Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 4: Quality Time

Chapter 4

Guess this one really fits this arc’s title- some nice, cozy quality time for the boys!

-Llox

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When the boys were tossed out of the portal, Lykou stumbled for a few feet, but managed to catch a passing tree branch to keep from falling over. Kuna, on the other hand, fell flat on the floor of the new forest they found themselves in. Luckily, it was somewhat cushioned by a thick carpet of pine needles- although some pinecones didn’t help matters. He groaned as he slowly pulled himself up. The konuul hurried over to give him a hand, then they took in their new surroundings. Most of the trees were coniferous, and the temperature was a bit cooler than the last place they’d been.

It was quite dark as well, given that it was still sometime in the middle of the night. The moon’s glow was hindered by the tall trees surrounding them. Kuna conjured up his magic to help illuminate their surroundings, and noticed that there was relatively little brush growing between the trees. They stood silently for a minute, listening carefully for any sounds that might indicate trouble. An owl’s call in the distance briefly made them jump, but otherwise everything seemed relatively calm and quiet.

“Well… on the one hand, I don’t see any signs of danger,” Lykou commented.

“On the other, there’s not much sign of anything, really,” Kuna said as he anxiously peered out into the somewhat eerie darkness. “Not a lot of bushes or anything besides trees…”

“Not from what we can see here, anyway.”

“Right.”

They walked around a little, but before long they stopped again when they found one of the rare bushes sitting between some trees. “Well, I don’t think we’re going to find any particularly good spot to set up camp, so how about I just work this into something we can sleep in?” Kuna suggested, then yawned.

“You got the energy for it?”

“Yeah, since I’ll be getting to sleep almost immediately afterward anyway.”

“Alright then,” Lykou said, setting down his bag. “Should I try and set up a quick fire pit?”

“In the dark? Nah. We can do that in the morning if we need to,” Kuna replied as he began magically working the bush and some nearby small weeds into a workable shelter, using a few tree roots for additional support.

Lykou set up their bed mat inside the new shelter once it was more or less complete, then helped Kuna pack their things in around them after they crawled inside. Kuna had just enough energy left to seal up the entrance to the shelter, just in case. Afterwards, they each said their good-nights to each other, and Kuna drifted off to sleep almost immediately after laying his head down. Lykou took off his armored shirt, then smiled and cuddled the sereva close under the blanket, falling asleep moments later.

*****

The next morning, they both slept in quite a bit. By the time they finally got up, their breakfast was late enough to be considered an early lunch. They didn’t bother making a fire, however. Lykou ate a charnop raw, and Kuna ate up half of what was left of a few leafy things and root vegetables.

“I know we stocked up on those charnops, but I should take a day to collect some more things,” Kuna pointed out. “Not just food, I want to see if I can find some herbs and such, too. And material for bandages and so on. Getting low on just about everything.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure now is a great time,” Lykou replied, gesturing at the overcast sky. A brief gust of wind made some of the trees creak ominously. “I have a feeling rain is on the way.”

“Damn, good point.”

“And can’t you just… you know, grow things, now?”

“Well, I can… but food is still a little tricky to get right on the first try, let alone herbs or other things. Roots and vines are easy because I just know they have to be strong enough for what I need them to do. But other things, well… I guess I still have a lot to learn. I do plan to practice the charnops soon, though, so you don’t have to keep hunting.”

“Sounds good, but as long as you’re out collecting stuff, I might as well hunt something.”

“Fair enough. But like you said, we might want to hold off for now,” Kuna said, glancing up at the sky again. “Depending on how bad this weather’s going to get, we should focus on trying to find a better place to take shelter tonight.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Lykou agreed, then looked around. “Land’s kind of flat around here, but hopefully we’ll find a cave somewhere. At least you can see a good way in this forest.”

“Now that it’s daytime, anyway, yeah.”

They hurried through breakfast, then quickly packed up and set out afterwards. They checked the navigation spell and started heading in the direction of the next arch, but spent most of their attention on looking for any decent place to shelter from the oncoming rain. Other than a few birds and chipmunks, they didn’t see many critters roaming the forest. Then again, that was hardly surprising, given the general lack of brush to feed on or make nests in.

