Honesty.  

       Obalie was the first to wake up and leave the tent where everyone was sleeping. When she noticed them, she stopped in her tracks, lifted onto her back legs slightly for a second, and made and expression that said 'Oh, don't worry! I'll keep it low key,' and she hurried over, low to the ground.

"That just makes her more suspicious," Airibone observed.

"Ya, I-" Maila agreed, nodding. But, she was cut off, when Obalie had reached them.

"Whoa, you- Maila, you took her back! Oouger said to stay away from the..." she trailed off, gazing up at Airibone in disbelief. Airibone lowered her head to be eye level with Obalie.

"Well, huh. I asked her to and-" Airibone said, interrupting herself. "Didn't you realize that crouching makes you more suspicious looking! That will just draw more attention then casually walking over!" she finished loudly. Obalie flushed and looked at Maila.

"Can, can you-" she stuttered, twiddling her thumbs. "Maila, can you- I mean would mind if..." Maila smiled and Obalie seemed to loosen up. "Take me! I mean if... Please?" Obalie blurted, putting her hand down onto Maila's. Airibone and Maila glanced at each other quickly and looked back at the forest.

"Uh, yyyyaaaaaaa." Maila said slowly. "Sure, j- just tell Orkijace first. Uh she- she'll wanna come, probably." Mail finished, looking at Airibone for counseling. Airibone nodded quickly, fakely beaming at Obalie. Obalie nodded back, and raced across the field to Orkijace.

Maila knew what Airibone was thinking, What about Oouger? And that thing that summoned the timber wolves. It plainly said not to come back!

"Well, maybe we can face it with four Gorisailns." Maila said hopefully. Airibone shook her head.

"No, I- I really don't think we can. If we want to make it through," Airibone sighed. "We'll need Oouger." she finished, looking down at her claws. Maila sat down.

"Nahh, we just need to be smart about it!" She countered. Airibone sat down to.

"I can't risk their lives like that." she said. Maila ripped up some grass, and tossed it aside calmly.

"Trust me Airibone," she said determinedly. Airibone finally smiled and met eyes. They were sitting there for a few seconds, until Airibone finally put her hands up.

"Okay, I trust to Maila!" she said. "Just don't let me down. Don't let them down! Remember, they are nowhere near a powerful as us!" Maila stood back up.

"Exactly!" she realized. "If we're so much stronger and faster now," Airibone used her to stand up as well. "We can just fend everything off! Protect them! You know?" Maila exclaimed. Airibone tilted her head away, taking a step back.

"But, but that creature! It- it made short work of me. It got me like that!" She stuttered. Maila grabbed her shoulders.

"But we weren't expecting it that time! We- we know it exists now, right!?" Airibone looked back at her, now with a joyful expression.

"Ya," she said. "Ya! Alright! YA!" They grabbed each other's shoulders for a minute, before Obalie came sprinting over with Orkijace attached to her back. Piggy back ride, Maila thought with a single puff of laughter. She raised her eyebrows at them as they arrived.

"So," she said, watching Orkijace slide off of Obalie's back. "Are you willing to risk your life to see a rock in the forbidden forest?" she asked Orkijace sarcastically. Orkijace just looked at her expressionless, and motionless.

"Does it hurt when you transform?" she asked plainly. As Orkijace said this, she peered around Maila to look at the forest. Airibone took a step towards Obalie, they were in their own conversation.

"Not really," Maila said honestly. "It's weird, it's like... Well it's magic, I didn't really notice because I was too scared of what was happening to me visually." Orkijace just looked at her, her skinny face and neck were stiff, but not tense. Maila was always a bit creeped out at Orkijace's thin, slender body type, how she ate the same as them, but never really gained weight. Orkijace was a sweet personalitied gorisailn though, very kind indeed. Maila admired her passion for arachnids though.

"I think that there was a kacchinka near by, I mean, I found one's web!" she said reassuringly. Orkijace's face lit up with joy, and she changed her stance.

"REALLY! You mean those legendarily huge spider monsters! Maila wow!" Orkijace hopped with her front legs slightly, and buzzed uncontrollably with happiness. Airibone glanced worriedly over her shoulder at Maila.

"You didn't say anything about a kacchinka while we were there!" Airibone squeaked. Maila raised her eyebrows in surprise. I didn't! Oops, Well at least we didn't see it.

"Well, it wasn't there both times I was in the canyon, I guess I forgot." She said, now looking at Airibone. Airibone hesitated before nodding, and turning back to face Obalie. Obalie didn't seem to care, and just resumed their conversation. Eventually, The four of them decided on what to tell Oouger, and who was going to do it. Obalie and Maila walked over to the tent where Oouger was reading.

"Hello?" Obalie called, walking through the door. Oouger lifted his head, and turned the book over to hold his page. Maila went in right behind Obalie, and they all stood facing each other.

"Oh, hey guys." he said sleepily. "What's up?" Obalie glanced at Maila.

"Oh," she smiled. "I- We- Maila and I were just going to go on a morning walk around the area," Oouger rubbed his eyes, taking a breath to speak. Obalie kept going however. "We might bring Orkijace and Airibone, and we just came to tell you so you'd know where we were." Obalie took a step towards the door hurriedly, but Maila grabbed her shoulder.

