Looking for a source of clean water was harder than it seemed. The number of times we came across muddy ponds was… ugh. 

“We will find one, Hazel. Have faith,” the ever optimistic Zach tried and failed to lift my spirits.

“We’ve been through over a dozen duds, Zach. And it’s nearing nightfall… I don’t think we'll find one today.”

“We will.” Zach persisted.

Argh, sometimes his optimism was just downright annoying.

“I swear if we get killed because of your optimism, I will drag you to hell myself.” I growled under my breath.

“Did you say something?” Zach asked, not having heard me.

“Nope, just the wind, Zach, just the wind.”

“Alright then. There should be a river a few more miles west of here if you want to head there.” he pointed west, staring down at his compass.

“And you didn’t mention this earlier because?”

He laughed nervously, “I forgot.”

“…”

“...”

I sighed, “Of course you did.”

________________________

There seems to be a good bit of water up ahead, looks like Zach was right about the river.

“Hey Zach, there’s water up ahead.” I told him.

“Great, we better hurry and get some water so we can get back before it gets dark. The stronger beasts around here seem to come out at night or close to it.” Zach said back to me.

I nodded in silent agreement, fishing out a couple containers from my backpack. We would be needing a lot of water during the trip, and I didn’t want to trudge through miles to get here again.

It took us just a few minutes to fill all of them up, but that was enough time for me to feel a sudden sense of being watched. Spooked by it, I quickly threw the bottles in my bag and ushered Zach to hurry.

“Whoa, why are you being so pushy all of a sudden,” he protested when I began dragging him away.

“I have a bad feeling; I think that we are being watched.” I muttered under my breath.

“You’re being paranoid, we’re alone here!” 

“At this point, your optimism is more of a delusion.” I growled, not slowing down one bit.

We continued walking for a bit until I noticed a sudden blur from the corner of my eyes, along with the subtle footfalls.

Zach must have seen it too, since he suddenly stood still, “What was that?”

It’s playing with us, I realized.

“Get your weapon ready, Zach.” I wasn’t a close quarters fighter, I would have to depend on Zach to keep it busy.

Zach nodded tensely, he too realized the danger we were in. I unhooked my bow from my waist and took it out of its retracted form, already strung.

A growl came from our left, and I jumped away on instinct. I could hear the thwack caused by Zach’s staff hitting the beasts body.

Taking a glance at it, I realized we were dealing with a sleek black panther. I almost sighed; We could deal with this, but we couldn’t spend much time on it. Who knows what other beasts live here. 

I nocked an arrow, imbuing it with water mana and a layer of pressurized atmospheric water covered my arrowtip. Taking aim, I closed one of my eyes and steadied my breathing. Master Boba always told me to exhale before releasing.

My arrow whistled across the clearing, finding its mark right in the panther's neck.

It howled in pain, trying to shake off the projectile, but it didn’t budge.

Taking advantage of this, Zach struck. His pole was wreathed in a swirling blanket of wind, and his uppercut sent the beast hurtling to the air.

Taking this chance, I nocked yet another arrow, imbuing it with as much mana as I could in a short interval before letting it fly. The panther didn’t know what hit it, and it was dead before it even hit the ground, a hole in its chest.

I let out a breath of relief, “You think this is edible?”

Zach looked at me strangely.

“What? It’s a simple question.” I protested.

He shook his head in disappointment, muttering something about morals as we trudged our way back.

Guess they aren’t then.

________________________

Halfway back, we noticed someone flying overhead. They promptly noticed us, judging from how they dived down.

“There you two are,” Ryla exhaled once she descended.

“Ryla? What are you doing here?” I asked. Had something happened back at camp?

“It was getting late, and we were worried something happened to you guys. So I was sent to look for you.” Ryla explained, taking her goggles off.

“The others are back?” Zach butted in.

Ryla nodded, “For a while actually. I’ve been looking for you two for an hour.” 

“An hour?” Zach exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Yeah, it was difficult to spot you two under the canopy.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.” Zach muttered.

“Anyways, we should hurry, It’s almost night.” Ryla advised, beckoning us to follow her.

And half an hour later, we were back at the campsite. Regulus and Alaya were sitting in front of the campfire, an awkward silence engulfing the two, while Ryoto was lying over a boulder with his hands behind his head.