Eventually, fortune finally smiled upon them, and they came across a rock formation on the top of a modest-sized hill that would shelter them from the rain, especially after Kuna finished sealing any gaps with some moss and vines. After they set up a decent shelter, they quickly set to collecting as much firewood as they could. Lykou borrowed Kuna’s hatchet in order to hack up a larger fallen tree they’d spotted, while Kuna extended their shelter using some large roots and more moss, leaving a vent area at the top so that they could set up a firepit under the cover without worrying about it getting rained on.

When they’d collected as much wood and kindling as they could, they hurried into their new shelter just as the first raindrops began to fall. They set up a small fire and began cooking a couple charnops as they settled in for a lazy afternoon listening to the rain. Luckily, the wind gusts remained relatively mild- enough to make the trees creak every now and then in an eerie way, but otherwise nothing dangerous. Thunder eventually rumbled in the distance and lightning lit up the clouds on occasion, but it was clearly a long way off. And fortunately, it appeared to be very mundane, non-multicolored lightning, much to their relief.

“I’m glad you like those things so much,” Lykou commented as Kuna carefully tested one half of a charnop. “I take it you, uh… er, nevermind.”

“What, came to terms with what it tastes like?” Kuna replied bemusedly. “Sort of. I was trying not to think about it, but I guess there goes that idea. Thanks.”

“Oop, sorry,” Lykou replied with a guilty expression.

The sereva snickered a bit, then shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Hey, if anything, it gives me a good excuse.”

“Excuse for what?”

“This,” Kuna said as he dug the last gourd out of his bag. “Mind if I borrow your knife?”

Lykou chuckled and handed the blade over. “I was wondering if you were going to open that thing today.”

“Hey, if we’re going to be stuck sitting around all this time, we may as well kick back and relax, right?”

“Works for me!”

Once the gourd was opened, Kuna carefully poured half of its juice into his water jug, which was at least half empty anyway. He handed the rest of the gourd over to the canid, who tipped his waterskin into it, opting to drink from the gourd instead. Soon, between the roasted charnops and the effects of the gourd’s juice, they were thoroughly relaxed and enjoying the sounds of the rain and the crackling of the small fire. The air from the outside was chilly, but the fire’s warmth helped to cancel it out. Overall, it was a very enjoyable and subdued atmosphere.

“Well this is nice,” Lykou commented. “It might be delaying our journey, but as far as delays go, I’ll take this over random monster attacks or weird Sylthean puzzles any day.”

“You can say that again,” Kuna agreed, then took another sip and tapped his jug thoughtfully for a moment. “...hey Kou?”

“Yeah?”

“...I know this is kind of out of nowhere, but what was your childhood like?”

Lykou was mildly surprised by the sudden question. “Oh, um… pretty great I guess. Why do you ask?”

Kuna shrugged. “Just curious. You know I, uh… didn’t exactly have a normal one myself, so I was just wondering about things.”

The canid winced slightly, then shifted over to sit next to his friend, giving him a side-armed hug. “Are y-”

“I’m fine, you sweet fluffball,” Kuna cut him off, then chuckled and returned the hug. “I was just curious, is all.”

Lykou smiled. “Well, is there anything in particular you want to know?”

“Hmm… what kinds of things did you do as a kid?” the sereva asked, then grinned. “What kinds of mischief did you and Naira get up to?”

“Mischief? Us??” the konuul asked with faux-indignation. “What makes you think we were troublemakers? I am offended, sir.” Kuna gave him a dubious, but amused look. He snickered in response. “Okay yeah, we got up to plenty of shenanigans.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well let’s see… there were the kitchen raids.”

“Kitchen raids?”

“Yeah, sometimes we’d sneak into the kitchens to get snacks between meals. Obviously a big no-no. The first few times we always got caught and chased off. But eventually we worked up sneaky little plans to get around being caught. One of us would usually distract the cooks while the other slipped in and filled a bag with stuff, then we’d meet up out in the woods and munch on our haul.”

“Ooo, naughty naughty!” the sereva said, grinning. “How long did you get away with that?”

“A little while, but eventually they caught on and started keeping a closer eye on things. For a little bit we managed to keep it up when Oren started helping us, but eventually they caught us and punished us by denying us dinner for a week, which sucked. But it was fun while it lasted.”

