Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 4: Quality Time

Chapter 7

Kind of a shorter one this time, at least compared to other recent chapters. And mostly dialogue. I promise there’s some action coming though! In the next chapter, in fact.

-Llox

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“So yeah… it was kind of unsettling and I’m still kind of struggling to get used to the idea I, you know… killed an animal,” Kuna said, rubbing his arm a bit. He’d been going through the entirety of the previous few days, and despite a few awkward bits, he did end up feeling better not holding back- for the most part, anyway. He and Aelana were sitting on a pair of oddly shaped clouds the latter had conjured up and molded into comfortable seats. They were the comfiest seats Kuna had ever been in, and he wished he could bring them into the material world after he woke up. “But at the same time I have to admit I’m proud to have finally defended myself, and even saved Lykou for once, you know?”

“Ye ‘av every reason tae be proud!” Daisy assured him, rubbing his head lightly with her oversized paw. “Dinnae let th’ bleaker details git in th’ way. Ye did guid.”

“She’s right. Ah ken tis jarring tae take a life, bit tragically thir mibbie times where tis you or them. Guid oan ye fer standin’ yer ground, Kuna,” Aelana agreed, gently rubbing his shoulder.

“Thanks,” Kuna said with a small smile, then scratched his head. “I uh… guess that’s pretty much it, then. I had that nightmare again last night, Lykou comforted me, I kicked a monster’s ass, then we pretty much spent the rest of the day just hanging out. Again. Unless the weather suddenly gets bad again, we’re planning to head out in the morning.”

“Er… dinnae be afraid tae sleep in a wee bit first. Remember, this astral shite’s gonnae bite intae yer sleep a smidge.”

“...shit. Right. Forgot about that.” Kuna frowned for a moment, but then shrugged it off and smiled. “You know what? Worth it. I’ve traveled a bit tired before, I can do it again.”

“If ye got any o’ Moyra’s special biscuits left, they might come in handy,” Daisy pointed out with a smirk. “Especially if ye come across any mair trouble, if ya ken whit ah mean.”

Kuna shuddered. “Pass. It’s… kind of scary what those can bring out of people. Hey, does that mean you two finally talked to her and Faergus though?”

Daisy crossed her forelegs and shot Aelana slightly grumpy expression. The latter smiled sheepishly. “Er… nae, not yet. We… had a few delays. But we did visit Effie ‘n’ the Dunnyhill folk!”

“Aye, tha’s true. Though only Effie got tae see me, ye ken.”

“Tha’s nae true! Ye were in the conversation! ...efter ah eased ‘em intae it, anyway.”

“Ah mean in th’ flesh, dammit, nae jest in awkward reflections,” the wolpertinger groused. Still, she smirked after a short pause. “Bit tis a step in th’ right direction. ‘n’ you wis right, thir guid folk. Ah lik’ Finlay’s music.”

“Yeah, they’re all real nice. I hope we get to see them again sometime. Heh, you know Lykou really does want to set up that world-traveling trade thing eventually?”

Aelana chuckled. “Somehow, tha’ dinnae surprise me.”

“Mhmm. That’s Lykou for you. I can’t say it sounds very realistic or practical, with all the dangers and distance involved, but I can’t help but admire his enthusiasm.”

“He’s a dreamer, that’n!” Daisy agreed. “Ah bet he’ll jest do it, too. Especially if yer helpin’ him.” She playfully nudged the sereva and winked.

Kuna giggled a bit and folded his ears down. “Yeah… not like I’d let him try to take something on like that on his own. Anyway, I’m glad to hear it went well with the Dunnyhill folks. You spend much time with them?”

“Aboot a day or so. Would ‘av traveled wi’ ‘em a bit moar, bit we ‘ad ether things tae attend tae.”

“Aye… ‘things’,” Daisy said, shooting the lepne a look.

Aelana glared back. “Don’t ye-”

“Ye did promise, Lana. Efter he finished his story, awkward bits ‘n’ all-”

“-aye, fine, fine,” the lepne replied, her objection dying away. “Yer right. Dammit.”

Kuna looked at her questioningly. “Well I don’t want to pressure you into talking about it if you really don’t want to, but now you’ve definitely got me curious.”

