~12~
Hinto stoked the fire as Alo warmed his paws. The smell of blood still lingered in the air, but the darkness hid the countless bodies from view.
“Alo, I’m going to go look around one more time. Please stay warm.”
Alo quietly nodded in response as he continued to look deep into the flames, noticing Hinto vanish into the night from the corner of his eye.
“He retrieved them…” he muttered to himself, turning his gaze to his arrows. “Why is he being so kind to me after what happened? Would it be alright to ask?”
Alo sat in silence waiting for a voice to give him a response, yet, once again, his mind was silent; only hearing Hinto’s rummaging in the far distance.
Alo let out a small sigh as Hinto returned to their camp holding a sealed jar.
“Are you alright, Alo?”
“Yes, I’m fine. What did you find?”
“I’m not sure yet; hopefully some pickled fruit, but I wanted to wait till I got back and settled down before I opened it.”
Alo moved to the side to make room for Hinto who quickly filled the now vacant spot. He watched as Hinto steadily unraveled the string and removed the cloth before digging his claws into the cork seal. The jar popped open and echoed through the town.
“What’s inside?”
“Strawberries.”
“Oh…”
“What’s wrong, Alo?”
“It’s just hard to think that a jar of strawberries survived, but not a single Ursine.”
Hinto solemnly shook his head.
“I don’t want to talk about that anymore, Alo. Being here at night is already bad enough. Let’s just eat and rest.” Hinto said as he handed the jar to Alo. Alo grabbed the cold jar with one paw and fished for a few berries with the other,soon handing it back.
“Hinto?”
“Hm?” Hinto froze as he was about to spoon the strawberries into his gaping mouth.
“You we…are you…okay?” Alo asked while he chewed.
Hinto placed the berries into his mouth before quickly swallowing.
“Yes.” He said frankly.
“What about…” Alo muttered before pointing to the blood above Hinto’s left eye.
“Yes, I’ll be fine. I had to stitch it up and it’ll leave a scar, but I’m alright.”
“Hinto, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you like that I-”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure I deserved it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, Alo. Here, eat more.”
Alo took the jar and clawed out another batch of berries before handing the rest to Hinto.
“Alo.”
“What?”
“Where did you go?”
Alo paused for a moment in confusion.
“What do you mean? I left that other town and made my way back here.”
“When did you leave?”
“Dusk.”
“But…you arrived here at noon today. Without any breaks or detours, you should have made it back here within a day or so.”
“Yes, I made it back in about a day and a half; what’s your point?”
“Alo, it’s been two days since you left.”
Alo glanced at Hinto in shock.
“It’s been two days?” he thought to himself. “How long was I asleep?”
“Alo?” Hinto said as he finished the jar of berries, setting the empty container next to him. “Are you alright?”
“Uh…yeah, I must have just lost track of time.”
“Doing what?”
“That’s none of your business, Hinto!” Alo growled.
Hinto groaned, looking back into the fire.
“I can’t tell him what happened. He would think that I’m insane.” Alo thought to himself before looking into the flames along with Hinto. “But, I do want to know where he went. I know he fetched my arrows, but that wouldn’t add a day to the trip back.”
“Hinto? Where did you go? After I…hit you…”
“Is that any of your business, Alo?”
Alo grunted in irritation as he leaned onto his side.
“I went looking for you.” Hinto said in frustration. “After I tended to my wound, I searched the entire village for you; I even meet the homeless Sun Ursine you stole that bottle from.”
Alo propped up his head with his paw and looked over to Hinto.
“You were worried about me?”
“I suppose…I just wanted to make sure you were alright, okay? When I couldn’t find you, I thought you must’ve made your way back here. But I had to go get your arrows first. That’s when I heard your roar and hurried back.”
“Thank you for that…these arrows and bow are all I have left of…of…”
“Of what, Alo?”
“It’s nothing; just some old memories.”
“Would you like to talk about it?”
“No. Not with you, or anyone else for that matter.”
Hinto laughed, then smiled.
“What’s the smile for?” Alo asked as he looked away to hide his embarrassment.
“I’m just glad to see the real you again. All you needed was some food and you went right back to your grumpy self.”
“What?!” Alo yelled trying to looked Hinto in the eyes; though he couldn’t, knowing that he was smiling at him.
Hinto laughed once more as he stood up and dusted the dirt from the back of his pants.
“Don’t laugh! There’s nothing funny!”
“Thank you for worrying about me.” Hinto said as he walked around the fire and picked up the dusty cloth.
“I wasn’t worried! I just…” Alo began to trail off as he tried to think of a valid excuse to have asked.
“It’s okay if you were. That just tells me that my magnetic personality is growing on you too. But I am tired, and I’m cold too.”
“Oh yeah, this is yours, isn’t it?” Alo said, handing Hinto’s vest back to him. “Sorry, Hinto.”
“It’s no problem, but I don’t want you freezing tonight; here, wear this.” Hinto said grabbing onto his vest before handing Alo a piece of fabric. Alo sat up and began to unfolded it before recognizing it as the same woven vest Hinto attempted to offer him a few days ago.
“I know you don’t like it, but it’s cold and we need you to have a good night’s sleep before tomorrow.”
“Well, the gods won’t let me die, but this is a good excuse to wear it.” Alo thought to himself as he felt the soft fur trim in his paws. “It is a nice vest too…”
“Fine.” Alo said. “But only because I have a reason to wake up tomorrow. The gods would do this to me of all Ursine. Destroy the village the only time I’m not here…seems like everyone gets to die except me; I’m just left to clean the mess.”
“Don’t be like that, Alo.” Hinto said in a concerned voice as he slipped on his vest.
Alo pushed his head through the vest followed by arms, feeling the snug warmth as he pulled it over his stomach.
“I’ve been wondering, how did you even get this woven for me? Did you pay the weavers extra to have it made quickly?”
“Alo, that wasn’t woven in this town. That’s a vest I brought from back east. I just got some paper to wrap it for you. It isn’t even a western weave; you should really get out more.”
Alo crossed his arms and laid back onto his side; feeling relaxed at the vest swaddled him.
“Maybe I’ll tell you how I got it.” Hinto said as he looked to the starry sky.
“Later. We need to focus on where to go next. Without the village, we won’t have much food, money…or liquor.”
“I know it may sound unethical, but maybe we should gather all the money we can find before we leave.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Alo said begrudgingly, “I’m not sure if I could stomach raiding the bodies.”
“Neither do I, but we’ll need to try, Alo. If we don’t, we risk starving or being out in the cold with that beast wondering about.”
“Okay, but after, I think we should go back to that other village and tell them about what happened here. They may not believe us when we say we saw dead bucks walking, but they can’t ignore this.”
“Good idea. Let’s get some rest. Good night, Alo.” Hinto said as he curled himself into a ball, quickly drifting to sleep.
“Please,” Alo muttered to himself before closing his eyes, “keep the dreams away tonight.”

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