Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lykou stumbled and just barely managed to avoid bumping into a tree as he exited the portal. His protective instincts kicked in as soon as he was steady and he whirled around and braced himself just in time to help catch the squirrel that came tumbling out a few moments later, fully expecting her to be freaked out and disoriented. As much as he and Kuna had tried to reassure her beforehand, he fully expected her first portal trip to send her into a panic, so he prepared himself to hold her until she calmed down again- and secretly he hoped Kuna would sing to her again.

What he did not expect, however, was for her exit from the portal to be accompanied by a large arc of energy that knocked him over along with Gleam. With the squirrel on top of him, he twitched for a moment, his fur slightly singed from the bolt. He quickly shook it off, however, when he noticed her twitching and muttering some kind of gibberish incoherently. He tried to hold her, but she wasn’t squirming in the way he’d expected- it was erratic and directionless, not exactly trying to get away.

“Sev-sev-seventeen were the number of fishfishfiiiii I WANT TO nownotthen,” she rambled as she twitched and spasmed in his arms. His concern grew stronger when he caught sight of her face. Her pupils were different sizes and there he could tell she wasn’t all there, even without listening to her nonsense. “Kkkkkkwhen they flew to the GREAT RIVER IN THE SKybound turnips-” suddenly she jerked out of his grasp with surprising strength and rolled to the side, miming a climbing motion into the air from on her back. “Αυτό δεν είναι το μεγάλο φόρουμ που αναζητώ! Πού είναι οι καμήλες!”

Lykou’s own eye twitched as he stared at her. Although he remained vigilant to make sure she didn’t wander off, he refrained from grabbing her again, out of fear of hurting her by mistake in another unexpected and sudden movement. And for the moment she didn’t seem inclined to get off her back, in any case.

Kuna came through the portal a moment later and caught himself on the same tree Lykou had bumped against, using his walking stick to help steady himself. He glanced around curiously until he spotted the two of them on the ground and grew concerned. “Hey, you two alr-”

“FIE! Fie and ashes are but clouds on-” Gleam blurted out, suddenly sitting bolt upright. A strange half-angry look came over her face as she pointed accusingly at... nothing, in the middle distance. “He aha koe i tāhae ai i taku kaka? Ka whiwhi ahau i to ahurei!”

Kuna facepalmed and Lykou’s jaw dropped. “Oh great, this again...”

“Did... did she just use raptuva words?” he asked, then furrowed his brow and checked his medallion. “Wait, why didn’t-?”

“If I had to guess,” the sereva said as he came over and carefully knelt down on the squirrel’s other side, while she continued muttering, rmabling, and gesticulating at random. “There’s no real intent or understanding there because of.... whatever’s causing this.”

“Oh... right,” Lykou said, watching their friend warily. “Wish I knew how to help her snap out of th- OUCH!” As if on queue, the squirrel had spun around and smacked him, although already her focus was on a bush just past his shoulder.

“Divide the commonranks of YoUr beST undErStanDiNg and when they.... I....” Gleam rambled, then gradually trailed off and started to waver as he expression shifted from a bizarre manic state to a tired, dizzy one. Slowly, she lifted a shaky hand to her head and slumped back a bit.

Quickly shrugging off the smack to his face, Lykou reached over and caught her, gently pulling her into his arms. “Woah, easy.... you back with us now?”

“Ffssuhhhh....” she said, blinking one eyes, then the other out of sync a few times. Finally, her eyes traced back and forth between the concerned boys on either side of her. “Wha happen...?”

“Ehhh... guess you don’t remember this time, huh?” Kuna said, gently stroking her side.

“You had another one of those weird magic freaak outs,” Lykou told her. “Where you just start spouting nonsense and acting weird.” He glanced over at Kuna. “Happened right after she came through. Portal zapped her and me both, like with some other magic things. Then... well, you know the rest.”

“Shit, that’s not a good sign,” Kuna said. “Hope that doesn’t happen with all portals...”

Gleam curled up in the konuul’s arms a bit and folded her ears down a bit, holding herself self-consciously. “Dammit...”

“Hey now, don’t go beating up on yourself,” Kuna said, taking hold of her hand gently. “It’s not your fault, you know.”

“Yeah, you can’t help it,” Lykou said, pulling her into a warm embrace.

“Still,” Gleam grumbled. “I hate being a burd-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence, or I’ll tickle you,” Lykou warned with a smirk.

“He’ll do it, too,” Kuna agreed with a smile. “Trust me.”

Gleam smiled faintly after a moment and sighed. “Alright, alright....” she relented, then looked around. “Where are we now anyway? Definitely looks... different.”

They all took a moment to take in their surroundings now that they weren’t busy dealing with a bizarre freakout. They were in a forest, albeit a more sparse one, and on the edge of some rolling hills with even fewer trees and bushes.

“Well, no telling what it’s called, but yeah, every place is a bit different,” Kuna pointed out. He scratched his head. “The hills remind me a little of Clovaria, but it’s a bit warmer than there.”

“More trees, too,” Lykou pointed out. “But still less than most other places. Should be easier to watch out for potential trouble.”

Gleam looked around, then shivered slightly. “So this is what it’s like... being some place new. Huh....”

Lykou chuckled. “Now you know how I felt when Ku and I first woke up in that cave.”

“Should we wait here and see if Zyn shows up?” Kuna asked. “Would be nice if he could gives us some info about this place.”

“Hmm....” Lykou rubbed his chin thoughtfully while the squirrel in his lap continued eyeing their surroundings in mild fascination. “No, it’s not the best camping spot and we still have a fair bit of daylight from the looks of it. We should try to find some place near water to set up. He’ll find us sooner or later, I’m sure.”

“True,” Kuna said, then grunted as he got back up, then offered a hand to Gleam. “You alright to continue, Gleam?”

The squirrel gratefully took his hand and folded her ears down again with a slightly bashful smile. “Yeah. As long as I don’t have to touch anything magical anytime soon, heh.”

“Fair,” Lykou said as he got up after her. “So which direction now, Ku?”

Kuna concentrated, then nodded out into the hilly terrain. “Somewhere out that way. We should be careful though, things could be hiding among the hills.”

“True. We’ll have to stay on guard until we have a better idea what may be lurking around here,” Lykou said, then gently rubbed Gleam’s shoulder when she noticeably tensed up. “Don’t worry, we’ll protect you. Just stay between us and remember those tips Ku taught you.”

Gleam gulped and nodded nervously. “A-alright...”

*****

A group of voices was having an enthusiastic conversation under the canopy of a silvery gazebo-like structure deep in the spirit world. Zynshal was hiding away behind a multicolored wall a short distance away with a frown. He’d been spending a fair amount of time looking into the strange valley where Gleam had been anthropomorphized, but soon found that word of the ascended squirrel had been spreading around the spirit world- and other jarzin- quickly.

“A squirrel? Surely this is some kind of joke, or a translation issue…”

“Translation issue? For a spirit? I doubt it. And the lunvariss aren’t known for their humor.”

“Whoever they got it from, then. I mean, why a squirrel?”

“We’re talking about a pair of mundanes, here. Rumor is they somehow did it by mistake, so-”

“I refuse to believe that. Imagine a pair of mundanes pulling off something so grand by accident.”

“Are you calling Ynglrus a liar?”

“No, I’m just saying that if it wasn’t intentional on the part of the mundanes, they must have been guided through it by someone else.”

“Well it wasn’t one of us, and you know how the spirit court looks at that kind of thing these days.”

“Syltheans then? The tree is back now.”

“It hasn’t been long enough. Some have crossed over, yes, but mostly scouts so far, and they’ve mostly stayed in the Arbassla’s valley for the time being.”

“It could be… you know who.”

There was a brief silence, followed by some whispering. “That would be like her, wouldn’t it?”

“Perhaps, but we’d have gotten some kind of warning to stay away if it was, I imagine.”

“So… anyone have any connections to them yet? I’d love to pay them a visit and see this ascendant squirrel for myself.”

“If we did, do you think we’d be standing here talking about it?”

“I hear Uvinos is looking into it. With any luck, we’ll all be able to visit these mundanes soon.”

Zyn quietly swore, then slipped away as the conversation continued. He knew he should report back to Inkari, but he was worried that in the time that he was doing so, the other jarzin would track Lykou, Kuna, and Gleam down. And while they’d mean well enough, they’d only end up causing the trio stress and complications with their obsessive fascination with them. His tail twitched and he crossed his arms as he mulled over what to do. It didn’t help that he felt bad about not getting a chance to scout ahead for his friends. Finally, he took a deep breath and straightened himself out. “Fuck it. She probably already knows by now anyway. I better check back in with them and warn th-” he said to himself, then froze when he turned around and saw Inkari standing a few feet away, leaning against a twisted pillar of etherstone with a faint smirk and her arms crossed. He quickly put on a totally unconvincing smile. “Ohhh, Inkari, good! Hi! I was just going to-”

“Directly interfere with Lykou and Kuna’s journey rather than inform me of the gossip that’s been running around the spirit world like wildfire recently?” Inkari helpfully suggested. “I know.”

Zyn’s smile faltered and he tensed up even more. “Uh-… I-…”

“Fortunately, as you just said, I already know all about Gleam,” Inkari continued. “Aelana filled me in a little. Annnnd she may have mentioned an ‘unusually helpful and decent’ young jarzin cohort of mine being sure the boys weren’t in over their head at various points recently.”

There was a tense, prolonged silence that felt like forever to Zyn. His smile faded completely as he realized the jig was up. He wasn’t sure what she’d do to him, or just exactly how much detail she knew about how much he’d been helping Lykou and Kuna, but surprisingly, the thing he was most concerned about was no longer being able to continue doing so. With that thought in mind, he suddenly rallied a bit and furrowed his brow. “L-listen, I-”

“No, you listen,” Inkari said, suddenly standing up straight and glaring at him. Shadows and smoke began to gether around her menacingly as she stalked towards him. “I gave you specific, clear instructions when I invited you to help me out. Observe, offer specific guidance in one or two areas, but otherwise keep away. Let them handle things on their own, and don’t interfere.”

Zyn anxiously took a few steps back. As much as he wanted to stand up for himself, he knew he was no match for her by a long shot. “But they-”

“And what did you do?” Inkari continued, narrowing her eyes as her tone turned extra icy. Darkness began to surround both of them. “You decide to sneak around behind my back and go the extra mile for them. You told them how to handle demons, you scout ahead for them, you constantly talk to them… hells, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were becoming personally attached to them. Befriending them. You know the rules about jarzin fraternizing with mundanes, and yet you’re flagrantly disregarding them.”

Trembling slightly with mixed emotions, Zyn’s eyes darted around as Inkari got up in his face. There was no escape, and he had a sinking feeling that being turned over to the jarzin elder council would have been the least of his concerns. Still, whatever fate she had in store for him, he felt a pang of defiance shoot through him again. He furrowed his brow and clenched his fists as he glared back at her. “...yes. And nothing you or the council do or say will make me regret it. I’d do it all over again.”

They locked eyes for a minute, as little arcs of orange chaos energy lept around in the smoke that surrounded them. Suddenly, then tension shattered as Inkari grinned and immediately dismissed it all, patting him on the shoulder. “Good. I knew you were the right one for the job.” She immediately conjured up her pipe and lit it, then began casually puffing on it. “Thanks for not disappointing.”

Zyn blinked a few times and let his mouth hang open for a moment in stunned silence. “W… huh??”

“Kid, I’m Inkari. What part of my legends makes you think I’d have any interest in a lackey that just blindly follows orders?” she replied with an arched brow. For a moment, a second set of floating, indigo eyes hovered in front of her eyes as she sized him up. Then she dismissed the sight before continuing, “You have agency. It’s what drew me to you in the first place. You see rules as important, but worth breaking when they get in the way of doing the right thing.” She glanced away with a coy smirk as she took another drag from her pipe. “...and I appreciate someone that’d do what I want while giving me a little plausible deniability.”

“Y… you mean-” Zyn started to say, dumbfounded, then suddenly frowned and shot her a Look. “Wait a damn minute. Are you telling me…” His tail twitched irritably and he pointed an accusatory finger at her. “You mean I’m part of this whole thing too? You’re manipulating the fate of me, a fellow jarzin?!”

“You know I always hated that F-word,” Ink grumbled with a slightly disgusted look, but then grinned again. “But yeah, more or less.”

Zyn narrowed his eyes, dropped his hand, and pouted. “That’s just not right...”

“Oh? I was just praising you for bending and breaking rules when necessary,” Ink teased. “And now you’re surprised I do the same?”

The younger jarzin opened his mouth to reply, but then shut it again when he realized she had him there. He grumbled. “...still…”

Ink chuckled and patted his shoulder again. “Hey, I’m proud of you. But now you get to take a break for a little while.”

