'

A sense of relief flooded through Beru as the cat took off in search of blankets and food.  He wasn't sure if the relief stemmed from the guilt he held on to for soaking the poor thing, or from the fact that food would soon be in their presence.  He'd completely forgotten that the only reason the two had met in the first place was because he'd been out in the forest searching for something to eat.  "Who's bear?"  He questioned, trying to get his mind off of the thought of food before his stomach started growling.

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

She watched Lioness go for a moment, before turning her eyes back to Beru. “One of my dad’s companions. Her and Bast will always have your back, but watch out for Marshal. He reports everything he sees back to my dad.” She advised him. Not that those names really meant much to him right now. But she trusted Bast and Bear. they would only get her dad if he was really needed, and so long as they thought what she was doing was harmless, they wouldn’t tell anyone. Marshal was a different story. Every tiny detail made its way to her fathers ears.

She shook her head at the thought of the mean looking bird and then continued them down the path. “On your left you’ll see the crumbling remains of a wall. Dunno what it used to be” She explained. Just could start heading South soon, and then they would be close. She figured she’d help him find a cave by waterfall peak to hold up in for the night.


"Speech"

'

"Ohh, okay!"  He didn't think the information would ever come in handy for him personally, but the yearling stored it away regardless.  You could never be too safe.  "My parent's have companions too, but I don't think you have to worry about any of them snitching on you."  Though as a whole his family seemed much more lax than hers had.  He was pretty sure even if one did snitch the chances of mom and dad just shooing them away were likely pretty high. "Mom's got a possum named Otis and an ibis named Chips.  Otis used to cuddle with us when we were babies.  Chips weirds me out."  It wasn't that the companion had done anything to him personally, rather Beru couldn't help but feel there was something evil deep in the bird's vacant stare.  "Dad's got companions too, a fox and an owl, but you'll see mom's more."

"Nice! I love.. Crumbled walls!"  He eyed the structure. "Wonder what it was.."

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

She giggled at his own description of the companions they were raised on. It did seem like he had it pretty easy with his family. There were downsides to being a Princess, and she was starting to realise that in Beru’s company. She hadn’t realised just how many walls she had, until she watched Beru sail through them as if they didn’t exist. Travelling as a yearling, parents that didn’t mind what he did. No overprotective Warlord, and curfews and endless other things.

She liked the way he spoke but you’ll see mom’s more as if their escape was already absolute. That she’d be in his pack, and amongst his family. She shivered, wondering if she should be afraid of meeting his mother. Or if… it would hurt. Knowing her own was good.

“I’ll have to take you to all the crumbled wall sightseeing tours then.” She giggled. “I bet it was a wall. That wasn’t crumbled.” She nudged his side as she teased him, and picked up the pace. Half running now. “We’re almost there, and they’ll be blankets and food waiting!” She called out. She could feel the way the wind brushed through her damp fur. And food, food! Sounded pretty good about now.


"Speech"

'

"Ha, doubt it."  The boy was joking, but he kept a layer of seriousness laced within his words. "In fact..."  Beru broke from the fae to stop and examine the wall for a few brief moments, a considering expression carefully placed upon his face.

"Yeah, that's it."  He said with a nod, closing the distance between himself and Kite once more.  "I'd say rather than being a wall that crumbled, it was once not a wall at all and it's been building itself slowly from the ground up.  Give it a few more years and it will be a full-fledged wall.  Trust me, I'm a wall expert." He nudged her back.

"I'm so excited.  Thank you, Kite."  The act of kindness made things easier and he really did appreciate it.  He grinned at the idea of having both blankets to warm up with and food to fill his now pretty empty tum.  Oops, thought about food too much.  The yearling's stomach let out a growl that could almost be described as terrifying.  He could feel his cheeks start to heat up again.

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

“An expert in self building walls? I can see why people keep you around” she snorted, eyeing the wall again. No, it was definitely crumbling. Self building walls.. The things that boy thought of! They trotted around the forest together, and the Armada mountains came back into view in front of them. They edged around the Battlefield, the vast open territory there giving her the heebie jeebies.

