Turning to look at the one who spoke, I was surprised to see Franklin standing a dozen feet from the trunk of the tree. How had I not noticed his approach? Not that I was paying particular attention to my surroundings, but he wasn't the most stealthy, and even the way Kanieta's tails twitched suggested her surprise.

I thought it was at his appearance, but that assumption was proven wrong when she started speaking."That's absurd," Kanieta scoffed, her face twisting from shock to dismissal. "He must be feeling something else. Only Kin and the Lost are known to hear the Call. There have been dozens of experiments and studies about it, and all have shown that Olimpians and the Letairry are deaf to the Call."

"And why is that?" Franklin asked, "Because the Olimpians are hated by the world, and the Letairry can't look past themselves. Green is no longer hated. So…" At that, he threw his arms wide, motioning to the world and everything in it like he was saying, "There you go."

Kanieta opened her mouth to instinctually reject the statement but slowly closed it after a look of contemplation came over her face. "I hadn't thought of that… not sure anyone did."

Franklin puffed out his chest, making it seem like it was suddenly a large barrel of wine, while putting his hands on his hips. Reveling in his own stance and the attention, he proclaimed, "We did!"

I watched Kanieta level an unimpressed stair at Franklin, her doubt shimmering off her like it was a heat haze. She didn't say anything and didn't need to, as the slight narrowing of her slanted eyes said it all.

"Hey!" Franklin shouted to defend himself, "Do ya really think Elder Barlot would send me out here just to keep track of Green, act as an intermediary, and keep an eye on Derg's actions?"

“Well… I did find that kind of strange. Way too reasonable and strategic for badgers." Kanieta muttered loud enough for only me to make out clearly.

"What did you say?" I said intentionally loud, "I couldn't quite make that out."

My comment caused her to snap her head and level a piercing stare at me, but all she got for it was an innocent smile as she looked into my eyes, twinkling with amusement. I wasn't trying to hide my intentions of stirring the pot, which only increased the intensity of her glare.

She obviously wasn't going to further acknowledge my comment, and Franklin was muttering to himself, so I ignored the woman, turned to the badger, and asked, "So why did you come on this mission then?"

Looking like it was the most obvious thing in the world, Franklin said, "To keep an eye on and protect ya, cousin. Why else would I come?"

I wasn't really sure what I was expecting.

Well, there were only two options. The badgers were super secret clandestine spies, and everything they did was to hide the truth or misdirect it. Or they were what they seemed. A straight forward and blunt people who were intelligent enough to occasionally use their own perception within society to their advantage.

It would be an amusing couple of hours if he came out with some story of intrigue and manipulation of the Kin on a grand scale. And that they were the ones behind everything, pulling all the strings.

But that just seemed fundamentally wrong to me. Like it would go against nature or something.

However, I did have one question, "Why do you call me cousin?" With my peripheral vision, I saw Kanieta's fox ears slightly twitch and perk up. She must be interested in the answer as well.

"Because we come from the same ancestors." Franklin said, his words dripping with an unvoiced "duh, you idiot." I even saw him turn to Kanieta and roll his eyes like I was the most oblivious person in the world.

I turned to Kanieta, and she had a look of shock on her face that must have mirrored my own. Not that Franklin noticed either of the looks. "So, when are ya going to start the battle," Franklin rumbled, his voice taking on a hungry edge. "I haven't had a fight in days or a proper one in weeks."

"What did you fight?" I absentmindedly asked, as my thoughts were focused on the revelation that the Kin and Olimpians had a common ancestor. However, I did notice that he looked less twitchy than I last remembered.

"I fought and kicked out the bear from the cave we're staying in," Franklin said as he started kicking at the ground before bending over and scraping at the dirt. "It wasn't that much of a fight. The little bitch could hardly throw out a proper hit, but he could take a beating before keeling over. The hardest part was getting him to stay in place and fight."

Looking at Kanieta, I raised an eyebrow in question. Her face going blank, she said in a monotone, "It was a big brown bear that, after his first hit to its muzzle, tried to run away before Franklin broke its legs and continued to pound on it until it was nothing more than a blood balloon containing a meat jelly and bone shards slowly seeping out of its holes."

I gave Kanieta a look filled with annoyed disgust, silently telling her that I didn't need all of the gory details. A glare that she returned in equal measure while flicking her eyes between Franklin and me. It might have just been me putting words into her look, but I was pretty sure she was telling me that if she had to deal with his antics, I at least had to hear all of the details, if not experience them firsthand.

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He was here because of my presence. There's not much I could complain about that stance.

The heat in my glare was dying, and I had to look away. As my eyes moved, I thought I saw a satisfied curling of Kanieta's lips and felt the soft fur of her tail brush against my hand. Ignoring that, I went back to what was important.

"Hey!" I shouted, trying to get Franklin's attention from where it was on the ground, "The bear isn't important. How distant of an ancestor are we talking about, and how do you know?"

"Yeah," Kanieta joined in, "And if you know, why don't I know about this? Seems like something I should have been told."

"Pifft," Franklin snorted, waving a clawed hand at Kanieta, throwing a spray of dirt at us to spatter over our laps, "Like we know everything about ya'r clan or all of the others. We all have our secrets. And I don't know, the Elder chieftain just told me."