Zyn stiffened up. “Wait what? But-”

“I’m taking back over for a bit, Zyn,” Ink said, then sighed and rolled her eyes a bit as he visibly deflated in front of her. “Relax, you’ll be able to see them again. And I promise they’re in good hands. But for the time being, you’re off observation and babysitting duty.”

“You know they hate you, right?” Zyn said. After hesitating for a moment, he added, with a frown, “And in Lykou’s case, no offense, but I can see why. This is a long time to keep him away from-”

“I know, I know,” Inkari said, holding up a hand. “Spare me. I get it. Believe me, I don’t do these things without good reason. But rest assured, they’ll make it there, and I’ll make sure the homesickness doesn’t become too unbearable. And I’ll be sure to let them know you’re concerned for them and will see them again when you can.”

Zyn fidgeted a bit and seemed to be thinking things over. “So… what, I just go do whatever now?”

“As long as it’s away from those three and the places they’re going,” Ink said, then gave him a serious look. “And this time, so there’s no wiggle room for creative ‘interpretations’, let me just be clear- you are not to go near Lykou, Kuna, or this… ‘Gleam’ again until I say you can, got it? And this time, Chaiko and Baniv will actually be watching out for you, instead of just pretending not to see you.”

Zyn looked a bit embarrassed, then sighed and nodded slightly. “Alright...”

“Good. Now cheer up and go have some fun somewhere, take some time to unwind,” Ink said, then glanced off in the direction of the silvery tent in the distance. “I better go handle the rumor mill and prepare to intervene.” She turned back to him and winked. “Take care, kid.”

After the older jarzin shot away as a stream of smoke, Zyn let out another sigh and began wandering off aimlessly. But eventually, something occurred to him. “Wait… she said I had to stay away from those three, but not… and she even mentioned…” Slowly, a grin crept across his face. “Probably an intentional loophole, but fuck it. Better than sitting around doing nothing important.” He focused for a moment, summoning up some soul energy. The light leaped up into the sky and he watched it dart across the stars, then looked down at his hand, where the path was replicated in miniature. He knew he’d have to be careful- loophole or no, he knew he was on thin ice if others found out the extent of his meddling and ‘fraternization’, but he wasn’t about to completely walk away from the people touched by Ink’s grand scheme, whatever it was. “Time to go get a better look at that cutie...”

*****

Lykou, Kuna, and Gleam tiredly trekked through the hilly, grassy terrain, gradually growing more and more fatigued. Although less foliage initially made travel easier, the hills gradually became steeper the further they went, slowing them back down after a while. Eventually they decided they’d make camp at the first decent spot they could find. Unfortunately, none seemed to be forthcoming. The few trickles of water they came across were too tiny to be much use to them, and the trees were too scraggly and sparse to make good firewood.

Finally, when they crested a particularly large hill, they saw that they were about to descend into a larger valley with several thicker patches of trees, including a snake-like chunk following a meandering path through the valley. Lykou spotted a creek in the distance through a gap in the trees and they eagerly began making their way towards it.

But they were interrupted when some bushes nearby began rustling with increasing intensity. Gleam ducked behind Kuna and Lykou brandished the axe. The konuul was still fatigued, so he hoped threatening would be enough to fend off whatever it was. “Can you sense what it is?” he asked the sereva.

Kuna furrowed his brow in focus, then looked confused. “Uh... no. Either I can’t separate it from the bushes, or whatever it is isn’t alive,” he said, then visibly cringed. “Please tell me we’re not facing more moving dead things...”

Lykou folded his ears down. “Fuck, I hope not. I’ve had enough creepy for a long time...”

They braced themselves as whatever it was appeared to be moving forward in the bushes. But when it emerged, all they saw was the grass swirling around- and a faint grey blur in the air. Kuna immediately perked up in mild amusement and relaxed a little. “Oh. Duh, that explains it.”

Lykou tilted his head and lowered the axe ever-so-slightly. “Spirit?”

“Yep. Wind spirit. Not an elnu though,” the sereva said as the strange entity slowly approached them in a meandering path, causing the grass to shift and whip around in a circular shape as it moved. “A... hmm, what were they called again?” He scratched his head as the spirit gradually drifted closer. “Syphri, I think? Something like that.”

“Is it… dangerous?” Gleam asked anxiously, backing away a bit as the spirit continued approaching them.

“Maybe we can talk to it,” Lykou suggested, eyeing the what little he could make out of the spirit with immense fascination. “Or is it one of the ‘basically like an animal’ types?”

“Yeah no, they’re not very talky, but it’s just a small one, so it’s not really dangerous,” Kuna said with a shrug. “Just be glad it’s not one of the big ones.”

“Oh? Are they more agpffttfuck!” Lykou blurted and started flailing slightly as the winds suddenly started buffeting him. His hair, fur, and clothing were being blown all over the place, and he quickly had to push down his kilt as the wind inadvertently started to lift it while the entity invaded his space to investigate him. He was both annoyed and embarrassed… but also a bit amused. Not to mention it kind of tickled. “Pfffftfffuck off dammit!”

Kuna couldn’t help but snicker a bit. “Not quite Whironui’s breezes, huh?” he playfully teased, only to suddenly start having a similar reaction when the spirit shifted over and invaded his personal bubble instead. “Thhhppt what the-” With his sareo being made of light material, its flaps lifted up, showing off his rear and crotch for all to see, making him blush and stumble backwards, flailing with zeal. “Hey, fuck off dammit!”

As Lykou paused in the middle of trying to smooth some of his fur back out as he couldn’t help but ogle the flustered sereva with a faint blush. But he quickly snapped out of it and smirked. “Not wearing the shorts today, huh?”

“Pfffshut up!” Kuna said as the spirit finally left him, leaving him blushing and glaring playfully at the konuul. His fur was adorably mussed up, much to the konuul’s immense amusement. “I… I need to clean and mend them a bit, that’s all.”

“More like you wanted to feel a bit naughty,” the canid teased with a wink. “Something tells me you secretly liked that.”

Kuna blushed harder. “Whatthffffshutuphowdareyou,” he blurted and charged the konuul.

Lykou laughed as he fended off the flustered sereva.

“Uhhh, guys??” Gleam said, backing away from the approaching spirit fearfully. “Um… y-you sure it’s safe?”

“Other than- hey, quit it!” Lykou started to say, then got interrupted by a cervid trying, ineffectually, to wrestle him to the ground. “-other than just- pffft, Ku! Getting messy fur, you’ll be fine-oof, hey!”

Gleam continued to back away, then tripped and fell backwards. Before she could get up, the spirit had arrived and she began to flail around and panic a bit as the winds thoroughly mussed up her already somewhat unkempt fur and hair. Still, she couldn’t help but giggle a bit when she realized how ticklish it was. “H-hey, quitit!” she blurted out as a grin crept across her face. She found it frustrating not being able to find a physical form to struggle against, and started trying to scramble away again. But for some reason, the spirit seemed especially fascinated with her, making it hard to escape even when she was back on her feet. “Guys, help! It w-won’t hehehe leave me alone- aaa stop! Hehe…”

Lykou and Kuna stopped their play-wrestling and quickly turned their attention to the squirrel. They both blushed again slightly as the wind lifted the poncho, showing off her admittedly cute body to them once again. Lykou facepalmed and chuckled. “Maybe you should loan her your shorts,” he suggested quietly.

“Or at least makes her a pair of her own,” Kuna agreed, then stalked over, waving his walking stick at the spirit. “Hey, c’mon, leave her alone! You’ve had your fun.”

The spirit continued harassing the poor squirrel, completely ignoring him. Gleam yelped and tried to bolt away, but somehow the spirit stayed right on top of her, as if attached to her somehow. “Gyahhh! Why won’t this thing leave me alone!”

“Maybe something to do with the weird magic you’ve tapped into?” Lykou suggested. “Or maybe it hasn’t seen a squirrel-person before either?”

Kuna rubbed his chin, then snapped his fingers. He dug something out of his bag, then ran over to Gleam. “Gleam, c’mere! I have an idea.”

The squirrel didn’t need to be told twice. She rushed over to Kuna’s side, still flailing and freaking out slightly. The sereva pulled her into a one-armed embrace as the winds started hitting them both, then lifted up a certain magic crystal and closed his eyes. Suddenly, a conflicting set of breezes began to stir up. Though they weren’t as strong, the effect was immediate. The spirit suddenly jerked away and began fleeing up the hill.

Kuna opened his eyes again and smirked as the newer breezes also faded. “Go find someone else to mess with, you goofy wind,” he called after it as it continued fleeing. He pocketed the crystal with a satisfied smirk, then quickly started looking Gleam over. “You alright?”

Gleam blew some hair out of her eye and rubbed her arm bashfully. “Y-yeah… that was weird, though.”

“Hehe, yeah. Honestly, a lot of spirit encounters tend to be kinda like that. Weird, occasionally distracting and annoying, but harmless,” the sereva explained. “Our… other experiences on this trip notwithstanding.”

“Smart thinking, Ku!” Lykou praised as he joined them. “How’d you know that’d work?”

“It was just a hunch,” Kuna replied with a shrug. “Figured if it felt the influence of a much bigger, more powerful spirit on our side, it’d be more inclined to listen and back off.”

“Oh yeah, that makes sense,” Lykou suggested, then folded his ears down a bit. “Dammit, why didn’t I think of that? Some spirit chaser I am…”

“I’m sure you would have in a moment,” Kuna assured him as he helped Gleam smooth her fur back out. “I was just a bit closer anyway.”

“Hmm, fair,” Lykou replied, then sighed. “Man, it’s weird how I dedicated my life to being a supposed expert on spirits before this journey, but obviously I know next to nothing about them.”

“Aw, Kou,” Kuna replied, quickly rushing over to hug him. “Your enthusiasm still counts for something. You can’t help that you never actually got to meet one before we met.”

“And you handled that better than I did, anyway,” Gleam pointed out with a wry smirk. “Leave it to a dummy like me to try literally running away from the wind.”

“Hey, don’t you start too,” Kuna said, reaching over to pull her into a group hug. “No more self-deprecation, you two. That’s my thing.”

“We won’t if you won’t,” Lykou replied with a grin, embracing them both.

“What he said,” Gleam added.

Kuna glanced between them, then giggled a bit and gave them both a one-arm squeeze. “You two are too sweet, you know,” he said. “Anyway, let’s keep going. I want to set up camp so we can relax for a while. Maybe I can do some meditating and scrying practice tonight.”

“Sounds good,” Lykou said as they continued on their way. “Maybe clean up a bit in that creek, too.”

“You and your love of the water,” Kuna teased.

Gleam giggled a little, then pondered back over recent events. “Hey, you said it’s a good thing that spirit wasn’t one of the bigger ones… does that mean the bigger ones are dangerous?”

“Well, yeah, but not intentionally,” Kuna replied. “They’re just as curious, but don’t know their own strength. Which is… a lot. Like enough to rip up some of the biggest trees in some cases. So… you can imagine what that leads to.”

Lykou winced. “Yikes. I can imagine. Reminds me of a storm when I was little. Several houses in Lakefire got really messed up and had to be replaced.”

“That’s terrifying,” Gleam said, shuddering a bit. “I know storms can be scary, but not that scary…”

“Oh definitely,” Kuna said soberly. “Kou, you probably don’t even know the half of it, where you’re used to. For some reason storms seem to be worse in some areas than others. In valleys like where Lakefire is, I guess the mountains sort of block things a little bit. But I remember seeing some terrifying storms one time when I was little. We were going through an area kind of like the Shakonu lands… we barely managed to avoid one that left whole chunks of the ground torn up as it passed. And we nearly got trapped in a flood another time.”

“Flood?” Lykou asked, his eyes widening. “Shimmer Loch gets a bit big sometimes… but I get the impression you mean more than a bit of soggy feet in the morning.”

Kuna nodded. “If we hadn’t moved, we might’ve gotten washed away. Was like a new river formed in the woods after a particularly crazy storm came through.”

“Oh yay, new fears to add to my collection,” Gleam said, her eye twitching a bit.

Kuna winced, then smiled apologetically and wrapped an arm around her. “Hey, don’t worry, those kinds of storms are rare. And hey, we made it out okay in the end,” he said, then frowned and twitched a bit. “Probably thanks to the spirit-weavers, though, I guess.”

Lykou frowned as well. “Well, I’m glad they were good for something at least,” he muttered. “Even if they were still rotten heartless bastards in the end.”

“Yeahhh, let’s not dwell on that,” Kuna replied, then turned his attention back to Gleam with a faint smile. “Point is, don’t worry about it. Those kinds of things are rare, and as long as you’re careful, you can survive them fine. And we’ve got each others’ back, so there’s that too.”

“Exactly,” Lykou said, shooting him a big smile.

