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Chapter 2

Chickenwoods

As their rabaroos cook over the fire, Alice looks to Twikaleni who still slumbers in the grass. It's late in the afternoon, but with the gathering clouds, it feels much later.

"Think she's ok? Magic wears her out I know, but she's been sleepin' for a long time now."

"She's fine. Just went a little overboard today is all," Danahlia says, reaching back to pet the little mouse's head gingerly.

"Has she ever collapsed like that before?" Alice asks, unable to shake the worry in her gut for their youngest companion.

"Once I've seen. This was way back before we met. Me and Twinkie were hikin' through a pretty dense bit of woods when we start hearin' these sounds comin' from the trees, like darkly chitterin' squirrels. We're ignorin' it for the most part, figurin' it's just some ferals, but every little while, it comes back, and louder."

"What was it?" Alice asks, turning her rabaroo over the fire.

"Twinkie called 'em chechies when we spotted one. Small, nasty, hairy things that hid around trees and bushes, so we couldn't see 'em clearly. Thing is, every time we heard 'em chitterin' in that dark way of theirs, their numbers grew. More and more gathered just on the edge o' sight, stayin' hidden, but we knew they were there. See, the more that gathered, the more shapes we'd see dartin' between trees, the more twigs we'd hear snapping under their hairy little feet, and the louder they'd chitter."

"What happened?" Alice wonders, now thoroughly enthralled by the tale.

Danahlia smirks toward the little mage, "Twinkie said these chechies were known to be cowardly, so they were gatherin' up their numbers to attack. She seemed pretty sure we'd be safe if we made it outta their territory so we picked up the pace, takin' it to a jog, and then a full run. But those nasty little things kept right on with us, musterin' their strength the whole way. The chitterin' got so loud at one point I could swear there had to be a hundred of 'em out trackin' us."

Danahlia grins, seeing Alice's pointed fox ears angled toward her with undivided interest, and continues, "Runnin' for our lives now, an army of these chechi critters chasin' after us, the chitterin' suddenly stops. Nothin' moves, no twigs break, no leaves rustle, no nothin'. The silence is so strange and heavy that we stop too, wonderin' what was goin' on. Then out of a bush leaps the biggest, ugliest, and hairiest of the bunch, charging in and screamin' some kinda battle cry. All the others join in too, right on his heels, all screamin' at the tops of their lungs."

Alice's eyes widen and Danahlia goes on.

"Just as the leader's nearly on us, Twinkie throws up a hand and hits him with a ball of fire so hot it turns him to ash mid leap, straight dusts 'im right there," she says, her fingers making a bursting motion, "As a few charred bones clatter to the ground, the other hundred or so panic and run off into the trees."

"Wow," Alice exclaims, looking back to her roasting dinner.

"She passed out after that, only other time. But she woke up a little after, hungry as I've ever seen her. Said it had to do with some guy's fat or somethin'."

"Mana fatigue," Twinkaleni mumbles.

"Yeah, that was... Twinkie!" Danahlia cries, turning to the weakly shifting Murin.

Alice crawls over to their smallest companion and both girls stroke her fur gently, "Are you ok?"

Twinkaleni opens her mouth several times, her tongue working as if trying to moisten it and then croaks, "Ugh, is there any water left?"

"Yeah, yeah, here," Danahlia says, lifting the little girl's head into her lap before bringing a waterskin to her lips. The mouse mage drains what's left in the skin and the other two share a relieved smile.

"How do you feel?" Alice asks, stroking one tiny bare hand between her own.

"Oh, tired. Something smells good," the Murin groans, her nose sniffing the air.

"Ha, yeah. Alice caught us some dinner. You hungry?" asks Danahlia, recapping the waterskin.

"Quite," Twinkaleni replies.

Once the mouse mage can sit up on her own, the girls have a meal of browning fruit and meat. It's the most they've had in a little while and they all eat with gusto, Danahlia insisting they eat the fruit already gotten into by the rabaroo. The meat turns out a little stringy but is also tender, warm, and filling. The girls have trouble stopping their feast, but do so at Alice's suggestion and put half of one animal away for later along with a few last handfuls of fruit.

