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Chapter 5 of Mystic Heart Odyssey. How better to start the day than making a deer boy blush? Kind of dialogue-heavy this time, I'll admit. But hey, what's an adventure without some banter?

-Llox

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Again, Lykou awoke to find his companion already awake- and tending the fire no less. Well, as far as 'poking the coals with a stick and watching it burn' counted as 'tending' it, anyway. And he had his poncho back on, though it looked like it was flipped inside out, with the bloody spots on the outside.

"'Morning, Kuna," said the kanuul at the end of a yawn. He stretched and moved over next to the sereva.

"'Morning," Kuna replied, waving the burning stick around idly.

"How's your back this morning?"

Kuna shrugged, then winced slightly and rubbed it in response. "A little sore, but I'll be fine. The leaves did their job though," he said, returning his attention to his fire-poking.

"That's good. Soooo.... was your poncho not warm enough last night?" Lykou idly asked, as he dug a piece of meat out of his bag.

Kuna immediately tensed up, blushing a bit and diverting his eyes. "Uhhh.... Yeah. Body heat and a blanket are better than that thing alone. S-sorry if I woke you at some point."

"It's fine, no worries. But... why did you take off your poncho before you joined me?"

Kuna's blush intensified as his eyes frantically searched the ground nearby as if it had answers. "BLOODY. It uh, it's bloody. And I need to clean it off," he quickly spat out, his eyes carefully looking everywhere but at the canid. "Don't want to sleep in dried blood. S'nasty."

"Uh... huh," Lykou slowly responded, raising an eyebrow. "I... guess that's true." He couldn't help but grin at the sereva being so obviously flustered. It was clear there was more to it, but he decided to save that thought for later. "Well, I'm sure we'll find another stream or something that you can try and wash it off in today sometime. Won't come completely out, though."

"Right! Right. We uh, we should hurry and get going then," Kuna said, chucking the little stick into the fire as he dusted himself off, still refusing to meet the konuul's eyes.

Lykou chuckled. "Slow down, let me wake up a bit first," he said, then took a big bite out of the dried meat he was holding. He made a slight face as he did so.

"I take it that... smoke thing didn't work out the way you'd hoped?" Kuna pointed out with, eager to take attention off himself.

The canid shrugged, with a less-than-enthused expression on his face. "I mean, it fills my stomach. And it's not going bad as quick as it would otherwise. So there's that. Probably because even mold wouldn't want it." He sighed. "Wish I had a proper smoke-house. There's jerky, then there's... this," he grumbled. "I can't wait to get home and have the good stuff again."

"'Jerky'?" Kuna asked, eyebrow raised. "You're a wealth of funny words, you know."

"Heh, that's what you call it when you do it right. Usually with some herbs and salt and so on," Lykou said, licking his chops at the thought. "..we should see if we can some salt somewhere."

"Salt huh?" the sereva responded, visibly perking up. "That'd be nice. I'd say we've seen enough of the inside of a cave recently, but that sounds really good."

Lykou grinned at him. "Oh believe me, if we can find a salt cave, we're camping there for a couple days. I'll do a fresh hunt and make better food for the trip. You like salt too, huh? Good to know we have some tastes in common."

"Pfft. Who doesn't like salt? Too bad it dries your mouth up," Kuna lamented.

Lykou gave him a funny look. "Only if you use way too much of it."

Yet again, the sereva looked away, blushing very slightly and biting his lip.

"...Kuna?"

"Define too much," the sereva said with a sheepish grin, still looking away.

"Are you telling me you just... what, eat it by the fistful?" Lykou asked with an incredulous grin. "I was talking about using it_on_ food, not _as_food."

"Wh- no! It's not like that! I don't just eat it!" Kuna protested, crossing his arms and shooting a less-serious glare at the konuul. Then the corner of his mouth hooked up again and heturned away againas he thought about it. He imagined finding a cave with walls embedded with curtains of that delicious mineral. "Just... taste it. Lick it. Suck on it if I find a break off a big chunk of it..."

There was a brief silence, that was then broken by Lykou cracking up.

"Hey! It's not that weird!" Kuna snapped, blushing more and folding his ears down.

"No, no I... I mean," Lykou said as he tried to calm himself down. "Come on, you're doing it on purpose."