Chapter Text

When the trio finally found a good spot just up the hill a bit from the creek Lykou had spotted, they quickly set up camp and settled in. They were all tired, but especially the konuul. After hungrily scarfing down dinner, he actually swapped the usual roles with Kuna, laying sideways with his head in the sereva’s lap with a fatigued, but content look as his chest, and occasionally his head, was affectionately stroked. Naturally, it gave them both butterflies in their tummies, but neither was about to admit to it. And in any case, they had Gleam to distract them, too.

“I really hope that mess with the portal was just a one time thing,” Gleam bemoaned anxiously as she continued nibbling on their reserve of tree nuts. “It’s going to be a huge pain if that happens every time.”

Lykou and Kuna shared a worried look. “Yeah, here’s to hoping,” Lykou said eventually. “But hey, even if it does, we’ll be here for you.”

“I just hope it’s not doing damage to your head or something,” Kuna remarked.

Gleam twitched. “Oh. Goodie. I hadn’t even thought of that.”

“Yeahhh, you didn’t need to say that you know,” Lykou playfully chided.

Kuna winced and smiled sheepishly, scratching his head a bit. “Sorry. I guess my old paranoia habit is flaring up again,” he said, then turned to Gleam. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine. We’ll check with Lana and Daisy next time one of us talks to them.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they would’ve mentioned if they were worried about that being a risk,” Lykou assured the squirrel with a tired smile, then yawned a bit.

“Sounds like you should make an early night of it, sleepyhead,” Kuna teased. “Need help getting to bed?”

Lykou grinned and crossed his arms. “Nah. Comfy right here, thanks.”

Gleam couldn’t help but giggle a little. “Hope you didn’t need to get up anytime soon, Kuna.”

Kuna snickered and rolled his eyes a little. “Oh no, woe is me. I’m trapped under a sweet fluffball. Surely I shall perish here,” he said with a dramatic gesture, then turned to Gleam and held out a hand towards her, with the other over his chest. “Tell people about us, Gleam. It’s up to you to spread our story now- the sereva buried alive, and the konuul doomed by fatal sleepies!”

Lykou and Gleam both giggled at the theatrics. “And you call me a goofball.”

“You both are,” Gleam said, still giggling.

“You’re just rubbing off on me, I guess,” Kuna retorted.

Lykou glanced back up at him with an impish grin and narrowed his eyes playfully. “Maybe later, after I’ve had some rest.”

Kuna and Gleam both looked confused for a moment, then the sereva blushed hotly and prodded him. “Don’t make me vine you!”

“Tease,” Lykou replied with a wink.

Gleam glanced between them in confusion. “Uh... I think I missed something.”

“Don’t mind him, he’s just being a perv,” Kuna said flatly as he picked up his bag and plopped it down on the canid’s face, then held it there for a moment as the konuul half-heartedly fought against it.

“Oh... oh, right,” Gleam said, smirking again. “You two have that special friendship thing… you two gonna do sex stuff tonight??”

Kuna flushed even hotter and shot a surprised, embarrassed look at the squirrel. “Gleam!”

The temporary distraction allowed Lykou to push the bag off his face and he chuckled, blushing a bit as well. “As fun as that’d be, I’m way too tired for that kind of thing right now.”

“Not to mention that’s not something you just… casually ask like that,” Kuna mumbled, covering his face, even as he grinned bashfully. “We’ve been over this…”

“Aww come on, why do we have to treat it like some big secret?” Gleam playfully griped, crossing her arms in a huff. “People are so weird!”

“Admittedly I always thought it was a little odd too,” Lykou said, smirking up at the flustered sereva briefly, then shrugged. “But that’s just how it is.”

Gleam let out a light groan and rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t be,” she grumbled, then continued eating.

“Wonder how Zyn’s doing?” Lykou wondered aloud. “Kinda expected him to pop up again by now.”

Kuna shrugged. “Yeah, but you can never tell when he’ll appear. I’m sure he’ll come around soon though.”

“Hope so. It’d be nice if he could give us a heads-up about what we might see around here, besides random wind spirits,” the canid said. After they all sat in silence for a minute, he glanced over at Gleam and noticed her idly fiddling with a carrot, rather than eating it. “You alright, Gleam?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I uh…” she said, then grinned after a moment. “...well, since the subject came up, I think I’m gonna go do the thing again. The… what did you call it again?”

Lykou and Kuna stared at her for a moment, then both their eyes widened slightly as recognition hit. Lykou chuckled as Kuna rolled his eyes with a bashful smirk. “Oh. That.”

“Masturbating, although people usually use other words for it,” Lykou said. “Like… well, I guess for girls it’s usually called shlicking or jilling or something. No idea where the second one came from, honestly.”

“That’s if they’re more direct,” Kuna pointed out. “Most people try to avoid even mentioning it directly and just say they’re going to go have some personal time in private or something.”

Gleam giggled. “Right, okay, that. You guys want me to go in there,” She gestured behind her to the shelter Kuna had set up with her help earlier. “Or you okay if I do it out here?”

Lykou snickered and waved her off as Kuna’s blush was renewed. “Go on inside. Just be sure to come let us know when you’re done, before you go to bed.”

“Okayyyy,” Gleam said as she eagerly hopped up and slipped off to the makeshift botanical hut.

Once she was out of sight, Lykou chuckled and looked back up at the sereva. “Well, guess we got more time to kill out here. Whatcha wanna do?”

Kuna bit his lip, still blushing faintly as he stared at the hut thoughtfully, then bashfully grinned down at the konuul. “I guess it’s too hopeful to ask if that ‘too tired’ comment was just an excuse to move away from the subject, huh?” he asked shyly.

Lykou stared at him in mild surprise, then smirked and reached up to tweak his nose. “Look at you, being all eager,” he said, then sighed. “Unfortunately yeah, I’m exhausted. Believe me, I’d love to otherwise. But I wouldn’t want to disappoint, and as it is, I hope you don’t mind if I doze off here while Gleam does her thing.”

“Yeah I figured,” Kuna said, giggling, still flushed. “Another time then. And that’s fine by me. I may just meditate a bit, maybe practice scrying.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Lykou replied, then yawned and closed his eyes. “Wake me when she comes back out.”

“Will do, big guy,” Kuna said, tussling his hair lightly.

Lykou smiled contently as he started to drift off, blushing faintly.

Probably for the better, Kuna thought to himself as he watched his crush doze off in his lap. I’ve got it bad enough for you as it is, I don’t need to risk making it worse right now… as much as crave it again.

He smiled and sighed as he took in the canid’s features with great affection. He eventually he snapped himself out of it and looked away. Get it together, Kuna. Right. Scrying practice…

After closing his eyes and taking a few slow, deep breaths to center himself, he began concentrating on clearing his mind. It proved a bit harder than usual, though- no doubt partly because of the konuul in his lap. As much as he tried to focus on Lana and Daisy, with the astral charm clutched in one hand, his mind kept wandering away to other things.

Eventually, he opened his eyes again and glanced up at the stars. He thought he could sense something faint coming from them, almost like they were trying to whisper something to him- but he just chalked it up to being tired and contemplative.

Oddly enough, he ended up thinking back to when he first met Lykou on that fateful day… the storm, the fear, the confusion, it was all so overwhelming. That, paired with malnutrition, the cold, and general exhaustion, led to him ultimately fainting in the konuul’s arms. It’d been the first real warmth- figurative or literal- that he’d felt in ages. He smiled as he turned his attention down to the canid again. And here I am, returning the favor, in a way…

As much as he resented Inkari using them as pawns in some convoluted scheme beyond his understanding, and tearing Lykou away from his home, he had to admit it had saved him in a way he’d never be able to put into words. And as terrified as he’d been that night, he now looked back on it as the best thing that ever happened to him.

Suddenly, Lykou’s eyes fluttered open again and he smiled up at the sereva when he saw him looking back down at him. He yawned again, then chuckled. “Trouble meditating?”

Kuna blushed slightly and shrugged. “Yeah, mind’s just restless tonight I guess.”

“Oh yeah?” the konuul asked, then hugged the sereva’s arm to his chest. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

“Just back to when we first met,” Kuna admitted. “Circumstances aside, at the very least I have to admit I’m grateful Ink brought us together.”

Lykou flinched at the name, but continued to smile back up at him, then laced his finger’s together with the sereva’s. “Yeah… me too. She’s still a manipulative, twisted bitch for putting us through so much and taking me away from home, but I definitely don’t regret that part.” He giggled a little. “It’s funny how quick you went from being terrified of me to immediately dozing off after I grabbed you.” A thought occurred to him for the first time and he folded his ears down. “Uh, shit. I hope I didn’t scare you into fainting.”

Kuna giggled. “I’m sure at the time that’s what I would’ve said if you asked,” he said, then shook his head. “But no. Honestly, it was just the first time I’d felt that warm and cozy in forever. And… well, you saw my state at the time.”

“Oh yeah?” Lykou asked, then his smile faded into a more sympathetic look. “You know, I was kind of wondering… you mentioned once you had another cave somewhere around that you’d been sleeping in, right? Did you not have anything left there? Something to keep you warm?”

“Eh… the only clothes I had were a mess. I kept tearing them up to try and make something new with them, but of course I didn’t have a needle so it just ended up being a mess of scraps and rags,” Kuna explained, frowning as well, then shuddered a bit. “I… left the old tent behind because it was too painful to look at, honestly. Dumb move, I know.”

“Maybe, but a totally understandable one,” Lykou replied, rubbing his arm softly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up…”

Kuna shrugged, then smiled faintly. “It’s fine. It’s in the past. What’s important is the present, where I’m here with you,” he said, then giggled. “If you’ll pardon the sap.”

“Oh you know me, I embrace sappy,” Lykou retorted, wrapping an arm around the sereva’s waist with a grin. “Still, if we happen to pass near it on the way home, we can grab anything you might’ve left behind if you want. Assuming it’s still in decent shape.”

“Eh, I don’t think-” Kuna started to say, then froze as his eyes widened, then started to tear up. “-FUCK!” he suddenly blurted out, smacking his palm to his face. “Dammit, gramma’s blanket…”

“Oh?” Lykou asked, perking up with concern. “So you did have something to keep you warm, hmm?”

Kuna let out a shaky sigh and rubbed his face, sniffling a bit. “Spirits, I hope it’s still safe somehow… hopefully nothing got into it…” He sighed after a moment and looked back down at the konuul after rubbing the tears away. “I actually just kept it folded up most of the time, because I didn’t want to risk damaging it. It was the one special thing I had left from my family.”

Lykou frowned and gave his middle a gentle squeeze with his arm. “Hey, I’m sure it’ll be fine…”

“Maybe… I tried to keep it tucked away in the back of the cave, so at least it should be safe from the rain,” Kuna replied. “Not telling after this long, though…”

“Hey, if it’s damaged, we can always grab it and see about fixing it up after we get back,” Lykou assured him. “We’ve got plenty of needles in Lakefire. Sunstone ones, even.”

Kuna nodded and took a deep breath to calm himself. “Right… I’ll just try and be optimistic.”

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Lykou and he smiled up at the sereva. “Hey, since your mind is on it anyway, and it’s probably safe to say you have a strong connection to it… why not try scrying on that instead? Could be good practice, and if it works, you can get some idea of what kind of shape it’s in.”

“That… that’s actually a great idea,” Kuna said, perking up a bit. “Although I doubt I’ll be able to see much, given where I left it. But it’s worth a try.” He smiled and tussled the canid’s hair a bit. “Thanks, Kou. I’ll give it a try.”

Lykou chuckled. “Happy to be of help.” He yawned a bit. “I think I’ll try dozing again in the meantime. Let me know how it goes afterwards, though.”

“Will do,” Kuna said as he closed his eyes and began focusing again. He thought back to the blanket as memories came rushing back to him. He could practically feel it wrapped around him, and smell the faint scent of the various herbs that he’d been fed in some form or another when he was sick all those years ago. He thought back wistfully to the nights he’d spend swaddled in it in his grandmother’s lap, as she nursed him back to health and told him all kinds of stories. Or how he’d wake up from some nightmare, only for one of his parents to swoop in and hold him in it until he could go back to sleep, usually with them singing to him. A tear leaked out of the corner of his eye as he reminisced.

Finally, he forced his attention away from the memories and tried to focus more on the blanket itself. The colorful, intricate pattern that’d somehow been stitched into it always captivated him. And even if it wasn’t quite as soft or smooth as some of the other materials he’d encountered since, it was by far the coziest thing he’d ever owned. It blocked the cold better than anything, and despite his insistence otherwise, he did occasionally wrap up in it in that cave, when he felt the world closing in around him. It always helped to ground him. He imagined how it’d feel to share it with Lykou eventually… perhaps in another, happier cave, making little paintings on the wall together, playfully dabbing a little on one another’s faces after a while.

