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Meeting the Dragon - pg1068


Ahmali trodded in a small circle in the living room and then hopped up on the couch. She flicked her little tail in irritation and glared at Harley. "And you know what?" The little giraffe spotted Jivvin narrowed her eyes even further as she leaned in, almost touching noses with her colourful friend. "There's two of them. Alex and Eelayif. Rana says they're like us only bigger, and that they're my bruthers." She sniffed. "But you know what else? The big one is mean. He stared at me like this." She went back into the narrowed eyes. "And he said all kinds of mean things, I just can't remember. And the other one, Eelayif, he didn't say nuffin. Just stood there like this." She tried to imitate the stale and unbending stance that Elayeth always used as Ranald's house, but she wasn't all that steady on her feet yet, and toppled backwards off the edge of the sofa again.

"Kind of like that." Came the muffled reply from the floor.

Harley listened dutifully to her friend's unfortunate tale, fighting very hard to keep a straight face for the little Vhaid's benefit. She could not restrain a giggle, however, when Amahli toppled off of the couch. Climbing to her feet, she streeeeetched out, tail standing straight on end, then hopped up onto the arm of the soda to peer down at the other girl.

"Molly, Molly, Molly," she chirped knowingly, shaking her head. "When they stare at you, you just haveta bite 'em on the nose. That's what I did to Rhenus, and now he leaves me alone." She did not bother to acknowledge that Rhenus wasn't at all a bully and hadn't been glaring angrily at her. He was still rather terrifying, looming over her like that when she'd only just hatched. The nerve!

"Or tie their tails in a know while they're sleepin'. That'd show 'em!"


Molly pictured the tails of Alexander and Elayeth, two full grown male jivvins, and then tried to imagine tying them into one knot. "I think that would be a very big knot." She nodded her head knowingly before continuing the thought. "And I think they'd kill each other and Rana would be mad... probably at me."

Most of what she'd experienced from Ranald over the last day or so was pure love and excitement in her direction and pure irritation and anger at the other two jivvins in the house. "That might not be so bad though, if Alex wasn't there, then he couldn't be mean right?" that made sense to her. She'd never seen Rhenus, so with her limited experience she imagined him to be big and mean like Alex.

"But know you what else even more?" She hopped up again, grinning up at Harley. "Rana says that tonight she's gonna read me a story before bedtime. I can't wait, cause the other Rana says that's the best part of the day, storytime."

"If they killed each other, they couldn't make angry faces at ya anymore," she helpfully pointed out. The definition of 'killed' still eluded Harley for the most part, but she imagined it would be messy, and probably quite amusing if the tails were tied together in the attempt. "I don't think he'd be mean after he was killed. It might be a good idea." She would have to discuss the idea with Rhenus and Coen. Or tie some tails together herself and see what happened. That was enticing...

She turned on the chair arm to follow Amahli, but scoffed at the very idea of a story. "A story! Coen doesn't tell stories. He says it's better to do them. We go on grand adventures," she countered smugly, coining a phrase common to both Coen and his other bonded.

Molly picked herself out from under a cushion and hopped up onto the sofa, gazing up at her friend on the arm of the chair. "Like how? Like... leave the room and go adventuring.... " She didn't quite understand what adventuring was, but if it excited Harley so then it must be good... and she could use some good.

"Where do you go when you adventure?" She hopped off the sofa and headed over to the doorway, peering out into the hallway cautiously as if there were something waiting there, just to get her... probably Alex, her brain supplied the image of the larger jivvin... but he wasn't in the hall.

"We go all over!" she crowed, emphasizing the awesome-ness of her statement by hopping up onto the sofa back. My, that was high up. Harley grinned down at her friend, hunching in a crouch and stalking along the back of the couch. "This is a big, big house, with lots of rooms, and I still haven't been in all of them! So we go adventuring in those, and find treasure and chase monsters and it is so COOL!"

Hopping down to the couch seat, she sobered somewhat. "I really want to go explore the trees outside, but Coen says that Moo says that that's not allowed. Coen's kind of a weenie. But inside is fun too."

"Wee Nee" she spoke the word absently wondering what it was as she followed Harley with her eyes as the other jivvin tromped all over the sofa. Other rooms. Treasure. Treasure was apparently a good thing, by the look on Harley's face, and chasing monsters was easy enough to figure out...

"I'd like to chase monsters. Do you think any are out there?" Molly didn't wait for her friend to come to her side, but just wandered out into the hall and started looking for an interesting monster, or two. "I'm not seeing anything," she called back.

"There're lots of monsters here," she called back confidently, hopping a bit on the sofa seat. It wasn't as good as the bed, but it wasn't bad either. She bounced a few more times, then bounced on off and trotted after her friend. Boldly stepping past Amahli, she led the way down the hallway, towards the ballroom and the great double-staircase within it. "Most of them live upstairs."

Truth be told, there weren't many 'monsters' left in Moo's home. But there had been at one time, and many of their belongings were still here. Those would make excellent treasures for the little adventurers.

Ahmali didn't even bat an eye as Harley came trotting past her, and took up the second position behind her friend without even a second thought. This house was certainly big, so far she'd seen more rooms and stuff than anything at Rana's house. Rana's house was one big room with a LOT of beds in the ceiling and walls and floor, and one little room that Molly didn't know the purpose of and didn't really care to. As they reached the double staircase, her mouth dropped open in wonder. "That's amazing... Are we going up there?"

"'Course we are." Ever the brave adventurer, Harley led the way straight to the foot of the stairwell. It was truly a magnificent structure; this room was one of the few sections that remained of the original castle. The ceiling, an additional floor higher than the rest of the level, gave the illusion of being of glass construction--which, in fact, it wasn't, instead playing host to the floor of the library. The back wall, however, was constructed of towering glass windows, and it was up these that the wide staircase led, splitting off about halfway up to wind in mirrored paths along the rounded wall. The staircase reached a landing on the balcony of the second floor, but both sets continued upward even further, nearly completing a full circle about the room as they reached the third floor's landing.

After pausing for effect at the foot of the stairs, Harley hopped onto the first step, turning to grin down at Molly. "We're mountain climbers, see, and we have t'get to the hidden cave at the top of the tallest mountain in the world! That's where the treasure'll be. Monsters love hidden caves." She was a certified expert in treasure-guarding-monsters, Harley was.

"Right" Molly agreed, once again without question. She tenatively placed one paw on the first step and stood there for a moment, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

When nothing happened, Molly placed her other foot on the stair and repeated the procedure. Once she had two feet on the bottom stair and could see Harley making her own way up with no hinderances (other than the fact that they were both little jivvins with little legs and awkward balance) Molly was confident enough to start her own climb. One stair after another, she began to get the feeling that she might never reach the top, but that didn't stop her. In fact she didn't even get tired really, though she did start to become slightly out of breath.

