The Journey

“Did you get it?” Bard asked as he tucked his stone knife into its container.

“Yup. It’s all packed,” Sen answered from atop Kai. Kai was grumbling again. It had been over a week since he had stuff on his back, but instead of running off, he had stayed and been loaded. Only, he hadn’t let Bard do it. He only let Sen attend to him.

Bard shook his head and took down the lean-to. He grabbed anything useful and handed it to Sen who shifted around and put it away.

Healer stood at the edge of their camp, along with his assistant and a few other trees.

They said their farewells, bundled themselves in, tucked under Kai’s fur and took off with the morning sun.

Bard had packed travel snacks for them so they could travel as long as possible. With daylight getting much shorter, the shades would become more active and abundant.

Bard laid down on Kai to avoid the sting of the cool air on his face. They followed the coast for a while. And as the day drew to a close, they stopped at a large river that emptied into the sea. Kai journeyed a bit away from the coast to where there were a few break points where the water could be crossed in sections instead of one large swim. With Kai’s height, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem either. It’s when the water got deep enough that Kai has to do a full swim, that’s what worried Bard. Kai looked ahead at the sunset. His ears seemed to be picking up on creatures nearby. That was all Bard needed to see to urge them to set up camp, instead of crossing the river today. He worked on the bow drill, while Sen gathered wood with Kai.

Bard had some of the fires beginning when they returned, and he was watchful as the shadows began to grow. Lights blazed to life right as the shades emerged and Kai growled. At first Bard thought it was because a larger shade, an alpha, might be out there. It was relieving to know that Kai was just hungry and thirsty after the long trek.

Their fare was still fine as Bard began the tales tonight.

“Have I shared how Kai and I met?” Bard asked and Sen shook her head no. “He was a small thing, barely this tall,” He held his hand out a few feet above the ground. Sen’s eyes were wide in surprise as she looked at the nearly eight foot beast in front of her.

“Was he a puppy?” she asked and Bard shrugged.

“He was old enough that he was weened, but he was terrified of everything around. He usually stayed under my feet. Though he wishes he still could when we go through lightning storms.”

Kai’s large head came around and Bard rubbed his chin as he hummed contentedly.

“Father was the one who led me to him, and then said he was my responsibility. I felt pretty mad at him for that. I didn’t want to have to take care of anything at the time, and Kai was rambunctious and got into a lot of things.”

He shared about the time when Kai got into one of his traps, and another when he had disturbed his music training and had chewed on his flute he had made. Sen laughed but had an apologetic look. Kai seemed embarrassed.

“Eventually I learned that he could understand me, and one time I yelled at him, and he ran away,” Bard said sadly. Sen seemed shocked and attentive. “When it got dark, and he hadn’t returned, I went after him and found him fighting off a shade at the edge of the wood.”

“What did you do?”

“I had Father’s token at the time, so I used it to create a barrier and dragged him back into the woods. Kai was a lot bigger, his head came about… this high,” Bard said, standing up and placing his hand at chest height. “And we made peace, right before Father sent us to the city and then on our travels to meet other Elder Trees.” Kai’s tail thumped happily as Bard scratched at the side of his head. Sen looked happily and then came over to give Kai more scratches. The increased tempo of his tail moving created a breeze that made the flames of the fires dance around them. When they heard a shade’s screech, they stopped and Kai whimpered, causing Bard and Sen to laugh.

“You need to hold your tail still if you want scratches,” Sen said with a tease and Kai looked indignant as he let out a new kind of growl.

Sen patted his head before her expression turned sad.

“When I was very little, my mother took in a white deer. I know this isn’t the same thing as you and Kai, but it’s something similar… she took me on rides with it before being killed. My father found the deer alive, just barely, and took it in. He said that mother wanted me to ride one of its descendants when I married, because that is what mother wanted and that is how she could attend.”

“A white deer? That seems rare.”

“It is, even in the silver woods, so everyone thought it was a sign of good luck, but…”

“Your mother and the others died within it’s presence.” Bard supplied, and she nodded, tears forming in her eyes.

