First: The salt. It's false hope. It's what generations have built their life for, substituting hopes and dreams for substance. It's brought up that it's sold as special salt to older people to help with health, but it's described as flavorless. Essentially filling in the memory of something so they can pretend everything is normal, when it's just void and empty. It's a habit. Like life itself is simply a habit. It makes me think of a land Persephone never returned to and especially Lot's wife turning to salt after being unable to keep looking forward, instead, turning back to see what was behind her. Was it fear or curiosity? Whatever it was, it caught her, and it's caught them.
Everything about the hinterlands is false and achingly human. They've broken recursion through a lifeless, mundane immortality. They sell this edible life extension that only manages to invalidate what life is meant to be. Devouring memories. Consuming past. It's a perpetual state of mourning. Like if they don't leave the funeral, the person that's dead will never die. It's a manmade labyrinth.
I can't say what happened at the shed other than much of P's magic has come from use of his feathers in rituals. It's a part of himself, and he is losing feathers by following this path of branches. Considering his inheritance, I think a lot of what he sees has to do with his grandfather's experience. There's every chance if his grandfather came this way he also lost feathers, and that P may have picked some up. He certainly picked someone up. The fact that he thought it may have been his grandfather makes me think it was another Peacock. Quite possibly himself or his father as a child, but of course I'm not certain.
That's why I said what I did about this scene. Theres so much about it that sticks out. Other than when we're inside P's head, this is the only time we're given a black screen. (Which adds to the uncertainty of it all.) Yet despite this and despite being surrounded by death, it's the scene with the most life in the hinterlands. The sound design is fantastic. The imagery of P wading his feet instead of taking steps is striking. Who is God? Is it the tapir? Is it his grandfather? Is it someone else? We have a capital H "He" so it's someone larger than life to P. All we know is that it's sacred in some way or another.
On my first run I thought the hinterlands may have been a type of hell on Earth situation, given Zezé's presence at the end. Similar to how a new god can be created if you've put true worship in to something, as Nikos takes advantage of. I don't know what I think now. There's so much about it that I'm unsure of.
Ultimately, I'm glad I replayed all of Hinterlands instead of just going to this one scene. It reminded me how strong the writing is and let me see some of the unique text in context with what I'd seen before and skipped through. I usually read a few sentences before unseen text, but that's no substitute for the full experience. Especially seeing Storm and P's relationship blossom, since that didn't happen in my first run. They became close, but not as open. Really, I appreciated the part where P is fighting with his thoughts of taking advantage of Storm while they're at the hot springs. There's a moment where he actually wants to only do good things, but his mind still tells him he's taking advantage and that speaks so much to who he is and what he needs to work on. Storm can be a good influence if he lets him.
ETA: This is very stream of consciousness as I fell asleep immediately after writing it. I'll say that this is very much the impression filtered through both the tapir and P's fury, the latter of which may or may not have been his own. He says at one point while cursing this land for what it did to his family and Storm that something gets into his eyes and that it burns with rage and acid, implying something more than just a physical reaction. I found it interesting that there were three sandals at the beginning with the same floral design. If it was two they could have been a pair, but three makes it seem like a pattern. I do wonder if there's something sacrificial going on, or if that's just a sign of what's available to them.