Molly was at that stage in life where she didn't know she was tired until it was too llate and she was falling asleep standing up. That had happened once this morning, but she felt she was alright this very moment. "I know what a cave is, I saw one on the way here in the car, it was a hole... in a wall." That was a good description. "A hole in a wall. And that's where the treasure is?" Molly stretched out as the two of them reached the top of the stairs, and she looked around, again with wide eyes.

Stairs were an adventure in and of themselves. By the time they reached the second floor landing, Harley was making a great show of her brave struggle to reach the top of the mountain. She all but lay on the steps, dragging herself upwards one dramatic paw-hold at a time to finally collapse, out of breath, at the top of the first flight of stairs.

However, a beat later, she broke character and hopped to her feet, coiling her tail about herself and nodding smugly at the little Vhaid, not at all tired for the short trip up the stairs. "'Course. S'a pretty good place to hide something, after all, caves. Most people are scared of caves." Nevermind that she had yet to see a real cave. Coen painted a pretty enough picture, and, with the lack of activity on the higher floors of the building, it was easy enough to pretend they were dank and uninhabited. They certainly provided the creepy feeling by themselves.

Stepping over to the next flight, she sprawled out on the landing beneath the first step, propping a foot up on it in preparation of resuming her dramatic climb. "Ready for the really dangerous part?"

She pursed her little lips and stared up the second flight, then turned and surveyed the flight that they'd just climbed. She decided that she wasn't bothered by yet another set, and nodded her head in agreement. "Ready." SHe walked up the stairs beside her friend, not bothering with all the dramatics, taking a few steps and then waiting calmly for Harley to catch up ... not more than a few stairs later she turned and sat down regarding her friend with an expression somthing akin to confusion. "why is this the dangerous part exactly?"

Not at all discouraged by Molly's failure to participate in her little game, Harley continued her arduous climb up the steps. The Vhaid's question, however, caught her off guard, and she abruptly broke off the dramatics, sitting upright and peering back at her friend with no little confusion herself. "Cause....we're almost to the top. S'harder to climb. And the monster's up there," she reminded Molly, as if she hadn't just explained as much thirty seconds earlier.


"ah, yes." Once again she turned her attention back to the top of the stair case and watched Harley's behaviour out of the corner of her vision. "Harder, BECAUSE it's the top. Got it." She leaned over putting her nose on the steps and slapped one paw up onto the step above her nose, then she used all her little strength to pull her face up to that paw, and then repearted the gesture once again with her other front paw. She noted to herself that this was a time consuming way to climb a flight of stairs, but that if this was what was dictated by the cirumstances, then this is how she would climb them. One paw slap at a time, the two of them eventually reached the top of the stairs.

Molly's face had a grin on it, as she shook herself to get rid of the dust she'd picked up. "That was fun. I think I like the dangerous part the best."

Harley nodded sharply in approval as Amahli took up the 'agonizing climb' pose, and very shortly resumed her own, struggling up the mountain alongside her friend. Upon reaching the top, she once more made a great show of collapsing to the ground, rolling onto her side with her legs splayed every which a way.

But! She shouldn't show weakness, as expedition leader--a self appointed title, but she didn't think Molly would mind. Hopping to her feet and abandoning signs of weakness, she nodded her agreement, peering around the dimly lit landing. People rarely bothered with the third floor now that Jack and Isto were out of the house--not that Harley was at all familiar with either of them. "That's why adventures are exciting. But they're only exciting if you remember that they're exciting," she admitted knowingly.

"I thiiiiiink...we should go that way!" She pointed straight ahead with her nose, down an even more dimply lit hallway. The landing, at least, gained light from the glass windows. The hallways had no such luck.

Ahmali nodded again, drinking in every word. "Remember that adventures are exciting, the dangerous parts are the most fun, caves are where the treasure is, and the hardest part is always right at the end." She turned to look down the hall, dark as it was, and thoguht through all the things she'd learned today. "Is this a cave then?" She took a few steps down the hall, before it occured to her that there might be a special way of walking here too, so she turned to watch what Harley did first.

"Of course it is!" If Harley hadn't been having so much fun leading the expedition, she might have begun to think that Molly was a weenie too. Poor little soul, so inexperienced in the ways of grand adventures. It was really quite tragic. But Harley had the pleasure of teaching her all about treasure seeking and monster hunting, and, with such an eager pupil, it was hard to be upset by Molly's lack of understanding.

If there was a special way to cave-walking, Harley wasn't familiar with it, Her steps were bouncy as she started down the hall, but faltered a bit as the light grew faint, until eventually her walk was more of a slink as she crept along through the darkness. "Creepy, huh? Hear any monsters?"

Molly joined in the bounding, transitioned seamlessly into a falterly step and needed no bidding to start slinking... the situation dictated it. She listened in the silence, but the darkness seemed to have a silence to it that was louder than anything she could hear... IN fact, all she could hear clearly was nothing.

And the pounding of her little heart in her ears... She wasn't normally skittish or a 'wee nee' but there was something creepy about the dark in a normal house, and she'd already established for herself that this was not a normal house.

Catching her little claw on the corner of a floor runner, she startled and cowered from whatever it was that had 'grabbed her foot'... "Maybe... Maybe we should look for another cave... one with windows." She turned to look at Harley and could only just barely make out the moving outlines of her friend.

"I don't know where there're caves with windows, except back down the mountain..." And, as eerie as the darkness was, she was reluctant to abandon the hunt so quickly. They had reached the top of the mountain! Now they had to find a treasure and a monster, so she could tell Coen and Rhenus all about it later, and they could be really jealous. She kept moving down the hallway, sticking close to Molly, but holding her slight lead. Moving was better than sitting. When you sat in the dark, shadows started moving, and you couldn't really fight those monsters. But when you moved, the shadows moved anyway. Those weren't monsters, they were just shadows.

The hallway reached a turn, and Harley frowned up at the wall that had materialized before them. After a beat, however, she glanced sideways and realized the hall was actually lighting that way. Far down towards the end, light was pouring out through an open doorway. She grinned triumphantly and, picking up the pace, trotted down towards the door. "That's where the treasure'll be!"

Nevermind that it wasn't dark and gloomy. Harley was done with dark and gloomy.

Molly took a beat to realize that there was a wall, and a few more beats to register that Harley was leading them in a slightly new direction. She followed without pause, eager to be out of the dark, with the promise of a lit room at the end of the new direction. She didn't even care that there was now more darkness behind them than in front of them, which if she'd thought about it really would have bothered her.

"I hope we find lots of good treasure, I really do!" She lost a little bit of her slink as she thought of all the things that could be classified as 'treasure'... the possibilities were endless! "What is that place in front of us, Harley? Is it another cave? Or..." She suddenly realized that she was at a loss for proper adventuring terms ... "Or something not a cave?"

"It's a treasure room," she explained patiently as she hurried towards the light. "They're at the end of caves, but they're usually prettier than the rest of the cave. Because they're not dark and have cool stuff in them. But sometimes monsters and dragons." Feet away from the room, she paused, coming to a sudden realization. Hunching down, she whispered towards Molly. "If it's a dragon....that light might be fire! We have to be really sneaky quiet so it doesn't eat us up!"

