Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or anything associated with it.
XXXXX
The next day…
With an unconscious Volug on his back, Khimari walked alongside Ena as they traveled north in the direction of Nevassa. The blue wolf huffed as his entire body screamed in exhaustion. "Khimari, please...you must rest," Ena gently suggested.
"Not...until...We can get to…" Slightly stumbling, the Hatarian caught himself just barely. Re-adjusting Volug's position, Khimari simply shook his head before continuing his walk.
"You cannot treat yourself like this! You know he would not approve," the Goldoan persisted.
"It's my fault he's like this!" Khimari snapped, tears threatening to break from his eyes. "...I never should've asked him to come with us."
"...Don't blame yourself," Ena quietly said, putting her hand on the young Laguz's shoulder. "None of us could have predicted what happened yesterday."
"..." Even though he knew the dragon was right, Khimari still could not bring himself to let what happened go; at least, not until Volug got healed. "We need to find something for him. Even a vulnerary would work until we get to Nevassa."
"...There is a town nearby," the dragon informed. "Perhaps I can see if they have a healer available."
"...Okay, but let's reach somewhere to shelter first," Khimari agreed, noticing the gathering clouds in the sky. A downpour was definitely on its way. Nodding, Ena stayed close to the wolves in case the prince stumbled again until they found a small cavern along the mountain valley path they took to save time on their trip. "...How far is the town?" he asked as he gently laid the older wolf on the ground.
"...From the map, it seems to be about a day's journey," Ena answered as she pulled a hood over her head. "I'll make haste to return as soon as possible." When the wolf didn't bother to give a response in favor of finding moss to make bedding, the dragon simply sighed as she turned to exit the tent.
"...Ena." At the wolf's voice, she stopped to listen to what would next be spoken. "Thank you for everything."
"...Do not worry, Khimari," the girl gently said before leaving the two wolves alone in the cave. Ignoring his tired mind and body, the blue wolf continued to gather stray pieces of moss before he finally made a sufficient amount for Volug to lay on. Picking up the brown wolf as carefully as possible, Khimari moved him onto the softer bed of grasses that he put together. Transforming into his wolf form, he continued to lick the older wolf's wounds, even if a slight dehydration had started to take hold since he hadn't eaten or drank a single thing since yesterday morning. When Volug's wounds seemed to be the slightest bit better and not as bloody, Khimari gave them a quick sniff for infection. When he smelled nothing, he let out a sigh of relief. Laying his blue tail over the brown Laguz's head, Hatari's lost prince stayed guard over his uncle figure, refusing to rest until he knew that Volug would survive.
XXXXX
The next day…
"How are things from outside the perimeter?" Ranulf asked Ike as the Greil Mercenaries approached him and Skrimir.
"All traces of resistance are gone from Begnion," the Beorc commander reported. "This is the last fort in the Telgam region, right?"
"That's right," the cat confirmed. "Now, we go to the river and cross ever closer to the heart of Begnion."
"We claim another victory in the name of Gallia! Onward, my brothers! The day is still ripe to advance!" A large chorus of shouts and roars enthusiastically answered the lion's call. Following that, the Laguz quickly organized to continue their march towards the Ribahn River.
"There he goes again," Ranulf sighed with a small smirk on his face as he turned to the mercenary group. "Like he said, noontime has barely passed. We can still advance further."
"Lead the way, Ranulf," Ike quipped. Nodding, the blue cat quickly guided the mercenary group to the front of the army where he took his place next to the red-haired general. As the march continued, Ranulf's mind eventually left the present moment and returned once again to his family in Gallia.
'This cannot be healthy,' the cat mentally sighed as he realized that he spent more and more time every day thinking of the two wolves at the Gallian palace. Strangely enough, yesterday he felt a pang of pain through his chest, something that worried him greatly. It was as if the world was telling him that there was something amiss concerning his family, and he couldn't completely shake it out of his mind. The alternative, which was the only way he could manage at the moment, was for him to fully indulge Skrimir's antics, however ridiculous they turned out to be. Although he suffered greatly from his nearly constant headaches, it beat the increasing worry that he experienced at the thought of Khimari and Nailah.
"Hey, Ranulf, do you-" Ike started to question until he saw the cat in his own world again. "Ranulf? Hey, over here! Earth to Ranulf!" Only after the Beorc nearly raised his voice to shouting levels did the cat realize that he was directly addressed.
"Wha-Oh, sorry, Ike? One more time, please?"
