"Ready, my love?" Blanc asked Miyanna as he was ready to pull the electric eel from the water.
"Always," she nodded, sword at the ready.
With confirmation given, Blanc pulled the eel out of the water, as it was wiggling harshly.
But Miyanna made quick work of this one as well, splitting the eel in half.
This was the fifteenth eel they caught today, with each of them, as Miyanna knelt down to start the harvest of Raw Vita, having three eels each.
The only Mark all of them received was six dots on the left side of their ribs.
Which, from the outline of a White Mark, slowly, with each kill, turned greyer and greyer, until all five of them, as Miyanna woke up from her harvest, had a light gray Mark of the Eel on their bodies.
The Mark did not offer strength, vitality, or anything one could consider important, but it offered a higher resistance to elements, such as the electricity of the eel.
It was still too strong for Blanc to grab an eel with his bare hands, but it was slowly becoming doable.
Unfortunately, they were not as lucky with caimans today, only able to hunt three.
One was killed by Blanc, one by Celine, and one by Miyanna.
But still, that was enough for them in terms of caiman meat, with Blanc hoping he would be able to smoke some to take as supplies once they leave this Garden.
"What now?" Celine asked as she waited for something to bite.
"It's afternoon," Blanc said, looking at the sky. "I say we take a break, take what we eat back with us to the campsite, then walk alongside the river for a while."
"Do you have a plan, or just for fun?" Celine questioned.
"Both," Blanc nodded, "We can just walk and have fun, but I want to look for the turtles, and see if we spot them or get a clue as to where and how many there could be."
"Sound plan," Celine nodded, pulling the hook out of the water.
"I like that idea," Miyanna agreed.
"Yay, having fun for once," Lune jumped around.
Kael, too, was pleased with the results, though still confused about the events of today's morning, but he soon pushed that aside, as the pride of today's harvest overwhelmed his mind as they started walking back towards the campsite.
"Do you think we can find them, Brother?" he asked.
"I doubt that we can find them today," Blanc replied, as he carried two of the dead caimans on his shoulders, "But I know that we will spot them sooner or later."
"How many do you think there really are in this Garden?" Celine wondered as she held the last of the caimans, as well as hers and Blanc's fishing rods.
"Hard to tell," Blanc muttered as he thought of an answer.
"Why's that?" Miyanna asked curiously.
"Well, the best case for us would be if there were more turtles than we need to kill for a Black Mark, and that, too, depends on our luck, which I hope we have plenty of. But I doubt there are more than five in here. The Wetlands or the Turtle Path is supposed to have many of them if they were not hunted to extinction," Blanc explained.
"Why do we need luck?" Lune asked next.
"Because, Little Flower, the Vita decides how many beasts your body can harvest until it turns your Mark black. When you do, you can harvest no longer," Blanc began.
And Celine took over, "And each turtle, since it gives decades to one's lifespan, is important. If your Mark turns black after three, you can hope to have received another sixty years of life, and the highest recorded number for a Mark of the Turtle to turn black has been ten, or an extra two centuries of lifespan, just from turtles."
"So, not only do we need luck to find the turtles, and hope our bodies can harvest many of them, but also be lucky enough to find enough turtles for everyone," Kael muttered, not sure if he should laugh or cry.
"Yes, Little Kael, so instead of thinking about that, just relax and enjoy the walk," Blanc nodded.
And truth he spoke, as all agreed with his words.
It would be a headache to think and solve this issue in such a way that they would be able to replace luck with a good plan.
There was no good plan for this. Only headache. Only hope.
And Blanc's gut feeling that, somewhere, there should be plenty of turtles awaiting them.
His worry about the turtles was enough of a struggle in itself.
There was no need to put the rest through all that when everything still looked uncertain.
After leaving the caimans and eels, that they would eat high up in the trees, they decided to eat at the campsite.
After a quick meal, they went on their casual walk, doing exactly what they preached.
They relaxed, talked, and had fun, which was a welcoming sight for all, especially since coming to the Gardens.
The Jaguars, the Gap, the Turtles, Allegra, the warmth and humidity, have, over the past four days since they've arrived here, done only one thing.
Exhaust them.
But it did not bother them. They got stronger, closer than ever, and in some way, were enjoying it.
However, this calm, casual stroll beside the river had really done them no harm, but on the contrary.
Unfortunately, as expected, they had seen no turtles, but neither were they staring at the water intently.
Just for those two hours while they walked, they let go of worries and monologues and tried to enjoy it as much as possible.
And enjoyed they did, for after the walk they got straight back towards the campsite where, as the twins bathed, Blanc and his wives helped as they prepared dinner.
"So you let it marinate for a bit?" Miyanna asked as she looked at the caiman meat in the bowl.
"At least for ten minutes," Blanc nodded, "It's best if we could leave it marinating overnight, but none of us has the patience for that."
"No," Celine shook her head as she washed some manioc they picked up on their walk, "It would be madness to leave it outside overnight. The smell would draw half the rainforest to us."
"That does sound good for our Raw Vita," Blanc muttered, "But you're right. It's a bad idea."
And such their conversations went as they prepared, cooked, and ate dinner together with Kael and Lune, who, perhaps due to the walk, were half asleep.
When dinner was complete and the twins retreated for the night, the adults got to their own businesses, which, for better or worse, happened daily, for hours, both in the pool as well as back in their tent.
They had their rituals already set in this place, knowing where they could be louder, rougher, and be able to enjoy themselves, and where they needed to show restraint, gentleness, and develop a more romantic approach.
They were a match made by the Vita itself.
And it surely felt that way for them, and since nobody was around to judge them, it became a truth set in stone for them.
Not only in bed, but as people, as lovers, as a married couple, they worked better together, all three of them, and after every mistake one made during the day, it felt as if it strengthened their relationship by that much as well.
"Say," said Miyanna to the two, as they sat cuddling in their bed.
"What's wrong?" Blanc asked, trying to get up and bring whatever Miyanna would have wanted.
"Not that, sit down," Miyanna replied, placing a hand on his chest and stopping Blanc from getting up, "Though I hate her, do you think they are fine?"
"Who? Allegra?" Celine asked.
"Mhm," Miyanna nodded, "I mean, their situation sounds rough."
"Oh my, sister, and here I thought you were happy when she left," Celine giggled as she placed her chin on Blanc's chest, watching Miyanna.
"I was happy that Blanc did not care that she left, there is a difference, Celine," Miyanna argued.
"Listen to her," Celine addressed Blanc while giggling, "She sounds like a child."
Blanc smirked, hearing their bickering, "Why should we care or lose sleep thinking about them? They have their own to worry about, and we have ours."
"True," Miyanna muttered, letting go of the subject, but remembering another, "You know, I've been thinking."
"About what?" Celine asked.
"Last time I met Blanc's parents, they most likely hated my guts," Miyanna said. "When we meet them again, do you think they will be fine with me being your wife?"
"A big when," Blanc sighed, looking at the inside of the tent as he played with the hair of his wives, "But if and when we do, I'll make sure they will accept it, I promise."
The puzzle of half-broken pieces, which Blanc attempted to solve, was too large to think about, Allegra, or the Metamorphs, and their attempt at war.
He needed to think about the ifs and whens he cared about, not the unknowns he knew nothing of.
A simple-minded approach, but one that had fewer risks involved.
Yet a foolish one at the same time.
For war, the mind of men is as unpredictable as the very essence of pure chaos.
And one could only hope that they would not get to meet that unpredictability in their lifetimes.