I would have added this chapter earlier, but with all the slowness in FA lately (not anymore, but recently), I decided to wait. So, here it is.

So yes, I am alive.

I hope this cheers ye up, AkuDrache.

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Chapter II: Commune

“He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.”
- Ali, A Hundred Sayings

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
Zephyr’s first thought was that he hadn’t gotten enough sleep, for it had been a rather rough night for him and his friends. His second thought was of the fact that no roosters were known to reside in the Great Forest. Either one had just arrived or some other creature was making this noise.
Zephyr opened his eyes and looked up into the tree where the sound was coming from. “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” the parrot yelled again.
Semele sighed from a mere few feet away. “Well, at least he didn’t say…”
“Lovebirds! Lovebirds! Awk!” the parrot yelled, as if on cue. Before anyone could respond, it flew up into the air, out of sight. “Lovebirds! Lovebirds! Awk! Lovebirds!”
“That guy’s just asking for trouble,” Semele said.
“Makes you wonder if he really knows what he’s saying. Some parrots just learn a couple phrases and repeat them over and over again,” Sunny said.
Aku stood up sleepily, having also just been awakened by the parrot’s remarkable imitation of a rooster. “Ooh…” he muttered, obviously not feeling well.
“Are you feeling any better, Aku?” Semele asked.
Aku nodded. “I guess so. I think I could stand and walk now if I tried, but I still feel sick to my stomach.”
Jack looked around, just noticing something. “Hey, where do you think Vladimir and Henry went?”
The others also looked. Indeed, Henry and Vladimir did not seem to be in the main clearing at all. “Where did they go on such short notice?” Sunny asked.
Then, they heard something in the distance all around them. It sounded footsteps of many kinds and it was coming closer. It seemed as if a great many beings were converging toward the main clearing.
“Large crowd,” Jack commented.
“They must be holding a meeting here,” Semele guessed.
“But what for?” Sunny asked.
“Maybe they’re coming to discuss last night’s battle,” Zephyr guessed.
“Well, makes sense to me,” Sunny said.
They didn’t need to wait long before the first animals arrived. They were coming fairly fast and they were already too numerous to list here.
A rabbit child hopped up to Aku. “Is this the hyena hero?” she asked. Aku blushed under his fur. Was he really a hero now? He hadn’t thought that he had earned such a title. He knew that the people who helped him fight off the snakes and Nile were heroes, but he didn’t realize until now that he had been just as brave as they were.
“Yo, Jack!” a porcupine called out. Jack knew that porcupine. It was the same one with whom he would often play adventurers; it was the one who had unintentionally given him that nasty scratch on his leg; it was Cal. “So, how was your first adventure? I’d have joined you, but my mother didn’t bother to wake me up for the meeting. Go figure.”
“The adventure was pretty scary, but in the end, I think I’m well on my way to becoming a master swordsman,” Jack said.
“Well, I’ll be with you on the next battle. I arranged it with Henry and everything,” Cal said, proudly. While Jack wished to be a more fencing type, Cal dreamed of being a knight. He resolved that he would someday wear the greatest of armaments, charging into battle against all sorts of evil creatures. Of course, the armor would slow him down a bit, but it would still be worth it. Of course, right now, he did not have such grand equipment. What he had right now was a mere stick. Still, he reasoned, every knight must start somewhere.
“So, what’s your talent, then?” Sunny inquired.
“I do pretty darn well with a stick,” Cal said.
“Ah, so you’re in Jack’s department,” Sunny said.
“I heard you were bitten by a snake. That sounds awful. Did it hurt?” the rabbit child asked.
“Yeah,” Aku responded.
“You don’t look very good. Can you stand up?” the child asked.
“I think so. I can try,” Aku said. He laboriously shifted his weight, until he was lying on his stomach rather than his side. That, he supposed, was half of the job. He was already panting.
“Come on, you can do it!” the child cheered on. Aku nodded slightly and went to the second part of the task. Surprisingly, it took less effort to lift his own weight than it had to shift it. He stood up, panting. His legs were shaking slightly under his weight, but it was still an accomplishment that he was proud of.
“Yay! You stood up! Can you do it on your hind legs?” the rabbit child said.
“I think it is best that Aku conserves his strength,” Semele told the rabbit child. Aku breathed a sigh of relief, then laid back down on the ground.
“Hey, you’re Zephyr, right?”
Zephyr looked to the source of the voice and saw a young bluebird. “Yeah, it’s me,” Zephyr said.
“So, I heard you were the hero of the day, eh? You being the great adventurer’s son, I can’t say I’m surprised. After all, I’m sure we all knew you had it in you. ‘Course, most people think it was the necklace or some other hocus pocus, but I really think it was something within you, not some necklace enchantment,” the bluebird said.
A raccoon arrived next in the clearing, carrying a white cloth. “Semele, do come here. I have something to give to you,” she said.
Semele walked over to the raccoon. “Something for me?”
“Something that I do believe you have earned well.” The raccoon held up the scarf. “This scarf is a symbol. It has been passed down through my family for generations, but now I am passing on to you, because you certainly deserve it more than I.” She gave the scarf to Semele. “This is a healer’s scarf. Most of those who have worn it were the type that heals through magic, but if your healing isn’t magical, it’s certainly close enough.”
Semele blushed a bit from embarrassment. “Wow… I didn’t know I was that special. I was just using first aid. It’s not all that special, is it?”
“That’s just it. It is special. Skill like yours is rarer than you know,” the raccoon said, “Anyone can just grab a bandage to bind a wound, but you have much more skill than just that.”
“I never quite thought of it like that,” Semele said, her voice brought near a whisper by embarrassment.
“You think that the necklace just… unlocked something?” Zephyr asked.
“Yep. Probably a Necklace of Courage or some such. Never heard of such a thing before, but it sounds like something someone would make somewhere along the line. Soon enough, though, you’re probably not going to need that thing anymore,” the bluebird answered.
“Maybe… but even so, this necklace is too special for me to ever part with it,” Zephyr said.

