"But Beloved, we don't even know if there still is a forest! What would we do if we trekked across the desert to find nothing but burnt stumps and lifeless earth? If you are truly set on returning, at least send a scout so we will know if the forest is still there to return to." Joyleaf reasoned well with her lifemate, and he thought for a moment before voicing his more well-thought decision.

"Well then... we will send a scout to find the forest- or another forest if ours is gone. Who will go...?" He looked around his tribe, carefully choosing. Strongbow? No, to much to leave behind. Scouter? Well, his name suggested it, but Bearclaw had a feeling he'd die on the way. His gaze fell on the silver maned stargazer, who met his eyes and gave a small nod.

"I'll go." Skywise stood from his spot besides Foxfur, who didn't look too pleased.

"Alright then!" Bearclaw clapped his hands together with a rogueish grin. "We'll help you gather all the supplies you'll need and you'll set off the day after tomorrow." With this, the tribe council disbanded and the Wolfriders mostly went about their usual business, with the exeption of Foxfur, Skywise, Dewshine and Scouter, who set about preparing for Skywise's journey across the Burning Waste. None of them knew that Rayek had been listening to their every word and had also made a life-changing decision. He was coming too.

"Be careful." Foxfur repeated for the seventh time as the Wolfriders and Sunfolk said goodbye to Skywise.

"I will." Skywise reassured her, again. Dewshine handed him yet another water skin, Scouter and Redlance packed food into his Zwoots saddlebags, and advice was given from all directions.

"Stay away from humans."

"Don't eat white berries."

"Be careful."

"Never drink anything brown."

"Don't put anything that glows in your mouth."

"Don't try and kill a bear yourself."

"Be careful."

"Stay away from cliffs."

"Anything bright and multi-coloured is probably poisonous."

"Bring back a treewee!" Firefly begged excitedly as he climbed onto his zwoot. He smiled brightly at her. She truly was a Wolfrider through and through.

"Okay, I'll try." He tousled her hair, and she pulled away with disgust.

"Oh, I just got it how I like it!" She ran her fingers through it until it felt right. She scowled at Skywise, who poked his tongue out at her. She smirked slightly, still trying to look annoyed- and failing miserably.

"Goodbye, Firefly." He turned to face everyone else. "Goodbye, everyone!" He waved and stirred his zwoot into a gallop. He rode for a few minutes, charging past what looked like the same sand dunes in every direction when he heard something he hadn't been expecting.

"You look like you could use some company, Stargazer." Rayek rode up next to him, a wicked grin adorning his face.

"Rayek, you scheming snake, what are you doing here?" All insults aside, Skywise was thrilled to see his desert-born friend. Rayek shrugged, settling into a more relaxed pose.

"I had a feeling you would get yourself in trouble, since you attract it like your lodestone attracts metal. So I decided I'd better assist you." Skywise promptly leaned across and gave Rayek a playful shove, to which Rayek responded similarly, but the desert elf was quickly pushed clean off his zwoot, lying on his back on the sand.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Skywise grinned, sending his zwoot into a thunderous gallop. Rayek grumbled to himself, clambering back onto the saddle and chasing after the frosty-maned wolfrider.

"Is this... a forest? I was expecting more trees." Skywise and Rayek stood and stared at the grassy plane before them. A few bushes and saplings were dotted around, but no trees as such.

"Well, no, it isn't a forest. It used to be a forest, but now it's just... grass." Skywise sighed before dropping to his haunches and trying to dig up tubers. Something disturbed Starjumper, who flattened his ears and growled.

"What's wrong with the mongrel-?" Rayek began before trolls pounced from the undergrowth.

"Aim true, old one! We won't get a second chance!" Picknose and Old Maggoty hurled bags of powder at the startled elves.

"TROLLS!" Skywise cried as the pouches exploded, sending him and Starjumper to sleep. The trolls watched, waiting for Rayek to fall asleep as well, but the black haired hunter simply folded his arms and glared with cold yellow eyes.