Like what he said explained everything, he returned to pulling away patches of the ground.

"How does your Elder know?" Kanieta asked, wiping at the dirt caught on a fold in her clothes, her voice tight.

"How would I know? I'm not the elder."

"But you trust him when he said we are… related?" I asked.

"Why would he lie? Ha! Got ya!" He shouted, yanking his arm back and pulling a struggling rabbit with it. A struggle that abruptly stopped with a quick jerk of his finger. "Who's up for rabbit." Then he looked dejected when he glanced around, “Well… I guess eating it raw is okay, too."

With his words, he brought the dead animal up to his mouth, ready to bite into its neck. "Why don't you wait until we get back to camp until you eat it?" Kanieta said, pain filling her voice.

"What!" Franklin gasped in horrified disgust, "Seasoned rabbit is horrible! Only fresh rabbit is good! It's just a pity that I already killed it. Oh well, I guess I have to eat now, or it will go to waste."

"By the mother, why!" Kanieta yelled in exasperation, her eyebrow twitching.

"Ya never waste food," Franklin said, looking at Kanieta appalled.

Ignoring Franklin's and Kanieta's antics, I looked to the southwest again, a yearning sparking to life inside me. But sitting here was fine for now, and being in the fresh air was relaxing.

Thinking back on my time with the Badgers, I was inclined to believe Franklin. Both in that he was telling the truth that he didn't know anymore and that his elder briefly brought up the subject in passing before we left. Imagining Franklin and an elder badger sitting in a small room reviewing ancient history and the secret texts of their people for weeks seemed wrong.

If I wanted more answers, I would have to go south… And I was already planning on doing that, so there wasn't any more need to worry about the subject anymore.

"Do you know what the source of the Call is?" I asked a few minutes after the crushing of bones stopped.

"No," Kanieta said, startling me as I realized she was all but pressed up against my side with her tail wrapped around my waist. "And we never will. It's probably the greatest curse of my people."

"Why?"

“…Every mother in the Kin knows the fear of her infant disappearing the instant they look away. The young cannot resist following the Call and will do so even if it hurts them. It is the same with the Lost. When they reach a certain size of a hoard, they cannot stop themselves from setting out in search. It's why they always attack your people. You're in the way. And yet, the closer we get, the harder it becomes to retain our minds. We lose track of our place in the world and can wander aimlessly forever if we get too close. Legend has it that our minds become one with the world, and we are unable to have another thought."

I let the silence hang in the air between us for a few minutes, then said, "That sounds horrible. Living in a constant fear of what feels… sacred. How can you resist?"

"It's not that bad." Franklin rumbled, licking the blood from his lips. "I would guess that it is stronger for ya right now than for us. It's like an itch I can't scratch for me."

"Me as well." Kanieta agreed. "When I head in its direction, it stops momentarily, but I hardly notice the change at this point. You said the Earth Pulse is the reason you can feel it now?"

"Not exactly," I said slowly, putting my thoughts into words. "It brought me to the attention of the World Tree… and she reached out to me. She told me she needed my help and to come to her. And now I feel… better. Like I'm more at ease and relaxed. Or my eyes are opened and bright for the first time in my life… Since I woke up, it's like a fire has been burning in my mind. I felt the Call before, but it was mild, like you said. A distant whisper that I couldn't quite make out and could easily ignore."

"So the World Tree is calling us?" Kanieta asked, her voice filled with thought.

"Probably?" I responded, before becoming less confident, "Maybe. But it doesn't really matter. I'm gonna find out what it is."

"Hmm," Kanieta hummed in longing, "a mystery lost to time, waiting to be discovered and brought to light. Finding such a truth does sound… exciting. But the dange—

"Hey," interrupted Franklin, "If something can change to make ya feel the Call more, can ya do something to lessen the Call's effects?"

"No," Kanieta instantly responded while throwing him a look of annoyance at interrupting her, which he didn't notice. "No spell constructed of mana a Kin can cast will separate itself from… the… world."

As Kanieta trailed off, she turned to look at me, a look similar to excited lust shining in her eyes. It's usually a look I would love to see from a woman, especially an attractive one. But I got the distinct feeling that she was eyeing me like I was a hunk of meat or a new toy, not a man.

It was disturbing, and not something I felt was good for my future, so I blurted out a new topic. "I found the Crescent Moon Camp! Don't you want to know where it is?'"

"All in good time," Kanieta said, leaning forward, her head tilting up and down as her eyes raked over me, "Even if we know where it is right now, it won't matter much until tonight."

"Ahh," I said in desperation, scooting away from the predatory fox, "But we got to get our reinforcements before we attack."

"Reinforcements?" Kanieta asked, her voice filled with confusion as she leaned back slightly.

"Yeah, when I was casting the Earth Pulse, I sensed…" My eyes flicked past her to where her tails were stretched out behind her, and my brow furrowed, "Why is the hair on the tip of your middle tail much shorter? Were you attacked?"

Noticing the woman's tails freeze in place before jerking back together to hide the one missing its white tip. Looking down, I saw Kanieta's cheeks trying their hardest to match her hair as her lips were pressed into a thin line. As her eyes flicked up to meet mine, I saw a burning anger inside of them before she blurred with motion.