It's dark when the girls settle down around their fire for the night. The trees in the area have been too spindly to risk trying to sleep in so they lie in patches of soft grass, heads on their backpacks, looking up at the blanket of clouds looming over them.

"Probably gonna rain soon," yawns Alice.

"It would be a boon considering we're nearly out of water," says Twinkaleni.

Danahlia yawns too, "As long as it holds off till mornin'."

"We should seek shelter. Who knows how long it might last," Twinkaleni advises.

"Good idea," Alice agrees.

"In the mornin'," Danahlia says sleepily and the girls soon drift off.

Alice finds the wounded Rabaroo shivering on the ground, her flimsy wooden arrow sticking up from its chest. She picks it up and jerks its head and body in opposite directions as she had before to end its suffering. But it doesn't work. Her efforts only cause it more pain. She tries again and again but the poor little beast only screeches in agony as blood begins to run over her hands and forearms.

"It's not working!" she cries in apology, the little animal letting out horrible pained shrieks as she tries again and again, it's legs kicking wildly, "I can't! I'm sorry! I-I can't do it! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

She's jolted from the nightmare by a rumble of thunder.

Alice breathes deeply and rapidly, grateful for the escape, and looks around in the dark of a cloudy early morning to find her companions awakened as well. They lay in silence for a moment, uninterested in getting up at this hour after so eventful a day, but another even louder rumble tells them that things are only getting started. Even so, Alice lies back down and closes her eyes, only to have another rumble pop them back open.

After a few moments, she hears Twinkaleni say what they all know, "We should begin seeking shelter from the coming storm."

"Might as well," Danahlia grumbles.

The girls eat breakfast while they walk, munching on what's left of their fruit.

Tired and frequently yawning, Alice asks Twinkaleni, who walks beside her, "How're you feelin'?"

"Meh, not bad," Danahlia answers before looking back from her lead position, "Oh."

The girls give her a look before Twinkaleni replies, "Better, thank you."

"You had us worried. Does using magic really take so much out of you?" Alice wonders of the little mage.

Twinkaleni nods, "It can, yes. It didn't help that I was already tired, and we really haven't been eating as well as back in the pixie's forest."

The Tokala tilts her head to one side, "I thought you used nature forces for your magic. Why does it wear you out so much?"

"Mmm, well, while a great deal of the energy in my spells does tend to come from my surroundings, the true skill of magic wielders is in how well we channel those energies into a desired effect."

Alice recalls Twinkaleni's first spell from yesterday, "Like when you shot air into the rabaroo hole. I felt the air around us being pushed into it. The wind didn't really come from you, instead you gathered the air that was around us and shoved it in."

"Yes, yes," Twinkaleni smiles, nodding approvingly, "Now you're starting to understand magical theory. Magic is not an act of creation but an act of manipulation, of alteration. Like a sculptor with clay. The clay is a formless mass on its own but with skilled hands an individual can turn it into a pot, a cup, a bowl, or any number of useful things."

Alice grins widely, glad to understand just a little more of Twinkaleni's amazing power. She raises her arms and spreads her fingers to feel the breeze that had been steadily building since the dark clouds above began to gather and then wonders, "But you can make fire when there isn't any around. How do you do that?"

"And what is fire but heat?" Twinkaleni answers, "And heat is all around us, in the summer air, on a sun baked stone, and even on the petals of flowers bathed in day light."

Alice's ears perk up, "You can get fire from flowers?"

"Certainly, though it would take quite a few of them to create an adequate enough flame to match even a candle. Perhaps you noticed the slightest temperature drop when I use my fire spell?" Alice hadn't and shakes her head, so Twinkaleni continues, "Mm, I wouldn't think so. You see, to create a flame hot enough to start a fire requires a tremendous amount of heat, not easily found in nature in any one place. Thus, to amass enough energy to create a flame of significance, I borrow the heat from a wide area and focus it in the smallest place possible. You may recall seeing it as a sort of beam."

"Yeah, yeah," Alice nods, recalling the many times Twinkaleni had used her fire spell to light their camp fires. "Is that what makes it so tiring? Taking in energy from all over? Manafats?"

