Disclaimer: I do not own Spirit Animals; they belong to their rightful authors.
Chapter 7, Surprises and a Temper.
After an hour or two of hard walking, Abeke finally saw a slip of the gray Wall in the distance. Fueled by their happiness and adrenaline, the group half slipped, half ran down the rocky mountains at two times their normal speed hastily, and Abeke's mouth fell in a perfect, "o" at a closer look at the totally destroyed state of the Wall.
Meilin was the first to move, looking strangely serene and calm in the face of destruction. She brushed her hand over the uneven surface of the collapsed rock as if greeting an old friend. Abeke knew from the stories she had shared with her to understand that Meilin's father had taken his daughter on several trips to this particular part of the Wall.
"Two hundred miles… all reduced to ashes?" Meilin murmured in quiet disbelief.
Finn nodded. His eyes flowing with the sad emotion of losing such a treasured artifact of the past.
Abeke was speechless. Uraza rubbed her head mournfully against her leg, as if she was feeling all the complicated emotions of sadness, bitterness toward whoever destroyed the Wall, and a growing pit of helplessness through their bond. Up ahead, Meilin had released Jhi and the panda cradled her lovingly in her embrace.
Conor, however, wasted no time on feelings, he, with Briggan at his side, stepped forward with a determined gleam in his eyes. "Well, maybe we should start looking for some clues?" he asked the group. Without waiting for a response, he bent down and started to flip through the rocks, hard at work, Abeke followed suit not long after, taking up her own area to search. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rollan make his way to Meilin and comforted her with a warm smile before joining Abeke and Conor with newly found optimism.
However, as time passed, Abeke only felt growing frustration continuing to surg through her as every rock she flipped offered no results. The hard work of all of them resulted as a fruitless investigation.
"I don't understand," Conor said miserably after an hour of work. Beside him, Briggan's tail drooped and his ears flopped tiredly to his movements. All of them sported bloody hands and Abeke felt like she was thrown into a fierce Niloan sandstorm and tossed in the air over and over again. "There's nothing to find here," she finished for Conor.
Rollan looked up at the sky with an unreadable expression on his face. "I never thought I would see a day when I'm envious of Essix! But here is it." he said as his eyes found the falcon gliding in lazy circles above.
Meilin was glaring daggers at the remains of the Wall as she let out a torrent of anger. "How can something just destroy something, *kicks a rock* Ow! And just vanish into thin air!? Stupid whatever thing it is!" she yelled at the sky, rubbing her foot.
"Meilin, calm down…" Finn started, trying to smooth matters down.
"How am I supposed to?!" she shouted in pain and hopelessness. "My country is in danger, and I won't just walk away like that!" she spat.
Abeke inhaled sharply as Meilin fell silent, looking surprised and horrorstruck at her own outburst. The two boys looked on in astonishment.
Finn's expression was stony. "Learn to control your temper, Meilin," he said sternly before turning to the other three. "We should set up camp here while I wait for a message from Olvan. In the meantime, you should tend to your hands," he decided.
Abeke looked on worriedly as Meilin stood up, her feelings concealed behind an expressionless mask as she started toward the forest. Jhi ambled hurriedly behind her, making startled grunting noises.
Sighing, Abeke picked up one end of the rope, but didn't do anything, her mind was too occupied by the thoughts of Meilin, the Wall, all the mysteries crowding around her and her friends. Soon, Conor came over to her and took the rope from her hands, smiling to her reassuringly. A kind of wordless understanding passed between them, and Abeke soon found herself tracing the scent of Meilin with the help of Uraza into the forest. A shadow of Meilin slowly unveiled itself as Abeke made her way past tall trees and fallen logs. Creeping over silently, Abeke put a tentative arm on her friend's shoulder as Meilin put her arm around Jhi's soft neck.
Meilin let out an awkward laugh. "Sorry about earlier. I guess I was just… so stressed," she admitted.
A comfortable silence stretched over them as Abeke sat down on the leafy ground beside Meilin.
It was a long time before Abeke saw the final fading rays of sunlight and twilight enveloped the forest once again as the two friends made their way slowly back to camp.
The mouthwatering smell of dinner greeted them as Abeke and Meilin returned. The starry night sky had already stretched far overhead and stars glittered brightly in contrast to the endless blue-black. Three dark shadows of their friends and mentor were silhouetted against the glow of the campfire. Two of them moved toward them, and Abeke soon made out the concerned faces of Conor and Rollan.
Without a word, Meilin intertwined hands with Rollan and together they started toward camp, where they immediately began a conversation with Finn in hushed voices, masked by the crackling of the campfire.
Conor tore his eyes from the conversation and they met Abeke's brown ones. Abeke was surprised by the worry that his eyes held.
"When you were gone, we received a letter from Olvan," he said, fishing out a scrape of paper from his pocket. "It's not good news, though," he added grimly.
Abeke read aloud the small words written on the paper. "Travel immediately to Arctica. Old village and memorial of Suka were destroyed. From Olvan," Abeke let out a gasp of horror, eyes widening. "Who did this?!"
Conor shook his head sadly. "We don't know."
Abeke's face fell as she reread the message again. "Does this mean we have to go to Arctica again?" she asked, fearing the answer.
Conor studied her face carefully. "That's what Finn said," he replied eventually, and took her hand. "Don't worry, you won't get frostbite this time."
Abeke looked at him, surprised that he had guessed her thoughts. Had she been this obvious?
A loud call from camp interrupted their silence. "Hey, Coneke!" Rollan shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Dinner's ready!"
Back around the campfire, Abeke found Meilin transferring a cooked rabbit from the to five sticks for each of them. Conor took his with a grateful "thank you" to Meilin. Then almost immediately snapping his gaze to Rollan.
"What did you just call us?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
Rollan shrugged casually, though his eyes glinted mischievously and his lips were curled up in a teasing smirk. "Oh, it's just your ship name. nothing to be worried about."
"Do you need me to remind you about that ship name Worthy made up for you?" Conor threatened playfully while Abeke struggled to hold in her laughs.
"Umm… anyway, this rabbit's delicious! Yeah, I caught it myself. That's right, I'm awesome," Rollan said hastily, trying to change the subject while everyone except him rolled their eyes simultaneously.
Sorry for the late update! I've been super busy, and have lots of homework to top it isn't any better . I'll try to keep up regular updating schedules, though. But maybe once every two weeks.