A Wanderer's Path
Chapter 2 'A Leisurely Day?'
By: Mi-Chan-Angel and Chiri-chan
The man's brows furrowed slightly as he half sensed the life force of the girl, but not really paying attention he paid it no heed to it as he continued his song while bathing.
Once he was clean he climbed out and picked up his kesa, wrapping it around his waist. Then picking up his clothes he washed them in the water, with what was left of the small ball of soap.
Wringing out his dripping clothes the monk cast an incantation that dried them, he didn't feel like waiting for the sun to do it.
Squeezing the rest of the water out of his hair, he pulled on his now clean dry clothes and kesa. Then kneeling down he picked up his shoe, he frown slightly furrowing his brow as he started to search for the other one.
"Nani? Where is it, no da?" he wondered out loud.
Tapping his chin gently with one long finger he thought of where it possibly could have gone, remembering the presence of the girl he couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Shrugging he stood up and chanted the incantation for his mask. Putting it on he held his one shoe as he made his way back to camp bare foot, wincing as he stepped on a few sharp twigs.
Upon reaching came he looked around and then up at the tree. He thought about saying something for a moment and then decided against it, he didn't want to startle the girl. So instead he put the other shoe aside and started to pick up the dishes, putting them back in his kasa, and snuffing out the fire.
The young gargoyalian woman sat upon the ground under the tree for a few moments before she scurried up into the safety of the leafy canopy with her prize. Sitting upon the branch with her legs crossed she held the shoe before her, cocking her head.
'What does it do?' she thought as she shook the shoe. Again feeling a bit relieved that it didn't make noise but she was slightly disappointed at the same time. After finding out that the shoe made no noise she sniffed it and nearly dropped it at the overwhelming scent that came from it, both of the wanderer's and the earth itself.
'Don't think that it is something to try and taste, not eatable,' she thought as she held it away from her sensitive nose. Flipping it over and over in her hands she looked at it from every possible angle. She then tried to put it on her own foot, finding it to fit oddly for a couple of different reasons. First of all her foot shape wasn't right to wear something with a flat sole. Secondly it was too big as she finds out the hard way by the shoe slipping off her foot. She tried to make a grab for it and missed, nearly causing her to fall out of the tree. So all she could do is watch the shoe hit the ground below with a soft thud. 'Uh oh!!' she thought as her ears flattened a bit. 'I'm in trouble.' A slight stirring of leaves could be heard as she tried to hide herself better among the branches.
The traveler looked up at the commotion in the tree, his eye following the shoe that fell out of it and hit the ground. His brows furrowed hoping that the girl didn't hurt herself.
Getting up from where he was still gathering some of his things he walked over to the tree and bending down he picked up his shoe. He looked at it a moment, almost as if trying to decided what to do with it. Then looking up into the tree, he could just barely see some blue of the girl, the smile on his face was unwavering as one even lit under the mask.
"Ah, so this is where my shoe went, no da," he said amiably, "Thank you for returning it to me, na no da."
"Are you all right, no da?" he asked as he tilted his head to one side, he didn't really expect a verbal answer or any answer for that matter but he thought that he would ask anyway.
The woman looked down at the wanderer before pulling back into the leafy boughs and hopping down a few branches, coming to sit maybe two branches above his head, down upon all four. Her tail wrapped about the branch to keep her securely in place. She then cocked her head causing her golden mane to cascade down over the branch as well with a look of 'Why should I not be all right?' Her gaze then turned back to the shoe in the wanderer's hand. Her head cocked in the opposite direction, still trying to figure out exactly what the shoe still is.
He blinked his eye in surprise as the woman came closer this time instead of retreating farther. Giving a slight shake to his head to shake off the surprise, hoping that it hadn't transferred over to the mask, he smiled up at her as he read her look.
"I just thought because you dropped my shoe, no da," he started and left the thought unfinished as he followed her gaze to it in his hand before looking back up at her, "It's a shoe, no da. You wear on your foot."
Then balancing carefully on one leg he put it on his foot to show her exactly what it did.