"Doing_what_??" the sereva asked, indignant yet still flushed. "I thought we were having a nice conversation."

"Yeah. I know. About how much you," he paused to snicker some more. "You like to... suck. And lick on. Salty things. I assume they should be_hard_ salty things, too?"

Kuna gave him a confused look for a minute, then his eyes widened and his blush grew exponentially. "Oh for fucksakes!" he said, burying his face in his hands. Still, there was a hint of a smile under there, and he couldn't help snicker a little in spite of himself. "You're the worst," he said, ripping up a tiny patch of grass next to him and throwing it at the canid. "S'cuse me while I go throw _myself_off that cliff."

"C'mere you!" Lykou laughed, then grabbed him with one arm as he gradually calmed down. "Hey, it's good to see you without the death-glares and gloom for once."

Kuna smirked back at him, his cheeks still a bit tinged with pink. "Yeah, well... I guess I finally slept a bit better after some sweet idiot came and shut my head-demons up for a bit."

Lykou smiled back and gave him a light squeeze before letting him go. "Good. Just let me know any time they need some smacking around."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll know, mister vigilant guardian," Kuna quipped, rolling his eyes with a grin as he picked up another stick and started poking at the fire. He sighed. "Heh, this is... nice."

"Hmm? What, the fire?" Lykou shrugged and grinned. "Yeah. It's just a small one though. You should see the spark night fire."

"Not the fire, dummy," Kuna said, giving a little eye-roll. "I mean, just... ah, never mind."

Lykou smiled at him and bumped shoulders with him. "What, having a friend?"

Kuna turned to face him uncertainly for a moment, then smiled one of the most genuinely happy smiles the canid had seen on him. "Yeah. That," he said softly, leaning lightly against the konuul. "You big river of sap."

After snickering again, Lykou finally finished the last bite of his severely underwhelming breakfast. And soon after, they put out the fire and again set out on their journey.

*****

Around late morning, they were partway through a long, flat stretch of patchy forest. They'd finally come down the ridge they'd been climbing, the gorge having ended some way back. Lykou suddenly held a hand up and they both stopped. His ears twitched a bit. "Do you hear that?"

Kuna listened carefully. At first, all he heard was birdsong, but then something more coherent picked up behind it, in the distance. "Is that... music?"

"Sounds kind of like... a kicha flute, maybe?"

"Er. I was going to say a mokina," Kuna said, as they shared a look.

They both paused for a beat, then Lykou smirked and shrugged, looking back off in the direction that the sound seemed to be coming from. "No idea what that is. And I'm guessing you feel the same way about a kicha flute."

"Yep. Who knows, maybe we're talking about roughly the same thing," he commented, then started walking again. "For now though, let's go see if we can find where its coming from."

"Whoa, wait... what if they're, you know... dangerous?" Kuna warned, nervously catching up to him.

Lykou smirked. "You've got to stop assuming the worst in people, Kuna."

"_You_need to be a little more realistic and careful," the sereva responded in exasperation, fruitlessly trying to tug at the konuul's arm. "I know you're all rainbows and friendship, but it's a dangerous world. What if," he started, then shivered a little bit, eyes falling as the thought cross his mind. He then continued, in a lower voice. "What if it's ursarans?"

"Last I checked, those bastards don't go for music, except maybe drums," Lykou pointed out with a slightly more dour expression himself. Then smirked, snidely adding, "The big jerks probably don't even know how to make anything else."

"Heh. Yeah. Those... 'jerks'," Kuna conceded, his eyes downcast for a minute, a momentary stormy expression overtaking him. It seemed like he wanted to use much stronger language, which made Lykou raise an eyebrow. But then the sereva turned back to the subject at hand. "Still, we're in a really strange place, who knows what kinds of people might live out here?"

"Hey, anyone that makes pretty music like that has to be at least _somewhat_reasonable," Lykou reasoned. "Relax, it'll be fine."

Kuna was decidedly more uncertain, and onlyfollowed Lykou with trepidation, realizing there was no dissuading him. They followed the sound of the music for a bit, gradually hearing it get louder and clearer as they went. Despite the canid's optimism, they both made sure to avoid snapping any twigs or making any noticeable noises as they went, just to be on the safe side.