"And we know not to go in the forest or anything, come back if we see something, and all that. Okay?" She said to Oouger as he started to arch his brow.

"Oh, well-" he said slowly. "I guess you can, like, I'm not the boss or anything." he continued. "Just... stay safe as best as you can." They smiled at each other for a short moment. I hate lying to Oouger, she thought. He works so hard! I can't do this. Maila looked into his eyes and remembered when she had a crush on him when they were little. She was pretty sure he felt the same.

He was the only guy in the group, so he was really the only guy she had ever talked to more than once. She eventually realized it was weird to like someone in your group. There were seven groups per generation, each group raised each other from birth, looked out for each other forever, and took care of one another their whole lives. They were like siblings, they were each other's only family. Maila had only met her parents twice, Oouger had never met his mother, but he seen his father every few years. His stupid father, sending him out here for no reason! "Oh, I'm too old to guard the city from nothing! We never get attacked! My job is so hard!" Maila had a secret, mental grudge with his father now.

"So, um..." she said calmly. "We good to go?" he looked up at her to meet her eyes too. Oouger nodded hesitantly, and waved goodbye as Maila and Obalie left the tent, before returning to his book.

"I hate lying to him," Maila said, peering down at Obalie. They looked at each other for a minute as they walked, silently agreeing. Soon enough, Airibone greeted them at the edge of the forest with Orkijace holding a basket of berries.

"Ready to go?" Orkijace asked. Maila nodded happily, swiping away some undergrowth they would need to get through. Airibone shook her head to let her dreadlocks go free, and untangle from one another, then stepping in front to help Maila lead the way. They set off, ready to face the forest!

Something by scampered Maila's hands quickly, leaving a few stands of fur behind on the ground. Airibone saw it too, they exchanged glances, and kept moving.

"Hoot, hoo hoo hooooo" "Squeak, squeeeeaaaakkkkkk!" "Snarl growl roooo!" "pant pant," there were all sorts of creatures surrounding the in the forest, making all sorts of ominous noises. Maila was getting a bit creeped out. Another two somethings scampered by Maila's hands again, almost bumping into Airibone's wrists. The four of them sped up a bit, hoping it wasn't what they thought it was. If only Oouger were here, he'd know how to handle them! Another five somethings jolted across the path, squeaking violently. Ohhhhhh no, this is gonna suck. Maila knew exactly what they were, Oouger told them the day before his birthday. They were sitting in the grass, Airibone and Silvics were there too. 'Ya! My dad says that they're just little things, but if you put them in a pack...' Maila didn't remember how to avoid them, she just remembered the description Oouger provided. Airibone held out an arm to stop them, and made a shushing noise with her mouth.

"Run," she whispered. None of them ran. "Run!" she tried again. Maila looked slowly up into the trees above her.

"Hehehehehehehehehe! Hehehehehe," giggling was coming from all over, the trees were buzzing.

"RUN!" Airibone hoisted Obalie forward and began to sprint. Maila copied, and brought up the rear. The bark on the trees looked like it was peeling off, and ripping its way to the ground. They're chasing us on the ground! Maila began to run faster, forcing the other's to do the same, until they couldn't run any faster. A night wolf -who was enjoying a calm stroll down the path- caught sight of them and bolted away into the trees. Maila apologized as they ran past it's previous location, noticing that it looked back as if it was saying 'no problem-o!' as it disappeared from sight.

"They're gaining on us!" Orkijace called from up ahead. Maila glanced over her shoulder at the eightears who were chasing them, and they were getting dangerously close! When she looked back, she also saw a cluster of familiar vines, dangling near by.

"WE'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!" she yelled. Orkijace didn't hear her. Airibone's ears shot up, and she whirled her head around to face Maila.

"THE VINES!" Maila called, pointing to the side. Airibone nodded, and took the lead in front of Obalie. She steared the group back into the right direction, heading for the canyon.

"Maila!" she heard a voice from not too far away call. "They hate Water!" it sounded like Oouger, but it couldn't be. She couldn't risk looking back, but she took their word for it. Who ever it was.

They were fleeing up the hill as fast as they could, the crowd of eightears right behind them. She darted up to Obalie.

"Jump into the canyon!" she called, bracing herself to jump.

"What! We're here!" Maila nodded and shoved her friend in. Obalie didn't seem to care. She dug her claws into the side of the canyon, so she slid down quick, but not too quick. Maila made sure that the others did the same, and followed.

"Go through the waterfall," she told them. "There's a cave." the others paused.

"We'll just trap ourselves in!" Obalie said, bashing an eightear -who had run ahead- on the head as it jumped up at her.

"They hate water!!!" The same voice repeated. Once again, from not far away. They all looked around briefly, and sped into the cave behind the waterfall.

The voice was right! They all got a drop of water on them, and fled back into the forest. Yes! Maila thought triumphantly. She peered around at the others for some reason. Like she was expecting something of them, but they just stood there panting.

"Was," Airibone breathed. "Oouger..." Maila shrugged.

"I dunno." she confessed. "But, I heard it too." They all exchanged glances, worriedly. Maila took a breath to speak again, but stopped,seeing the other's faces. They were all looking at the waterfall. Oh no, She worried. What now? Maila slowly turned her head to face the front of the cave, to see a large, dark shape, looming closer to the entrance.