This is chapter 4 of MHO Part 1: Strangers in a Strange Land. A bit of cool scenery, a bit of action, a bit of drama, and… well, if you liked the end of chapter 1, hopefully you’ll appreciate this one, too.

-Llox

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The next morning, Lykou and Kuna wasted little time getting ready for their journey. While Lykou was putting a better tip on his crude spear, Kuna was making sure his hand-made bag was sufficiently full of as much food and herbs as it could hold.

“You should have a weapon,” Lykou finally said, glancing up at the sereva briefly. “In case you need to protect yourself.”

Kuna shrunk a bit at the suggestion. “…pass.”

“Hmm?” Lykou said, lifting his head completely. “You’ve got to be able to protect yourself in a pinch, Kuna.”

“…if I get into a ‘pinch’ I’m probably already as good as dead anyway,” Kuna replied plainly, not looking up from the sorting he was doing.

Lykou started to retort, but then stopped himself, remembering he had to be careful not to set his companion off again. So he thought for a minute and tried to come up with a more tactful way to approach it. “…that’s… a bit overly-cynical, don’t you think?”

Kuna shrugged. “My people aren’t fighters. Especially me. Avoiding danger in the first place is how we stay alive,” he explained, then looked up and slung the bag over his shoulder. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly built for violence. Running, hiding… that’s all I’ve got.”

“I… see,” the canid responded with a sigh. After a moment, he got up, then walked over to and searched around a stand of trees nearby.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for… ah, here we go,” The canine knelt down and grabbed another decent-sized, relatively straight branch he found on the ground, looking like it hadn’t been there long. He took a minute to cut off a few smaller bits and generally clean it up a bit. Then he walked over and handed it to Kuna, who only took it with some hesitation… and confusion.

“A… stick?” the sereva asked, looking it over uncertainly.

“A compromise. Can’t stab anything with it. But you can smack something with it and keep an attacker at bay until I can help, at the very least,” Lykou explained. He held a hand up as Kuna started to object. “Please, just take it for my peace of mind. Besides, it’ll give you something to lean on if you need it.”

With a sigh, Kuna gave in and accepted it. “Fine. Now are you ready to go?”

Lykou adjusted his pack and slung his own bag of food over his shoulder, then sheathed his knife and picked up his spear. “Yep. Now then…”

They both stood there, awkwardly, glancing in different directions.

“…which way?” Kuna asked.

“Good damn question,” Lykou responded after a minute, his fingers drumming on his spear for a minute. “Well, when we ducked into that cave during the storm, I think I was heading north. Or, at least, that’s the original direction I was, er… chasing… you…” he trailed off, smiling awkwardly.

Kuna nodded. “If you say so. I wasn’t thinking that clearly at the time,” he responded, shooting a narrowed-eye look at the canid, albeit with a faint smirk. “But given the situation, there’s no telling where we ended up. And this place is definitely a bit warmer, if anything, than back… er, home.”

“True,” Lykou nodded, but couldn’t help note the way Kuna hesitated with the word ‘home’. He decided to ignore it for the time being, though. Probably something about being from a migratory people. “Well, regardless, we’ve got to pick some direction, so… let’s follow the sun. It should take us past a creek I saw the other day, so I can top off my waterskin again.”

“Works for me,” Kuna said, and they both set off.

It wasn’t long before they encountered the creek. Lykou filled the waterskin, then set it and his other things aside as he stuck his head under the waterfall and slurped some up, playfully snapping at it a few times.

“…what are you doing?” Kuna asked, standing by the edge of the water with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

“What, can’t a guy have a little fun?” Lykou said with a grin, after stepping back from the fall. His head and the upper part of his shirt were thoroughly soaked. “Why don’t we stop and cool off a bit,” he suggested, starting to remove his shirt.

“We’re barely gotten started, and you want to stop and play in the water already?” Kuna said. “We’ll never get anywhere like that.”