Aelana took a deep breath and sighed. “...we ‘ad a visitor. A certain… powerful mutual acquaintance o’ oors,” she announced, shooting him a quick glance before quickly averting her gaze.

The sereva’s eyes widened as realization dawned on him. “Ink??”

“Aye.”

He stared at her silently for a moment. “...did you uh… fight? You know, ‘cus of the whole ‘not allowed in Clovaria’ thing?”

“Oh aye. Ah kicked her arse a’ over the place,” Aelana said as she crossed her arms with a proud grin. “She put up a guid fight, bit ah reminded her whose turf she wis oan a’right. Damn near killt ‘er.”

“Mhmm. Till ye lost,” Daisy chimed in with a flat look.

The lepne immediately flushed and glared at her. “AH DIDNAE LOSE!”

“Lose, surrender, whitever ye wantae call it. Still happened.”

“...It was a draw, a’right!”

“Fra havin’ ‘er helpless in yer clutches one minnit tae a… ‘draw’ the next soonds lik’ kind o’ losin’ tae me,” Daisy continued, then smirked faintly, albeit with a mild air of annoyance. “All cus o’ a damn smooch.”

“WHAT?!” Kuna blurted out, stunned. “Waitwaitwait… she- you-… WHAT??”

Aelana sighed heavily, blushing and glaring at Daisy if only to avoid the sereva’s gaze. “...aye. She turnt intae a lad ‘n’ snuck one on meh, ‘n’ it threw meh off.”

“I mean yeah, I imagine it would, but especially from her! That’s… the last thing I’d expect from her…” Kuna said with a bewildered expression. After a moment, he arched a brow. “But I guess jarzin just do unexpected things, huh? I take it you must have smacked her pretty good for that?”

The lepne hesitated to answer, but Daisy cleared her throat and gave her a look. “...ach, fine, ah’ll tell th’ truth, keep yer whiskers oan,” she grumbled at the wolpertinger, then finally turned back to Kuna, though she kept glancing away awkwardly as she continued, her blush lingering. “It… wis nae exactly as unexpected as ye might think.”

“...huh?”

“Dinnae… think tae much aboot it, bit we… have a complicated history. She’s… diff’rent frae th’ ether jarzin. ‘n’ ah mean more than jest power ‘n’ longevity.”

“Funny way o’ sayin’ ye wis in love wi’ th’ witch.”

“Dinnae exaggerate, damn ye!”

Kuna blanched. “Y… y-you and Inkari-”

“Lik’ ah said, dinnae think tae much aboot it!” Aelana quickly interjected and waved her hands, worried she’d lose his trust and respect. “It wis a very lang time ago, ‘n’ we didnae exactly part… nicely. S’why ah wis prolly even mair fervent in keepin’ th’ jarzin oot for centuries ‘n’ she ‘n’ ah didnae speak fer a lang while efter.” She crossed her arms and grumbled lightly as she glared at the ground in thought. “’n’ why ah damn near killt ‘er. Again. Fer prolly th’ tenth time in as many centuries.”

“An’ yet again ye didnae do it when she kissed ye.”

“Dae ye HAVE tae keep bringin’ tha’ up? ‘n’ ‘e was a he at the time!” Aelana gave Daisy a withering look.

“Does tha’ really matter?” Daisy retorted with a smirk. “Ah ken yer mostly fond o’ th’ lads, bit-”

“Shut it, dammit!” Aelana shot Kuna a worried look after turning her attention back away from her other half. “Er… ye a’right lad?”

Kuna had continued staring, dumbfounded, through the conversation, with a recurring slight twitch. The only reason his mental voice hadn’t chimed in against his wishes was that he wasn’t even sure what to think at that point. His mind was racing with questions, concerns, and disbelief.

“...please dinnae tell meh ye think less o’ me,” the lepne worriedly asked, rubbing her neck a bit nervously. “Ah, um…”

Finally, the sereva shook his head and snapped out of it. “I… guess I don’t really… know the whole picture or anything. And I guess there’s not exactly many other long-lived immortals or semi-immortals or whatever around for you to… you know, get together with. Just… wow…”

“Aye, ah know, it prolly dinnae mak’ much sense ta ye, ’n’ thir’s guid reason we’re very much exes, sae ye ken.”