“Hey guys, we’re back!” Zach announced our presence enthusiastically.

Regulus was instantly on his feet and walking over to us, Alaya not far behind him. Ryoto cracked one eye open, before sliding down the rock.

“Oi Hazel, you got some sugar with you?” he yelled, pointing towards… the carcass of what looked like a skinned bear.

I didn’t question it, “Yeah, why?”

“Sweet,” he paused, “pun unintended.”

“Anyways, I’m gonna need some of that sugar,” he shook his head, holding out his hand.

“What? Why?” I instinctively patted my pocket.

He rolled his eyes, “Relax, I won’t use up all of it… probably.”

“Is it to cure the meat?” Zach asked.

He nodded, “Yep.”

I sighed, handing it over. I had hoped to save this pouch until the end of our trip.

“Alright.” he glanced at Regulus, “Zaiden, come with me.”

Regulus stared at him in confusion, but followed nonetheless.

“Did you guys find it?” Alaya asked, eyeing Regulus.

I narrowed my eyes at that, but decided not to comment on it, “We did.”

I brought my backpack out, opening it and handing them each a container.

“This should last for a day or two at least,” Zach commented, “if we use it wisely, that is.”

“Couldn’t you just go to the stream again?” Ryla spoke.

“Yeah, but it’s not very close,” Zach pointed out. “We could go there every alternate day though.”

Ryla nodded in understanding, “I suppose that works.”

3rd Person POV :

“So Zaiden,” Ryoto began, “I need you to keep an eye on the fire while I cook this meat,” he pointed towards the neatly cut pieces of the bear's flesh.

“Okay.”

Ryoto picked up a piece of raw flesh, before pausing as if realizing something.

“Shit,” he cursed, putting down the piece of meat.

“Zaiden, I need you to make earthen rods to place the meat on,” he instructed.

“Wouldn’t your dagg-” Regulus began.

“No. Just no.” Ryoto interrupted with a straight face.

Regulus smiled, “You and your dagger addiction.” 

“Bite me.”

Regulus flashed him a grin, brandishing his razor sharp teeth.

Ryoto blinked, “On second thought, don’t.”

Regulus chuckled, raising half a dozen rods from the ground, and placing them over the open dome.

Ryoto carefully placed the pieces of meat over it, wearing a half smile on his face.

“How are you going to flip them?” Regulus asked in genuine confusion.

“Not with my daggers that’s for sure.” Ryoto answered instantly. “Eh, I’ll probably use my hands.”

“What?” 

Ryoto shrugged, “I have some resistance to heat, should keep me from burning myself.”

“...” Regulus stared at him, “I’m not even going to question it.”

“As you shouldn’t.”

.

.

.

“Dinner’s ready,” he announced, carrying two earthen plates… well discs, on his arms. Each had a piece of bear steak on it.

“Didn’t really have anything to add flavor, so don’t whine if they taste bland.” 

“Huh, I didn’t know you could even cook! As far as I remember Ryla and Zaiden basically forced you to bake the cookies.” Hazel retorted.

Ryoto grinned deviously, “You’re right, I don’t.”

Hazel suddenly had a bad feeling about this steak.

Ryoto burst out in chuckles, “Nah, I can roast meat all right, just don’t ask me to do the complex stuff and we’ll be fine.”

Hazel still had doubts about it, and she wasn’t taking any chances. As soon as her plate was served, she dumped a pouch of powdered sugar on it.

“Should have known you would do that,” Ryoto deadpanned at her.

“Hey it tastes good, okay?” she defended.

“I’m sure it does.” Ryoto mocked, trotting away with a plate of his own.

“So, what’s our plan tomorrow?” Alaya spoke after they had finished with dinner.

“Don’t ask me, he’s the leader here.” Ryoto pointed towards Zach.

“I am?” Zach seemed unaware of this.

Ryoto nodded, “As long as you don’t do anything stupid, that is.”

“I won’t.” Zach said confidently.

“We should look for the herbs tomorrow,” he suggested. “We already have one, we just need six more.”

“Any objections?” Ryoto finished for him.

No one had any. “Alright then, good night.” 

Hazel grabbed his collar before he could escape, “We still need to pick someone to keep watch.”