He smiled at the thought, basking in the cozy, sweet mental image. But eventually he forced it aside to focus again on the blanket itself. His hand started to glow with soul energy as he pictured it laying in the cave, neatly folded like he always kept it. As he focused, he could feel the faint sensation of leaving his body again, and peering across a great distance. Finally, a vision began to form, blurry at first, then gradually clearing up.

But what he saw threw him for a loop. He didn’t see the blanket- in fact, he was looking near the entrance to the cave, rather than in the back. It was dark, so things were hard to make out. But in the corner of the vision, something took him by surprise- a campfire. It was low, almost embers at that point, but it was definitely a campfire. Someone was actively camping at his old site.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, a sudden slight motion on the ground caught his attention. It was then that he realized there was someone laying there, under a blanket of their own, on a simple sleeping mat. And he finally spotted the blanket he’d been looking for in the middle of the vision, sticking out of the owner’s pack. His attention flitted back to the sleeping individual in astonishment- most of their features were hidden by darkness and their own blanket, but he could just make out a pair of pointed ears. And he thought he saw a tail flick briefly in the darkness.

He wasn’t sure what to think. Someone had found his campsite, was using it, and had taken his blanket. And they appeared to be a konuul! At least his blanket looked like it was being taken care of. Still, part of him felt anxious about the situation. But as the reality settled in, he snapped out of the vision and opened his eyes with a gasp.

Lykou’s eyes fluttered open again and he looked up at the wide-eyed sereva with concern. “Ku? Everything alright?”

Kuna just sat in silence for a moment, staring into the distance thoughtfully. “I… I saw someone… someone has my blanket,” he murmured quietly, then finally looked down at the canid with an uncertain, but slightly excited expression. “A-and… I think they’re a konuul…”

“...what?” Lykou asked in a hushed tone, eyes going wide. He suddenly sat up and put his arms on the sereva’s shoulders. “Say that again…”

Kuna put his hands on the konuul’s arms and grinned a little. “I couldn’t see them very well but…. Someone’s at my old camping spot, and they have my blanket poking out of their bag. It was too dark to see much, and they were asleep under their own blanket, but… they had the same kind of pointy ears, and I think I caught a look at their tail. Definitely looked konuul to me. Bag looked like yours, too.”

Lykou stared at him in stunned silence. Slowly, he started to tear up and a smile crept across his face. “They… they haven’t given up…” He suddenly pulled Kuna into a tight, shaky hug, sniffling. “S-someone’s looking for me… they still haven’t given up!”

Kuna smiled and squeezed him gently. “Well Zyn did say-”

“That’s right!” Lykou said, suddenly pulling back and swishing his tail. “It… i-it’s probably… oh spirits, what if it’s Naira?? What’s she doing so far away?! She’s not good at hunting or survival stuff! Oh fuck, she better be careful!”

“Hey, you never know. Maybe she’s not alone- I only saw the area around the bag with my blanket,” Kuna pointed out. “And it was too dark anyway. Maybe there are others further in the cave.”

Lykou sniffed and embraced him again, his tail swishing like mad behind him. “They haven’t given up on me… oh, Kuna…”

Kuna gave him a tight squeeze in response. “Of course not. You think they’d give up on finding the sweetest fluffball in the village when they have even a tiny notion of you still being alive? Not a chance! I know I wouldn’t.”

The konuul continued to cry happily as he stayed in the sereva’s embrace. Eventually, once he’d collected himself a bit, he pulled back again and rubbed his eyes, blushing a little. “S-sorry, just…”

“Hey, you’ve got nothing to say sorry for, you goofball,” Kuna interrupted, smiling back at him. “I’m glad I could bring you some good news.”

“Do you think you could try again tomorrow, when it’s light out? Even if I can’t see them myself, I’d love if you could confirm it,” Lykou asked hopefully.

“Of course! We better get some rest though,” Kuna replied, then glanced over at the hut. “Uh, when we can, anyway…”

Lykou smirked and glanced over as well. “Wonder how she’s doing.”

*****

Meanwhile, the dim glow of coals kept watch over a formerly-abandoned campsite at the mouth of a cave filled with little paintings. The new occupant slept soundly, her dreams filled with questions and possibilities about the site’s former resident. A gentle breeze wafted the smoke up into the sky, and stoked the low, lingering flames in the firepit slightly. And nearby, a ball of pure sunstone jostled around slightly for a minute, certain symbols on its sides flickering and glowing, as there was a faint charge in the air. A moment later, it settled down and the glow faded…

*****

“Well-” Kuna started to say, only to be interrupted as a faint squeak and a few louder grunts came from the hut, and they both blushed.

“I guess that answers that,” Lykou said, grinning. “If she’s getting louder, she must be getting-”

“Nngh… ah, Kuna!” a voice blurted out from inside, sounding somewhat urgent.

Kuna’s face turned beet red. “Oh, spirits…”

Lykou immediately doubled over into a soft snickering fit. “Well, I guess we know who she-”

“LykooouUUU-!” the voice blurted out a little louder. This time, her voice was notably shakier. It was pretty clear they wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

It was Kuna’s turn to smirk and poke the canid, albeit still brightly flushed himself. “You were saying?”

Lykou continued snickering, his own blush intensifying a little. “Well, we are the only other people that she’s met so far. Well, besides Zyn.”

Kuna shook his head and facepalmed. “I’ll have to remember to make the walls a bit thicker in the future… I never would have expected her to be so... vocal.”

“Some get loud,” Lykou said with an impish look. “...while others just make silly faces.”

“Hey!” Kuna said, quickly stuffing his bag in the canid’s face again to hide his renewed blush.

Lykou snickered and pushed the bag aside. “What, you do!”

“S-shut up,” Kuna retorted, grinning and rolling his eyes as he gave the canid a playful shove. He then turned his attention back to the shelter. “Well, it’s quiet again. Guess she must have, uh... finished.”

“Obviously. You heard that last one,” Lykou replied with a smirk. “We should talk to her about keeping the noise down. Think we should tease her a bit?”

Kuna arched a brow. “Something tells me it wouldn’t work. She was willing to do it right here in front of us, after all.”

“That’s... a good point,” Lykou said, frowning slightly, then shrugged. “Well, still worth a try.”

The sereva just smirked and shook his head. “Knock yourself out, Kou.” He squinted at the building and focused for a moment. “Yeah I think I can sense her getting up now.”

“It’s so cool that you can do that, you know,” Lykou commented, giving the sereva a quick side-armed squeeze. “I think you’re getting better at it, too.”

Kuna blushed and smiled. “Well, I’ve had lots of practice.”

A few moments later, a very satisfied squirrel exited the shelter with a very content expression. Her fur was more mussed up than usual. “Hey guys,” she said as she walked over to join the two by the fire, then plopped down with a happy sigh. It was then she noticed Kuna blushing and avoiding looking her in the eye, while Lykou was staring at her with a bemused look and crossed arms. “Uh, what? Something wrong?”

“Y-you, uh,” Kuna started to reply, hazarding a quick glance towards her. “You got a bit... noisy in there.”

“Oh, sorry,” Gleam said. “I didn’t mess with your meditating, did I?”

“He already wrapped that up by the time you started getting louder,” Lykou said, still grinning impishly. “It’s more about what you were saying that’s noteable.”

“We... heard our names,” Kuna added, idly fiddling with one of the flaps on his sareo, while avoiding her eyes again.

“Oh!” Gleam replied, then giggled. Anyone else might have been mortified, or at least a bit embarrassed. But, as Kuna had predicted, she was unphased. “Yeah, I thought it might be fun to imagine doing stuff with you guys while I was doing it.” She crossed her arms and shot them a playfully annoyed look. “You know, since you won’t actually do it with me. Pretending is the next best thing, right? Although I wish I actually knew what your-”

“Wow, okay, that’s enough info!” Kuna blurted out, blushing brightly and facepalming. “You really just came out and admitted it, sheesh...”

Lykou snickered and patted his back. “Well this is Gleam we’re talking about here,” he said, then turned back to the squirrel. “So you know, that’s not the kind of thing people usually just casually admit to. I don’t mind personally- in fact I’m flattered, but just keep that in mind around other people.”

“Oh. Right,” Gleam said, scratching her head. “I’ll... keep that in mind, I guess.” She sighed. “I wish people weren’t so weird about these things.”

“In the future, you should try to keep the noise down a little, too,” Kuna pointed out.

“Really?” Gleam asked in annoyance. “So I have to hide so nobody can see me, AND I have to be quiet about it too? What, afraid I’ll draw the attention of a big predator or something?” She blinked, then smirked at Lykou. “No offense, Kou.”

The konuul snickered. “None taken.”

“Just try to keep it down a little next time,” Kuna suggested, blushing. “We’re flattered, but uh… yeah…”

“You suuuure I can’t convince one of you to help me next time?” Gleam whined. “This has got me all curious and I want to see what it’s like to actually-”

“No, Gleam,” Kuna said, facepalming again.

“Sorry Gleam,” Lykou said, chuckling. “You’ll just have to make do for now.”

“It’s not fair!” the squirrel playfully pouted. After a moment, something occurred to her. “...can I at least watch you two next time you do stuff together? I’m really curious-”

Kuna cut her off by grabbing his bag back and covering his face, then groaned into it, making Lykou burst into a fresh giggling fit.

“Gleam, let’s change the subject before you fully break Ku,” the konuul suggested after he calmed down.

“Fiiiine,” the squirrel grumpily conceded. After a moment, she perked up a bit. “So how did the scraying or whatever it’s called go?”

“Oh, it went great!” Lykou said, his tail immediately dusting the ground behind him. “Unexpected, but great! Instead of Lana and Daisy, he saw a konuul!”

“Oh yeah!” Kuna chimed in, dropping the bag in excitement. “I remembered I left behind my gramma’s blanket when Kou and I… well, met and got whisked away. Which really upset me, but Lykou suggested I try scrying on it since I have a close connection to it, and it worked! But it turns out someone else has it now.”

“And they’re at his old campsite, too!” Lykou added.

The sereva rubbed his neck awkwardly. “Eh… ‘campsite’ is a bit generous for the little misery-hole I slept in before we met.”

“Aww, Ku,” Gleam said, shooting him a sympathetic look, while Lykou quickly pulled him into a hug.

Kuna smiled and returned the embrace happily. “Hey, important thing is I’m in a much better situation now,” he said, then glanced out into the darkness of the forest. “Eeeeven if it is on a huge journey full of danger and… ‘adventure’. And I left my blanket behind.”

“Hey that last bit worked out!” Lykou said, squeezing him a bit. “You probably saw someone from Lakefire!”

“What did they look like?” Gleam asked curiously. “If you describe them well enough, maybe Kou will know who it was!”

“Unfortunately it was too dark to make much out. I just saw the ears and a glimpse of the tail, and they looked very konuul-like,” Kuna explained. “Plus the bag I saw looked a lot like Kou’s chaser pack.”

“He said he’ll try scrying again in the morning,” Lykou said. “Might delay us a little, but it’s worth it as far as I’m concerned.”

“That’s great, guys!” Gleam said cheerfully. After a moment, she stretched and yawned. “Well, I dunno about you guys, but I’m ready for sleep.”

“Ah-ah,” Kuna chided with a smirk, pointing at her. “Not till you clean up.”

“Wha-?” Gleam asked in confusion. “What do you mean? I’m clean!”

“No you’re not,” Lykou said, then sniffed the air and grinned. “You smell like a girl who just had a good time, if you know what I mean.”

“If you wanna sleep in the shelter with us, you better clean up,” Kuna said, then rolled his water jug over to her. “Go and-”

“Ugh, fiiiine,” Gleam cut him off, quickly and unceremoniously pulling off the poncho in the process. She then uncorked the jug and started halphazardly splashing herself with the water.

Kuna blushed and gawked. “Gleam!”

“What? I’m not walking out into the dark woods just to clean up!” the squirrel griped, continuing to do a sloppy job of washing herself off.

Lykou chuckled. And, for seemingly the dozenth time in the last couple of hours, Kuna’s hand met his own flushed face.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Lykou was the first one awake. Although he’d slept solidly due to exhaustion, he was restless soon after he got up, and ended up pacing around the camp while the other two slumbered. The news from Kuna’s scrying had his mind racing. On the one hand, he was excited and relieved to think that his friends, family, and tribe hadn’t given up on him- though he was incredibly curious to know more. Even if he had his strong suspicions, he still couldn’t be sure exactly who it was without knowing more details.

And on the other hand, what were they doing so far from Lakefire? From what he understood, Kuna’s old hidey-hole was well outside Asher territory. Sure, he was grateful to know they cared enough to come looking for him, but knowing that he was who-knew how far away, and stuck using magic to make his way home, he was worried about them getting themselves lost in the process. Who would even be allowed out that far?