"I was going to ask how far you wanted to travel," the swordsman asked. "The sun is setting." Just as Ike said, the sky had begun to turn from the signature blue to a radiant orange as the large ball of fire began to approach the horizon.
"Skrimir? Do you want to set camp now?" Ranulf immediately asked, putting the matter in the hands of his commanding official.
"...Fine," the lion agreed, though the response seemed lukewarm at best. "Warriors of Gallia! We set up camp here for now!" The many Laguz quickly caught the message and began to unpack for the night. Ranulf went to help with the effort before a voice called his name. "Ranulf," Skrimir called, stopping the cat in his tracks.
"Yes, Skrimir?"
"Be cautious not to lose your head on the battlefield. I will see you at the meeting at nightfall." the redhead simply said before walking away. Admittedly irritated at the callous advice, Ranulf breathed loudly through his nose before he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, are you sure you're alright?" Ike asked the cat. "It's getting worse by the day."
"Yeah, I just…"
"Look, you need a break. Drowning yourself in work isn't helping you," the Beorc said matter-of-factly.
"When did you become so well-versed in mental health?" Ranulf sarcastically asked.
"Living with your son forced me to," Ike shot back. Despite the cat's current stress, he snorted in laughter; the statement was absolutely true. Specifically, Ranulf's mind went back to the time that he was sprayed by a skunk that had somehow managed its way into his room. Khimari said that 'it got lost' on the way to its den and decided to take a nap in the cat's room. Due to his heightened senses, the Gallian's eyes stung for a week and he couldn't smell straight for nearly twice that time.
That was neither here nor there, though.
"Why don't we train?" Ike suggested, taking the cat's attention once again.
"You know I hate training."
"True, but you need to take your mind off of this, so we'll have a match later."
"Do I even get a say in this?" Ranulf sighed.
"Not this time," Ike denied, before walking off. Feeling yet another headache coming to his head, Ranulf rubbed his temples as he went to assist in the camp rollout for the night.
XXXXX
Later that evening…
"Do I really have to do this? I'd much rather just lay down for a while," Ranulf again complained as he followed Ike to a small outskirt away from the army camp proper.
"You need to relax your mind, so we're going to spar a bit."
"Do all Beorc force their elders to fight? That must be why they don't live long," the cat muttered, reminding Ike that the cat was a good deal older than him, probably by about twenty years at the least.
"I'm sure you keep young. After all, you and Khimari look the same age."
"Is that so?" Ranulf whispered. He never thought about it, but he'd definitely have to check that assessment. Before he could think on that thought for longer, Ike suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"This'll work," the Beorc said, before walking to one side of the field. "Are you ready, Ranulf?"
"No, not really," he bluntly replied, walking to the other side anyway.
"Come on, put some energy into it! You'll never get out of your head unless you try."
"If you say so," Ranulf shrugged, before choosing to transform into his Laguz form. Unlike his mate, son and the majority of Laguz, he was not a very combative person. He much preferred to lay around and cuddle rather than go around looking for a good fight. Looking straight forward, the cat slowly swished his tail as Ike suddenly ran forward with his sword completely brandished.
Becoming increasingly alert by the second, Ranulf jumped back to avoid the first strike by the Beorc. Using the momentum, he performed a strong leap, smacking Ike's sword down with a paw-slap. Using his flexibility, the cat flipped and managed a scratch to the mercenary's shoulder, making him hiss in pain.
As soon as he landed, however, he found himself on the defensive once again. Trying to avoid Ike's attacks, he found himself cut on the side; he didn't jump back quick enough after his roll to avoid the horizontal sword strike. "Now you're gonna get it!" Ranulf hissed, pouncing directly at Ike's head.
The Beorc, with a small smirk on his face, blocked the blow with his sword and pushed back, forcing Ranulf to jump back on his feet. "Gotta do better than that."
"My pleasure," the cat returned before running to Ike's left side. Expecting an attack from his flank, Ike slightly changed his stance to deflect the attack. What he didn't expect was for the cat to jump to the right in a burst of speed before raking his claws across the Beorc's right side. Caught unaware by the sneaky maneuver, Ike was put on the defensive, backing away from the cat's continuous strikes while counterattacking whenever he could.
After a while longer, Ranulf could no longer hold his transformation and went back into his Beorc form. "Welp, I'm spent," the cat joked, panting slightly. Even then, he felt more energized than he had been for a while. Both he and Ike had small cuts all over them, though none were particularly deep nor worrying in any capacity.
"C'mon, let's get back," Ike said. Nodding, the two blue-heads started their trek back to camp. "Feel better?"