“...do you mind me asking what you saw in her- I mean him?” Kuna asked curiously. “Er, sorry, maybe th-”

“Nae, yer fine, yer fine. Ah jest… ah ken it’s damn hard tae see sometimes, ‘n’ ah especially cannae blame her vict- excuse me ‘chosen ones’,” she continued, rolling her eyes a bit. “Fer havin’ an especially hard time seein’ it. Bit where th’ ether jarzin get all-”

“Tipsy oan thir oon damn farts,” Daisy helpfully suggested.

Aelana snorted in amusement before continuing. “Aye, that. She’s mair serious. As fookt as her methods are- ‘n’ mak’ no mistake, ah dinnae condone her forcin’ ye two oan this journey or anythin’- ah ken she really believes she’s makin’ th’ world better in weird, roondabout ways. She actually cares aboot whit happens tae folk, nae jest leavin’ some pers’nal legacy, even if she might play up etherwise.”

“...so I’ve heard,” Kuna said with a somewhat fatigued look. After a moment, he shrugged and his frown faded a little. “I guess we were in the right place in the right time to help the Dunnyhill gang and Kerney in general.”

“Aye, ‘n’ we’re very grateful fer tha’, lad.”

“And… as Zyn oh so helpfully made me aware, I guess she’s the reason Lykou and I met so I suppose I owe her thanks for that, at least,” the sereva continued as a small smile crept across his face. “Still, can’t imagine her ever being… romantic with anyone.”

“She ended up somewhat lackin’ in tha’ territ’ry,” Daisy pointed out. “S’what ultimately led ta th’ bad breakup. Mair interested in ‘big pictures’ tha’ th’ close, intimate ones lik’ Lana ‘ere wanted.”

“Oy, we wis one lass at th’ time,” Aelana pointed out, arching a brow. “You wis still full part o’ me back then, ye ken.”

“Nae th’ part tha wis doin’ the snoggin’, thas fer sure,” the wolpertinger teased. “Or ether things~”

“...sae help me, Daisy…”

“So she… stopped by Clovaria after we left, huh?” Kuna hazarded, arching a brow. “And you two… fought. Until she, er, he I guess… kissed you. What happened then? What did she want?”

Aelana rubbed her arm and bit her lip for a minute, still clearly a little flustered. “Weel… she did change back tae a she, ‘n’ we... caught up a bit, basic’ly,” she eventually said. “Believe it er na, she genuinely seemed concerned fer me. Fer us, even,” she added, glancing over at Daisy.”

Daisy gave her a side-long look, then rolled her eyes. “Ah suppose. Dinnae expect meh tae go snoggin’ her wi’ ye tho.”

“Ugh, nabody said anythin’ aboot snoggin’, dammit. Thaes days are long gone,” Aelana replied, then scratched her head. “She wis never quite the true romantic type, bit…” She trailed off and seemed to think for a minute before continuing, “...ah dinnae ken, ah suppose she’s nae a bad friend efter all.”

“Yeah, as long as you’re not one of her ‘projects’ and she’s not in the middle of spooking the fuck out of you,” Kuna snarked, frowning.

“Jest so ye ken, ah did chew ‘er oot aboot tha’ fer ya!”

“Still say ya shoulda let meh chew oan ‘er heid lit’rally,” Daisy interjected.

“Really? She… didn’t say anything about… you know, Lykou and I?”

“Nae much. Ah brought ye up to ‘er o’course, ‘n’ lik’ ah said ah chewed ‘er oot fer ye a bit, bit etherwise she mostly wanted tae talk aboot other things. Said she sent someone else tae kip an eye oan ye fer a bit instead o’ her,” the lepne said, then smirked. “Which ah assume is that Zynshal lad ye me.”

“Ugh, yeah. Him,” Kuna replied with a mildly annoyed expression. “What an ass. I’m guessing he’s more like a typical jarzin, so I can see why you keep them out of Clovaria.”

“Aye, especially fer young new ones lik’ tha’. Still, impressive ye got ‘im tae tone it doon a bit.”

Kuna smirked. “Thank Lykou for that.”

