Why is Everyone Leaving?
Her name is Lavender.
I would soon come to enjoy the company of the girl who handed me Qa. I can’t remember her original name. All I can recall is her number, Five. Just like the others, she despised the fact that I loved Qa so much, but she later told me she understood.
Oftentimes Hollow who end up at Wo Gol had missed a crucial stage in their physical development. When we turn 5 or 6 years old, we’re supposed to have grown tall enough to reach the ceiling of our nursery tunnel. I only stood about halfway, stretching my arms; I was only a fingernail away from grazing the hard rock above. Five was a good head shorter than me, even though we were the same age. Her mother considered her awful and left her here. She had almost taken to Qa but kept her distance as much as possible. The kid who handed her the doll made a strange sound when she happily took it, so Five, realizing how gross it really was, kept it at an arm’s distance from then on.
I snorted at her. Qa may be gross, but she is a great listener. I did eventually become slightly more friendly with the others, but Five and Qa were the only two whom I truly considered friends.
-Excerpt from T.E.S.S.E Manifesto
To keep young Hollows from running a muck around the Puj Ra there are a few activities: eating, making decorative Ran, learning, courting, and digging. I was finishing up scraping out the last bit of rubbish from the Wo Gol when I heard a loud rumbling. Normally, this wouldn’t even earn a flinch, but by the third rumble, I realized just how wrong it sounded. Typically, a rhythmic rumbling would be attached to somebody digging further down the Puj. Or if the rumbling was loud enough, it would be another Mo or earthquake. However, this rumbling was somehow shaking the most powerful and origin of all essence, on a beat. It would go on for six seconds, then stop for two, and then continue for six more. I was in the middle of thinking it was simply a very hefty La when Five stumbled into the area. She stood still for a moment, and I could hear her panicked breath. She whispered, just loud enough for all within the area to hear:
“The Bright Hollow have come.”
-Excerpt from T.E.S.S.E Manifesto