“Oren? Another friend of yours, I take it?”

“Yeah, full name’s Orendar, but Nai and I just call him Oren. He’s a nice, easy-going kind of guy. Almost to a fault. Hard to spook, and good at talking people out of their head if they’re all worked up and stressed about something,” Lykou explained, then took a bite out of a charnop. “Don’t see him as much anymore because he mostly sticks to fishing and shore-sweeping most days, but we usually try to at least eat dinner with him regularly.”

“Sounds nice. You know him as long as Naira?”

“Nah, we didn’t start hanging out until a few years after Nai and I were already close friends. He wasn’t as much of a rascal as we were, but he was always eager to listen to us talk about our exploits. And every now and then we could convince him to help out with things, which was handy since we knew he could keep a straight face better than anyone under pressure.”

“Maybe he can give me lessons in not being a ball of nerves,” Kuna snarked with a small grin.

Lykou giggled. “You know, he just might. I have a feeling you two will get along pretty well. Maybe you can join him as a shore-sweeper sometime.”

“Heh, maybe. So, what else did you get up to?”

“Well let’s see… oh! There’s this guy, Leisven, he’s kind of an ass to be honest. Always has been. He means well, but he’s always trying to ‘correct’ people and tell them how to do things better. So Naira and I ended up pranking him a few times.”

“Oh yeah? How so?”

“Let’s see… one time we snuck hot-berry juice into his breakfast, then made him think the chief wanted to talk to him about something important after he ate. So naturally, thinking he was finally getting the attention he craved from the big guy, he gobbled it up in a hurry. He moved so quick, he was already heading out the door when it hit him. You should have seen his face!” Lykou said, then started snickering as he continued, “And… and it ended up even better than we planned. Chief Ryvis just happened to be walking by when he barreled out the door. Leis, being the ass he is, just shoved anyone in the way of keeping him from the lake, then he just… stuck his head in the water. So when he finally came back up with a soggy head, panting and looking like a loon, he had Ryvis standing right there, wanting to know what his problem was. And his ego wouldn’t let him admit he just panicked from spicy food, so he tried to make up some hilarious excuse on the spot, but it was so pathetic the chief just sent him on his way and told him to stay out of the gleam jugs.”

“Jeeze, sounds… harsh…” Kuna said with a mixture of amusement and mild concern.

“Nah, trust me, he had it coming. He’s less bad about it now- towards most people, anyway- but he had a massive ego back then, and was always in everyone else’s business. So we decided to knock him down a peg,” Lykou said.

“Heh, I thought your village was all sunshine and rainbows?” Kuna said, arching a brow.

“Hey, it’s still great! Doesn’t mean we don’t have assholes from time to time. But most don’t stay that way, and even the rare few that do have their decent moments.”

Kuna snickered. “Sounds like you have your ways of discouraging things, anyway.”

“Oh definitely.”

“What are ‘gleam jugs’, anyway?”

“Oh, gleam’s just the name for this stuff we make that’s… well, kind of like this gourd juice, except less sweet. And stronger. Like, a lot stronger. So it’s made in small batches and split up into multiple jugs to be mixed with water and sometimes other things. Besides drinking, sometimes folks use it for other things, too. Like fire-spitting.”

“Fire-spitting?” Kuna asked dubiously.

“Uh-huh! Exactly what it sounds like,” Lykou said with a big grin. “The stuff burns real well when you don’t water it down, so some folks worked out a really cool trick where they can use it to make it look like they’re breathing fire. Only on Spark Nights, of course.”

“Oh wow,” Kuna replied, slightly wide-eyed. “Sounds impressive!”

“Oh yeah, you’ll loooove Spark Night. We do all kinds of fancy stuff with fire. Fire-dancing, too, for example.”

“You guys really like fire, huh?”

“Hey, it’s in the name, isn’t it?”

Kuna giggled slightly. “I guess that makes sense.” He took a sip of his watered-down gourd juice, then continued, “So what else did you get up to?”

“Well, let’s see… oh! One time, when Kezhna was getting ready to go off on one of her first solo hunts, I insisted on going with her. Of course, at the time I was still too young to actually be involved with hunting, even if it wasn’t also supposed to be a solo hunt. So I wasn’t allowed to follow her. Didn’t stop me though.”

