"They're after Althea? Why on earth would they want her?" Toran looked at Tobias in confusion after the news.
"I have no idea. They did want to ask about her. When they saw Sora they thought maybe we knew Althea and could tell them something about her." Tobias shrugged.
Toran looked at the ground thoughtfully, trying to figure out why these humans would want to get their hands on Althea. They had already tried to kill her once- were they coming back to make sure she was dead?
"I'm thinking they saw something they wanted to come back and investigate. Otherwise why would they risk themselves so much?" Sora said, trying to figure out the situation as well.
"That makes sense. Do you know of anything they might have seen, Toran?" Tobias looked at Toran, whose eyes widened in realization.
"The mirror!" Toran said, and smiled up to Sora and Tobias. "Thanks for your work guys- I have to talk with Althea."
"No problem." Sora said in confusion, and looked to Tobias, who only shrugged in response.
"Althea! We have to get moving quickly- the humans know where you're from and-" Toran skidded to a stop in front of her room, looking at the strange blue glow coming from within. It couldn't be magic by Naru, his magic was golden. She should be in there alone, unless a human had already found her…
"Althea?" Toran opened the door with a bang, running into the room to see Althea holding a teal sphere of light between her hands, her face etched into an expression of concentration. He blinked in shock for a minute before smiling. She did have magic, after all.
"Toran? What's wrong?" Althea looked up at Toran, the sphere between her hands fading.
"Those two humans from earlier- they know where you're from, and they're on their way back. They tried to ask Sora about you." Toran said calmly.
"Why would they want me? What's the big deal that I'm from another world?" Althea said nervously, the light between her hands suddenly vanishing.
"I have no idea why they would want to talk to you. Either way, they'll try to take you into the human kingdom. I think we should get going before they have the chance."
"Good idea." Althea stood, quickly walking over to her bag. She made sure everything was secure before hoisting it over her shoulder, looking to Toran expectedly. He nodded and ran out of the room to get everyone else ready to leave as well.
"Your majesty, I insist that we follow you by air on your journey. There's no telling what challenges you may face that we may assist you in." Umou said, his voice as calm as usual.
Toran nodded, and let out a soft sigh. "I agree with you, Umou. There's no telling what we may run into along the way, so you and your squad can come along. However, I will request that you ask whether your men will want to go on this mission. You know how risky it can be to have a soldier who doesn't want to fight with all of his spirit."
"Very well, your majesty. I think I already know the answers of most of my men, but I will do as you request." Umou nodded, walking back over to the squad of bird humanus.
Naru walked over to Toran, his face serious. "I hope you know what you're doing. I'm coming with you, to keep training Althea so she's safe if she ever gets cornered."
"I hope I do too." Toran said grimly, making Naru's frown deepen.
"Why is everyone so glum? Cheer up, guys!" Althea smiled, wrapping her arms around Toran and Naru's shoulders. Toran looked at her in surprise as Naru smiled, his expression slightly concerned.
"We're just talking Althea, no need to worry." Toran smiled back, and glanced to Naru before standing his full height, and turning to the crowd of humanus behind him.
"We will head east." Toran said proudly as Althea's arm fell off his shoulder. "This journey will be dangerous, but it is the first communication between the Tora and Okami kingdoms since the creation of our kind. We will join forces against those who try to repress us, and stand proudly as the humanus species. Are we ready?" Toran looked around the crowd gathered in front of him as they cheered in unison. He smiled in satisfaction as the bird humanus who had decided to leave the village cried out from above.
"Alright then- to the Okami kingdom!" Toran pointed south, making Xicro chuckle. The panther reached up and turned his arms so that he pointed east. Toran blushed and cleared his throat uneasily, talking forward in that direction.
Althea and Naru both laughed as Umou, Sora and Tobias jumped into the air to follow from above.
Toran looked up at the setting sun across the horizon, and held up a hand to motion to the others to stop. "We've traveled a long distance, so we'll camp here for tonight." Toran called out to everyone, and the bird humanus landed in the distance, gathering in a large field.
Umou landed beside Toran, the impact from his landing nearly knocking Althea off her feet. "I will take the first watch, your highness." Umou said, nodding his head properly.
"Alright, then I'll take secnd and Xicro will take third." Toran glanced to Xicro for his approval, and was satisfied with a nod.
"Very well." Umou said, and the large eagle walked back over to the others to supervise them making the camp.
Althea set down her backpack on the ground, rubbing her aching shoulders with a soft sigh of relief.
"Here, Althea." Naru handed Althea a green wool blanket. "You can take this for tonight. It's going to be cold tonight."
"But then you'll be cold too." Althea said uneasily.
"You don't have fur or feathers. I'll be fine." Naru set the blanket insistently in one of her hands.
"Alright, I guess." Althea said, looking down at her feet uneasily. "How's your back doing? It's been a while since I last checked it."
"I don't know." Naru said, trying to look over his shoulder, but saw nothing but blue feathers.
"Here- turn around." Althea said, and avoided his tail feathers as he turned, revealing a scabbed over wound, healing quickly. The remaining bones from where they had snapped off his wings like branches still jutted out from his shoulder blades. Small brown feathers poked through some of the area.
"Hey Naru- were your wings brown?" Althea asked curiously.
"Yes, why?" Naru looked over his shoulder at her.
