Just Another Day

A few days later, Shanku and Hilael met up with Katari one misty morning after his parents had reluctantly allowed him to leave.

"So, uh, is it going to be just us, or are we going to have a certain unmentionable companion?" Katari asked.

"Who, Kleu?" Shanku asked as she tilted her head to the side. "I donn't expect to see him, but I guess if he pops up, it's alright."

"Part of the conditions of me coming along was that I was to keep my distance from him," Katari explained.

"It's not like we can control the goblin hound," Shanku sighed in frustration. "What they don't know won't hurt them."

"I won't tell if you won't, then," Katari said lowly. Shanku raised an eyebrow at him but he didn't continue that part of the conversation. "Any idea where the Heyen winter at, Shank?"

"Northeast of here, from what I understand," Shanku replied. "They shouldn't be hard to find. We can skirt the edge of the forest for quite a ways and probably find at least one of them."

"I've never been that far out," Katari said wistfully.

"Someday, we'll go even farther together," Shanku said with a broad grin. "I would love to take you both all the way out there."

"Some day," Katari repeated cheerfully.

Another convert! Shanku giggled. The trees were covered with the morning dew and the air was heavy with the fog snaking around them. The afternoon was just as damp and cold with the clouds lying low over the forest as the day alternated between mist and drizzle, and the weather continued the same way for the entirety of their journey to the edge of the Nyre. Most of their kills were eaten raw since none really wanted to fight the wetness to get a fire started. Shanku's spirits weren't dampened in the least, and instead she grew more excited the closer she got to the prairie.

"Not much gets you down, does it?" Katari teased. He gave his head a good shake after accidentally brushing against a low-hanging branch and it deposited the water it had gathered into his ears.

"Plenty does, I would just rather live in the moment and push it out of mind," Shanku replied nonchalantly. "Life's too short and there's too much to see to brood on all the nasty garbage I've been through."

Katari raised an eyebrow thoughtfully and then nodded. "So, we should be about out of the Nyre by now, shouldn't we?"

"Pretty close, I think," Shanku replied slowly as she flicked her ears around. "The mist is so heavy I can't really hear much. One moment." Shanku crouched and sprang with a few firm wingbeats to get herself airborn and above the canopy. She flew a wide circle as she listened and looked intently for any signs of other kurach. "Well, flitter," she grumbled when she had landed by her brother and best friend. "I haven't the foggiest idea where they are."

"Plenty of fog though," Katari chuckled. "Let's all just take to wing and see if we can track them down faster."

They each took flight and spread out until they were just faint shadows and silhouettes to their companions. Innugati shivered against the damp cold and curled up tighter between Hilael's pack and his back. He tilted his wings to curve his flight more toward the plains and kept low near the tree tops. Hilael noticed someone moving and cupped his wings up to stop.