Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 7: Downtime

Chapter 16

Sooooo much dialogue! Don’t worry, more exciting things are coming. But I hope you enjoy the conversations too!

-Llox

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Lykou, Kuna, and Gleam spent a good chunk of the day harvesting more resources for themselves. Collecting food went relatively smoothly- the forest was filled with fruit and nuts. And Kuna enjoyed showing Gleam what other vegetation was edible, though a few of the leafier things didn’t appeal to her quite as much, and she outright balked at the few edible mushrooms they found. Finding sewing materials was a little trickier, but they eventually found enough to work with, which the sereva was able to expand with his magic before harvesting anyway.

When they eventually returned to camp, Lykou quickly gathered up some extra wood and started another fire while the other two settled in and began their sewing work together. Gleam mostly held things for Kuna while he did the actual stitching, but she tried her best to follow what he was doing, at least until she started to get a bit bored and distracted by the fire. As much as she tried not to let it phase her, she was still obviously wary of the flames.

Lykou caught onto her anxiousness as he sat by the fire, tinkering with his more or less completed string instrument. “Don’t worry, Gleam, it’s well under control,” he assured her with a smile. “Trust me, you’re going to grow to appreciate a good campfire one of these days. Just wait until we end up some place colder.”

Gleam glanced between him and the fire, then sighed. “If you say so,” she replied, then looked at the object he was tinkering with. “So you said that’s some kind of… ‘music’ thing, right?”

“Mhmm. Don’t have a name for it yet because I don’t think it’s quite like any I’ve seen before,” Lykou explained awkwardly. “I was just kind of trying to make something vaguely like others I’d seen, but it’s definitely different, given what I had to work with.” He plucked and adjusted the strings one by one. “I, uh… I’m still trying to figure out how to tune it, then I’ll have to figure out how to play it properly. But hey, that’s part of the fun!”

Kuna chuckled. “At least you’ll know it better than anyone. And you can name it whatever you want, once it’s ready.”

The konuul grinned. “Exactly. And hey, you do realize we’re going to have to perform together, right?”

“Huh?” Kuna asked, shooting him a slightly confused look.

“I’ll play this and you sing along with it,” Lykou said, winking, then turned to Gleam. “We should figure out an instrument, too! It’ll be fun. We’ll be a little three person band.”

“Band…?” Gleam asked.

“Yeah, it’s when a group of people make music together with different instruments,” Lykou explained. “People do it in Lakefire all the time, especially on Spark Night.”

“Wouldn’t that get just kind of noisy and confusing?” Gleam suggested.

Lykou chuckled. “It can be at first, but that’s what practice is for! People often spend a lot of spare time throughout the year working out songs to play together on Spark Night. Among other things, too, of course.”

“What’s ‘Spark Night’?” Gleam asked curiously.

“Oh boy,” Kuna said in amusement. “Get comfy.”

Lykou beamed. “Only the best time of the year! Maybe even twice a year, sometimes. It’s this big celebration we have at the end of fall, and sometimes on other special occasions. We gather up a whole bunch of wood and make a huge firepit, filled with bits of raw sunstone chunks through the day while others prepare a huge feast. And then we have a great big fire as the sun is setting-”

Gleam shot him a wide-eyed, nervous look. “A… r-really BIG fire?”

“Er, yeah,” Lykou replied. “Relax, it’s totally controlled. We’re called the Ashers for a reason, you know. We’re really good with fire. Plus, the sunstone gives it neat colors and gives off little sparks now and then, hence the name.”

“Sounds…” Gleam started to reply, then glanced at Kuna, who just smiled and shrugged as he continued stitching. “...exciting?”

“It is!” the konuul continued. “People do all kinds of fancy fire tricks and dances, make music together, eat, drink, play games, and tell all kinds of stories. It’s the best!”

“It does sound nice,” Kuna admitted. “And I’m sure you can’t wait to tell our story for the thousandth time in front of everyone, huh?”