“Whew. The crowd’s finally gone,” Semele said.
“I liked the attention,” Sunny said.
“Me too. I’d never thought of myself as a hero before,” Aku said.
“Yeah. The attention was nice, but it’s about the time for some peace and quiet,” Semele said.
Zephyr looked at Semele’s new accessory. “Huh? Where did you get that scarf?”
“Well, I got it from a raccoon. It’s a healer’s scarf,” Semele explained.
“A healer’s scarf. I guess nobody in the forest deserves it more than you do,” Zephyr said. Semele blushed.
“I wonder when the next mission’s gonna be. I’m ready to show off what I’m made of,” Cal said, waving his stick around as if fencing against some invisible foe.
“I hope there isn’t a next mission. Ugh…” Aku said, feeling a bit nauseous again.
“You should get some more rest, Aku. I don’t think anyone else will attack soon,” Semele said.
Aku nodded, laid down his head, and closed his eyes.
“Caw! Caw, I say!” yelled Carrier from the sky.
“Huh? What is it? No trouble, I hope,” Semele said.
“Visitors from the north. Caw! Not carnivores,” Carrier said. Semele breathed a sigh of relief. Carrier continued. “Henry wants you to greet them here. Caw! And find out their motives for coming.”
“What’s so special about these ones? Nobody ever questioned my ma when she came to the forest. Least if they did, she never told me about it,” Sunny said.
“I don’t know either. Caw! But if Henry wants you to, he must have a good reason. Caw! Caw-caw!” With that, Carrier left the main clearing again.
Aku, with effort, stood up on all fours. “I want to come. I want to meet these new friends,” he said.
“Aku, no. You should be resting. You barely have the strength to stand,” Semele said. Aku reluctantly laid back down again. Semele was right. He was not well enough to be walking around yet.
“I think two or three of us should go. If all of us come, they might be suspicious of something,” Zephyr suggested.
“It’s probably best that I stay behind with Aku,” Semele said.
“I’d come, but I’d need to come unarmed. Me and this here slingshot won’t part for even a second,” Sunny said.
“Eh. I should probably be training my technique,” Cal said.
“I guess it’s just you and me, then,” Jack said to Zephyr.
“I shall come, as well,” said a voice behind the group. They turn toward the source of the noise and saw that it was Vladimir. “This is the type of thing that I do quite well,” he said.
“Looks pretty settled to me. Zephyr, Jack, and Vladimir, then,” Sunny said.

And so, the three of them headed northward.
“I wonder what these new visitors are like. And how many there are,” Jack said.
“Wait. I think I see something,” Zephyr said. And indeed he did. It was something green and scaled, with red markings on its face and a spear in its hand. It wore a necklace of sharp teeth. It couldn’t be a carnivore, could it? No, if it were, Carrier would have spread that word to him by now. But what could it be?
Vladimir almost seemed to read his mind. “This is a gecko. They are generally peaceful and tend to live in tribes.”
The gecko then took notice of the three. He bowed. “Hello. My name is Ke’dash of the Kelu Tribe.” The gecko pointed at Zephyr. “And might you, good sir, be Zephyr?”
Zephyr tilted his head a bit. “Yes, it is. But how did you…?”
“Your reputation precedes you. We have heard much about you and your friends. But they are not all here?” Ke’dash said.
“The rest of our friends are in the main clearing,” Zephyr said.
“Then come to our settlement at the northern border of the forest. We shall speak then,” Ke’dash said. With that, he walked off.
“An odd request,” Vladimir said.
“Looks like that whole ‘two or three’ idea doesn’t apply here. Let’s go get the others,” Jack said.