She started to turn then back South again, since they didn’t actually want to wind up at the Armada’s front door, and made their way to the mountain that neighboured them. It was as riddled as cheese, and she knew it would be easy to find a place for him to camp out for the night.

Lioness stuck her head out of one of the caves, and Kynaite grinned. “Here we are! Oh, Hi Bear, thanks for the blankets and food” She said as the little spectacled bear came into view next.


"Speech"

'

"Yep! Not to mention my endless knowledge on fish with legs and exploding flowers.  I basically know anything there is to know about the things nobody thinks to learn about."  His tail wagged at the ridiculousness of seeing a trout walk through the forest as he continued to follow the fae around these unknown lands.  

Ultimately they landed at a nearby mountain where the princess greeted the Bear companion he'd just been briefed on.  "Thank you!"  He repeated to the creature with a small, respectful bow.  "You know, it just dawned on me that this whole time you coulda been leading me to my own death and I've just been following you blindly."  He chuckled.  Normally Beru's high guard would never allow him to trust so easily.  Must have been something different about Kite's overall vibe. "Really glad there's actually blankets and food here and not, like, knives or something."

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

“Fish with….legs, and exploding flowers?” She squinted at him. She was starting to wonder if she could even tell when he was pulling her tail or not. Maybe Auster was a wilder, weather place. She had only seen the first couple territories in after all. Maybe things go wackier, especially within their cryptic bamboo maze…

She supposed Beru had been pretty trusting, but then so had she. Walking through the woods with a male wolf she had barely just met. Of course, they had also been a stone’s throw away from the Armada the entire time, but that was besides the point. “Don’t worry, the food’s laced with sedatives, and the knives are under the blankets. Bear thinks prey is tastier with that extra flavouring anyway” She turned a bright, innocent smile on him before slipping into the cave that Bear and Lioness were guarding. Wondering, for a fleeting moment, if he would follow her in or if he had talked himself out of it.


"Speech"

"Mhmm~"  He smirked.  "Individually both are perfectly harmless.  It's when a leg fish get's it's fins on an exploding flower that you have to start to worry.  Lethal combination right there, especially if the flowers are daffodils."  Man, she was going to be severely disappointed when she travelled down to Tojo and found that things were more or less the same in terms of excitement levels regarding flora and fauna.

Beru stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the crystal princess for a moment, considering her words before raising a brow. "What kind of sedatives?"  He stared at her from the mouth of the cave.  "I'm terribly allergic to some and I don't want to get a rash."

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

She looked back at him as he hesitated to enter. Her brow twitched with barely contained amusement. Had she done it, had she actually gotten him to buy it? Maybe, or maybe not. Apparently he was more concerned about a rash. “Don’t look at me, I don’t know anything about herbs. I just steal them from our pack’s healer.” She gave him another sweet smile.

“Tell you what, how about you have some dinner, and if you develop a rash before Bear eats you, i’ll be polite and not point it out to you?” She suggested. Waving a paw impatiently for him to enter the cave, before turning around and heading deeper in. With an exaggerated, delighted sigh, she flopped down on one of the blankets. She snagged a piece of meat on a claw and held it above her mouth. “Ahhh… the height of luxury” She purred.

"Speech"

"Then how do you even know they're sedatives? What if they amp me up instead and I get the zoomies?"  He rolled his eyes, but entered the cave regardless and without anymore hesitation.  He supposed if his fate were to be being eaten by a small bear this fine evening then so be it, he'd be sure to put up a fight though before the sedatives completely took him out.

"Is this what living like royalty looks like?"  He laughed, joining her on the blankets and taking a piece of meat for himself.

”Speech”  ’Thought’

I keep dreaming of prairies and memories that we'll have.

“If you're bouncing off the walls, then so be it” She said, snagging another piece of the cured meat on a claw and plopping it in her mouth. Mmmm, when was the last time she’d eaten? He finally entered, and plopped down beside her. She wiggled until she was beside him, leaning against his side. “I wish I could stay out here” She said mournfully.

