Blue Grass immediately broke her acting, eyes shooting wide open, “who is there?”

“Alive are you? And a feisty one. When you meet new people it’s only proper for you to give your name first.” The weird monkey spoke from beneath them, finally entering Blue Grass’s field of view.

“My name is blue grass!”

“I, I am Fellfren.”

“Blue Grass, huh? Wonderful name, wonderful. It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Elbis. Now how did you get yourself stuck like that?” He said, putting his light source down and sitting on the forest floor.

“I don’t really know what happened, could you help me?”

“But why of course! That’s what friends are for.”

“Thank you so much!”

“Thank you,” wobbled Fellfren, a bit unsure about their new “friend”.

The newcomer sat up from the ground and made a move towards the tree they were stuck to, only to stop.

“Wait, what if this is a trap for me? How do I know that you are not dangerous?”

Blue Grass had just stayed up all night, waiting for a predator. She was tired, she was hurting everywhere and that’s not even counting everything that happened in the past 48 hours. She started to cry.

“I- I would never! H-how c-could you say something like t-that!” The sharp movement of her sobs entrenching the wire deeper inside her flesh little by little.

“It’s alright, Blue Grass, I don’t think they meant you were lying, just-” Fellfren tried to speak.

“Alright, alright! I won’t doubt you, just give me a second. And try not to move around too much. ” The monkey said, with a smile.

The two were brought down gently and laid on the soft ground, but that didn’t stop Blue Grass from hissing as the pressure on her wounds lessened.

The lantern illuminated the sorry sight that was her body. In the light flooding in betwixt blades of grass, dark ichor shone on the threads that had bitten her flesh.

“Oh, you poor thing,” the monkey said as he approached warily, “rest now, I will bring you to my abode.”

All Blue Grass could muster was a weak blink, before being taken by her slumber.

“Be careful,” Fellfren said, to no apparent response.

The monkey crouched above the unconscious form of their friend, with a grim look on his face.

“Now let’s see here,” the monkey said as he gently touched her neck, only to jump backwards, falling flat on the ground.

“Fucker!” He screamed, getting back on his feet and positioning himself for battle much faster than his earlier movements would indicate.

The seconds dragged on as the hunter stared at the sleeping bunny, ready for an attack that never came.

Slowly, he approached her again, even more carefully this time.

“Can you understand me?” Fellfren suspected they knew what was happening, but they had to make sure.

The hunter proceeded to touch Blue Grass’s neck, pulling out their hand the very same second.

“Cold aspect? On a rabbit?”

And not answering Fellfren at all. Despite the fact that they could “hear” all the sounds around them,

only Blue Grass could hear them.

“Intriguing, but this does make things harder for me,” the monkey grumbled as he removed a layer of his armor.

The next hours passed slowly under Fellfren’s watchful gaze.

First the monkey brought to bear an object which glinted in their hands, and on their knees they clipped the threads which bound their friend.

Without the foreign threads interfering, her wounds knitted themselves until there was no sign of her struggle but the traces of black blood left behind.

“How curious, Cold and Regeneration? A double aspect bunny? That’s impossible. Jerian will know.”

Carefully, as if picking up a newborn, the monkey wrapped Blue Grass on their armor and trudged the forest until they reached a small cabin, the sun having risen enough that the lantern on their hip was purely decorative by the time they arrived.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Blue Grass was laid on top of a straw mattress besides a window, and was soon joined by their savior.

He checked her condition, and when found everything to be ok, opened a small trapdoor and went underneath the house.

For the first time in quite a while, Fellfren was alone. Truthfully, with how connected they were with their friend, bearing her exhaustion in and of itself was taking a lot of them, but they didn’t like this situation at all.

They were used to politics, and there were so few voices to pay attention to that they could not help but hyper-analyze their behavior a little. The non-mushroom acted overly friendly, as if one offering resources out of the kindness of their heart- but when a connection was established it could be poisoned, they would stay alert. Blue Grass might know how to navigate the jungle, but this was their territory.

They also realized how used they got to hearing things, if they really focused on it they could see how it was just electrical signals being produced in response to some weird structures on the ears of Blue Grass. Mystery solved.

Fellfren’s musings were interrupted by the monkey returning, this time wearing much less armor and exposing their soft, easily dessicated tissue underneath. In his now gloved hands there was a weird, squarish object, in the color of a grayish blue and with gaps around it’s sides.

