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Jeseia and I traveled south, heading back to Granh's camp in the woods north of Torrnal. The trip was uneventful, but gave us time to talk about the going ons and what our next steps would be.

"While I was there, speaking with the four personalities of the elements, They were pretty insistent on a few things. I need to learn something from each of the breed clans. There's something wrong, that much we knew about. And they mentioned it as well. I don't know where we go now. But, we need to be going I think." I recalled from my evening meditating before my last elemental trial.

"Granh may have some ideas, but, to really unravel what's going on. I'm afraid we will have to visit the fox clan village I'm from. If there is any clues to unravel, they're the ones to do it." Jeseia replied, the tree-line of the forest that hid Granh's small clan on the horizon.

"Tell me about the other clans some more, might help us understand what we're supposed to learn"

"Well, the foxes are insightful. They're the mystics, seers, oracles, and the like. If there is a thread to follow, a piece of the puzzle in what you were told. They'll know what it is and be able to guide our path. If they'll talk to us." She replied, thinking.

"If? What happened?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But, I'm not highly thought of back home. Anyway, the felines are primarily nomads, there's a small town but that's about it. You'll find foresters, hunters, monks, and religious folk among their ranks. The wolves, well, Granh is more accepting than most, but you otherwise know how they run. And the dragons, I'm not as familiar with them but I know are the oldest of the breeds. They might know something that the rest of us haven't figured out"

"Well first things first, Lets get to Granh's camp, talk this out. I think we're going to need to pop into Torrnal and pick up a couple horses." I replied, nodding slightly as we drew closer to the tree line.

Granh was waiting for us when approached the tree line. Motioning us to follow him quickly.

"We've had some trouble while you were away." He stated calmly, when the three of us entered camp.

The camp was in decent shape but appeared more empty, "What happened here?" I asked, taking count of how many were present, definitely missing a few.

"Some men intercepted mine on the way to meet that caravan I mentioned when you left. We found no bodies, we're assuming they were taken. We were able to track them south of the man village, after that the trail was cold. I'm expecting the rest of my scouts in tonight from checking the surrounding area."

"We have something to discuss as well." I calmly replied.

I recalled my conversation with the four elemental forces during my time meditating at the nexus of forces that Jeseia had taken me two days ago. "I don't know where we should go or what we need to do. But I think we need to do it, I wouldn't be surprised if whatever has been happening lately might be related to your men being taken."

Granh left us to consider what needed to be done, leaving Jes and myself alone to plan out our own steps. "We're going to need to get a couple of horses and get to your village Jes, I think we need to get our bearings there and plan from that point." I stated simply.

"We'll need to steal some horses, Neither of us have any money I'm afraid." Jes said back with a simple smile. Granh came in right then.

"You need to head west, Past Torrnal's Peak, to the forests beyond. There is another clan of wolves who live there. You will speak with Ornmi, She is the clan leader. Tell her that I sent you. You will head north from there. Jeseia will know the way after a day or so heading north from Ornmi's camp. You will need to learn to defend yourself. From there, I advise visiting the foxes to determine your next step." He stated quite directly, "Speak with me on the way to the foxes, you will have a message from Ornmi for me."

Jeseia stared hard at Granh for a moment before nodding softly, "We'll need horses to make the journey."

"Speak with Ornmi." Granh stated simply before turning to leave. "My scouts will be here soon, if all is clear, I'd suggest you leave in the morning."

With that simple statement he left us once again to ourselves in the small hut. "Well, I guess that makes that part easy to figure out." Jeseia said before laughing a little bit. "And here I was worried about what to do next."

"Lets get some rest, We'll check with Granh in the morning before we head out." I hugged the vixen close and settled in on the floor of the hut with a tired groan. "Just when things were starting to settle down a bit."

Jeseia curled up softly against me, swishing her tail about before yawning lightly. "Many more nights together on the road" She smiled and kissed my neck before yawning again and dozing off.

My sleep was restless that night, disjointed dreams of places and people. Some I recognized, others not. I couldn't make any sense of it. I saw scores of breeds, including my first glimpses of the dragon clan. Scores of them all in one place, that was the last image I saw when Jes gently shook me awake.

"Hey, wake up, you were having a bad dream. Come on, its day break. If we're leaving, we need to get ready." Jes gently helped me up to my feet.

"Morning already, that's wonderful." I groaned quietly, following Jes out into the daylight.

Granh was there, waiting for us as we left the small hut. "The roads were clear, no trace of my clansmen. My mate has packed you some supplies. Leave quickly."

"Granh, what is wrong?" Jeseia asked, "I've never seen you so dead set"

"It is no longer safe here. You have something to do, and may not be able to do it if you remain. I need you to leave quickly and try to fix what is wrong while there is something to fix. "

Granh pointed us west and handed me the pack his mate had packed. "Good luck."