“Ah wid dae ennything tae ‘av seen ‘im hit the shite,” Daisy said, snickering. “Ah liked ye both a’ready, bit ‘e may jest be mah new fav’rite mortal noo, nae offense.”

“Hey, you and me both,” the sereva agreed, then giggled a bit.

Aelana grinned but chose not to comment on that, and instead shift the focus. “Sae Kuna. This is yer first time roamin’ yer astral realm, aye?”

“Er, yeah?”

“’n’ ye havnae used yer soul magic much?”

“Not really, besides navigating and opening those portals. Oh! And reactiv-” he said, starting to instinctively reach for the medallion around his neck- only to realize it wasn’t there. In fact, the whole time, he hadn’t paid any attention to what he was wearing, and only then he noticed that he was still wearing an old outfit like he’d been wearing as a kid in his dream, albeit resized for his adult body. “...oh. I don’t have it in here.”

“Well na, tis th’ astral realm efter a’. Ye want tae communicate wi’ folk ‘ere, ye jest do it. Nae worries aboot language barriers ‘ere.”

“Right… still learning how all that works I guess. Those things link ideas from peoples’ minds, right?”

“Basic’ly. Wi’ some quirks.”

Kuna scratched his head, then gave her a slightly dubious look. “About that… somehow when we first met- like really met- your singing was… somehow, er-”

“Bypassin’ it? Aye,” Aelana replied with a grin. “How ye lik’ auld Clovarian?”

“I mean it sounded beautiful, don’t get me wrong, I was just… surprised.”

“Thir’s ways ye kin bypass them kinds o’ things, which is useful if yer tryin’ tae keep secrets fra folk.” Daisy chimed in, then smirked at her lepne counterpart. “Or jest tryin’ tae show off.”

Aelana feigned innocence. “Me, show off? Tha’s yer thing, obviously.”

Kuna crossed his arms and smirked. “Yeah, you were just dancing around in a field of glowing butterflies in the moonlight and singing in a beautiful voice that breaks magical artifacts. Nothing show-offy there,” he snarked.

The lepne and wolpertinger both giggled. “Ach, she cannae ‘av all th’ fun can she?”

“So how does it work? Breaking the affect, I mean.”

“Weel, fer us tis easier, usin’ Sylthean magic ‘n’ bein’ in oor domain, ye ken. Ye kin do it wi’ reg’lar soul magic tae, bit tis more difficult. Ye ‘av tae block off th’ connection, ye see.”

“That makes sense I guess,” the sereva replied, then scratched his head. “Like I said, I haven’t exactly done a lot with that kind of magic. I guess its uses are a lot less obvious than life magic.”

“Especially nae fer a newbie, ah imagine,” Daisy said.

“Thaes place is a guid place fer practice tho,” Aelana pointed out, gesturing around them. “Goan gie it a try.”

Kuna looked around for a moment and fidgeted. “What, just… try and grasp the soul energy flowing through here?”

“Aye. Tis a’ aroond ye noo, should be easy enoof.”

“That’s true…” He hadn’t really thought about his magical senses much since he’d first arrived there, but now that his attention had been brought to it, it definitely felt different than the waking world. Soul energy was the only kind he could sense at all, but it was absolutely omnipresent all around them. He focused for a moment and tried to grasp it mentally- only to realize he’d grabbed something with his hand as well in the process. He looked down to realize that not only was his hand glowing with the familiar pale-blue light, but he was physically holding part of the world in his hand as well, making it distort when he lifted his hand up. It startled him into immediately letting go as he jumped back slightly in surprise. “Woah! Shit…”

“Whole place is practic’ly made o’ it here, efter a’,” Aelana pointed out as Daisy snickered behind her. “Ye’ll ‘av tae be careful whit yer graspin’.”

She was right. He tried again a couple times. Unlike life magic in the physical world, where he had to focus on getting a firm grasp and put more effort into manipulating it, here he had to focus on having as light a touch as possible. It was like the difference between moving boulders and carefully threading a needle. It didn’t help that he wasn’t even sure what he was trying to do, so he specifically settled for trying to gently grasp the energy without actually manipulating it at all- just getting a feel for it as if it was the first time again. Finally, he managed to do it, but he quickly let go again when he subconsciously shifted position and ended up twisting the world around him in a disorienting way. Luckily, it snapped back to its previous position and shape as soon as he released his grip. “Eesh… this is going to take some getting used to.”