Lykou chuckled. “For Spark Night? You better believe it. Nobody’s story will ever top ours! Don’t forget you’re gonna have to help me tell it, though,” he said, then smiled back at Gleam. “And you, too, now that you’ll be with us for whatever else happens on this journey.”

Gleam gulped and twitched a bit. “Oh… uh… okay…”

“Aww, don’t tell me you’re gonna be shy too,” Lykou playfully teased. “Don’t worry, the Ashers are very friendly. I can’t wait to introduce you both to everyone!”

“Any tribe that produced you has to be sweet,” Kuna said, smiling. “But don’t pressure her.”

“It’s… fine,” Gleam said awkwardly. “I just hope I don’t embarrass myself, is all. I have a feeling it’ll be a while before I’m much good at telling stories. You know, given how much I’ve still gotta learn about… everything.”

“Oh. Er. Fair point,” Lykou conceded. “But hey, that’s a great way to learn, too. And nobody will hold it against you for getting words wrong or telling simple stories. Everyone can tell stories. Even little kids. Heh, I remember one year I told everyone about how Kezhna helped me sneak out and join her on a hunt when I was technically still too young for it. Mom and Dad were not happy, but Kezh loved the way I told it. So much so she didn’t even care that she got in trouble for it.”

“Kezhna is…?” Gleam asked.

“His sister,” Kuna answered for the canid with a smirk. “And by all accounts, she’s… intense.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Lykou said, grinning. “Honestly, she’s downright terrifying if she wants to be, but she really only turns that scariness on anything that threatens the tribe.”

Gleam fidgeted uncomfortably, staring at him with wide eyes again. “S-scary, huh??”

“Well yeah. But don’t get me wrong, she’s loving and sweet to those she cares about,” Lykou assured her. “It’s kinda like having our own big scary monster on our side that helps fight off bad monsters.”

Gleam’s expression turned a bit thoughtful. “Huh… I… guess I can see how that’d be… nice?”

“Hey, look at it this way. You’ve already got one ‘scary predator’ on your side now, right?” Lykou said, winking. “Just imagine another me, only bigger. And uh. Well, female obviously. And with piercings and scars…”

“Piercings?” Kuna asked curiously. “What, she get stabbed by things and never fully healed or something?”

“Er… no?” Lykou replied. “I mean… huh, maybe sereva don’t do that. And come to think of it... I don’t think anyone else we’ve met yet did either. Unless… wait, one of the shakonu guards had ear piercings, I think! Oh, and ursarans do it too, though I guess it’s not like you’d be paying too much attention to those details if you ever got close to them.” He paused and frowned for a moment. “And some of those lepne bandits, too, now that I think of it. Anyway, it’s basically this thing where you intentionally make a hole in your ear or nose or something and put a special, uh… ring or bar or something in it.”

Kuna and Gleam both gawked at him incredulously. “...whhhyyyyyy??” Gleam eventually replied.

“And here I thought that was just a weird way of hiding old wounds,” Kuna remarked. “I swear, Kou…”

Lykou snickered and rubbed his neck. “Yeah okay, sounds weird now that I explain it. In Lakefire, it’s mainly something the hunter-warriors do. Supposed to be a way of showing how strong they are and how long they’ve been doing it. And the different rings and bars represent different things, but I think I’ll let Kezh explain that to you herself. She’d be thrilled to tell you all about it, I’m sure.”

“...sometimes, Kou,” Kuna said, shaking his head slightly with a bemused look. “I really wonder about your people.”

Gleam’s eye twitched. “Putting a hole in yourself… on purpose??” She turned to Kuna. “What the…??”

Kuna just shrugged and smirked. “Predators.”

Lykou shrugged. “Hey, like I said, I’ll admit this one’s weird when you say it out loud. I know I wouldn’t do it to myself.”

Gleam shivered. “As long as we don’t have to do it…”

“Nah, don’t worry. But hey, point is, I know you’re both going to love it there,” Lykou said. “I can’t wait to introduce you both to Nai, Ore, Kezh, Mom, Dad, just… everyone!”

