Tomobi packed the last of their baggage as a faint wisp of flowers entered the room.

“You’re Tomobi right?” turning he saw Lillia at the entrance, this time with a calmer and softer smile.

“Yes,”

“And you’re finished?”

“Yes,”

“Can you say anything other than yes?”

“Ye-,” Tomobi cut himself while Lillia laughed a little.

“Don’t worry I’m just teasing, come on Nana wants to say some things before you leave tomorrow,” Tomobi felt a drop, Sprout knew about the issue with the gift.

‘Did she tell Nana?’ That thought followed him as he followed Lillia.

“You know Sprout has been talking a lot about you lately,” Lillia started a chat.

“Really?”

“Yeah, she’s told me about how impressed she is with you and everything,” Tomobi had that lifting his soul as he saw Nana sitting on Spoon’s sofa.

“Tomobi, it's good to see you. Come sit,” he felt stiff as he sat next to her, she looked at Lillia and eyed the door.

“Ah well I need to go deal with something, Nana,” no sooner did Lilla leave the two of them Nana started talking.

“So how was the gift, as from what I heard it must have helped with the beast outside,” Tomobi kept silent for a moment.

“Well spit it out boy,”

“It, it was different,” he tried to piece the right words together.

“Not what you were expecting?” she looked over with a smug smile.

“Trust me when I say that it is quite helpful. One thing humans think about us is that all our gifts are dangerous weapons so we brute force things. But, some of the most powerful ones were ones that required a little thinking. You’ve already shown it,” thinking about the creature Tomobi did have a sense of pride blooming in him.

“I guess that’s true. But Kiorif-”

“Oh don’t be a stooge to that stick. If you actually speak your mind you will for sure get your gift back. And you will have to,” her tone shifted, placing a hand on his.

“The little trouble you had before coming here will be nothing compared to the open world. They’re going to be bigger, and you will see way more once people become a rare sight,” Tomobi absorbed her words like a sponge.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“And don’t trust all you meet. Violence seems to be something that humans and vitanavs have in common, especially in more desperate areas,”

Kiorif’s stopped the flow of words as he barged in.

“Tomobi we’re going now,”

“Could I have a few more words,” Nana asked, but her tone showed she wasn’t asking.

“You’ve had your conversation, besides the sooner we leave the better,” leaving Nana grunted.

“Well don’t forget what I said, also do me a favour and bite back at him a bit as you travel. Can’t have him walk over you,”

***

The three of them waved off to Sprout and Spoon at the end of Fresh-Root, with data collected and some extra baggage with them.

“Good luck,” Sprout faintly cheered, though Spoon’s call was louder.

“Don’t die,” Rookie chuckled as Tomobi followed closely behind her. Kiorif meanwhile kept an eye behind him, as the creature followed them at a distance.

‘Well it’s not like we tried putting it somewhere. We just can’t hold it,’ Spoon’s words still annoyed him as the creature followed too. Like a lost puppy, it kept its eyes on wherever Tomobi stepped, following his steps closely as possible. Even with the path changing from cobble mixed dirt to a batter asphalt it still followed. This kept Kiorif on edge, not allowing the creature to come near. But every time it did he tried to scare it off and it would still stay.

Even as they rested it would be in their line of sight, with their eyes on the creature.

“Say Kiorif where are we heading next?” Rookie trying to break the tension.

“Well if we stick to the road and keep moving south for a couple more weeks we should see an outpost that would most likely fix the gun. In the meantime, Apollo has sent the locations of another city and a couple of towns, so there could be a chance that we could fix the guns there instead,”

“And the outpost?”

“We would still need to go there, give in reports we find in the meantime, and possibly stock up on other resources,”

“How about our money issue?”

“I managed to get us some from the military report program, though more could be nice. Apollo still hasn’t thought of any ideas yet, but we should manage better for now,” Tomobi finished their conversation as he gave them their bowls to enjoy. Even the creature got a whiff of the cooking and looked over to them, only to notice Kiorif’s eyes meeting its.

“I’m surprised it’s still following us,” Rookie spat out as she ate, with it resting out of range from their campfire kitchen.

“Thought it would just run off, or pick a fight,” All their attention was now on it, each having questions about it.

“I mean it just seems so weird like I remember one time one of my aunts found a baby roo and raised it for a bit till they could find it a home. Even now it will sometimes come home with joeys and show it off to her, they’re so cute. Hang on, I think I’ve got a photo,” Kiorif still had his own thoughts about it. He thought about all the times it showed itself and his eyes turned to Tomobi.

Tomobi had his attention on the creature, sometimes missing his spoon to the bowl. Then at the creature as it laid in their sight, keeping its own eyes on them.

‘I wonder,’

“Tomobi I want you to go to that thing,” Rookie stopped her search, and Tomobi dropped his spoon.

“Huh?” Rookie called out, getting closer to him.

“You said that it was weird, obviously one factor is how it acts around Tomobi. So I want to see something,”

“But we don’t know how it will act now. Plus didn’t Tomobi have the gift with h-” Kiorif covered Rookie’s mouth with his hand. Seeing some excitement from Tomobi with the mention of the gift he wanted to kill that out.

“You won’t be using your gift,” He wanted to keep that gift away from Tomobi for as long as possible, wishing they could have given it to someone else.

“Ignore her and go to it. If it does anything we will be ready,” following Kiorif, Tomobi started to get close to the creature again. Keeping a steady pace and breath he was now next to the creature.