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Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 5: The Cult of the Crimson Isles

Chapter 14

I should just title this (admittedly quite overlong) chapter These Two Dorks Need To Hurry Up And Fuck Already.

-Llox

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A faint splashing sound woke Kuna up the next morning. He groggily rubbed his eyes, then lifted his head to look around. The sun was peeking through the small vent holes in the one high wall of the cave, giving him a better view of things than the night before, while still keeping the environment dim enough that it didn't take much for his eyes to adjust. He was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar bird had managed to find a hole just big enough to climb into and doze off in. All of the others were still asleep- except for Hoku, who soon entered his field of vision from the cave entrance. She was dripping wet, apparently having gone for an early morning swim.

"Morning, Hoku," Kuna said quietly, so as not to disturb the others.

Hoku was startled at first, but then smiled over at the sereva. "Oh, morning Kuna. Sleep alright?"

"Mhmm," he responded, rubbing his eyes again. "You always go for a swim this early?"

She nodded and started setting up a firepit in the middle of the cave. "Great way to wake up." She winced slightly and cracked her neck. "And... good for sore muscles after sleeping on a stone floor."

"Heh, yeah, I miss our mat. But after what we went through up on the mountain, I'm not complaining," the sereva said, cuddling up to Lykou some more. He smiled softly as he looked over the sleeping konuul.

"You gonna come get some breakfast? Not like your fruit needs to be cooked."

"Nah. I'll wait for Lykou to wake up."

She smiled. "You two sure are close, aren't you?"

"Hey, we've saved each other a bunch of times now- mostly him saving me- and he's basically the first close friend I ever had. And we almost lost each other yesterday," Kuna replied, then smirked and nuzzled up to the sleeping canid lightly. "So forgive me if I'm a bit extra clingy with him today."

The raptuva chuckled lightly. "Hey, that's understandable. And also adorable."

Kuna blushed and rolled his eyes slightly, making her giggle a bit more.

Once she'd gotten some of the firewood stacked up right, she took out two pelenock teeth and used them to get a modest fire started. Luckily, the ceiling was pretty high up- high enough that it couldn't even be seen in some places in the dim lighting- and the holes on the one wall went all the way up, so the smoke would have a place to go. Once it was burning steadily, she skewered a pair of fish and started roasting them over the fire.

"So hey, um... I was wondering if I could ask you some things."

Kuna smirked. "Magic stuff?"

She grinned back at him. "Magic stuff."

"Sure. I've got a few questions for you too. Until now I've never met a person who wasn't some spirit or other powerful being that could use anything but life and so-, er, star magic."

She furrowed her brow. "Okay, you just did it again."

"Hmm?"

"You started to call star magic something else, but then you corrected yourself. I remember you doing that back when we first met," she said, arching a brow. "I brushed it off last time, but now you've got me curious."

The sereva looked around with a slightly anxious expression. "...ehehe... yeah..."

"...are you... going to explain it?"

Kuna thought for a moment, then took a breath and fidgeted slightly. "So... people tend to call it star magic because some of the most common uses- that I know of anyway- involve stars, and that makes it seem less, well... intimidating than the more accurate name."

"...which is?"

"Well, it's, um... soul magic."

Hoku's eyes widened and she covered her mouth to keep herself from blurting out her response too loud. "Soul magic??" she asked, after a moment.

Kuna smiled uneasily. "Yeah... you can see my point. It made me nervous when I first found out about it, too."

"...do I dare ask why it's called that?"

"Well, it's pretty straight-forward. Your soul has mystical energy flowing through it from the spirit world just like your body does. Soul energy. So using it just involves learning to grasp it and manipulate it."

"That's... huh. I never really thought about that."

"It's harder than grasping life energy though. Unlike every other kind, soul energy normally never really leaves the spirit world, for one thing." The sereva scratched his head thoughtfully, careful not to jostle the sleeping konuul next to him. "Though, having said that, I guess technically it's easier than most other forms of energy, too, usually. Like I said, you're the first normal person I've met that can use water magic. But you said it's just kind of instinct for you?"

"Pretty much. Ever since that one fateful day, anyway. But then again, supposedly some of our ancestors could use it too, which helped with sailing across the ocean."

"Huh... interesting... but no life magic?"

"I mean... none that I know of off the top of my head. Er, other than you-know-who, anyway," Hoku said with a scowl. "And it turns out he was cheating with demon help anyway."

Kuna shuddered a bit. "That... that wasn't life magic the way I know it. I felt the shit he was using and it was all... wrong. Backwards, in a way. Absolutely vile. When I tried to make contact with whatever life energy he was using, it was easily one of the most fucked up sensations I've ever felt."

"Eesh. Er, sorry to bring that up."

"Mm, don't worry about it," he replied, then sighed. "I'm just glad we got away from the bastard."

"Me too."

"So what kinds of questions did you have?" Kuna asked, eager to shift the subject.

She smiled a bit sheepishly. "Wellll... truth be told I was kind of hoping you might be able to teach me a bit more about the magic you can do. Especially the... 'star' magic. Like I said, our ancestors used that and water magic to cross the ocean ages ago, and... well, I've always kind of dreamed of bringing that back some day."

Kuna perked up a bit. "I'd be happy to try, at least." Before he could continue, the konuul began to stir next to him. He looked down and gently stroked the waking canid's head a bit, smiling. "Well good morning, sleepyhead."

Lykou yawned and blinked a few times, then grinned back up at him. "After yesterday, I can't describe how much of a relief it is to wake up and see you still here."

Kuna blushed and they embraced tightly for a moment. "Hey, right back at ya, big guy."

Hoku watched the two with a grin. She was sorely tempted to make a comment, but she bit her tongue about it. "Well, now that you're awake, you two should get some breakfast," she said after a moment, checking her fish and rotating it a bit in the fire. "Should be another skewer-stick or two in the box with the fruit."

