"Ah ha, Summer is over!" Cooro stated as we walked though the dry desert like area.
"let's go south before winter comes." Husky said pointing to the sign stating South, Slang Town.
"Yeah I don't want to freeze to death" Cooro said as happy-go-lucky as ever.
"the Ocean's south right? I've never seen it before...have you Senri?" asked Nana "what about Lumi?"
I shook my head though Senri looked deep in thought.
"ohh...so you haven't either? Yeah most people wouldn't travel that much...not unless you were a peddler or something" Nana trailed off thinking about something else.
"hn Nana is such a girl." growled Husky.
"you didn't know?" asked Cooro.
"that's not what I meant!" Husky said hitting Cooro in the head with his newly gained stick from the Honeycomb mansion.
We kept walking as we got to a large hilly mountain path a person looked distressed and called to us. We quickly went up to the old woman to see what was wrong.
"Roba lost his footing, will you help us pull him up?" asked the old woman. We looked down the small cliff and saw a girl with a small donkey tied to rope.
"please!" the girl shouted waving her hand.
"oh no!" Cooro looked worried "the donkey is hurt!"
"we have to help them get up!" Nana concluded.
"she's hurt too" I mumbled before grabbing rope. Behind me Nana and Husky grabbed the rope, on the other side Senri and Cooro grabbed rope and we started to tug. When we finally got the donkey up; the girl climbed up on her own.
"thank you" she said when Senri help her up the rest of the way.
"You're hurt, you smell of blood" I commented pointing to her wound "the donkey too"
"Oh you're hurt!" Cooro said when he looked at where I was pointing.
"It's nothing, I just scrapped myself on a rock my way down." she said as she examined the wound.
Senri on the other hand took her wrist and started to lick the wound. Everyone except myself and Cooro looked shocked. Saliva was the best for wounds.
Once her arm was all bandaged by the old woman she introduced herself.
"I'm Rose, I'm a peddler as you can see" she said.
"is that your mother?" asked Cooro nodding to the old woman who was tending to the donkey.
"No I met Margo-san at an inn, I usually travel alone but when crossing mountains and plains it's safer to go in groups" she told us.
"a girl traveling alone? Sounds dangerous" Nana said worriedly.
"I'm no girl! I'm 16! I'm already an adult plus if I wasn't confident in myself then I wouldn't have started this business" she said showing us a quick jab. "I'll show you, this is what I am selling." she took out a box from her bag and showed us buttons and pins.
"Some of them I even design and make myself" she grinned while Nana admired the accessories.
This time I sniffed her and a familiar scent crossed my nose. "I'm Lumi" I said stretching out my hand.
"Nice yo meet you Lumi" she said shaking my hand.
"Well, my stuff is light so that's ok but...Margo-san is..." she trailed off and looked at Margo.
"Roba can't carry anything now" Margo-san said with a short sigh.
"Roba says that he would carry things for you to make you happy" I said translating his baying sound.
"Do you understand animals?" Rose asked.
"I grew up with wolves" I told her like I told the rest of the group when I had first met them.
"But...oh I know!" Margo-san looked at us "Would you carry my things? Just until we're over the northern pass and reach the village!" she said looking happily at us.
"North! We're going south we can't" started Husky but Margo-san pulled out a 50piece coin.
"and if I pay you?"
"OKAY!" Husky decided for us when he saw the money. We all sweatdroped.
Rose conversed with Senri and I mostly with Senri and asking me questions about my background.
"Lumi, how did you end up with wolves?" she asked.
"I remember living with wolves all my life" I said.
"you speak well for living with animals" she commented.
"I learned when hunters came..and my words were put to use when I was told to leave the pack last year...I had 14 springs behind me then" I told her.
"aren't you cold walking around like that?" she asked pointing to my top and pants. I shook my head.
"You were 14 when you left home?" she asked shocked. I nodded. Since I stopped talking from there she started to talk with Senri but with more enthusiasm.