“There we go, ah, I can kill earthen-bears now but stairs are an issue? It’s just not right.” He grumbled as he closed the trapdoor.

“Now come here,” he gently scooped the limp form of Blue Grass into the cage, with nary a twitch from her whiskers.

Fellfren didn’t like where this was going.

A dark cloth was put over the cage, and they started moving.

The darkness, the swaying of the cage, the soft rustling of leaves and even the quiet breathing of their “host” was a little too much for Fellfren, and they lost the battle against sleep. Darkness took them.

<>

[Emberglow's lost heir/mushi x bunny adventures unchained is only available at RoyalRoad by DrySolace]

<>

Fellfren woke up to the sound of soft and wet cracking noises. It took them but a second to realize how they failed in their vigil, and go on alert.

Everything was dark, and the source of the noise was apparent. Their companion was still asleep.. but she was eating.

“I can appreciate the efficiency… but I would rather you just didn’t sleep,” they wobbled.

Only two things changed, the pieces of digestible material on the floor of their prison, and a a suspicious object dangling right above them.

“Blue grass?” They called.

“Rawr… run… fools…” she muttered.

“Blue grass!”

“Hey! Hi! I am here! Not late! No, never late! Ah!” She barraged as she stood, hitting the dangling object above. It was a bell.

Ring!

“Auh? Ah, finally, awake?” Said the deep voice of her new friend, before letting out a long yawn.

“Yes! Awake!” Blue grass Immediately felt relief on knowing that their surroundings were safe, they were not alone after all.

“Well, we both got our dose of rest… it’s time to get to business,” He said, before pulling the curtain above Blue Grass’s cage and bathing her and the hidden Fellfren in a flood of bright, yellow light emanating from an orb on the ceiling.

“Bright!”

“Yeah, it is bright, bet you never seen anything like that, eh? It’s like a mini-sun.” He smiled, gesturing towards the glowing ball on the ceiling.

“Ah…” Blue Grass was speechless.

“…It doesn’t feel like the sun.” Fellfren pointed out.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

And before Fellfren could answer, the monkey continued.

“Just what it sounds like, a way to banish the darkness no matter how late. You see… you are not in the wilds anymore, you are in a City, the City of Nemoa.”

Blue Grass, so enraptured, forgot that her question wasn’t even directed at the man.

“What is… a city?” For some reason, the word resonated with her, it felt… familiar.

“A city is where people gather, our humble Nemoa has around 500 people, and oftentimes double that in visitors, it is mostly used as a stop to rest and resupply before going towards the wilds.”

“Five… hundred.. I don’t know if I have ever even counted that many trees in the forest.” She mumbled, astonished.

“I-” Fellfren started to speak, only to be interrupted again.

“Ah, yes. I suppose that would be a lot for you, but there are even bigger cities, with thousands of citizens. And they get bigger the closer you get to the heart of the empire. How about you? How many are in the place where you came from?” The monkey leaned towards the cage with interest.

“I don’t know how many animals there are… but I know there are less of them than trees,” memories of the desolate landscape she woke up in rush to the forefront of her mind, she did that. She-

“Ah, that is not what I meant, little one. How many could speak?” Somehow, he sounded even more friendly.

Before Blue Grass could say anything, Fellfren interjected, “I feel like there is something wrong, Blue Grass. Maybe we shouldn’t tell them everything.”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

There was a small, hesitant moment before the monkey and Fellfren spoke at the same time.

“I just have a bad feeling about this.”

“Why wouldn’t you all speak? Well, how many are there then?”

One voice filled with worry, and another with interest, it was just a bit too much for Blue Grass.

She tensed her posture, and chastised them,

“both of you, one at a time!”

After a small, uncomfortable pause, the monkey spoke,

“But there’s only me and you here, who are you talking with?” While looking at the walls and specially the door.

Fellfren sat in condemned silence,

“No.” Said Blue Grass

The monkey approached the cage in careful steps.

“Who else do you hear?”

She felt her mushroom crown in its stealthy shape vibrate the slightest bit.

“I figured out they can’t hear me a little while ago, but this is good, it means-”

“No!”

Blue grass was shaking.

“No no no no no!”

The tiny island of friendship that she learned to rely on with all her being, shattered.

<>

[Emberglow's lost heir/mushi x bunny adventures unchained is only available at RoyalRoad by DrySolace]