Chapter 18 - Moving On

  Hara isn’t entirely sure what to make of her two new friends. The last visitor she’d had wasn’t a nice person. They tried to take things away from her special place. But these two didn’t try to take anything. The one just looked inside, then came back out looking sad. Being sad is bad. Hara remembers being sad. She was sad for a long time after waking up and finding out that she was alone. She also remembers her first friend, always kind and happy. He always smelled of the deep stones and hard work. But then Hara got very sick, so sick it made her friend get very sad. Then when Hara got better, her friend was gone. She misses him. The special place stopped smelling like him a long time ago. She hopes he comes back, even if the special place is a little broken now.

  Alex watches as the hound, Hara, cautiously approaches. Those glowing amethyst eyes flick back and forth between him and Corvus as she obviously has something going through her mind. But nothing about her posture or attitude seems aggressive at all, so Alex holds still and lets her come to him on her terms. When the Stone Hellhound is only a step or two away, she stops and leans towards Alex, nose twitching and flaring as she sniffs at his extended hand.

  That moment hits Alex with that familiar feeling again. So powerful and intense that it’s almost tangible. And before he can stop himself, he turns his hand over and reaches the last few inches. Hara’s skin doesn’t feel like the stone it looks like. In fact, Alex discovers that she has a velvety hide of short fur, and she’s warm. His fingers stroke between her eyes and over her head, going between the two dagger-like horns.

  Hara closes her eyes and presses her head into the petting hand. Oh how she had missed this. Hands with fingers, able to rub and pet and scratch in all those places she liked. Friendly touch, contact with a friend, just feeling that someone else was there. It had been so long, so very long. She hopes the new friends will stay.

  Alex finds himself rubbing Hara’s head and scratching around her ears. His hands unerringly knowing just where to go to have the hound letting out little rumbles and whines of pleasure. That painfully familiar feeling settles around him and without even knowing why, Alex feels a few tears rolling down his cheeks.

  Corvus watches the pair, rubbing the underside of his beak thoughtfully. He hadn’t been aware of this creature so close to one of the Nexus Points. Then again, his splinters were normally unable to venture away from where they were created. Perhaps he has spent too much time in his private lounge at Pinnacle Tower. His territory is self-sufficient and operates smoothly without his intervention, so he hadn’t returned there in nearly an age. He’ll have to remedy that sooner than later.

  The crow settles down to sit on the stoop, his elegant wings folding around his shoulders like a cloak and he lays his hands in his lap. Watching Alex and Hara fills his heart with a sense of contentment. Two beings brought together out of random chance. Neither connected by plots or schemes or long-laid plans. He smiles, the expression carried more by his eyes since he has a beak. But it’s a smile all the same. He’s been part of Hell’s eternal cycle for so long that novelty has become the most precious thing to him. And he drinks this in as though he were dying of thirst.

  Alex reluctantly lets his hand slide off Hara’s head. “We’d better be moving on. We need to reach…” He trails off, looking over to Corvus. “What was the name of that next town again?” Alex asks, breaking Corvus out of his thoughts.

  “New Europa. We’re about three days of travel away, at our current pace.” Corvus answers. He once more shifts into his smaller guise, flapping up to land on Alex’s shoulder. “And you’re correct, we should be on the move soon. I would like us to reach the Abyssal Grotto territory before you need to sleep again.”

  Alex glances over at the crow with raised brows. “Abyssal Grotto? That sounds ominous.” He glances back in the direction they’d come from. “Guessing it’ll be more dangerous than this place?”

  Corvus shakes his head. “Hardly. Despite having the ominous name, the grotto is actually quite safe. Well, it is safe as long as you don’t intend harm to its occupant.” He finishes with a chuckle. At Alex’s questioning look, he continues. “You will understand when we arrive. I do not believe I can do it justice with words.”

  Alex just shrugs and adjusts the knapsack on his shoulder. “Alright then. Let's head out.” He says, and turns to Hara to say farewell.

  The hound had been listening to her new friends talk. They weren’t going to stay. The more they talked about leaving, the further her ears wilted. She doesn’t want them to go. The first nice people she’s made friends with since her first friend long ago. She lets out a keening whine as Alex turns towards her, burning amethysts locked onto his face. “Stay. Don’t go. Please?” She asks in her simplistic way. Her earnestness and loneliness are heavy in her voice.

  That makes Alex freeze as he was about to say goodbye. He frowns and shakes his head. “We can’t. I can’t. I need to get to New Europa. If I don’t, I might not be able to get another Animus before it’s too late for me.” He tries to explain. That’s when he realizes Hara has Animus, at least three of them. A half formed thought of trying to get one of hers flits through his mind, but Alex mercilessly quashes that idea before it can even fully form. Shaking off that inner conflict, he continues to speak, “So yeah, I have to go Hara. I’m sorry.”

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  The hound whines sadly, unknowingly giving Alex the universe’s most potent puppy-eyes. She doesn’t want to be alone anymore. She wants her friends. She looks past Alex at her special place. Where she had lived with her first friend. Where she had waited so long for him to come back. Was he going to come back? Maybe… Maybe Hara could…

  As if sensing her thoughts and turmoil, Alex kneels down and reaches to rub the side of the hound’s neck. “Do you want to come with us?” He asks on an impulse, giving a quick glance to Corvus for the crow’s opinion. Corvus just bobs his head in a nod. Alex looks back to Hara, noticing the hound’s ears had started to lift again, the light in her eyes looking more hopeful than distraught again.

  Hara looks a few more time between her new friends and her special place. Her home. Her heart is breaking as she thinks about leaving. But some part of her, some little whisper in the back of her mind, knows the truth. She focuses on Alex’s kind face. “Please?” She just asks simply.