“I don’t understand why dad keeps them, but…” Sen seemed a bit upset about it all and Bard motioned for her to sit next to him. When she did, he put his arm around her and pulled her close.

“I’m sure your father has his own thoughts, but I see it as a sweet gesture, so the least we can do is honor what your mother wanted.”

Sen hummed a tone of not really accepting, and wanting to put the thought aside.

Bard let the silence grow, enjoying the sound of cackling fires in the night. They finished their food, cleaned things up and went to bed.

Bard woke to an intense chill. The morning air had sunk near the river, creating a mist and chill that permeated him. Due to the reflecting light on the mist, it was a type of bright, despite being early.

He pulled out the felted material and wrapped it around himself, trying to keep off the humidity.

Bard watched as the light of the sun rose higher before Sen woke up. She pulled out some material from her hair and quietly set about to dousing the fires and preparing for departure. When Kai woke, Bard had him travel across the river on his own first, so he could figure out what path to take, where it was shallow and if he got wet, where they would pack their things. When he returned, Bard checked where the water came to, and adjusted the packing procedure to keep their things dry.

The rushing water here was clean enough for Kai, so he refilled the skins since they would be avoiding most waterways for a few days. He and Sen would ration their reserves since they mainly rode.

When Sen climbed up, he handed her their things and instructed her where to put it. As soon as they were ready, they departed.

After crossing uneventfully, Kai paused and his ears were on high alert.

“They’re at it again,” Bard said and Sen scooted closer to look around.

“Who?” She asked.

“There are some humans and dryads who still regularly fight around here. Kai’s picking up the sound of battle. See his ears?” Bard pointed out and Sen looked and nodded slowly.

“So, what do we do?” she asked.

“Avoid them. Kai can run faster than most humans, but he struggles against the trees. And now that…”

“We have more on his back, it would be a bigger issue,” Sen finished. Bard nodded and Kai turned towards the sea. They followed along the coast, Kai still on alert, and then they headed due north for the remainder of the day. Bard sighed. They would have to go around to get to the elder, but it couldn’t be helped.

As they traveled, and while they set up camp, Bard began his instruction on how to behave and work with an Elder. How to speak to them, what sort of rites one did with the tokens.

Sen was fascinated, though she often pointed out how some of those tasks would be hard to do in front of some of the Elder trees they had encountered. Defender for instance, adhered to Dryadic customs a lot more than Abundance, and Steadfast was just… stubborn.

Bard explained that even if it didn’t seem correct, it was still a reference to start from, and then to adapt depending on who you were working with. As he thought on it, he realized even Healer had his quirks. Then again, it seemed to be the trees of this region that had that issue, the others across the plains and deserts, all seemed to be pretty uniform in how they were to be treated. He wondered why that was.

The next day was when they headed due west. As they traveled, a mountain grew and became larger and larger as they came nearby. Bard knew, on the other side of this low mountain, was the desert sands. They were nearly there. The land started to change from somewhat forest, to plains. Then a strange line of trees sprung up. Kai’s ears picked up strange sounds from them, so they steered clear, keeping low on Kai’s back. A few hours passed, and they spotted a herd of large beasts, and Kai salivated as he looked at them. Bard smirked.

“Once we get to the Elder’s forest you can hunt during the day.” Sen remarked and Kai pushed his speed, to reach their destination faster. They arrived after sundown, being pursued by shades.

Bard wouldn’t have gone to such lengths, except they could see the trees and the token would work as soon as they got there. Besides, there wasn’t much in this area to burn. If Kai hadn’t sped up, they would have camped on the route of the herds and found some materials to burn through the night, but it was unfortunate that Kai had seen the delicious beasts.

Being they were closer to the deserts, the wind here carried an interesting warmth, even in winter, but the nights became quite cold. Bard drew out the felted materials he had made over the course of his travels and covered Kai with them. He and Sen curled up underneath, encircled about by him in the woods.

It was a stuffy sort of sleep, but they lasted the night.