The graveyard did not take very long to find. Madotsuki wondered who could have set up these headstones- surely not the pigs? The fog was also ominous, especially given it had sprung up so suddenly. Looking closer she could read what was on one headstone- ‘Care to join me?’ She shivered, wondering if some sinister creature left the message as a mockery for future victims.

Mary, meanwhile, found the place lacking in color, but interesting in its own way. Like a painting she had not seen before, even if it is a bleak one. The dark colors and the mist made for an interesting piece in her eyes, though she was curious of one thing. “Mado, what are those stone things with words on them?”

Madotsuki looked over, surprised, then remembered where Mary came from. “Those are headstones. They mark a grave, where someone who died was buried.”

Mary blinks, looking again. “So… there’s dead people under these!?” She backs away, closer to Madotsuki. “Why are they down there? Who put them all there? Why would they…?”

The dreamer shakes her head. “I do not know. Burying people is one of the traditional ways you get rid of bodies. That anyone bothered to is interesting… but still worrying. Especially if there are ghosts too.”

For a moment Mary was considering just convincing Madotsuki they should leave, but then she spotted a shiny glint ahead of them went to investigate. It turned out to be a gold nugget, just like what she had used to make the Science Machine. She had not found a lot of gold since then, so she quickly snapped it up, before Madotsuki could even let out a warning.

“Mary, we need to be careful! What if that gold is some sort of trap?”

Mary jolts upright, pulling out her knife warily. The two look around, but it seemed no trap was triggered. They relax, a little, and start looking around in earnest, soon spotting more gold in the dirt. As they traveled deeper into the graveyard, they spotted something tall in the distance, and gravitated towards it. They soon saw that it was a statue, a statue mostly broken to pieces in a clearly violent manner. All they could make out was an arm laying on the ground and a single leg left standing, marking whoever it was as nice shoes and claw-like hands.

As they got closer, a sense of uneasiness set in, and they starting looking this way and that, certain voices were speaking. Mary grabs Madotsuki’s hand. “I-I think… we should go. There’s something… wrong about this. I usually like statues and stuff, but it just feels like… whoever broke it had the right idea.”

Madotsuki frowns. For Mary to say a piece of art should be broken, it must be disturbing indeed. “Yes… this place is unnerving. We already got more than we expected. Let’s head back.” They turned and started leaving; the whispering wind behind them only made them run faster.

                                                      ______

Ib and her escort soon reached the ‘nice place’ the pig had told her about, and sure enough it seemed to be a pleasant clearing full of berry bushes, including two larger bushes with very juicy berries dangling from stems. Just looking at them made her hungry. The two dolls squeaked excitedly and ran over to grab some, but they were too small to reach the hanging berries. The pig moved to reach those, when the bush started shaking.

All of them turned and stared as a very large bird, maybe a turkey Ib thought, walked out of the bush. Ignoring them all, it instantly craned it’s neck up and started eating the berries with shocking speed.

The pig was the first to react, letting out a loud squeal as it charged at the bird. “BIRD! NO EAT FOOD!”

The bird dodged the pig’s swing and headed off to the closest bush. The two dolls jumped in the way, prompting it to skid to a halt and run off again. One of the dolls tried to block it’s path again, but this time the bird seemed prepared, and simply snapped up the little doll in it’s mouth.

Ib gasped in horror, frozen for a moment, before charging in herself and tackling the bird while it seemed to be struggling to swallow the poor thing. It squawked in alarm, coughing up the doll as Ib slammed it into the ground. It quickly knocked Ib off with its feet and struggled to get up, but by then the pig had caught up, grabbing the bird by the neck and finishing it off quickly with a crack to the head.

“NICE GIRL DID GOOD. SAVE BLUE THING, GET MORE FOOD.” Sure enough, the foul fowl’s corpse transformed into two drumsticks, one of which was offered to Ib.

She got up, dusting her clothes off before taking it. “Thank you...” She looked down at the doll. “Are you okay?”

The doll squeaked in the affirmative, but looked a bit disgusted by what happened, shivering. The second doll gave it reassuring pats and sympathetic squeaks. Now that all of that was over, Ib stored her newfound meat away while the pig ate his, and started collecting berries. The hanging ones were a bit harder to reach, but it turned out that shaking the stems made them fall. Soon she and the dolls had collected plenty of berries for later. She smiled, thinking that she could make a nice meal for them all with this.

“WHAT NICE GIRL DO NOW?”

She looks at the pig. “Mm, we should probably get back. Maybe the others returned by now.”

                                                        ______

Sure enough, by the time Ib returned, Mary and Madotsuki were back. They had surprisingly little to say about their trip except that there was a graveyard, there wasn’t much reason to visit again, and they found gold there.

“What about you, Ib?” Mary asked.

“We found a lot of berries. ...and some kind of giant bird...” At the mention of the bird both dolls cling to Mary’s legs. “It tried to… eat one of them. But we got rid of it.”

Mary’s expression soured and she hugged them both tightly. “Good...”

Madotsuki spoke up. “I think we had best head back. We have a lot of food and materials that need storing.”

One of the pigs looks up, noting the time. “DARK IS COMING. HOME TIME?”

She nods in response. “Yes, we are going home.” She smiles. “Thank you for helping us. I’m sure we will meet again… probably should go north next.”

Ib nods. “I’m glad we could be friends, Mr. Pig.”

She gasps in surprise as the pig gave her a hug. “YOU IS FRIEND. GIRLS STAY SAFE.”

Ib escapes the hug after a moment, surprised but smiling. “We will! Goodbye for now!”

And so they left, the pigs waving them off as the day came to a close.