"you're stronger than you look aren't you? Boys really are different..thanks for earlier though you surprised me...Senri..." the conversation was one sided "are you a Kim-un-kur? The people who live with nature and it's spirits in the mountains? Those beads are from your tribe right?.." I didn't hear the rest as Nana's scent of worry over powered anything else.
"what's wrong Nana?" I asked moving back to her. Cooro asked her the same thing but she shooed him away with a bag.
"Lumi?" she asked. I could see Husky looking this way with a glare.
"don't you feel jealous?" she asked.
"why?" I asked her back as my answer.
"you know..Rose is with Senri..." she trailed off.
"and?" I asked not really getting what she was on to.
"You can't talk to her about things like this in a roundabout manner" Husky said coming up to us.
"about what?" I asked him really not understanding the point in this conversation.
"it's about Mating" Husky said bluntly.
"oh...mother said not to mate until you find a suitable male to be with all your life...mother said that humans mate for life" I said.
"Mother?" Husky asked.
"Adoptive mother ...you know the wolf" I said and he nodded.
"AH!" Margo-san's sudden voice surprised us as we all came to a stop. "I knew I'd seen you before!" she said looking towards us. "Senri were you part of a large caravan? I recognize you from your beads and eye patch!" she said happily. "You were only this big" she showed us the height. "I was with them only for 10 days while I was crossing the plains so I didn't talk to you much" she said.
Senri with a blank look rummaged in his pouch and pulled out his book.
"oh that book!" Cooro said.
"Maybe it's a diary of some sort?" Husky guessed.
"He was really upset when Sammy took it" Cooro commented.
"Really? How mysterious" Nana also looked curious.
Senri finally stopped half way though the book and looked at Margo confused.
"oh of course you don't remember. It's ok" laughed Margo-san. I noticed Rose looking at Senri admirably.
"oh look someone's coming" Cooro said looking over at the pass where you could see further down the path. It was like a large parade of soldiers, no it was a large parade of soldiers.
"Astaria soldiers!" Rose said looking impressed.
"we have wagons coming though, open the road" the leader I guessed said as he rode up to us on his horse.
"we'd like to but..." Rose started.
"it's such a narrow road!" Nana said shocked anyone would make a demand like that.
"Soldiers huh?" Husky sighed a sharp sigh.
"yeah" Cooro looked at them. I tried not to growl as many of the hunters that hunted in the mountains were soldiers off duty.
"Don't disobey them" Margo-san said pushing her donkey out of the way. The soldiers walked on and gave us strange looks as they passed...us as in Senri and myself.
"isn't he kinda glaring?" asked one soldier.
"isn't she cold?" another asked.
"aren't they Kim-un-kurs?" asked another.
I could smell anger radiate off the leader as the word Kim-un-kur passed the soldier's lips.
Slowly the leader made his way over to us. "WHAT'RE YOU STARING AT?" he yelled scaring the horses. One made it's cargo fall to the bottom of the ravine. "shoot" he said looking depressed. The wagon horse was still exited. I got off the rock we were all standing on and calmed the horse down feeding it some berries.
"Pull them up with ropes, some one go down there!" yelled the leader though Cooro volunteered before the soldiers could move.
"Cooro!" Husky and Nana tried to stop him.
"Do you feel responsible or something? Well ok go ahead" the leader handed Cooro the rope.
"Actually I don't feel responsible but I just have to tie this on right?" he asked and got a nod from the leader. "I'll be right back" he said sprouting his wings and flying down. There were surprised muttering as he tied the swords together and motioned to them calling out "ok pull it up!"
Suddenly as if his voice was a warning bell birds started to attack Cooro. Cooro started to try and reassure the birds though they weren't listening. As Cooro escaped from the birds the soldiers started to shoot arrows at them.
