For Kauri, Eru is a mentor, a confidant. For his parents, he is the guardian spirit of harmony between humans and animals—one of the Oneiroi prayed to by shepherds and herders. But Eru is far more than that, though few know it, even within the Muna Faction. He was one of Niavhe’s earliest true disciples, the first person—besides the founder of the Muna herself—whom Kaibara allowed upon her back, and the only one to whom she entrusted her secret.

The awakening of the Muna took years to take root and bloom, years for those touched by Niavhe’s spark to understand what the Skein truly was. Eru belonged to that first generation born with this extrasensory faculty, for whom the connection was innate and natural. His parents had left Kirighai years earlier, starting anew on the Enosha peninsula just across the strait. Their small community grew under Niavhe’s guidance, far from war and the devastation of the Nifir.

More and more, those awakened to the Skein began arriving in the little village. They were drawn to Niavhe just as salmon—by sheer instinct—return unfailingly to their birthplace, or as the Tumult Nomads once felt compelled to travel toward Asgartha. The young girl who had bonded with Kaibara had become a woman—not only that, a mother, a sage, a guide. The Skein was simply part of Eru’s reality, another one of his senses. He was astonished that some people couldn’t perceive it at all, and thought it terribly sad.

Very early on, Niavhe knew she had to help the Muna strengthen their relationship to the Skein. She taught what she had come to understand of that sacred link, of the wisdom Kaibara allowed her to glimpse. She knew time—the span of a single life—was painfully short for all that needed to be done. She had to cement and secure the existence of the Muna, and that meant transmission, legacy, continuity. Eru became one of the keepers of her wisdom. From his earliest years, he received her direct teaching. He was one of nine chosen to live an ascetic life, dedicating body and soul to nurturing the Skein’s blossoming.

And the way the Skein unfurled within him made him uniquely close to animals. If Sewit communed most easily with the Spindle, and Kiyiya could make flames dance like no one else, no one matched Eru’s ability to communicate with creatures of the wild—to make himself understood, or soothe their fury when the moment demanded it. Together with Niavhe, Eru and the eight others were granted permission by Kaibara to enter the Katkera—and even to dwell there. And so, as a teenager, he chose to settle in the nature reserve, a hermit with only the wild species of the primordial forest as companions.

People often honor Yong-Su during the Ryukkōsai festival, but they frequently forget that Eru, too, played a crucial role in saving Asgartha’s capital. It was through him that the animals understood the Alterer’s pleas. He gathered all the fauna of Kirighai, visiting every creature to persuade them to heed Yong-Su Tenzing. For that reason, his statue is the first to be honored on the first islet of the Mugen during the Midori Matsuri, standing alongside the statues of the Oneiroi of nature as the processions pay their respects.

But what historians know far less—and what only a handful of Muna understand even now—is that Eru is the only one to whom Niavhe revealed the nature of the primordial spark that awakened them all, and the heavy sacrifice required to bring it forth. Over time, his place of residence became the Musk Refuge, dedicated to the animals of the Peninsula. Those who undertake the Muna pilgrimage stop there for a while, between the Refuges of Wind and Flow, and during that time they may speak with his Eidolon, who still manifests in that place. In every such encounter, he advocates harmony among all forms of life, for above all else, cooperation is to him the unmistakable sign of a strong and enduring ecosystem.