Lykou’s smile dropped along with his shirt. “Fine. You’re right,” he sighed, then retrieved his gear. “Next chance we get though, I’m going for a swim. And you are too.” He poked the sereva, who flinched and rolled his eyes, but chose not to respond.

Over the next few hours, they walked quietly alongside one another- less from a lack of things to say, though, and more because they were taking in their surroundings. The land they found themselves in was full of unfamiliar, and fascinating creatures, plants, and landmarks. When they did speak, it was to comment on some strange wildlife they saw in the distance, or a bizarre plant they were passing.

When they paused to rest around noon, they found themselves in a somewhat more sparsely-forested area with a number of large boulders sticking out of the dirt. When Kuna went to sit down, his eyes suddenly widened. “Woah…”

Lykou walked over to see what the sereva was looking at, and similarly his eyes lit up at what was hiding behind the bolder he was about to sit on. A bright red, shiny gemstone. The biggest either had ever seen, at that- over a foot long, and half as wide.

Kuna reached down to pick it up, but then recoiled when it started to move. “What the-??”

Lykou experimentally prodded it with the blunt end of its spear, and the thing continued moving, crawling out from behind the bolder. Once it had more sunlight on it, not only did the shine increase- they saw that it was no mere gemstone. It was some kind of tortoise. And it looked annoyed at being disturbed. Its jaws were open as it started making a small, threatening noise of some kind, walking backwards away from them.

“Wow. Would you look at that,” Lykou said, pulling his spear back. “Sorry little guy.”

Suddenly they were both startled as a small gout of flame burst out of the creature’s mouth in their general direction.

“Fuck!” Kuna cried out as he hopped off the boulder and backed up. Luckily, the tortoise seemed satisfied at that, as it turned and continued making its way away from the two travelers.

“I… didn’t know a living thing could do that,” Lykou said with a dumbfounded expression, watching the creature as it rounded another boulder further away.

“No shit! What was that??” Kuna muttered, his eye twitching.

“Well, it’s gone now anyway. Just be careful around any more shiny things you find. It wasn’t your color anyway,” Lykou teased.

Kuna shot him a glare, then went and sat down on another, smaller bolder across from the one he’d originally picked, making sure he could keep an eye out for it in case it came back.

Lykou sat down across from him, and they each had a small snack from their bag.

“So what’s a chaser?” Kuna suddenly asked out of the blue. “Who or… what did you think I was when you came running after me?”

The question caught Lykou off guard and he smiled a bit awkwardly. “Oh, hehe, that,” He rubbed his neck a bit. “Long story short I thought you were… well, a spirit.”

Kuna raised a brow. “Yeah I remember you said something about that. Some… licky-something?”

“Aliki-ka. They’re spirits said to lead people to riches, or enlightenment… or even the spirit world. But only if you can keep up with them,” Lykou explained. “There hasn’t been any outsider in our territory in a very long time- well, except maybe the stray ursaran we have to chase off, but they mostly know to stay out nowdays. So when I saw you, I had to get a closer look- officially I’m supposed to be on the look out for spirits, but I kind of had to become a scout, too, to keep the title. Haven’t been any confirmed spirit sightings around since… well, a very, very long time ago.” He sighed, then shrugged. “I think most people are even doubting spirits visit the mortal world any more. And I can’t blame them, I was questioning it too. Just didn’t want to give up on the possibility of a life-changing experience like that.”

“What made you think I was that… ‘aliki-ka’ thing?” Kuna asked after a brief pause, processing it all.

“Well, heh,” Lykou again looked somewhat embarrassed. “The old descriptions don’t have a lot of detail. Just that they look different from us. No tail, slender, fast… and they supposedly have these big horns or something on their head.”

At the word ‘horns’, Kuna instantly froze and tensed up, his mood immediately plummeting. But Lykou didn’t notice right away- at some point, he’d looked away, as he was recounting the lore.

