July 2023 ver.

He awoke with a nose full of fur. The birds were singing and the sun toasted him through his window. The teen reached up to pet the black cat curled in front of his face. Excitement was bubbling already.

“Today’s the day, Maddie.” Avery whispered to her only to receive her content unrelated rumbles in reply. He bounced up, much to her protest, and took a moment to stretch before he changed. A knock sounded at his door and he quickly chirped, “I’m up!”

“Gramps said the stuff is ready too.” Rowan had been traveling a while so he was ready to go, but Avery and his sister had quickly realized they weren’t the least bit prepared. He had everything he planned to take with him in a neat pile on his dresser. Not that it was very much at all. Gloves, a book, a water canteen, socks, and now his blanket. Anything else needed would have to be picked up along the way.

He could hear Rowan knocking on Devin’s door, “Devin! Deeeeevin. Wake up, Sunflower.” Some of her incoherent groaning came through too. Avery scooped his stuff to head down. His ear swiveled as he heard his kin behind him. He paused to wait. Their cousin opened the back door for them to use the stairs since his supplies were already in a pack.

They filed in the front door with the typical varying levels of energy. Avery felt like he could run a marathon.

“Good morning, clan Chanoix.” It was so early the shop wasn’t even open yet.

“Morning-,” some said gramps, others grandpa.

A clutter of items lay on the counter awaiting their new owners. A sack like backpack with a drawstring and latch down flap. Their grandfather put a hand on it. “For you, Devin. May it assist you as it did me.” The sleepy one perked up a bit as the item was offered to her.

“Thanks, gramps. It really means a lot.” She wasted no time loading it up. Not that she had much either.

“Avery.” He gestured to another bag, “A satchel is not ideal for a long journey thus I took the liberty of sewing some new additions.” He could sew? Avery set down his stuff to lift the satchel and look it over in awe. There were some sturdy straps in parallel on the back of it so he didn’t have to carry it at his side. He was about to start loading it when Chanoix slid over another item. A book.

“Oh, uh, I already picked something out to take.”

He shook his head then clarified, “This is a journal.” A small box with writing utensils was also slid over. “I thought perhaps you would appreciate the opportunity to catalog your adventures as I did.”

Avery’s ears lifted straight up as he opened the small leather bound tome to blank pages. “But… what do I write about?”

“Anything you desire. Write as if only for you. I’m confident a slew of ideas will spring forth.” They shared a smile.

“Thank you!” He went to load it up only for Rowan’s hand to dart out and grab his wrist. He blinked at him, “R-Rowan?”

His grip faded and moved to the journal, “Why don’t you let me carry those for now?”

“Uh… okay?” While the feline wasn’t certain what the reason was, he trusted his cousin so he went along. Maybe he knew something that wasn’t privy to him? Rowan also fished his ‘recreational’ book out to add to his own bag. Avery’s eyes flicked to him nervously, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to draw closer attention to it.

Soon enough he was distracted as Chanoix spoke again, “Devin, I possess an additional item for you as well.”

“Y-you do?” They all glanced along the counter to see there was some leather still heaped on it.

He brought it in front of her, “My purposes likely varied drastically from what yours will entail.” He tacked on, “Fighting carpal tunnel. However, a good bracer has many uses. It occurred it may aid you for your particular brand of defense.” His sister took a moment to ogle the set of leather wrist bracers before slipping them on and tightening them. It diminished the movement of the joint slightly, but that probably meant she was less likely to hurt it fighting.

Rowan gave her a nudge, “Take good care of those. They’ll be super handy if you have to stick your arm in a wolf’s mouth.”

Avery puffed up, “Wh-why would she have to do that?”

“Well, we’re going to have to camp out a lot. Sometimes the wildlife gets uppity and you gotta smack them down. And it’s better they get your forearm rather than your throat.” He spoke so matter of fact, like it wasn’t even a real problem.

“…what about bears?”

“Bears? What about bears?”

“Will we have to fight bears too?” Avery squeaked.

“Eh,” Rowan shrugged, “better to back off, too much work to dominate a bear.” Was it just him or was it suddenly really hot in here? The young man continued on not really noticing that Avery was having second thoughts, “I guess… it’s time isn’t it?”

Their grandfather frowned, but agreed. He went to Devin first. The two hugged each other and Devin pecked his cheek. They parted with a sniffle. “Bye, gramps. Love you.”

“Remember what we spoke of.”

His eyes met his grandpa’s. Chanoix seemed uncertain if he should hug him so Avery lunged in. He could hear his elder fighting tears next to his ear. It seemed he also picked up on his youngest’s rising panic. “Stay close to Rowan. Trust in his guidance.”

Then he approached Rowan. They gave each other bitter sweet expressions. Their grandfather placed his hand on his eldest’s shoulder and squeezed. A couple pats followed and Rowan simply nodded bringing unspoken dialogue to a close.

