I was sitting my the toasty fire that I had made, waiting for Marshall and Ishi to return.
"You are here.." Marshall said as he walked over. He was empty handed and looked confused.
"Yes.. I am…" I looked at him curiously. I thought he was going to hunt moose.
He stood, looking around at the campsite and the arrows I started to make. I put my work down and walked over to him.
"No luck with hunting?" I asked.
"Plenty of luck. Took down two." He simply answered.
"Where are they then?" I asked, looking around.
"I thought you knew?" He said.
Why the hell would I know? He was the one hunting them. I looked at him, confounded and at a loss for words…
"What? Why would I know?"
"Because of the inter-space thing?" He said, sounding like he was asking me more than telling..
"I don't know what you are talking about." I directed him to sit by the fire. "Can you explain?"
"Sure. After I took down the first moose, I was thinking about how I wished I brought you with me so you could put it in your space and we could take down a second one. So we have plenty for the journey." He told me.
"Okay…" I prompted him to continue.
"Your space thing appeared after I took down the first moose. And then again after the second one. I thought you did it?"
"Huh? No, I was by the river. I couldn't have." I told him.
"That's weird. " He said, pondering.
"Maybe we can ask Ishi about it when she comes back."
"Good idea." He said, smiling at me and patting my head. He looked at the fire and added, "How did you start the fire? I forgot that I had these from earlier.." He said as he took the flint out of his pocket.
I smiled victoriously , "I was able to summon fire again!"
"Really?" He asked, in disbelief.
"What? Don't believe me? the proof is right there." I said, a little disappointed and indicating the roaring fire I made.
"I believe you… it's just… how?"
"I don't know. Seems like when I get really frustrated or angry I am able to make fire." I answered.
"I've never heard of anything like that." He observed.
I shrugged, "Me neither. But it's cool."
He smiled at me and changed the subject. "Hungry?"
"Starving!" I said eagerly.
He cut up some of the meat from the chimera we had in the space into long strips. I skewered it on sticks, covered them in some herbs I picked along the way, and let them slow roast by the fire.
"I'm going to clean the hides in the river, I'll be back." He said.
"Wait.. there are otters in the river, they might not like you doing that.."
"Otters? How do you know that?" He asked.
"Because one of them came out to say hello when I was looking for rocks."
He looked slightly alarmed, "They saw you looking for rocks?"
"Yes…"
"Did you keep any of the rocks?"
"No, they weren't what I needed. I thought he might be able to help me look but he got mad and swam away." I summarized the odd encounter.
"Good. Never take rocks from otters." He said.
I was a little confused. "Why?"
"They get mad if you take their rocks. Not sure why."
"Weird. The one I met was mad because I didn't take his rock."
"He offered you a rock?!" Marshall looked a little angry.
"Yeah. Why? Is it odd?" I was trying to understand.
Ishi jumped down from the treetops a few feet away and chimed in, "You idiot. Otters offer precious rocks to each other if they are interested in mating. If you accept, you become mates."
"WHAT?!" I was shocked.
"Good thing you didn't accept it. You would have caused more trouble for us." she said to me before turning towards Marshall, "You can go on and do your thing. The otters won't bother us."
I was a little confused; she and Marshall seemed to have some unspoken language there. Why wouldn't the otters bother us?
She came and sat down next to me. Marshall got up and headed off to the river.
"What are you making?" She pointed at the skewers.
"Chimera." I answered.
She nodded in response before telling about what she found. She could see the mountains we have to cross way off in the distance. She is guessing that it might take a week or so to reach them at our current pace.
"Good thing you made those tents. There is no cover out there, those will do well to hide us from prying eyes." She said.
"yep. and they are comfortable to sleep in." I added.
I reached into the space and took out the antlers while she talked. When she was all done discussing the upcoming journey she inquired about the antlers.
"What are you doing with those?" She asked.
"I want to carve them into arrowheads." I showed her what I wanted to do. Unfortunately my knife was taking forever to cut through the antler.
"Want help?" She asked as she showed me her claws.
"That would be awesome!" I exclaimed.
She made quicker work of the antlers. She was precise and wasted very little. She worked on making the arrow heads while I tended to the food and whittled more shafts.
"I think I should start taking shifts overnight as well." I mentioned as we worked.
