Not as long ago as others have led you to believe, there lived a vibrant boy called Hinata Shoyo. 

Hinata lived in in Bunbury, a village slightly north from the centre of Estell, the centre known as The Midlands. He resided in a modest home with his father, mother and little sister, Natsu. Hinata was skilled at many things but he was exceptionally good at archery. 

One brutal year, the winds were harsher, the air colder, the rain scarcer and harvest was in short supply. As autumn brought a skin-curdling chill, along with the weak dying summer sun that had trembled behind clouds for most of the season, a famine swept across the land. Food became more sought after  and some would do anything to get it. Neighbours began betraying neighbours, fights broke out on the roads and many stayed inside. Fortunately in the village of Bunbury, in the spirit of community, most bonds held strong in the wake of adversity. 

But bonds did not feed mouths. 

And so Hinata’s father, taking on the responsibility of the household, heard of a rumour of remaining supply towards the South. It was warmer there; crops had produced better harvest than the rest of Estell and so through the bitter winds he ventured, vowing to himself that this would not be their last winter. A rumour was hope. And hope was better than sitting on their hands and watching their reserves dwindle.

But there was another worry at hand. 

Grandma.

Not long after Hinata’s father left for the South, a letter had arrived from grandma by Suki, Natsu’s pigeon.

Like a stick in mud, grandma lived even more north, she was old and could not hunt. Her health left something to be desired, and with the recent turn of events her safety too was at stake. She was fond of letters, fond of writing, and through her reassuring written words, Hinata’s mother sensed something more: a new loneliness and worry from the slowly closing jaws of the famine, along with concern about her ‘not bad health’. 

Awaiting news about her husband and also aware of the small space her mother lived in, Hinata’s mother agreed with Hinata that there was only one solution: Shoyo would go and bring rations and medicine to his grandma and if possible, bring her back with him. 

And so our story begins on that fateful day, where Hinata Shoyo set off in his warm red cloak, with a bow and arrow, bag and caged homing pigeon strapped safely at the side of his waist… 

It was a day’s journey by foot to grandma’s place. Down the road, through the forest and there she was. A straight path. An obvious path. A path that many had travelled on a journey directly to The Midlands from the North and vice versa. 

Hinata’s mother told Hinata one thing and one thing only -

‘Whatever you do, whatever you see, do not stray from the path.’