“Like, big, weird-looking things with a bunch of points in different directions, at least according to some tales. Of course, when I saw your little horn-things and short tail, I figured the legends were just a bit off, so I figured you were one of them and that was that. Heh, supposedly, our village was started when the founders were led to Sunstone Ridge by an aliki-ka. You’d think we’d have a better descr-” Lykou stopped when he saw that Kuna was sitting stock still and glaring a hole into the ground, the carrot in his hand having snapped in his grip, with the lower bit on the ground. “Uh… Kuna? Everything alright?”

“FINE. Just DANDY,” Kuna snapped after a minute, then clenched his eyes shut as he rather intensely shoved the rest of the carrot into his mouth, top and all, and ground his teeth on it like he had a grudge against it before swallowing.

Lykou could see through the obvious lie, but wasn’t sure how to address it, afraid of making matters worse. “…um. Did… did I cross another-”

“SHUT,” Kuna snapped again, but then visibly tried to stop himself, clutching his head in his hands as he took a few long, slow, shuddering breaths, gradually calming himself down. There was a very uncomfortable silence for several minutes. Finally, he lifted his head again, though he avoided looking Lykou in the eye. His own eyes were slightly reddish and there were hints of tears in the corners. “The… ‘horns’ are bad topic, okay?”

“Oh… oh shit, I’m sorry,” Lykou apologized. “I-”

“No, just… stop apologizing. You didn’t know, I get it,” Kuna grumbled, then took a few more breaths. “I’m sorry I brought up the ‘chaser’ thing. Just give me a minute.”

They both continued their little lunch break in silence. Lykou kept throwing worried glances over at the sereva, wishing he knew how to help him. But Kuna just avoided his eyes, seemingly buried in his own, mysterious, and clearly unpleasant thoughts.

Eventually, Kuna stood up, a bit calmer, but still obviously in a foul mood. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

Lykou got up and joined him, the two walking on in silence for a long while. Sticking to their chosen direction meant the ground slowly started up an incline. Gradually, the sereva’s mood seem to at least balance back out a bit, his expression shifting to a more neutral one. He made a small grunt of annoyance when Lykou’s arm stopped him as he was in mid-thought, but whatever snappy remark he was about to make died in his throat when he looked up to the side and saw what the canid was pointing at.

There was a sharp drop off into a massive gorge a few yards to their right, and there were some huge waterfalls on the other side. The whole valley was a mix of rapids and little islands between them. But more noticeably, there were a bunch more of those tortoises. Only these ones were much, much bigger. Tree-trampling big, in some cases. And their shells were all in different colors. Some red, some purple, some green, a few blue ones. Two of the biggest ones were standing on a charred island, with felled trees laying in scorch patches around their feet, several of them on fire. The two were ramming into each other and blasting out massive plumes of fire from their mouths.

Lykou and Kuna walked a little closer to the edge, watching in sheer fascination at the scene. For all the violence, neither creature seemed to be sustaining much in the way of injuries- to their fleshy parts, anyway. Scorch marks blemished their skin here and there, but it didn’t seem to bother them, and there was no blood. But periodically, their backs would scrape as they tried to push one another off the island, showering the area in huge, colorful sparks as fragments of their shiny, crystal-like shells snapped and broke in a cacophony of sound that echoed through the gorge.

“Those things are… massive…” Lykou commented quietly. “I’ve never seen something so big!”

“I guess that one we saw earlier was a little baby,” Kuna said, as he watched a shower of sparkling fragments burst up from between the two. One was a blue-shell, and the other was red, like the one they saw before.

Finally, one tortoise moved with surprising speed, swinging his head around at the other’s leg like some kind of blunt weapon, causing the other to cry out as a massive crunching sound reverberated through the gorge. That seemed to mark the end of the battle, as the injured one limped off, bellowing, seemingly more in annoyance than actual pain, with the victor blasting its shimmering back with bursts of fire that would burn down a village. The victor then raised its head up and let out a loud, low cry that caused birds to scatter all over the edges of the gorge.