The mouse mage gives Danahlia a displeased look, correcting Alice, "Mana fatigue. Honestly, Danny, 'some guy's fat'?"

"What? You say a lot o' things, I can't be responsible for rememberin' all of it," the Liguna tosses back.

"And I recall facing no more than three chechies that day, none particularly formidable," Twinkaleni says, still eyeing the larger girl.

"Oh there were more. You just couldn't see 'em runnin' around in the bushes 'cause you're too short." Twinkaleni narrows her eyes at Danahlia who goes on to say, "Anyway, it sounds better the way I tell it."

"Indeed," the mouse mage says shortly.

Alice grins at the exchange and then asks, "What's mana?"

"Oh, yes. Mana is the raw natural energy a mage possesses and is somewhat similar to one's stamina but is exhausted only when using magic. Those touched with magic use their own store of mana to channel and manipulate the energies he or she gathers. The greater or more complex a working, the more mana is consumed," Twinkaleni explains.

Alice picks up on the stamina part and wonders, "It's like getting tired after you run?"

"In a sense yes, that's precisely what it's like. A brisk walk over a short distance uses only a little stamina. But running as fast as you can for as long as you can is a greater effort. Expending mana tires the body similarly to such physical exertions."

"Oh. Do you get it back? Your mana?" the inquisitive fox asks further.

"You do. Very similarly to your stamina, some rest will help restore it, keeping well fed and hydrated help speed things along as well," Twinkaleni smiles. "And you may find this fascinating. The more-" Danahlia makes a disinterested sound with her tongue, but Twinkaleni lets it pass, "The more you use mana, the more you can exert, after proper recovery of course."

"Like muscles. The more you use 'em, the stronger they get and the more you can do," Alice adds, flexing her own arm.

"Yes, exactly!" Twinkaleni bubbles, seeming very pleased to have someone interested in magic to talk to.

The girls wander on for much of the day, Alice and Twinkaleni talking while Danahlia leads them on into the unknown. Learning from Twinkaleni helps Alice forget about the girl's rather uncertain circumstances, until a ground shaking crash of thunder has them all ducking.

"Ticks, that sounded close," exclaims Danahlia.

"At least it's not rainin' yet," says Alice, looking around cautiously and noting she hadn't seen any animals about today.

"A boon and a curse," grumbles Twinkaleni, picking up her waterskin from where she dropped it, dismally watching what little was left inside being swallowed by the parched earth.

"Here," Alice says, offering the last of her own water, her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth. She tries and fails to moisten it, her throat too dry to come up with any saliva. Twinkaleni accepts the water gratefully, taking just a sip but still emptying the skin. She hands it back apologetically, but Alice only smiles as the girls continue on.

Thunder frequently rumbles overhead. This is occasionally accompanied by lightning ripping across the darkened sky, causing Alice to duck, her ears pointing to the ground and tail tucking between her legs. Perhaps because of her great ears or that she is still very young, Twinkaleni seems especially affected by the cracks of thunder and walks with her ears folded against the sides of her head, jumping with each crash. Danahlia, however, stomps on in her ever confident manner, determined to get her companions to safety. By late afternoon though, even Danahlia's pace has slowed, her shoulders sag, and she leans more heavily on her spear.

The Liguna looks back to see her friends have fallen behind and waits for them to catch up before rasping, "Anyone got any more water?"

Before either girl can respond in the negative, a flash of lightning paints the world white and is followed almost instantly by another frightfully powerful crash of thunder. Twinkaleni falls to her knees with a squeak of distress, holding her large ears folded against her head as hard as she can, shivering in fright. Alice crouches beside the Murin, wrapping her in both arms before shaking her head at their reptilian companion.

Danahlia looks up at the menacing clouds angrily and screams, "YOU'VE BEEN RUMBLIN' ALL FLEA BITTEN DAY! EITHER RAIN OR MOVE ON ALREADY!"

She then glares at the sky, daring a response. Startled by the Liguna's outburst, Alice looks up too, only to flinch when a wet drop hits her over one eye. The first few drops are so unexpected that Alice wipes at them, thinking some bugs where landing on her fur. But as more begin to fall, she looks around to see that it was finally raining. A drop hits her on the nose and she crosses her eyes to see it. Danahlia lifts a hand up in disbelief, feeling the light rainfall.