"Sounds good," Lykou said, then stretched as he sat up. "You waited for me?" he asked Kuna.

"D'uh. Like I told Hoku, after yesterday, you're just going to have to deal with me being extra stuck to you," the sereva said playfully.

"Fine by me. Could make washing up by the falls a bit awkward though. Then again, maybe that's exactly what you want," Lykou replied, making Kuna blush, then poked his tongue out at him when he gave him a playful glare.

Hoku rolled her eyes up and sighed. "You two are too-" she started to say, but then paused when she spotted Sunshine in the hole up high. "W-... wait a minute, is that...?"

Lykou turned to follow her gaze then spotted their avian friend dozing on his perch. "Oh hey, it's Sunny!"

"Shh, he's sleeping," Kuna reminded them. "He had a long day yesterday too, you know. All that quick flying around, plus whatever that magic was that he used."

"Heh, good point."

Hoku stared in fascination at the bird for a moment. "Wow... an actual, honest to goodness kikomanu," she said with a small degree of awe. After a moment, she arched a brow curiously. "Honestly surprised they even need sleep. The old stories were admittedly never clear on it, but I always suspected they were some kind of spirit."

"Well, I can see why. All the magic, plus being associated with a, er, god and all. But yeah, Kuna was literally feeding him seeds and bits of fruit when we first met," Lykou said.

"Of course, that was before we realized he was magical and stuff," Kuna pointed out with a smirk. "He talked a bit, which surprised us, but he made it seem like he was just mimicking things he'd heard, for some reason."

"Probably trying to pass himself off as one of the other talking birds we have around here," Hoku commented. "Given their history, I imagine he's been laying low for a long time and was just fascinated by the first outsiders on the islands in ages."

"There are other talking birds?"

"Mhmm. Pretty similar looking, too, but without the yellow and white feathers. Mostly blue, green, red, and so on. And unlike him, they really are just mimicking sounds they heard."

"Huh. I've never heard of wild animals that mimic people like that. Especially not that well."

"Yeah, closest I've heard are elnu, and they're spirits that mimic birds," Kuna agreed. "These islands sure are something else."

Hoku perked up again. "Elnu huh? How many different spirits have you seen?"

"A lot, at this point," Kuna said. "Been a crazy journey."

"Hey, you were seeing them even before we met," Lykou pointed out with a smirk as he set his own skewered fish out over the fire. "I still haven't seen an elnu."

"To be fair, you really don't see them so much as hear them," Kuna pointed out.

"Point still stands."

"You have no idea how jealous I am of you two. Exploring the world, seeing all kinds of spirits... sounds amazing."

"Hey, believe me, the homesickness sucks though," Lykou said with a sigh, watching the flames dance with a faint somberness. "Especially given how unexpected it was."

Kuna frowned and rubbed his back softly. "Yeah," he said, then sighed. "Not to mention the constant danger and fighting for survival at times."

The raptuva wilted slightly. "Er, sorry. Didn't mean t-"

"No, you're fine," Lykou reassured her, his smile returning after a moment. "I get it, believe me. Ironically, before all this started, I craved the same thing. Heck, if it'd been a planned thing from the beginning, I'd feel a lot better about it. A big part of what bothers me is knowing everyone back home has no idea what happened to me. And probably assumed the worst."

"If only there was some way to let them at least know you're alive," Kuna lamented. "I wonder if Aelana and Daisy might know of a way t- oh shit!"

Lykou immediately realized the same thing as Kuna did and facepalmed. "Fuck."

"What? What's wrong??" Hoku asked.

Kuna sighed and rolled his eyes up with an annoyed expression. "Neither Lykou or I remembered to try and contact them last night."

"Well hey, that's understandable. After the day you two had, you deserve to just, you know... rest, for crying out loud," Hoku pointed out. "I kind of figured we'd need to take the day to just figure some things out and let you three recover anyway," she said, gesturing briefly to Kalei as she included him in the comment. She then glanced up at the bird again. "...you four, even, actually."

"I guess..."

Lykou shrugged. "I'm not even sure we can anyway. Those charms might be with the rest of our stuff, although they're supposed to somehow kind of... follow us. Won't know how that works unless we try though."

Kuna scratched his head for a moment, then smirked. "Well... they're Sylthean artifacts, right?"

"Er. Yeah?"

"Given what we've seen and heard so far about Syltheans, and what they told us about those things..." Kuna mused, trailing off as he considered what they'd learned, as well as witnessed from Daisy. Suddenly he got up and started digging around in the pockets he'd sown into his old poncho. He'd laid it down next to them the previous night so it could finish drying out- and it was kind of warm for it anyway. At first, he couldn't find anything, but then he rigorously shook it out. Luckily, at the moment, he didn't have anything else in there anyway. But then, out of nowhere, the crystal-clear, round bauble popped out and bounced off the floor, making an oddly pretty ringing sound as it did so. It bounced around the cave a couple of times before landing right in Kuna's palm. "...well, there you go."

Lykou smirked and arched a brow. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"What is that even made of?" Hoku asked, fascinated by the strange object.

Lykou and Kuna shared a look, then shrugged. "Not a clue."

"Could be something only found in Sylthea for all we know."

"Syltheans... that'd be the uh, 'two in one' duo you told me about?" Hoku asked the sereva.

"They prefer 'one in two' for some reason, but yeah. They're Sylthean. Or at least half Sylthean."

"Huh. Still hard to believe there's a third world out there. Especially knowing there's so much more to this one as it is."

Makani began to stir and slowly got up, grumbling a bit. She winced as she sat up and looked around, squinting.

"Hey, g'morning Kani," Lykou greeted the other raptuva. "Sleep well?"

"No. Stupid rock floors weren't meant for sleepin'," Kani grumbled as she achingly shuffled over to join the group around the fire. Hoku passed her one of the fish she'd been cooking, then put a couple more on the skewer before digging into one herself. "Thanks..."

