It was not long after that that Stell and Taika both came back inside the inn. They happened to enter at roughly the same time. They gave each other the side-eye, then gave each other a wide berth.

Stell made her way past the kitchen door to one of the unoccupied tables. As she went, she called for Gerard – the Bovidan boy – to pull up a couple extra chairs. Gerard quickly obeyed, and Stell took a seat.

Taika made her way past the fireplace and around to the bar where Xan, Dee, and Leimomi were still sitting. Leimomi was asking Dee to teach her how to draw a horse.

“Shadow’s out in the stables, by the way,” Taika said to Xan.

“Aye, I know,” Xan said mindlessly, his attention focused on Dee as she instructed Leimomi.

“You know?” Taika asked, confusion and suspicion creeping into her voice. Xan blinked, then tried to recover. He didn’t want Taika to think that he had been spying on her, after all.

“I mean, I thought so. I saw her following us here. Is she doing alright?” he asked.

“Why are you asking me? Wouldn’t you rather check on her yourself?” Taika asked back, folding her arms.

“Aye. I mean, I planned to. I just figured I would ask you first, since—”

“Since I’m a Verdan?” Taika said roughly.

Taken aback by her sudden interruption, Xan gave her a long look.

“…since you just came in,” he finally said.

At his reply, Taika’s gaze softened. She let her arms drop down by her sides.

“Oh. Right. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just…” she trailed off.

“You know what, don’t worry about it. Here,” Xan said. He stood up and offered his seat to Taika. “Go ahead and take it easy for a bit. I’ll go check on Shadow and be right back.”

“Well… alright,” Taika said. As soon as she sat down, Leimomi perked up.

“Miss green lady!” she cried happily.

“It’s Taika,” Taika said wearily.

“You can talk to animals, right miss Taika? You helped Grandpa stop the ox,” Leimomi said. She grabbed the picture of Nakoa wrestling the ox with Taika standing nearby, and held it up. A small smile spread across Taika’s face when she saw it.

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“That’s right,” she said.

“Woah…” Leimomi breathed, staring wide-eyed at Taika.

As Xan turned and left the inn, he could hear Leimomi starting to fire off questions at Taika, who looked suddenly bewildered but was trying her best to answer them. He smiled quietly to himself.

Once outside, he made his way around to the stables. Taika’s horse was in the same place it had been before. He briefly wondered where the dog was, until he saw a pair of giant paws peeking out from the stall next door. The dog sat up, barking as he approached.

“Hush, you!” Xan scolded the dog.

The dog snuffed once. Then, determining that Xan wasn’t a threat, it went back to lying down in the stall.

Xan craned his neck, trying to look up over the edge of the stable’s roof.

“Shadow! Shadow! Come here, girl!” he called.

There was a long pause. Then Shadow peeked her head over the edge of the roof.

“Shadow! There you are, girl. Come here,” he said, tapping his chest with both hands.

To his surprise, Shadow hesitated. Then she blinked over to him, clinging onto the front of his coat with her tiny claws. He wrapped his arms around her.

“You alright?” he asked, petting her back.

Shadow trilled back happily. She rubbed her head against his chin, her antennae briefly tickling his nose. Xan took a quick look around the yard and, seeing that they were alone, proceeded to open his coat.

“Alright, girl, climb on in,” he said, holding it open.

Shadow looked at his open coat. Suddenly, her antennae drooped, and she mewed sadly.

“Come on, girl. Climb in. I’ll take you inside where it’s warm, and we’ll both get something to eat,” he said.

Shadow looked up at him. She looked at his open coat. Then she blinked away out of his arms. Xan looked around for her until he saw her back up on the stable roof again. She had missed the mark by a couple of inches, and was scrabbling with her back paws until she could climb all the way up.

“Shadow? What’s wrong?” he called up to her.

Shadow peeked her head over the edge of the roof once more. She trilled, her antennae wiggling. Then she pulled back, disappearing from sight.

“Shadow? Shadow, come back!” Xan called. When she didn’t, he put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. He heard her squeak in reply, but she still refused to move from the stable roof.

Xan stared up at her for a long while. Then, feeling confused and a little distraught, he went back inside the inn.

He found Dee, Taika, and Leimomi in the same spot by the bar, only this time Dee was teaching them how to fold a paper crane. Leimomi was following along clumsily, the tip of her tongue sticking out of her mouth. Taika’s folds were much more graceful, and soon, she held up her finished crane.

“That looks great, Taika!” Dee said.

“Thanks, Dee,” Taika said. Then she looked up and saw Xan’s crestfallen look. “Xan, what’s wrong?”

Xan shook his head. “I got her to come down, but then she went right back up, and now she won’t listen to me.”

“Maybe she’s still afraid of the dog?” Dee ventured.

“I don’t think so. The dog was there in the stables the whole time,” Xan said.

“I think…” Taika spoke up hesitantly, “I think she just needs to take some time to herself. Give it a bit.”

“… Alright,” Xan said, sighing.

“Dee! It’s not working!” Leimomi suddenly cried in frustration. She held up her paper crane, which was bent at odd angles and not looking like a crane at all.

“It’s alright, Lei-lei. Just keep practicing, you’ll get it,” Dee said, smoothing out the paper.

“Soup’s on!” they suddenly heard Nakoa’s voice call. They all turned to see him coming out of the kitchen, wearing oven mitts and carrying a large, steaming pot. He hefted it over to the table Stell was sitting at, setting it down with a grunt.

“Come on, come on!” Leimomi said, tugging on both Dee’s and Taika’s hands. Encouraged by her eagerness, they all followed her to take a spot around the table.