Daire was cooking meat by the fire.

Violet already started digging into her meat. She had a slightly pale complexion but seemed otherwise okay, judging by how she gulped down her meal.

Pebbles sat next to her, uninterested.

Daire tossed the meals to the wolves. Night chowed down immediately, while Light flinched slightly as he moved forward to grab his portion. He had claw marks running across his face, and a small part of his ear had been torn off. With his fur wet and dripping, Light decided it was better just to lay down.

As the wolf gazed at Daire, there was something new in its eyes. It wasn't admiration or loyalty, but it felt like a small piece of camaraderie. Then it was gone as the rabid wold viscously tore into his meal.

Daire tried to harvest honey, but the hive had been completely crushed, and he didn't think harvesting what's left was worth the trouble. He did wonder what this meat would taste like with a honey glaze coated over it.

Daire drooled a little, imagining it.

Honey mustard, barbecue sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise, relish. He missed it all. He didn't necessarily want to eat all of them together or with these kebabs, but he definitely missed American cuisine. The days when he could just go down to the cafe and order whatever he wanted. Going to a buffet to eat to his heart's content. Or even just having a kitchen and access to a grocery store.

Last night Daire dreamed of kebabs with furry rabbit legs chasing him...

Determined, Daire wanted to start a garden when he returned. Plans to buy seeds for tomatoes, lettuce, onions, carrots, potatoes, and corn. It would likely be an odd-looking garden, but all he needed was a little variety. He could finally cook rabbit burger patties and top them with extras and condiments accompanied by mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.

It was a staple of his culture.

If he were Japanese, he might look for rice immediately. Or tea if he were British. The British love their tea...

Eggs would be nice. Scrambled or sunny side up. Omelets too.

And Chicken!

Chicken. Fried chicken. Roasted chicken. Barbecue chicken. Chicken nuggets. Chicken stir-fry. Breaded chicken. Chicken fingers. Chicken parmesan. Braised chicken. Sweet and sour chicken.

There were so many ways to cook them. He wished he had comatose chickens instead of bunnies.

He needed to buy a couple of live chickens and start a coop.

Daire drooled. Imagining it.

However, right now, continuing to cook, he looked towards the giant black bear sitting quietly on the opposite side of the fire. Its fur was wet, so it looked like a giant black rat instead of a ferocious bear.

Huge eyes stared into him. Anticipation.

He turned out to be a giant lug. The reason for its rampage was the map of bee stings poked into his face.

Its size seemed abnormal to Daire. Normally only grizzly's should be this size. Black bears were usually smaller, but this one was more than 8ft long. Despite this, it was looking at Daire with large round eyes as if a puppy.

Daire looked over in Willow's direction as he cooked even more rabbit meat.

Why couldn't you attract a wild horse? Or a buck? A moose. A blue-nosed reindeer!

Why bear of all things?

And where was his [Beast Tamer] class?

Daire assumed this had been Willow's doing. Like all the other things happening. He had already fought the wolves, coming out on top, albeit injured. This time had been cleaner for him. Rougher for Light. Yet, the attacker was another carnivore!

He stared hard at the Willow tree that shifted in the breeze.

Are you trying to eat into my meat industry? Are these rabbits a problem for you too?

No answer...

It wasn't all bad. A convenient pack mule was delivered to him just when he needed one.

The entire chase and fight only took about two minutes in total. Adrenaline and fear stretched the time. It only took a few seconds for Light to get swatted out of the air and come out with fresh war wounds.

The main downside was that his expensive solar charger broke. He had dropped it when he heard the roar. Costing over five hundred hundred dollars, it was more expensive than his crappy phone.

He grumbled.

Daire blamed himself and not the bear. Despite breaking it, he wasn't super upset. He had another way to charge his devices. An electric girl was sitting right next to him.

"Hey-"

Daire was about to ask Violet if she was able to charge his phone but stopped himself.

Violet was lying on her back with her eyes closed. Her breathing was rough, and her entire body was sweating profusely. Her food lay half-finished, and Pebbles was poking her with his tongue.

Daire threw the half-cooked meat towards the bear and rushed to Violet, scooping her up.

She was still conscious. Speaking through a strained voice.

"Seems I overtaxed myself."

Clearly in pain, Daire gently carried her in his palms, bringing her to Willow. Terrified.

He knew it was odd that she was able to stun a one-ton bear. Before, Violet said she could barely shock a human, so where the hell did she get all that energy?

Placing her in the center of Willow, where Lightning had struck countless times before, Daire backed off. He didn't know if lightning would fix it, but Daire knew it couldn't harm her.

Daire couldn't wait for Lightning to strike twice.

