Test Subjects

Kotori hated this whole situation even if he was one of the lucky ones.  He roamed the landscape grimacing at all the mushrooms and crystals about the place.  If the objects were the cause of the sickness then it made sense both the mushrooms and crystals would need to be tested.  Eyeing all the fireflies he wondered if all the spirits Iki spoke of might actually be in the form of the fireflies.  How many spirits existed anyway?  Most likely they were just fireflies of some weird type.

Next to him came his white tiger splash who had a strap wrapped about him and a bag attached to it.  It was hastily made for today's little jaunt versus anything fancy.  His mongoose fang sat on top of the cat and it was keeping a decent-sized and thick stick in place.  Finally finding a spot with plenty of mushrooms clumped tightly together and without the fireflies as tightly packed he glanced back to his followers.  “Alright, open up the bag and Fang help me out.  Gimme the stick then find one of your own.”

The mongoose basically threw the stick at Kotori in an angry gesture and Kotori just grinned at the vicious little critter.  It was hard to describe their relationship but it was definitely more of respect and what they could get from each other more than friendship.  He still hated the name Fang too.  Meanwhile, Splash started pulling out rabbit corpses, five of them in total.  After that, there were braided ropes and pegs.

Kotori dug the stick into the ground and started using it to pry up some of the mushrooms.  Someone had to figure out what the deal was so he might as well take a stab at it.  The sooner wolves quit getting sick the better. The more confident he didn’t get sick the better.  Kotori couldn’t imagine creating a cure as he hadn’t bothered training as a healer all that long but maybe he could at least see if there was a pattern to the sickness caused by the mushrooms.  Between him and Fang they must have dug up a few dozen mushrooms and used sticks or rocks to push them into the bag.  No touching was a rule Kotori had decided upon.

One mushroom was left out and Kotori rolled it onto a rock and used another rock to smash it up.  From there he used the stick to slide some of the dust of the mushroom on the rabbit.  Something was bound to go for a free meal.  The rabbit was placed so that whatever ate it should be caught in the snare.  From there they found another spot a mile or so away and once more Kotori set up the rabbit though this time he used a stick to shove an entire mushroom in the rabbit's mouth.  This was going to be boring.  Kotori looked up at the moon, silently questioning it for answers.  Can the moon itself cause the problem and the mushrooms and crystals just bi-products?

Kotori knew of a cave he could check out but he didn’t want to go that far from his pack or Ikigai.  His current work paused as he took time to sit down and truly consider it.  What were the odds of the moon's presence being involved?  His head turns towards Splash, “after we get done here I have an assignment for you and Fang.”

The mongoose quit its own work, a steady gaze cast at Kotori.  The wolf couldn’t tell if it was to focus on the instructions given or glare for giving him more instructions.  It didn’t really matter at the moment either. “We spent a little time at a cave on one of our trips, remember?” A little time really did mean a little, not even an hour before Kotori had lost interest in it then.  The tiger nodded recalling it. “I want you to go there.  Get far enough into an area the moonlight will never reach.  See if the mushrooms and crystals are growing there as well.  Tell me if fireflies swarm inside there.  It’s not something we have here to compare too and with the moon being so unusual we shouldn’t ignore that.”

“Got it,” Splash wasn’t a big talker but he was capable of it.  His voice was rough around the edges and often seemed to drawl out but it was perfectly easy to make out the words.  When Kotori once asked why he didn’t talk more the response had been simply ‘no reason too.’

“Alright, back to work.” Kotori had no answers and apparently staring at a moon wasn’t going to get him anywhere.  Standing back up he went back to setting up rabbit courses several miles apart from each other.  Each time he used a different amount of mushroom.  Whatever Kotori captured he’d have to keep alive for a while and watch if it got any symptoms.  After setting them all up Kotori jogged back past each one to double-check the snares were set well.

“Take the bag with you in case you find anything to bring back.”  Hopefully, the rope holding the bag would hold out so Splash didn’t have to carry it.  Kotori really hadn’t planned for them to be gone for days but if there were any clues there then what would be worth it.  

Even as Splash ran off with Fang on his back he saw the mongoose look back at him and as normal it was an angry glare he got.  Fang never talked to him but he really didn’t need to.  Considering the looks he gave Kotori he imagined it would only be curse words anyway.

Kotori turned his attention up to the fireflies, “well if you are actually a bunch of spirits, I hope you guys like me for some reason.” So many were sick but he wasn’t.  Kotori couldn’t fathom why but for now it was time to head home.  He’d go see Dad and report to him of what all he’d been up to or Azure if dad was too busy.  Kotori let out a large yawn as he started walking home.  Protecting Ikigai, watching out for the pack, and now doing some research.  This was more work than he was used to doing and he was already debating if telling someone about his idea came before or after sleep.

WordCount 1068
"Kotori Fatalis"