"Waaaay better," Ranulf admitted. "I'm shocked that a Beorc muscle-head like you gave such a great idea after all."
"Hey, I'm-Ah, forget it," Ike gave up. "Looks like you've been learning some new techniques. That fake out was quick!"
"Well, Khimari is just as battle-crazed as Skrimir when he wants to be," the cat revealed. "We learn a lot from each other. That move from earlier I first saw him use when he defeated Lord Giffca in a match."
"He defeated Giffca?" Ike asked in shock. Although he knew his brother was strong, the black lion who worked as the king's shadow was...well, huge. The Beorc knew that his surrogate brother must have gotten much stronger in the time since they've seen each other, which had been about a year and some months, give or take.
"Many times," Ranulf added. "He's even fought King Caineghis to a standstill on occasion. He's just like that crazed grandfather of Nailah's; Khimari always has that tricky side to him that shows when he's fighting. He could catch the goddess by surprise with his cunning."
"Man, I have to go check this out," Ike said. "What I'd give to see a fight like that."
"The quicker we finish this mess up, the quicker you and Khimari can start fighting each other again. How about that?"
"That's pretty tempting," the Beorc mentioned, before seeing that sunset came closer by the minute. "I'll have to go by the caravan to get some supplies with Soren. Is it alright if we meet you at the meeting tent when nightfall comes?"
"Of course!" the cat obliged. "Take your time. I have a few cuts to lick in the meantime. You're a really strong Beorc, ya know!"
"Good to know," Ike smirked, happy that Ranulf's mood had improved significantly. Parting ways, the cat went over to Mordecai and Lethe to oversee how things were going.
"Lethe! Mordecai! How are things on your end?"
"All well, Ranulf," the blue tiger responded. "Gallia does well. Mordecai is well."
"All except you, it seems," Lethe interrupted, looking the blue cat up and down. "What tree branch did you fall down from?"
"Very funny," Ranulf dryly said. "I was training with Ike."
"You? Training? The world must be ending," Lethe noted incredulously. It was well-known that the blue-furred Gallian warrior, despite his strength, was a lazy furball at best when it came to actively training.
"Not yet, it's not," he joked, before looking at the sky. Moonlight would be showing any moment now. "Well, it looks like I have to get to the meeting. Maybe we can catch up another time." With nods from the two, Ranulf separated to go to the meeting tent, which wasn't very far, thankfully. Walking inside, he let out a sigh of relief to see that he was the first one there. "A little peace before the storm is always nice," he said to himself as he grabbed the map and opened it. After a few moments, Ike, Titania and Soren entered the tent. He noted immediately that Ike didn't have nearly as many scratch marks on his person as before, making him smirk. "Got patched up, I see?"
"Maybe a little," Ike returned as Skrimir entered the tent. Now that everyone was present, Ranulf quickly motioned for everyone to take a closer gather around the map.
"Alright," he started. "Flaguerre, Mugill and Telgam are ours. But, the war has just started. The enemy's main forces are in Sienne, the capital," he informed, pointing at the location in relation to where they were mostly for Skrimir's sake. "The real fight starts now."
"Ah, now we fight the big battle!" the lion said in wonder, as if imagining a gallant war scene like a little child. "My claws itch for Beorc flesh. Ranulf!" he called. "Are there strong enemies in the capital?"
"There will be plenty," Ranulf answered quickly and dryly, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his general's one-track mind. He still took satisfaction at seeing Soren doing exactly what he wanted to do, however. The sage lightly breathed in irritation and completely rolled his eyes before being lightly nudged by Titania. Without even sparing a look, Soren tilted his head in such a way that basically said "whatever," causing the paladin to grunt slightly in mirth. "Before we go," Ranulf continued, taking his attention away from the entire comedy show that was the Greil Mercenaries. "We must fight the northern nobles. Their collective army is massive."
"By now, I imagine that the Begnion Central Army is heading our way," the strategist of the Greil Mercenaries added. "They're going to be our real problem." A small silence came between the group as they contemplated the statement; unlike the Senate-controlled forces of the country's northern interior, the Central Army was serious business.
"So, if we're too slow, we get caught in the middle," Titania said, voicing the main predicament.
"I don't like the sound of this. Soren, do you have a deployment plan worked out?" Ike asked, before Ranulf decided to let out a sound to draw the attention to him.
"Actually, why don't you all just relax?" the cat suggested with a smile. "You might not believe it, but WE have a plan this time!" Instantly, the three Beorc in the room gave the cat a look of great concern.