Instinct took over.

Daire stood stock straight.

Feeling the solid earth beneath his feet, the wind shooting around him, and for once, he felt the fire in his heart. It boiled in his blood. Churning. It was life. It was Fire.

Wind whipped around Daire as he channeled his entire being into the motions. Crimson Fire floated off him like water droplets going in reverse. The ground shook and trembled, an immense weight pressuring. A single dark rumbling cloud formed overhead.

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Colored wind tore around Daire, scratching him, picking up small clumps of grass. A firey tornado funneled up towards the sky as Daire rumbled with indignity.

It didn't have to go that way. If I never ran. If I trained harder. Violet was only trying to help, yet she ended up hurting herself. If...

Daire roared towards the heavens casting down electric fire.

A scarlet bolt impacting Willow.

=

The wolves stopped eating. Watching the human run off with the tinier human.

They could hear the human mumbling something.

They looked to the bear who was greedily eating the meat the human left behind.

Night and Light snorted and looked back towards the human who had run to the big tree and was now standing several feet away.

They each thought the pack leader was crazy.

He did stupid things for stupid reasons. Not thinking.

They watched the man as he did another stupid thing.

Wind rustled their fur.

Then it stopped.

When he fell, they weren't surprised. Simply going back to eating.

=

Violet felt better instantly. As if she finished a heavenly feast.

It tasted different.

Not bad...

Just. Different.

Violet searched, vaguely remembering Daire carrying her to Willow while talking under his breath.

Daire sprawled out along the ground.

=

Daire wasn't out for long. He woke up almost immediately.

He wasn't exhausted, drained, or dying.

Daire simply laid in the grass, looking up towards the sky.

The thundercloud dispersed. There was no evidence of anything that happened other than a few small tufts of grass turned over.

Daire's breathing was normal as he was wondering how he could possibly be okay.

"Are you alright?"

Violet asked.

Daire looked up to see Violent on his chest, staring down at him. Her eyebrows were knitted while she had her arms behind her back.

"We shouldn't keep meeting like this."

Daire continued, nonchalant.

"Do you want to finish lunch?"

"Mhm."

Violet rose into the air with her wings, and Daire sat up.

They both walked back to camp.

They walked silently—both of them in their own thoughts.

Daire spoke first.

"Don't do that again."

"Hm?"

"Don't do that again. Please."

"Oh... Mhm, okay."

Violet looked down at her feet. She knew she overextended herself needlessly. Daire wouldn't have been hurt if she hadn't stunned the bear. Violet had just wanted to contribute.

"And thank you. I am glad you were there. I just don't want you to harm yourself. We are supposed to be partners. What would I do without my partner?"

Violet raised her head, whispering a word.

"Partners?"

Daire raised his pinky finger towards Violet.

Violet softly nodded, raising her own pinky finger. Smiling.

"Partners."

=

The rest of the meal passed by normally.

The bear tried to take Daire's food, but he made it catch its own rabbits.

"What should we name it?"

Daire was trying to think of a name. Violet had named everything else, so he thought she would have some input.

"How about Trinket?"

"No, no, no, we can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Vex would be angry."

"I think it's a cute name."

"If Vex found out we named a bear after her own bear, she would be upset."

"I don't think she would be upset."

"She definitely would. We totally beat it up. Why wouldn't she be mad?"

"We didn't kill it. You even fed it. And it's cute too."

Daire looked at the 8ft black bear who was playing in the water like a cub.

It was trying to catch fish but only caught mouthfuls of water.

Daire facepalmed.

"I guess his name is Trinket then."

"Yay!"

Violet celebrated adding another companion to the group by throwing Pebbles into the air three times.

Daire inwardly groaned.

Please don't sue.

=

Back to work addressing his moving wheel problem, Daire thought about how he created lightning. Whatever he did, it couldn't be the correct way. Everything he had done was instinct. He wanted to make lightning appear, so he did.

Daire tried closing his eyes to find the Fire again, but it was absent.

That can't be good.

Nothing he had done could be considered good.

Unknown to Daire, at some point, the black rock in his pocket turned cold as ice.

On the positive side of things, Daire could create a spark between his fingers if he wanted to.

The interesting part was the spark was a dark shade of ruby.

Neat.

Now he had the equivalent of a buzzer gag on standby. Would people recognize it as a prank, or would they immediately attack him?

Finished fixing the tires, he moved on.

Daire was trying to figure out how to create a harness for Trinket. Deciding that was out of the question, he reshaped the poles in front to form an arch that matched Trinket's back. He could pop in and out whenever he wanted.