Molly nodded once again and hunkered down next to Harley. She tried to be as quiet as possible, but the sheer act of trying meant that she was going to thud every other step and creak every other floorboard. And since she was all hunkered down close to the floor, her claws scraped at the floor as each time she picked up a paw and clicked each time she placed one back on the floor. It made her grimmace with each movement all the way up to the door.

"you first.. you know more about dragons... " She didn't rellish the thought of coming face to face with a giant fire breathing creature, should that be the case of this particular door. She didn't really want Harley to get fired on either, but she also gave the other jivivn more credit when it came to amounts of collected adventurer knowledge.

She paused once more just outside of the pool of light streaming from the open doorway. Harley settled her feet beneath her, just on the edge of the light, the slowly leaned forward, craning her neck to peek into the doorway. It...really was a treasure room! The room was well-lit and welcoming, with rows and rows of colorful books and other artifacts, interspersed with big, thick armchairs for whoever happened upon it. There wasn't a dragon in sight.

Grinning fit to burst, Harley hopped to her feet and boldly strolled through the doorway, tail held high in the air for the pride of successfully conquering the mountain. "C'mon, Molly, there's no dragon! We did it!"

Molly jumped to her feet and bounded in one tail chasing circle in the hallway, then tore into the room with a wild streak aptly apropriate to adventurers who've just found thier treasure. She skidded to a halt in the middle of the room, bending up a corner of the rug in her haste to stop. Her jaw dropped open as she took in the proper sights around her... "It really is a treasure room..." Two steps forward took her right next to Harley and she turned to her friend with a great big ear to ear grin. "We're rich!" Then she took off at top speed into a full out circle of the floor of the room, and then she tore up into a chair and leapt off the arm onto another chair. She began a chant, "We're rich! We're rich! Harley and I are rich!" Continuing to race around the room at top speed.

Perhaps it was the needed release of all the adrenaline she'd built up on the adventure over here. It was so hard to stay still for so long after all.

Laughing, she bounded after Molly, but quickly diverted to leap up onto one of the big cushy armchairs. From there she hopped to the arm, then to the back, standing proudly atop the chair to survey the 'treasure room'. "I claim this treasure in the name of....us!"

"Now, now," came a quiet voice, which startled Harley so much that she plopped forward onto the chair seat. A quick glance around identified the speaker: a pale bluish Jivvin, she thought. That couldn't be bad. Rhenus had told her there were lots of Jivvins around the House. At her startled expression, the stranger chuckled, stepping forward with a motion that was more a glide than a pace. "I do believe this...treasure was mine first."

Molly's circular romp came to an end as she lost control of a leap, and landed in the same chair as Harley, possibly knocking the other jivvin to the side, she couldn't be sure. She was more focused on the voice addressing them both. Once she saw where it was coming from part of her relaxed. It was just another Alexander and Eelayif... but part of her also wanted to leave, and leave now, because this one looked different somehow. She turned to Harley and whispered... "It's a dragon jivvin... look at it's hair... and it's tail... And it wants the treasure..." She glanced around the room and tried to see if there were any other dragon jivvins in here, but she couldn't see any. "It's already got the treasure...." She leaned closer to the rainbow jivvin. "Ask him if he breathes fire."

Harley was absolutely struck dumb by the knowledge that Molly was....absolutely right. It was a dragon Jivvin! A real dragon! She could hardly wait to tell Coen and Rhenus about her brave adventure! Already she was picturing herself triumphantly defeating the dragon Jivvin and running away with his treasures, though, she wasn't entirely sure where she would put all of them. She puzzled over this for a moment before Molly's whisper caught her attention, then nodded slightly and puffed herself up, frowning over at the dragon Jivvin. "We found it fair and square! ....Doyoubreathfire?"

Utterly unconcerned by the little pair, the 'dragon Jivvin' sank down on his haunches several feet away, curling his scythe-like tail about to tap the blade against the claws of a back paw. It made no sound. Indeed, it was quite transparent, and the faint claws clearly visible behind it and, beneath them, the untouched floor. Everything about this creature seemed half there--including his voice, breathy and quiet, but with a still-audible, thick accent. "I have not in a very, very long time. I am a good-tempered dragon. I would even be willing to gift you with a piece of treasure, if you would agree to leave me the rest of my possessions....and would perhaps do a favor for me?"

Molly watched the Dragon's tail, since the movement seemed to catch her eye, and she didn't cower when she discovered that she could see through his tail... sort of. She watched in silence as the blade tapped the floor but made no sound, and counted his claws through the blade. Looking down at her own little feet she counted her front claws and found them to be the same number, and somehow this made her feel a little braver all the same...

She also had a ball of bravery next to her in the chair, and that helped more than anything else. As she watched him, he stated that he didn't breathe fire anymore, but that only meant that he did breathe fire at one time and probably could again... he said he was nice... that was something Alex hadn't aluded to, but Alex was no dragon... He said he needed a favour...

And suddenly Amahli's curiousity won over her fear and the little giraffe jivvin found her voice. "What favour?" she asked, cocking her head to one side in confusion.

"I am very old," the dragon explained in his strange, whispery voice, and stood to approach the two once more. "And not so strong as I once was. Nor, I admit, so solid." Pausing before the chair, he whipped down the scythed tail towards the little pair. It passed through them without so much as a breeze, though not without sending even brave Harley cowering into the cushions. He smiled, waiting for the two to recover, and she, realizing she was alive, sheepishly smiled back. Stupid dragon. ...It was a pretty cool trick, though.

"When I was still strong, I placed my prized treasure high on a shelf, to protect it from little thieves. Now, I can no longer bring it down. My favorite story, and I can never read it again... Unless you will help me to get it down?"

As the tail had come crashing down, Amahli had cowered as far back into the cushions as Harley had, and it took her a little longer to regain her composure after the 'attack'... but reagin her composure she did, and her voice and anger rang out with it as she yelled at the dragon.

"THAT was NOT FUNNY!" He had no right to do that, and that proved that he was just as mean as Alex was. Now she was mad. "You scared us! And you did it on PURPOSE!" She turned around and looked Harley over up and down to make sure that her friend was in one whole peice too... and the other jivvin was smiling.

Molly frowned at Harley and gave her best 'dissaproving' look before she turned it on the dragon. "You're mean, and if you wanted your book when you were old and mean then you shouldn't have put it up so high."

The dragon seemed disappointed by Molly's outburst, even offended. But before he could reply, Harley did in his stead, whirling the other Jivvin with an almost feverish excitement. "What?! No way! That was sosososo cool, Molly! He's a dragon, Molly, he's supposed to be mean and scary. And anyway, it was just a joke. I wish I could do that," she praised, turning with wide-eyed back to the dragon.

The scythed-Jivvin smiled pleasantly in thanks to Harley for the kind words, then offered a more apologetic look to Molly. "Perhaps you are right. How can I apologize... Molly, is it?"