"Are...you sure?" Ike slowly asked, trying his best not to show his discomfort at the thought. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ranulf, but...considering him and Skrimir...the thought of any plan worried him.
"Don't worry; it was made in part by our very own resident prankster," the cat revealed.
"...Why does that make me even more worried?" Titania sighed, knowing the prankster in question had very...questionable methods to achieving whatever goal was in mind.
"Here, I'll just explain it," Ranulf laughed, before pointing to the southern region of the continent. "Before we left for Flaguerre, Phoenicis and Kilvas set out to keep watch over how Begnion would react to the situation. As soon as the Central Army left, the bird tribes would track them...and their supply units." At that, the three Crimean's eyes all widened in recognition. "After the enemy's in a daze, they regroup with us
"I see," Titania spoke first. "An army of that size would require a massive amount of resources to be able to sustain itself. So the bird tribes will hit the Central Army's supply unit and slow their advance."
"Exactly!" Ranulf confirmed with his trademark smirk. "The empire fears the bird tribes. 'The Shipless Pirates,' they're called. They specialize in surprise attacks and have been raiding Begnion merchant ships for years."
"After they hit the supply unit, the bird tribes will head north. We'll meet up with them after they finish off the nobles' forces. Then when the Central Army arrives, we'll attack them together. Does that sum it up?" Ike listed off. At Ranulf's nod, everyone turned to Soren to see his verdict on the plan, seeing as he was the strategist in the room.
"I'm surprised," he said after a long pause. "As far as Gallian strategies go, it's not bad at all. We might even win, provided everything goes according to plan."
"Who! The staff officer agrees!" Ranulf celebrated, moving his tail in glee. "Now, the next order of business would be the northern nobles themselves. Any plan for that?"
"Yes," Soren bluntly said, moving closer to get a better positioning of the map. "We will split tomorrow to fight the enemy forces. That way, we can prevent an attack from the flank and cause further confusion among the enemy forces, especially reinforcement wise."
"Okay, who goes where?" Ike asked.
"We can take the right flank," Ranulf volunteered. "Scouts reported more varied terrain on the left side, swamplands and steep hills included. That could be a hindrance for us."
"Then it's settled. Skrimir and the Gallian army will go to the right, and the Greil Mercenaries will go to the left."
"Hmph, is that all?" Skrimir asked, breaking his silence with a voice filled with irritation.
"Yes, Skrimir. Unless anything else…" Ranulf looked at the Beorc in the room, waiting for a response. When none came, he sighed in resignation. "Then I guess we're done, Skrimir."
"Good. I will go to train." After the hefty lion walked out, Ranulf looked up to the tent ceiling, wondering how Nailah and Khimari were doing.
'I'll see you guys pretty soon, hopefully.'
XXXXX
The next day…
Just as planned, Ike and the Greil Mercenaries, along with a couple of Gallians for good measure, planted themselves on the left flank of the plans leading up to the Ribahn River. Advancing slightly, they would catch the attention of the forces, splitting them and their strength. A classic divide-and-conquer strategy more than anything, but it would see them to victory today. The mercenary commander was sure of it.
"Ike!" Ranulf called, running over. "Are you all in position?"
"Yeah. Ready when you are," the Beorc responded.
"As planned, we leave the troops on the left to you Beorc. Sound good?"
"Fine by me," Ike shrugged, lazily hefting his sword over his shoulder. "We'll teach these nobles a thing or two."
"That's the spirit!" Ranulf returned, before leaving the Greil Mercenaries to their own objective.
"All right! Move out!" Ike called, spurring the rest of the group into action. Taking to the front lines, Ike quickly found resistance in the form of a group of Begnion soldiers, mostly a conglomerate of halberdiers and swordsmen making up the front lines. With a quick battle cry, Ike engaged his closest opponent, a halberdier. Parrying a lance strike, the mercenary commander quickly showed off his battling ability with a debilitating swipe to the arm followed by a fatal slash through the abdomen. Without a break, the Beorc jumped to a swordmaster, making quick work of them along with Mia and Oscar.
"Commander! Ahead!" From Titania's shout, Ike saw a group of dracoknights closing in on their location. Not one to back down, the leader of the Greil Mercenaries ran forward in direct challenge, pointing his sword up high. One of the wyvern riders took the gambit, lowering rapidly to meet the man in combat. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ike expertly wedged his Ettard sword in between the wedge of the opponent's axe, using the momentum to throw the man off the wyvern's reins.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ike advanced, claiming the life of the enemy wyvern knight with a slash across the midsection. Raising his head, Ike stepped to the side to allow Soren's large tornado spell to slap another wyvern rider right out of the sky, sending him on a collision course towards the ground. "Titania! Status report!" the commander asked his second-in-command.