She and Alice share a look with widening grins and Twinkaleni steadily looks upward, "It's raining?"

"It's raining," Alice confirms.

"It's raining! Maybe I can use magic eh, Twinkie?!" Danahlia shouts, opening her mouth wide to catch a few drops.

The others join her, letting the falling water moisten their dried tongues. As they do, the rain strengthens, quickly becoming a downpour. The girls laugh and cheer, no longer minding the thunder, as they spread their arms to let the rain soak their clothes, fur, and skin.

Twinkaleni has Alice take out her little tent and the girls set it up upside so that the fabric catches the lifesaving water in a recess. Danahlia adds the crab shell bowl and the girls dance and laugh in the rain, waiting for them to fill. The moment there is any puddling in their receptacles, they eagerly sip it down, the cool liquid like a balm on prickly throats. After a little while, they can dunk in their empty waterskins, filling them to capacity for the first time since leaving the pixie forest. Their hydration needs finally met, the girls start to bathe.

The last few days were through dry dusty lands. Hiking all that way meant they all had their share of dirt and grime clinging to them. Danahlia strips down first, tossing off her rain soaked cloak then quickly removing her blouse and modified trousers, the original needing a much larger tail slit. The Liguna stands, arms and legs spread without a hint of shame, feeling the water fall all over her before she begins rubbing herself down. Alice watches the lizard girl for a moment, her lips pursed by a tendril of jealousy for Danahlia's rather generous chest and other well developed feminine curves. It wasn't the first time Alice had seen them, but she was always a little envious, her own figure one of modest and slim proportions. Danahlia catches her watching and grins as the fox girl turns away under the guise of rubbing some grime from her forearm while silently reasoning that Danahlia is a few years older than she, so there was still time to grow.

Knowing there was next to no chance of anyone being out here in the middle of nowhere and in this weather, Alice begins stripping down to her fur too. Twinkaleni needs a bit of help getting undressed when her soaked shirt catches around her expansive ears, but soon the girls are free to clean themselves in the heavy rain. It feels wonderfully luxurious to scrub away the dirt and stink of the last days. Danahlia is done quickly, with no fur or hair at all to comb through, and begins placing all their dirty clothes into the pool made by Alice's inverted tent to soak and be washed.

What seemed a wonderful reprieve only a short time ago swiftly becomes a tremendous burden. Now cleaned and well hydrated, the abundance of water now serves to keep them wet and, with the sun setting somewhere behind the clouds, cold. The day waning, the dark clouds and unrelenting rain limits their visibility as they slog along. The relatively new clothes the girls change into are instantly soaked, becoming heavy and uncomfortable. The rain also turns the once dry earth into thick mud, further hampering the girl's efforts as they desperately seek shelter.

Keeping close together, Alice and Danahlia hold the fabric of Alice's tent over their heads, Twinkaleni between them. The waterproof cloth helps keep them from the worst of it, as they wander blindly along. Despite their efforts, the larger girls' legs keep knocking into Twinkaleni as they walk, the little mouse enduring it while trying to keep close enough to stay somewhat sheltered.

Alice is busy watching her footing, trying to match pace with the Murin to keep from stepping on her feet, when Danahlia calls, "Look!"

What might be a path cuts through some of the vegetation and winds through a few trees ahead. It's only barely distinct from the rest of the muddy ground and could very well just be a path made by passing ferals, but it's the only lead they have.

"Think we should follow it?!" Alice shouts, needing to over the roar of rain.

Twinkaleni says nothing, keeping her head down with her arms crossed over her tiny chest while trying to keep her ears folded against the sides of her head with both shoulders.

"Wherever it goes can't be any worse than anywhere else out here!" Danahlia shouts back.

With few other options, the girls get on the small path and hope for the best.