  Alex smiles. “Yeah, come with us.” He says, giving her neck another scratch. Hara lets out a soft yip and steps in closer to Alex, pressing her snout against his chest.

  She breathes in the smell of new friends. “OK, Hara go with.” She says. “Hara go with new friends.” Decision made, Hara starts to wag again.

  Alex smiles and pats her side before standing up. “Then it’s settled. Welcome to the team.” He says, grinning at her. It’s impossible for him not to like the hound. He still doesn’t understand what it is, but that intense sense of familiarity feels sated when she agrees to travel with them. Like a missing piece put back in its place. “Let's head out then.” Alex says, and starts to walk away from the ruined shack.

  Hara falls into step beside Alex, trotting along with him and Corvus. But as they get close to the game-trail she comes to a stop. She looks back over her shoulder. “Wait. Hara be right back.” She says quickly before bolting back through the high grass. She runs up to the stoop before slowing, then slowly climbs the few stairs and goes inside. She looks around, then lowers her head almost to the floor and slowly approaches the clothes in the corner.

  She remembers waking up laying on them, the last time she thinks she saw her first friend. She can’t remember him clearly, just vague impressions. She lowers her nose to the old fabric and whispers in her mind. “Thankyou. Hara going to go now. Hara sorry for leaving.” Then she backs away and turns to go, returning to Alex and Corvus.

  She tries to make herself wag, tries to make her ears stand up taller, tries to walk with a bounce in her steps. New friend Alex smiles at her, but it’s a little bit of a sad smile, just like her wag is a little bit of a sad wag. He seems to understand.

  With Hara’s size, Alex doesn’t need to reach to put his hand on the back of her neck. He gives her a little pat, then starts to walk with her falling into step right beside him. He knows leaving home must be hard for the hound, and he can tell she’s putting on a brave act. “So an ancient crow-demon, a human soul, and a Hellhound walk into a bar…” Alex starts to say.

  Corvus just snorts and Alex could swear he saw the crow roll his eyes. Hara looks up at Alex with her head cocked to the side. “What’s a bar?” Alex chuckles and rubs Hara’s ears. “What’s a bar? And why walk into it?” She asks again, looking between Alex and the crow. Neither answer, but both seem to be trying not to laugh. “Why laughing? What is bar?” Hara asks insistantly. “Tell Hara!”

  Eventually Corvus breaks down and explains what a bar is, and why it is funny for them. Hara doesn’t quite understand, but if it made her friends happy and made them laugh, it’s good enough for her.

  The trio follow the game-trail, falling into a companionable silence as they walk. The ever-present light makes it quite difficult to know how long they travel that way. But at some point, Corvus lets out a caw and launches from Alex’s shoulder. “Alex, over here.” He says, circling around a tall stalk of a plant. “This is a wild version of the green tuber that Mora cooked. If you dig up the root, you will have some easy food.”

  Alex jogs over to where Corvus indicates and examines the plant. Hara gives it a few sniffs too, but turns her nose up at it. At Corvus’s urging, Alex gets down on his knees and starts to dig the plant out of the sandy pebble-bed. A few inches beneath the sand and gravel, Alex’s hands encounter soil. Just a little, packed into the cracks of a break in the more solid rock. The tuber grows up through the widest part, and with a little more work, Alex pulls it up from the ground.

  The pale-green tuber is about the size of Alex’s forearm, and as big around. He holds it under his nose, finding it has a rich earthy smell. His mouth waters as he remembers the meal with Mora, Galla, and Collin. “Anything I need to do to prepare it?” He asks Corvus.

  The crow flutters to land on the knapsack. “No, it is safe to eat raw. Though you should either wash it, or use your knife to cut-away the outer skin. Just to avoid the grit.” Corvus answers.

  Alex unsheathes the knife and starts to carefully peel the tuber’s outer skin away, revealing the brighter inner green. Then when it seems clean enough, he cuts a slice off and pops it into his mouth. The taste is crisp and earthy, but quite bitter. Nothing like when Mora had fixed it. But food is food, and having it in hand reminds his stomach how long it’s been since he ate. He chews, swallows, and goes in for another bite. In short-order, he’s eaten almost half of it. Feeling a bit more satisfied, Alex examines the remaining half.

  “Corvus, this is bitter. I’m guessing the way it gets cooked changes the flavor?” The crow caws an acknowledgement and Alex nods, cutting a few slices off and offering them to Hara. She once more turns her nose up at the tuber. Alex chuckles while unslinging the knapsack to put the tuber inside. “So what are these called?” He asks.

  Corvus shifts to Alex’s shoulder and answers. “They are uncreatively called ‘green-root’. They are a fairly ubiquitous staple of food-stuffs in Hell. They grow in almost all territories, cultivated or not.” He explains. “About the only region that will not have them are the areas directly around the Nexus Points.”

  Alex pops the last few slices he cut off into his mouth, then re-sheathes the knife. “Well, at least I won’t starve. Maybe I can try roasting the other half later.” He muses, then he turns to Hara. “Guessing you prefer meat?” he asks.

  The hound looks up at him with perked ears. “Hara like meat. Hara also like shiny rock.” she says in her puppy-speak way.

  Alex chuckles and rubs her ears. “Maybe you can catch something as we go then.” He says as Hara lets out some pleasant rumbles at the ear-rubs. “So you eat rocks too?” He asks, not entirely surprised.

  “Uh huh! Shiny rocks, best taste. No shiny, taste bleh.” Hara answers, making Alex chuckle.

  Corvus cuts their small break short with a question of his own. “Hara, do you know how to use Intent-Movement? You seem to have instinctively been using telepathy, and I am curious if the other skills will come as easily to you.”