"Commander, the forces are quickly diminishing. There is no organization whatsoever among the forces," she said. "The only remaining units belong directly with the leader, who is a wyvern rider."
"Let's take the fight to him, then," Ike determined.
"It seems that won't be necessary," Soren cut in, motioning towards the rapidly approaching Begnion soldiers on the backs of their wyerns. "They've decided to greet us personally."
"...Titania, make sure the secondary force is handling itself," the blue-haired young man ordered. With a quick nod, the paladin rushed off to check the state of affairs on the other side of the battlefield. "We can take these guys ourselves." After a quick "yes, sir," the red-haired Crimean sped away to check the state of affairs of everyone else in the troop, leaving Ike, Soren and a couple others to take on the nearing soldiers.
"I am Istvan!" the leader shouted, as everyone began to engage in combat with each other, excluding the two commanders. "I am the General of Lord Seliora's royal army! You, leader of sub-human filth! State your name!"
"I'm Ike. Of the Greil Mercenaries," he responded ever so casually, finding the dramatics highly unnecessary in the current moment.
"Greil Mercenaries?" the man haughtily repeated, as if Ike just gave the punchline to a bad joke. "Never heard of them! You are just small-time bandits, yes?" Without even waiting for a reply, the nobleman simply continued talking. "If we had left behind dead bodies of sub-humans, our reward would have ended up even bigger! My lord is not pleased with finding the heads of bandits!"
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about our heads," Ike calmly responded, pointing his sword towards Istvan in a way that issued a direct challenge. " You have no chance to win this fight. Leave while you can."
Not happy with being talked to in such a manner, Istvan raised his axe and sped into battle against the enemy commander.
XXXXX
A little while later…
"Hey, you're done too?" Ranulf asked as he ran up to the re-gathered Greil Mercenaries. "That was fast." Truly it was. The sun still shone brightly in the sky and the Begnion forces sent to attack them were already doing a hasty retreat.
"Yeah, it was easy work," Ike admitted. "They retreated pretty quickly."
"Their soldiers were well-trained and decently equipped, but their commanders were terrible," Soren bluntly assessed.
"That's lucky for us, I suppose," the cat added in a pleasant tone. "Things seem to be working out pretty well so far. Unless they bring in a real commander, it's only a matter of time before they wave a white flag."
In that sentence, Ranulf forgot one of the biggest lessons that life had to offer: bad luck will always be there to prove you wrong when you say out loud that everything is going fine.
"Enemies to the south!" A Gallian soldier yelled frantically, running up to his subcommander. "It's the Begnion Central Army!"
"What!?" almost everyone yelled. Without any pause, Ike and Ranulf sped past the Gallian who gave them the news to the south. Without nearly any gap in time, they found a giant mass of soldiers downhill from their current location. Scarlet red armor could be seen for who knows how far down the land, with one helmless man standing command in front of all the other ones.
"Tibarn failed to stall them," Ike pointed out, though it seemed rather obvious at this point. "Does that mean...he's dead?"
"Doubtful," Soren shut down. Even with his naturally stoic demeanor, his expression at the moment gave away a lot of stress over the given situation. "I don't think there was even a battle. The Central Army simply arrived too quickly."
"...We know one thing for sure," Ranulf growled. "The enemy now has the advantage."
"There are still enemies to the north," Titania advised Ike, also wearing a worried expression on her face. "This is quickly turning into our worst case scenario."
"Skrimir," Ranulf called. "We have to retreat. We're in serious trouble." At what seemed like the worst time, the lion scoffed at the advice from his second-in-command.
"Show my back to Beorc? Never!" Skrimir refuted. "We will fight on like the Gallians we are!"
"Skrimir, listen to me!" Ranulf hissed, his eyes turning into slits. "We must retreat. This is the Begnion Central Army we're talking about!" Instead of rationalizing things like a normal person should, Skrimir's head went the other way, taking on a delighted expression.
"Ah, finally! We get to fight the Begnion Central Army! I've been waiting for this moment!"
"If you won't change your mind, then I don't have a choice…" Stepping back, Ranulf let a blue glow engulf him, signaling a shift into his Laguz form. Looking at the blue cat, Skrimir scoffed carelessly.
"Are you serious, Ranulf?" the lion said, as if looking at a petulant child. "You cannot beat me. You know that."