Finally, when they approached the edge of a thicker treeline, Lykou peeked through some brush and his eyes widened. On the other side, maybe a dozen yards away, sitting on a large, round, relatively flat rock together were two... very strange creatures. They were clearly people, of some kind. But unlike any he'd ever seen. It was like someone stuck a person's upper half on the neck of a full feral creature. Six limbs- four legs and two arms. Their fur was golden in color, though one was a slightly lighter shade, and they had bits resembling some mixture of canine and feline features- notably, more canine-looking ears, but feline-like paws and tails. They were each wearing some kind of basic shirt on their upper torso, but nothing on their lower bodies. From what he could tell, they looked female.

One was playing the flute-like instrument they'd been listening to, while the other was sipping something from what looked like a wooden bowl, seemingly enjoying the music, if their expression and flicking tail were anything to go off of. Still, despite their relatively serene appearance, the music player had a bow and a quiver slung on their back, and the other had a serious looking spear laying next to them.

Lykou wordlessly waved Kuna over to take a look. When the sereva did so, his eyes shot wide open and he instinctively took several big steps back. Lykou waved him back, eager to go meet the two strangers, but Kuna just shook his head wordlessly, wringing the end of his poncho in his hands anxiously.

With a slight sigh, Lykou stepped out from behind the brush before Kuna could stop him. "Hi there! I'm Ly-"

Before he could finish his next sentence, there was a flurry of motion, and the next thing he knew, he had a spear and a bow aimed at him. Neither individual looked particularly pleased to see him.

"Uh... I uh," he said anxiously, with wide eyes and a very nervous grin. The two large creatures looked clearly ready to kill him at a moment's notice. Still, he managed to stay standing tall, not flinching from the pointy thing right in his face.

Suddenly, the one with the spear started saying something. Except... Lykou couldn't parse a word of it. It sounded like complete gibberish.

"Er... huh?" he said with a very confused expression. "Can you... run that by me again."

The creature raised an eyebrow, then said something else in whatever language it spoke, moving its spear in a threatening manner as if telling him to step back. Suddenly the one with the bow tensed up and snapped their aim somewhere behind Lykou, as Kuna, very, VERY slowly slid out of the bushes and anxiously took Lykou's arm.

"L-let's... just go. I d-don't th-think they want to t-t-talk," he said he said in a low, quiet voice, never taking his terrified eyes off the strangers.

Somewhat defeated, Lykou slowly raised his hands in what he hoped was a universally placating gesture, trying to maintain a friendly, even apologetic smile. "Alright, alright, we'll go... sorry to uh, bother you..."

As they backed into the woods again, they heard some motion, and the one with the spear moved the bushes aside, apparently having followed them. But to the boys' relief, that was as far as the stranger followed, apparently just keeping an eye on them until they were well away.

Lykou and Kuna were wary of turning their back even once they'd walked a fair distance away, until finally they started to hear the music again. Only then did they simultaneously take a deep breath they didn't realize they'd been holding and take a few minutes to recover.

"What were you THINKING?!" Kuna blurted out, after he caught his breath.

"I just... yeah, alright, it was dumb," Lykou admitted, his ears drooping sadly as he rubbed his neck. "Sorry for almost getting us killed."

Kuna groaned in exasperation and brought his hand up to his face. "You think?"

"I just figured it'd be really neat to finally meet someone from... wherever we are now. See what they're like, swap stories or something."

Kuna stared at him for a moment, then sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Lykou... I get the feeling you're a little too damn friendly for your own good," he said, but with a faint smirk, nudging the konuul.

Lykou glanced up at him, then shrugged and sighed. "At least they let us go."

"Yeah, lucky break there. Maybe they just didn't want us on their turf," the sereva said, leaning back against a tree. "Maybe that's what they were trying to tell us."

"Yeah, I... guess they spoke a different language. I've heard of that kind of thing in some old stories, but I thought only spirits spoke that differently," Lykou wondered aloud. Suddenly his eyes widened, as he looked back over at Kuna. "You don't suppose...?"

The sereva fixed him with a flat stare. "No, Lykou. Not everything you don't understand is a freaking spirit," he pointed out plainly. They both sat in silence for a bit, then Kuna raised an eyebrow. "You know... now that you mention it..."