"Oi... Maggoty! Why isn't he asleep?" Picknose whispered, scowling in Rayek's direction, who was now sitting cross legged next to his sleeping friend and watching the trolls from under lowered brows.

"He should be out cold! I've never heard of it, but... maybe some elves don't have wolf blood?" Maggoty hissed back, watching Rayek warily. The trolls jumped when Rayek replied- he'd heard their every word.

"That's right, you muck eating wretches! I'm a pure elf, and none of your tricks will earn you anything more than a spear in your gut!" He snarled, lifting his spear to emphasise his point. Maggoty and Picknose decided it would be wiser to run away.

"Urgh. Wha' 'append...?" Skywise attempted to sit up, failed, and flopped back down. Rayek smirked slightly.

"You got hit with sleep powder- that only works on wolves and part-wolves. Your wolf blood truly will be your undoing, my friend." He helped Skywise sit up and pressed a water skin to his lips. "Drink. It'll help."

"How d'you know?" Skywise drank anyway, before handing it back to Rayek.

"Because a lot of ailments can be fixed by drink or resting, and since you've been asleep since morning I figured water would make the most sense." He drank a few mouthfuls and put the skin away. "So, my friend - what now? We have no forest. Were do we look to find one?" He stood and stretched, desperately needing to walk; he'd sat guarding the sleeping Wolfrider all day. Skywise thought for a moment or two.

"Well, that human said his people had stayed with another tribe in another forest. He said the forest was towards "sun-goes-down", so I suppose that's were we're headed." Skywise stood, brushing himself off.

"West it is." Rayek picked up his pack of supplies that he'd packed for the journey, and Skywise picked up his bow.

"What?" The stargazer stared and Rayek could feel a sigh coming on.

"West. Sun-goes-down is west." Skywise raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with sun-goes-down?" Rayek paused for a moment before replying.

"Well, sun-goes-down just sounds so...so..." He fell silent and Skywise filled the gap.

"Let me guess. Sun-goes down sounds barbaric, right? And west sounds more civilised?" Rayek looked down.

"Er... Yeah." Skywise threw his hands in the air.

"For High Ones sake, Rayek!" They wandered towards the sunset, a constant stream of bickering filling the air.

Many turns of moons later

"That is... a lot of trees." Rayek looked up in awe at the towering marsh forest. Skywise grinned and bounded into the branches, leaping and twisting in a way Rayek had never seen.

"You may have caught our Nohumps, but can you do this?" He laughed, flipping up onto a branch to watch Rayek mischievously. Rayek folded his arms and lifted an eyebrow, smirking.

"Certainly." He leapt into the trees and attempted some of Skywise's acrobatics- and landed flat on his face.

"Oh dear." Skywise lazed across his branch and sniggered as Rayek got to his feet with as much dignity as he could. Rayek merely grumbled an obscenity at him and Skywise laughed. "Yes, very civilised, oh mighty hunter." Rayek threw a handful of dirt at him.

"Quiet, stargazer." Skywise merely laughed and stretched.

"Or what? You'll throw a tantrum?" Rayek thought for a moment before leaping onto Skywise's branch and knocking him off. They fell to the floor, grappling and laughing as they rolled through the undergrowth. Eventually they stopped and lay back, grinning from ear to ear.

"I think I like the forest." Rayek sighed quietly, eyes half closed in lazy contentment. Skywise nestled into the moss bed and closed his eyes.

"Yeah... your desert isn't too bad... lots of space to run." Rayek mumbled an agreement, and the two of them fell asleep without meaning to.

"Well, that is definitely the last time I sleep in a moss bed." Rayek picked another bug from his hair and tossed it aside. Skywise smirked, amused that Rayek could be so bothered by twigs, dirt and bugs.

"Oh well. Crawling things aside, it wasn't that bad." The silver haired wolfrider merely shrugged while Rayek grumbled something incoherent. They began to tease and provoke each other for a few moments, when Skywise stopped dead.