Kuna was the first to walk away from the edge, rubbing his arm a bit. Lykou soon followed, looking excited, like a kid who just saw something their parents wouldn’t appreciate them seeing. “Wow, that was amazing! Did you SEE those sparks? All that fire? That’s DEFINITELY one for spark night…”

“It… was something, alright,” Kuna said. He sighed and gave Lykou a dubious look. “Do I dare ask what ‘spark night’ is?”

“Oh! Right. It’s this big celebration thing my tribe has every year, celebrating the founding of the village,” he explained. “And… sometimes other special events. But it’s the best. People tell all kinds of great stories, there’s music, and best of all, a HUGE bonfire- with chunks of sunstone in it! It makes the fire spark and take on this really neat greenish glow… oh man, I’m going to have so much to tell this year!”

Kuna watched the canid’s excitement with an unreadable expression, then sighed and turned back to face the way they were walking, trying to push some dark thoughts back out again. “Sounds great,” he said flatly. “Hopefully we don’t come across anything as big as those things up close, though.”

Lykou’s excitement tapered at that comment. He was silent for a moment, as the reality set in. “…damn. Hadn’t thought of that. I’m glad they were down there and we were up here. We’ll have to keep an eye out, though.”

“Ha,” Kuna laughed, with a sardonic smirk. “I doubt something that big can sneak up on us. So at least we’ll see our death coming from a good way off.”

Lykou sighed in mild exasperation, then returned the smirk. “You’re a real ray of sunshine, you know that?”

“Always looking at the bright side, me,” Kuna quipped back without turning his head.

They continued walking as the sun crawled down the sky, the incline gradually tapering off. The gorge to their right seemed to stretch on for miles. After a while, they came across a large stream, where Kuna knelt down to get a drink.

Lykou rolled his eyes and topped off his waterskin at the same time. Fortunately, it was still mostly full, so it didn’t take long. Still, Kuna was extra thirsty, so he was still kneeling down when Lykou went to sit on a stump a few yards away, waiting for him. Neither of them saw the creature approach at first. But when Lykou turned back to check on Kuna, he suddenly bolted up. “KUNA, LOOK OUT!”

Kuna looked up, just in time to see Lykou run up to him, raising his spear. Before Kuna could process this, he suddenly felt something ram him from behind and send him flying over backwards. Luckily, whatever it was seemed to have overestimated his weight, and he landed well behind it- after first feeling a number of sharp little jabs in his back. When he finally got to his feet and steadied himself, he saw Lykou grappling with some kind of monstrous creature with a chitinous body covered in sharp spines, and a large curved horn on its face. His spear at first looked like it was shoved down the creature’s throat- but then Kuna realized the beast had two large pincers that were gripping the end of the spear, the point just inches from its mouth. Kuna let out a somewhat girlish shriek as he scrambled up against the tree behind him, eyes wide with terror.

Lykou showed no signs of fear at that point, though. When his spear broke, he jumped back and quickly unsheathed his knife in a lightning-quick flash of movement. If anything, there was a fire in his eyes as he danced around the beast, making his way over to Kuna, as it snapped its two menacing-looking claws at him. When a claw got too close, he swiftly jammed the blade into the joint connecting the claw to the rest of the arm, causing it to let out an angry screech and try retract its claw, a greenish-red blood oozing out of the wound. Lykou didn’t give it a chance, though, twisting the knife before fiercely stomping down on its claw, causing it to be severed from the rest of the arm. The creature backed away a bit, holding its other claw in front of it like a shield.

Lykou took that moment to reach out for Kuna, never taking his eyes off the creature. “Kuna, give me your hand and follow me. Quickly.”

Terrified out of his wits, Kuna cooperated, shakily doing as he was told. Together they moved around and backed up. Suddenly Kuna realized they were right on the edge of the gorge as he heard the sound of a rock falling behind him. He looked back and yelped. “Lykou! The-”

“I know,” Lykou responded, moving them both closer to a nearby tree. “Get ready and hold on to me. Tightly.”