As she listened to her friend next to her, she realized that she was in this for the long run, because she wouldn't leave Harley here no matter what. Her face displayed her best frown and her mood sunk to something almost dire.

As the dragon spoke her name, she folded her ears back against her head uneasily and glanced at Harley before answering. "Just don't do its again, it might be a cool trick, but it's not nice to scare me." She turned to Harley. "Are we gonna get his book?"

"Never again," he promised solemnly, bowing his head in a slow nod.

Harley made a big show of considering Molly's question, more as a means of apologizing to her friend than anything. She knew Molly had felt scared. So had she! But that was what was so cool about it! The dragon wasn't actually going to hurt them. He couldn't even touch them. He couldn't even touch his favorite book! That was really sad. "We'll help him after we pick our treasures," she decided, glancing to the dragon as if daring him to disagree.

He merely nodded once more and stepped aside to let them pass. "Whatever you wish, but it will not be yours until I have my book."

Molly hopped out of the chair, not wanting to be left behind, and circled the room close to Harley. She could hardly bring herself to take her eyes off the dragon... sure he made it look like he couldn't touch things, but what if that were all part of a trick to get them close enough so he could eat them... or flame them up or something. She sighed, and walked past him in Harley's wake.

She tried to think of what there was here to claim... mostly books. But books were good... hadn't that other Rana said that reading stories was one of the best things ever? "I think we should claim the best book in here." she whispered to Harley, almost conspiratorily.

Harley positively pranced out of the chair, brightly circling the large room in search of some exquisite piece of treasure. At Molly's suggestion, she wrinkled her nose, frowning sideways at her friend. "His book? I don't think that's really fair.... I think I want that chair that I claimed first. We could make him carry it." Books didn't really appeal to Harley. She couldn't read, not a bit. She would probably end up picking some boring stuffy book and wouldn't know until she gave it to Coen, who would laugh at her.


She looked back over her shoulder at the chair. It did look like a good chair. "How's he gonna carry a chair if he can't even carry a book?" Truth be told, Molly didn't know what to pick, there were so many things here in the room as a whole, and she didn't know the proper usage of half of it all. "lets get it, get the chair and leave."


"We'll come back for the chair," she decided with a nod. "With Rhenus and Coen. They can carry it." Satisfied with her decision, she led the way back to the dragon, calmly making her demands and smiling smugly at Molly when the dragon agreed without complaint.

The demands settled, the dragon led them about the library, towards a tall shelf near the far wall. Tall windows were spaced between the shelves here, and, in the light streaming from them, the dragon seemed even less physical, casting no shadow. The dust motes floating through him showed more presence. Pausing before a shelf, he pointed up with the scythe-tail to a thick, leather-bound yellow volume, old and worn from the centuries. "That one."

Molly stared up into the shelf, blinking at the light streaming down through the window as she did. It was so high up there, and she and Harley were both so short...

She glanced around for a ladder and didn't see one... and the windowsil was too short anway. She glanced at Harley and wondered if the other jivvin was thinking the same thing she was... then she turned and tenatively placed one foot on top of a book in the shelf and stood on her back legs. Wedging her other front foot in on top of a higher book, she managed to pullherself up a little, scarring the bindings of the books on the bottom shelf as she raked her claws against them for better purchase. Using this tecnique, Molly made it up two and a half shelves before a book came loose in her paws and sent her tumbling backwards to the floor. She grunted once as her back came in contact with something, and then groaned as the book landed on top of her. "Harley... we're short."

Harley had come to much the same conclusion after one fruitless attempt to climb. She hadn't even made it as high as Molly before falling. Jivvins weren't made for climbing, especially for climbing book shelves. While Molly continued her climbing attempts, Harley ran off for the nearest chair, trying--and failing--to push it across the floor to the shelf. At the sound of her friend's fall, she quickly returned to her side, frowning in agreement. "...We are short."

It was quickly concluded that such youngsters would be utterly useless in retrieving the book from the shelf. The dragon, masking disappointment, politely suggested that they find someone taller to help--if they wanted their chair, of course.

"We won't let you down!" The little Uuthli wasn't about to wait around, and quickly hurried from the room, calling for Molly to keep up. They would find someone taller, even if it meant sharing the chair. "It's just another adventure!"

The little ones gone, the shade stared mournfully up at his book. Several long minutes later, his lips parted in a toothy smile and, still grinning, he faded from sight in the light and dust motes.

pg 1121


With the majority of the group up for the challenge and the small regard for planning and preparing that came with a young age, the group of youngsters quickly came to a decision: They would leave today, now, and be back even before their bondeds thought them missing. The old tattered map was unfolded and spread across the library floor so all could have a clear view. The area it encompassed was massive, overreaching even the forests surrounding the House and stretching far to the north. But even so various locations of significance were clearly marked, and scribbled notations from the map's previous owner offered helpful advice towards overcoming certain obstacles, such as where to find food, or where there may be Ssan. Of course, the map was centuries old; with the way the forest changed, who knew how much was relevant.

With luck, the major locations would have stayed the same. The House and it's pond were clearly marked in their clearing, so large to the little Jivvins who might have wandered it, but almost insignificant on the map. To the north stretched a large lake and, west of that, something noted only as 'The Village'. Their direction, however, was suggested by a fine scrawl of silvery-blue writing that appeared over the paper even as the watched. A single word, Book, over a location mid-forest that, other than the large red X that had existed there previously, seemed rather less than exceptional. There were other signs to mark their path, scribbled notes on peculiar trees or berry patches, or this stream or that boulder. But there was no explanation of what awaited at the end, just as there was no verifiable knowledge of whether any of the signs would still be there to guide them.

After a long, thorough look that meant very little to the small Uuthli, Harley nodded brightly and struck off for the door. "Well, let's go then!"

This was a lot different than the last adventure she'd been on. The last one had involved breaking rules and finding cookies and this? Well, this one didn't have an Ani lurking around the corner to help if she needed it... There were more of them this time though; more than just she and Calvin... So maybe that would help the odds out a bit.

"Are you sure we should be going out into the forest? Are you sure it's safe?"

Molly just lifted her head proudly and stalked off after Harley. She had taken in the map and actually could remember quite a bit of the pictures, though the words were more scribbly nonsense to the giraffe jivvin's small brain. Anyway, Harley was in charge here, so that's who she followed.

Calvin found herself getting more and more into this whole adventure. She had spent most of her youth jumping off high places hollering statments suitable for pirates and adventurers, but even she had to admit that everything that had happened to her was only a figment of her (rather large) imagination. THIS was real. She'd had a good long look at the map, and had left the actual carrying of said article to Canaan, or whoever so picked it up. That kind of thing was better suited to lesser pirate ranks... she was a captain after all.

With a grin for Rhenus and Harmony, and a smile for the purpose of little Harley, she set her feet to following.

Rhenus did not entirely share Calvin's views on carrying the map, and so he elected to roll it up and carry it himself. He was probably one of the few who could actually read the writing, anyway. "Ith'll bef finb," he assured Harmony around the map carefully held in his teeth. "Juth treeth."