"No problem. Remember, if you need more water than what we have here, you can get to part of the falls through that tunnel over there."

"Mmn. Might dunk my head in later."

"That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea," Lykou said as he checked his own fish. "I might do that in a bit myself."

"Yeah, same," Kuna said, frowning as he picked at the fur on his arm a bit. "I've got salt still stuck in my fur from our little swim yesterday..."

"I'm surprised your not licking it out," the canid teased.

"Hey, it's different!" the sereva replied with a pout. "I don't fancy a mouthful of salty fur."

"What's that about?" Hoku asked, amused.

"He looooves salt, usually. He'll just slurp at big salt crystals by themselves if given the chance."

"Woah, that's weird!" Kani replied, then yelped when Hoku nudged her. "Whaaat, it is!"

"That's rude, Kani."

"Either way, yeah, I want to get cleaned up after breakfast," Kuna said, then took a bite out of some fruit he pulled out of the box.

"Seems so weird having to clean up after swimming just cus the water's salty," Kani pointed out. "I'm glad I'm not fuzzy like that."

"Kani!"

"What, I'm just saying!"

Lykou chuckled. "Eh, it's fine." He took a bite out of his fish, then thought for a moment, looking over both Kuna and himself. They were both basically wearing nothing but shorts- very beat up and tattered shorts, at that. "Oh. Er. Something just occurred to me though."

"What's that?"

"Um. If we're going to get cleaned up... well, we won't have clean clothes to change into. And these are filthy and on the edge of falling apart at this point," Lykou explained, immediately prompting a wide-eyed, blushing expression from Kuna, who clearly hadn't thought the situation through either.

Kuna looked away, instinctively shrinking up a bit. "Fuck... there goes that plan."

"I mean, hey, I don't care if you guys have to go around nakey for a bit," Makani said with a grin.

"Of course you wouldn't, Kani," Hoku replied with a faint smirk.

"Nothanks," Kuna quickly responded, flustered.

Lykou grinned. "Hey, you were literally naked for the first like, two days I knew you."

Kuna's eye twitched and he shot the canid a brief glare. "You know those were special circumstances."

"Still not sure why you suddenly developed anxiety about it," the canid continued, then ruffled his hair playfully.

"I only didn't care initially because I didn't care about literally anything when we first met, if you'll recall," Kuna pointed out with narrowed eyes. "Nudity was just kind of a fact of life at the time for me."

Lykou winced and let his ears droop. "Er. Right. Sorry-"

The sereva nudged him and smirked. "Nah, you're fine. Someone cured me of that, and that's what's important."

"Soooo are you guys gonna be naked for a bit or not?" Kani asked with a grin.

"Well I don't know about him, but I'm alright with it," Lykou replied, grinning back at Kuna. As he predicted, the sereva flushed and looked away with a very frazzled expression.

"S-so you're just gonna strut around in the buff, huh??" the sereva muttered, trying to fight back a grin and hide his excitement. "That figures..."

Kani and Hoku exchanged an amused look.

"Hey, it's only fair if you do too, y'know," Kani pointed out. "And you were just talking about how much you wanted to get cleaned up."

"Kani, ease off, he's clearly uncomfortable," Hoku chided lightly.

"Aw come on, I'm curious to know what they both look like down there!"

Even Lykou blushed at that and snickered a bit, while the sereva just made an incomprehensible, half-squeaking, half-grumbling sound next to him and avoided looking at anyone. "Wow, direct much..."

Hoku gawked at her friend, then gave her a light smack. "Sounds like you need to go soak your head now."

"What, are you saying you're not curious??"

Hoku flushed and glared at her friend. "Not. The. Point!"

"Well, we don't have any spare clothes, and those shorts they're wearing look like they're about to fall apart as it is," Kani pointed out. "Sooo...."

"Actually, I was thinking you and I could try slipping back out in a little bit to gather some more supplies as discretely as possible," Hoku suggested. "If nothing else, some tools to stitch some things up shouldn't be too hard to do. Maybe some extra materials, too."

"Hey yeah, Ku's good at that," Lykou said, then nudged the frazzled sereva. "If you're up for it, that is."

"...sure," Kuna mumbled.

"We can pitch in. Maybe make some mats to sleep on, too, rather than having to lay on the flat stone."

"How long are we gonna be here?? I don't wanna live in a cave forever!" Kani whined loudly. "Stupid evil demon conspiracy jerks, makin' us have to hide in a gloomy cave..."

"Kani, shhh! Kalei's still asleep-"

"Not anymore," Kalei's voice grumbled as he finally started to get up. "Ugh... and I agree on the floor bit."

"Sorry if we woke you Kalei," Lykou said.

"Eh, s'fine. Been kind of halfway awake for a bit now. What I miss?" the final raptuva said as he groggily came over to join them by the fire. "Heard something about getting more supplies and... fixing something up?"

"Lykou and Kuna are gonna get naked!" Kani helpfully blurted out.

"NoI'mnot," Kuna hastily retorted, albeit in a mumble.

Lykou snickered and rolled his eyes. "Ku and I need to go get cleaned up, and Hoku and Kani are talking about sneaking back out to grab a few extra things for while we're stuck in here. Including material for stitching stuff up and making some mats to sleep on. And maybe something simple Ku and I can wear besides these beat up shorts." He ruffled Kuna's hair again. "Unfortunately, Ku's a little self-conscious at the idea of being naked for a bit."

"Oh. Huh," Kalei said, rubbing his eye. He then stretched and yawned. "Well, he can borrow that cloak I was wearing for a while if he wants. If I'm gonna help with the supply run, it'll be easier to avoid notice without it."

"I dunno, Kairangi might have let people know about you by now."

"I don't stand out too much, especially without the cloak. So I shouldn't draw any attention, especially if I stay out of the village and just grab stuff from the woods or something. I doubt word about me will have gotten down here yet anyway."

"Don't forget, they already had people looking around the village yesterday evening," Hoku pointed out.