The creature was staring them down again, wavering around and letting out a hissing sound. The wound only seemed to have made it much angrier. And then, Lykou began… taunting it. “Well come on, you ugly shit. Come and get us.” He kicked some dirt at the creature. That seemed to do the trick, as it suddenly came barreling at them, making a loud hiss and raising its remaining pincer menacingly.

The next moments were a total blur for Kuna. One moment, he saw the creature speeding towards them, the next, he was swinging around through the air, clinging to Lykou. In actuality, Lykou had severed a thick vine on the tree next to them, grabbed it, then swung out over the gorge in a circular loop around to the other side of the tree with Kuna clinging to him. The beast had built up too much speed and went tumbling over the edge.

It was a close call, however- they almost missed the edge of the cliff as they came around. Lykou strained to pull them up, one foot just gripped the edge. “Kuna… try and climb up.”

Shaking like a leaf, the sereva again did as he was told, nervously reaching out and gripping a low tree branch as he pulled himself up to safety. Once he was up, he reached out and helped Lykou up as best he could, though it was clear most of the effort came from the konuul pulling himself up by the vine, then the branch. Lykou then dusted himself off and grinned broadly. “Well that was fun.” The grin immediately evaporated, though, seeing Kuna’s face. “Are you alright?”

Luckily, the konuul managed to catch his companion as he fainted, before he could hit the ground.

*****

Kuna gradually came to, realizing he was laying on his front. When he went to try and get up, he felt a gentle, but firm pressure on his back. “Hang on, Kuna. Just lay still for a minute.”

“W… what happened?” the sereva nervously asked. “Did…. Did I finally die?”

Lykou winced at the ‘finally’ part of that sentence, but decided not to address it just yet. “No, you’re fine. That thing’s spines just jabbed you a bit, so I’m making sure the bleeding stopped. Good thing you brought some molna leaves. Luckily it looks like those spines didn’t penetrate much. Although your, er…. poncho is officially blood-blessed now, so to speak.”

Despite literally being flat on the ground, Kuna still sagged somehow.

“Alright, you’re good. You can sit up,” Lykou announced after a few minutes.

As he did so, Kuna found himself unable to meet Lykou’s gaze. “Thank you,” he said weakly, rubbing his arm.

“No problem. Luckily they barely stuck you. I guess being so light-weight has its perks, huh?” Lykou said, smiling at him. His smile faded as he sat down across from the sereva though. “Hey…”

“I’m useless,” Kuna sighed, holding himself and refusing to look up. “You should just go on without me.”

“Abso-fucking-lutely not,” Lykou firmly responded, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Don’t let those thoughts win.”

“It’s true though! You should have just let that thing kill me!” Kuna angrily snapped back, lifting his head to glare at Lykou, his eyes again reddened with tears for the second time that day. “You saved both our asses and all I did was stand there and practically piss myself! Then you had to patch me up, after I do nothing but give you grief! Why the FUCK are you so nice to me when all I do is give you shit??!”

This time, Lykou didn’t back down, matching the sereva’s glare with a steely one of his own. “Because. You. Matter,” he stated levelly, though there was also sudden a intensity in his own voice. His grip on Kuna’s shoulders tightened. An anger that’d slowly been building, but buried deep down, was finally bubbling up. But not in any way the sereva could have seen coming. “You’re a person. You have. Fucking. VALUE.” He paused, taking a slow, slightly shaky breath. “I didn’t expect you to fight that thing. You said yourself you’re not a fighter. I respect that. I don’t hold it against you.”

The response blindsided Kuna, and he struggled to keep the angry front up. But still, he tried. “Y… you’re a fucking idiot, then.” he spat out, tugging at Lykou’s arms. Of course, his strength wasn’t even close to a match for the konuul.