“Aye, it wull. Bit tha’s whit practice is fer, efter a’.”

“Tis one o’ th’ more fun kinds o’ magic tae practice too, luckily,” Daisy added with a wink. “Once ye start gettin’ th’ hang o’ it, ye kin dae all kinds o’ fun stoof in ‘ere.”

“Jest dinnae get addicted. Ye still ‘av tae live in th’ physical world efter a’.”

“R-right… I can see how that’d be a concern. Don’t need my body wasting away and all while I’m in here goofing around with stuff all the time,” Kuna replied with a small grin.

“It’ll wake ye up eventually anyway,” Aelana pointed out, glancing around. “Speakin’ o’ which, ah think yer prolly getting’ claise tae tha’ noo.”

“Oh?” Kuna said and looked around. Only now that she’d mentioned it did he notice that the edges of the world seemed to be getting a bit closer. He couldn’t see as far away, and there were fewer of the shimmering discs of memories, dreams, and fantasies visible.

“Aye, ye’ll get used tae th’ signs wi’ experience. Bit fer noo, we best be oan oor way.”

“Wis guid seein’ ye again Kuna!” Daisy said, gently pulling the sereva into another hug.

Kuna smiled up at her and returned the embrace as best he could, then turned and did the same with Aelana as she came over and joined in. “Likewise! Thanks again for coming and, er… saving me from my own head I guess, heh.”

“O’ course lad! Hope tae talk ta ye again soon. Tell Lykou we said hi!”

“I will! I imagine he’ll want to use his charm soon, too,” Kuna said. Then a thought occurred to him. “Oh, hey, if you do see… her again, I don’t suppose you could, I don’t know… get some hints about our journey out of her? You know, what kinds of things to expect at the next portal and whatnot?”

“Aye, ah’ll stomp oan ‘er heid till she coughs it up if Lana wull let me,” Daisy agreed with a grin.

Aelana snickered and rolled her eyes at the wolpertinger. “Ah’ll try lad, bit cannae promise anythin’. Even with our connection, when she wants tae kip secrets, she kips secrets.”

“Yeah, I figured. Still, any hints you can figure out would be appreciated.”

“Sure thing, lad. If we kin weedle anythin’ oot o’ her, ‘n’ pass it alang tae whiche’er one o’ ye we see next.”

“Thanks,” Kuna said, then hugged them both again as they started to fade. “And hey, good luck back in Clovaria. Do be sure to visit Moyra and Faergus, and tell them hello for us!”

“Count on it!” Daisy promised, giving Aelana a light nudge just as the two finally finished fading away.

Kuna looked around somewhat awkwardly for a moment as the shrinking edge of visibility gradually crept closer. All of the sudden, now that he was alone again, it seemed almost slightly creepy. Rather than wait in awkward silence, he decided to peek around at a few of the remaining silvery discs hanging in the air. Ultimately, he returned to a certain one and indulged in another peek with a small, blushing grin. Suddenly something occurred to him and he quickly looked away just before it all went dark. “Shit, better not- I don’t want to give myself morning wood!”

*****

Slowly, Kuna grumbled as he stirred into consciousness. He was reluctant to even open his eyes, but sunlight was already beaming into their shelter at just the right angle to hit his face. He yawned as he sat up and saw Lykou munching on some of the leftover bird meat from the previous night.

“Morning sleepyhead,” the konuul said when he saw the sereva getting up. “How’d the visit go?”

Kuna rubbed his eyes as the memories of the night’s events trickled back into his consciousness. “Oh, uh… good,” he said, then thought for a moment before his eyes widened slightly. “Oh shit. Yeah. It waa really... interesting.”

“Oh yeah? Come have some breakfast and tell me about it!”

Kuna nodded and took a big sip of water after moving over by the firepit across from his friend. He dug through his bag a bit, then sighed. “I’ll definitely need to forage some more wherever we end up next.”

“Yeah… at least we have charnops. Need to cook one up?”

“Mm… yeah I guess so.”

After slicing the fruit up and setting it up in the small fire, Kuna sat back and stretched a bit. “How long have you been up?”