Kalei thought for a moment, then frowned. "Shit. That's... a good point. I guess they'd be really hurrying to get the word out after all that. Nobody's ever escaped from them before, as far as I know."

"Not that I can remember. I'm even nervous about Kani and I being near the village at this rate."

"Maybe you should go at night," Lykou suggested.

"No, then it'd look even more suspicious if we got spotted. We'll just have to try and avoid notice."

"I should still be fine to at least go grab things in the woods in any case," Kalei said. "No point sitting around here all day doing nothing."

"Wish there was something Ku and I could do to help. Hate to leave everything to you guys."

"That's way too risky. You're the main ones they're after, after all. And you'd stand out a hell of a lot more."

"Yeah, just take it easy. You've been through a lot," Kalei said. "I imagine you could really use more time to recover."

"Hey, same to you, y'know," Kuna countered. "Even before all that rescue and escape stuff, you were being worked to the bone on the trip up, as I recall."

"Eh, I'll be fine. Like I said, I'm just happy to not have some assholes around shouting orders at me and demeaning me all the time. Besides," Kalei said, then winced and rubbed his neck. "If it means potentially having something softer to sleep on, I'll do whatever it takes. Just let me know what kinds of things to look for, and I'll be happy to grab 'em."

"Well, as long as you're careful... probably the trickiest thing will something I can use for thread."

"Yeah, I can always make a needle out of fish bones or something, but the thread is the tricky thing," Lykou said, then shot the sereva a brief sympathetic glance before continuing. "Not much sinew on fish and in any case, working with bone needles is going to be uncomfortable enough for him."

Kuna twitched a bit. "Yeahhh...."

"What'd you use for thread back home? Or do your people just always go naked? Er, no offense..."

"Various plants. You'd be surprised what you can make out of certain roots, and some people had ways of doing all sorts of things with pufftips. Though I wouldn't have a clue what that involves."

"...yeah I don't even know what those are. Guessing it's something that doesn't grow around here."

"Probably not. Almost everything here is different from the plants we have back home. Haven't seen any meshweed or anything."

"Well, I'll see what I can find."

"Appreciate it," Kuna said, rubbing his arm a bit. "Wish I could come help look."

"Kuna," Hoku interjected, smiling. "There's no shame in just recuperating and laying low. Relax."

The sereva smiled back sheepishly. "Sorry. I know..."

Lykou sighed. "Now to just figure out what we're gonna do while we wait in here..." He grumbled a bit. "After we get cleaned up, it's gonna be pretty boring just sitting around."

"Shame you don't have your instrument," Kuna lamented. "Now would probably be a good time to work on it."

"Yeah, hope those bastards don't ruin my work on it."

"Instrument?" Kani asked curiously. "You have an instrument of some kind?"

"Well, not yet. I was making one whenever we got some downtime. Unfortunately it's all up with the rest of our things at the shrine, wherever it got stuck. I just hope they don't go making off with things bit by bit."

"I doubt it," Kalei assured him. "I, uh, was the one they tasked with putting that stuff in storage, before... you know. So I know where it is, and after I slipped in and got your bracers, knife, and hatchet, I made sure the rest was tucked away in the back where nobody was likely to notice it."

"Well that's a relief, at least."

"Heh, you're the one that moved our things?" Kuna asked.

"Err, yeah," Kalei replied uncomfortably. "In my defense, that was before I knew about... you know, anything. Even before the bastard attacked you two. I figured they were just moving you both to a nicer room somewhere or something."

"Well at least we know it wasn't just tossed around willy-nilly then."

"Yeah no, I was careful. Just wish I could've grabbed more of it on the way out. Didn't want to look too conspicuous or anything."

"I guess it's too warm for my robe here anyway," Kuna lamented, then took another bite of fruit. "These islands are beautiful and nice- minus the demon monster and his minions, that is- but I really hope the next place we end up is a lot cooler and more like we're used to."

"Eesh, me too," Lykou agreed. "I miss the tall pines and crisp air."

"Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I don't want to leave this place in the hands of that evil bastard and his lies, I'd want to get out of here myself," Hoku said. "If not through the portal, then find a way to sail out across the ocean and go exploring. I'm tired of the same old same old, you know? The cold might be tricky, but I'd love to see new places."

"That actually doesn't sound half bad, now that you mention it," Kalei agreed.

"Trust me, you'd miss home eventually," Lykou pointed out.

"Yeah but if I was sailing and had a way to navigate, I could always come back now and then."

"Aww, but I'd miss youuuuu!" Makani whined.

Hoku smiled at her and side-arm hugged her briefly. "Hey, you'd be welcome to join me."

"Hmm... adventure does sound kinda fun...."

"That's all good and well, but the fact is we do have a demonic asshole to deal with," Kalei said, then sighed. "Question is, what do we do about him?"

"Well, for that we'll have to wait until tonight, and hopefully I'll be able to ask Aelana and Daisy for suggestions," Lykou said, then took another bite of fish. "She's watched over Clovaria for centuries, I'm sure she's dealt with a demon or two at some point or other."

"Damn. Centuries huh? You two sure meet some... interesting individuals."

"You can say that again," Kuna replied. "Inkari, Aelana and Daisy, tons of spirits... including Sulyr," he said, grinning at Lykou. "Speaking of which, I don't think you mentioned that little story at any point, now did you?"

The canid almost choked in surprise, and blushed. "Ku!"

"Ohhhh this sounds juicy!" Makani chimed in, beaming. "Do tell!"

"What can be so 'juicy' about a spirit? What kind of spirit is this 'Sulyr' thing?"

"Sulyr is a rima, a snake-like water spirit. A really big one. But he's... really not like any other spirits we've met. At all," Kuna explained, then smirked at the flustered konuul. "And I think I deserve a little revenge for someone telling a certain bee story the other night~"

Lykou smirked at him despite himself. "Well at least I know I'll never get as adorably flustered as you," he taunted. "And in any case, I can find ways to get you back way more."