For a moment they stayed where they were, not quite sure if they really were ready to say goodbye. Avery couldn’t stop glancing between each of his family members. Chanoix nodded to say it was okay. Devin frowned, feeling nearly as mixed up as Avery. Rowan offered a smile. He knew he’d respect it if they suddenly changed their minds. This was it after all. They had to make a decision.

Devin started to move, then stopped, breathed, and took the first steps toward the door. She opened it and squared herself before exiting.

“I love you. Remember to write and visit.” He could tell their grandfather was struggling to keep a positive tone.

“We love you too and we’ll be back sooner than you think.” After he said it, Avery thought on how dumb that phrase actually was. It was supposed to be comforting. He certainly meant it as comforting, but what use was it really? That still wouldn’t really be soon enough when grandpa didn’t want them to leave in the first place.

He followed after Devin and Rowan followed him. Their cousin slid into the lead and set off toward the main street. Their leader didn’t look back. But this decision was already gnawing at Avery’s heart. The boy came to a stand still before they were out of sight. He looked to see their grandfather standing in the open doorway. He was more broken than ever, but the man put on another smile to wave him off. Avery answered in kind. When he turned to continue he nearly collided into Devin. Her hand lowered. They stared at each other a moment. Her arm wrapped around his shoulders and they continued on like that for the next few blocks.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

x x x

Every step was agony. “H-how,” he panted, “do you do this for months on end?”

“Why don’t we take a break here?” Rowan stepped off to the side of the path and sat on a rock. Avery dropped to his hands and knees in the grass to catch his breath. They’d been walking for hours. Devin wasn’t as visibly distraught. Her breathing was heavy though and it was good to know it was taking a toll on her too. She was more focused on stretching her hips. Rowan seemed amused by their struggle. He still offered encouragement, “It’s hard at first, but you’ll bulk up and get used to it.”

“I-I’m not sure if I want to…”

“We could always go back. You guys don’t have to come with me. I won’t hold it against you if you change your mind.”

Devin scuffed a boot in the dirt and Avery studied their surroundings. He started to babble something out, “Yeah, but… maybe…” he admittedly got distracted very quickly taking in the environment, “There’s so many trees I can’t even see the sky here.”

He noticed his sister tilting her head in his peripheral, “That would be a typical forest for you.” Devin finally rested against one of the aforementioned trees, crossing her arms as she sassed him.

Avery concluded his dramatics and dropped his rear to the ground, “W-well it’s new to me, okay?” They both gave him a funny look.

“New? Wait. Have you never been to a proper patch of woodland?” Rowan was the one to ask.

“No?” His tone was defensive, off-put by their judging stares. “I’ve never been outside the limits of Terring.”

Devin tipped her head further, “I go to the outskirts all the time. Did I really never bring you with me?”

He shrugged, “You asked once I think, but I wasn’t in the mood.”

“That’s… upsetting.” Now he was the one giving Rowan strange looks at such a remark. The eldest pointed at Devin, “And you’ve never been to a town other than Terring, right?”

She averted her gaze, “Well, technically, before we moved here…”

“Yeah, but you were only-” their cousin did some blatant math on his fingers subtracting from his own age at the time, “Six? Guess that’s why you’ve both been fidgety.”

The siblings snipped in unison, “Have not!” They glared at each other. He hated when they did that. Even if it wasn’t often. People always made a big fuss over the cat-eared siblings talking in unison.

“It’s okay to be a bit sca-.” His cousin thought better, looking away from them, placing a hand to the back of his neck with his correction coming out one syllable at a time, “Ap-pre-hen-sive. I was when I left. Probably more than you since I was alone. The size of one territory is… daunting. Let alone the entire country. For whatever it’s worth, I wasn’t sure one way or the other before, but now I think you both coming with me is the right choice.”

“Oh? You didn’t want us tagging along before?” They knew by Devin’s tone she was playing it up to give him a hard time.

But even so, Rowan wanted to be clear, “That’s not what I mean. There’s always dangers traveling. Dangerous people, supply limitations, wolves, even the weather could kill you. If something happened I’d never forgive myself, but we gotta live life too or what’s the point, yeah? It’s good that you’re both finally going to get to see more than Terring. I kinda can’t wait for you to see a real city like Marion now either.” He shrugged. “I also think traveling helped me learn more about myself and maybe it’ll do that for you too.”

“Okay, can we go back a couple steps though? You keep mentioning wolves. Are you just trying to scare me or is that a consistent problem?” He already wasn’t a huge fan of regular dogs.

“I wouldn’t say consistent?” That uncertain sounding answer whilst rubbing his chin didn’t make him feel better.

Avery scowled. This was seeming more and more overwhelming. But Rowan thought it was the right choice. Grandpa had traveled all over the continent. Possibly even a couple others. Did he really want to turn back to live his whole life in one town? As the only emeran without his sister?

“I want to keep going.” The teen nodded to affirm them and himself. “Otherwise, how am I ever gonna call myself a scholar like grandpa? I’ll want to go back eventually, but not for a while.”

“Devin?” The oldest prodded the middle child so everyone would be on the same page.