The path, somewhat barer than the ground they had been walking on, is a thick, muddy goop under foot. Eager to see where it leads, Danahlia quickens her pace, her taloned feet having no problem giving her traction. Alice and Twinkaleni try to keep up but with the continuing downpour, the mud quickly becomes a slick hazard. Twinkaleni slips, her short legs unable to keep up with the Liguna's demands and Alice tumbles over her. The Murin mage manages to catch herself with her hands but Alice, trying to keep her weight from falling onto the smaller girl, lands on her side hard. She yips in pain, her right elbow hitting a rock just below the murky water's surface.

"Alice!" Twinkaleni squeaks, crawling over to her.

In the tumble, Alice tore away the tent fabric from Danahlia who is forced to stop and now stands in the rain getting soaked, "Guys, stop playin' in the mud! I see somethin' ahead!"

"I think she's hurt, help her!" Twinakleni shouts.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Alice shouts back, rising to her feet, but the moment she extends her right arm, jagged pain shoots up her elbow. She gasps and has to keep the arm tucked in. Danahlia raises her left arm over her shoulder and holds her close in an effort to help her walk. "I'm fine! Really! I just hit my elbow!" Alice protests but Danahlia sticks by her anyway.

After a few assisted steps, Alice can make out a silhouette in the distance, too short and squat to be a tree. Upon seeing it, she calls, "I see somethin' over there!"

"I think it's a house!" says Danahlia.

Alice volunteers to scout it out.

"You sure?!" Danahlia asks.

Alice nods, "Yeah, you guys stay back here!"

"Danny! Cover yourself, who knows who might live in such a place!" warns Twinkaleni, having wrapped herself in the tent's fabric.

These being Warm Blood lands and Danahlia being of cold blood in a time when her people are considered enemies, the Liguna must be extra careful to keep herself from unfriendly eyes. She dawns her soaking wet cloak, putting up the hood, and wrapping her lengthy tail about her waist and legs while Alice presses on alone toward the small building.

It turns out to be a shack, simply made from wood and in a sad state of disrepair. From the look of it, Alice doesn't think anyone still lived here but that didn't mean nothing did. She draws her enchanted sword, Jellybane, awkwardly from the sheath on her back with her left hand as she approaches a window, a single shutter hanging below it on one valiant hinge. Alice ends up stepping on the other, it having fallen off at some point, as she peers in.

The inside of the shack is dark and looks long abandoned. Alice stabs the mud at her feet with the tip of her enchanted sword before reaching it into the shack. After a moment, the blade begins to glow green. The glow illuminates a few old wooden furnishings and little else.

"Hello!?" she calls loudly. She hears nothing over the rain and Jellybane, having cleansed itself of the mud, returns to its mundane state. Fairly sure it's safe the young Tokala waves her companions over.

The wooden door is warped with age and Danahlia ends up kicking it in frustration, causing the entire thing to fall into the building with a loud bang. The girls rush in, glad to finally have something solid over their heads. Alice dips her sword in mud once more, lighting the cramped, mold smelling dwelling.

It's only one room. A single wooden chair and table take up one corner and what might have been a bed long ago, now a garden of mushrooms and other fungi, takes up another. Alice can make out a dark recess made of stone in the furthest corner.

"A fire place!" she cries gleefully, her wet fur cold and heavy.

Danahlia lifts the wooden door back into its splintering frame and says over her shoulder, "Wags! Let's get it lit!"

There isn't any fire wood around and everything outside is soaking wet, so Danahlia takes the one wooden chair, lifting it back, before calling, "Heads up!"

Seeing what she plans, Twinkaleni and Alice both look away as the Liguna smashes the chair against the stone of the chimney. Pieces fly everywhere and for several minutes Twinkaleni and Danahlia crawl about tossing them into the fireplace. With one good arm, Alice can only hold the glowing sword for them. As they work, the fox girl does manage to find what may have been a table cloth or curtain. She grabs it with her toes and places it near the fireplace. Twinkaleni pushes the broken bits of wood off to the side to better avoid the rain falling into the chimney.

Danahlia places the old but dry bit of cloth near the base of the pile and then asks, "Got any fire left in ya, Twinkie?"

"I believe so. Stand back," the Murin commands. The girls do and with a shout of "Feasta!" the room chills briefly as a fire blossoms.