"Hmm?" Lykou asked, taking a sip from his waterskin.

Kuna looked over at the canid curiously. "How come we even understand each other?"

Lykou looked confused. "Well... why wouldn't we? Sure we've got some differences, but-"

Kuna gave him another look. "Lykou. Before you met me in that cave, your people have seen so few sereva that you thought I was a fucking_spirit_, remember? Although I'm sensing a pattern there... And we avoid everyone with sharp teeth or claws like the plague. I don't think any of our ancestors got close enough to chit-chat. I doubt there's any reason for us to speak the same language."

"I mean... I just assumed people mostly used the same words, you know, at least for the basics and stuff." Lykou cautiously suggested. "Why would-"

"Language isn't that universal, Lykou."

"It... isn't?" the canid looked genuinely somewhat surprised.

"No, not really," Kuna explained. "Usually only people that interact a lot share much in the way of language. Honestly I'd have been stunned if we could understand those two... whatever they were."

"Huh," Lykou said blankly, staring off into space as he scratched his chin. "I always just assumed the gunibi gave everyone the same words..."

Again, Kuna just stared blankly at the canid for a minute before saying anything. "Are you going to explain that one?"

"You know. The gunibi? The spirits that brought words into the world? Taught our ancestors to put thoughts into sound?"

There was another silent beat. "...your people have some, uh... interesting beliefs about spirits."

Lykou bristled a bit. "Well how do you explain it then? Like you said, otherwise, how come we can talk? Or the... ursarans, for that matter."

A visible shudder ran through Kuna at the mention of the ursarans, and he briefly looked away, scowling. "Like those bastards even need words..." he muttered quietly.

The konuul gave him a wary look, making a mental note to address that later. "Er. Yeah, so... if the spirits didn't give us words to start with... how come you and I speak the same language?"

Kuna started to retort, then stopped to think. "...yeah. Okay. That's a mystery."

"Gunibi," Lykou said, crossing his arms and nodding with confidence. "Maybe they just mixed it up a bit for some reason."

Kuna just smirked and rolled his eyes a bit. "Yeah, fine. 'Good newbies' did it," he responded sarcastically, then straightened up. "Come on, let's keep walking"

"Gunibi! Come on, now you're just saying things wrong on purpose," Lykou said, playfully elbowing him with a smirk of his own as they both continued on their journey, careful to walk away from, rather than towards the distant music still playing under the other sounds of the wilderness.

"So, do your people just... not believe in spirits?"

"Don't need to believe in 'em. Met 'em," Kuna said flatly, causing Lykou to nearly miss a step and trip. "Or seen 'em anyway. They're not real chatty, generally."

"WHAT?" the canid blurted out as gawked at the sereva. "You've SEEN them. In person."

Kuna just smirked faintly. "A few anyway. They tend to mind their business though."

"What kinds? What are they like??" Lykou asked eagerly. "Are they all.. wispy and glowy? Or are they more physical?"

"Well... depends on what kind," Kuna said, somewhat amused at the conversation's turn, and the canid's over-eager obsession. "Galdra are rock-spirits, so they just look like a bunch of floating rocks. Although some can get kinda big. Elnu hang out in the trees and mimic bird sounds, but they're practically invisible- you can only just barely see them when they move. Makes kind of a... like, weird blur in the air. And rima look like snakes made of water. They freak me out the most," he finished with a slight shudder.

The look on Lykou's face was a confused mixture of envy, excitement, and annoyance. "I'm a spirit chaser and I've not seen or heard of any of those. We have stories, but they're all about things nobody's actually seen in years. And... what, you just _happen_to stumble across them all the time??"

Kuna shrugged. "Not all the time. But occasionally. Apparently they tend to hide from most people. But I guess they find enough in common with us that they feel less inclined to when we're around. Like I said, we each just tend to leave each other alone." He turned and smirked at Lykou again. "I guess they're a little skittish of predators too."

"So... know of any spirit powerful enough to conjure up that storm and send two people in a cave somewhere completely different?"

Kuna's smirk faded and he shook his head after a minute. "Nothing I've seen. There are stories, though."

"Oh?" Lykou asked. "Like what?"