**What is it? What's wrong?** Rayek instantly switched to sending, sensing his friends agitation.

**Humans... let's go this way.** They silently crept around the humans and darted away into the darkness.

"What in the name of the High Ones makes cocoons like these? They're full of live prey and nothing has been eaten!" Rayek cut open a cocoon with his hunting knife and a bird flew out with a soft whistled.

"It's eerie... everything's quiet." Skywise looked around cautiously. "Just our luck. An entire forest and we find the strangest part of it all." He sat by a tree, yawning. "Well, my dark skinned friend, I'm going to sleep." He stretched out, folding his arms.

"Very well... I'm going to explore over there." He gestured to a darker part of the grove.

"I'll call if anything happens..." He yawned again, closing his eyes and drifting to sleep. Rayek wandered away, cutting open some of the more interestingly shaped cocoons before heading back. He was horrified to see Skywise, halfway wrapped by little flying creatures.

"Get away! Shoo!" He shot to Skywise's side, transfixing the bugs in his cold yellow gaze as he cut away the thread and woke Skywise up.

"W-what happened?" Skywise leapt to his feet and drew his sword.

"I can't leave you for a moment before you get into trouble! I was right to come!" Rayek growled, letting the little bugs go. The strange creatures quickly flew away to hide, shrieking as they went.

"Fine, fine, I attract trouble, but what happened?" Skywise shook Rayek's shoulder to get his point across.

"Those things were wrapping you up, like everything else in the cursed placed!" Rayek kicked angrily at a plant. "If we're to find a home for your people, it shouldn't be in a place were sleep means entrapment."

"You're right. This place isn't safe. We'll set up somewhere else in the forest." he regarded the desert hunter for a moment. "Rayek, I've been meaning to ask: what will we do once the Wolfriders settle here? Will you stay in Sorrows End, or will you stay with us?" Rayek looked surprised.

"Well I- I mean, I- what are you doing?" He quickly turned his response around. Skywise thought for a moment.

"I'm staying with the wolfriders. They're my family, and I can't just leave Foxfur." Rayek nodded once.

"Right then."

"What?"

"If you're staying with the wolfriders, then so am I. You're the only friend I ever had, Skywise, and it's about time my people learnt to defend themselves. And besides," He grinned wickedly. "I have to get better at branch hopping or I'll never have peace of mind knowing you did something better than me." Skywise laughed and pushed him over. Rayek swept a leg under his feet and the two of them lay on the floor laughing.

"Haaa... So, I suppose we'd better head back to Sorrows End, right?" Skywise sat up, brushing dirt off his tunic. Rayek sat up as well and pulled what looked like half a bush from his hair.

"I think we should find a specific place to settle, so that we know were in the forest we are actually going." Rayek stood, helping Skywise up. Skywise nodded.

"Very wise, my friend, unlike the usual troll dung that comes out of your mouth." Rayek looked absolutely appalled, and knocked a laughing Skywise over, pouncing on him. The two of them were sent rolling through the undergrowth, again. It was amazing that they ever got anything done.

"Ow." Rayek winced as he touched the bruise on his cheek. Skywise grimaced.

"I swear, I didn't mean to hit you that hard." He glanced away, ears tinged with red.

"For the last time, it's fine. It was an accident." Rayek waved a hand dismissively. "Besides, it's just a bruise."

"I thought I'd broken your face by the way you wince every time you smile." Skywise raised an eyebrow cheekily. "You carry on like I tore your jaw off."

"How is saying "ow" carrying on?" Rayek raised his eyebrows and folded his arms.

"No Wolfrider would even notice. I suppose I'm just not used to people noticing when they get scratched or bruised." Skywise shrugged and Rayek gave one of those "I suppose" head tilts.

"Yes, well, not everyone plays with wild animals. I prefer to stay in one piece." They walked in silence for a moment or two when Skywise spoke again.

"Rayek...? Have you ever wanted to recognise? Were do you stand with it?" Rayek turned to him with an unfathomable expression on his face.