“Back so soon, guys? Well, what happened?” Sunny asked.
“They want to meet all of us,” Zephyr explained.
“Huh? But why?” Semele asked.
“How do they even know there are more of us?” Aku asked, walking up to Zephyr.
“Beats us,” Jack said.
Vladimir looked at Aku. “Ah, I see you are feeling better now.”
Aku nodded. “Yup. That last batch of medicine fixed me right up.”
Semele blushed a bit. “I didn’t know it would work that well, but I’m glad it did. Aku, you may still want to get some extra sleep tonight, just in case. You’re still not fully healed yet.”
“Yeah, I will,” Aku said.
“Should we bring our weapons?” Cal asked.
“I don’t think they will regard sticks as weapons, as long as you do not carry them like armaments,” Vladimir said.
“Good, ‘cause I ain’t partin’ with this here slingshot,” Sunny said, “Not for a second.”

“This is brilliant! Sheer genius, boss!” Flauge praised.
“I must admit, I never knew you could get so many people on our side at once,” Camo said.
“Hush, you two! Our plan can’t go on if you sabotage it by talking so loud!” Nile scolded.

Aku sniffed the air. “I can smell the geckos. There are a lot of them.”
“Then that must mean we’re almost there,” Jack reasoned.
“I wonder what their civilization is like,” Semele thought aloud.
“Tribal, it seems. I recognize the markings on his face as tribal markings,” Vladimir speculated, “Though I could be wrong.”
“You are correct,” said the familiar voice of Ke’dash. Then, out from behind a bush came the familiar gecko of Kelu. “It is a pleasure to meet you all. Aku, you look better than I heard you were.”
Aku smile hesitantly, then shied away behind Sunny. He didn’t know why, but he had a bad feeling about this person.
“Come with me. We are just preparing a feast,” Ke’dash said. As soon as he said that, Aku began to feel significantly better about this person. It had been quite some time, actually, since Aku had eaten. But then he remembered his earlier vow to himself. What would he eat now? What was left to eat other than meat? He had never tried vegetables before and didn’t really know how well that would go over.
“A feast? For us?” Zephyr asked.
“Kinda over the top, don’tcha think?” Sunny commented.
“Oh no, it’s not for you. But we will nonetheless allow you to participate,” Ke’dash said.
Aku still had a bad feeling about this, but he could tell that the others had no such reservations. He wanted to tell the others of this strange feeling, but he didn’t want to ruin the mood, so he decided to keep silent for now. It was probably just his imagination.

Henry had much to think about. These newcomers were a strange sight indeed. Rarely did a large band come such as they did now. Usually, such a band would just be a band of traveling nomads or perhaps even a village of animals fleeing from a disaster.
But the coincidence with yesterday’s events was unnerving. They arrived only about half of a day from the diminishing of the barrier. It was probably just coincidence, but Henry could not rule out the possibility that these strangers were somehow involved.
But how? He hoped that Zephyr and others would be able to find that out, if it turned out that they were indeed involved. Which, once again, they probably were not.