“Gee, sure can’t wait to be the center of attention,” Kuna snarked, then grinned over at Gleam. “At least I won’t be the only one now, though.”

Gleam blinked, then fidgeted nervously. “...you sure they won’t be weird about a, y’know… squirrel-person?”

Lykou opened his mouth to respond, but then hesitated and mulled the thought over. “Wellll… okay, admittedly, they might find it pretty strange and have a bunch of questions,” he eventually said with a sheepish smile. “But hey, Ku and I will be there to help explain. And if anything they’ll just be fascinated by you.” He paused and glanced over at Kuna. “Er, and you too, honestly.”

“Like I said, at least we’ll be sharing the attention,” Kuna said. “Don’t worry, Gleam. I’m sure we can handle it.”

Lykou nodded. “And I’m sure Nai will help back you up, too. She, uh… never, y’know… liked squirrel. Uh. In… that way.”

“Good to know she won’t be tempted to nibble on me,” Gleam retorted with a wry grin. After a moment, it faded, though, and her eye began twitching. “Oh. Fuck. A l-lot of them probably do though, don’t they?”

Lykou and Kuna both exchanged an uncomfortable look. “Uhhh… wellll,” Lykou replied. “Yeah... But like I said, we all mainly stick to bigger prey. And nobody’s going to confuse you for dinner. You’re still a person, Gleam. And none of us eat people.” He furrowed his brow. “Believe me, everyone would be horrified at the idea. Heck, if a ravager or something ever came and tried to take a bite out of you, everyone would rush to protect you, believe me.”

“That’s… good to know,” Gleam said with a somewhat uncertain expression. “Still… hope people will warn me if they’re planning to snack on, y’know…”

“I’ll try and help with that,” Lykou said. “And I’m sure people will be considerate about that around you. Like I said, it’s not an especially common thing anyway, especially when other things are more easily available.”

“I’m kind of surprised you’re taking all this as well as you are, Gleam,” Kuna remarked. They’d told him about the conversation they had earlier, and he’d been somewhat stunned with how borderline playful they’d occasionally been about the subject since then. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad, it’s just… unexpected.”

Gleam shrugged. “Like I told Lykou, I’m not one of those things anymore. Feels… weird, sure, and I definitely wouldn’t be comfortable around someone actually doing it, but I know I’m different, now,” she explained, then smirked and narrowed her eyes at the canid. “Plus I can just remind him of it when he picks on me about my own eating habits.” Lykou stuck his tongue out at her playfully- a gesture she returned, then giggled afterwards.

Kuna just shook his head in amusement. “Well, I’m glad that conversation went so well, in any case,” he said, then turned his attention back to the canid. “So you caught her up to the point where we met Zyn, right?”

Lykou nodded. “Although I kind of skimmed over some things I thought you could explain a bit better. Like your experience learning magic from… ‘mentor’, heh.”

“Oh, right,” Kuna said awkwardly and looked over to Gleam. “Yeah we didn’t know who or what Inkari was then. I, uh, assume he told you about her, right?”

“Y-yeah. She sounds… scary,” Gleam replied. “So much magic…”

“Yeahhh she definitely can be,” Kuna admitted. “And she kind of plays it up, too. Pretty obvious that she likes being a bit intimidating.”

“So how exactly did you learn anything from her?” Gleam asked.

“Well… at first she wasn’t so scary, especially when she was in disguise,” Kuna explained. “No more than most spirits, anyway. And given that mountain’s reputation as a spiritual place to be enlightened- er, that is, learn stuff- we’d kind of hoped to meet someone there that’d be able to tell us things anyway.”

“Oh, right. Some… floaty fire spirit thing?” Gleam replied, then shivered. “Still would have scared the crap out of me.”

Kuna chuckled. “I was already kind of used to spirits, but I understand. Anyway, she somehow sent me to the astral realm, where-”

“Wait, uh… sorry,” the squirrel interrupted. “But what’s that?”