Done, he tried to come up with some sort of marker that would label trinket as a non-hostile. Guards would never let a rabid bear into town, and most normal people would just run away.

So, Daire spent the rest of the afternoon mixing wet clay and berries.

The clay would act as a kind of paste that would stick and harden somewhat. It wasn't a glaze or paint, but it would work. Somewhat. The berries would make it blue. Daire went over and applied the paint in patterns.

Trinket now looked like a war bear equipped with war paint.

Daire was worried he was becoming a Tamer or a Druid. While Daire liked pet classes, he would leave them to more suitable people. Victor was a better tamer than he, as a King of Dinosaurs.

Daire was already one bear past his comfort zone.

Trinket licked the paint, smelling berries, but spat it out when he realized it was mostly clay.

Finished. Daire spent the rest of the evening and night rounding up bunnies.

After cooking dinner that night, he had a total of 101 rabbits.

The cage could hold slightly more. Double if he made more shelves and maximized space. They were small rabbits, a little less than a foot in each dimension. Each bunny sat calmly, unmindful of their situation and being slightly cramped by their brethren.

Daire tested the food delivery chute, and it worked great!

On top of packing all the things he needed, Daire refined the spears to be more wieldy and aerodynamic. He made an open barrel using Earth magic to carry water and shoved it in the back of the cart.

Getting an idea, Daire sunk the barrels down through the platform. Fusing it with the already made cart, it hung down on the cart's underside, nearly touching the ground. Pleased, he made another symmetrical one next to the first. If the cart ever tilted backward, the barrels would touch the ground, stopping its motion.

Coating the inside edges with condensed gray mana transformed them into water-sealed containers.

Filling the barrels. Refilling his water bottle. Tidying the area and his home. Taking a bath. Rewrapping his wound. Cleaning his clothes. Going over his notes.

By the end, it was midnight.

Daire restlessly lied down. Eager. Excited.

=

The next morning Violet and Daire were at the edge of the clearing.

Violet spent the last few days trying to get used to casting magic. Her mana supply felt all tingly now, grown by a few sizes. Throughout her training, she learned several new moves.

Violet could glow, spark, sting, strike, and dash. And there was that secret thing. So many things! Things galore!

Okay. Maybe not.

Violet sat on the edge of the cart trying to count bunnies. Losing count as they kept moving around.

Daire had promised to make her a new dish if she could correctly guess the number of bunnies in the cage. He said "guess" because it was nearly impossible to count them like this.

"How many do you think there are Pebbles?"

Pebbles plopped next to her, staring into nothingness.

"Mhm, I think so too."

Addressing a busy Daire, she declared.

"There are 100 rabbits. That's my guess. Am I right? Can I try the new food now!"

Violet was giddy. Small sparks dancing off her fingers as she clapped.

Daire looked over his shoulder at her.

"Unfortunately, that is wrong. Please try again later."

Violet deflated.

Instead of trying to count them all again, Violet looked through her own traveling items.

There was the paper sundress she was currently wearing and two other leaf dresses, for variety. Violet was bringing three of her favorite books. One's a mystery she hadn't had a chance to read yet. Another book is a collection of horror stories she thought would be good for nights while sitting around the campfire. The last is a romance novel she has put off finishing because she was pretty sure it ends badly.

Violet only had three books for two reasons.

If they had to abandon ship per se, she wanted to be able to carry her things in a hurry.

The second reason was that she was wearing most of her books...

Her sundress was white, with flickering mana lines running through them at intervals. It was light, blew in the wind, and fireproof.

It was made of books. Her favorite books. The ones she would always remember despite never being able to reread them.

They were a part of her now.

As to why there were no letters on her dress or how it was fireproof...

It's a secret.

A girl has to have at least a few.

Violet scooped up Pebbles. Letting him stick his tongue all over her face, she cradled him in her arms, not letting him slip away.

They were about to leave.

Daire was telling the wolves to behave themselves and was entrusting them to watch over our home. Night looked happy, wagging her tail. Light looked smug and pleased despite his injuries.

Trinket was already in position, ready to push the cart. They were on the northern end of the clearing. Directly to the South was Willow, waving.

Daire faced Violet. His eyes smiled.

"Ready?

"Ready!"

They looked to Trinket. Trinket blinked and nodded.

Trinket huffed, pushing the cart forward.

=

They were only several minutes into their journey when Daire could feel Violet's intense gaze.

He knew he had been putting it off, so he gave in.

"Alright. I'll tell you, okay?"

Violet cheered, getting comfortable. Storytime.

"I don't know if you will necessarily enjoy it, but I'll tell you about her none-the-less."

He started reciting what he knew about Iris Black.