Harley proud led her little group out of the library and down the "mountainside", down three flights of stairs and on out of the front door. However, on the front porch she paused, glancing uncertainly around the clearing. "So...which way's up?"

At Calvin's grin and Rhenus's reassurance she found a bit of her own courage, chest puffing up and tiny wings fluttering as she took off after the group, certainly not wanting to be left behind. She knew though that the forest was more than just trees. Her elder sisters, Ani aside, wouldn't have chastised her so much about it if that was all it really was... Would they?

"Maps don't go by 'up'. They go by directions like... North and East and Southwest and stuff."

Calvin grinned and glanced at the roof of the building looking for a weather vane or something, but she found the building itself to be kind of indistinct. Shrugging she glanced at the sun and made a guess, and then started off up a path...

"Up is North". She wasn't sure she was walking in the right direction, but adventurers who trusted their gut instincts were way cooler than the ones that had compasses anyway. She made a mental note to herself, that if she ever turned humanjivvin she'd keep a compass in her pocket. "Did it say on the map that we were going up?"

Molly, walking calmly behind Calvin and beside Harley, chimed in "Up and to the side a little."

"Up and to the side a little," Harley agreed cheerfully, not at all abashed at having Calvin take her lead. However, she was with up there with the older Olplyn once she decided upon a direction, strutting along at her side and making a bee-line for the forest. She knew that's where they were going, at least. "Watch out for scribbley lines and big red X's."

Her brow furrowed slightly as she listened to the smaller Jivviness following alongside Calvin. She wasn't completely sure how maps worked but she doubted there would be any sort of lines or x's for them to run into. Instead of running to catch up she lingered back with Rhenus. While Calvin and Harley were the ringleaders of their little band, Rhenus had the map... And if they got lost at all he might have a better chance of knowing where they were going.

What was this?! There was no one to be seen in the Center! Not even so much as a dust bunny! Princeton sat sulking on the porch, his ears back and a feeling of dejection washing over him. He was all alone, and since his bonded had dropped him off on the way to school, he was going to have to be for a while. Sighing softly to himself, the Afya looked up the nearby. Hey! He could go exploring!

About halfway toward the house, he saw the group heading into the forest. Welling up with excitement, the Afya charged toward them, unwilling to be shooed. "Guys! Wait up!" Fitting into the group assumptuously, he asked anyone who would answer him. "Whats going on?"

It was Calvin who answered the incomming Drada. She recognized him right away as being one of the Usts she'd met when she herself was small. "Heya Princeton! We're off on an adventure to find a book for the Dragon that lives in the library." and then without even a pause in her step she grinned at Harley beside her. She had imense respect for the sheer pluck of the smaller jivvin.

Molly, on he other hand, had fallen behind slightly, letting Calvin and Harley take the lead. She glanced at Rhenus and frowned at the map in his teeth. "I don't see any lines on the ground." It wasn't that she doubted her companions, because she couldn't offer any other suggestions for the trip, but she had decided that she did want to be well informed.

"Dere ahn't realleh linds," Rhenus explained patiently around the map. Perhaps carrying it himself wasn't the best idea. He passed it off to Canaan while he explained--the Olplyn had mentioned wanting to carry it in the first place anyway. "The map mentions scenery that'll show us where to go, and where we are. Trees and rocks and stuff. No red lines. Harley's just a goof."

Harley either hadn't heard him or didn't care, for she was still prancing along at Calvin's side. The arrival of the new Afya distracted her briefly, but she greeted him with a wave of her tail before trotting on forward and in past the tree line. Into the forest! This would be quite the adventure indeed! "Bet we'll see all sorts of things, huh Calvin? Monsters and pirates and...birds! And maybe another dragon!"

Living in a house filled with dragons (one and her twins counted as close enough to 'filled with' in her book) she wasn't as worried about finding dragons in the woods as she was finding whatever it was that spooked Maeve; the Jivvin she thought knew no fear. She kept her eyes out either way, glancing around as she listened in on the various conversations, eventually keeping her wings folded closer to her body so as to not let the tiny appendages snag on anything.

"Calvin! Wait, dragons? I thought you were into pirates?" A dragon... Ok! He didn't know much, but he didn't want to be a bother either with questioning. He turned slightly to the rest of the group as he trotted along. "I'm Princeton! Really, I'm delighted to see you about. I was beginning to think I was on my lonesome. I get to help, right?"

Calvin rolled her eyes and shot a sly smile at Princeton, then she winked down at Harley. "I'm not into pirates... I AM a pirate. And sure there will be birds and monsters... I hear that there's giant snakes out here that can eat you whole." She nodded at that. Her Ssan information had come directly from her older brothers... so of course it wasn't great. "And you know, as fond as I am of dragons... one a day is my fill, really."

As usually, Molly listened intently and watched the others as they talked and bonded. It was educational to say the least. And as Rhenus explained about the 'lines' and that there would be things along the way that they saw which would tell them that they were going the right direction, she pictured the map in her mind. She remembered the lines and pictures printed on the surface and recalled that the first funny picture on the map looked like a rock with a bunch of squiggles all around it. She was about to say somthing about a squiggly rock, but it suddenly occured to her that the squiggles could be writing... and she couldn't read yet.

"So we're looking for a squiggly rock or a funny tree or something?" She had a feeling that if she knew exactly what they looking for, then it would be easier to find. .... that was Molly logic.

"Giant snakes?" Harley's eyes went wide, not with fear, but excitement. Pirates and birds were well enough, but giant snakes? Easily the coolest thing ever. She would have to make a point of looking for them. "Giants snakes would be even better than dragons. I wonder where they live."

"Squiggley rock sounds about right," Rhenus admitted, thinking about to the map and the first landmark. "But I don't think it's actually squiggled, I think it's carved, if I remember right. Carvings of those snakes that Harley and Calvin are talking about," he added, nodding up towards the pair. "And it'll be really big. Don't worry, though." The Afya smiled. "I bet those're the only snakes we'll actually see."

"Oh. Good choice- no whales here to swallow you up." Princeton noted in return, grinning a little. At the talk of snakes, however, he frowned a bit.

"Well I hope we don't come upon any. Because if they don't eat them, the poison might!" He didn't think overgrown garter snakes was a possibility. A carved stone... The male began to sweep his head side to side as if panning a radar. His tail twitched, curled in a loop, unwound again. Eager. Even if it didn't sound like the most 'wholesome' activity, it was better than being by himself. And he'd never met a dragon before.

"At least we're all together... If anything happens." She nodded slowly as she glanced up at Rhenus, offering a smile at both he and Molly. Traveling in groups was a good thing... That had to be why she'd always been told not to wander off by herself. At least she was with friends this time. "What are we supposed to do once we find the squiggly rocks?"

Canaan had been able to read the map quite easily, but he also read a lot, and was older than most of the group. Now though, he was content to hold the map, lost in his own thoughts. There were a lot of Jivvins in the group now... One had to wonder if the dragon really had gems for them all. In fact, one had to wonder if the dragon was really going to pay them at all.