“Not too long. I figured you’d need a bit longer though, with the whole magic thing and stuff. How are Lana and Daisy?”

“They’re good. They met up with the Dunnyhill folks and it apparently went well.”

“That’s good to hear. What was it like, visiting in the, er, astral thing?”

“Very… interesting,” Kuna replied with a slightly sheepish look. “They weren’t there at first and I just kind of… explored around. And ended up making a mistake in the process.” He shuddered a bit.

“Oh?” Lykou asked, concerned.

“Yeah, um… there’s all these little floating disc things that show different memories, dreams, fantasies, and so on when you look at them up close, and you can end up getting sucked into them under the right circumstances. And… I fell into a certain dark one. You can… probably guess which one,” Kuna aid with a frown.

“Oh no, Kuna! Again?” Lykou quickly embraced the sereva.

Kuna hugged him back and smirked faintly. “Heh, I’m alright though. That’s when Lana and Daisy showed up and… well, rescued me basically. It was… pretty crazy.”

“Oh yeah?” the canid asked, perking up. “I can imagine. What’d they do?”

“Made that nightmare their bitch,” the sereva replied with a small snicker. “I didn’t recognize them at first, cus I guess that’s just the nature of dreams. But they ended up pulling me back into the astral realm, where we, er… chatted for a while.”

“Oh man, I’d love to have seen that. Oh, speaking of which, did you ask if… you know?”

“Yeah, unfortunately you were right. Going to be a while before we can both be there at the same time. But you should definitely invite them with your charm sometime soon. She- oh. OH. Lykou, there’s a couple things you should know.”

“Yeah”?” Lykou asked, slightly concerned. “What’s up?”

“Um… well, there’s two big things I found out.”

“Well don’t keep me in suspense. Good big or bad big?”

Kuna scratched his head a bit. “...kinda both and neither?” He took a deep breath then turned to face the canid. “For one thing… I have a cracked soul, apparently.”

Lykou stared at him blankly for a moment. “...you wanna run that by me again?”

“Exactly what I said. My soul’s cracked. Which as it turns out, is more of a mixed thing than it sounds.”

The canid continued to stare silently for a minute. “...okayyyy, you’re going to need to explain that one.”

“Apparently, peoples’ souls can get cracked when they experience… well,” Kuna started to explain, then rubbed his arm and glanced away for a moment. “You know. The kind of shit I have. And especially when it involves demons, which, you know, apparently ravagers-”

“Oh shit, right! Damn, Ku…”

“Yeah. And to make matters worse, it, uh… apparently left a tiny tooth fragment in my soul.”

“WHAT?!”

Kuna winced and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, don’t know how I could ease you into that one. For what it’s worth, other than dealing with that nightmare occasionally, more than I otherwise would, it shouldn’t be a problem. And once I’m good enough with soul magic and my soul… well, heals a bit, I should be able to get rid of it.”

“How… how do you heal a soul??”

“As sappy as it sounds, from what I understand it’s just a matter of time, and being around positive influences and shit, hehe.” He grinned and squeezed Lykou a bit. “So believe it or not you’re already helping.”

Lykou smiled and squeezed him back. “Well that’s good. Still, sucks that you have to worry about that nightmare as long as it’s there.”

“Yeah, but I’m hoping working on astral magic will help with that. Oh, and having a cracked soul does have a weird benefit, though.”

“Really?” the canid asked with a dubious expression. “Somehow that doesn’t sound right.”

“Well, it lets me grasp and sense mystical energies more. Apparently that’s why I’ve been able to improve my magic abilities so quickly.”

“Really? Huh… so is there anything else about it we should worry about?”

“Lana said I might be more vulnerable to corruption and demonic influences, but I’d have to already be in a ‘dreich spot’ to worry too much about that. Which I’d say you rescued me from.” Kuna winked and playfully nudged the konuul. “My brave demon hunter.”

Lykou blushed and grinned, chuckling a bit. “Hey, I’ll make sure to keep you away from them extra hard, then. So what was the other big thing?”

“Oh, uh…” Kuna took another big sip of water. “...brace yourself. You’re not going to believe this.”

“We’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff on this trip already, Ku. And you just told me you had a cracked soul with a demon tooth stuck in it. I don’t think there’s too much you can shock me with at the moment.”