“Aww, lil’ bro wanted to help big sis murder something?” Kuna teased, then giggled. “Actually, subject aside, that’s adorable.”

Lykou poked his tongue out at the sereva playfully, then ruffled his hair lightly. “Shush, you.”

“Hey you do it to me all the time!” the sereva mock-protested, pushing back against the konuul, then giggled. “So what happened?”

“Well, she actually helped me sneak away when she found out what I was doing. This was back when she was still getting the hang of things and I think she liked the idea of having a little help- or maybe just someone to show off to. Either way, we got out into the woods without being caught. I think she was a bit frustrated with me because I wasn’t as stealthy as she was yet, and spooked a couple turkeys. But eventually we found a boar to creep up on. We weren’t supposed to go after boars yet, since she wasn’t experienced enough for that. But I think she wanted to prove how tough she was, and I was eager to help.”

“Er, is this going to get… detailed?” Kuna said warily. “I’d rather not know the, uh… gory bits.”

“Oh don’t worry, we didn’t manage to kill it. Half the blood spilled was ours, in fact,” Lykou said with a sheepish expression. “She lunged at it with her spear, but she wasn’t used to boars yet. She got it in the shoulder good, but that just pissed it off. And a pissed off boar is dangerous, especially to a couple newbies.”

“Oh damn! Sounds scary…”

“Oh it was! The thing turned around and tried to gore me with its tusks, but she grabbed it and wrestled it away. The whole thing was kind of a chaotic blur, but in the end, she discovered it was male and… took advantage of that with a very well placed and nasty kick that made me almost feel sorry for it. The thing ran off with the worst high-pitched squealing sounds you can imagine. We were a mess, and so was the ground around us. Luckily neither of us broke anything, but we were scratched and bruised up good.”

“Shit… must have been awkward to explain to your parents, I imagine?”

“Oh yeah. We were in big trouble for that. We did manage to nab a couple squirrels and other small things on the way back to try and make up for it, but that didn’t go far. Still, Kezh wore her bruises and scrapes like a badge of pride and didn’t let it get her down. She actually bragged about saving me from the boar and apparently her friends were pretty impressed.”

“You didn’t go straight back after the boar?”

“Nah, we were determined not to come back empty-handed. Anyway, I swear sometimes she likes pain, because it just made her all the more determined to keep going.”

“Your sister sounds… interesting,” Kuna said with a dubious expression.

Lykou snickered a bit. “Oh she’s something alright. There are reasons she’s one of our top hunter-warriors.”

“I can imagine. What about you, though? Were you always so good at gritting through the pain?”

“Ehhh, not so much, especially back then, heh. But I didn’t want to disappoint her. In any case, it was a story to tell Naira and Oren. Naira bugged me for not taking her along, but I think she’d have had an even worse time.”

“Not much of a hunter, I take it?”

“Oh she’s capable, but she’s even less enthused about it than me. She really just wanted to hang out and wasn’t really thinking about the details at the time.”

“Aww, that’s sweet.”

“Yeah, we were always hanging out whenever we got the chance anyway. One time we challenged each other to a swimming contest to see who could be the first to grab a piece of sunstone from the lake bottom. Which… is no easy feat, mind you. Most of the shallow stuff has already been found, so you have to go kind of deep.”

“Really? ...how deep, exactly?”

“Like, how-long-can-you-hold-your-breath deep. We even tried sneaking off with a couple of these air-pipe things a couple of the adults used sometimes for special occasions to go deeper. It got kinda scary, honestly.”

“I can only imagine. How deep is that lake?”

“No idea. Nobody’s reached the bottom. After a certain point the water just feels like its starting to squeeze you too much- not like you can see anything down that deep anyway. And some of the fish can get kinda big, and people love to tell stories about monsters that live down at the deepest parts.”

“Jeeze! And you willingly swim there??”

Lykou snickered. “At that age, daring each other to do stupid scary shit is half the fun! But in any case, they’re just stories. Old ones, too, usually. Or something rambled out by someone who’s had too much gleam. Sure, some fish can get kinda big, but even then they’re more likely to flee from you if you get too close.”

“I should hope so…” Kuna shivered at the thought. “I can’t imagine living right next to the home of freaky water-monsters.”