Kuna stuck his tongue out at him.

Makani squealed and was about to say something, but Hoku quickly covered her mouth and shook her head. Kani deflated and pouted, then pulled the hand away. "What?"

"I know what you were gonna say. Don't."

Lykou and Kuna gave them a confused look. "What was she going to say?"

"Don't worry about it."

Kani rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said, then turned back to Kuna. "So fun spirit story, go!"

"I'm kind of curious about both stories now," Kalei chimed in.

"I'll tell you the bee one later," Kani said with a wink.

Kuna groaned and rolled his eyes, blushing. "Wish you wouldn't, but I have a feeling you're not persuadable."

"Nope!"

"Welllll," Kuna said, shooting the canid a devious grin. The konuul dug into his food some more to distract himself. The sereva then proceeded to tell the salacious, if brief story.

Hoku just sat there speechlessly for a moment afterwards, whereas Kani was giggling and grinning like crazy, with Kalei smirking and blushing at the thought. "Wow... I had no idea spirits like that existed."

"I... I'll say..." Hoku managed to sputter out. "Almost seems... I dunno, wrong somehow..."

"Hey, you probably had the cleanest dick in the world after that!" Kani said to Lykou, then fell over giggling.

Lykou groaned and averted his gaze, blushing more than Kuna had seen in a long time- the only time that came close was probably after the incident in question when he divulged the details himself.

"Like I said, Sulyr is... unique, to say the least," Kuna said with a snicker.

But then Lykou smirked back at him with a devious look in his eye. "As long as we're playing this game, why don't we tell them about a certain creative magical experiment you tried out-"

Kuna yelped and flushed brightly, then immediately covered the canid's mouth. "DON'T. YOU. DARE."

"Oooo, we GOTTA hear this one!" Kani insisted, propping her head up on her hands and eyeing them giddily.

Lykou snickered and pried the sereva's hand back. "Well, you see-"

"So help me Lykou, I'll feed you your own tail!" the sereva threatened, as the two of them wrestled to the ground. It was clear Lykou was more or less letting him pin him down, given both his giggling and his obvious strength advantage.

"Well you owe me something for knocking the fish out of my hand," Lykou teased. "But I'm pretty sure you have other things you'd enjoy putting in my mouth more."

Kuna blushed hotly and glared daggers at him, but grinned in spite of himself. "That's it, you're getting another saltwater bath. I'll get some of those ocean weeds to drag you in!"

"You sure you wouldn't rather use them t-mmnph!" the konuul started to retort, before getting a wadded up poncho stuffed into his face. He managed to pry it off and snicker.

"Come oooon, I wanna hear this one!" Kani playfully quipped, though she was clearly enjoying the show either way.

Hoku just smirked and rolled her eyes. "As amusing as I'm sure it'd be, we should go ahead and go grab those supplies. The earlier we get out and back, the less likely we are to catch any attention."

"Awww!" Kani whined.

"She has a point," Kalei agreed, then smirked over at Lykou and Kuna. "You know, the way you two are acting, you'd never know you just managed to escape a terrible fate at the hands of a demon."

Lykou pried the sereva's hand away from his face again and sit back up. "Hey, what's the point in surviving if you don't get to embrace the fun things in life?"

Kuna grinned and suddenly wrapped his arms around the canid's torso, latching on tightly and knocking him back over. "Good point!"

Hoku snickered and grabbed Kani, who'd started squealing again. "Come on, let's go."

Kalei got up to join them. "Try not to have too much fun without us," he teased the boys with a smirk.

"Can't make any promises," Lykou said with a grin, then started tickling Kuna's sides, causing him to burst into a fit of laughter. The sereva started squirming and flailing at the canid while the raptuva headed out, with Hoku having to practically drag Kani along with her.

Up in his perch, Sunshine watched the scene in silent amusement, deciding not to let on that he'd awoken a while back.

*****

"Why couldn't we stay just a little longerrrr?" Kani whined as they walked through the pocket of swirling water manifested by Hoku's magic.

"We can't just goof around all day, you know. Especially not with Kairangi's lackeys searching the island for those two."

Kani sighed. "Fiiiine, you're right." After a moment she leaned in and grinned. "You totally can't deny it now though. Those two are totally fuckin'."

"It's rude to jump to conclusions, Kani."

"Oh come on. After all that, you can't tell me you don't see it." Kani looked over to Kalei. "Back me up here."

"Oh definitely," Kalei agreed with a snicker. "They might deny it, but no way there's not something there."

"See!"

Hoku paused and smirked over at them briefly, then went back to forging the water tunnel ahead. "I suppose it's not hard to guess what they might be doing while we're out."

"Hah! They're totally doin' it."

"You don't have to be so crude, you know," Hoku chided. "I'll admit it's a possibility, and there's definitely a spark there, but for all we know they're not even to that stage yet."

"But you just admitted it! They totally are!"

"I said might. Anyway, it's still kind of rude to speculate."

"I mean yeah, that's a fair point," Kalei said. "Looks can be deceiving anyway. And I'm sure they'd have said something if they were actually in a relationship of some kind. They keep referring to each other as friends- maybe best friends, even. But still."

Kani blinked a few times and seemed to mull something over. "...oh. Oh fuck. Fuck! Those two dorks are in the oblivious stage!"

"The wh-?"

"Oh come onnnn, it's so obvious! They're totally into each other, but they're too afraid or oblivious to admit it!" Kani said excitedly, bouncing a bit as she walked along between them. "Oh gosh, we have t-"

"No."

"Oh come oonnnn!"

"Kani, let them figure things out on their own or I'll drop the damn ocean on you," Hoku warned as they began approaching the shore. "Besides, we've got enough else to worry about right now, in case you've forgotten."

"Again, good point," Kalei agreed. "It'll hardly matter if they're together or end up together if that demonic bastard running this place gets a hold of them somehow. We've got to focus on dealing with all this shit before anything else."