If Canaan was him, he wouldn't pay the hoard of baby jivvins. A slight frown around the map and he rolled his shoulders, hurrying up a bit to trot along at Calvin's side. Well, it'd be an adventure nonetheless.

Calvin smiled at Canaan as he caught up to the front of the troupe. He had the map, and that was fine by her. "Snakes are..." She thought for a second. "Snakes are dangerous if you don't know what you're doing." Of course, at this point, she neglected to mention that she was one of those jivvins that had no clue what she was doing when it came to snakes. "We just need to avoid them. There's no way they can get all of us at once, but we should try and not sacrifice one to save the whole." Nod.

Molly frowned. So it was a squiggly rock they were looking for, and it was big... apparently. She began to train her eyes on the surroundings, keeping an eye out for any big squiggly rocks. The question of what they would do when the saw the rock was a good one, but she was a little creeped out by the snakes being mentioned at the front of the troupe and was trying to keep close to Rhenus without getting stepped on.

"I know exactly what I'm doing around snakes," Harley lied brightly, picking up her pace to trot before her friends, and spinning around to walk backwards so she could address the older Drada while doing so. Nevermind that she ran into one branch and tripped over another; she could see everyone better this way. "I'll protect you. I can fight 'em all!"

Rhenus might have been tall, and confident, and perhaps a little brave--but he was also an Afya, and most of that confidence depended on his knowledge that this was actually a safe situation. Despite seeing the dragon, he was fairly sure there was no threat to this adventure. He had been in the forest between the House and the Center tons of times with Coen. Surely this area wouldn't be so different. "We'll be fine," he assured Harmony once more, nodding. "Back before dinner time, I bet. It can't be too, too far."

"I know a lot about dragons... But not much about snakes other than the dragon I live with doesn't like them much. They like to live in her garden though..." She murmured, glancing down for a moment before letting her gaze drift ahead of her. She then looked back at Rhenus. "One of my sisters said that the forest is always changing... Have you heard anything about that before? It might effect our travel time a little bit."

Princeton had to smile at Harley's valiant show, in the way that he found it quite endearing of her. While he himself could not say he was exactly scared of snakes, having not seen any outside of the television, he was still wary of the idea. But everyone else seemed so confident, and it rubbed off. Even now he was beginning to feel bigger. "Okay, you're the number one snake slayer if we see any!"

Of course, he wouldn't really let an Ust try such a feat. But this was a time for big talk, and Princeton was the type to play along. He perked an ear toward Rhenus, and sidled closer to his fellow Afya almost shyly. "Is there really a dragon?" He asked as an aside to the other male, as if he thought he'd get a more straight answer that way. "I thought dragons were bad? Are we doing something bad..?" He hushed in leu of the female's question, feeling quite out of the loop for not knowing all of these things.

"You live with a dragon?" Rhenus seemed impressed, and perhaps slightly reassured. If Harmony could be so calm in the face of dragons, they surely had nothing to worry about from this one. "We're not doing anything bad," he assured Princeton with a little laugh. "We're just book hunting. And...I don't know, Harmony. Moo's mentioned something about that before, but she didn't really explain herself... She usually doesn't." He laughed. "I doubt we'll have any trouble finding it."

In point of fact, Rhenus was quite wrong. It was several hours of tramping through the trees, with the sun moving steadily across the sky to glare down at them between the branches, before there was any hint of rocks to the ground, and a good twenty minutes more across rocky, crumbling terrain before there was any sight of a large structure. Even then, then rock more found them, appearing suddenly ahead as the rounded a grove of trees in the form of a massive, open-mouthed Ssan. The single Ssan was surrounded by several others, the mass twined and bristling and carved of sheer, smooth stone, weather worn from the centuries it had stood among the trees.

Harley nearly walked down the stone Ssan's throat before she noticed it; her cheer was more of a strangled shriek, and she promptly darted back behind Calvin to hide.

Calvin stopped short and stared at the rock in front of them with her mouth hanging open a little. The rock in front of them was shaped like a giant Ssan... and it was awesome. She twirled her tail protectively over Harley more for Harley's comfort than to actually protect the Ust and turned to Canaan. "That is awesome." Then she looked back at Rhenus and Princeton with a grin. "I wish I had a camera... I'd take pictures of me laying in it's mouth looking like I was getting eaten." the thought obviously appealed to her.

Molly stepped out from between Princeton and Rhenus and approached the rock cautiously. "That does not look like a squiggly rock, that looks like a snake rock." Which come to think of it was a little squiggly. She took a few tenative steps forward and peered into the 'mouth' of the rock, imagining what it would be like to look down the gullet of such a creature. "Are they really this big?"

"Three of them." She nodded slowly. "A big, momma dragon and her two little ones... And a fairy-lady and their kids and three other Jivvin... And the Jivvin who doesn't live with us anymore but visits sometime." She could probably go on about her family for a while and perhaps she did for a while... Up until she was startled by the shriek, stumbling back herself. "Is... Is that... The rock?" She hoped so; hoped that it wasn't alive, or wouldn't come to life, backing up slowly.

"This has to be the rock," Rhenus answered quietly. He had hung back for most of the walk, guarding from behind as it were, but now edged forward to get a good look at the massive sculpture. After a long moment he again nodded, and without taking his eyes from the stone gestured for Canaan to hand over the map. "So, we've found the first landmark... We'll have to see what's next."

While Rhenus perused the map, Harley made up for her earlier fear, scooting forward and running a circle around the large stone. "This is the snakes? They're not so bad. I can handle big rocks."

"Don't go too far," Rhenus shouted after her without looking up. "So, the next thing we want to find is this stream, see." With a claw he pointed out the little trail of blue on the map, crossing the path between them and the big red X. "That'll tell us that we're getting closer."

Canaan briefly dropped the map, his jaw falling open as he stared up at the maw of the stone beast. "Woooaaaah." A bold grin was shot to Calvin, and he nodded eagerly. "Wicked awesome." Spreading the map open to get another good look, his voice was more cheerful than his thoughts had been an hour ago.

It was, after all, getting quite late. "Well, at least now we don't have so much more to go. I bet that the rest of the journey'll go a lot faster, now!"

"I wonder..." She paused for a moment before straightening herself out, standing as tall as she could. "... I wonder if the stream is large enough that you can hear it... Or if you can smell it." She knew the pond out behind her house had a distinct clear smell about it... And the stream feeding it smelled fresh, like springtime. "What direction is it in, Rhenus?"

"Woah." Was all Princeton could really say after the hours of dundering around the woods. He didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned for brave little Harley, but he did frown a little at Calvin, shaking his head while he fought a smile. "You're crazy, Calvin." He murmured, stepping closer.

"What does the map say now?" He wondered. "Do we have to go in... there?" He felt a little weird already walking into a snake's gullet, rock or no.