"Keep the luck for yourself my friend, We'll be back with news" I stated simply before donning the pack and setting south west to clear the trees and head towards the mountain Jeseia had trained me weeks before.

Jeseia was right beside me, smiling just a little as we followed the same path we took towards the mountain. "So, do you know where we're going exactly, who we're meeting?" I asked her softly.

"Not a clue, but, it's a good a place to go as any." Jes chimed, giggling just a bit.

I laughed a bit and nodded in reply, swatting her rear playfully and then scooting ahead as she gave chase. We traveled that way most of the day, casual teasing and generally light hearted.

As we cleared the woods we passed by something I could only describe as wrong. "Jes, Come here a second." I slowly paced out a circle until I was fairly certain I had found where things were off. "Have you felt this before?"

Jeseia drew her hand through the area before shrugging a little. "I don't noticed anything wrong, what is it?"

"If the four elemental energies were strings, they're tied up in a knot here and cut off. It's slowly untangling but this just can't be natural."

"Mages, That's the kind of damage they leave behind. Granh was right, something is more wrong than I thought." Jes gently tugged at my arm, "Come on, we need to keep going."

We picked up the pace slightly, resuming our trek west to Torrnal's peak. Along the way I slipped a knife from the pack that Granh had supplied and started cutting five small sockets right into the wood. I finished to my satisfaction as we came to the same small copse of trees that we've camped at before.

Jeseia quietly went to work preparing the camp, just a simple fire and a straw mat. Myself, I dug out a side of meat, cutting it to several pieces for us to have for dinner. "I think we'll be there in about two more days, maybe three. I'm not entirely sure, I've only seen the forest Granh described once and it was a ways off." Jes mentioned, sitting next to me to share dinner. "We'll get there when we get there. Until then...." I tackled the vixen, laughing quietly.

I tickled and poked at her sides playfully, rolling around with her until I fell on my back, just laughing and breathing hard. The vixen crawled up atop me, growling playfully. "Not fair"

"Life isn't fair I'm afraid foxy" I teased back dragging her down flush against me, pressing a soft kiss to her muzzle. We wrestled there a moment, first playfully. It turned quite intimate very quickly, with the vixen beneath me and gripping at my bare back in pleasure. As much as I wanted to enjoy it all evening, we both needed to sleep and head out early. But, we feel asleep curled up together, and slept very peacefully all evening.

We awoke the next morning to the dawn rising, and me to a very affectionate vixen petting over my hair. "Well hello down there." She teased at me.

"Heh, Well hello up there. Do we have time for breakfast before we get moving?" I teased back, slowly sitting up and stretching out.

"Sure, if you can eat and walk at the same time." She tossed an apple from the trees to me while rolling up our straw mat.

"Yes ma'am." I helped draw her back up to her feet and with a playful pat on the rump we started on our way again. Myself munching on the apple as we continued walking.

Our path started to veer north, so we'd take the northern pass around the base of Torrnal's Peak. While we wandered more or less westerly, I picked up my earth token. The token was a rough pebble, bigger than the socket I'd carved into my walking stick. I drew upon earth, and by concentrating as I rubbed my fingers along the stone, I was able to delicately shave away edges of the stone. I slowly worked it into a glossy stone that fit perfectly into the socked I'd carved into my walking stick. "I think that'll work nicely."

"Hmm? What's that?" Jes asked, I slipped my walking stick over to her while we traveled. "That's very pretty Tan, where'd you find the rock?"

"I shaped my token from earth, fits rather nicely there I think." I smiled, gently taking my walking stick back.

"Very impressive, I don't think I've heard tale of anyone else being able to do that."

I snuck forward just a bit more to kiss her lightly on the neck. "Just didn't know I couldn't do it I suppose." I picked up my fire token, again shaping it to fit the socket I'd carved for it in my walking stick. Water went next easily enough, though air seemed to be a trick. A feather isn't already a stone shape. Thinking it over, I slowly rolled the feather into a slight ball. Once it was a ball shape, I found I could shape it much like the other stones. When I was finished, the feathery texture had diminished into a smoky glass stone which I set into my walking stick. Finally, I honed my spirit gemstone at the center of the other four and finished my design.

"And there we are, take a look" I handed my stick over to Jes once more.

"Very nice, can you still use them though?" Jes asked, slightly concerned.

"Erm, good question." I tentatively drew upon the five elements, Each felt strong and with spirit tempering things, very harmonious. "We're good, I think this'll work just fine."

We reached the base of the northern lower part of the mountain and started the climb up. The northern pass was quite a bit cooler than I'd expected, a colder breeze, and not much sun seemed to warm the rocks as we passed. It began to grow cold so we set up camp a bit early. There wasn't any firewood here to burn, so we ended up huddling under a thick animal skin blanket. We pressed close to each other to stay warm, honestly it wasn't so bad.