Once inside Mothers Barrier, Ash pulled the wide-brimmed hat and his mask off. Sure, now the mist of the forest hit him directly, but at least his whiskers weren’t rubbing against that awful mask anymore. They were making good time, and since humans weren’t able to cross Mothers Barrier they did not have to worry about their threat- for the time being.

Garren and Ash moved quickly through the shadowy landscape. The complete lack of moon and stars made Ash’s fur stand on end, but Garren had spent enough time here as a cheeb that he barely took notice- this was a path he had taken many times.

“Alright now, Ash,” Garren turned to his young apprentice once the Kapok Tree’s roots came into view.

“While we’re in there, I really don't need you to give you opinions this time, okay? What I do need is you to eat your meal-” Ash’s stomach growled loudly as if it knew a hot meal was close by.

“And go to sleep. In the morning we’ll gather the cheebs that are coming with us and head back to the Academy. Do you understand?” Garren finished.

“Yeah, yeah, Garren! You act like every run we’ve had we’ve run into trouble. Whatever, I’ll be good, okay?” Ash added as Garren started to put his hands on his hips, and give him that stern bull-like look that he gave.

“Alright, let’s go get dry for the night.”