"That's a good idea, Harmony," Rhenus agreed, nodding enthusiastically as he rolled up the map once more. "We'll probably hear the stream before we see it. Canaan's right, though, it should be easier to find than this rock was. Bigger." Rhenus was a very matter-of-fact sort. Take one step at a time, and do it right. "Let's get going, we don't want to get stuck out here overnight."

She shook her head quickly in agreement. Although she wasn't all that sure that the forest was as scary as she'd been told, she didn't think she wanted to chance it by being stuck out here overnight, even with others. "Let's get going... The sooner we find the stream and that silly book the sooner we can get back to the center."

pg 1156

The night was a long one for the group of youngsters. The forest was by no means warm in early spring, though curling up together for warmth did help. Sounds and shadows already unfamiliar were made even more eerie by what faint moonlight did manage to sneak through the leaves. It was altogether a rather dismal and disheartening evening and, though the rising of the sun did bring some relief, Harley, at least, failed to recover her initial enthusiasm for the trip.

The little Uuthli was hungry and tired and dirty, and while dirty didn't bother her terribly, hungry and tired most certainly did. She sat now at the edge of the swift-moving water, frowning down at her distorted reflection and twitching her tail irritably against the reeds. "That water's gonna be cooooold. I don't wanna swim." Cue huff.

Calvin was fast asleep, pressed up against the jivvin beside her, mouth hanging open, fur askew. She didn't even budge an inch as Molly trodded past her, taking no consideration for the placement of her paws on the older jivvin's tail.

Molly trotted up to Harley and glanced at the water. She also glanced at her reflection and was imeidiately amused by the fact that she looked like she had a great big nose... it was a good start to a day, and put her in a good mood. "I don't wanna get in there either... but," she glanced around, "We might have to?"

Harmony's nose wrinkled at the little huff from the young one, wide awake from having pulled the last round of 'guard duty'. In that time she'd tried to scope out the area a bit more in the early daylight, wondering if anything had changed after hearing enough stories from Ani about the forest doing son on its own whims. "We could still try to wander down the river... See if there's a bridge. As long as no trolls live under it then it might be okay... Or a log even."

Morning was prime time for Canaan sleeping. He generally fell asleep around 3am and slept until 10am or so. This was not his ideal. Unused to others being around him, he awoke quickly, a bit freaked out, and forced himself to appear calm as he reoriented himself on the situation.

Great.

A frown and he got to his paws, glaring about in a half-asleep sort of way. It'd be nice to get this whole thing over with. "Well," A grunt. "Maybe we can find another place to cross. Like a log, or some rocks..."

Rhenus roused to the sound of voices, yawning twice before he was completely awake. He listened absently from where he lay, too freshly awake to be very bothered by the subject, but finally seemed to grasp it's significance and, yawning a final time, climbed to his feet--probably unseating Calvin in the process. Regardless, he proceeded to nudge the sleeping Olplyn with a foot to wake her. "Rise and shine, if we start up early enough, we might be back on this side of the river before it gets dark again. I think you two have the right of it," he decided, abandoning his attempts at waking his friend to join Canaan and Harmony by the water. "I don't know if we'll find a bridge all the way out here...but maybe a tree or some shallower water."

"Anything's gotta be better than trying to make everyone swim right now." She nodded slowly. "And maybe we'll find some breakfast along the way." Her mood seemed to brighten slightly at that as she turned to stroll along the bank.

"Oh, food?" Canaan yawned as they began to walk. "I've still got some, in my pack, if you all want it." He still had some in his belly from far earlier that morning, when he'd shared with Princeton. The two hadn't eaten much, and the others had been asleep when they thought about sharing.

He was content to plod along as he woke up more, his sarcastic comments to a minimum.

Molly took a deep breath and grinned at Harley before trotting off down the waters edge. She silently looked for a spot that might be more shallow or even look like it had a tree just under the water... but she was quickly distracted by her own thirst, so she padded on down to the water's edge and dipped her muzzle into the chilly water, sucking it into her mouth with a grin. "Mrshhisshh Cooooolllld!" She bubbled her words with a grin.

Calvin, on the other hand, was not a morning person. She rolled over with a moan and something akin to a curse for Rhenus having left her right side cold, and then she stretched and stumbeld to her feet. "What? what are we doing?" she wasn't completely awake yet...

"Breakfast," Harley echoed, brightening up slightly with the prospect. The little Uuthli hopped to her feet and, without further ado, marched off down the bank. "To breakfast!"

Rhenus, on the other hand, took a bit longer to wake up the rest of the group--including several more increasingly more insistent shoves for Calvin--before hurrying after the colorful Uuthli. "Right, so everyone watch for ways to get across. Logs, rocks, shallow water... Whatever looks promising."

She was very glad for the offer of food that Canaan had provided for them all, wondering if breakfast would be enough to see them through the rest of this adventure... Or if maybe, somewhere at the end, there'd be a great feast just waiting for them. -That- would be wonderful.

She pondered on that happy thought as she trotted back to join the others. "Breakfast first... Then the search begins again!"

Calvin grumbled something about it being too early, and then took a few steps before she sat down again. "When you find it come and get me." Though she didn't lay back down... instead she listed to one side and blinked sleepily at the other jivvins in the party. As she watched them, she realized that she was annoyed by their varrying forms of 'awakeness' ... Harley's single minded energy... Rhenus' intelligence in forming a plan... Caanan's being prepared in general... Harmony's common sense.... She snuffed and glared at the forest. Why the heck was it so cold?

Molly, already having a wet face, began to plunge her muzzle into the water here and there, looking for rocks or trees. She didn't really need to, but the cool refreshing water felt good to her, even if it was a little cold for faces... it made her feel awake. Though once, everyone started mentioning food, she trotted over to Harmony and began to walk along behind the older jivvin. "I'm hungry. We'd better find this 'other side of the river' soon." Not that Harmony had anything to do with the food or the other side of the river... she was just the closest older jivvin to Molly at the time when she needed reassurance from someone older.

"No Calvin, you need to come," Rhenus decided firmly, unusually so for the Afya, and waiting, frowning, until she joined him to continue on his way.

Despite the mild optimism its promise provided, breakfast was not quick or easy in coming for the group. It was still too early in the season for wild fruits or vegetables, and most of the small furry creatures that frequented the woodlands were smart enough to avoid the noisy bunch. Harley wouldn't have known to go after a squirrel even if she had found one, however. She was dreaming of bacon and eggs, and maybe some toast. Pancakes, now that would be good--those were better than toast.

They traveled a fair distance down the bank before an opportunity made itself clear. The little river grew narrower and choppier as they followed it upstream, but shallower, with the occasional water-smoothed boulder looming from the water. Around a bend in the river the found a natural ford, peppered with larger rocks that stood just clear of the heavy current, though the pebbled bottom couldn't have been more than three feet below the water's surface.

Rhenus paused on the shore, eyeing the passage critically, even as Harley made a running leap past him to land firmly on the nearest rock. At his startled expression, the Uuthli grinned, hopping up and down once. "Safe enough, follow the leader!" Turning, she crouched and made a great show of preparing herself before leaping for the next large rock. It was quite a leap--but made without too much difficulty.