He had no doubt Naira would defy anyone to come looking for him if given the chance, but he also knew she wasn’t a great survivalist. Any time they’d gone camping out in the woods together, he’d ended up looking after her- gladly, of course, but still. And Oren was more or less the same. Hopefully if it was them, they at least had someone more experienced with them.

But then, he also felt bad if they’d brought any of the tribes more skilled hunters with them. The tribe needed those individuals to protect it and provide food, after all. Either way, it worried him a bit, even though he was glad to know they were looking for him. He wondered what Naira must hav said after her encounter with Zyn- and, for that matter, how she might have convinced anyone she was telling the truth.

Then, of course, there was another possibility he’d been avoiding, but it had gradualy been itching at the back of his mind more and more- what if it wasn’t someone from his tribe that Kuna had seen at all? The only other tribe he knew of was the northern tribe- ‘Frost Fang’ or whatever they called themselves. And they were a long way off, and tended to only visit in the late spring, when they did. Could Kuna have seen strangers from a tribe previously unknown to him? If so, what were they doing there?

He shivered and shook the thoughts off eventually. While it was a strange possibility, he realized it was pointless pondering it. In fact, as much as he wanted answers, he knew he wasn’t going to get them from pacing around stressing about it. He sat down by the fire he’d rekindled after getting up and began idly poking at it to distract himself. As he did so, his mind wandered to other matters. A content smile crossed his face as he thought about Kuna, and just how talented he was.

The sereva was clearly a clever and talented individual, even if he didn’t always acknowledge it. Sewing, herbology, singing, and making huge strides in his magic since he first started learning it- no doubt he was a special individual. Not to mention his growth as a person. I knew there was more to him when we first met, he thought to himself. I’m so glad I could be part of helping him slowly realize it.

He sighed contently as he leaned back and watched the flames dance. His mind wandered back to those early days of their journey, when Kuna was still struggling and eventually broke down. “When we were in that cave that first night… it’s like something cried out to me. I don’t know if it was spirits or magic, or just that look you get in your eyes, but I think part of you is screaming out against the pain and loneliness in a way I just can’t ignore.” The words echoed in his mind, and he was starting to wonder if there was even more to it- he was pretty sure ‘love at first sight’ was nonsense, but still, he couldn’t shake the idea that maybe there’d been more than a surface-level attraction to the sereva right from the start.

Every time he looked into the sereva’s eyes, he felt those butterflies again. Every time they touched, he wanted to just pull him into his arms and hold onto him, never letting go. Whenever they faced some danger, he was more afraid for Kuna than himself. There was no denying it- he was falling hard for him.

He sighed and grumbled. I hate that I have to give her credit for anything, he thought. But I’m glad Ink brought us together. Now if only we could hurry and get home soon so I can-

“Mmm mornin’ Kou,” Gleam mumbled, interrupting his thoughts and mildly startling him as she trudged out of the shelter and came to join him by the fire. She stretched after plopping down, then rubbed her eyes. “How long ya been up?”

“Oh! Hey Gleam,” Lykou replied cheerfully. “Eh, a while... you sleep okay?”

The squirrel nodded as she dug a tuber out of her food bag, then started munching on it. “No visits. Slept normally for once. Was nice. Kinda weird not remembering any dreams again tho. How about you?”

“Yeah, just... woke up earlier than I expected,” Lykou answered with a shrug. “Lot on my mind I guess.”

“Thinking about what Kuna saw?” Gleam asked, smirking. “Just remember to let him wake up a bit when he comes out, before you start bothering him about checking again.”

“I know, I know,” Lykou responded, flicking his tail around a bit. “I’m just so full of questions and worries, though.”

“Oh yeah?” the squirrel asked between mouthfuls. “Like what?”

The konuul explained his thoughts from earlier, before his mind started dwelling on his crush again. “I just hope whoever it was is safe and being careful, especially if it’s Naira. She’s not a great hunter, and if it is her, she better at least have a couple other people with her.”

“Well if she’s in such unfamiliar territory, I’m sure she did,” Gleam said. “I can’t imagine she’d go there by herself.”

“Normally no,” Lykou agreed. “But who knows where her mind’s at right now? Especially after meeting Zyn. Remember, nobody in Lakefire has even seen magic in person before, as far as I know. She’s one of the few people besides me that even seems to have any interest in any of the old stories. Well, her and maybe a few of the elders. I can see her getting obsessed enough to take unusual risks.”

“Well, hopefully she was at least smart about it either way,” Gleam said.

They carried on chatting a bit, and around half an hour later, Kuna finally made his appearance, yawning on the way over to join them. “Morning, you two.”

Gleam gave a little wave. “Mornin’.”

“Good morning, Ku!” Lykou replied a bit too excitedly. He wasted no time bringing some food and water over to the sereva. “Sleep okay?”

“Mhmm,” Kuna said looking down at the fruit and nuts being offered to him. He smirked at the konuul as he took them. “Yes, I’ll scry soon. Just give me some time.”

Lykou became a little frazzled “Wh- I wasn’t-”

Kuna snickered, while Gleam watched on in amusement. “It’s okay, I don’t blame you for being excited.”

“But- I-!” Lykou protested, then sat back and crossed his arms. “Okay, so I am, but that’s not the only reason-”

“I know, you’re always a sweetheart, Kou,” Kuna interrupted again, then chuckled and leaned over to bump him playfully. “I’m just messing with you. Your eagerness is adorable.”

“Not as adorable as you,” Lykou mumbled, then grinned when it had the expected effect of making the sereva blush and nudge him again. “Hehe, point for me.”

“Yeah yeah,” Kuna replied then munched on a few of the nuts. “Too early for that.”

“Never too early for that,” Lykou said, then stretched a bit. “So did you sleep okay?”

“Mhmm,” the sereva replied around a bite of fruit. “You?”

“Yeah. Could’ve used a little more, but my body woke up and I couldn’t shut my head up,” Lykou replied with a shrug. “I got enough though, I’ll be fine. Definitely feel better than yesterday.”

Kuna nodded. “I know that feeling too well,” he said sympathetically. “How about you, Gleam? All done with your… visits?”

“Yeah, like I was telling Kou, it’s the first uneventful night I’ve had since... well, you know,” the squirrel replied, gesturing to herself broadly. “Being peopleified.”

“That’s good,” Kuna said, then paused for a moment and arched a brow. “...huh. I guess this is the first night in a while where there wasn’t at least one of us up to weird dream stuff.”

“I guess so,” Lykou agreed. “Hopefully that means we’ll make good progress today.”

“Assuming nothing else slows us down,” Gleam said, then shivered a bit. “Like another spirit or something.”

The three continued to chatter idly for a short while, but Kuna tried to make his breakfast reasonably quick. Even if the konuul was clearly trying to be patient, the sereva picked up on his eagerness as they talked. And truth be told, he was excited as well. The idea of finally seeing someone else from Lykou’s life, albeit remotely, was plenty motivating in itself, even setting aside his eagerness to make his best friend happy.

So, when he finished the last bite of the fruit he had in hand, he washed it down with a big gulp of water, and announced that he would start meditating right away. On queue, Lykou and Gleam paused their conversation and found other, quieter things to do in the meantime. Initially they began packing things up as quietly as possible, to save time later, but it didn’t take long. With that done, Gleam alternated between pacing around, playing with some flowers and grass, watching some birds up in the trees, and laying on the ground, bored. Boredom was largely a new concept for her, and she hated it- it was all she could do to keep quiet. Eventually, she ended up dozing a little.

Meanwhile, Lykou initially toyed with the axe quietly, seeing if he could ‘attune’ to it any further. But his own ability to focus was limited, distracted as he was by his thoughts. Eventually he just made himself comfortable and waited. He found himself looking over the sereva as his mind wandered. Initially, his thoughts were on the people back home, and wondering what Kuna would report. But he started dwelling on Kuna’s features and smiling faintly as he appreciated them all in silence. He swore he could never get tired of looking at that cute twink. And besides the physical attraction, he couldn’t help thinking about holding him and caressing him, and genuinely being intimate and close with him, in ways he was too anxious to make a reality just yet.

All the while, Kuna cleared his mind and focused. When he felt that he was in the right headspace, he grasped the soul energy flowing through himself, and concentrated on that familiar link to his old blanket. And gradually, the vision began to manifest in his mind…

*****

Naira woke up that morning a bit early as well, unknowingly mirroring her missing best friend. Though she could have used more sleep, her mind wouldn’t let her doze back off. Only in her case, rather than simple excitement, her mind was racing with questions and curiosity. The vision she’d seen in the woods the previous night were still fresh on her mind. On the one hand, she was frustrated that they hadn’t led to any more information about Lykou’s whereabouts; but on the other, she was fascinated by the mysterious stranger she’d caught glimpses of, and whose camp she’d found and been frequently staying at.

And then there was the magic itself. Real magic, at her fingertips! She had no clue how it worked, but it was no longer just the stuff of old stories- she’d finally seen it with her own eyes. She would definitely have a litany of questions for Kitza later on, though she knew better than to expect any straightforward answers. In the meantime, she wanted to see what else the orb might be able to reveal.

She rolled it around in her hand as she ate her breakfast. Given what it had shown her the previous day, she knew what at least one of its capabilities was, and she wanted to try it out in some other areas. Her hope was that if she could just find the right place, she’d get a better look at what happened to Lykou- and whoever this ‘Kuna’ individual was. But it was a big forest, and she wasn’t sure where to start looking. Given the prep for the ritual, it’d be a pain to just keep picking random spots and trying it over and over again as well.

But as she was mulling over where to start her search, she suddenly paused mid-bite and glanced around. She had the strangest feeling she was being watched all of the sudden. She slowly lowered the piece of jerky in her hand and reached for her knife as she scanned her surroundings. She couldn’t see anything moving, but the feeling was unmistakable. After a moment, she noticed her fur started to stand on end slightly in some spots, and she thought she could feel a faint change in the air, though she couldn’t describe it.

She was so on edge that she practically leaped out of her fur when the orb suddenly twitched on its own in her grip. The orb dropped to the ground in her panic, and on impact, there was a brief flash of light from one of the symbols. She eyed it warily, momentarily forgetting her initial reasons for unease. When nothing else happened, she slowly reached down to pick it up again. As she did so, it twitched again and she recoiled.

Again, she waited. Finally, she picked it up and looked it over as it gently jostled and twitched around in her grasp. It seemed to only do so while she was holding it. A few symbols faintly glowed while it was moving, as well. After a moment, she realized that it seemed to be tugging weakly in a particular direction. She held it out in front of her and glanced around as she tried to follow its urging. The glowing bits grew brighter as she approached a seemingly arbitrary spot near her pack, until eventually the orb jostled more urgently in all directions, with the glowing bits flashing intermittently and brightly as it did so.

She looked around in confusion and growing concern, trying to make sense of it. “What? What is it??” she asked the orb, unsure if she should even expect an answer. “What do you want? What am I supposed to do??” As her frustration built, she started waving the orb around with growing fervor. Suddenly, when it passed through a specific part of the air, she yelped as the orb flared brightly, accompanied by a popping, sizzling sound and a faint sensation that she’d struck something.

All at once, the orb grew inert again. It stopped moving, and the lights went away. She stood there, staring at it, dumbfounded, for a few minutes. “...the fuck was that all about?!” she finally blurted out after a moment. After a brief pause, she looked at the forest around her in exasperation. “Well?? Spirits?? Visions? Other magic shit?! Anyone?! I’d love to ask someone besides myself questions for once!”

*****

Lykou and Gleam helped Kuna up, looking him over with panicked concern. In the middle of his meditation, he suddenly got knocked sideways, accompanied by a burst of magical light that dissipated almost immediately. Though he didn’t appear to be physically injured, he was clearly a bit disoriented and dizzy. “Ku, are you okay?!” the konuul asked urgently. “Talk to us! What happened??”

“Mmngh, wha? Gramma?” the sereva replied as he somewhat clumsily rubbed his head. For a brief moment, his eyes crossed, until he shook his head and seemed to snap out of it. “Ouch… that was… weird…”

“Are you alright??” Gleam asked as she and Lykou helped him carefully sit up again.

“Yeah, yeah I’m… I’m fine, I think,” Kuna said as the dizziness subsided. “Uh. Remember when Daisy… ‘kicked me back’ that one time? I think something similar just happened, but… much harder.”

“Huh??” Lykou asked, frowning. “But… that doesn’t…” He sighed. “Well, no way it was someone from Lakefire, then. Nobody there uses magic, let alone that powerful.”

“Well that’s the thing,” Kuna explained, still rubbing his head as he recalled the vision. “I don’t think she was doing it herself. She had this… thing. A magical ball thing, it looked like it was made from sunstone, but it had a bunch of runes on it, and some were lit up. And it was doing… something, but it didn’t seem like she really knew what she was doing with it.”