"You still have a few brown feathers left." Althea said with a smile as Naru sighed in relief.
"At least there are traces of the fact I had wings, then." He smiled, and looked over to the other bird humanus. "I should go help them. I don't think sleeping by the fire would be a good idea with my tail, so I'll sleep with the other birds."
"Birds of a feather stick together." Althea giggled, not able to help herself.
"Is that from your world?" Naru looked at her in surprise and after a moment of thinking smiled. "I think I like that. Well, good night for now, Althea."
"Good night, Naru." Althea waved as he walked toward the field, his long feather train dragging behind him.
Althea looked down at the blanket in her hands and walked over to the fire Xicro was busy making. She unfurled the blanket down on the ground a few feet from the growing flames. She sat down on the blanket, a yawn making her stretch her aching legs and feet. She wasn't used to walking so many miles in a day, but knew she would have to get used to traveling those distances. She watched Xicro for a while, only able to see his back and his constantly swishing tail as he kneeled to light the wood.
"Good night, Xicro." Althea said, and rolled onto her other side.
Xicro looked up in surprise and smiled at her. "Good night, sweetie. I'll see you tomorrow."
Althea sighed in comfort and quickly fell asleep.
Toran returned from his shift, exhausted from constantly patrolling. Xicro waited for him, a grin covering his face.
"Althea's dreaming about you." Xicro chuckled, switching places to Toran so that he would start his first patrol around the camp.
"What, why?" Toran looked at Althea in the distance, not able to see her well.
"I don't know, but when I woke up she was saying 'Toran, no!" Xicro said dramatically, fluttering his eyelashes mockingly.
Toran blushed and crossed his arms. "It's just a dream." He mutterd, but his blush only deepened.
"Whatever you say, princey." Xicro laughed, and slapped Toran on the back with a laugh. "Just get some sleep for now, and worry about that stuff later."
Toran glared at Xicro's use of his childhood nickname 'princey'. He sighed and walked slowly over to the fire, looking down at Althea uneasily.
She was curled into a tight ball, her expression one of terror. He watched as the air around her shimmered silver, as if she was glowing softly. Wasn't her magic blue, though? Toran kneeled next to her, turning concerned when she let out a soft whimper and tightened her curled position, as if in defense.
"Hey- Althea, wake up." Toran said, not liking to see her so scared. She stirred and the glow faded as she opened her eyes slowly.
She spotted Toran and let out a quick gasp of fear before scrambling into a sitting position and scooting away from him. "Please don't hurt me." She whispered, her voice quivering. Toran loked at her in confusion, his ears flipped back against his head.
"Why would I hurt you? What's wrong?" Toran reached toward her, but stopped when she scrambled away again.
"You guys eat humans! All you want to do is hurt me." Althea said, her wide eyes filling with tears.
"Eat humans? Sick. I would never do that. Where did you get that idea from?" Toran cringed at the thought of something so disgusting.
"I… I don't know." Althea whispered, suddenly looking confused. "So you don't eat humans?"
"Hell no, I'd never to something like that. The insectus, maybe, but not anyone around here."
Althea relaxed, but still looked fearful. Toran sighed and walked quickly over to her, kneeling and grabbing her shoulders so she couldn't run away again.
"You had a bad dream. I don't know what you heard in that nightmare, but none of it's true." He looked down at her expression as it crumbled, her eyes overflowing with tears. She chocked and fell against his chest, crying softly against his green tunic.
"I'm so scared, so confused. How can I even think of horrible things like that?" She whispered, her voice filled with pain.
"You're fine. I said I'd protect you, right? I still mean to. There's no reason to be so scared." Toran wrapped his arms around her uneasily, holding her to him gently. "And just because I have fangs, doesn't mean I'm going to bite you." He said soothingly, setting his chin on top of her head as she let out another soft sob. Toran suddenly remembered the silver glow around her earlier, and reminded himself to ask Naru about it later on. Did it mean Althea's dream was sent to her by someone else? If it was true, it seemed that person wanted her to be scared of him for whatever reason. Toran bared his teeth into the darkness of the night around him, wondering who would want to do terrify her so much. He tightened his arms around her, wanting to protect her more now than ever before.
"Are you going to be okay?" He looked down at her in concern as she stopped crying, leaning away from him shyly.
"Y-yeah." She said, her voice raspy. "I'm sorry I cried like that, I don't know what I was thinking." She looked up at him meekly.
"You're okay." Toran smiled, and stood up, still holding her in his arms. She squeaked in surprise as he carried her back over to her rumpled blanket, setting her down gently on top of it.
"Toran?" Althea said softly as he started to walk away.
"Yeah?" He looked back at her curiously.
"D-do you think you could wake me up if I have another dream like that?" she asked, looking at the ground shyly.
Toran smiled and sat on the ground a few feet from her so that he would hear her. "No problem. Just get some rest, and we'll keep traveling tomorrow." He said, making sure she was asleep before he laid down himself, staring up at the stars above him. He wondered if any of those stars had Althea's world in them as he fell asleep, a low growling snore sounding from his throat.
Thank you everyone on your support for the story thus far! 3 For the next chapter, post in a review what your favorite couple is. :3 Your feedback MAY affect the outcome of the story!
-Caroline L'Amoure