“Here it is, our settlement,” Ke’dash says.
The group of them were awestruck. There were a few structures made of dirt and clay, some of them complete, others still being made. “Those structures are small houses,” Vladimir explained, “Similar to the tree holes we sleep in.”
“You sleep in trees? Interesting,” Ke’dash said, intrigued.
“It’s a forest. Why not?” Sunny points out.
Suddenly, Sunny felt a pinprick on her neck. Then Semele, then Vladimir, then the others of the group except for Zephyr.
“The… heck…?” Sunny muttered. That was all any of them could get out before they fell to the ground asleep.
“This time, you shall all sleep in the belly of Mar’De-Kal,” Ke’dash said with a malevolent smirk.
Zephyr had hardly seen what happened. His friends had been hit by darts shot from the cover of some nearby bushes, tranquilizer darts from the look of it. But why? “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you have invoked the wrath of our god, nonbelievers, and will now face the price of your sin,” Ke’dash said, “Come forth, Mar’De-Kal! As you requested, these beings have been brought to you alive. And Zephyr is awake to watch his friends’ demise one by one!”
“What!?” Zephyr exclaimed. What could he do? There were several geckos around his now, spears drawn and held dangerously close to his neck. He had been told earlier that it was something within him that had saved him and his friends last time. Where was that something now?
From the bushes emerged a familiar figure, dressed in tribal feathers. The figure had green scales and a cocky smile. “I see you have brought the sacrifice,” he hissed.
“Flauge!” Zephyr yelled, recognizing the figure straight away.
“That name means nothing to me. It is not mine, mortal,” Flauge said.
“This isn’t your god! He’s trying to…” Zephyr began.
“Silence! Begin the ceremony!” Ke’dash interrupted.
There was nothing Zephyr could do but stand helpless and watch. A couple of geckos lifted Semele up and carried her toward Flauge.
No… no, this could not be happening. Not Semele. Semele, who he had grown up with and cherished more than anyone else in the world; Semele, who had tended to him whenever he had felt an injury, either physical or emotional. No, not Semele… Not Semele…
He had to do something! But what? Even the slightest movement would result a quick, painful death.
Cal was not really out. The dart had been deflected by his spines, but he had fallen down anyway. And it worked, too. Those tribal buffoons didn’t suspect a thing. Now, he had the element of surprise on his side. Of course, that was all he had on his side. He and Zephyr were severely outnumbered – he didn’t need his eyes open to know that. He also knew that any second, Semele could become snake-bait. So this was it. Now or never.
Zephyr was so focused on Semele that he did not notice Cal’s eyes open. Nor, fortunately, did any of the geckos. However, when Cal picked up a spear off the ground and gave a loud war cry, that got the attention of everyone in the area who was capable of giving it. The two geckos holding Semele dropped their load. Flauge re-hinged his jaw and snapped his gaze toward Cal.
And most opportune to Zephyr, the geckos that once had their spears pointed right at his neck lowered their spears and let their guard down. He couldn’t tell whether it was thinking fast or not thinking at all, but something gave him the courage to quickly shove his way out of the circle of geckos around him. It actually worked, for the geckos had let their guard down that far. But they were quick to regain their train of thought. Zephyr felt a quick slash at his back and before his knew it, he was on the ground, bleeding.
“Alright, who wants a piece of me!?” Cal yelled. No sooner had he said that, however than he found several spears pointed dangerously close to his neck. He gave a nervous laugh. “Eheheh… I guess a lot of people want a piece of me…”
“Continue the ceremony!” Ke’dash commanded. Semele was picked up once more. Zephyr wanted to cry out, but he felt himself fading, his body growing numb. Was this from loss of blood? The wound can’t have been that bad, could it?
His mind and body were growing numb. But he could swear he saw a bright light coming from… from his necklace.
“What manner of magic is this!?” Ke’dash exclaimed.
“You’re in trouble now, Ke’dash!” Cal called out.
“Stop him, you fools!” Flauge commanded.
Zephyr felt his old consciousness fade out and a new one take over. This one was completely confident, something that was apparent in his smile as he got up. “It’s time.”
“It’s time for you to die, rabbit!” Ke’dash exclaimed.
Zephyr sat down with a look of resignation. “And I guess I have no way to stop that.”
The geckos were so focused on Zephyr that they momentarily forgot about Cal. Cal, in turn, was too dumfounded to take advantage of the situation. That was it? He had heard what had happened last time Zephyr’s necklace glowed and this was nothing like it. Was Zephyr really going to give up so easily?
“Zephyr, what are you doing?” Cal exclaimed.
“We have been faced against a superior foe. The prowess of Camo is far too great,” Zephyr said.
“That is right, mortal! I… hey, I’m Flauge, not Camo! Get it right!” Flauge exclaimed.
Zephyr smirked. “Oh really? I thought you were Mar’De-Kal.”
It was so sudden that it took Cal a moment to register what had just happened. Zephyr had pulled another one out of the hat, no pun intended, and this time he was around to see it.
Flauge felt as if the ground had fallen out from under him. One moment, he had the Kelu tribe completely fooled. But now this rabbit had foiled him again and the odds were tilted fiercely against him. At least he knew one of the geckos was still on his side, though…
The geckos of the Kelu tribe were astounded and appalled. They had thought that their sacred snake god had come at last, that their tribe was blessed by the presence of a divine power. But instead, the Kelu tribe had been fooled by this… this imposter.
Spears once pointed at Zephyr and Cal were now trained at Flauge. Things were definitely not going well for the snake.
“You dare mock our tribe with such foul trickery?” Ke’dash exclaimed.
“You shouldn’t point those spears at someone with such poisonous fangs,” Flauge said.
The geckos placed their spears closer to Flauge’s neck. “You shouldn’t be so quick to point those fangs at so many spears,” Ke’dash said.
A single, unarmed gecko in a blue robe walked up to Flauge. “Well, it looks like your plan failed.”
“Then we’ll just have to try harder next time, won’t we, Gal’tek?” Flauge asked.
The gecko, Gal’tek, nodded. “Indeed, we will.” He touched Flauge’s head with his hand. The other geckos tried to stop him with their spears, but before the spears could hit their mark, Gal’tek and Flauge simply disappeared.
“Gal’tek… of all of my people…” Ke’dash muttered, “Why, Gal’tek?”
Zephyr felt the second consciousness fade away and slip back into his own. Once again, he felt somewhat weak, probably from loss of blood. He decided it would be best to lie down.
“Uh… so, we’re safe now, right? Everything’s cool?” Cal asked.
Ke’dash nodded. “Yes. My apologies for our hasty action. We did not expect for our priest, Gal’tek of all people to betray us all to a greedy purpose.”
“Huh? But how was he involved in betraying you before just now? Wasn’t it Flauge who fooled you?”
“No. We will explain it later, when your companions awaken,” Ke’dash said.