“Really? Sunstone?? I don’t think the northern tribe has much of that...” Lykou said, perking back up. “Never heard of something like that though. What was it doing?”

“Kind of… jerking around in her hand. Looked like it startled her at first, so she’s definitely not used to it, whoever she is,” Kuna continued. “I think it was… leading her towards me. And when it hit wherever I was viewing from, it… well, knocked me out, so to speak.” He winced a bit and rubbed his eye. “Really hard.”

“Strange,” Gleam said. “Remind me not to touch it if we ever get close to it.”

“Wait… ‘she’ huh?” Lykou asked, starting to grow hopeful again. “Can… can you describe her?”

“Oh, yeah um. Well, she was definitely a konuul,” Kuna said, trying to remember as many details as he could. “Got distracted pretty quick, but… she was wearing an outfit very similar to the one you had on when we met. Same kind of knife, too. A bit smaller than you, but not too much. Had long hair tied back, black like yours. She had a sort of stripe-like bit on one ear. Oh, and she had some kind of necklace I think- a pair of feathers with a big shiny bead between them. Maybe sunstone too?”

Lykou stared at him for a moment, mouth hanging open slightly. Slowly, his eyes started to tear up a bit. “D… did she h-have different colored eyes?”

“I… actually yeah, I think so, now that you mention it,” Kuna said, rubbing his chin. “I didn’t get a good look, but I did notice something about them looked a little unusual.”

Lykou slowly slumped back as a faint smile crept across his face. “Naira… that… that’s Naira…” Suddenly, he tackled the sereva into a tight hug as a tear escaped and trickled down his cheek.

Kuna yelped and smiled a bit as he returned the embrace. “Yeah?” he said once the grip around him eased up a little. “You think so?”

“No question,” Lykou replied, leaning back to rub his eye after a moment. He smiled bashfully. “S-sorry, just…”

“No need to apologize,” Kuna said, chuckling a bit, then rubbed the canid’s shoulder. “And hey, it’s nice to finally see this childhood bestie of yours.” He rubbed his head again and smirked. “Even if the circumstances are… strange.”

“Heh, yeah,” Lykou said, then the smile faded a bit. “Wait, is she on her own? Did you not see anyone else there?”

Kuna shook his head. “Nope. Looked like she was by herself. She seemed pretty alert, though,” he assured him. “And well equipped. Besides the knife, I saw a bow laying with her stuff.”

Lykou mulled it over for a moment, rubbing his neck thoughtfully. “I wonder what I’ve missed since I’ve been gone,” he pondered aloud. “That… doesn’t sound like her. And what’s that ball thing she’s got??”

“Something else to ask Zyn when he shows up again,” Gleam chimed in. “Who knows? Maybe he gave it to her.”

“Well I certainly hope someone is helping her out,” Lykou said, growing a bit worried. “Way out there by herself like that… a lot must have changed in the past couple months.”

“Hey, she had a pretty damn good motive,” Kuna pointed out with a smile, giving the canid a side-armed squeeze. “She looked like she was in good shape, at least.”

“You said two different colored eyes,” Gleam pointed out, growing curious. “Is that a common thing?”

“First I’ve heard of it,” Kuna said.

“Really? Huh,” Lykou said, then shrugged. “I wouldn’t say it’s common, but there’s several people like that in Lakefire. I actually found it kind of strange we haven’t encountered anyone else like that on this trip so far.”

“Must be a konuul thing,” Kuna replied. “Kind of interesting, honestly. Gives her a striking look.”

“Was she saying anything?” Lykou asked.

“Hard to say,” Kuna said with a shrug. “So far the visions don’t include sound.”

“For that matter, it’d be nice if you could talk to her,” Gleam pointed out. “Let her know Kou’s here with you and safe.”

“Oh tell me about it,” Kuna agreed, nodding. “Though I wonder if she’d even listen to me.”

“She might think you’re a spirit,” Lykou pointed out with a faint smirk, then sighed. “In any case, I just hope we get back sooner than it’d take to figure something like that out…”

“I’m sure we will, Kou,” the sereva said, rubbing the canid’s back a bit. He then straightened up and looked around. “On that note though, we should head out. I see you guys finished packing up while I was meditating.”

“Uhh, before we do, you mind if I use the shelter for a little bit?” Gleam asked with a slightly sheepish expression. “Kinda want to-”

“Really, Gleam?” Kuna asked somewhat incredulously. “Again, already?”

Lykou chuckled and nudged him slightly. “Hey, cut her some slack- everyone’s like that when they first discover it. And she’s got a lot of lost time to make up for,” he pointed out with a wink, making the sereva blush, then looked back to the squirrel. “That said though, why don’t you wait until tonight? Do it too often and you won’t appreciate it quite as much, trust me.”

Gleam shifted uncomfortably for a moment, pouting slightly, then shrugged. “Okay, yeah, sure, no problem. Tonight then.”

*****

As the trio made their way through the hilly landscape, it gradually started to smooth out, and the foliage started growing denser. The land began to slope steadily upwards. But after passing through a dense patch of shrubbery, they stopped in their tracks as they looked down into a large gorge, filled with raging rapids, with small, rocky islands scattered among them. Impressive waterfalls cascaded down from several spots along the tall cliffs, both nearby and far away. Several buzzards flew around lazily overhead, and a few large lizard-like creatures were scattered around on the islands, basking in the sunlight.

Some jagged crystalline minerals jutted out of the islands in small clusters, making for very pretty, if dangerous accents to the scenery. Some bones near some of the dingier-looking crystal protrusions reinforced just how dangerous it could be to fall into the rapids, since several of them swept right around their islands, and there were likely more masked by the rolling waters, just under the surface. Some of the cleaner crystals high up on the cliffs caught the sunlight in just the right way that they cast small rainbows across the gorge, painting the dangerous landscape with a deceptively beautiful aura.

Gleam gasped and gawked wordlessly at the sight, unable to find words for such a sight.

“Woah,” Lykou said, eyeing the gorge with awe. “Reminds me of when we saw those giant tortoise- things fighting early on.”

Kuna nodded, then furrowed his brow. “Unfortunately this time I think we’re going to have to, uh… go down there,” he said, then gestured towards one of the larger islands, which was covered in both foliage and large rock clusters. “Can’t quite see it, but I sense the arch down around there somewhere.”

“H-how…. How are we-” Gleam started stammering, still unable to pull her gaze off the awe-inspiring sight in front of her. “How are w-we gonna… get down there…??”

“Good question,” the sereva replied. “I don’t see any safe, let alone easy ways down there, and that’s not even considering crossing that water.”

“Hmm, okay, one problem at a time,” Lykou said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “First, how to get down there. No paths I can see… pretty long way down. I don’t suppose you could use your magic to grow us a way down, could you? Like back in the giant beehive, but down instead of up.”

Kuna cautiously knelt down and peered over the cliff towards its base. He frowned and shook his head. “I dunno, not much to work with down there. Lot of solid rock, not much exposed soil, not much plantlife to work with… even if I could, it’d take a while and leave me too exhausted to continue traveling aftewards. And I don’t think camping down there’s a great idea.”

“Damn,” Lykou replied, then looked around some more. “There’s gotta be some way down there…”

“What about there?” Gleam said, pointing to a section of cliffs on the side of a peninsula jutting out into the gorge a bit. It was a little lower down, but not much. On the side were a number of boulders jutting out at different levels- climbable distances apart, but very risky looking.

“Hmm, maybe,” Lykou said, letting his eyes scan over the cliffs some more. “Ku, what about there? Some bushes at the top. Maybe you could grow a thick vine we can hold onto while we make our way down.”

As the trio eyed the cliffside in the distance, a shadowy figure hung down upside-down from a tree limb behind them, arms crossed, and opened a pair of glowing indigo eyes. A crooked matching grin lit up a moment later as the figure watched them.

Kuna squinted at the rocks and winced. “I dunno, those rocks look awful sharp and a bit slick. Even with the vine, it’d be dangerous.”

“I guess it might be kind of windy out there too, now that I think of it,” Lykou added with a sigh. “It was a nice thought though, Gleam.” He rubbed the squirrel’s shoulder lightly. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.”

“Afraid of a little fall?” a voice asked behind them, startling all three. “You’ve both handled worse.”

The surprise caused Lykou and Kuna to nearly stumble off the edge of the cliff, but a cluster of vines rose up to save them. Lykou’s expression went from surprise to loathing in an instant. “Inkari...”

“Long time no see,” Kuna said, eye twitching. “Not long enough, unfortunately.”

Meanwhile, Gleam’s instincts drove her to jump up into the lower limbs of a tree and stare down at the shadowy figure, shaking fearfully. The moment she saw the glowing eyes, she shuddered. She briefly thought of Zyn and their first meeting, but this was different- besides being a different color, the eyes were accompanied by that unsettling grin. And the wide-brimmed hat and dark robe that somehow defied gravity on the upside-down individual’s body seemed surreal as well. But more than anything, the stranger had a palpable aura of power and borderline predatory mystique around her.

“Nice to see you both as well,” Ink replied, dropping down in such a way that she gracefully landed on her feet despite her previous position. The closeness to the ground shouldn’t have given her time to flip so smoothly, but she did anyway. She immediately lit up her pipe and took a puff, allowing the embers to briefly light up her face in a dim orange-red light. “I’d ask if you missed me-”

“Haven’t even taken a swing at you,” Lykou interrupted, gripping his axe tightly and gritting his teeth. “Yet.”

“-but I prefer to leave stupid questions to other people,” Ink continued nonchalantly, smirking and shooting a meaningful glance at the axe. “Well done on that, by the way.”

Kuna sighed and glanced back up at the shivering squirrel up in the nearby try. “Come on down, Gleam. This is... ugh... Inkari.”

“I’mgoodupherethanks,” Gleam hastily stammered out, half hiding behind the tree’s trunk as he stared at the jarzin nervously.

Ink glanced up at her curiously and arched a brow. “Hmm, that won’t do.” Without warning, she teleported up beside Gleam, lounging nonchalantly on the large branch near her, head propped up on her hand. “It’s high time we got acquainted, miss... Gleam, was it?”

Gleam let out a startled shriek and nearly fell out of the tree in surprise. Luckily, yet again Ink’s magic brought some vines out to catch her. Still, as she tried to scramble away in a panic, the held her on the spot and Ink dropped down to join her.

Part of the way to her though, a certain axe embedded itself violently in the tree inches in front of Ink’s nose.

“Don’t you fucking dare hurt her,” Lykou said through gritted teeth. Next to him, Kuna was already manifesting his own magic and conjuring up some vines as well.

Ink stared at them blankly for a moment, then chuckled and slid around the axe in a smoky form before re-manifesting. “Relax, boys. The last thing I’d want to do is hurt such a unique and fascinating individual,” she said, turning her attention back to the shaky, frightened squirrel. “I just want to properly introduce myself.” She narrowed her eyes and sized the squirrel up for a moment, then smirked again. “Those instincts really aren’t helping matters though, are they? Poor thing.”

“W-w-what do you w-want??” Gleam nervously stammered out.

Nearby, Lykou worked on prying the axe out again, though it was proving unusually difficult to do so- no doubt something to do with Ink’s magic. Kuna considered intervening, but was somewhat at a loss- he knew his power was nothing compared to Ink’s.

“Hey,” Ink said, gently holding Gleam’s chin in her hand. “C’mere.” Suddenly, the jarzin took a drag on her pipe, before suddenly leaning in and pulling the squirrel into a very unexpected and intimate kiss. When they pulled apart, the smoke left both their mouths and Gleam seemed slightly stunned and dazed.

Lykou and Kuna both gawked at her. Suddenly Lykou pointed a shaky finger at her. “D-did you just.... it’ll kill her!!”

“No, no, relax,” Ink replied, waving him off dismissively. “This isn’t my usual stuff, it’s much milder. It’ll help her relax.” She turned back to the squirrel and grinned, putting a hand on her hip. “Isn’t that right?”

Gleam blinked a few times, whiskers twitching slightly. She glanced back and forth between Ink and the boys, then bashfully down at the ground with a slightly silly grin and a suddenly glassy-eyed look. She coughed up a little more smoke, then giggled. “Mmm yeah... feels... nice...” she said with a silly grin. “So... confusing though...”

“You’ll learn more about that kind of thing later on,” Ink said, tussling her hair playfully. “For now, just relax so we can all have a nice chat, alright?”

Lykou growled a bit. “That was still fucked up.”

“Yeah, surely you could’ve at least found a better way-” Kuna agreed, only for the jarzin to interrupt.

“Oh relax,” Ink interjected, slowly pulling away the vines holding Gleam in place. “She certainly isn’t objecting, are you dear?”

