Signpost (2)

Al and Joe came over and sat down next to Mi, watching her doodle on the dome. Mi would draw a round-headed little person, then a small flower, then a few winding curves. The ink droplets slowly slid down the dome, and then Mi directed the ink droplets to climb, little by little, upwards.

"Is the guiding stone really in this forest?" Mi tilted her head and asked the two people who were watching her paint with great interest.

“Yes, you are here, and the guiding stone must be here too.” El nodded firmly.

"How am I supposed to find the guiding stone?" Mi stared at the invisible dome above the river for a long time, silently asking the observers in his heart—did you send this guide because I can't find the guiding stone you placed in the forest? Do you want to imprison me or release me? Or do you want to change me into a follower and protector of men?

“I don’t know,” Al shook his head. “When I was born in the Witch Forest, I had a guiding stone in my hand.” Joe nodded in agreement: “Yes, my guiding stone was right next to me.”

Mi tried hard to recall which patch of grass she had woken up on—a meadow, a thicket? Was her guiding stone hidden there?

“You must find your guiding stone, and once you find it, it will never leave you,” El interrupted Mi’s recollection.

"Are the elders all witches who haven't found the guiding stone?" Mi asked tentatively.

"Yes."

"If I can't find the guiding stone, will I be trapped here like them forever?"

"The Witch Forest is a protection for newly born witches."

“Then I really have to thank the Witch Forest.” Mi stood up, wandering around with her infinitely extending fishing net. Mi searched the entire forest. She didn't know what the guiding stone looked like, but apart from a few stones in the center of the forest, she couldn't find a single other stone, not even a clump of clods of earth. Finally, Mi had to give up her futile search. She thought, there must be some way; there must be a door hidden here, and she hadn't found a way to open it yet. Mi slumped to the ground, her whole body like a tattered net. She was convinced that the guiding stone must exist; it was the first obstacle the observers had set for her, and if she wanted to leave, she had to overcome it.

Elle and Joe sometimes wander through the forest, but more often they hide inside dormant flowers to sleep. Sometimes the two of them squeeze into one flower, and sometimes only Elle is inside, quietly keeping watch by her side.

"Why are you always guarding this place?" Mi walked up to Qiao and felt an involuntary sense of kinship with the woman who seemed to have stepped out of an oriental painting.

“I’m waiting for El to wake up.” Joe stepped aside, looking at Mi’s empty hands. “You still haven’t found the guiding stone?”

"Oh, no, what does the guiding stone look like?" Mi stretched out her body on the vine, like a blob of ink draping the green area in a light black coat. The ink blob quietly climbed up Qiao's clothes, leaving a few ink plum blossoms on the hem of Qiao's pink skirt. Qiao immediately stood up, stomped her foot, and shook off the ink drops. She clung to the vine and walked up to the giant tree opposite.

"You, you shouldn't be like this." Qiao's face was slightly flushed as she stood opposite Mi and said.

Mi withdrew the ink droplet, which condensed back into a black blob and rolled around on the branch. Joe, seeing Mi's listlessness, comforted her, "Everyone's guiding stone is different. I don't know what yours will look like. But your guiding stone is definitely nearby; you'll surely find it."

“El has a guiding stone, and Joe has a guiding stone too,” Mi suddenly stopped spinning and stared at Joe. “Can I see your guiding stone?”

“No.” Joe’s face turned even redder. She slipped into a dormant flower, closed the petals, and the flower trembled slightly. Mi moved over and stared at the flower Joe had entered. She was an overly shy witch. The flower quietly opened a crack, and Joe and Mi were face to face. She closed the flower tightly again.

Mi left Joe and returned to the southern part of her favorite forest. The morning glories here were dazzlingly red, even coloring the river. The background was a mix of deep and light blue, interspersed with white clouds of various shapes. Nearby were green grass and red flowers, while in the distance, tall trees and the blurry silhouettes of purple blossoms stood out. It was bustling here, the liveliest place in the forest before the elders appeared, and still is now that they have fallen into slumber. Mi loved it here. She thought, if there were such a thing as a guiding stone, if it were her heart, it should be in her favorite place.

The forest was only so big, but now Mi could extend to every corner of it, seemingly appearing in every part of the forest simultaneously, her body covered in eyes. Mi tried everything, and she discovered that above the river was a dome-shaped canopy, so very high that even when she stretched herself into a straight line, she couldn't touch the top. The sea of ​​clouds above the forest seemed to like her, always playing with her. Those gray clouds rolled and tumbled around Mi, trying to curl her into a ball of yarn with no visible ends. Sometimes Mi felt as if a cat was hiding in those clouds.