“...Inkari and Aelana used to be… a couple.”

Lykou’s jaw dropped.

“It was a super long time ago, and I gather there was a bad breakup, and they have kind of a weird complicated friendship thing now, but… yeah.”

“...no way...”

“Yep.”

“But… they… she… what?!”

“That was how I reacted.”

“How… how did that even come up??”

“Apparently, Ink visited her after we left Clovaria. They had a huge fight that Lana almost won, but then Ink threw her off by going guy-mode and kissing her,” Kuna explained, then blushed a bit. “She only begrudgingly told me after Daisy nudged her to as a way of um… balancing things out, I guess.”

“Balancing… huh?”

“Well… it turns out certain unspoken thoughts have a nasty habit of announcing themselves in the astral realm until you’re used to controlling things there. And when I was catching them up on what we’ve been through, it was hard to avoid any more embarrassing details. It was all I could do to avoid the subject of the um…” He blushed some more and gulped. “...personal time stuff. My stupid inner voice told them all about Zig’s comments and stuff. That and… they caught a peek at one of my… more embarrassing and super personal fantasies. So Daisy insisted she share something embarrassing too so I’d feel a bit less self-conscious.”

Lykou stared and blushed a little. “...oh. Oh, that’s… good to know,” he said, then grinned a little nervously. “I guess I’ll have to be extra careful when I use my charm. I don’t even have your magical abilities so I guess I’m extra vulnerable.”

“True, but to be fair I wasn’t even using it until the end. All I can say is just practice controlling your line of thought so your mind doesn’t go wandering as much.”

“Noted…” The canid scratched his head. “So Aelana and Inkari, huh? Man… wait, was it like… with Daisy, too, or…?”

“Apparently this was back before the, er, split happened. Daisy insists she wasn’t the part that had anything to do with it, though,” Kuna replied, then smirked faintly. “Was kind of funny watching them bicker about it. Daisy was giving her shit for getting thrown off by the kiss.”

“Yeah? Hmm… so they’re… not together anymore, but I guess if that ended the fight they’re not exactly mortal enemies like we thought either?”

“From what I gather, they have sort of a… complicated friendship now. I think there’s a lot more to Inkari than we know. ‘Not like other jarzin’ yadda yadda. You’d have to ask them yourself,” Kuna said, then shrugged. “In any case, Lana said she’d try and get some info out of her about our journey ahead next time they talk. Maybe get some ideas for what to expect and so on.”

“Oh, that’d be good. I guess I’ll see about checking in with them myself sooner rather than later…”

Kuna yawned a bit. “Sure, but you may as well wait a day or two. Make sure we’re in a place you can sleep in a bit if you need to. Need to make sure at least one of us is good and alert, and anyway they’ll need time, I’m sure.”

“True.” Lykou looked over at the fire and nudged the charnop with a stick experimentally. “Are you going to be up to traveling today? You can go nap a bit more if you need to.”

“Nah, we might as well get going after breakfast. I’m a bit tired, but I’ve been worse. I’ll catch up tonight. We need to get to that next arch. Hopefully there’ll be better foraging in the next place.”

“I hope so. Wonder what kind of place we’ll end up in,” the canid said as he carefully removed the fruit halves from the fire and set them in front of the sereva.

“Thanks,” Kuna said, hugging him again.

“Sure thing,” Lykou replied, then grinned playfully at the sereva. “So… what was this embarrassing fantasy they stumbled across?”

Kuna’s blush returned with added intensity and he shot the canid a brief glare before focusing on grabbing his water jug. “N-none of your business!”

“Aww, they got to see it though!”

“Not intentionally!”

“Come ooon, I won’t judge!”

“Don’t make dump this on you,” Kuna threatened with his jug.

“You saying you want to bathe me?”

The sereva sputtered and facepalmed. “It’s too early for this shit.”

Lykou stuck his tongue out at the sereva.

Kuna glared at him again for moment, but then rolled his eyes and smirked. Damn that cute face, he thought to himself as he looked down and started to cut a piece of fruit out to eat. “You are such a goofball.”

“And you’re still fun to fluster,” the konuul retorted, booping the sereva’s nose lightly.