Sorry for the earlier formatting issues! Genuinely wasn't there originally. Thanks for letting me know!

Chapter 6

Not all their days and nights were spent avoiding or fighting makonoids, of course. On the quieter nights, when they were tired instead of exhausted, when they had been successful in foraging and hunting and the chocobos were settled, Orothe would sit Cloud down with the intention of teaching him how the Cetra communed with the Planet.

It had started after Cloud had shown interest in how Orothe knew the makonoids were nearby, and then grown confused at the elaborate explanations Kenhelm had offered up instead. It was decided without much intervention from Cloud that it would be a better idea for Orothe to try and teach him the technique, to see if he would be able to. All four were fairly hopeful that he would be a natural thanks to his preexisting connection to the Planet. It would just take time.

It was frustrating at first, but as Cloud eased into the idea that demanding results was pointlessly draining and the only thing he needed to do was listen, he began to notice changes. Orothe would start with simple breathing exercises that reminded him of the meditation rituals Tifa would perform each evening as they travelled, inherited from her teacher Zangan as a way to clear her mind and centre herself in her body after the rigours of the day.

The deep, slow, calm breathing exercises did send him halfway to sleep some nights, and Orothe would always notice and send him off to his bedroll with the promise of trying again the next night.

On good nights, however, he would - well, it wasn't hearing, not exactly.

It was a little like feeling the drumming of a heartbeat; the thrumming of the blood under the skin. It wasn't really audible without pressing your ear close, but when you touched a wrist to take a pulse you almost invented a sound to better understand it. Or perhaps more like feeling a deep bass beat when deaf? It was hard for Cloud to explain to himself, and his attempts to describe it to the others was pitiful, but fortunately they understood.

It was very different to listening to the Planet through Bugenhagen's technology back in Cosmo Canyon.

He still couldn't quite determine the difference between living things, though.

They travelled on, and on, and on - it was several weeks before they saw any other person who hadn't been overwhelmed by infection, and when they did it happened to be a fairly large group of forty or fifty. All had caravans, and appeared to be Cetra like his companions, but for some reason Vahana objected fiercely to joining up with them.

I'm just not comfortable with it," she finally admitted on being pressed for a reason. "Who knows who they are? And who's to say they aren't already harbouring infection? It's too much of a risk."

When it became clear she wasn't moving, Orothe sighed in resignation.

"Fine. We've got enough to keep ourselves going, I suppose we don't need to go with them. But you'll have to get over this before we reach the city - there will be a lot more people and we can't inspect them all just to satisfy your fears."

"No! No, that's fine, I'll be fine in Aredthusa," Vahana replied, looking far more grateful and relieved than Cloud expected.

As they hid to let the caravan train pass by, he wondered what she'd seen, or felt. They looked normal enough; quiet, perhaps, but that wasn't surprising if they were trying to avoid monsters. They were just people, nothing particularly special about them at all.

About a week later, the party was grateful for whatever had spooked Vahana.

It wasn't obvious at first what had happened; the road had split near a low ravine so one branch went down and would twist eastward while the other went high and straight. The view wasn't perfect, but the two branches ran alongside each other for just long enough that they could look down and see traces of the wreckage.

They could see pieces - pieces of wood, of fabric, of skin and bone. Cloud heard the makonoids before he saw them, but they were too occupied by their easy meal to go after living prey.

"Let's go. There's nobody who could be alive down there," Vahana told them, voice hushed and eyes red.

She was right. It looked - and smelled - like it had happened two or three days ago, whatever had happened. Perhaps one of them had been overwhelmed by Jenova and had mutated into a feral monster, passing the infection on as they attacked. Perhaps they'd been set on by a pack.

At this point, it no longer mattered.

They carried onwards, and didn't stop until well into the night. Although it was unlikely that they'd be chased, the memory of the ruined, halfeaten bodies of Chocobos and people kept them moving until the chill eased enough for them to allow their own Chocobos the rest.