“I mean, even if there were big monster things in there, there’ve never been any confirmed attacks.”

“Well that’s reassuring… I guess. Anyway, you have any other friends besides Nai and Oren?”

“Well, no real close ones, per se. I tend to get along pretty well with just about everyone-”

“Least surprising thing you’ve said,” Kuna quipped with a smirk.

Lykou smirked back and squeezed the sereva lightly in his arm. “Flattery aside, like I was saying, I tend to get along with everyone well enough, but ever since I was old enough to be a spirit-chaser, I spent so much time out in the woods that I didn’t interact with others as much, outside mealtimes. Mostly just Naira and any other gatherers when I take a break from scouting to give them a hand.”

“So the spirit-chaser thing was kind of only part of the time, huh?”

“I mean yeah, I’ve got to earn decent meals sometimes, you know?” the canid said, rubbing his neck. “I’m basically a glorified scout, for all practical intents, seeing as how nobody in the village has actually seen any spirits in a few generations at least.”

“Well, at least you actually have, now,” Kuna said, booping the konuul’s nose playfully. “Several, in fact.”

“Yep. Including the elusive aliki-ka that started it all!” Lykou replied with a grin, giving him another light squeeze.

Kuna snickered and rolled his eyes. “Sure. Hey, what kinds of spirits were you supposed to look out for anyway? Besides aliki-ka, I mean. You kind of glossed over it before, but I’m curious to know what kinds of stories your people have, even if it doesn’t seem people take them that seriously anymore.”

“To be fair, it’s less that they don’t take them seriously, and more that I think most folks just figure they don’t visit our area anymore, for whatever reason,” Lykou replied with a shrug, then sighed. “Not that I can blame them.”

“It does seem odd that nobody’s seen any in so long. I guess spirits, the elemental ones at least, are just skittish of big groups of people.”

“Could be.”

“Still, like I said, tell me about some of the ones you heard about.”

“Hmm… let’s see, there’s Ungalli, the great beast spirit. A long time ago, the old spirit-chasers used to team up with hunters to keep an eye out for it and try to encourage it to either stay away, to keep from spooking game, or to chase more game into the valley.”

“That’s interesting. Just a single big spirit? I’ve heard of a few, but of course I’ve never seen one. What’s Ungalli like?”

“The description was always kind of vague. Just ‘if you see it, you’ll know’. Mostly described as some massive, sort of ethereal beast that wanders around making strange sounds in the early morning hours. Nobody seems to agree on the details. Might change form, for all I know.”

“Some spirits definitely can do that, heh. What other spirits do you watch for?”

“Well, I’m supposed to watch out for rot-worms. These nasty slimy things that show up and makes things, well, rot faster than usual. They’re one kind I’m glad I haven’t run into, because they sound super gross.”

Kuna made a face. “Yeah, sounds like it.”

“Mhmm. And then you have some luck spirits that I’m supposed to try and entice back to the village if I find them- supposedly they like flowers with berry juice on them. And then of course there are ghosts, which I never had much reason to expect, since it’s not like any of our people tend to die in ways that would make them. Although supposedly ancestors are said to visit occasionally to look after their descendants…”

“I thought you didn’t know about echos before this trip?”

“Well, I didn’t. Not as such, anyway. To us I guess they’re just the same things as ghosts, and since none of our people do magic-”

“That you know of.”

“-that I know of, yeah,” the konuul agreed with a small eye roll and a smirk. “Anyway, I don’t know if they are echoes.”

“Well, I’m not aware of any way peoples’ souls can come back other than ghosts or echoes, but I suppose maybe there are some things I’m just not aware of myself.”

“Right. Although in any case, like I said, all I’ve got to go on are stories.”

“Well hey, who knows? Maybe you’ll meet one of these ‘ancestor ghosts’ sometime,” Kuna said, leaning up against the canid.

“Heh, maybe. Who knows what else we’ll see on this trip,” Lykou said with a shrug, then smirked. “And then of course, there’s aliki-ka. Which you’re already familiar with.”

“Yeah, about that... what’s the story behind that anyway?”

“Just some kind of fate spirit said to lead people to treasures or enlightenment if they can keep up long enough. One of them supposedly led our ancestors to where Lakefire is now.”