Ryoto sweated nervously, “Maybe I could take the last shift?”

Hazel smiled dangerously. She could see why Ryoto tries to actively piss her off; It was fun.

“You’ll take the first watch.”

“Uh, mercy?” he pleaded in vain. Hazel didn’t answer.

He looked at the others for help, but only Regulus kept eye contact. He wasn’t going to put his cousin under the bus, so he eventually sighed and relented.

He looked up, Why meeee?

________________________

3rd Person POV :

“Why do I have to keep watch for the first shift, this is torture. Damn you Hazel…” Ryoto grumbled, plopping down on the cold hard floor of the forest and resting one hand on his knee.

He silently made his way up a tree as he listened to the forest. It was quiet, no crickets chirping and no beasts howling.

“It’s awfully quiet for a forest,” he stated, looking up at the star lit sky. It was always a beautiful view for him, even back at the castle he would often sneak to the roof to watch the stars. He did get caught by his dad a couple of times, but rather than ushering him back to his room he instead watched the stars with him.

As Ryoto continued gazing at the stars he heard a faint rustling somewhere behind him.

 

“You know, it’s not smart sneaking up on somebody like me right?” Ryoto said as he sheathed his daggers. As the rustling grew louder, a familiar frame appeared in front of him.

“I know, I know. You don’t have to tell me that.” Now that the others were asleep, Regulus felt more at ease, and thus stopped stuttering for the first time in ages.

“What are you doing up anyways? From what I remember, you were always fast asleep before midnight.”

“A lot has changed since we were kids. During my time living in the wild, I learned how forests behave and how the animals residing in them do too. This forest is awfully quiet and it feels off.”

Ryoto smiled grimly, “You can say that again. A lot of shit happened and in some ways we have become unrecognizable. You’re right, something does feel off about this forest, but until we are sure of why that is, let’s not wake the others up. Besides, I quite enjoy having a conversation with you when you don’t stutter all the time.”

“Oh, I didn’t even notice that. But I enjoy it too, a conversation between Regulus and Ryoto, not Zaiden and Ryan.” Regulus sighed wistfully, “ You know, I think about home a lot after what happened to my Brother and Father.”

Ryoto sighed, “Yeah, me too buddy. Sometimes, I just want to say ‘screw it’ and return to Zaseon. I miss home just as much as you do, but we can’t exactly return now can we?”

“I know we can’t. The reason I initially wanted to go to the human kingdom was to find out if all humans were such…. scumbags, like the ones that attacked our home. Immense rage festered within me, and I almost lost control a few times. You know, that’s why I meditate, to not explode. It was especially hard not to think of home when I saw these happy families laughing and eating together,” Regulus saying something like this surprised Ryoto.

Ryoto eventually regained his bearings, "The fact that you can suppress it like that… I respect you for it. I could never do that. While I do keep my anger under wraps, it leaks out in the form of my… eccentric behavior, shall we say? And I understand that not all humans are bad, the same way not all beastkin are good. But I can't-" he held his clenched fists in front of him.

"I can't forgive them for that, for what they did to Uncle Ulric, to Renfred, to… to Dad. I just can't live in peace when those fuckers are out there scot free." He inhaled deeply, "I can't go back home until I avenge them."

“I kn-” Regulus was cut off by a gruesome blood curdling scream.

Ryoto was instantly alert, jumping to his feet and unsheathing his daggers, "Wake the others up, I'll go take a look."

Using Imperial authority, Regulus projected “Wake up!” almost instantly waking everyone up. It startled them but Regulus was quick to explain what was going on. 

“Then what are we waiting for? We have to go now!” Hazel said.

Meanwhile Ryoto was rushing towards the source of the sound, with both of his daggers wreathed in purple flames. It was a good way to let small fry beasts know not to mess with him.

And it worked, nothing tried to approach him, and the ones who were in his way quickly hid in panic.

He could hear footsteps coming his way, and he screeched to a halt. Was it a group of fellow students? Or was it a horde of rampaging beasts?

"Only one way to find out," he muttered, allowing some of the fire to travel up his arms, not harming his clothes, and stretch out from his back giving him ethereal purple wings. Sadly, they were mostly for show, as they could never be used to fly.