“Oh, right,” Kuna continued, then paused and scratched his head. “Well… it’s admittedly kind of hard to describe. Basically, it’s this place your soul is connected to, and also where dreams come from, at least partly. And when you go there, you’re kind of, uh… inside your own soul?” He grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, I know that’s just more confusing….”

Gleam shot him a look. “Especially because I have no idea what a ‘soul’ even is. You’ve mentioned it a few times before, but I was waiting for a good chance to ask about it. I tried earlier, but Lykou said he might need you to help explain it.”

“Oh, uhhh,” Kuna started, then hesitated, glancing over at Lykou. “Well…”

“Yeahhh, that’s… huh,” Lykou chimed in, rubbing his arm thoughtfully. “So… it’s basically the thing that makes you, well, you.”

“Its… the part of you that’s not in the physical world, but connected to your body, and kind of, uh, inside it, in a way. Er. Until you die anyway,” Kuna continued. “Or rare, powerful magic gets involved,” he added after a moment, shuddering. “But that doesn’t bare thinking about…”

Lykou shuddered as well. “R-right… fucking husk…”

Gleam glanced between them in confusion. “Wait, there’s… more to me than my body? But… inside me? What does it look like?” she asked, then grimaced. “N-not that I particularly want to try and, uh… get a close look...”

“Well, more like it is you,” Kuna said. “And unfortunately I have no idea what it looks like. Most people never see one while they’re alive. It’s invisible to normal sight. You could ask Zyn though. Since he uses that freaky-looking soul-sight thing.” He arched a brow and glanced at Lykou. “Come to think of it, why haven’t we asked him before?”

Lykou shrugged. “Honestly, I always just assumed they looked like ghosts when they appear.”

“Oh… maybe,” Kuna said, rubbing his chin. “I think I remember my grandmother mentioning in a story once that they’re supposed to be bright and beautiful, though… and most ghosts are kind of, well, faded.”

“Maybe they change when you die,” the konuul suggested. “We really should ask him sometime though, now that you mention it.”

“Er, I guess a ghost is… a soul without a body or something?” Gleam said, trying to keep up.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Kuna said. “Usually, when someone dies, their soul passes on to some other place through the spirit world. Either into some kind of afterlife, or something called ‘reincarnation’- basically, you get born into a new body without your old memories. Different people have different beliefs about it, but for obvious reasons not many living people can really be sure about the details. But sometimes a person’s soul doesn’t move on, usually because something in the mortal world is keeping them there. Like if they die in some horrible, tragic way with unfinished business or something.”

“Or powerful magic keeps them around,” Lykou said, frowning. “It’s… really not good. After a while they tend to go crazy and sometimes start trying to re-inhabit their old, dead body, or any other one they can find. Or just generally cause chaos in other ways. And they can become dangerous, then.”

“We… saw a bunch of them in Kryckwood,” Kuna said, shuddering a bit. “Just be glad you never went there. Easily the scariest place we’ve been by far.”

“Don’t worry,” Lykou assured the increasingly unnerved squirrel. “They’re pretty rare. Before this journey I’d never even seen one before. Mostly just heard stories.”

“I sh-should hope so,” Gleam said, wide-eyed and shaky. “The idea o-of dead things moving again… th-that’s just freaky…”

Kuna’s eye twitched. “That’s an understatement.”

“But yeah, souls. They’re important, but you don’t really see or notice anything about them in life, usually,” Lykou continued, then nodded to Kuna. “Until you start learning magic, anyway, I guess.”

“Right. So when you’re in the astral realm, you’re kind of… inside yourself,” Kuna said. “Which I know doesn’t make any damn sense, but that’s just how magic is sometimes, unfortunately. Anyway, Inkari sent me there and I had this big… weird inner awakening thing that’s hard to explain, but when I woke up again, I started learning how to sense the mystical energies in things. Life energy mainly, at the time.” He grinned and summoned up the green glow around his hand and made some grass transform into some pretty flowers near Gleam. “Which is what lets me do stuff like that. And heal people.”

