Fyn pinched his arm to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.
Standing just a few feet away from him are turnips. Normally, turnips wouldn't make him so dumbfounded. Occasionally, he would plant some turnips at the back of his hut and harvest them during early spring. That's why he was obviously aware of what turnips should look like, smell like, and taste like. He knew for sure that turnips weren't supposed to walk. Turnips most especially shouldn't have faces. And most of all, turnips don't talk.
The turnip just a few feet away from him had not only eyes, but a mouth, and four limbs. It was standing on two legs and standing two feet tall. Fyn pinched himself again, blinking as much as he could. He gaped his mouth wide open, staring unbelievingly at the thing right in front of him. Sure, he could accept a telepathic snake, a demon with wings, antlers, and a tail, and a forest that moves all on its own.
A talking turnip was a whole other story.
"Havu," Fyn spoke out loud. The serpent settled itself around his waist once more. Its master, Kavan, was kneeling beside one of the talking turnips. There was a look of concentration on his face as the turnip spoke to him. What's more surprising for Fyn was that the words the turnip was saying were actually intelligible. Even he, who was standing a few feet away, could understand clearly what was being said. "Could you be so kind as to inform me next time of things like this? I don't really feel like being spooked out of my body every time I find something new in this forest."
Havu tightened around his waist, darting out its forked tongue. "They are called Nǣps. There is more to see in this forest, but it would be better to see them up close. If the master allows it, I would be more than willing to give you a tour."
Fyn chose not to reply. Havu's statement had some sense of finality to it. As much as he wanted to learn more about the forest near the village he was born in, he didn't want to spend the rest of his life inside it. Havu giving him a tour felt like he would stay there for long. He still wanted to return to the safety of his hut.
"Master!" One of the Nǣps shouted. It stood up on its tiptoes and pulled on the animal pelt that was tied around Kavan's waist. "My youngling is sick, master. We had foraged a fruit on a new section of the forest and before we could decide if it was poisonous or not, my youngling had eaten it."
"Please," Another Nǣp mumbled, "Please help us, master."
Kavan frowned, "What fruit have you foraged? I have made sure that everything within this forest would harm nothing."
Fyn rolled his eyes. He probably only wanted the only thing harmful in this forest to be him, he thought.
One of the Nǣps approached Kavan. It was carrying the same leaf basket that Kavan had used to wrap the fruits he gave to Fyn. Inside were tan-colored small circles. Fyn squinted his eyes and jolted in place once he realized just what it was. He knew it was familiar! Thinking of nothing else, he walked towards the basket and instinctively closed his nose.
The stench of the fruit was revolting. Fyn thought it made sense that the Nǣps wanted to eat them since they have no noses. Fyn cleared his throat, pointing towards the fruit, "That's a ginkgo."
The Nǣps, as if finally realizing that Kavan wasn't alone, gasped. Suddenly, they dropped the leaf basket they were holding. Below them, the ground opened up, and inside they jumped. The only thing that could be seen were the top of their heads. If they had not been talking moments ago, he would have thought they were nothing but ordinary turnips.
"It is alright," Kavan mumbled softly. His voice was so uncharacteristically soft and different from how he usually spoke to both Havu and Fyn, that Fyn couldn't stop himself. He swiveled his head to the side to look at Kavan. It was so fast he was afraid he might have given himself whiplash. "You are safe with this mortal."
Fyn wondered what Kavan meant when he said, 'This mortal.'
One by one, the Nǣps emerged from their holes in the ground. Like how it did when they jumped down, the ground seemed to close once they were up in the air. A Nǣp who seemed taller and bigger than the rest approached Fyn slowly, its eyes downcast to the ginkgo fruit. "This... ginkgo, this is the first time we have seen them. This is the first time we foraged this side of the forest. Be honest, mortal. Is our youngling going to die?"
Kavan surprised all of them by kneeling just in front of the Nǣp, "I have told you, there is nothing in this forest that is harmful. There must have been a mistake somehow."
"That depends," Fyn cuts in, "How did the... uhm, youngling, ate it?"
The Nǣp titled its head in confusion, "My youngling ate it like how a mortal normally eats something. We consume fruits using our mouths."
"Ah," Fyn scratched his cheek. He knew he should have been more specific. "I mean, how did you eat it? Did you peel off the skin, washed it? Anything?"
"We have placed the ginkgo on the basket and my youngling picked it up and ate it as it is."
"There's your problem," Fyn pointed out, squeezing his nose once more when the stench of the ginkgo became too much again. He could never get used to its rotten smell. Despite tasting amazing, a ginkgo fresh from the tree has such a horrendous smell. "Your youngling ate it wrong. Tell me, is your youngling's body full of itchy bumps and blisters?"
The Nǣp's eyes widened, "That is exactly what happened to my youngling, mortal!"
