Zakula: Beloved Companion

2: Death

Karelias missed the sunrise on that day. He remained inside the guest hut, giving Armas some of the water he had taken from the lake and boiled last evening. Something stirred outside when he gave the old dog the last ground meat from his travel supplies. Karelias did not care.

But then someone stepped through the heavy fur curtain covering the entrance. "Karelias?" a familiar old voice spoke and Armas lifted his pointy ears.

For a moment, Karelias perched up. He did not look at the guest, the voice already told him who it was. Instead he looked at Armas. The old dog let out a few happy snorts at the sight, but he remained tied to his basket. Neither tail nor leg moved at all.

"Hello, Uncle Ardanas," he sighed. The dream had not come true.

Only now, Karelias looked up. An old man with long gray hair, a shaggy gray beard and purple eyes had entered. "Kaskene told me you're here," he said. "How are you?"

"Fine," Karelias replied with a small voice, looking at Ardanas long fur robes, adorned with intricate geometric patterns instead of his eyes.

The old man did not seem convinced. He rested a hand on Karelias' shoulder as he tried to sit down next to him. But Ardanas stumbled and landed on his behind with a dull thud, "Ouch!"

Karelias winced at the sight. This is how it started with Armas. "Uncle, are you..."

"Don't worry," the bearded man chuckled. "We've been out hunting for several days and I'm not a young man anymore. I just need a break."

But Karelias just stared at him, looking like he was about to cry. So Ardanas pulled him in for a hug. "Don't worry, I have many more years left in this world," the purple man assured him. "And I won't leave you."

A quiet whimper resounded before Karelias could say anything. Armas looked at them with foggy puppy eyes. "Yes you too," Ardanas reached out to pet the old dog.

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Outside, the fairies were busy with all sorts of things while a young human couple watched over a steaming earth oven. He had purple eyes and the blond hair Ardanas used to have, she had green eyes and red hair.

Next to them lay two dogs. One was a bit smaller than Armas, had black and white fur and teal eyes. The other was still a puppy, covered in gray fuzz. Both chewed on the leg of a deer.

Karelias came out carrying the basket with his old dog. Now that he stood on his feet, he stood about as tall as the younger purple-eyed man, a good bit above the redheaded woman and Ardanas and towered far over every single fairy. "Hello Finas, hello Okuna," he greeted the young couple with a small voice.

"Hello Karelias, how's it," the blond man spoke as the couple turned around. They fell silent for a moment at the sight of Armas lying in the basket. Eyes foggy, but still open, body barely moving.

The redheaded woman cleared her throat. "We've got some meat left over. You can feed it to your little brother," she pointed at another deer leg lying on a stone near the fire. "We stuffed the deer's body with fish guts, nuts and all manner of herbs the fairies had lying around. It should be done soon."

"Thank you," Karelias did not even try to smile. He just put the basket down near the stone, sat himself right next to it so that Armas could see him and got to work with the little flint blades in his pocket. Each one only managed a few cuts before it lost its edge. He took off the skin, separated the meat from the bone and then chopped it into tiny pieces with his bone knife.

"I think we should add the mead," Finas pointed at the little wood pipe sticking out of the earth oven.

Okuna disagreed, "Not yet."