“And maybe more,” Lykou said, grinning playfully. “Mister tail-envy.”

Kuna rolled his eyes a little, blushing and grinning slightly. “In theory. But that’s a lot harder. For various reasons, plants are just a lot easier to manipulate than other kinds of life.”

Gleam stared at him for a moment. “You can… change animals, too?? And… people???”

“Like I said, it’s a lot harder to do, but supposedly yeah,” Kuna said with a shrug. “It’s how I’m able to heal people. But fixing things is one thing, actually changing them to something besides their normal state is another. Believe me, I’ve, uh… tried experimenting on myself. Best I can do so far is change the color on patches on my fur and make it grow longer, and even that takes some effort.”

“Oh. Huh,” Gleam replied, looking herself over. “I… guess that makes sense. You did say the magic that did this to me was pretty powerful, after all.”

“Oh yeah, extremely,” Kuna confirmed. “And mysterious. I mean, the jarzin can transform themselves, and so can Aelana and Daisy, but we’ve yet to see someone that can transform someone else.”

“Well… except Algrytha’s potion,” Lykou pointed out.

Kuna shivered slightly. “Er, yeah. Except that.”

“Oh yeah, you mentioned Aelana and Daisy,” Gleam remarked. “Lykou told me about them. They sound… interesting…”

Kuna grinned and chuckled. “Oh definitely. They’re... a really unique situation. I guess Lykou explained it?”

“He said they were, uh... two people in one body, or something like that?” Gleam said, clearly confused.

“They say it as ‘one in two’, but I think that’s just them being funny about it,” Kuna said. “Basically, one soul split into two, but still kind of connected. And they share a body, which they transform depending on which one is in control at the time.”

“Sounds… weird,” Gleam hazarded. “And maybe kinda scary…?”

“Well, it’s definitely startling at first,” Kuna admitted, grinning. “But once you get used to them, they’re very nice.”

“Oh yeah. Lana’s kind and beautiful and really smart,” Lykou said. “And Daisy’s playful and silly and loads of fun to hang out with.”

Kuna snickered. “If you have the energy to keep up with her, anyway. And oh, if you like my singing, you should hear Lana’s.”

“Oh damn, yeah, I’d almost forgotten,” Lykou said. “Don’t get me wrong, Kuna’s way more talented than he’ll admit-”

“Shush,” Kuna playfully chided, blushing.

“-but Lana’s singing might actually be magic,” the canid pressed on, ignoring the interruption. “First time we found out she was more than just another lepne, she was singing, but it somehow bypassed these medallions and we couldn’t understand a word she was saying.”

“It was like it melted all your cares away, though,” Kuna said, then sighed and pulled the astral charm out to fiddle with thoughtfully. “I hope we can somehow introduce you to those two sometime. We’ve met quite a few people on our journey so far, but there’s something about Lana and Daisy that just really sticks with you.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Hey, one of us should visit them again, and tell them about Gleam,” Lykou suggested. “Maybe tonight? The hike should be relatively easy tomorrow at least.”

“Hmm… maybe. Actually, on that note though, Zyn pointed out I should practice my soul magic a bit more,” Kuna replied, still fiddling with the charm, then looked down at his handiwork. He lifted up the bag and inspected it carefully, then handed it over to Gleam. “Here, put some of the fruit we collected in there and try wearing the strap like I was earlier.” Gleam took the bag and fiddled with it a bit. After a moment, she and Kuna both stood up and he helped adjust it until it was sitting right. “There you go. Feel okay?”

“Kinda awkward, but not too bad,” Gleam replied. “Just not something I’m used to.” She gestured to the poncho. “Like this whole ‘clothing’ thing.”

“Right,” Kuna said, then cleared his throat and blushed slightly, averting his gaze. “On that note, remind me to work on some pants or a long skirt or something for you later.”

“Er… what?” Gleam asked curiously.

“He means you’ve been flashing us occasionally when you get up,” Lykou said, grinning and glancing briefly at the sereva. “Which is probably making him second-hand self-conscious.”