Bear had turned back and was watching them. The friendly creature raised a brow and made exaggerated motions that said ‘i’m watching you’ Watching them against what? They were just lying there! They didn’t need a chaperone or something. She shook her head at Bear. At least her fathers companion wouldn’t report back - but maybe they should play it safe and not make any mention of ‘The Plan’


”Speech”  ’Thought’

I keep dreaming of prairies and memories that we'll have.

There would be no ignoring the butterflies that fluttered inside of Beru's stomach as the fae closed the distance between the two and leaned against him on the blanket.  "I wish you could too.."  The disappointment in his voice mirrored her own as he stared solemnly at nothing in particular.  The yearling couldn't recall the last time he'd had a day this good.  The thought of letting it go in favor of a brand new day just sounded absolutely horrible.  What if tomorrow wasn't as good?  What if something happened and she couldn't meet up with him again?  He had no way of knowing if this last little bit of time they had together was actually the last little bit of time they had together or not.  

"Promise you're going to meet me to see the market tomorrow?"

”Speech”  ’Thought’

I keep dreaming of prairies and memories that we'll have.

She sighed again, feeling the urge to break some rules and stay out here all night. But if she did that, her father would come looking for her. Things would start to get far too complicated then. She needed to talk to him, and soon. The sooner she got this plan into motion, the sooner she could do things the way she wanted!

She leaned against him, her blindfold bunched around her eyes and some tasty food in her belly. She was happy. Actually happy. She couldn't remember the last time she felt like this. "Of course I'll be there! I promised, didn't I?" She said, jutting her chin out at him. Did he think she'd make plans and then never turn up? Silly wolf.

"Okay. You better not be a promise breaker though or I'll be, like, really upset."  He nudged her, then tentatively gave her cheek a little lick. Something about Kite really made Beru want to trust her, but he didn't want to look as dumb as he did when he thought she could see the future again.  The thought of waiting for the princess to show up for hours only to look stupid because she wasn't coming and never even intended to kind of made him a little nauseous.

"So, are you excited to come to Tojo-Kai?"  He grinned.


"Kite" & "Beru"

She made exaggerated huffing noises at him. As if she would be a promise breaker! Actually, she probably kind of was. She didn’t always treat promises with respect. But it was different with Beru. She really didn’t want to let him down, and she definitely wanted to see him again. “I’ll be there. I’m going to be seeing a lot of you, don’t you know!” She told him sternly, and then grinned.

“I am, I am! I hope your Alpha lets me into that bamboo maze once I’m a member. You’ll have to show me all the neat things, and do you think the adults would let us den together?” She wondered. “What’s the dens like there? In the Armada, there's these huge warrens of caves, which is where we live… are there many dark places in Tojo-Kai?” Oh no, she hoped there was, or living there was going to be really hard.


”Speech”  ’Thought’

Even though he still had no way of knowing for sure if she was lying or telling the truth Beru couldn't help but feel the slightest tinge of belief when she spoke them.  He really wanted it to be truth, for the pair to see each other lots and lots, so letting his guard down and choosing to believe her for now just felt a lot better.  He'd deal with the consequences of that later if he had to.

"He will."  Beru nodded with a smile.  Members were allowed in the maze.  He wasn't sure if there was, like, some sort of waiting period one had to go through before they were considered trustworthy enough to see all of it, but he knew that eventually she'd have access to it's entirety.  "The bamboo maze is really shady and that's where most of us have our dens."  Right, her eyes.  She kind of needed darker places in order to live comfortably, huh?  "I heard we were taking the oaks for our own.. Dunno if we ever got around to that, but that's got lots of dark places in it too if we have."  He nodded thoughtfully.   "We've also got manatee bay, but that's not a place that'll do you any favors during the day.  Real pretty at night too though.  I think you'll like it. Have you ever seen a dolphin?"