Lugo and Tsugi drew their weapons and looked around, but there wasn't a single movement.

Kildo jumped off his horse, ran in front of them and bent over to pick something up. "You guys almost ran this little one over." He turned around holding a baby jinky (a very small scaly creature that could fit in the palm of your hand, big head and ears with big eyes and short little arms and legs).

"What are you doing?!" Lugo yelled, jumping off his horse. "Put it down!"

"What?" Kildo said bewildered. "Wh...OW!" It bit him and he dropped it. Its bones cracked and popped as it grew bigger and bigger until it towered them.

"Now you've done it!" Lugo said. He readies his sword. "Tsugi get your waterskin ready!" Lugo launched himself at the creature and swung his sword with one smooth motion, slicing through the creature's arm.

The scaly snakelike skin pulled apart, bloody yellow fat protruded, the bright red striated muscles were sliced and left giant holes of veins and arteries squirting blood onto the ground. Its arm falls to the ground with a loud thump. It swung its tail into Lugo and pushed him against the rock wall.

Lugo grunted as he struggled to push the tail away. The nub on the creature began to wiggle and move as if something was crawling out of it. The bones grew and the joint fluids formed, the bloody muscles stretched out of the nub and wrapped themselves around the newly formed bones. Yellow clumps of fat tissue crawled out like worms to cover the muscle and the snake-like skin enveloped it.

With wide eyes, Tsugi and Kildo advanced. "No! Just wait for my signal!" Lugo yelled. He sliced through the tail and continued to chop off the creature's limbs, but they grew back almost instantaneously. The ground was covered in blood and body parts strewn everywhere. Soon the limbs started growing back slower and slower.

Lugo climbed onto the creature's back and used his sword to pry the creature's mouth open. "Tsugi now! Pour the water into its mouth!"

Tsugi jumped onto the creature's flailing arms, and the creature let out an angry roar.

"Phew! It's got horrid breath!" Tsugi gasped and poured the water into its mouth. The creature slowly shrank. Tsugi hopped off and observed as it became this tiny palm sized creature again. Lugo held the creature by the scruff of its neck between his finger and his thumb as it squealed and swung its teeny tiny arms and legs, attempting to reach its head around to bite Lugo.

"This little guy can be a very big pain in the butt." Lugo panted. "Don't let its cuteness trick you. It's a monster in disguise." Lugo tosses it over the side of the cliff, and its squealing voice fades away. "So what did we learn?" He looked at Kildo.

"Never trust cute things." One of the blacksmith said as they all laughed.

"Hey, at least we got some food!" Kildo picked up a bloody limb.

"No." Lugo threw the limbs over the edge. "Because they can regenerate so fast, the limbs will also rot very fast, look." He picked up an arm that had already turned black and smelled like sewage.

"Let's keep going." Lugo hopped back on his horse.

They went over the last rocky ridge when the sun had started to set over the horizon as it lit up the world below.

A vast grassland covered in beautiful colorful flowers, a cherry blossom tree sat in the middle as the petals drifted in the wind. The sky was a beautiful pink and purple sunset with only a few clouds in the sky. A small river traveled from the mountainside into a sizable lake in the middle of the field; a ganjo could be seen drinking water from it. Bird-like creatures were flying far off in the distance.

"Whoa." Everyone gasped in awe.

Tsugi was the only one who didn't say a word. He simply closed his eyes and took in a deep whiff of fresh air.

"Alright. We should reach Thandeur in two days." Lugo ushered his horse down the mountain side. "We will make our way to the lake and rest there for the night. We will leave first thing in the morning."

***

After pitching a tent and making sure the women and children were comfortable, Tsugi unsaddled the horses and let them graze. He went over to the lake and took up a handful of water, to wash his face and neck. Ruzo was so excited to see water, he was zooming everywhere like crazy again, jumping in and out of the water, splashing water at Tsugi.

"At least someone is enjoying himself." Tsugi muttered and smiled, reaching for another handful of water.

"So you do know how to smile!" Lugo gasped. Tsugi wiped the smile from his face and continued to wash his neck. "Come now, don't do that."

"What?"

"You have a nice smile. You should smile more often."

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Tsugi blushed at the sudden compliment. He's never been complimented on anything before, and didn't understand this weird feeling.

"You should always try to smile every now and then." Lugo filled a teapot with water. "Even if you force yourself to smile, it tricks the brain to enlighten your heart, even just for a little bit. So next time when you feel down or sad, just smile. It will help...and if it doesn't...you'll feel stupid and laugh and then you'll feel better."

Lugo gave Tsugi a big cheesy grin and Tsugi chuckled at his stupidly weird, twisted face.