The confusion remained on the squirrel’s face. “Flashing?”

“Any time you bend certain ways, we can still see your, uh… y-y’know,” Kuna said.

“...oh. Right. That,” Gleam said, rolling her eyes a bit. “Still don’t understand the big deal with that stuff.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lykou said, chuckling. “Doesn’t really bother me too much, personally. But I guess it could be an issue around some other people, just depending on who we meet. And it’ll help keep you warm and protected anyway.”

“If you say so,” the squirrel said with a shrug. “Just seems like it’d be awkward and inconvenient at times.”

“Well, anyway, we’ll deal with that later. I’ve had enough sewing for now,” Kuna said, then sat back down and leaned up against the wall of the old stone building their camp was based at. “I’m going to practice my soul magic and meditate a bit.”

“Sounds good,” Lykou said, then patted the spot next to him. “C’mon, Gleam, I’ll continue our story for you. You can set the bag back down for now.”

Gleam eyed the fire anxiously, then sighed and set the bag back down before hesitantly walking over to join the konuul. “Mmkay…”

Lykou smirked and wrapped an arm around her as she made herself comfortable. “Like I said, no need to be afraid of it.”

“And like I said, easy for you to say,” the squirrel retorted, then leaned back, snuggled up to him a little, and looked up at the sky, which was getting dark and starting to fill with stars. She sighed a bit and smiled faintly. “At least the sky’s clear tonight. No, uh… thunder.” She turned to the canid after a moment. “So… what happened after you met Zyn?”

“Right, let’s see…”

While Lykou continued, and occasionally answered questions from Gleam, Kuna practiced harnessing, then releasing his soul energy. Once he’d warmed up with it enough, he was struck with the question of what to do with it. At first, he tried the navigation spell a few times, figuring he could always get Lykou to help him recast the one for Lakefire later. He tried using it on several different items, and while thinking about various people they’d met. Predictably, each one pointed back to the last arch after he finished casting the spell.

A somewhat uncomfortable, yet insistent thought suddenly occurred to him. His parents. Inkari hadn’t mentioned if the spell would work on tracking souls in the afterlife… or that might have reincarnated. He was hesitant, obviously, but the curiosity wouldn’t stop bothering him unless he at least tried it. He glanced up briefly to make sure Lykou and Gleam were thoroughly distracted before quietly drawing out the rune and casting the spell again.

The result was… underwhelming. The light shot up into the sky like usual, but then faded before it went anywhere. He sighed. Yeah, I don’t know what I expected, he thought. I should ask Zyn about it sometime, though...

Finally, he decided he’d toyed with the tracking or navigation spell enough for the time being. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what else he could do with it. Trying to manipulate souls in the same way he manipulated plants with life energy seemed like it was probably a profoundly bad idea- assuming he could even do it. So instead, he tried guiding the energy into various things. Naturally, everything he tried resisted it. Rocks didn’t have souls, after all. And neither did plants, apparently.

Eventually, he pulled the astral charm back out and began pondering it. Unlike everything else, he found that he was able to guide soul energy into it- effortlessly, even. But he soon realized it was somehow just flowing straight back into himself. It was connected to him, after all, as he recalled. After looking it over and contemplating things for a while, he closed his eyes and relaxed, deciding to finally try meditating. The sounds of the breeze, the crackling fire, Lykou’s voice, and occasionally Gleam’s, all gradually faded out of his conscious awareness as he focused on clearing his mind, using the charm as a focal point for his attention.

The astral realm and related magics were still such an alien concept to him. He’d barely had much chance to experiment with it, after all. He did remember Lana telling him that the charm could be used to get there more easily and lucid dream even without calling her and Daisy to visit, so he’d been occasionally tempted to try it. At the same time, he wanted to learn how to enter that state on his own, too. So for a while, he tried just contemplating related things while holding onto his soul energy with his mind. Strange colors and lights eventually danced around in his mind, though for all he knew, that was just his imagination making up for trying to force all other thoughts out of his consciousness.

