Han Bacca's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Han Bacca sits cross-legged on the desert floor and spreads the journal pages in front of them like evidence at a trial. The mountain researcher's new publication matches their buried swamp data point by point. Someone else has now seen what Han saw three years ago. Han pulls the amulet from beneath their shirt and sets it on the pages. The glow spreads across the ink like dawn light on water. They could publish now—the mountain folk would have to listen when their own researcher confirms the findings. But Han reaches into their field kit and pulls out a folded paper bundle wrapped in oilcloth. Inside, pressed flat between the pages, are larkspur blooms from the swamp edge where they first recorded the anomalous readings. The flowers still hold their pink color after three years. Han opens their current notebook to a blank page and begins writing the full data set, amulet included, measurements and all. The mountain folk might throw more than boots this time. But the next small cryptid who comes after will find a complete record, not half a truth.