I caught up with Kanire as he was turning into the den. He rested his right front leg on the cave entrance and gave me a questioning look. He suddenly looked incomparably tired.
"C-Can I talk with you?" I asked, startled a bit by the change.
"Sure," he said and disappeared into the cave.
I followed inside after him. He reached his right front paw up to the ceiling, sliding it across, then let himself fall backward into the dried grass and shed fur that covered the floor. The entrance disappeared, as did the walls, replaced by a never-ending meadow. The wind was caressing my face and the rustle of grass filled my ears. Then two large adults Caniro appeared, one of them smelled the same as Kanire but looked nothing like him, and the other was an utter stranger to me, but she was a girl. They were playing around, not noticing me standing there, or Kanire lying on the floor,
"What's this?" I asked, dodging the wild romping of the two.
"Memories she never wanted to forget, so she enchanted this place to store them. Lie down, it's just an illusion, it can't interact with you."
"This is an illusion?!" I asked lying down, Dad told me the best illusions are ones you can't tell are illusions, but even when he tried to demonstrate I could always tell something was wrong. And he never warned me beforehand either. This was the first time I was caught off guard by an illusion.
Kanire didn't respond, just silently watching. Soon water started coming out of his eyes. I tried asking him about it but he still didn't respond.
(AN: Neither wolves nor Caniro can cry in the same way humans do which is why Harukaze doesn't understand, they have tear glands but it's only for eye protection)
I quieted down and watched the memories together with Kanire. I shifted so my back was touching him, hoping to provide him with some comfort about the girl he lost.
***
It was almost dusk when the illusionary recreation of the memories ended. The cave returned to the way it was before, with the evening sun creeping its way into the cave. Kanire wiped his face with his front paws. "Thanks for staying here the whole time, you're a good girl." He gently pawed at my head.
"This... who was she? You looked very happy together." I asked.
Kanire sat up, leaning his back against the cave wall. "Reya, she was my partner. The first time we met was her saving my life. It was a wild year when the Storm Ring formed. We were very happy together even if she was different species. And then she died."
"How did..."
"I don't want to talk about that."
"Sorry,"
"Don't be, it's good to be curious." He waved his front paw.
"When..."
"About five thousand winters ago. If I didn't die before her I wouldn't be in this situation."
"Die before her? You are dead?"
"No, that's the problem. I died and resurrected myself, and thanks to that I'm unable to die no matter what I do." He slammed his paw into his chest, bones cracked, and blood splattered over the floor. He pulled his paw out of his chest, holding his own heart between his claws. "Even if I completely destroy my body it will just regrow. See?" He moved his leg away, there was no hole in his chest, only some blood left on his white fur.
"What's resurrected?"
"Making someone dead alive again. I would never recommend anyone try. It's not worth it," He grunted, and threw me his heart, "You can eat it, it's just a normal heart."
"Thanks." I ate it in two bites, I wouldn't be as rude as to refuse food, "But how do you speak like that? You aren't moving at all."
(AN: Most of Caniro language consists of body language, tail and ears being the greatest portion of that.)
"Magic. I just convey what I want to communicate and the magic makes you understand. Forest spirits use the same principle, even though theirs is a bit more complicated than what I usually use."
"I understand, could you teach that to me?"
"No, your talent is incompatible with this."
"My talent? How would you know?"
"It's not hard to tell once you have some experience. You have figured it out a while back yourself."
"No, I'm still trying..."
He cut me off with a weird sound, his face looked a lot brighter suddenly. "That wasn't a question. You did figure it out. You've been training with illusions for a few months now, no?"
"My talent is illusions? How do you know?"
"Didn't I just tell you it's not hard to tell once you have some experience? I'm older than the forest spirits something like this is trivial. You find them difficult, don't you?"
"A bit," I admitted.
"It will go away with time." He looked up at the ceiling, "Or, I can teach a trick to it."
"Please do!" I barked.
"Not today." He let out the same weird sound. "But it's a repayment for your comforting me, it won't be free however, you will have to clear a challenge of mine."
"What challenge?"
"You will see, but it will help you."
"You're still here?" Mom's asked from the den entrance. "We got some fish for you Kanire. Come eat."
"I told you to not bother, why do you always try to act like my mother?" Kanire asked, he no longer sounded weary, instead amusement was filling his every word.
"Why do you keep forcing me to act like your mother? I wouldn't need to if you weren't trying to destroy yourself at every opportunity."
Mom was clearly annoyed. With a flick of her paw, the large fish laying in front of her flew straight at Kanire's face.
He easily caught the fish with his front paw. "If I wanted to destroy myself I would have done so already and you know it. I'm only here now because I'm too afraid to die."
"Didn't you say you can't die no matter what you do?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, but I figured out a way to get rid of that a long time ago. I don't want to be alive, but am too afraid to die. Pathetic, aren't I?"
"Well, at least you cheered up a bit. Now eat up. I'll bring you the rest." Mom turned around and left.
"Do you want it?" Kanire asked me waving the fish around.
"Mom would be angry if I took it."
"I'll join you in a bit. And thanks for talking with me like that. I know Asher and Anaji care too, but they don't ask about the stuff you did, and the forest spirits mind their business. It's not easy to talk about. I know I should talk about it with someone. I just didn't expect a pup to actually make me talk."
"I'd still like to know more. You seem very interesting." I said.
"Is it the looks?"
"That too, but everything else also," I said and ran off. As he promised Kanire soon joined the evening chaos.