“And… they look like sereva?” Kuna asked with a mildly amused expression.

“I mean, the descriptions are kind of hazy. Those are pretty old stories, and sometimes contradict one another. Short tail or no tail, different markings, horns- er, antlers- are described different ways, and so on. Not too many folks talk about them as much anymore, anyway. But yeah, to me it does sound pretty similar to you guys. Except I always assumed kind of like… ethereal and whatnot.”

“Weird… I wonder…” Kuna thought for a minute. “What if our people did meet a long time ago? Only the stories got mixed up, or-”

“Or we just mistook anyone from a distance that wasn’t konuul for a spirit?” Lykou interjected with a smirk. “It’s possible. As far as I know we never officially met anyone except other konuul until those ursarans set up camp not far from us. And that was a short while after Lakefire was settled. But maybe our stories just don’t go back far enough.”

“You know, I think I’m starting to see more advantages to that… ‘writing’ thing.”

“What, like, giving stories a physical form? I mean… that could be nice, yeah. You’d need a lot of space, though. Like a whole cliff wall or something.”

“I’m assuming the symbols don’t necessarily have to be that big all the time. You could probably make them smaller to save space.”

“Would the magic still work, though? I mean, we don’t even know how… to… what?” Lykou arched a brow in response to the look Kuna was giving him.

“...I’m pretty sure the writing was just the symbol bit, not the magic bit,” Kuna said in amusement. “That was all Sylthean nonsense.”

The konuul crossed his arms and pouted. “Well excuuuuse me, it’s all pretty weird to me.”

Kuna snickered a little, then squeezed the canid gently. “Aww come on. It’s not that complicated. I imagine it’s just like… drawing pictures of things. You can tell what they’re meant to represent. Except I guess those symbols mean sounds. Although… yeah, I guess I have no idea how.”

“See? Must be magical,” Lykou reaffirmed with a confident nod, then sipped on some juice.

Kuna facepalmed and snickered some more. This is the gunibi talk all over again, he thought to himself in amusement, then sighted lightly. “Yeah, fine. It’s magic. You stubborn goofball.”

Lykou stuck his tongue out at the sereva, then wrapped his arm back around him. “Speaking of stories, though… why don’t you tell me some of the ones your grandmother told you when you were little?”

Kuna smiled and stared into the fire thoughtfully for a moment. “Hmm. Sure, let me think,” he replied, then finally sipped some more of his drink. “Well, there was the time she personally encountered an elnu when she was little.”

“Elnu… those are the air spirits, right? The ones that mimic bird sounds?”

“Yup. She was listening to the sounds of the forest one day while gathering berries, then she realized that some of the birdsong sounded a bit off. Like it wasn’t a kind of bird that she remembered seeing around the area. And then she realized there were too many different types in a single area.”

“Guess the thing was feeling extra chatty that day.”

Kuna giggled lightly. “Yeah, probably. Anyway, she started looking around to try and see the birds she was hearing, but realized there were barely any in sight. She was confused until she caught a glimpse of something moving around on a branch in one of the trees nearby. It was almost invisible, but every time she heard a strange bird song, she caught a glimpse of something blurry up among the leaves. So she started trying to mimic the sounds back to it. Apparently, that caught its attention and it came closer, and she tried to ask it what kinds of birds it was mimicking. I don’t know if they can talk, but instead it just somehow made kind of a sketch in the dirt. And that somehow developed into some kind of game where it’d make a sound and she’d try and doodle what kind of bird it was. She lost track of time until her parents came looking for her, all worried. When they found her, the elnu flew off and they didn’t believe her story.”

“Aww! That’s a cute story,” Lykou said, smiling, then gave the sereva a small squeeze. “I guess you got you inherited some of her spirit-appeal, huh?”

Kuna rolled his eyes a little and smiled as well. “I guess. Not like it’s rare for us to see spirits. There were a couple times when entire tribes have met a spirit, or even several spirits.”

“Wow, really?”

“Mhmm. There’s a story about a time, many generations ago, where our ancestors came across an enormous chasm with no easy way across. They were trying to make it to a safer place to hold up for the winter, and had previously crossed a stone arch that connected both sides of the chasm.”

“Heh… arch, huh?”