Fyn cast a side view look to Kavan and lifted his chin up in triumph. Putting one of his hands on his hip while the other one remained pinching his nose, he explained, "You should not eat a ginkgo fresh from the ground. It has toxins that could also be found in poisonous herbs. That's what causing your issue."
"I have told you," Kavan said through gritted fangs, "Nothing in this forest could harm something enough that they would die from it. There are no poisonous herbs here. Every single fruit here is edible to all those that live within the forest."
Fyn narrowed his eyes to glare at the raging demon, "Will you let me finish? I didn't say it wasn't edible. I just said they ate it wrong."
Focusing back on the Nǣp, Fyn grabbed the basket full of ginkgo fruits. He was extra careful as not to touch the pulp itself. "A ginkgo is edible, but prepare it correctly. The edible part of the ginkgo is the green kernel inside of this brown pulp."
Grabbing a loose leaf from the ground, Fyn used it as a makeshift glove to grab one ginkgo fruit.
"First, squeeze the kernel out of the pulp," Using the leaf, Fyn squeezed the pulp, and it released a small brown shaped kernel. Grabbing another clean leaf, he picked up the brown kernels free from pulp and handed it over to the Nǣp, "Rinse this in water until it removes the remaining goop of the pulp. Boil them in scalding water or steam them until the green kernels pop out of the brown ones. Only then could you eat a ginkgo fruit."
Fyn announced, "Remember, a green ginkgo is a good ginkgo. A brown one? Not so much."
Nodding, the Nǣps picked clean leaves and started squeezing the ginkgo fruit.
The Nǣp Fyn was talking to remained in front of him, "My youngling, mortal. What about the bumps and blisters on my youngling's body?"
"The poison isn't deadly, don't worry," Fyn said, smiling softly. He removed his hand from pinching his nose and forced himself to adjust to the smell. "All you need to do is grab some aloe vera and scrub it on your youngling's body. That's a natural remedy and the bumps and blisters will disappear."
Smiling broadly, the Nǣp, with its tiny hands, grabbed Fyn's and started shaking it up and down.
"Thank you, mortal!" It shouted loudly, "Thank you so much!"
Like it was a signal, a dozen more thank-yous from the other Nǣps resounded all over Fyn. Blushing, he nodded and offered a smile to everyone that approached him to shake his hand and thank him personally. It was such an odd occurrence that Fyn couldn't even stop himself from relishing the event as it unfolded in front of him.
After a while, the greetings stopped, and the Nǣps went back to squeezing out the kernel of the ginkgo.
"I am impressed," Havu communicated, squeezing Fyn's waist again. "I didn't know you knew so much, Fyn."
Fyn snickered to himself. He watched as Kavan slowly stood up from how he was kneeling and took a step back as the Nǣps continued following Fyn's orders. Fyn watched the demon lean back against a tree. Kavan crossed his arms, his eyes on them, his tail wagging like a cat once more. Clearing his throat, Fyn stood up and took a few steps back.
The smell was too much still.
"A few feet away from my hut is a ginkgo tree," Fyn explained, suddenly remembering his small little hut and the sweet ocean breeze that greeted him every morning. "I rarely leave my hut. I'm far away from the village and since there are no traveling merchants that went to my place, I foraged food. I know so much about the ginkgo because I learned the hard way."
Havu slithered off his waist to climb up his neck, circling around him once more.
"Still," The serpent hissed, "Usually, mortals just give up once they feel that a fruit is toxic. You had bumps and blisters. And yet you continued to prove that it was something edible."
Fyn chuckled, a thoughtful expression crossing his features. A warm flutter envelops him as he recalls the reason behind Havu's statement, "Inside my hut, there's a book. It's full of tips and information about the different herbs, trees, fruits, and plants that are around my hut."
"Then it is great you have such a book, Fyn."
"Yeah," Fyn agreed. "My parents made it for me."
"When the forest has permitted you to leave once more," Havu replied, "Extend my compliment to your parents for being brave and intelligent. Most mortals would just give up, but they persevered."
Fyn sighs, frowning.
"My parents are gone, Havu."
Silence.
Then, Havu mumbles a quick apology.
"My condolences."
"Oh, they're not dead," Fyn said, "Or at least, I think they're not."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It's weird but, I just woke up one day with no memory of where they were. I tried looking for them, but it's as if they just vanished out of thin air. I've been by myself ever since. Honestly, I don't even remember what they look like."
Havu slid off his neck to circle around his arm. Lifting its head, the serpent rests its scaly head on top of Fyn's forehead. "Wherever they are, I'm sure they are proud of you, Fyn. You are doing great things."
Fyn's eyes fall on the Nǣps. He couldn't stop his lips from grinning.
He was just about to open his mouth to reply when Kavan cleared his throat behind them.
"It is time to go back home."