Gleam was busy feeling her lips curiously, and glanced over after a moment, seemingly on a slight delayed reaction. “Huh, wha? Oh. Um.... yeah.... “ she mumbled, then folded her ears down and looked a bit bashful. “Was... that a uh. Um... whassit called.... kiss?”

“Yeah, she just stole your first kiss,” Kuna pointed out, glaring at Ink through narrowed eyes as he did.

“Well someone had to,” Ink retorted. “The girl’s obviously craving experiences like that, and long overdue- and it seems like neither of you were going to anytime soon.” She grinned. “Besides. I figured it was a lot more fun than just stuffing the pipe in her mouth.”

“Fun for you, maybe,” Lykou remarked after finally pulling the axe out of the tree.

“Oh she enjoyed it,” Ink said, then grinned over at the squirrel again. “Didn’t you?”

Gleam blushed a bit and nodded, giggling, clearly a bit loopy. At the same time, there was a certain honest giddiness buried under her insobriety. “It... felt kinda nice...”

“That’s just the... whatever-it-is speaking,” Lykou said.

“No, it isn’t,” Ink retorted, then tapped the side of her still-glowing eyes. “Can see her soul you know. Girl’s craving all kinds of intimacy she’s been missing out on, including things she doesn’t even consciously realize.”

“Isn’t it rude to stare at peoples’ souls without their permission?” Kuna asked, crossing his arms. “Not that I’m surprised you’d do it anyway.”

“Fair enough,” Ink said, dismissing the omni-sight. “Still, given her origins, I just had to take a peek. Speaking of which, congrats on surprising me there, you two. I had a feeling you’d discover something even I hadn’t worked out or seen, somehow. And, lo and behold,” she continued, gesturing to the somewhat wobbly and giggly squirrel. “Here she is. Well done.”

“Great. Thrilled to have your... ‘approval’. Now,” Lykou replied sharply, tightening his grip on his axe. “Can you please fuck off again?”

“Unless of course you’re here to take us back to Lakefire directly,” Kuna chimed in, arching a brow. “But something tells me you’re not inclined to be that helpful.”

“Your intuition is correct, my student,” Ink replied playfully. “But no, I just thought it was high time I check on you boys personally… and see your new companion here first hand.”

“Great,” Kuna said, rubbing his face in frustration. “I guess our day was just going too well…”

“Now don’t be like that,” Ink said with very obvious faux-offense. “I missed you two! We’re long overdue some casual chit-chat, don’t you think?”

“We’re overdue something, alright,” Lykou commented bitterly. “Like an apology. Or at least an explanation. Maybe letting me smack you around some.” After a moment, his anger faltered and he couldn’t help but tear up slightly despite his best efforts. “Or at least letting me talk to someone back home! I know you jarzin fuckers are all about messing with people, but-”

Ink cut him off with a finger to his lips as a surprisingly genuine sympathetic look crossed her face. It was all the konuul could do to hold back from biting it in response. “Lykou, I know you hate my guts, and you’re right. It’s high time I at least explained myself- as best I can anyway. I can’t promise you all the satisfying answers you want, but I promise I’m not as heartless as you think. So yes, let’s have a real chat.”

With a wave of a hand, a set of comfortable, if wildly unnatural looking flora sprouted up for all four of them to sit down on. She wasted no time lounging on one and invited them to join her. Gleam stumbled over and sprawled across one awkwardly, giggling and staring off into space afterwards. Kuna and Lykou shared a look, then the sereva reluctantly flopped down across from the jarzin. Lykou plopped down in the spot next to him a moment later, bitterly burying the axe in the ground next to him, then crossing his arms.

“Fine. Start talking, then,” the canid said, leaning back reluctantly.

Chapter Text

“Why the hells did you do all this?” Kuna demanded, glaring at the jarzin. “Kidnap Lykou and I and send us on this ridiculous- and dangerous, I might add- journey?? And please spare us the ‘for the greater good’ talk.”

“Oh but that’s just the thing, Kuna,” Ink replied, relighting her pipe with a flame from the tip of her finger before reclining back herself. “I don’t blame you for being skeptical, of course. Many of my kin do suffer from an inflated ego and sense of purpose that’s more style than substance. But I… I know things. I’ve seen things. Things no other mortal has. And I genuinely want the world to be a better place for everyone.”

“Ah yes, wicked laughter and conjuring up storms, kidnapping and scaring the shit out of people,” the sereva retorted. “All so altruistic and benevolent.”

“A fair point,” Ink replied with a chuckle, then took a quick puff. “I never claimed I don’t enjoy a bit of dramatic flare. I do have a reputation to keep, after all.”

“Listen, I don’t mind helping people- I enjoy it, even,” Lykou interjected. “And I’m glad we’ve been able to help the ones we have on this trip, but surely you can arrange these things without separating me from all my friends and family back home for all this time??”

“Theatrics are no excuse for that,” Kuna added.

“Whass theatrics?” Gleam asked, as she lounged sideways on the flora-seat that’d been conjured up for her. Whatever chemicals Inkari had kissed into her were clearly making her a little loopy, but at least she was still with it enough to listen to the conversation.

“It means she likes to show off and be overly dramatic,” Kuna explained without taking his eyes off the jarzin. “You know, typical jarzin bullshit.”

Ink chuckled again. “Well, I suppose if you want to be-”

“And,” Kuna interrupted pointedly. “I’m still not convinced there’s anything more than ego involved in this. Other than age and power, what really makes you so much different from other jarzin, hmm? What ‘things’ are you talking about that could possibly make you so special, or this cruel scheme of yours so important?”

The jarzin paused to think for a moment, then blew out a larger puff of smoke, which swirled and danced around, then formed a circle with a smaller one roaming around its edge slowly. “As you say, I’ve been around longer than most mortals can even dream of, especially the other jarzin. Early on, I did the typical thing- find people with problems, try to nudge them in the right direction until they eventually come out better off in the end. But eventually, I-” she faltered and hesitated for a moment, staring into the distance, before finally shaking her head and snapping out of it. “Let’s just say I eventually came to see that, no matter how much good it did for those individuals, it never mattered a great deal in the grand scheme of things. Long story short, I spent a large part of my unusually long life- more than half of it, really- wandering the world, learning, seeing, experiencing what I could, and trying to find ways to really make a difference.” She took a breath and glanced back and forth between the boys. “And do you know what I saw?”

“What?” Lykou asked plainly.

Kuna arched a brow. “Yes, please do enlighten us, oh mighty wise one.”

“Broken souls,” Inkari said flatly. “Too many of them.”

The sereva squinted at her. “Broken-?”

“Wait, you mean like,” Lykou interjected, eyes widening a bit as he gestured to Kuna. “L-like the crack in Kuna’s?”

“Indeed,” Ink replied. “And worse. Much worse.”

“W… w-worse?” Kuna asked incredulously, his snark momentarily dropping as he felt a chill wash over him. “But…”

“Are there that many demonic beings out there?” Lykou wondered, then glanced over at the sereva. “Maybe the red cloaks were accidentally onto something…”

Inkari chuckled darkly and took another puff. “No, most of them had nothing to do with demons. They can certainly do more direct damage, and more quickly, but never underestimate the damage that mundane trauma and cruelty can do.”

Kuna winced and glanced away as dark memories tickled at the back of his mind again. “R-right…”

“Some of the most wicked, sadistic beings in the world are as mortal as you are,” Inkari continued. “Don’t get me wrong, most people are generally decent. But a handful can really screw up the balance with how rotten they are.”

“Just how baaaad are these people?” Gleam chimed in anxiously, although she followed it up with a giggle a moment later as her mood immediately shifted when a leaf that’d been floating down from the trees landed on her nose at just that moment. She remained silent as to what about it so amused her, and instead just grabbed at her nose and slumped over, sticking her tongue out as she played with the leaf.

“For once, I think we’d be better off without details,” Kuna suggested, fidgeting uncomfortably.

Lykou’s ears drooped, along with the rest of him. “H-how is that even… how can someone be worse than-”

“You really don’t want to know,” Inkari assured them, clenching her eyes shut for a moment herself as she took another drag. A moment later, she let it blow out her nose and continued, quietly, almost to herself, “And hopefully, you never will…”

“Right, so some people are even worse than I imagined in my most cynical moments,” Kuna eventually said, rallying himself back into an angry state. He crossed his arms and fixed her with another glare. “Great. So what does that have to do with us, and this damn journey?”

“You’ve helped more people already than you realize,” Inkari said with a smirk and opened her eyes again. “There’s a ripple effect to everything. Even the smallest act of kindness can lead to others that will eventually spread and magnify into great things- just as a small act of cruelty can lead to worse things. Cause and effect, Kuna. That’s what I’ve spent so much time studying. That, and the nature of people in general.”

Kuna shot her a dubious look. “Uh-huh… and?”

“And you can do the whole… soul-peeking thing, right?” Lykou added. “Shouldn’t that make it pretty easy to see how people think, without it taking centuries?”

“Taking a peek at someone’s soul can give you plenty of information- but finding patterns and seeing that ripple- that’s the tricky thing,” the jarzin continued. “One that nobody else, even those inclined to look into things, tend to take very far. But when you’ve been around as long as I have, you tend to pick up on the hidden shapes of causality.”

“Ca-whawha?” Gleam asked with an exaggerated lopsided look of confusion, having lost interest in the now-destroyed leaf.

Lykou scratched his head. “Yeah I’m with you this time Gleam.”

“Pretty sure she’s just using complex language to make it sound like she’s doing more than just fucking around with people,” Kuna snarked humorlessly.

“Oh goodness no, Kuna- I am offended!” Inkari said with feigned indignity, then grinned again. “I would never deny fucking around with people.” She chuckled. “But no, as much fun as that can be, there’s more to it than that. Long story short, I’ve gotten exceedingly good at predicting peoples’ motives, nature, and behavior. And with that kind of knowledge, it’s like I can almos….” She trailed off for a moment, staring off into space as she slowly puffed on her pipe. “...see through time…”

This time, it was Lykou’s turn to throw out some sass. “Oh that’s b-”

“-oarshit,” Inkari finished almost perfectly in sync with him- even going so far as to mimick his voice.

Kuna rolled his eyes. “Oh, so you’re telling the future now huh? Please, even I knew where he was going with that. Why don’t you te-”

“Berries and nuts. And no, don’t worry- the green one was just underripe, not poisonous,” Inkari said, slowly and absent-mindedly twirling her pipe around in a small figure eight shape. There was a strange, distant look in her eyes. Just as the sereva, now faltering, was about to say something else, she shook her head and chuckled. “Nope, wasn’t scrying on you at that time.”

Lykou’s eyes twitched and he quickly held his hands behind him. “How m-”

“Seven. Now two,” Inkari said with an increasingly amused grin as she finally turned her gaze towards him. “Really, Lykou?”

Kuna and Lykou shared an incredulous look, then the canid shivered. “Dammit, just when I thought you were scary enough already…”

“So you can… see the future,” Kuna said, squinting at her suspiciously. He kept looking for any sign of her special version of soul sight, but she’d long since dismissed it, as far as he could tell. “Great. Wonderful. Can you see a future where you-”

“Watch it, Kuna,” Inkari interrupted with a playfully stern look. “Gleam may be an adult, but she’s still got innocent ears, you know. No need to color her vocabulary too quickly.”

Lykou snorted and smirked, blushing faintly. “Oh trust me, she’s-”

“I know,” the jarzin said. “I just wanted an excuse to cut him off.”

“Heyyyy, if you guys’re gonna talk ‘bout me,” Gleam said, frowning up at them from the ground. “C’n you at least include me?”

Ink chuckled and reached down to tussle the squirrel girl’s hair lightly. “Fair point, that’s getting off topic anyway,” she said, then leaned back again. “In any case, it’s nothing magical- well, besides the bit about peeking at peoples’ souls now and then. It’s mostly just really good prediction. Lana can do it too, when she sets her mind to it. And it gets better the more you practice it and the smaller your focus. I’ve just been putting most of my focus on you two and your interactions with others for a while now.”

“Right. I don’t totally believe you, but not important,” Kuna said, squinting at her again. “So what’s that got to do with taking Kou from his home and sending us on this journey??”

“Well, like I said- I’ve seen so many broken souls out there. And I’m done sitting by and letting the world be like that,” Inkari explained. “Now, I could just go around trying to change things directly- in fact I’ve tried that a few times.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, that only ends up helping short-term at best- and usually works out for the worse, long-term. Having a single powerful individual swoop in and fix everything in one go never has the staying power of changes brought about through other means.” She looked at her pipe thoughtfully for a moment. “Which, to be fair… I should have just listened to Lana’s advice about that sooner, I suppose.”

“Oh, finally admitting someone’s smarter than you, hmm?” Lykou remarked.

“Please,” Inkari said dismissively. “She’s been around as long as I have, if not a bit longer- I am not at all ashamed to admit she’s got a leg up on me on all sorts of things. I nudged you two her way for a reason, you know. That was one of the few places I wasn’t keeping a close eye on you two.”