Mi began to sleep inside the dormant flower. It was so comfortable inside; no mattress could compare to its softness, and no down comforter could match its snugness. Mi slept longer and longer inside the flower. Sometimes, when she woke up groggily, she would forget that she was in the Witch's Forest. If a ray of sunlight shone through the petals, Mi would feel as if she had woken up in her own room.

Mi hadn't thought about her own room in a long time. Her bed was always piled with different blankets: a thin towel blanket, a soft, heated blanket, a fluffy down comforter, and her fluffy Winnie the Pooh—these were her essential sleeping treasures. When Mi traveled, she would pack her Winnie the Pooh in her suitcase so she could hug it and convince herself, "I'm in my own bed." As she got older, Mi disliked traveling less and less. To be precise, she still liked traveling, but she disliked any bed other than her own.

Mi sat inside the flower, its petals already open, revealing the green of the forest like an oil painting. Mi thought, "If I go back, I'll miss the dormant flower. There's no more comfortable place than the dormant flower." Mi lay down again, the petals quietly closing, shielding her from El and Joe's prying eyes.

"If she continues like this, will she just fall asleep like this?" Joe looked at the closed petals and said with some worry, "Are we just going to keep waiting like this?"

“I don’t know, Joe. There’s nothing I can do but wait.” El was a little frustrated. When she was born, there were many witches in the forest, and she quickly learned how to be one. Later, the witches left the Witch Forest one by one. She went out a few times, but she didn’t feel good about it. Then she stayed in the Witch Forest and never went out again, until Joe appeared in the forest. Joe was timid and cowardly, obedient and docile. She loved El wholeheartedly and was incredibly submissive to her. Wherever El said to go, she would go. That’s how El took her to travel to different continents. With Joe, their journeys became much more interesting, and El began to enjoy life outside the Witch Forest.

“Why would she lose her guiding stone?” Joe stared at the sleeping flower in the mirror. “You said that apart from the elders, all new witches have guiding stones. Does that mean she has one too?”

El shook her head. This new witch was so eager to get out. She thought for a moment: "There's another possibility. She's still searching, well, how should I put it, she hasn't fully entered the Witch Forest yet."

"What do you mean you didn't fully enter the Witch Forest? Did she leave her guide stone outside?" Joe's eyes widened as she looked at El and then at the direction where Mi was.

“She’s looking for an anchor; to be precise, she doubts everything she sees,” Al said gently. “We need to wait until she believes this place is real before she gets lost. Right now, she’s constantly confirming things; she’s constantly doubting something while constantly searching.”

Joe recalled how she had arrived in the forest. She didn't know why she had suddenly come from her bed at home into the forest. But the greenery before her eyes filled her with joy, and the sudden appearance of El gave her a sense of trust. She dared not move, afraid that if she blinked, the strange scenery before her would disappear.

“El, am I stupid?” Jo lay on El’s crossed legs. “I’ll just stay where I am and not move until you find me.”

“Joe, every witch is different.” El stroked Joe’s black hair. “You are a cautious witch, and caution is an excellent quality for a witch. You are very good.” The pink figure gradually turned into mist and covered El, and pink bubbles filled El’s body.

“Joe, why do you always—” El paused, pondering her words, and reached out to gather the pink mist, gradually revealing Joe’s figure: “There’s no one here, what are you shy about?”

“El,” Joe’s face turned almost blood red, “to indulge in debauchery in broad daylight is against the principles of a gentleman.”

“Joe, there is no concept of time in the Witch Forest, nor is there a distinction between day and night.”

"El, don't ask me, don't ask." Joe knelt down on El's lap again, blushing as he held El's hands and kissed them gently.

“Okay, Joe.” Al lowered his head and kissed Joe’s dark hair that was pulled back. “I’m glad you like it.”

Al and Joe sat there quietly, Mi still not emerging from the dormant flower. Joe looked at the motionless flower before them: "Where do you think she came from? She can really sleep! What kind of place has such a lazy woman?"

“She expended too much energy outside,” El defended Mi. This was the most restless witch she had ever seen; she was so energetic that El still couldn't figure out what this novice witch looked like. She stretched her senses everywhere, but didn't know how to use them properly, treating them only as paintbrushes to paint on the protective netting.

“That’s true, she’s really something—” Joe thought back to how Mi transformed herself into all sorts of shapes, but couldn’t find the right word to describe it, so he could only say, “She must be a very special witch.”

“It might be difficult to handle,” Al said, using a witty remark he’d picked up outside. Joe suddenly became alert, staring intently at Al: “Don’t mess with her, don’t get interested in her, Al, please don’t pay attention to her.”

El sighed and reached out to pat Joe's head: "When will you grow up?"

“If leaving you means growing up, then I never want to grow up.” Joe hugged El and buried his face in her chest, murmuring, “El, I love you, I only love you. Please love me, and only me.” Joe pulled El up and walked into the dormant flower. The dormant flower closed its petals and swayed gently.