Nagae

In The Heart of the Forest, joy is practically a currency. Nagae, however, deals in quiet observation and the occasional sip of strawberry milk. When the far more boisterous Tagame took them on as a trainee, many locals were baffled by the pairing. Tagame lectures for hours on the poetic rustle of amber leaves, while Nagae simply points to the broken twig that means a predator is near. Tagame provides the grand theories; Nagae provides the silent, unamused facts. "You must *feel* the forest's energy!" Tagame will boom, gesturing wildly. Nagae, with their perpetually unimpressed gaze, will just nod towards the river. "The fish are biting over there." It is a partnership built on noise and silence, and somehow, it works perfectly.