Kuna gave the canid a look. “Not that kind. A natural one. Huge one.”

“I figured. Just… kind of funny to mention arches in our situation. Anyway, go on.”

“Well, apparently at some point over the previous year, the arch had collapsed, so there was no way to cross. But rather than give up or take the long, difficult way around, the head path-seeker told everyone to make camp for the night while he meditated. At some point during the night, a bunch of huge stones started floating up from down in the chasm.”

“Woah, stone magic?”

“Nope. Well, not from him anyway. Galdra. Several of them. Big ones. Apparently he knew how to call out to them, though, and somehow convinced them to recreate the bridge the next morning, at least until the tribe crossed. For many years the tribe then had a tradition every year to return to that spot, not to cross, but to thank the galdra. The spirit-weavers always left something called ethrite, too.”

“Ethrite? What’s that?”

“Not sure. Granny always said it was just something magical that the spirit-weavers knew how to find and left it at that.”

“Weird,” Lykou commented, then leaned over and picked up a branch he’d set aside from the rest, then began carving it with his knife. “Must be interesting, if it appealed to the galdra so much.”

“Must have,” Kuna agreed, then tilted his head curiously. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Well, since we opened that gourd, I figured I’d start working on that instrument idea. This seems like it’ll make a decent neck,” the konuul replied. “We’ll need to find some of that resin stuff to protect the gourd tomorrow, though.”

“Yeah, assuming the rain stops,” Kuna mentioned, glancing outside as a distant rumble of thunder rolled through the sky. “Not sure I know where to look, though.”

“I think it comes from… well, trees.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, like… kind of thick sap or something. Under the bark of some pine trees.”

“Hey, I wonder if there’s any in here,” Kuna commented, leaning over to look through the wood they’d collected for the fire.

“Maybe, but I kind of doubt it. We were specifically looking for dry stuff when we found that, remember?”

“Oh, right…”

“I’ll see if I can find a low branch on a live tree tomorrow to check. Anyway, got another story?”

Kuna leaned back and tapped his fingers on his jug for a moment. “Hmm… let’s see,” he said, then took another sip. “She told me a story about a time when the tribe was struggling to find decent food one year, after a bad illness took a bunch of older folks, including most of the spirit weavers. The last path-seeker came down sick and everyone was worried about what to do, especially since they’d ended up in a pretty bad area. It was in a pretty open, flat forest with a lot of eerie dead trees. Not much to eat, no natural protection from the wind or bad weather, and hard to stay hidden, especially without their haze-walkers. Suddenly one morning a pair of strangers showed up, supposedly visiting from another tribe. Which was strange, because nobody remembered seeing another tribe in the area. But they turned out to be spirit-weavers themselves- a path-seeker and a healer. Together they helped keep the tribe’s path-seeker alive and find their way to a safer area. Then one morning, the strangers were just… gone, without a trace. Nobody ever got their names, either. Some think they were echoes from some long-gone tribe that ended up in the same situation and didn’t make it out, making sure another tribe didn’t meet the same fate. But supposedly they seemed too flesh-and-blood for that. So nobody knows who they really were, or what their own story was.”

“Ooo, kinda creepy,” Lykou said, perking up. “Seems like kind of a strange story to tell to a little kid, but I like it.”

Kuna chuckled. “Oh, my parents weren’t thrilled. They were worried about me getting nightmares from more spooky stories, which I especially didn’t need in my weak state. But she loved telling me creepy ones now and then, when I was feeling well enough to beg her. She always made sure to tell them early enough that she could follow them up with something more light-hearted or funny before I went to sleep, though.”

“You liked creepy stories, too, huh? I have to admit that’s a little surprising.”

“I wasn’t always a coward, you know,” Kuna playfully responded, giggling. “But yeah, I liked those. Not necessarily violent just kind of… eerie and mysterious, you know? Although there was one story…”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“Well it wasn’t bloody, per se, but the tribe was attacked by these wood-stealing spirits when my parents were kids.”

“Wood-stealing spirits?? What??”

