too loud. He’s too hard on you, yes, but is that it? If he was gone, would you want to go back?”

Samuel stopped to think again.

“...no,” he said.

Mai sat up, still on Samuel’s chest.

“So I think I understand what’s going on.”

Mai paused to gather her next few sentences together. Samuel looked a little distraught, emotionally worked up by the questions.

“So, I asked Elenora about this to Elenora the other day. You humans, it’s not that you don’t have a home, but it’s the road that’s home for you, isn’t it?” she said.

Samuel didn’t reply. Mai continued:

“Well, for a Foch, the place we call home is here in the Wildwood.”

Mai looked at Samuel. Samuel couldn’t really see Mai, but he got the sense she was looking at him anyway.

“What is home for you? Travelling the roads of the world, or here?” she asked.

Samuel didn’t answer, seemingly lost in thought.

“Well, you can think about it.” Mai added.

Mai curled up onto Samuel’s chest to rest. After a long pause, Samuel asked:

“Mai? Can I ask something?”

Mai perked her head up.

“Yes?”

“My mother, Aria… I think she was hoping I’d be next in line for managing the convoy, and…” Samuel said.

“And you don’t want to disappoint her, but you’re feeling conflicted?”

“...yes.”

Mai looked at Samuel, not getting up from her spot on his chest.

“This is going to sound mean, but… if your convoy is worth anything, she probably has backup plans for that. You’re an only child, and that would seem to be a risky proposition for succession in wartime, no?”

Samuel’s face went red with embarrassment, not that it was easy to see. It was such an obvious thing to think of, and he felt embarrassed for not thinking it.

“Someone probably had accounted for that. If they didn’t… well, I can’t exactly say they shouldn’t have seen the consequences of that coming.” Mai added.

She put her head back down. Samuel had a lot of thoughts in his head. Mai cut through them all by closing with:

“You should get some rest. This late at night isn’t a very good time to decide these things,”

Mai closed her eyes, and seemingly went to sleep. Samuel wasn’t entirely sure if the spirits slept the way people did. At this moment, a different question came to his mind.

“Mai, why didn’t the Foch come to meet the convoy in person?”

“Hm? Oh,”

Mai perked her head up again.

“Because we can’t,” she said.

“You can’t?” Samuel asked.

“We’re spirits of the land. To say the Wildwood is our home can be understating it. We are, by some measures, the Wildwood itself. We can’t leave ourselves behind, can we?” Mai explained.

“...oh,”

“And that extends to the Foch as well. They’ll die if they leave for any meaningful amount of time.”

A short pause passed.

“That is what it means to call the Wildwood home, after all,” Mai added.

Samuel turned over the concept in his head.

“Why do you think we’d rather welcome you humans rather than turn you away? There are many things in the world that are very useful to have, and humans are uniquely qualified to get them.”

Samuel exhaled.

“Oh… okay. That… makes sense,” he said.

Mai tilted her head to the side. Samuel continued:

“I guess… I guess I better understand what’s going on here, I guess,”

Mai started to lower her head back down to sleep.

“I’m glad I could help… let’s get some sleep,” she said.