“You’re back… with Gal’tek… early,” Nile said, a hint of impatient anger in his voice.
“Well, boss, you see… I…” Flauge said, floundering for words.
“Your companion here ruined the plan by using his own name and revealing his own identity when the rabbit, Zephyr, called him Camo by ‘accident’,” Gal’tek stated. Flauge felt a lump rising in what could be regarded his throat, because he knew that what would happen next would not be good.
“Flauge, you imbecile!” Nile snapped. He quickly willed himself to calm down, but it was somewhat difficult to. “I can’t honestly say it was unexpected, though. You and Camo always ruin even simple plans.” He looked over to Gal’tek. “At least I have one person I can count on not to bungle everything.”
“We’ll get it right next time, boss, we swear!” Flauge said. Camo nodded in affirmation of Flauge’s words.
“That is, if I decide to even use you in the next plan. Still, with so few of us, I really don’t have room to be picky,” Nile said.

Sunny could smell a strange, strong scent as she was waking up. But as soon as she was awake enough to try to grasp what it was, she could hear footsteps going away from her. And at that moment, the smell went away.
She opened her eyes. She saw the others still unconscious, except Zephyr and Cal. One of the geckos, seemingly the one that was just in front of her, was holding something and walking toward Semele. When he got close enough, the gecko waved the whatever-it-was right under Semele’s nose. Was that what the smell was?
Semele woke to a strange smell. But then, the scent suddenly disappeared as she heard someone walking. Away from her, in fact. She opened her eyes to see the gecko walking away, carrying something. Smelling salts, she deduced.
Aku was next to smell the scent. He woke with a start and his eyes opened before the gecko could withdraw the salts from under Aku’s nose. The gecko was startled at first, but decided that it was probably because of the hyena’s strong sense of smell and youthful energy. Dismissing it as trivial, the gecko went off to wake up someone else.
Jack smelled something strong and it was hard to sleep through it. “Come on, ma… Just five more hours…” he muttered, rolling over in a futile attempt to escape the scent. The gecko merely moved the salts so it would still be near Jack’s nose. Jack finally gave in and opened his eyes. The gecko removed the stuff from under Jack’s nose and moved on. What was that all about?
Vladimir smelled something odd as he was waking. If he was correct, this was something he had heard about in a story: smelling salts. And right before he had fallen unconscious, or asleep, he felt a pinprick sensation. Might it have been a dart?
“Ah yes, everyone is awake,” Ke’dash said. Jack yawned. Those who were once asleep were just starting to get up on their feet now.
“So, let’s hear it,” Cal said.
“Of course,” Ke’dash said.
“Wait. One question first,” Jack said.
“What is it?” Ke’dash asked.
“Um… what are we listening to?” Jack asked.
“Listen and you shall understand. Any further questions?” Ke’dash asked. Silence. “Very well then. I shall tell you exactly what happened and why it happened.”
“You mean as in why we fell asleep all the sudden?” Jack asked.
“Yes. Now listen,” Ke’dash began. “We are a migrating tribe. We were traveling by this forest when we saw a lone, wounded snake approach us and claim to be Mar’de-kal, the snake we now know was really Flauge.”
“And you believed him?” Sunny asked.
“Not right-off. We naturally had a healthy amount of skepticism. It was actually our shaman, Gal’tek, who tricked us. He told us he felt a holy aura from the snake, that it was indeed Mar’de-kal. And we were naïve enough to think that he would never lie to us.
“Flauge told us about you, that you had done a great sin by causing him these injuries. He told us to lure you here and put everyone in a sleeping state except Zephyr, then feed you all to him one by one while Zephyr is forced to watch. Of course, as you can see, things did not go quite as planned. Cal was not hit properly with the sleeping dart and Zephyr managed to reveal Flauge for what he really was.”
Earlier, Aku had suspected that something was wrong and dismissed it, but it turned out he had been right after all. Aku was not sure whether to feel proud that he had sensed it, or to feel guilty that he had kept quiet about it. Still, everything ended well, probably better than it would if he had pointed it out.
“Looks like Old Zeph did it again,” Sunny said.
“And this time, I remember it happening. It was really strange, almost like I was somebody else entirely. Someone more confident and cunning,” Zephyr said.
“The necklace glowed right before you seemed to change into this ‘someone else’. I’m sure there must be a relationship,” Ke’dash said.
“Right now, all that matters is that everyone is well,” Semele said. However, no sooner had she said that than she noticed that Zephyr’s back was bleeding. She rushed over to Zephyr. “You’re hurt…”
Zephyr smiled. “It’s alright. I should be fine, especially with you around.”