"NO!" I yelled but I was too late as the arrows were fired at Cooro and the birds. Accidentally Cooro was hit with a stray arrow causing my blood to boil in anger. This attack with arrows caused the birds to get angrier and caught Cooro's wing. This time it was my turn to go +anima as I turned half way into wolf form. I jumped upon the unsuspecting bird and bit it's neck fiercely as a wild animal should. As that one went down with me still on it I howled notifying the other animals in the area that the place was mine. When I looked up from the bottom of the gorge I saw Senri and Rose fighting another couple of birds and so saving Cooro.
The birds stopped fighting at once and disappeared at my call. I jumped up the cliff to find my suspicious correct. Rose was a cat.
"Rose I thought so!" Cooro looked happy. On my way up I picked up Senri.
"You two...think about the consequences first before fighting! You both could have died!" Husky said angrily.
"Senri...Lumi, thanks" Cooro said though his bleeding shoulder looked deep. Senri again started to lap up the blood from the wound.
Again everyone looked shocked.
"M-maybe he just likes blood?" Nana and Husky voiced their thoughts.
"oh well" Rose though looked disappointed.
As Margo invited us to stay with her in an inn we walked with Rose for a while.
"Senri you remind me of my little brother back home...he's only eight though but I'll be seeing him for the first time in two months" Rose looked happy. Then rose brought out a rose pin and handed it to Nana. "here, I think it'll look good on you will you take it?" she asked Nana.
"Th-thank you Rose" Nana said with a slight blush.
"Will you accept this?" Rose asked handing me a bead with a feather. "You know to put in your hair" she asked.
"sure" I answered and she helped me put it in my hair. She then gathered Nana and myself together.
"Senri's big but..I'm not sure how he is in the head so watch out for him" she said to us.
"huh?" Nana and I shared a look.
Senri though took the rose in Rose's hair and put it in his book.
"Wha? What was that? WHAT?" Rose asked us though we had no clue as to Senri's stranger behavior.
After the next day we left and headed off in some random direction again probably south. At the moment we were having lunch.
"you did it Husky, only two more now" Cooro said as Husky came out of the water with a fish on his spear.
"Yeah just make sure you chase them in the right direction." called Husky to Cooro who hovered over the lake. I sat at the fire and watched the fish cook, Nana was shouting encouragement to Cooro and Husky while Senri was keeping the fire hot. Suddenly without warning Cooro started to head off in a direction to he mountains. We were speechless as Husky yelled at Cooro.
"Cooro where are you going?" Husky yelled. He got out of the lake and dried off as Cooro disappeared. We started to have lunch without Cooro thinking that he could come back but by the time we finished our meal Cooro still was not back.
"I wonder just how far Cooro went" Nana sighed "he's not coming back"
"forget about it, he's too much of a kid" Husky said with a short and sharp sigh.
"A kid...but you are too" Nana retorted.
"I mean he acts like he is three, he get lost chasing butterflies and doesn't even realize that he gets lost...he probably forgot about us already" Husky was very angry.
"Come on he's not always like that" I said patting Husky's back
"he's always like that! He forget about us as soon as something else happens." he retorted.
We heard flipping noises and saw Senri flipping through the pages in his book and saw him take out a black feather, Cooro's feather.
"Cooro" sighed Senri.
"Anyways...we're talking about Cooro here, he'll come back when he's hungry" Husky growled.
"Ah! You just degraded him further" I sighed and lay down on the ground.
Hours passed as Cooro never came back, we though were sheltering under a rock/cave/den from the storm that was brewing outside.
"Cooro didn't come back" Nana's worry grew.
"There's gonna be a storm" Husky said looking outside where the wind was strong.
"He'll be fine" I said though mostly to reassure myself.
"..." Senri was as silent as ever as he looked at his book where one of Cooro's feather was.
"Where did he go that idiot!" Husky growled angrily though there was no mistaking the evident worry in his voice under the mask of anger. As the storm worsened outside, our worries filled the cave like a strong musk. Actually it was water that was suffocating us. I awoke abruptly just as Senri wrapped his arm around me to pick me up.