"Uuuuugh. Fiiiine," Kani grumbled, then crossed her arms. "Fuck, I hate that bastard more than ever. I hope we figure out how to kick his butt into a thousand tiny pieces."

"Hopefully those two, er... 'Syltheans' they mentioned will be able to help."

Before long, the three of them had made it to shore. Fortunately, as usual, there was nobody lingering around that far out from the village. After dismissing her magic, Hoku glanced out towards the ocean, noting that there weren't as many boats out in the distance as she would usually expect. Clearly, the Order was still keeping a tight watch on things. "Right... we'll have to be extremely careful," she said, then turned back to the other two. "They're more paranoid than ever now."

"Where to first?" Kalei asked.

"Kani and I will stop and get what we can from my shack, and maybe get some extra netting and sail material from our boat. You focus on grabbing some things in the woods near here. Some more fruit for Kuna, and anything we might be able to turn into mats. And anything thread-like I guess."

"Got it. I'll try and stay near here so I can see when you come back."

"Right, good idea. We'll be back as soon as we can. Stay safe!"

"You too."

*****

"Come on, you can always cover up with Kalei's cloak for a bit if you have to," Lykou said as he stared up at the dark cave ceiling, smiling contently.

Kuna was laying across the canid's chest, where he'd sprawled out after their little tickle-wrestling shenanigans had ended. "Nnngh... that thing's kinda light though. Would, probably lift up a little too high if the breeze hits it right, if you know what I mean," he replied, blushing slightly.

"Not like we have to worry about that in here," Lykou pointed out flatly.

The sereva sighed. "Yeah, okay, fair point. I guess I've just kind of grown used to, y'know... having... certain things more solidly covered since I made those shorts."

"What, afraid to show off that cute butt?" Lykou teased, smirking.

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you? Perv," Kuna snarked back, grinning a bit in spite of himself.

Lykou chuckled, then sighed. They laid there and just enjoyed each other's company and closeness in silence for a few minutes. The canid's smile gradually faded, however. "I hope Lana and Daisy can help us. Otherwise I don't know how the hell Ink expected us to deal with this mess."

"Seriously, I don't know if she really just thinks that highly of us or if she's just that sadistic," Kuna agreed, his eye twitching a bit. "But this is insane."

"Yeah..."

Another extended silence passed. Suddenly, Lykou was slightly startled by the sereva shifting position and wrapping him up in an extra tight embrace. He smiled again and returned the gesture.

"I s-swear to fuck, Lykou. I don't know h-how I didn't have a damn n-nightmare last night," Kuna said somewhat shakily. When he looked up, there were faint tears in his eyes. "Yesterday was... w-way too fucking close."

Lykou's smile faded again and he squeezed him tightly. "No kidding," he said, then sniffed and stroked the sereva's back, trying to fight back some tears himself. "I hated how fucking helpless I felt in that damn cell. Knowing you were in trouble and I couldn't help you... that was the worst thing I've ever felt."

Kuna sighed. The two cuddled in silence for a minute, just happy to be in each other's arms. Eventually, the spoke up again. "Thank fuck Kalei and Sunshine freed us."

"Yeah... heh, I'd probably have knocked myself out if it'd been much longer."

The sereva furrowed his brow and he pulled back to eye the canid questioningly. "What do you mean?"

The canid smiled sheepishly. "I... may have been trying to brute force myself through the bars. And... it wasn't going well."

"...so you were... just... what, ramming the bars?"

Lykou nodded, biting his lip awkwardly.

"Tell me that's not why you were all bruised to hell when you found me..."

"...okay, I won't tell you," Lykou replied, looking away with a faux-innocent expression.

Kuna just stared flatly at him for a minute.

The konuul became somewhat uncomfortable by the drawn out silence. "Er..."

"...did your parents just trade your brain in for sweetness and good lucks, or...?"

"Hey!" Lykou said, but couldn't help but snicker in spite of himself. "C'mon, I couldn't see any other way out! I was desperate to come save your ass."

Kuna sighed and smirked, then squeezed and nuzzled him again. "What am I going to do with you?" he wondered aloud. "What were the bars even made of? You put that much effort behind it, knowing your strength, they must've been pretty damn tough to still not budge."

"I'm not sure. Some kind of metal maybe, I think. But nothing like what we've seen. And it was apparently magic, or at least there was a glyph etched into it. I had to use a weird stone with its own glyphs on it to get out- when they lined up a certain way, the bars just kind of suddenly... melted. And folded down into this one little chunk on the floor."

"Woah, really? Weird..."

"Mhmm. I wonder if they have any other magical shit up there we didn't see."

"Good question..."

Eventually, Lykou nudged him lightly. "Well anyway, come on, lets go get cleaned up."

Again, Kuna sighed. "Fiiiine," he said as he reluctantly got up. Before they left for the back tunnel, he remembered the final member of their group that hadn't said a peep all morning and looked up at the upper wall. "Oh hey, Sunny. How long you been awake up there?"

Lykou turned to look up at the bird as well. "Oh hey, guess he somehow found us."

"Mhmm. Been there all morning has far as I can tell," Kuna said, then turned back to the bird. "You comfortable up there? Seems a bit snug."

Sunshine whistled lightly and fidgeted a bit. "Warm and cozy."

Lykou chuckled. "Yeah, I can see that, if its got the sun on the outside. And those Pelenock Teeth all around."

"Hey, not to bother you, and I definitely understand if you just want to relax right now," Kuna said, rubbing his arm a bit. "But if you've got the energy, would you mind going to check on the others in a little while? I'm a bit worried about them scavenging around out there with those Order jerks hunting around for us."

The bird whistled and clicked. "Okay."

"Thanks!"

"And hey, you should come down here and chat with the rest of us this evening," Lykou suggested, then smirked and crossed his arms. "You know, since there's no point in playing the 'simple animal' bit anymore. I'm sure you've got stories to tell, and I'd like to ask you about things."