"Ah! See?" Lugo's eyes lit up. "Life is too short to waste it worrying about things you can't control." He leaned toward Tsugi, "smile." He raised his eyebrows and strutted back towards the fire.

Tsugi looked down at his own reflection in the water and forced on a crooked smile. His face was awkwardly contorted, his muscles moved and twitched unnaturally. He felt stupid and chortled taking off his boots and socks to wash his feet.

"Uh...Tsugi?" A small voice came from behind him. Aylin was grasping her cloak with her hand.

"What are you doing here my lady? You should be resting." Tsugi stood up on his bare feet.

"I'm okay for now. I just...I just wanted to wash my feet too." She forced on a smile. Her cheeks lightly flushed.

"Do you have a fever my lady?" Tsugi said worriedly. He quickly approached her and raised his hand toward her forehead. She flinched, stepped back and shut her eyes as if preparing to receive a blow. Tsugi froze, frustrated with himself and let out a big sigh. "My apologies my lady, I'm merely just trying to check your temperature." He said as calmly as he could.

"O...oh." She said after opening an eye just to double check. Tsugi slowly advances his hand and places it on her forehead.

"Doesn't seem like you have a fever." He was confused. "Why are your cheeks red? Are you hurt somewhere?"

"Uh...uh...no, I was just staying too close to the fire." She exclaimed. "That's why I wanted to come wash my feet and cool off by the water."

"I know the lake isn't far from camp, but you shouldn't be walking around by yourself my lady. It's dangerous out here."

"I know. I wasn't going to go anywhere far." She waved her hand in the air.

"Come, I'll help you." He said, looking at her arm in a sling. She sat on a rock and let Tsugi untie her boots, pull her socks off and wash her feet. There were rough calluses on the soles of her feet, the scabs peeled away revealing the bright pink scars underneath. The bruises around her ankle and calves had healed from a dark bluish purple to a faint yellow. "How're you doing with the journey my lady?"

"I'm fine."

"How about the others? Is there anything I can do to make this journey a bit more bearable?"

She shook her head.

"If you think of anything, please don't hesitate to let me know."

She nodded in response. "What will you do after this is over?" She asked.

"I will go back and train while I wait for more orders."

"Have you been sent on a lot of...um...situations like this?"

"No. I've done other simple things but not like this."

"Isn't it dangerous to do these kinds of missions?"

"Not if you know what you are doing, my lady."

"Don't you have parents that worry about you?"

Tsugi froze in the middle of washing her feet and stared into the ground. "No." He dried her foot with the bottom of his cloak and put her socks and shoes back on. "It's getting late, My Lady. We have a long day tomorrow. You should go back and rest."

After dinner Tsugi escorted the women and children to their tent.

It was Tsugi and Lugo's turn to do night watch. After making sure everyone was safely inside their tents, Tsugi checked around the perimeter before returning to sit by the open fire.

"How're they doing?" Lugo asked.

"They'll be fine. We're almost back."

"Something horrible must've happened." Lugo sat on the ground with his legs toward the fire, leaned back on his hands, head tilted backwards and gazed at the dark night sky. The moon was hidden behind clouds, but the faint glow was still visible. "It's heartbreaking to see how terrified they are."

"You have family?" Tsugi asked.

"No." He had an emptiness in his voice. "It's just me."

"They have family." Tsugi stared into the fire as it flickered. "And I'm going to make sure I get them home."

"That makes two of us." Lugo pressed his lips together into a smile. "You make yourself appear to be really dark and cold, but I know deep down you're a good person."

Tsugi scoffed. "What makes you say that?"

"Why else would you care so much for them?"

"It's part of my mission." Tsugi shrugged.

"No. I don't think that's it. I know you try not to show it, but deep down you're a good person. I just know it, call it intuition. I mean, it may be deep, deep, deep , DEEP down." They both chuckled. "Yes! I got a laugh." He raised his fist triumphantly.

"You're an idiot." Tsugi chuckled again.

"Yes! I got another one!"

Tsugi stared into the fire and forced his smile away and cleared his throat. "Only because you're an idiot." He said with a stern face.

"Hey, if that's what it takes to get a smile out of you, I'd gladly be an idiot anytime. It took a lot, but I'm slowly getting there." He smirked.

"Why are you so insistent on making me laugh?"

"Because, I enjoy it. What is life without a little joy? So, if I have plenty of joy, why not share it?"

"Keep your joy to yourself. It will run out one day."

"Why must you always have to get so dark?" He chuckled. "Besides, I will never run out of joy to share."

"Are you going to return to Mitheryn after this is done?"

"No."

"Where are you going then?"

"I don't know. I will go wherever my feet take me."