The thoroughly wet trio remove their dripping garments and backpacks around the fire. Twinkaleni and Alice shake vigorously, shedding the abundant moisture from their fur, their coats fluffing out in the effort. Danahlia adjusts the splintered wood to encourage the fire's growth but a sneeze nearly douses it. She sniffs and begins running her hands over her smooth skin to remove excess water.

The girls pile their belongings in a relatively dry spot, giving them some room to move around. The inside of the shack is fairly dry, with only a few spots leaking from the roof. One leak is in the corner near the door and Alice tries wringing the girl's clothes over the puddle under it, but sharp pains in her right elbow keep her from putting much effort into the task. Twinkaleni takes over for her as Danahlia removes what's left of their remaining Rabaroo from her pack, puts it in the crab shell bowl, and sits it by the fire.

Alice pokes at the mud below the open window to keep Jellybane lit while testing her hurting arm. She then wanders over to the mushrooms growing mostly from the wooden frame of the terribly rotted bed. Her sword casts the strangely shaped fungi in its green light, making many look black.

Danahlia joins her, sneezing again before asking, "(sniff) Think any o' these are edible?"

Alice had limited experience with mushrooms, though she knew some were poisonous. Before she could support herself hunting jellies, Alice had often foraged for things to eat in the fields around her small village as well as at the nearby forest's edge. If the young fox found anything that looked like food, she would race back to Toki with it and ask more experienced foragers if it was safe. If so, she would often give the plants or mushrooms to whoever was offering her bedding for the night to cook into the evening meal. As such, she knew that good mushrooms were wonderful in soups, but as for which ones were good, she knew she still had much to learn.

She spots one that looks familiar. "What about that one?" she asks, pointing to a particularly large formation of fungi growing in shelves on the side of the rotten, wooden frame. They look brown in the green light.

"Oh wags! Those are chickenwoods!" Danahlia cheers.

"Chickenwoods?" Twinkaleni asks, joining them.

"Yeah, because they taste kinda like chicken," says Alice excitedly, recalling the name.

The older girls immediately begin harvesting the fungi though Twinkaleni hesitates, "Are you quite sure these are of an edible variety?"

"Pretty sure," says Danahlia.

Alice adding, "Almost positive."

Twinkaleni sighs.

"How'd you wanna cook 'em?" Danahlia asks, grabbing a handful.

"We have a bowl, how about a soup?" Alice suggests.

In agreement, the girls rip the chickenwood caps and stalks into pieces, placing them in the crab shell bowl along with the Rabaroo. Danahlia then hangs the bowl out the window to collect water. Once it's nearly full, they place the bowl atop the fire to cook.

All terribly hungry and with little else to be done, the girls gather around the small fire and wait for their meal. Danahlia sits in the middle, Twinkaleni and Alice on either side. The Liguna sneezes once more and it's then that Alice sees how much she's shaking. Without even dry clothes to offer, Alice scoots beside the shivering girl and leans into her to share her body heat. Twinkaleni does the same. Their fur is still damp but this close to the fire and huddled together, it doesn't take terribly long to dry. Danahlia puts her arms around both girls and holds them close. Alice can feel the lizard girl's tail tuck around her leg and she drapes her own fluffy tail over it. They all share a smile and Danahlia gives the furry girls a squeeze, she then sighs contentedly before sneezing again.

The rain continues unabated but the interior of the shack warms nicely. The fire crackles and sizzles as drops of rain hit it from the open chimney and slowly the aroma of their cooking meal begins to permeate the air. The girls' stomachs rumble as if talking to each other and when they can wait no more, they remove the bowl from the fire with their still damp clothes. All three blow eagerly on the steaming bowl, the scent only enticing them to further action.

Then Danahlia asks, "Anyone bring a spoon?"

They hadn't, so when the bowl is cool enough the girls take turns sipping from the contents. The water has taken on the flavor of the rabaroo and chickenwoods giving it a decent meaty taste, but what's more is that it's warm and filling. The mushrooms have become delicate with a slight chew to them and give their mouths something to do in between sips. Once the soup is gone, the three pick apart the rabaroo to the bones. Sated and exhausted, the girls lie back on the old wooden floor, huddled together, and fall asleep.