"...various things. Let's save it for later though. I need to find a stream, all this talk is making me thirsty."

It was Lykou's turn to smirk. He pulled his waterskin out and waved it at the sereva. "Once again..."

Kuna shot him an annoyed look, but slowed to a stop, then looked around a bit, arms crossed. "There's got to be another stream or creek or...something around here."

"Kuna, come on. If it makes you feel any better, so much work has been done to it to turn it into this thing that you wouldn't even recognize what it came from," the canid said, offering the container to his friend.

"That's not as reassuring as you probably think it is," the sereva responded flatly. But his gaze drifted back to the proffered container. After hesitating for a few minutes, he licked his lips, then sighed and took it. "Fine. Just promise to never tell me anything about it."

"Deal," Lykou said with a chuckle as the sereva drank thirstily from it.

After he was sated, Kuna handed it back and muttered a quiet thanks as they resumed walking, though his expression remained a bit sour. For a moment, Lykou was a bit worried.

"Er. You alright?" he asked.

After a heavy sigh, Kuna glanced over with a mild smirk. "Just a mild existential crisis after having a predator force me to drink some water from some kind of dead animal's, I assume skin," he snarked, then returned his gaze to the forest ahead. "I'm fine, Lykou."

Lykou smiled with relief. "Just checking."

Kuna rolled his eyes a bit. "Yeah I know. Gotta make sure the sad sack isn't about to have another breakdown, I get it," he said, smiling subtly.

"Heh, I really am glad you seem to be doing better today. A lot better, even," Lykou commented, gently nudging him.

"What can I say? Your upbeat nature is infectious," the sereva quipped. "I'll have to see if I can find an herb to treat that."

"Nope. No cure, no remedy. Not if I can help it anyway," Lykou said, throwing an arm around him.

*****

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. They gradually entered another thicker patch of forest, and when the sun started sinking below the treetops, they decided to make camp for the night. They managed to find a relatively clear area near a small stream, and they cleared off what little brush and debris was there before setting up the firepit. Lykou went and collected some wood while Kuna took off his poncho and tried to wash out what he could of the blood stains. By that point, unfortunately, the stains were too set for it to make much difference. Still, he tried his best, then hung it on a nearby low tree branch to dry out.

When Lykou returned with the wood, the sereva insisted on starting the fire himself, although he didn't complain when the canid sat nearby and helped guide him again. Once the fire was good and going, they sat contentedly and ate their dinner in silence for a bit. When they finished, Lykou grinned over at Kuna.

"So... naked time again."

Kuna just blushed slightly and smirked. "Yep. At least until that thing dries. Couldn't get the stains out though."

"That's not so bad, you know. Like I said, blood-blessed."

"Wait, is that an actual thing?" Kuna asked, one brow raised.

"Hmm? Yeah. Er, I guess it makes sense your people wouldn't have something like that," Lykou said and chuckled. "It just means you bled on it during a battle or a hunt, and survived. A lot of hunters wear it as a badge of honor. Heh, my sister's got all kinds of spots on her favorite hunting vest. She won't let anyone replace it."

Kuna rolled his eyes slightly. "Eesh. You preds and your violence."

"Hey, it's not about the violence! It's about surviving. Showing what you've overcome," Lykou rebutted with a light nudge of his elbow. "Well... usually anyway. Might be a bit of both in her case, I'll admit," he added with a slight chuckle, rubbing his neck and looking away. "Lets just say she's one good reason the ursarans tend to keep away from our territory usually."

"Really?" Kuna asked, looking a bit wary.

"Oh don't get me wrong, Kezhna's sweet to- and protective of- anyone she cares about. But I swear she'd fight a ravager barefisted if it came within an inch of Asher territory. Or just for fun. And probably win."

Lykou half expected to see a bigger reaction out of the sereva, but instead he'd just gone quiet and was busy staring down at a piece of grass he was fiddling with.

"...Kuna?"

"Yeah. Sorry. Sounds impressive," the sereva muttered quietly, not looking up. He'd once again curled up his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs.

Lykou sighed and wrapped an arm around him. "What is it? Come on, you can tell me."

Kuna took a shaky breath, then shook his head. "It was a good day, let's not do this Lykou. I've done a pretty good job keeping things at bay, let's not spoil it."

