The trees didn't disappear all at once. Losing the forest took generations and even though the Mushroom People knew the foreigners presented a danger, they rarely acted to stop them. Sometimes the foreigners wouldn't even be in the forest. On the occasions when they'd load up their sleds and drag the long corpses down the mountain and across the valley to their ships, the People would indulge in the relief of a silent forest, quickly forgetting that the silence had only returned to them temporarily.
But ultimately the trees did disappear. Unhealthy species of weak, soft trees took their place. Or bushes that barely qualified as trees at all. Or, in places, little more than grass and mud and stink. The Mushroom People relied on the trees for they provided homes for the mushrooms, the trees relied on the mushrooms for they connected the trees in vast networks, and the mushrooms relied on the people for they knew the seasons of the mushrooms and would spread spores to the farthest reaches of the forest at exactly the right times.
As Pazput sat near the edge of the cliff, she surveyed the stumps and the mud from above and pondered her People's present situation. "We can eat little else," she thought, "and even though everyone can survive on vegetables, most of us get sick if we don't have mushrooms every day."
She turned to Nikki. "Do you think we'll have to go to the caves? Will we end up eating shadow mushrooms like in the dark ages?"
Her expression looked more to Nikki like that of a Baduk player, puzzling over her next move, than one of fear. Nikki was a year older -- thirteen -- but he didn't worry about the world as Pazput did. He was either incapable of imaginging an improvement, or indifferent.
"I dunno, Paz?" he offered back. He was more concerned with the beauty of the osprey silently gliding across the blue sky beyond them.
She was tempted to launch into an exploration of available options. The diagnosis was understood. She wanted to find treatments. But she'd known Nikki since they began attending school, when he moved from a neighbouring village. She paused to give him a chance at a more intelligent response.
"How long does it take to get to the caves? Maybe we should just go eat a shadow mushroom and see if it's as bad as People say."
She was shocked by the practicality of the suggestion. The shadow mushrooms were derided by her People but it was universally understood that the shadows were edible.
"I suppose we could, right? It's a one-day journey, so we'd have to wait for the weekend. And... probably invite Trin and Vora."
"Oh. Come. On. Paz." he protested, "Trin and Vora? Are we going to need Vora's magic powers just to sleep in a cave for one night and eat some garbage?"
Pazput giggled. She knew Nikki struggled with Vora's religion. She also knew Nikki had a crush on Vora, which complicated things further. "There's no one else, Nik. The other kids are a risk -- they might tell the elders what we're doing."
"Just the two of us! We've gone weekend camping before."
"Nikki, we were kids. We haven't done that in years. You know as well as I do that no one's letting us go camping alone at this age."
"Gross, Paz. You're my sister."
"Sister from another mother, sure. But we already have to convince Mom and Dad to let us travel north, toward the caves. We don't need the burden of justifying anything else to them. They think Vora's responsible. And Trin is just a kid, so they know we won't do anything too dangerous."
"Fine," he trailed off as the osprey cut back across the sky and grabbed his attention away.