And third—
Kaya’s gaze dropped to the ground.
The fat, chicken-sized sparrow.
Flat on his belly, feathers sticking out like an unkempt pillow, eyes so wide they looked like they were actively trying to escape his skull. He had clearly just woken up. His body said "half-asleep." His eyes scread "full trauma."
Kaya blinked at them all.
Then looked down at her own hair again, then at the knife still in her hand.
She raised an eyebrow.
"...What?"
The word ca out flat. Bored. Just a touch annoyed.
As if she was the one who walked in on them doing sothing strange.
No one answered.
No one moved.
Cutie still had the leaf outstretched like a peace offering to a war goddess who’d just changed forms.
Vayu didn’t even blink.
And the sparrow... he just flopped over backward. Legs up. Feathers puffed. Done.
Kaya exhaled, rubbed her face once, and mumbled under her breath—more to herself than anyone else.
"It’s just hair."
Actually, they were shocked.
Not just because of the hair—
But, well... truly, it was because of the hair.
In this world, won adored long hair.
Soft. Silky. Flowing like ink in water.
And Kaya’s hair? It had always been exactly that.
So soft. So silky. So perfectly black, like midnight lted into strands.
Who would’ve thought she’d cut it?
In this world, seeing a woman chop off her long, silky hair was almost as rare—
no, as jarring—
as seeing soone walk on their hands down the village path.
Yet here she stood, her hair shorn, uneven edges barely brushing her shoulders.
A statent in silence.
After their statue-like performance ended, Kaya and others walked a few steps ahead back to the tree to eat. The wild bear is another thing.
Even though they walked, their eyes were always on Kaya’s hair. As soon as they left that place, soone else ca down. Though a vulture landed on the ground, it was Veer. His amber eyes looked at the ground and he transford into his human form.
He tilted his head slightly to the side and then corrected it again. And then looked at the ground and went down and picked the hair. And looked at Kaya with a smile. Ah, sweetheart. Really? With that, he took all her hair on the ground in his palm and put it on her and tied it with the leaves around completely and transford into his vulture form and then flew away.
Kaya sat under the tree, legs stretched out, silently popping one wild berry after another into her mouth.
They were sour.
A little bitter.
And now, after eating too many, her tongue was starting to go numb from the sharp taste.
Still, she kept eating.
Because it was the only thing available. And she couldn’t exactly unpack everything to cook a proper al right in the middle of a forest full of eyes—so human, so not.
With a quiet sigh, she reached for another handful, chewing lazily. But halfway through, her hand stopped midair.
A strange chill prickled the back of her neck.
It wasn’t the wind.
It wasn’t the cold.
It was... sothing else.
A thought.
A gut feeling.
Heavy. Irritating. Persistent.
Her hair.
Her cut hair—left behind in the forest without a second thought.
Suddenly, that felt wrong.
Very wrong.
Maybe she was becoming too paranoid, too careful. Maybe it was just exhaustion and an overworked mind playing tricks on her. But she didn’t like it.
Didn’t like the idea of leaving a part of herself behind in a place like this.
So, without saying much, Kaya stood up and brushed off her pants.
"I’ll be back in a bit," she muttered over her shoulder. Not a request. Just a note.
She turned and walked back the sa path they’d co from, moving through the trees until she reached the spot.
And then—she froze.
Her brows pulled together.
The ground was empty.
The patch where she had sat earlier—the exact sa one, she was sure of it—was bare. No strands. No loose bits. Not even a small black thread.
She scanned the area again, slow and thodical. Then narrowed her eyes.
That purple flower nearby... still blooming under the sa crooked branch. That tree’s bark—split at the middle. All the markers lined up. This was the place.
And yet—
Her hair was gone.
Not a single strand left behind.
No wind could’ve carried it off like that.
No animal would’ve taken just hair.
Kaya’s mouth drew into a hard, thin line.
She crouched down and ran her fingers along the soil. Nothing.
Her eyes moved once more around the base of the trees. She even looked up instinctively, heart tightening.
Nothing.
Her chest tightened further, and her jaw clenched.
This wasn’t normal.
This wasn’t random.
Soone had taken it.
On the other side, Veer flew back into the cave he had just left.
Darkness swallowed the space whole.
If not for the faint sliver of daylight slipping in through the entrance, no one would have guessed it was dayti outside. Inside, the silence was thick—quiet enough to hear even the beat of his wings before he landed.
As his talons touched stone, his form shifted. Feathers folded back into skin, and once more, Veer stood in his human body—tall, pale, barefoot against the cold ground.
The cave was empty.
As it should be.
No one was allowed to linger here unless sothing serious happened. Especially not in this strange place—this place that felt too alive for comfort.
He stood still for a mont, letting the silence settle over him like a cloak.
Then his head turned toward the far corner, where a shallow basin of water had collected in a hollowed-out stone—its surface still and dark like a mirror trapped underground.
He stepped toward it, his bare feet making no sound. As he leaned over the water, his reflection stared back.
Brown hair—thick and long—fell across his forehead and into his eyes.
He stared at it.
Didn’t like it.
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