After a while longer, his thoughts drifted back to Aelana and Daisy, and the charm he was holding in his hand. He remembered what Zyn had told him about scrying, and the references to using the thing as a ‘focus’ of some kind. So he opened his eyes slightly and stared down at the small, crystalline sphere as he conjured up his memory of when it was given to him. For just a moment, he thought he could see faint flickers of light and movement within the charm. But when he lifted it to inspect it, he saw that it was as clear as ever, and figured it’d just been a trick of the light.

With a faint sigh, he closed his eyes again and continued meditating. More time passed peacefully. Lykou and Gleam continued chatting quietly as the sun faded and the night overtook the sky. After being stoked and fed fresh fuel a few times, the fire slowly started to burn down. Suddenly, as Kuna continued meditating on his half-Sylthean friends and the charm, still holding onto the energies flowing through him, he started getting faint, blurry images in his mind. He caught a few glimpses of Aelana casually walking through their garden and enjoying the cool night breeze. Strangely, he didn’t recognize the scene from his memories. For a moment, he thought it might be the night she first revealed her true self to them, but the angle was too high. It was like he was floating up in the air slightly.

Suddenly, she paused, and he could see her furrow her brow as she slowly turned towards him. She seemed to be searching for something warily. Then her gaze finally met his mind’s eye and she squinted in his direction. A smirk slowly crossed her face and she arched a brow. Her mouth moved, but he couldn’t hear anything. It was a silent vision. Unfortunately, that’s all he experienced, because he was suddenly jolted out of his concentration when a hand gently nudged him. His eyes shot open and he gasped slightly, then glanced up at the konuul kneeling next to him with a mixture of concern and amusement on his face.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. You alright, Ku?” the canid asked. “Looks like you started to doze off there.”

Kuna blinked a few times and glanced down at the charm in his hand, then tucked it away with a bashful grin. “Uhh yeah, I… guess I did, heh.” He looked up at the sky and noticed how high the moon had crept. “I guess it is getting kinda late.”

“Well, come on in then,” Lykou said, smiling. “Gleam and I were just about to head to bed ourselves.”

“Right, hehe,” Kuna said and started to get up.

“Any progress with the practice?” Lykou asked.

Kuna thought for a moment and stared up at the sky, then shrugged before heading into the building with him. Gleam was already getting comfortable on the sleeping mat, and he came in just in time to see her letting out a big yawn. “Not sure. Was gonna say maybe, but I think it’d might’ve been a dream from dozing off or something.”

Gleam looked up at them as they walked over to the shared bed set-up from the previous night. “You guys don’t mind if I sleep with you again tonight, do you?”

Kuna chuckled and flopped down next to her. “That’s fine by me. Hope you don’t mind if I skip the singing tonight, though.”

“That’s fine, I wasn’t gonna bother you for that,” Gleam said, grinning bashfully.

Lykou grinned impishly as he settled in. “I might though.”

Kuna smirked and rolled his eyes. “Maybe tomorrow. Let’s just get some sleep for the journey.”

“You gonna visit Lana and Daisy tonight?” Lykou asked.

“Hmm… not tonight, kinda want a good night’s sleep tonight,” the sereva replied. “Maybe tomorrow though. Probably gonna have at least one more night in this valley anyway, from what Zyn said.”

“True, true,” Lykou said, then pulled the blanket up as they all snuggled up together. “Well, goodnight, you two.”

“G’night, Kou,” Kuna replied. “And g’night, Gleam.”

“G’night Ku and… uh, Kou,” Gleam replied, then giggled. “Is… is it alright if I call you guys that too?”

Lykou chuckled. “Fine by me, if you don’t mind the confusion.”

Kuna smirked and rolled his eyes a bit. “Sure. Just remember you’ll have to clarify when you wanna say something to one of us specifically.”

“Sure thing,” Gleam said, then let out the biggest yawn yet. “See you guys in the morning. And thanks again for everything.”