Semele felt that she should start binding her brother’s wounds, but she could not help but to hug him first. “Oh, Zephyr. Please try to be careful.”
“I will, sis. I’ll always do my best,” Zephyr said, returning the hug.
The hug soon ended. When Semele looked at her hands, she noticed that her hands and wrists were stained in semi-dried blood from Zephyr’s wound.
“Bring some bandages. Semele will need use of them,” Ke’dash said. A gecko, the same one who had earlier administered the smelling salts, nodded and headed inside a hut.
It was just then that Aku noticed something. He didn’t know whether it was the time he spent resting, or something in the dart, or just time passing, but for some reason, he didn’t feel sick anymore. But because he no longer felt sick, his hunger now seemed more pronounced. He gave a soft, low whimper, though he did not consciously realize that he had done so until Semele made her comment on it.
“Aku, are you okay? The poison isn’t bothering you again, is it?” Semele asked, concerned.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just… I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday and I’m really hungry. But I don’t know if I can eat vegetables,” Aku says.
“Hm… yes, that could be a problem,” Ke’dash said.
“Well, why don’t you give it a try, at least. Just a taste won’t hurt, right?” Semele suggested.
“And if that doesn’t taste very good, well, I’ll bet Henry can figure out something,” Sunny said.
The gecko returned with the bandages and handed them to Semele. “Thank you,” Semele said. She wrapped the bandages around Zephyr’s wound.
“If you are so hungry, I suppose we might be able to give you something to tide you over. Though I am not sure that it would fit the tastes of a hyena,” Ke’dash said.
“I’ll try anything. I’m so hungry, I could eat a…” Aku thought for a moment, “tree.”
Just about everyone there could surmise that he was about to list some sort of living creature until he thought better of it. Still, just about everyone there, other than a few of the more cautious geckos, were quite confident that Aku would not actually do so, if he could help it. Ke’dash chuckled. “Well, I haven’t heard of a creature herbivorous or otherwise that has eaten a tree. Perhaps it would be better if you start with berries.”
Aku thought it strange, but it the thought of berries seemed more appetizing to him now than it had ever before. He just hoped that it would taste as good as it sounded. Maybe it was the fact that he was so hungry. He didn’t know what he would do if it turned out that he could truly only eat meat, which, whether he liked it or not, was probably the case. Still, he had to at least try the new food, and hope for the best.
Ke’dash turned to the gecko who had brought out the bandages. “Bring Aku a small assortment of berries,” he said. The gecko nodded, and silently headed off. Semele tilted her head slightly. It was a bit odd that this particular gecko was receiving all of the orders. Maybe he was Ke’dash’s personal assistant.
The gecko soon returned carrying a small bowl. He set it down in front of Aku and walked nearby Ke’dash.
In all his hunger, Aku couldn’t help but drool slightly, even though he knew that he might not be able to eat this stuff. Never before had he looked at berries of any type as particularly appetizing, but for one reason or another, they looked and smelled better than he thought they could be. He didn’t stop to question it. It was easy to push the thought out of his mind, because all he wanted to focus on right now was eating.
Aku tentatively picked up a blueberry. Hoping he would be able to stomach it, he placed the blueberry in his mouth. It was a bit sour, but tasted good. All hesitation faded away as hunger took over. Aku held the bowl up to his mouth and started quickly devouring the berries, not bothering to pick them out of the bowl by hand, but instead eating them straight out of the bowl.
“I know you’re hungry, but can’t y’all use some table manners?” Sunny said, disgusted.
Aku lifted his face, stained different hues by the juices of various berries, from the bowl and swallowed the mouthful of berries he was in the middle of. “What’s ‘table manners’?” he asked, confused. After all, he was living by the diet of a carnivore up until now, and most do not think about proper etiquette while rending their prey’s flesh from bone.
“Aw, never mind,” Sunny said, not really wishing to explain. Aku shrugged and continued eating the berries. After he finished eating the berries and licking the bowl clean, he set the bowl down and stared at Ke’dash with the cute begging puppy-eyed look.
“Do not worry, there will be plenty more when the time comes for the feast,” Ke’dash said.
“Aw… okay, I’ll wait,” Aku said.
“When is the feast?” Semele asked Ke’dash.
“In about two hours, at noon,” Ke’dash said, “We should be ready then. In the meantime, you may wish to head home and make whatever preparations you may wish to make.”
“Yes, we should head back to the main clearing, to tell Henry of all that has happened,” Vladimir says.