“Right right, and?” Kuna demanded, growing ever more impatient. “You just picked a couple random people to put in all sorts of danger and help people in your place?? How’s that better??”

“Not random at all,” Inkari insisted, sitting upright and furrowing her brow. “I picked you two for a reason.”

“And that is?” Lykou asked impatiently.

“All in good time, Lykou,” Inkari said dismissively.

“So… that’s it? Just… dropping in to rub in our faces how much more you know than us? No answers or anything??” Kuna spat out, glaring at her intensely again. He threw up his hands and slumped back. “Wonderful chatting with you Inkari! You’re oh so helpful! What a delight. Next time just save yourself the trouble and fart into the wind, we’ll get the same message.”

Lykou snorted and coughed to hide the laughter that fought to burst out.

Inkari didn’t bother, however, and snickered. “Fair point. No, I’m not just here to waste your time. Much as I’d like to dispense answers-”

“That’s a damn lie,” Kuna quipped, crossing his arms again.

“-I do have other reasons for visiting,” Inkari continued, ignoring the comment. On that note, she leaned over, glancing down at the squirrel. “Hey squirrely. You promise not to freak out and run off if I help you sober up?”

“Sober…. Wha?” Gleam asked, going slightly cross-eyed as a butterfly landed on her nose. She wriggled it a bit and blew it away before eventually managing to focus her eyes on the jarzin. “...huh?”

“Sober her up?” Lykou asked warily. “Why not let her come down naturally?”

“You heard her,” Ink said. “She wants to be part of the conversation, and I think it’s only fair.”

Kuna furrowed his brow, then sighed. “I hate to admit it, but you have a point,” he said, then glanced over at Gleam with a softer expression. “She just wants you to promise not to run off when you feel normal again, okay Gleam?”

Gleam blinked and somewhat awkwardly glanced back and forth between them, then giggled and shrugged. “I’onwanna run, nah. Just wanna rela… relu… rest.”

“Good enough for me,” Ink said, then summoned up a green glow around her finger tip. She swirled it in the air a bit, then shot a small bolt of energy at the squirrel, making her jerk slightly and blink a few times.

There was an awkward silence as Gleam’s expression slowly changed. The silly grin gradually faded, her eyes became less glassy, and eventually her brows furrowed. The group waited, then she shot a look at each of the others in turn. Finally, she took a breath, rolled onto her back, and stared at the sky through a gap between the tree branches above them with an annoyed expression. “Guys. Was I just… acting silly?”

“Err, well,” Lykou said with an awkward smile. “Yeahh, a bit-”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Kuna interjected. “It wasn’t your fa-”

“Yeah I know,” Gleam said, then shot a flat look at Inkari briefly before pointing at her half-heartedly and returning her gaze up to the sky. “Scary shadow lady put her mouth against mine and blew funny smoke in my mouth.”

“Yes,” Lykou said, shooting Inkari a pointed look. “Yes she did.”

“And it made me feel really good,” Gleam said flatly. “And act silly.”

Lykou and Kuna shared a look.

“Well… yeah, but she used her magic to return you to normal,” Lykou explained. “Sobering up means when that stuff stops affecting you. Usually it happens over time, but… well, she sped it up.”

Gleam waited a beat, then sat up and suddenly shot Ink a hopeful look. “Canyadoitagain?”

“Gleam!” Kuna blurted out in surprise, then facepalmed.

“Whaaat?!” Gleam retorted, shooting him a look. “What part of ‘feel really good’ is confusing you?”

Lykou couldn’t help but snicker again before the sereva elbowed him. “Uh, r-right, well…”

“We want you to be part of the conversation,” Kuna said, rubbing his face in exasperation. “And that doesn’t work too well if you’re… well, not all there.”

Gleam frowned at them, then turned her attention back to Ink with a questioning look.

Inkari chuckled and reached down to tussle her hair. “Sorry kiddo, they have a point. I just wanted to calm you down before you got yourself hurt, not throw you a party.”

“Great. No more feeling fuzzy and nice,” Gleam grumbled, flopping back down. “Time for another conversation where I’ll probably just be totally confused half the time again as usual. Fuuuun.”

“Well, don’t be so sure,” the jarzin said, tilting her head slightly as she sized the squirrel up. “You, miss Gleam, are quite special- as are the circumstances that made you what you are now.”

“Fancy way of saying I’m a freak,” Gleam quipped flatly without looking up. “Thanks.”

“From one freak to another, you’re quite welcome,” Ink retorted with a grin. “So how do you like it so far? Sentience, I mean.”

Gleam arched a brow. “I’m guessing that means being a people. It’s… complicated?”

“You’re not wrong,” Kuna agreed with a sigh, then smiled a bit. “But you’ve taken to it pretty well.”

Gleam managed to grin faintly as well and glance over at him. “Thanks to you guys.”

“If you had to be welcomed to the world of personhood by anyone,” Inkari agreed. “I can’t think of a better pair than these two for the job.”

“And yet you claim she was a surprise,” Lykou said, shooting the jarzin a dubious look. “You sure you want to stick to that story?”

“It’s the truth,” Inkari said with a shrug. “Don’t get me wrong, I had a hunch you two would be the ones to unlock something long forgotten in that valley, and given what I’d seen and learned, I had some strong suspicions. But nothing solid until after the fact.” She blinked and, for a few moments, the second, glowing set of eyes appeared, causing the squirrel to jerk slightly in surprise. Fortunately, they were gone after a moment and she managed to resist panicking. “And congratulations, by the way. You’re probably the first person in countless centuries to speak to any kind of remnant of the primori.”

“Primori?” Kuna asked. “Is that the people that made those ruins?”

“I thought you said you didn’t know much more than anyone else,” Lykou pointed out suspiciously.

“We don’t know what they called themselves, but the term ‘primori’ has been floating around for ages to describe them,” Ink said with a shrug. “As well as progenitors, precursors, and other things of that nature.”

Kuna narrowed his eyes. “Who is ‘we’ exactly?”

“The jarzin, as well as various others that know about the valley and have dedicated any time or focus on studying it. So, not very many,” Inkari continued. “But any people that encounter it do tend to become quite curious, as I’m sure you can imagine. There are always individuals trying to figure out its secrets.”

“Then how come we didn’t see any of them?” Lykou asked. “We didn’t even see any sign that anyone else had been there recently, either.”

“Yeah, as far as I can remember, these two- er, and Zyn, are the only people I ever saw in the valley,” Gleam said, then propped herself up on her arms. “Um… admittedly my memory from before is pretty hazy, though.”

“Well if they’re as powerful as the jarzin,” Kuna said. “I guess they wouldn’t be seen if they didn’t want to be.” He remembered that eerie feeling that they were being watched on the way out of the valley and shivered.

Inkari very subtly glanced off to the side past Lykou’s shoulder for a brief moment, then blew another series of smoke rings into the air. “Indeed. We aren’t the only secretive ones around,” she said quietly, with a faint smirk. “Consider your own people, Kuna.”

Kuna’s eye twitched. “Right. ‘My’ people. Sure.”

“I mean sereva in general, not your tribe specifically,” Ink clarified. “Although-”

“Come on, Ink,” Lykou interrupted, gently placing a calming hand on Kuna’s shoulder. “You know that’s a bad subject.”

“Fair enough,” the jarzin continued. “Point is, the valley’s mysteries are enticing, and you three-” She paused to gesture to Gleam. “-especially you, have a unique insight into it now that nobody else has had in who-knows how long.” She tilted her head as she stared down at the squirrel with narrowed eyes. “So what was it like?”

“Uh… you’re gonna have to be more specific,” Gleam said as she sat up and hugged her legs nervously.

“I think she means ATA,” Kuna suggested, then shot the jarzin a questioning look. “The, uh, ‘remnant’, I assume?”

“Exactly,” Inkari confirmed. “What were they like?”

“Oh, ATA, yeah,” Gleam said, relaxing a little as she recalled the strange dream-visitor. With a bit of prodding, she explained each of their visits with as much detail as she could recall. “And then they were gone.”

“Fascinating… the Primori truly were advanced in every way,” Ink replied, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “I should really go poke around there some more myself sometime.”

“I don’t suppose it interests you enough to call off this journey and send us back to Lakefire?” Lykou suggested flatly, already knowing the answer.

“Nope!” Inkari retorted, then cast her pipe away in a plume of smoke and stood up. “That said, you three need to get to the bottom of that canyon safely, so let’s focus on that now.”

Lykou and Kuna stood up as well, followed a moment later, hesitantly, by Gleam. “You mean you’re actually gonna help us here?” the sereva asked dubiously. “Color me shocked.”

“Tell us what you’re going to do before you do it, though,” Lykou said warily.

“Oh I’m just letting you know the safest and fastest way down,” Inkari said, while the other three gathered up there things. “That’s all.”

“And that is?” Kuna asked suspiciously.

Using her magic, the jarzin conjured up a sapling, uprooted it, then trimmed off all the branches and roots with some glowing orange energy-claws. “Ride the waterfall.”

Lykou gave her a bewildered look, while Kuna rolled his eyes at her. “Yeah, right. That’s suicide, no matter which one you’re talking about.” He gestured out towards the nearest waterfall in the distance. “In what reality is that safe?”

“Not one of those waterfalls, Kuna,” Inkari replied as she surrounded the stripped-down sapling with various energies, turning it dark and swirling with shimmery yellow lines. “...the new one.” Without warning, she lept high into the air and hurled the makeshift spear into the ground a dozen or so yards uphill from them, then vanished in rapidly-dissipating cloud of smoke as the spear embedded itself in the ground and vanished. The world began to shake underneath them and cracks started forming around the impact spot.

“Dammit,” Lykou said as he, Gleam, and Kuna gathered together, searching for the safest thing to hold onto. “Now what?!”

“Ugh! Should have known,” Kuna said as he and the konuul held the trembling squirrel between them. “That fucking-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the place the spear had landed exploded outwards and a torrent of water surged towards them. They had no time to react, and were rapidly swept off their feet and towards the cliff. Lykou managed to hook his axe onto a nearby low tree branch right at the edge of the cliff, while the other two hung onto him. Kuna tried to use his magic, but things were moving too fast and nearby plants, even some of the trees, were quickly being swept away by the sudden surge of water cascading violently from underground.

A cracking sound signaled the end of their anchor to the ground, as the branch Lykou had snagged began breaking away from its tree. Kuna tried to reinforce it with his magic, but the pull from the water was too much, and eventually the whole tree was uprooted. The next thing they knew, the world seemed to briefly slow down as they were all flung off the side of the cliff and began plunging to what they feared might be certain death far below.

But after a moment, the force of gravity suddenly felt altered slightly- it was as if the water wasn’t willing to fully let them go. They were still falling, but somehow the torrent was moving in strange ways, keeping them away from any sharp rocks or other obstacles on the way down. And when they finally reached the bottom, as the water was exploding onto the previously-dry land at the bottom, they struggled to make sense of how they were still alive.

Somehow, the water was still holding onto them, cushioning them from the impact, even as it surged out into the wilderness. Trees, boulders, and panicked, fleeing wildlife caught up in the sudden chaos whipped around them as they were sent surging through the woods at the head of what seemed to be a brand new little river. Eventually it met up with another one flowing from another one of the waterfalls, resulting in it flooding out from its banks until the momentum slowly wound down. After the dizzying ride finally subsided, they were gently brought ashore to a dry place, where all three slumped over, trying to steady themselves and make sense of the world again.

Kuna lost his lunch in some nearby bushes, while Lykou shakily braced himself up against a tree to stand up again and steady himself. Gleam just lay there, panting and shivering, waiting for some part of her mind to come back to her- even her instincts were at a loss for the situation.

“W...w-what the fuck,” the konuul muttered as she shakily looked himself over, noting that he was somehow completely dry after their wild ride. He glanced over at Kuna, who finally pulled himself from the bushes and started stumbling over to rejoin the other two. “That… that was almost like-”

Kuna stopped halfway back to the canid as he looked up past him and an expression of disbelief and shock crossed his face.

Lykou saw his look and cut himself off, then tightened his grip on his axe as he slowly turned around, though he really hoped he wouldn’t have to fight. He nearly dropped it when he saw what the sereva was looking at, though.

“Good to see you boys again,” came a familiar voice they’d last heard over two months and several adventures previously. “Oh, and I see you have a new friend with you this time~”

“Sulyr?!” Lykou and Kuna both exclaimed at the same time.

Gleam finally managed to sit up briefly to try and take stock of their situation. When she looked towards the voice, however, she saw an enormous snake-like being made of flowing water and light looming over them with a grin. She blinked a few times, then sighed slightly. “...kay,” was all she managed to say before abruptly fainting.