She acted like it wasn’t a big decision at all, “Can’t have Avery show me up, can I?” The tip of her tail twitched, suggesting she wasn’t as sure as she sounded.

x x x

Blankets flew out into the air to settle on the ground. Devin inquired of Rowan, “So you said we’re not headed directly to Marion?”

He was scraping some dried leaves on top of sticks, “Yes and no. Small detour. It’s sort of along the way.”

Avery placed his bag at the head of his area and his butt in the middle of it. The cold ground still seeped through the fabric much to his irritation. Bedrolls was on their shopping list for the city. Sundown was approaching on their first day of travel. Rowan got a fire going with an upward wave of the hand.

They were just now dragging the plan out of their leader after hours with him, “So we’re stopping somewhere else first? Why? And where?”

“Well.” He sprawled across from them on his side. “Remember that place I talked about with the poison spitting lizard?”

Devin replied flatly, “The one that almost killed you?”

“Also I think that’d technically be venom?” He hadn’t thought on it much before, but that kind of sounded familiar. Where else had he heard of something like that?

A snap and point at the girl, “That’s the one. I want to check on that village. It’s relatively close and I didn’t get to leave it in the best state. In either way you want to interpret that sentence. Albeit the source of their primary troubles was dead. Still, I want to be sure they’re actually recovering.”

It made enough sense to Avery, but he had to ask, “…and you’re sure you killed the only rampaging beast there, right?”

Rowan chuckled, “Don’t worry. You don’t have to get combat experience yet.” He was quiet a moment before adding on, “Probably.” Why did Rowan seem insistent on making him nervous? Avery wrung his hands together, not quite sure what to do with his nervous energy before remembering he had books in his cousin’s bag. His cousin was already tossing them snack bundles so he might as well ask.

“May I have my books too?”

“Coming at you.”

He accidentally caught them more with his chest than his hands. The boy puffed at the impact. The realization clicked, “Did you put these in your bag so mine wouldn’t be as heavy?”

“Huh? Well, yeah. You looked ready to fall over just a few hours in without them. And you did fall over when we stopped. I thought you might have a hard time and if I could make it easier for you then why not?” Avery blushed, embarrassed that it was obvious before they set out that he couldn’t carry his own weight.

They ate their sad, travel appropriate foods and busied themselves with some before bed tasks. Devin was braiding her hair in the hopes of it requiring less brushing. Rowan was airing out his socks and trying to prattle to them about what their grandfather might be doing without them. Some ideas were more practical than others. He probably wasn’t out trying to find a woman to keep him company. Wink wink. Hint hint. But maybe he would look into hiring some help for the shop with them gone. Meanwhile Avery tried to calm his nerves by jotting something, anything, down. They were going to have to sleep at some point after all with another long, long, long walk ahead of them.

Eventually they were all horizontal and the fire was embers. He wasn’t sure if it was better or worse that he could see fairly well in the dark. The stars were hidden. Nocturnal wildlife scampered about trees and undergrowth often enough to keep drawing his attention. Rowan was a rock between them and the road they were camping off of. Devin seemed to be having trouble too. He noticed she was in a new position every time he glanced her way. Was the whole night going to be like this?

“Are you two still awake?” It made him jump when his cousin suddenly spoke.

“Yeah?” Devin questioned.

Avery added, “I thought you were asleep already.”

“Normally, I think I would be.” He was certain Rowan opened his eyes, but he didn’t seem to focus on anything. Right, he couldn’t see like they could. “I…” Their cousin started, “I know it’s been awhile, but…” he rolled his back to them and hooked a thumb at the space behind him, “Cat pile?”

He didn’t get it. At least not for a few seconds. He made eye contact with Devin. Then it started to flood in as she picked up her stuff. A while was an understatement. Avery scooped his stuff too. A stack of clutter took shape above Rowan’s head.

“Avery, you take the middle.”

He blinked at Devin, “Huh? But you always took the middle when we were little.”

She growled at him, “Well, we’re adults now, okay?”

“Okay…?” Avery put his blanket down directly behind Rowan.

The eldest’s arm raised with an index finger extended, “Just tonight. We speak of this to no one.” Was he joking or serious? It was too muddled to tell. Was both an option?

Devin agreed, “Yeah.” He supposed it would be humiliating to admit to someone that they couldn’t sleep otherwise given their ages. She hunkered down on Avery’s other side. The boy laid, looking up at the leaves shifting above him. He may have lost all the heat he put into the other spot, but lying here wedged between his cousin and his sister’s back quickly had him toasty. “Avery, stop making it weird.”

“Wh-what did I do?” He hadn’t even moved!

His sister continued her lashing, “You’re purring, stop it.”

“I thought it felt kinda nice. Like when Maddie tries to spoon me.”

“Well, I don’t like it. So he needs to cut it out.”

Rowan sighed, “As you wish your majesty…”

Avery added injury to insult, “…Queen Dravidant II.” The boys both giggle-snorted.

There was no immediate reply.

“I hate you both.”