ORIGIN

When Kera awoke, she had decided to go hunting. She had been careful not to disturb Aka, so that she could come back with food for him and they could eat together. It was a good idea, and better yet, Kera had wondered if she could set up a trap, of sorts, for rats.

Catching fish was easy, as long as you didn't fall in the river. Catching rats was harder. They ran and they crawled into small places where Kera couldn't reach. She hated it. She hated rats. She wanted to find a way to beat rats.

The caves were dark. She thought, perhaps, that she could attract rats with faintly-glowing light in the darkness. It'd attract anyone, right? She picked out a nice spot, where she could hide and wait, and touched the ground with her nose, focusing hard.

She wasn't sure if she was doing it right. She must not have been, because she felt a sharp jolt of pain shoot through her body before she heard a resounding cry of KKKEEEERRRRAAAAAA! echo throughout Polaris-- though judging by her surroundings, she was not sure if she was even there anymore. She identified it, quickly, as Aka.

Perhaps something had happened to him? She quickly forgot about the pain rushing through her body in favour of turning and sprinting back towards the river where she had left him. She could hear in the distance the soft rapping of talons on the cave floor.

"Aka?" she called out, slowing to a stop when she saw the faint outline of the owlette, mouth open as she caught her breath. She was not anywhere near the river, now--
but she supposed it didn't matter. How far had she wandered, anyway? "What's wrong? Are you hurt? I was hunting."

Craning her head down to sniff at Aka, she frowned. She did not smell blood, but the cold scent of the river still clung to both of them. "Are you hungry?"

Kera watched, for a moment, and then sat back on her haunches. Aka might not have been hungry, but Kera sure was-- she supposed that it could wait for now, however. "I'm sorry for leaving," she said, itching her shoulder with a hind leg. "I was gonna catch some food for us and come back so you could eat when you wake up. Did you sleep okay?"

The pup, personally, had slept like a baby. Possibly because she wasn't too far off one herself-- but also the exhaustion of being caught in the river's current had worked her limbs to the point of breaking. Though not literally. Even now, however, her limbs ached from the events of.. whenever she had been awake last.

Kera had no concept of time.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat? Else I think I might practice some magic, though I'd like to practice trapping rats, too." She licked her jowls, hind leg dropping again as she looked around.

It was hard to see, in the dark, but she suddenly knew where she was. "Be-- keep your eyes open for a, ahh..." she hesitated. She had not told Aka of the Goose Incident. "A goose. A bad guy. I fought them but they're very mean and hateful."

It was almost embarassing to say, but Kera knew she would be able to protect Aka in the event that Blackberry returned, recovered, for another fight. Kera would not let her lose that time, if it ever came. It would be embarassing to lose in front of a new friend, anyway.

The wolf pup wasn't particularly sure how sensing animal heartbeats would help-- unless they were going to trap some rats, perhaps --but she decided to accept the help anyway with a few nods. "Thank you," she said, pushing herself up. "I have an idea for catching rats, if you want to hear it?"

Kera started pacing off, slow enough for the owlette to keep up, but still relatively quickly back to the dark hunting-spot she had chosen before. She thought-- perhaps --if she had failed so badly before, it might be a good idea to try and sense where mushrooms were growing already. It would make it easier to grow more.

It took some effort-- partially because Kera had no idea what she was doing --but eventually the caves opened up to her. She could sense Aka nearby, living and breathing and healthy, all things considered, and the spot in front of her where she had tried to grow fungus before, though it was completely dead.

The air was strange-- she was somehow aware of the state of the air around her, but she did not question it. She could sense where soil was ripe and healthy, ready to grow an assortment of mushrooms. She paced off towards it, sniffing the ground as the spell faded out.

She felt somewhat disassociative after it, but she continued speaking anyway. "You know how it's dark?" She began. "I think if a cave rat, or a mouse, saw little lights, they'd be attracted to it because it would stick out and they'd be able to see it easy, and they would go and investigate it. So, when they do, we just need to jump on them and we can eat them, right?" She offered a wolfish grin as she sat back on her haunches.

"It might be easier than catching fish, this way. There's no river to fall into," she added, gently clawing at the soft ground below her. "I can grow little light-things here. The ground is good for it. If you can sense heartbeats, you'll be able to see when they come over easier, right? And you'll be able to see if there's any around?"

She licked her nose. "Do you know if there's any rats or mice around here?"

Kera waited patiently for Aka to do what he did best-- which, apparently, is sensing heartbeats --with her tail thumping hollowly on the cave floor. She did not know how it worked, nor did she care to ask, but she found herself swelling with pride as she watched the owl succeed. Presumably succeed. He gave a report, but he could just as easily be lying to make himself look better.

Kera had done it multiple times herself, now.

Regardless, she would trust his word for now, though she had no idea where west or south-west were. It didn't matter. They were near enough for this plan to possibly work. "Okay," she said. "It doesn't always work so it might take a minute."

Incidentally, Kera didn't really know what a minute was, either.

She craned her head down, black nose touching the soil, and she concentrated. There was a faint, pale pink glow that came from her throat where her gem was lodged in a mass of ragged, heavy fur. From where she touched, small mushrooms began to sprout-- black and spotted and glowing blue-green in the darkness.

A little more concentration and a nice cluster of them had sprouted, no taller than five inches. The wolf admired her work for a moment, admired that she had created light and then turned back to Aka. "Now we have to hide," she explained. "It should be easy in the darkness, but we need to make sure we're not spotted so we can ambush them when they come by."

She scrambled up onto a ledge, glancing around, and then craned a leg down towards Aka's general direction, to help him up onto it, too. It overlooked the small cluster, though they wouldn't be entirely hidden unless they huddled right down into the rock-- which Kera fully intended to do as soon as Aka had gotten up alongside her.

After hauling Aka onto the ledge, Kera settled down, listening in silence for sounds of movement. It was boring. Kera hated waiting. It was more tolerable with company, perhaps, but Aka did not speak and Kera didn't want to initiate conversation quite yet.

She shut her eyes instead, and listened for signs of movement.

They either came quicker than she expected, or she had briefly fallen asleep-- Kera couldn't tell. Her eyes snapped open at the sound of scratching and before her eyes could adjust to the pitch-blackness of the caves, Aka was off the ledge and swearing.

It was a good chance to play the hero, at least. Kera launched herself off the ledge, towards where she could see the rat scurrying in the faint light of the mushrooms below. She must have missed, because her paws hit nothing but ground. Including the injured one.

She swore as well now, barking in pain, but she did not hesitate in giving immediate chase to the rat instead, not looking back to see if Aka would follow or not.