"I'm awake" I said climbing up the rock and sheltering under a thick tree. Nana was already on the rock, Senri was climbing up the rock face when I helped him up the rest of the way on the slippery rock.
"What about Husky?" I asked Nana.
"he's a fish..it'll be ok, he can breath after all" Nana said not looking at all worried for Husky.
After waiting for about another hour or so we heard Husky screaming. "S-Senri! Nana! L-Lumi!" he yelled over the roar of the wind and rain.
"Oh! You're awake Husky?" asked Nana.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked looking at us with anger.
"the lake started to flood but since you're a fish I thought you would be ok" Nana said innocently.
"IS YOUR HEAD ON BACKWARDS?" Husky yelled jumping out of the water like a fish. He climbed up and gave Senri and I a sharp glare. "you two should say something in times like that!"
"I thought it made sense..." I said helping Husky the rest of the way up. He sprayed water in my face. "I guess I deserved that" I said wiping away the water.
"Cooro!" Nana suddenly declared. "I heard flapping" she said pointing towards the mountains where a small black figure that looked like Cooro started to come towards us. Slowly the figure flew to the ground.
"COORO!" we yelled though there was no point as it would be near impossible to hear us without ears like Nana. We left our shelter and ran over to a large meadow at approximately the area where Cooro went down.
"Cooro where were you?" Husky asked his worry turning to anger now that Cooro was safe.
"We ate all the fish" Nana told him though Cooro showed no motion in hearing what we said. Instead he was all hunched up with his wings drawn around himself like an injured bird.
"What's wrong Cooro? Do you have a stomach ache?" asked Nana as we neared him.
"no" Cooro's muffled voice came from under his wings. Senri going for a more direct approach opened Cooro's wings and we saw a scratch on his forehead and his eyes seemed slightly red.
"Hurt" Senri said lifting up Cooro's bangs.
"What you're hurt?" Nana asked.
"No it doesn't hurt anymore but I'm tired" he sighed. I did as any dog would do. I licked his wound and his cheeks tasting some slight taste of tears.
"Lumi?" Nana asked but not before Senri pulled me away from Cooro.
"umm..ok..." Husky stared for a second before turning to look at Cooro.
"Thanks Lumi...I wanted to stay a bit longer but he told me to leave...I thought we were friends...he even gave me cheese" Cooro sighed still depressed.
"CHEESE!" Nana and Husky seemed exited at the word though I could see no value in this thing called cheese.
"where were you?" Husky asked the question that was on everyone's minds.
"a village over there" Cooro pointed in a northern direction.
"Village? Say that sooner you idiot!" Husky yelled grabbing Cooro's arm. Nana grabbed the other.
"we're gonna stay there to get out of the rain, hurry" she yelled as she and Husky ran off with Cooro in tow. Senri and I ran behind them.
When we got there there was a group of people outside surrounding a cliff. Suddenly from the top a large bird like kite came out with a person riding it.
"He's flying!" Nana said surprised.
"what happened to Shad?" Cooro asked a nearby villager.
"he said he'd take the medicine up the mountain since the road collapsed but..he didn't have to do this crazy thing!" the villager said looking up at Shad.
Cooro and Husky talked though I was paying more attention to the man in danger of falling and dying.
"You're a nice guy" I said to Husky as Cooro flew off.
"Shut up!...he's just a pain" Husky said.
"Sure..you sounded really convincing though" Nana said giving Husky a sidelong glance.
"WHAT?" Husky asked blushing angrily.
It wasn't until morning that the storm subsided and we were recruited to restoring the road. Cooro again nowhere to be found.
"COOOORRROO!" Husky panted form the heavy work load.
"Why isn't he coming back?" Nana asked angrily. I grinned at the the complaints that came from their mouths and exchanged a look with Senri, we both chucked; gaining strange glances from Husky and Nana. Cooro finally came back and we left the village, I still not knowing this food substance called cheese.