"Why do you think that?" she asked.
"Because I want to help."
"Hmmm. I don't think so. You are still weak compared to us, you should just let the adults take care of things." She said with a sly smile.
"What? How am I weak?" I said, indignantly.
"First of all, you don't have a beast. You have no way of protecting yourself. We wouldn't be able to sleep soundly knowing that you were 'guarding' us."
"I have my bow and I can shoot fireballs! I am not defenseless." I said back.
"Fireballs?" She snorted sarcastically, "Oooookay."
"I'm not making it up! I figured it out."
"Sure, sure." She said, clearly making fun of me.
"I'll do it again -watch!" I said as I put my work down and opened my hand.
I focused and nothing happened. I tried to get angry, and still nothing happened. I swore at my hand, how could it betray me like this!
Ishi chuckled, "Thanks for the show, but I think the food is done."
I gave up with an exasperated sigh and checked the food. It was done.
Marshall showed up just in time and we all sat down and ate.
While we ate, he told Ishi about the moose and being able to open the space at will.
"It's not too strange. You are mates, after all." She answered him sarcastically.
"What's that have to do with it?" He asked.
"Mates share a lot of things, including vitality. And she has a lot of it. I am not surprised that you two are sharing her strange abilities."
"Cool!" I said, excited.
Marshall took in the new information and finished eating in thoughtful silence. I continued chatting with Ishi. We decided to shove the backpacks and some of the extra, non-essential gear into the space while traveling.
"How much do you think it can hold?" I asked her as I removed the backpack after making sure it would fit.
She shrugged. "Who knows."
Ishi decided to take the first shift, so Marshall climbed into the tent to sleep. I excused myself, I needed to relieve myself of dinner.
I just finished my business in the woods and was wiping with one of the softer leaves that I kept as toilet paper. My tail was lifted, to keep out of the way. I felt something strange. After I finished cleaning up I felt around where the base of my tail was. I felt a growth near my tail, and it was painful to the touch.
"What the hell?" I said out loud to myself.
I couldn't see what it looked like. And without mirrors in this world, I would need either Marshall or Ishi to look for me. The thought was too embarrassing.
I walked back to camp, my mind going through every worst possible situation. Marshall is sleeping right now, and I wont be able to sleep - I'm too worried.
I nervously walked up to Ishi, who was sitting by the dim, fading light of the campfire.
"Mika? What's wrong?" She asked as I approached silently.
"I, um… I need your help with something.." I said, awkwardly.
"What is it?" She asked.
I waved her away from the tent so Marshall wouldn't hear. She followed me in cautious silence.
"I need you to look at something… by my tail…" I said, blushing with embarrassment.
"Okay…? What am I supposed to be looking at?" She said with an almost audible gulp.
"I'll.. um, I'll show you." I said, turning around so my back was to her.
I draped my hair over my shoulder so it wouldn't get in the way, I pulled my pants down below my bottom, and reached for the area near my tail. I felt the growth again.
"Here." I said.
She didn't move or respond. I peeked over my shoulder and prodded, "I know it's weird and it's a lot to ask of you.. but, please? Can you tell me what you see?"
She took a deep breath and responded finally, "Okay. Hold still."
She crouched down and was very close to my backside. She traced her hands along the same path as mine, her warm hands leaving a tingling trail along my skin. She felt the spot, and moved my furry tail out of the way.
I swallowed hard, nervous. I was nervous about someone looking at my butt, Ishi specifically, and nervous about what she might see there. To be fair, I was also a little nervous about how I was feeling towards her lately. She smelled very good and she made my heart race..
"I've never seen something like this before. It's hard, like cartilage just below the skin, and it sticks out a bit. It's coming from the same spot as your tail too."
… cartilage… This reminds me of when I grew my tail. Surely I wasn't going growing another tail… was I?
"I say we leave it alone and let Isola have a look at it… when we find her." Ishi said, sounding a little disheartened at the end.
"Yeah." I quickly agreed, pulling my pants up and turning around. "When we find her."
We walked back to camp and I climbed into bed with Marshall. I got no answers from that, but Ishi didn't seem worried about it. I'm wondering if maybe I have some kind of hernia or something. Answers will have to wait until we find Isola, I guess.