"I won't let your foolishness lead to you or any of our men dying in vain," the cat declared. "It's my job to keep you from doing anything that stupid. If I have to knock you out and drag you off the field myself, that's what I'll do." In the face of the rather coarse language Ranulf used, the red beast Laguz "hmphed" before assuming his own transformed state.
"Fine. Try," he challenged with a bored expression. Without another word, Ranulf leapt at Skrimir, claws outstretched.
"Ike, stop them!" Titania yelled as the two began fighting each other. Strangely enough, Ike couldn't help but remember his brother fighting in the desert against Tora. Once again, a blue and red Laguz putting themselves on the line came to Ike's sight, though the circumstances were different.
"...No," the commander denied, remembering how he reacted when Khimari entered that fight. For Ranulf and Skrimir, this went deeper than a simple spat. "They need to do this." Watching the fight intently, everyone saw how much Ranulf had improved, scoring quick strikes against Skrimir with his nimble speed. Avoiding a giant paw swipe from the lion, Ranulf shot forward, deeply wounding Skrimir's leg with a vicious claw swipe. Roaring in pain, Skrimir batted the cat away before pouncing to finish the fight as quickly as possible. Instead of running out of dodge, however; the cat took a low stance that looked eerily familiar to Ike.
Lethe's gasp alerted him to what possibly was about to happen. "...Like father, like son…" she muttered, just barely loud enough for him to hear. At that moment, Ranulf launched himself under Skrimir, catching his front left leg with a powerful bite that audibly snapped a bone, as well as a quick claw swipe. Unfortunately, Skrimir, now in survival mode, managed to barely catch Ranulf, throwing the cat off-balance. Capitalizing on the moment, the red lion took his mighty paws and snatched the side of Ranulf's head, effectively smashing him to the ground. Without remorse, he then took the blue Gallian by the jaw and threw him across the small area, effectively ending the battle.
Laying still, Ike's eyes widened at Ranulf's immobile form. The cat transformed back into his two-legged form as the mercenary commander ran over to him. "Ranulf! Quick, Rhys! Mist!" Ike called, running to help the cat up. In a few moments, the two healers were already working on the unconscious Ranulf, while Skrimir limped up to him.
"Damn...Soldiers!" Skrimir boomed. "We are leaving! Head back to base camp!" Following his announcement, the Gallians followed rank-and-file away from imminent defeat at the hands of the Central Army. "Here, I'll take him," Skrimir said, trying to take Ranulf before he winced in pain.
"I think I'll carry him. You're barely standing yourself," Ike noted, looking at the damage Ranulf sustained to Skrimir.
"...Do not underestimate me…" Even then, the lion did not complain as the rest of the group started the rush back to base camp.
XXXXX
Meanwhile…
"Dad!" Khimari gasped. After staying up for who knows how long, the wolf had finally fallen asleep after Ena brought back an elixir and some herbs for Volug. During his sleep, however, a sharp and sudden pain in his head alerted him that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
"Khimari, what is it?" Ena asked. Beside her sat Volug, as well as a man with green hair who came with her from the town that she visited to get the brown wolf's medicine.
"Something bad happened...I have to go check on my dad...But…" Falling off, he looked at Volug with concern and guilt. Even if the brown wolf was now awake and on his way to a quick recovery, it didn't do much to ease the guilt Khimari had about listening to his mother's advice about bringing him along.
"Young Khimari, go," Volug said, sitting up straighter. "I will return by Micaiah's side for the time being. Simply return when you are ready."
"...But...Homasa," Khimari called, getting the full attention of the former Daein commander whose life Khimari spared in the Mad King's War. "Can you take Volug back to Nevassa? I don't want him traveling back there alone."
"It won't be a problem, Khimari," the man guaranteed. With that settled, Khimari turned back to the pregnant Goldoan to resume talking to her.
"In that case, Ena, you can come with me. After we visit to see what happened to Dad, then I'll let you take the rest of the way back to Goldoa."
"...Yes. Then here...we separate," Ena said. Sighing heavily, Khimari went over to give Volug a hug, followed by some licks behind the ear.
"Be safe, Volug."
"Likewise, young Khimari…" Under a heavy atmosphere, the group of four split, with Ena and Khimari heading south while Volug and Homasa trekked north on the way back to Nevassa.
"...Dad...Please be alright…"
XXXXX
A/N: You know, this 2020+ decade is a hell of a hassle...But yeah, it's back! Hope y'all enjoy, and see ya when I see ya!
Blizzard, out!