“Probably. But even an idiot can see you’ve got some demons in your head, and you’re letting them win,” Lykou continued, never letting his eyes off Kuna’s. “So I’m coming to help you with that fight, too. Whether you like it or not. You’ve obviously been doing it alone for too long.”

The two sat in tense silence for a minute, their eyes locked, neither wanting to back down. But finally, Kuna’s defenses crumbled and he looked away, still scowling, but with tears openly flowing now. Lykou’s expression softened, as did his grip. “Kuna… I don’t know what terrors from the past are haunting you. I can’t pretend to understand what you’re going through. But you don’t have to deal with it alone, or worse, surrender to it. And it’s time you stopped trying to.”

After looking away and letting the tears flow freely for a few minutes, Kuna reached up and rubbed his eyes, sniffing. “Easy for you to say, mister brave warrior,” he snarked, but there was little energy behind it.

Lykou re-positioned himself to Kuna’s side, wrapping him in a side-armed hug. “I’m not trying to make your spill your guts, Kuna. But it’s time you realize you don’t have to hurt alone anymore. Whatever’s causing it.”

Kuna side-glanced at him, then looked back down in his lap, sniffling as he rubbed his eye again. “Seriously though. Why are… we just fucking met, for crying out loud. Why do you care?” he asked sadly, looking sidelong up at the canid. “Did I suck your dick real good in a past life or something?”

The konuul couldn’t help but smirk a bit and stifle a snicker at that last comment. Always with the little barbs, he thought. “I’d like to think I’m just a nice person. And I promise you, whatever you’ve been through that might tell you otherwise, we’re not that rare,” he said, gently rubbing Kuna’s shoulder. “And anyway, if I’m being honest, when we were in that cave that first night… it’s like something cried out to me. I don’t know if it was spirits or magic, or just that look you get in your eyes, but I think part of you is screaming out against the pain and loneliness in a way I just can’t ignore. As… sappy as that sounds.”

“Hm. Enough sap for ten trees,” Kuna quipped, but gave a little smile nonetheless. “Guess I’m just lucky the spirits are looking out for me for once, then.”

The two sat for a while, as Kuna tried to collect himself, his companion making no effort to hurry him. Then he finally looked around and noticed they weren’t where he last remembered being. They were under a rock outcropping, with their bags set a few feet behind them. The ground immediately around them was relatively level and clear, though the treeline wasn’t far away either.

“…how long was I out?”

“Not too long. As luck had it, I found this perfect spot to set up camp pretty close by.”

“…camp?” Kuna asked questioningly, then glanced back up at the sky. It was early in the evening, but he didn’t think they’d stop until closer to sunset. Then again, it was probably smarter not to, in unfamiliar territory. “Wait, shit. We didn’t think about shelter.”

Lykou looked up at the sky, then shrugged. “Looks like a clear night. We can sleep under the stars. Worst case scenario, the overhang should help a little if it starts to rain.”

Kuna looked around and rubbed his arms. “Isn’t that… don’t you feel kind of, you know… exposed though? Vulnerable?”

“That’s what a fire’s for, remember? Speaking of which, why don’t you set up a pit while I go grab some wood,” Lykou said, getting up and stretching, before sprinting off. “Don’t worry, I’ll be quick.”

Looking around anxiously, Kuna got up and started collecting whatever rocks he could find and bringing them back to a pile near their stuff. “Right. Fire pit. Yeah,” he muttered to himself uncertainly. Upon his first return with an armful of rocks, he finally noticed his poncho laying on the ground by his bag. Sure enough, there were a number of red splotches on one side. It made him shutter as he picked it up. After thinking it over for a minute, he reluctantly flipped it inside out and put it back on, he was better off stained and warm than a bit chilly once the sun was down.

He then wandered around the general area, collecting as many stones as he could. Luckily, the relative lack of grass made it easier; on the other hand, there weren’t a whole lot of them. As he brought back one last armful, he happened across the stick he’d been carrying since that morning and screwed up his face a bit, giving it a light kick. “Fat lot of good you did. Spirits, I’m such a damn coward…”

“Stop saying that stuff, Kuna,” Lykou chided, startling the sereva as he walked back over to their little campsite-in-progress with a sizeable bundle of wood.

