Votucu, yet again.

Sorry about how long it's been, but the end of school for the year and the Chrissy hols have been really hectic for me. I'll try to have some more chapters up really soon, ok? I'm getting short on ideas but I'll keep going. PLEASE REVIEW! IF YOU ARE THIS FAR INTO THE STORY THEN I'D REALLY APRECIATE SOME MORE REVIEWS!!!! Thanks again.

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Chapter 5: Preparing To Move On

Veil was annoyed; he was desperate to get moving again. If they stayed here for too long, they'd never make it to Salamandastron. Although he was loving Oakfree's cooking and hospitality, he felt uneasy around her, like it was an instinct born into him that had come from his father. His father. What was he really like? Why did he leave me in a ditch when I wasn't even old enough to walk? Didn't he care about what he and – What was my mother's name? – had created? Didn't he love my mother and then me? All of these thoughts were had by Veil. He was so confused about his past, which was what was driving him on, why he was so determined to make it to the great mountain. He was so frustrated. He needed to do something to stop himself from fidgeting so much.

He strolled casually over to the badger's desk, where the huge badgerwoman was huddled over her desk, several candles giving her her only light. Standing next to her and peering over the edge of the desk was Bryony. She looked so cute and… vulnerable. He slipped over next to her and carefully slid his paw over her shoulders. Getting no response, he slid it down to her waist and slid it around her hips until he reached her stomach. He slid his hand down slowly, getting closer and closer to the lace hat was more sensitive than any other. She shivered, the closer he got, the more frequent she did so. He grinned.

"Are you getting cold, dear?" The caring badger asked slowly, her mind being detached from where she had had it so firmly concentrated.

Bryony painfully avoided a grimace as Veil's left paw stroked her cunningly, out of the badger's sight.

"I'm fine, just a little chilly. There must be a small draught"

Oakfree wasted no time in comforting her guest. Going to a wooden cupboard, she took out a small blanket. Veil had slipped away to lie down again. He needed to rest. Oakfree wrapped the blanket around Bryony and they went back to studying the odd script.

"My first is first in Tree and in the Water, but not in the Spears" Bryony muttered.

"The letter T!"

"What do you mean?" she asked Oaklen, who had woken from his nap and emerged in the badly lit room.

"T is in the words Tree and Water, but not in the word Spears!"

"Yes!" Veil jumped up and ran to the desk "and the second letter in Branch is R!"

"Then the two letters the same in Reeds are E!" Bryony interjected, catching on to what they were thinking. Slowly they unravelled all that they could where the letters were mentioned. As they did, Oakfree recorded the letters that they decided upon.

"Treelake" She said when they were finished.

"What is a tree lake?" Veil asked.

"Treelake, the name of a lake around these parts, about a day's walk from here" She answered, pulling an old map out from a drawer in her desk and placing a finger on a large blue dot in a mass of green ones.

"Well, let's get going" Veil said enthusiastically, pulling Bryony with him towards the entrance of the cave.

"Slow down, young ferret" Oakfree chided him "It's near the end of the day, and we aren't prepared for such a trek. Besides, if we start now, we'll have to sleep somewhere we don't know and then continue the next day"

He plopped himself down onto the floor like a Dibbun who got caught trying to steal the hot Meadowcream Pie off the windowsill (he'd know, he did it often enough).

"Pack your gear and get enough food for us all to last three days, we'll leave at dawn tomorrow" Oakfree instructed, still bent intently over her map.

Veil shuffled into the kitchen, his bottom lip sticking out and his face in a pout, still pretending to be a scalded Dibbun. Bryony was soon following him in, bored with watching the badger's intent studying.

"What were you doing before?" she asked, glaring at him slightly.

He smiled "Oh, come on, Love. Tell me that you didn't like it without lying"

She blushed "well, I can't… but that's off the point!"
"So?" Silence.

"It's just not fair!" she added. He smirked again and she felt the urge to slap his cheeky face. But she couldn't bring herself to turn her hand to him; she'd never hurt him, all though it was overly tempting some of the time.

"Hold this" he said, passing her a full sack of food. He wanted to change the subject, he'd seen that dangerous sparkle in her eyes and decided that he'd taken it too far.

The subject forgotten, the two friends set about packing Oakfree's delicious cooking into their travel sacks for the next day's travels. When they emerged from the vast kitchen, Bryony could see that it was past dusk outside and was becoming dark. With the excitement of figuring out Martin's puzzle past, Bryony started to realise how tired she was. Veil saw her eyelids drooping and casually mentioned getting some rest before their trek at dawn. Everyone happily agreed and slowly walked off to their resting quarters.

Veil softly laid himself down next to Bryony and stroked her back, which was facing him as she was lying on her side. He felt guilty about their small fight earlier and decided that he'd best do something to calm her.

"Bryony?" he whispered, not sure whether to wake her or not if she was asleep. "Bryony?"

"Hmmm?" she mumbled agitatedly, wishing he'd leave her alone for a while. Veil didn't miss the annoyed sounding reply and decided that he'd best make it quick so that she'd get some sleep and not wake up grumpy later.

"I'm really sorry about before and I just wanted you to know that" he said, rising slightly to go and sleep a bit away from her. She rolled over and looked straight into his eyes, causing him to freeze.

"I know you are, and I am too" she whispered, her voice full of forgivingness, as it had been that time he'd run off from her after being caught in the Sick Bay, when he'd yelled at her and many other times before that.

He smiled softly and moved off as she rolled over and dropped immediately into sleep.

Neither of them was aware of it at the time, but Veil was to be visited by his old home's hero that night.

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Veil really messed up that time. Please send in some more reviews, because I'd really like to get them. Thanks heaps to all the people who have reviewed, it's been great! Also, does anyone know how to change your e-mail on Fanfic? It's because I can't use the one that I signed up with anymore, unfortunately.

Thanks again,

Votucu.