Canaan dropped his pack, pawing it open to let the others go through it. As it had earlier, it contained the same basic food items. Organic [Jan only let him eat organic] breads, fruits, veggies and cheeses. No meat, either. Sitting back on his haunches, he idly watched the others for a moment before they seriously started moving.

After Harley's wild jump, Canaan was right behind her. After all, too many jivvins and those rocks might start to shift. He didn't want to be the one to fall into the water.

She eyed the rocks with a slight amount of distrust, wondering if it was really all that easy. Keeping her wings folded against her body she watched for a moment. "I'll bring up the rear... And make sure everyone else makes it okay." She nodded, putting on her best 'brave face', not at all wanting to go last just so she could see how the others hopped from rock to rock without falling in. "Be careful!"

Molly leapt from rock to rock behind Harley with ease... she was awake and spry and having fun.

Calvin glared at Harmony for a moment before padding in front of her to the shore... she made it to the first rock without a problem, and even managed to step to the second since her legs were just that much longer than the littler jivvins... however, still half asleep, as Calvin went to put her front paw on the thrid rock she slipped forward off and she nosedived into the water with a splash that was bound to hit the jivvins near her. For about a second and a half it was just the calm after the plunge, but soon Calvin burst from the water, scrabbling at the nearest rock. "HOLEY CRAP!" Her eyes were wide and she seemed to be completely awake finally. As she scrambled back up onto the rock she flung her tail around, spraying water around her. "That's freaking cold!"

Molly laughed inwardly and secretly was glad that she wasn't wet like that. As she watched Calvin paddle her way to the opposite shore she hopped from rock to rock and joined the other jivvin on the other side with only mildly wet paws. "You look like someone tried to drown you." She said with a grin.

Harley made the other side with only a couple of wobbles and small slips, landing lightly on all fours clean and dry on the river bank. Unlike Molly, however, she made no secret whatsoever about laughing at Calvin, once she realized the older Jivvin wasn't going to drown. "'Course it's cold, stupid, snow hasn't even melted all the way. If you'd followed the leader like you were suppose'da, you wouldn't've had to swim!"

On the other side of the river, Rhenus watched with no little concern until Calvin reached the opposite bank. Reassured, he gave Harmony an approving smile before heading across ahead of her, after the rest of the group. Like (most of) those before him, he made it without too much difficulty, only a wet paw or three, and was more than pleased to land firmly on the opposite bank. "Well, that could have gone worse."

She, on the other hand, took a little bit more time bringing up the rear then she'd thought she would, making sure that all four paws were balanced carefully on one rock before giving her backside a little wriggle to propel her little leap to the next rock. All in all, it had potential to be every bit as amusing to watch her make her way across as it had been for the younger ones to watch Calvin fall into the water.

Once on the other side she stepped closer to Calvin, giving her a nudge with her nose. "You okay, sis?"

Calvin's teeth were chattering, but at least she was awake now... and though her humour was dark and wet, it was still there. She turned to Harmony with a mock pout and advanced on the other with an almost comical movement. Her front paws wide, she shuffled along on her back feet, trying very hard to keep her balance and not fall over into the dirt. "No... I think I need a hug..." And with a grin she lunged her dripping body at Harmony.

Molly allowed herself to laugh once Harley laughed. It was funny.

Canaan made it without incident to the other side, smirking as Calvin fell, but not laughing until she launched herself at Harmony. He, though, moved far enough away that it would take quiet the effort to get him wet as well.

Shrugging off his pack once more, he rolled out the map to take a look. "Where to, now?"

Rhenus quickly scooted out of the way when Calvin went on the attack and, all business, set about exploring the opposite side of the river. It was....quite the same as the previous side of the river, what with its trees and reeds and such. Noticing Canaan with the map, Rhenus stepped over and gave it a long, careful once-over, attempting to make sense of where they were, and where they needed to go.

As far as he could tell....they were almost done. Where they were along the river was more of an estimation, but if they continued to the northeast, they should be at the X before very long! From here on out, however, the map didn't offer any distinguishing markers as to the location. Oh well. He took that to mean that they would know it when they saw it. Rolling up the map with a paw, Rhenus passed it off to Canaan and called back to the group near the water. "Come on, we should be really close now!"

"Nooo! River monster!" She squealed, squirming beneath Calvin for a moment before wriggling away so that she could shake a bit of dampness from herself, casting a quick glance over to the map holders. "C'mon, Cal... Let's see if we can help them read the map any. Maybe the sun'll warm things up a bit too."

The chance to be goofy for a moment had warmed Calvin both in spirit and in body... she was shivering less now that she'd had that little bout of exercise, and with a shake she trotted over to the map where Molly was already sitting behind Rhenus.

Molly looked up at Calvin with a frown. "Now you're wet and covered in mud."

Calvin just grinned down at the little giraffe jivvin. "Mud's warmer than that freezing river water.... and if you keep complaining, I'm gonna give you a hug too."

Tucking the map quickly into his knapsack to keep Calvin from getting it wet or muddy, Canaan flashed her a brief grin before nodding to Rhenus and following after him. "The sooner this is over, the better! Let's move out, troops!"

Apparently, seeing Calvin fall in had put him in a slightly better mood.

Trying to keep with her optimism, determined to find hope somewhere, she followed on, trotting closer to the map keeper again. "Are there any sort of specific landmarks on the map around the X that might make it easier to find? I don't think there's going to be an x on the ground just waiting for us."

Princeton trotted along behind the group, trying to keep his spirits up despite the current events. He was sooooo dirty. No matter how careful he was, he had had to tromp through the mud after his fellows and sleep on the floor and... Well, it wasn't horrible. But he was dreaming of a cold bath when he got home and a brush running through his fur. Harvard would forgive him, he'd bring back a treasure and simply give it to him! From all this talk, there should be plenty to spare.

The Afya was looking around now for anything red on the ground that may hint to a giant "X". The others would know better than him what a map meant, so who was he to question whether or not existed?

"Was there anything else on the map around the X?" He asked aloud, unconsciously dropping back to find Canaan.

"We could probably figure that out, somehow..." She glanced at Canaan for a moment. "I mean... If we could figure out where on the map we were and see how many steps it took to get to another place on the map that we can figure out as being familiar? How many steps do you think it took to get from the river to here?" Besides far too many. She knew that she herself hadn't been counting, not when there were so many other things to take in.

Her brow furrowed as she trotted over to where Rhenus was now peering into the hole that Harley had disappeared into. "Check the map and see if it says anything about a hole. I'm going after her... Can't just let her go in there by herself." Someone had to keep Harley out of trouble... And maybe if she went then someone else would follow and she wouldn't be all alone in a weird hole by herself with an obnoxious little ust who couldn't hold still. Had she been that bad when she was that little?

Pulling her wings tightly down against her sides she shifted to squeeze after Harley. "Harley... Where'd you go?"