Kuna yelped slightly, quickly standing up and rubbing his arm. “That was fast!”

“Told you I would be. Luckily there was a whole dead fallen tree’s worth of wood over there. How’s the pit coming?”

“Uh, s-sorry. Still not ready. Had trouble finding enough big rocks,” Kuna said, scrambling to start setting them out in a rough circle.

Lykou set the wood down, then watched him with a raised eyebrow. “…those are a bit too far apart, Kuna.”

“Oh… right, I knew that! I was just, uh… planning ahead! For more! So you can make a big one, like you apparently like to do!” the sereva said, a fake, uneasy grin plastered across his face.

The canid gave him a dubious stare. “Kuna…?”

“Right, be back quick, I’m going to go find more st- ack!” Lykou grabbed his poncho by the back of the collar as he tried to walk away, stopping him in his tracks. He then smirked and pulled him closer. “You don’t know how to make a fire, do you?”

“Whaaat? Of course I do! Who doesn’t know… how to…” Kuna tried, then ultimately gave up as his face fell again and he looked away. “Oh who am I kidding. I told you I’m useless, Lykou.”

Lykou let out a heavy sigh and pulled him back into a hug- a full one this time. “No. You’re not. Stop saying that shit.”

Kuna deflated. “But-”

“No buts,” Lykou chided, patting his back.

With a heavy sigh, Kuna relented. “If you say so…”

“Relax. I’ll teach you, alright?” Lykou assured him, pulling back. “Everyone should learn sooner or later.”

Together, the two finished setting up the pit, and Lykou guided Kuna through the process of starting a fire. It took a bit longer as a result. When they were done, the first stars were starting to creep into the sky. They each ate dinner as they watched the fire together in a peaceful silence. Eventually, Kuna spoke up. “Thanks again for… well, everything,” he said quietly, rubbing his arm. “I promise I’ll try to be a bit less worthl-”

“Hey. No.” Lykou interrupted, pulling him into another side-armed embrace. For once, if anything, Kuna leaned into it a bit. “None of that.”

“Sorry. I just… head-demons, remember?” he replied with a weak smirk, gesturing to his forehead.

“Mhmm. Tell ’em they can fuck off,” Lykou playfully responded, giving him a gentle squeeze. “Before I come in there and kick their asses.”

Kuna couldn’t help but snicker a bit. “By all means, cut my head open and come right in if you think you can do it. I’ll warn you though, it’s a mess in there.”

“I can handle messy. They’ll be an even bigger one when I’m done with them,” Lykou responded, grinning.

“Spirits, you’re a goofball,” Kuna said with a slight eye-roll and a smirk.

“So I’ve been told,” the canid chuckled. They both sighed and looked up at the darkening sky. After a while, Kuna yawned, prompting Lykou to stretch a bit. “Yeah, it’s been a long day. We should get some rest.”

Kuna agreed, and they cleared off a decent spot on the ground next to their things. It wasn’t much better than the stone cave, but they were both too tired out to care. And in any case, he’d saved their little makeshift ‘pillows’, such as they were. By the time Lykou finished putting an extra branch in the fire, it looked like the sereva was already out cold, wrapped up in his slightly-bloody poncho.

The konuul just smiled as he laid down quietly several feet away, after first pulling out his own blanket. Soon his eyes were closed and he, too, was on the edge of sleep. A short while later, his slumber was gently disturbed by movement nearby. He opened his eyes and was met with a bit of a surprise. Kuna was laying right up against him. The sereva had carefully snuck up under his blanket, minus his poncho, facing away from him. Between his arms, no less. He was a bit surprised, to say the least, and blushed a little. But ultimately he just grinned and closed his eyes again, dozing off contently.