“Yeah. Insivipsi. They’re not necessarily evil, exactly, but they really hate people cutting up and using wood. So they’ll sneak around and steal it when nobody’s looking. Usually, anyway. But apparently a bunch of them were clustered together in this one valley when the tribe camped out there for the night. And the next morning was all chaos, with these little weird mossy-looking guys tearing up peoples’ tents and stuff. The spirit weavers had their hands full trying to fight them off. The sentinels helped as best they could, but they could only attack their physical bodies, which only annoyed them.”

“Dang, sounds serious. How do you even fight a bunch of spirits like that? A bunch of special charms?”

“I don’t know- magic of some kind, I assume. In any case somehow they managed to convince them to leave the tribe alone long enough for everyone to quickly pack up and get the fuck out of the valley as fast as possible.”

“Oof. Let’s hope we don’t encounter any of those little bastards.”

“Yeah, though at least we don’t have to worry about them taking away or messing up our shelter,” Kuna said, then wiggled his fingers around with a smirk, briefly conjuring up his green aura. “Thank goodness I have this now.”

Lykou grinned back. “Good point. So any other more ‘creepy’ stories?”

“Well… there was the time the tribe got haunted by a ghost for a couple nights after settling in a new area to stock up on food and water.”

“Ooo, classic ghost story. Do tell.”

Kuna took a sip of his drink before continuing, “It started off pretty mild. Things not being where people put them the next morning, that kind of thing. A few folks had strange nightmares or suddenly felt a strange chill out of nowhere, even right next to a fire. Then stuff would randomly just move around on its own in broad daylight. Eventually it started getting more and more agitated, until it finally appeared and tried to directly attack people. One of the spirit-weavers managed to calm it, and someone eventually found its body. Apparently they’d been out foraging when a tree branch fell and knocked them out. They got stuck there and buried in a bad snowstorm overnight, so their tribe never found them.”

“Damn, that’s sad…”

“Yeah… at least they were finally given some peace, though. The spirit-weavers performed a farewell ceremony with the whole tribe and buried the body.”

“Well that’s good at least,” Lykou said, then took a sip of his own drink. “Any non-depressing scary stories?”

“Well… there’s… ab-,” Kuna started, then shuddered and shook his head. “On second thought, nah, pass.”

“What, scarier than the others? C’mon, you’re not still scared of an old story are you?” Lykou teased, nudging him slightly.

Kuna stuck his tongue out at the canid, then nudged him back. “So what if I am? We both know spirits and monsters are very real, so a certain amount of fear is reasonable.”

“Hey, I’m always here to protect you from the nasty beasties out there. And I doubt most spirits would have a reason to bother us,” Lykou reassured him, squeezing him gently.

“There’s a difference between beasts and normal spirits, and corrupt spirits,” the sereva replied flatly, then grinned and suddenly scooted over to cuddle up in the canid’s lap. “But I appreciate the gesture. Luckily those are pretty rare.”

“Heh, corrupted spirits, huh?” the canid asked, quirking a brow in amusement. He set his knife down for a minute as he cuddled the sereva.

“Mhmm. Demons and such.”

“Don’t they have to like… possess people or make pacts with them to be dangerous? And I’d like to think we’re smart enough and good enough people to avoid that.”

“Most do, but not all. Honestly, the ones that don’t are some of the freakiest,” Kuna replied with a little shiver. “But let’s change the subject. We do need to sleep-” he started, then let out a small startled sqeak as he was interrupted by a louder, much closer thunderclap. “...sometime tonight.”

Lykou chuckled and hugged him tightly. “Fair enough. Hey, you know this makes carving a biiiit awkward, though.”

The sereva settled into his lap with a grin and sipped on some more juice. “Deal with it.”

“Oh you adorable brat,” Lykou replied, then set the wood down and tickled Kuna’s sides, making him squirm.

“Quiiit!” Kuna whined between giggles. “You’ll make me spill the juice!”

The canid relented after a moment and returned to just cuddling him. “Well I guess we wouldn’t want that, now would we? You haven’t even started slurring yet.”

“Yeah no, sorry to disappoint you, but I’m taking it slow with this stuff,” Kuna assured him with a smirk. “No embarrassing sloppy sereva tonight.”

“Aww, but you’re so adorably silly when you’re drunk!” Lykou playfully whined. “Ah well, guess I’ll have to settle for normal-cute.”

Kuna blushed and booped the canid’s nose lightly. “Shush, you.”