Carrier was asleep on his perch, in a tree very near the main clearing. Henry had been pondering on a variety of things, and was now thinking about the strange travelers and the animals he had sent out to greet them. He was beginning to wonder if it had been such a good idea to send them out. No, they were fine, he assured himself. They were probably just taking a while with it.
Henry was so deep in thought that he had not noticed someone entering the clearing.
“We’re back!” Aku called out cheerfully.
Henry nearly jumped in surprise. You looked down from the tree and saw, to his relief, that they were all alive and well, except that the bandages around Zephyr’s midriff were a bit disconcerting. “I see. What news do you bring?”
“We’re going to get a feast!” Aku said excitedly, “And it turns out I can eat things that aren’t meat. I wonder why they never seemed all that appetizing before.”
Henry smiled slightly. Vladimir noticed this and a thought came to mind. “Say, Henry. Did you have your wing in that?”
Henry’s smile widened, and he looked at Aku. “You are a carnivore nevermore, unless you should choose it...”
Aku smiled even wider now than he was before. “This is the best gift anyone’s given me since…” Aku’s smile faded a bit, “Well, it’s a really nice gift.”
Henry, Jack, and Zephyr were the only ones who saw Aku’s smile begin to fade. Jack decided to disregard it, and Henry decided that whatever it was would be revealed when the time was right. Zephyr, on the other hand, decided that it would be best to talk about it at the next chance.
“Now I know of the feast, so do go on. Tell me of the rest,” Henry said.
“I shall tell the tale. When we first went out on our trip, we decided it would be best to travel in a group of three, as all of us going at once might create the illusion of an attempt at intimidation,” Vladimir began.
“While Vladimir’s telling how it happened, can you and I go and talk about something for a moment?” Zephyr whispered to Aku.
Aku tilted his head. “Um, okay.”
As Vladimir continued, Zephyr led Aku a small distance away, to where they could speak in private.

“Aku, what was the matter back there?” Zephyr said.
“Well, I was really hungry,” Aku said simply.
“No, I mean the comment about the gift. You seemed to be having an unhappy thought.”
“Oh. Well, uh…” Aku did not wish to explain. It would be painful to. “Never mind. It’s nothing, really.”
Zephyr wasn’t convinced, but felt it would be unwise to press the issue. “Okay, then. If you say so…”
Aku didn’t know whether he felt relieved or disappointed that Zephyr did not try again to get him to explain. Still, it was a pretty painful subject for him, and he didn’t want to relive it by telling of it.