"I...I wanted to recognise Leetah once, but now she's smitten with Rain and I... well, I still want to recognise, but I want it to be someone I love, not just someone I lock eyes with. What about you? Do you want to recognise?" Skywise thought for a moment.

"Well, I suppose I would if it was Foxfur, but I don't want to recognise anyone else." Rayek nodded. He stood and looked around.

"How about here? There's a big tree, like the one you described, your Father Tree, and there's room but it's still enclosed. Plenty of places to hide." Skywise looked around, craning his neck to see as much as possible.

"This is great! It's perfect here! Let's head back to tell the others. They'll be thrilled to see somewhere so similar to the holt. Come on." Skywise turned to head back when he noticed Rayek was staring at the sky through a hole in the canopy.

"Skywise... There's an elf riding that bird." Skywise raised his eyebrows, mouth agape.

"What? Let me see." He stepped next to Rayek and looked up. High above there was a bird larger than any he'd ever seen, and an elf was sat on it's back. "By the High Ones, you're right!"

"You sound surprised." Rayek folded his arms, one eyebrow raised. Skywise sighed.

"Stop picking at everything I say. Do you think we should meet the elves?"

"I think we should ask your chief first, seeing as this will be the first time these elves have met Wolfriders. And besides, if they're not friendly we'll need help."

"You have a point. Lets head back." They turned and began to head back on the months-long trek.

Eight turns of moons after their departure, Rayek and Skywise returned to Sorrows End. The Wolfriders immediately rushed to greet them.

"Is the forest okay?" Bearclaw asked the moment he reached them. Skywise shook his head.

"No. But we found a new one, and a perfect spot. And there are other elves! Elves that ride giant birds!" The Wolfriders drew even closer.

"What? Did you meet them? What are they like?" Bearclaw placed his hands on Skywise's shoulders, a bizarre expression on his face.

"We didn't meet them. We're not sure, but we think they're taller than us." Rayek informed them, folding his arms. There was a strange squeaking noise and Firefly ran through the crowd.

"Rayek!" She adored Rayek and had done so since she could walk. Recently her childish affection had turned to an adolescent crush, and she blushed when he turned to look at her.

"Hello, Firefly. How are you?" Rayek smiled a little. The child was entertaining and remarkably insightful on occasion. And there was a feeling of magic about her, though she hadn't yet displayed any magical abilities.

"Fine, thanks. How are you?" She stared at her own feet, hands behind her back.

"I'm well. Ah, yes..." Rayek reached into a bag and pulled out a treewee, who was happily nibbling on a cricket. "I believe you requested we bring back this creature?" He carefully handed it to Firefly, who laughed, "awww"ed and thanked him all at once. Her golden eyes- a trait she'd inherited from Timmorn himself- glittered with delight and she swished her dark brown ponytail out of habit. She grinned at him, hesitated, then flung her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Thank you Rayek, you're the best!" She informed him, before running off to play with her new pet. Rayek watched her go, looking rather bemused. Bearclaw laughed, clapping Rayek good naturedly on the shoulder. Bearclaw looked like he was going to say something, but a yelp of shock cut through the air before the words could escape. Instead he whipped around, immediately assuming the worst.

"Firefly!" He cried, racing off towards the sound with everyone else at his heels. The ran over a ridge to see one of Redlance's magically grown gardens aflame, Firefly standing next to it looking rather alarmed. Bearclaw bounded next to her, staring at the fire with a look of disbelief. "What happened?"

"I went to touch one of the plants, and then it caught fire, and then they all caught fire, and yeah." Bearclaw stared at her, confused. Rayek bounced over with an excited yell.

"I knew you had magic in you Firefly! You're a firestarter! That power was supposedly lost to all our kind, but you possess it!" He seemed ecstatic, almost unable to believe that Firefly could possess such old magic. Firefly beamed, pleased that she had pleased Rayek. Bearclaw laughed.

"That's my girl! You've got Zarhan's blood in you!"