The bird rolled his eyes up and whistled innocently, with what might have been a grin, though the beak made it far too subtle to make out such things for certain. "No stories. Sunshine dumb fuck."

"Riiiight."

"Hey, come to think of it," Kuna said, scratching his head. "You said some things our medallions somehow couldn't translate when we first met. I thought it was because you didn't know what you were saying at the time, but obviously now we know better. What was up with that?"

Again, the bird avoided their gaze for a moment. Then, suddenly, he began shifting around. "Checking on friends. Bye!" he squawked, then flew out the other side of the hole.

"...that's one weird little guy," Lykou said with a bemused expression.

"No kidding... something tells me he's still more complicated than we're giving him credit for."

"Could be."

With no further distractions, they wandered back into the tunnel at the back of the chamber. It turned and twisted a bit, and got darker as they went along. It didn't have any of the exterior wall holes that the main chamber had, so they had to rely more heavily on the dim red glow of the pelenock teeth. Kuna considered using his magic for a bit of extra light, but fortunately they soon heard the flowing water getting closer. When they entered the chamber where part of the falls flowed inside, they were relieved to see that it was once again lit up by a few more cracks in the wall- albeit the opposite wall now, where the falls were flowing in from. Some were behind the falls, and some were where the water was flowing in from the outside. But a few up high let in a bit more undisturbed sunlight- less than the far side, but enough to make things more visible. The segment of the falls flowing inside was a small fragment of the whole, but it was enough that each of them could stand under the splashing water without being crowded. It was forming a very shallow pool that was steadily flowing under some rocks near the cave wall. The light coming in through the slits and gaps beyond the falls made for a shimmery, somewhat enchanting atmosphere in the smaller chamber when they first entered.

"Wow, this is... kind of nice. Cozy, almost," Kuna commented.

"Yeah, I'll say." They both admired the scene for a moment, then Lykou abruptly started taking off his tattered old shorts. "Wellp, time to wash up."

"Er. R-right," Kuna said, standing there and shifting uncomfortably, his gaze drifting ever so briefly down to ogle the canid's rump. His gaze quickly darted away again when the canid turned back to him as he stepped into the water.

"Well come on then," Lykou said, then sighed and smirked when the sereva continued to hesitate and blush. "Alright, I'll look away."

As soon as the canid's gaze was averted, Kuna sighed and started anxiously sliding his shorts off, then stepped into the water with him. "Wish the water was a bit... deeper."

The canid smiled sidelong at him. "Seriously Ku, why are you so antsy about this any more?"

The sereva blushed some more and folded his ears down. "...I dunno. Various things I guess. It's easier when the water kind of obscures things below the waist."

"Yeah but why does-"

"I'm just wary of having my bits out on display, alright?" Kuna said, then sighed and looked away with a faint, bashful grin. "Especially in case I, uh... ever develop a um. Situation."

Lykou stared at him for a moment, then his eyes widened. He grinned. "What, is that really that much of a concern?"

Kuna shot him a look. "I mean we haven't had a good chance to... you know... for, what, a week now? Or longer?"

"I've... admittedly kind of lost count of the days, heh."

"Exactly. And you I know I.... Ium. Y...mnph," the sereva trailed off, mumbling and looking away.

Lykou arched a brow. "Hmm?"

Again, the sereva shot him another quick, sheepish look. "You're fucking hot, okay?" he grumbled, then turned away again. "We've been through this..."

Lykou blushed and smirked, looking away as well. "Yeah well you're still cute yourself, you know."

Kuna sighed and stepped into the falls, trying to push aside certain thoughts before they became an embarrassing issue. "Aaand that teasing doesn't help."

The konuul stepped into the water next to him and began trying to wash the salt out of his fur. "Who says I'm teasing?" he said, then grinned over at the sereva. "I mean it, you're pretty attractive yourself."

Kuna paused for a minute, then glanced over at him again. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah. I do."

The sereva looked away again, smiling faintly. "...thanks," he said quietly.

"You... alright?"

"Just... I just sometimes can't help thinking you're just trying to tease me all this time with that 'cute' crap," the sereva said, folding his ears down bashfully. "It... never occurred to me someone might find all," he said, then gestured to himself. "This mess appealing in any way. I mean, I'm just a scrawny dork with no muscle to speak of. I'm a total mess. And I've got these dumb nubs on my head."

"Kuna, not everyone finds the same things attractive. You've got a cute face, and the way your hair hangs out over it at the right angles is gorgeous. You may not be all muscular, but you're fit in all the right ways. Trust me, you're fucking sexy," Lykou insisted. "And while we're on the subject, I uh... held back at the time, but you remember back when we did that face-painting stuff a while back?"

"Er... yeah?"

"There was one point where it was just right around your eyes and kind of smoothed out by the water, and I swear to fuck you could've killed me with the right look," Lykou sheepishly admitted with a faint grin, trying to avoid meeting the sereva's eyes. "You know, drop dead sexy."

Kuna blushed profusely and smiled shyly. "Jeeze, Kou... thanks..."

"Only saying it because it's true," Lykou said, then got a playful twinkle in his eye. "And you really do have the absolute cutest butt. Not that I was looking or anything."

Kuna snorted slightly and splashed him. "Perv."

"Says the cutie afraid to get naked out of fear of popping random boners."

The sereva groaned and splashed him again, still grinning. "Is having sexy friends always this tricky?" he mused aloud, careful to avoid letting his gaze linger over certain bits of his friend's anatomy.

The konuul chuckled. "To be fair, it's a little easier to find a little alone time to take care of things when you're not traveling across the world just trying to survive and not get killed by monsters."

"True, true," Kuna agreed. Then something occurred to him and he gave the canid a quizzical look. "Do, uh... do you find Naira sexy too?"