“I hear someone approaching from the forest, probably a group,” one gecko said.
“And just in time. The sun is at its peak,” Ke’dash said. He looked back over his preparations one more time to make sure everything was set up properly. There was no table, for they had no time to build one. Instead, there was a large cloth, anchored down by strategically placed rocks, on which the food was placed. And there were a great many types of food… excluding meat, of course.
The geckos who were to partake in the feast were dressed in clothing made of feathers, straw, and strips of cloth. A rather stylish tribal look, but one that is unfortunately very difficult for the writer to describe adequately. Just as not all the forest folk were going to the feast, only a few of the geckos would actually take part in the occasion.
The person up front, and thus the first to emerge from the forested area, was Vladimir. “Ah, I was afraid we might end up arriving before you were prepared.”
And then, the others emerged from the bushes. Cal looks around. “Well, there’s certainly a lot of food.”
Aku rushed toward the food excitedly, but Semele grabbed him gently by the scruff of the neck as he tried to pass by her. “Not yet, Aku. Wait for the feast to start first.” She let go of Aku, who looked at the ground, his stomach growling.
Next to emerge were two who the geckos had not yet seen. Henry and Carrier emerged from the woods.
Ke’dash looked up at Henry. “Ah, by the look of it, you are the one named Henry.” He turned to Carrier. “And you are…”
“Carrier. Caw! Messenger of the forest,” Carrier introduced.
“A pleasure to meet you both. I am Ke’dash, the chieftain of this tribe,” Ke’dash said. He turned to the rest of those present and declared, “It seems everyone is now present. Therefore, let the feast begin!”
Aku did not need to be told twice. He rushed toward the food, grabbed a bowl of strawberries, and started devouring it as he did with the bowl of berries before, as if it were to be his last meal for a month.
Semele walked over to Aku and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey Aku, why don’t you try a spoon for that?” she suggested as the others were starting to set down to eat, as well.
Aku lifted his face from the bowl and set it down. He picked up the spoon and looked at it. “It doesn’t look very appetizing…” He tilted his head to look at it at another angle. “Maybe I’m supposed to chew on it, like a bo… uh, stick.”
Jack started snickering, nearly choking on his food in the process. Sunny slapped her forehead. Semele simply shook her head. “No, no. You don’t eat it, you use it to scoop up the food and eat out of,” she said gently.
Aku tilted his head again, this time in confusion. “But isn’t that what the bowl is for?”
Semele gently plucked the spoon from Aku’s hand. “Like this.” She dipped the spoon into the bowl and pulled out a couple strawberries with it. She held the end of the spoon up to Aku’s mouth. Aku ate the strawberries off the spoon. “I don’t know why we need to do that, but okay.”
“You don’t want to get the juice in your fur, do you?” Semele pointed out.
“Oh, right. I’d have to take a bath,” Aku said. He took the spoon and started eating the strawberries with it. Avoiding a bath was plenty enough to convince Aku to use this cleaner, if slower method. Of course, he knew that he would at least have to wash his face, as it was already stained with juice.
After a few more minutes of eating, Ke’dash tapped his wooden glass with a spoon. “Your attention. I have an announcement to make.” The rest of the group looked up at Ke’dash, and the idle chatter was hushed.
“Myself and the other elders have spoken on this matter, and it seems we have come to a conclusion. This forest is quite a good place. Most harsh weather seems to pass right over or around this area, and as seen here, those in the forest seem rather kind, and not the type to hold grudges. We have traveled the world for quite some time, but maybe it is time for us to settle. Not to mention, we wish to help fight against those who have wronged you and made a mockery of Mar’De-Kal. Therefore, if you would allow us, Henry, we would like to make a settlement here, right outside your forest,” Ke’dash announced.
“As long as you wish to, you may remain here,” Henry said, “Oh, and a point of interest. Three days from now, the forest will be celebrating a holiday. You may wish to partake.”
“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot! Kinsday!” Jack said.
“Kinsday?” Ke’dash echoed, intrigued.
“Yeah, it’s where we celebrate our families. How people celebrate it tends to change between families, but one thing that’s practically mandatory is that in the evening, the family gathers around a fire and recall fond family memories,” Cal says, “Sometimes, families gather with other families to do it, too. My family tends to do it with Jack’s family, ‘cause we both have kinda small families. His mom’s kinda overcautious, but she makes pretty good lemon squares…”
“Hm… indeed, it does sound interesting,” Ke’dash said, “If we are so close together now, I believe we too should celebrate this holiday.”
Aku hiccupped. “I think I ate too fast. I think I’ll *hic*… I think I’ll try drinking something. Maybe that’ll help my *hic*…” Just then, a glass of juice caught his eye. It smelled strange, but interesting to him. He picked up the glass and lapped up a taste of it. It seemed kinda fizzy, and it tasted different from how he thought juice would normally taste, but it tasted fairly good. He started quickly lapping it up from the cup.
“I hope our dad can come home this year. His schedule seems to be pretty hectic, being an adventurer and all. Duty can knock any time for him,” Semele says.
“Yeah, but he does his best. If he can’t come home on that day on the dot, he’ll probably come home fairly soon after. He’d never miss the opportunity to come home to visit us at this time of… Aku, no!” Zephyr said. He snatched the nearly-empty cup from Aku’s hand.
“But, but my *hic* Juice…” Aku said.
Zephyr sniffed the glass. “Aku, this isn’t juice. It’s wine!”
“Wine? Wha’s wine?” Aku asked, “And why do you keep swaying like that?”
“Dude, you’re the one who’s swaying,” Cal pointed out.
“Poor guy…” Semele said sympathetically.
“Wha’s wine, really, *hic* wha’s wine?” Aku asked. He thinks for a moment. “That didn’t really fix my… *hic*”
“Just don’t drink any more of it, okay? It’s not good for you,” Semele said.
“Okay. Ooh, that cake brown sugary thing looks nice!” Aku said. He pounced on a chocolate cake. Nobody could tell for certain whether such an impolite action was the effect of intoxication, or merely Aku’s upbringing.
“You should count yourself lucky. For your previous self, chocolate would have been as poison to you,” Henry said.
Aku lifted his head from the cake. “My previous self? So I can eat it now? Hey, my hiccups are gone. *hic* Oh, never mind.” Aku went back to eating.
“I’d ask him to save some for us, but he’s half-standing in the cake while he’s eating it, so I think I’ll try the pie,” Cal said.

After the feast, and a couple hours of casual conversation, the group headed back toward the main clearing. By then, the alcohol had passed out of Aku’s system and the hiccups had long since subsided.
“Barring a difficult beginning, we now have more among our numbers,” Henry said.
“Meaning more allies,” Jack said.
“True, yet that also means more people to protect,” Vladimir said.
“I think we got the better deal. I mean, they have plenty of people there just raring to fight,” Cal said.
“Quite, but no time is this to let down our guard,” Henry advised.
“Correct. They only protect the northern side. For any other threat, they might not get to us in time, if they notice at all,” Vladimir said, “Still, it is a very large boon.”
“Oh, and young Aku, there is yet another matter to discuss. You currently have no place to reside within these trees. Should you wish, a vacant tree should not be too difficult to find. Or, if you would prefer not be alone, any other might be willing to share with you their abode,” Henry said, “That, of course, is a decision that is in their hands.”
“Well…” This was a tough choice for Aku. He had spent a few weeks on his own in the wild already, so he could definitely handle being on his own. Yet he definitely wouldn’t mind having someone there. But who would he ask? Maybe he should try Zephyr. He was the first one who had given him a chance. Then again, without Semele, he might not have survived the poisonous bite. Wait, they were siblings. So they probably lived together. Or at least, he hoped so. “I’ll stay with Zephyr and Semele.”
“Very well. And so it shall be, should they agree,” Henry said.
“Of course. It’ll be nice to have someone else around,” Zephyr said, “I just hope you don’t mind sharing the blankets with us. We don’t exactly have enough for one each.”