The canid just stared at him a minute, then gave him a gentle squeeze. "Alright. Fair enough, I won't push. But you really need to open up sometime. Keeping things locked up isn't doing you any favors."

Kuna turned to face him, and for a moment Lykou was afraid he'd see another one of those icy, angry glares from the past few days. But instead he just looked somber and a bit uncertain. "I... yeah, you're probably right," he mumbled, looking back down with a sigh of his own, tracing a finger around in the dirt aimlessly. "Just... give me time, Lykou. It's... not easy to think about, let alone talk about. I'm not just keeping secrets for fun."

"Yeah, I get that. I'll be here whenever you're ready though. Just make sure you don't let it overwhelm you again, alright?"

Kuna nodded and rubbed his eye. "I know." He took another unsteady breath, then leaned over against the konuul. A faint hint of a smirk met his lips. "Heh. I'm still getting used to this whole 'friend' thing, so you're just going to have to be patient with me."

"Sure thing, Kuna."

The two sat in silence for a minute, then Lykou looked up at the branch with Kuna's poncho hanging from it. "Actually you know, my clothes probably desperately need a good rinse, too."

Suddenly the canid got up and started stripping, unknowingly making Kuna's face light up with a bright blush and a surprised look. The blush only intensified as as he then bent down to start rinsing his clothing out one piece at a time. When Lykou turned around and walked over to hang his now soaked clothing up, he caught a glance at the clearly flustered sereva pointedly forcing himself to avert his gaze.

After hanging his clothes, Lykou returned to the spot next to Kuna and gave him a bemused look. "What? You've been naked plenty. And you don't even wear anything under that poncho, for that matter."

"Y-yeah, but I'm just... not used to seeing you without anything on," Kuna said with an embarrassed grin, still unable to meet his gaze. "I've gotten used to being naked for a long while now, but seeing someone else..."

Lykou raised an eyebrow. He wanted to ask about 'a long while now', but figured that might get a bit too close to certain off-topic-for-the-moment subjects, so he opted to ignore it. "It's not going to be a problem is it? Because it's kind of late for that now."

Kuna shook his head a bit, the blush never leaving his face. "N-n... no. Just. Letting it sink in I guess," he said, finally looking back over at his companion with a somewhat bashful grin. After a moment, he cleared his throat as he looked away again. "Uh, o-on that note though, you bring up a good point. M-maybe I should work on something to wear, um... u-under that thing."

"I mean, I wasn't complaining. Whatever makes you comfortable, Kuna," Lykou replied with a grin. "I guess it has its conveniences. Easy access to... hard salty things."

The sereva's face exploded with pink again. "WHAT."

Lykou fell back as he burst into a fit of laughter, one arm shielding himself from a small barrage of light smacks in the side.

"That's it. Blanket's mine tonight. You can sleep in the damn stream," Kuna groused, arms crossed as he pouted, though he was clearly more flustered rather than truly upset. "Dumb perv..."

Eventually, Lykou sat up as his laughter subsided. "Sorry, Kuna, but you should've seen your face."

"Yeah yeah, real funny," Kuna grumbled and rolled his eyes, still blushing and crossing his arms. "You're hilarious."

Lykou gently poked his side, making him squirm a bit and fight back a grin. "Hey, got your mind off other things, didn't it?"

Kuna glanced over at him, then smirked a bit as he looked away again. "Yeah, I guess."

"Good. Er. In all seriousness, you're still alright with sharing the blanket right? This isn't going to bother you?"

The sereva glanced over at him, unable to keep his eyes from wandering ever so briefly southward, before looking away again and responding. "Y-yeah it's fine," he assured the canid, the blush refusing to leave his face completely even as he relaxed a bit.

"Okay, just wanted to be sure," Lykou said with a smile as he went over and pulled the blanket out. "Because I don't know about you, but I'm kind of exhausted."

Kuna watched him walk over to their bags, then quickly shook his head, trying to clear some unexpected thoughts out before he went and joined the canid. Before long, they both were sound asleep under the shared blanket.

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Author's note: a "ravager" is an ursaran that has gone feral and berserk with bloodlust. This was originally supposed to be a footnote, but it doesn't display well on this site.