Lykou sputtered a bit in surprise as he was taking a sip of the water from the falls. "Er. Well... yeah," he admitted after a brief pause. "Sure. Why?"

"Just wondering," the sereva said, mulling things over as he continued washing himself off. "So... do you never, y'know... worry about having embarrassing moments?"

Lykou chuckled. "Well, to be fair, the bath houses back home have a bit more privacy. Although I guess we do go still go swimming naked sometimes," he said, then shrugged. "But in general I guess I've just gotten used to making sure not to let my mind, y'know... wander too far in certain directions in those cases."

Kuna smirked faintly, still blushing a bit, then sighed. "Girls are lucky."

The canid snickered. "What, just because they can't get random stiffies?"

"Yeah."

"I guess. Not that you can't still tell sometimes if you know what to look for," Lykou said, then blushed and rolled his eyes as he thought about it. "Assuming they even try to hide it in the first place."

"Huh?"

Lykou seemed to think for a moment, then looked around conspiratorially, despite nobody else being around. "Don't go telling anyone I said this, but Naira's a total hornball sometimes. And around her closest friends, she's not exactly shy about it."

Kuna snorted. "Really?"

"Uh-huh. Just, uh... handling things herself doesn't really fully satisfy her. But she she really, really, REALLY doesn't want pups, so she's too afraid of pregnancy to act on it for the most part. So she's kinda crazy horny sometimes. So if you think I like to tease, just wait until you see her when she's in heat."

"Jeeze," Kuna said, smirking faintly. "Poor thing, heh. That must suck." He shot the canid a quizzical look. "So, what, you guys openly talk about sex stuff all the time or something? And it doesn't... make you, y'know...?"

"I mean, sometimes, but... " Lykou trailed off, lost in thought for a moment. Again, something came to mind that he wasn't sure if he should share with the sereva. Finally, he brushed it off once more and shrugged. "...I guess usually I just take care of things enough that it's not generally an issue. And I think she appreciates having someone to vent to about it." Something else occurred to him after a moment and he grinned. "You know, it's a shame the only other tribe around Lakefire is an ursaran one. If she could find a non-konuul guy to hook up with for some fun without worrying about pups, she'd probably be thrilled."

"Heh, yeah, it's too bad Lakefire's so isolated..."

Lykou shot the sereva a playful look. "Too bad you're not into girls, you could give her the fuck she so desperately craves when we get back."

Kuna sputtered, then splashed Lykou again. "You want me to make good on that tail-feeding promise?" he retorted, blushing.

The konuul burst into a fit of laughter. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

The sereva rolled his eyes and grumbled, still grinning a bit despite himself. After a few minutes, he suddenly started to get an incredibly devious idea, now that he knew the konuul genuinely found him physically attractive. "...anyway I never said I didn't like girls at all," Kuna finally let slip, avoiding the canid's gaze.

Lykou blinked and looked over at him with some surprise. "Wait, really?"

Kuna smirked shyly at him. "I mean, I mostly prefer guys, but that doesn't mean I can't see the appeal sometimes. With the right... curvy hips," he said, then slowly turned around and moved a little further away under the water, swaying his hips a bit. "...and rump, of course," he said, then bent down in an exaggerated fashion, pretending to wash his legs off. He made sure to flag his stubby little tail up as he did so. "And slender, toned legs," he added. Then, after a moment, he suddenly got back up and spun around, walking towards Lykou with his best bedroom eyes. "And a bit of a sultry look..." As he got up close to the increasingly bewildered and flustered canid, he put a finger on his lips, then slowly traced it down his chest and stopped just before it got into risky territory. "And a soft, gentle touch," he continued, then walked around behind him, tracing his hand around his side, and leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "And the promise to suck that big, hard cock... and drain those balls dry..."

By that point, Lykou was wide-eyed and stunned at Kuna's sudden change- and, more importantly, was developing the exact problem the sereva had previously been worried about. "I-... buh-, y-you-..."

Kuna sashayed away towards the tunnel back to the main chamber and glanced back over his shoulder, at which point the mischief finally showed in his eye and he grinned. "But yeah, I prefer guys. Looks like you'll need some time alone though, so I'll meet you back in the main chamber," he teased, pointing down at the canid's erection.

Lykou quickly scrambled to cover himself up with his tail.

The sereva winked at him, then walked away down the tunnel, endlessly amused at the sputtering attempt at a retort behind him, and proud of himself. Once he was out of sight, he hugged himself and developed a slight spring in his step, giggling quietly. He couldn't believe he'd managed to make himself do all that, and the thought made him blush brightly as well, but just knowing he could have that kind of effect on the canid made him feel amazing. Part of him wished he could actually act on it, but at least he finally proved he could give as much as he took in their little flustering game.

*****

When Lykou finally came slinking back out of the back tunnel a short while later, he found Kuna stretched out next to a freshly-rekindled fire, doing his best to dry off while the others were still out. He honestly was a little unsure how to break the silence. Fortunately, the sereva looked back and did that for him, with a smug little grin that he found both adorably charming and immensely frustrating.

"Feel better?"

"...yes," the canid said, plopping down near him with a smirk, still blushing. "And from that grin, I know you do too."

Kuna snickered, then sat up and beamed at the konuul. "I win."

"For now," Lykou retorted, then chuckled and sighed. "Fucking hell, Ku, I didn't expect... that. Especially after all that self-conscious shit."

"What can I say? You built up my confidence and created a monster," Kuna replied, then stuck his tongue out playfully.

The canid snickered and booped his nose.

Kuna giggled. "And hey, from what you told me about Naira, this little teasing game is going to have tough competition when we get back. So I guess I better start practicing more." His smile turned a little sheepish. "I uh... didn't go too far did I? Wouldn't want to make things, uh.. a-awkward."

Lykou stared at him a moment, then suddenly reached over and yoinked him into a tight hug, making the sereva squeak a bit. "Nah, you're good," he replied.

The sereva giggled some more. "Good."