The woman leaned out off the branch a bit more watching curiously as the wanderer put the shoe on. Her head still cocked slightly, forgetting herself she actually reacted out towards the shoe with her right hand, 'pretty useful thing,' she thought. Just before she dislodged herself a bit on the branch causing her to scramble first for her footing, then up the tree when she realized what she was doing. The one thought that crossed her mind that was now becoming more and more questionable was, 'Human bad.'
There she sat within the leafy boughs four branches above the wanderer's head as she tried to catch her breath and sort things out. She was starting to get really confused, so she decided to lay down. Looking down over the side of the branch as the wanderer through the leaves, as she covered herself with her wings, 'what to do?' she though in confusion.
Not expecting to look up and see the girl's face so close to his own, the monk gave a surprised da before loosing his balance and falling in a heap of kesa and limbs on the floor of the forest.
After catching his breath the traveler untangled himself for his kesa and got to his feet, bits of leaves and twigs clinging to his clothes, as he looked up in the tree and scratched his head.
"Da...." he sighed, wondering also what to do, "Well, I'll just go get my other shoe now that I have both, no da," he said in an amiable chipper voice.
Walking over to where his other shoe was he slipped it on his foot and then looked around at the camp, it looked good to him, he might as well go for a walk. Thus he set off to enjoy the nature about him and to possibly do some more meditation.
She watched the wanderer the best that she could, as she laid curled up under her wings, 'very confused,' she thought as she watched. It had been quite some time before she had actually been that close to another being before, one that didn't chase her with sharp hurtful objects that is. She picked her head up off of the branch were she had laid it when the wanderer fell down, large emerald eyes blinked as she watched the man untangle himself from the pile that he fell into. She then rested her chin within the crook of her arm as she watched him gather up the other shoe and put it on. Ordinary mundane items were still a curiosity to her as she had been away from any sort of civilization for quite some time.
As the day wore on the traveler made his way through much of the calm forest, where birds were whistling there songs and the other woodland animals went about their business, before he finally made his way to the stream to sit on it's grassy bank.
Pulling his kasa off his back, the only thing that he had brought with him besides the clothes that he wore, and pulled out his fishing pole. After dropping the line in the water he rested his elbow on one knee to rest his chin in his hand as wisps of thought flitted through his mind, but none of them enough for him to really grab onto.
It took quite some time before she was daring enough to come down from the branch that she was resting upon. She stopped at the bottom branch and looked off into the direction that the wanderer disappeared, cocking her head slightly, 'where go?' she thought.
Moving forward slowly on all four, she stretches up on, holding herself as tall as she can on all fours with her arms, long tail streamed out behind her. The staff is what caught her attention the most, with it's glimmer of metal in the sunlight. Cautiously she pokes at it and she skitters back a few paces when it chimes. Coming forwards again she tries to pick up the staff and when it rings even louder she jumps and runs back to the tree as fast as she can. Running half way up the trunk she looks back down at the still form of the staff. It did not get up and chase her like she thought it did.
She blinked and dropped from the tree again to wander back to the staff again and she sat back in a crouch trying to summon up the courage to pick up the staff again. With a deep breath, she thought 'doesn't bite' and she grabbed the wooden shaft and picked it up causing the staff to chime again. Summoning up the courage she wrapped the tip of her tail about the ringing form and muffled it. Holding the long object in one hand she ran for the tree taking the staff three branches up into the leafy canopy where she began to examine. Long feathers are pulled out from in between the metal top of the staff allowing it to ring. She sniffed at the staff, even took a light lick of the cool metal only to find that she licked the side that had been in the dirt. 'Bleh!' she thought as the pink petal of her tongue stuck out between her lips. She then began to examine the staff again, by the means of moving it and shaking it causing it to chime loudly in the morning sun.
After having a caught a few fish the traveler strung them and replaced his fishing pole inside the kasa before returning it to its place upon his back.
Sighing he started on his way back towards the little camp that he had made the night before, although there really was not much to it for it to be classified as such.
As he walked along through the forest his brows furrowed slightly as the birds' songs started to change to something that he had never heard before. It almost sounded like...he blinked his eye behind the protective smile...his staff???