The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 41.3

When Nume and Kran returned from working with others in the south in the evening, Mersha and Zar'gno were still nowhere to be seen. Kran kept eating small berries they had found near a pond in the south. They'd never seen them before but someone else in their group had assured them that they were indeed edible. Their sweet taste quickly had Kran addicted though and how he wouldn't put his basket down anymore and Nume was sure he'd eat all the berries he'd gathered that day himself. Every once in a while though, her hand would casually find its way into the basket and back out towards her mouth.

'So, have you two now made up your minds?' Nume asked Raf and Tarlequin without greeting them first. They were sitting next to a fire, talking to each other in low voices. Bay was there too, curled up in a ball, seemingly fast asleep. The sun was going to set soon and thus Nume and Kran had to stop working. Would they have stayed any longer, they wouldn't have been able to return with the gseiruts until sunrise. Though for a moment, Kran had indeed considered spending the rest of his life by that pond with the berries.

'About what?' Tarlequin asked.

'About letting us go.' Kran said with a full mouth. Tarlequin eyed him and the basket up before sighing loudly.

'Well,' the faun said. 'I guess we don't have a choice, do we? You aren't prisoners, just like everybody else, you're free to go anytime anywhere. But where do you even want to go?'

'Away.' Kran muttered before stuffing another berry into his mouth. Nume rolled her eyes and added that they wanted to see something outside of K'haren.

'So you want to keep going south then?' Raf asked. 'I mean, theoretically, this valley is the southern border of K'haren, everything southward from here isn't K'haren anymore. And you've been there only just today...'

'Yes, but we were thinking a little further than a short flight by gseirut.' Nume explained. 'And so far, we haven't met any people in the south, how far would we have to go to find some?'

'I don't know, I've never been to the south much... I always went north.' Tarlequin admitted and Raf couldn't answer the question either.

'Then it's a mission to discover new lands!' Kran said with excitement, for once without berries in his mouth. But as he spoke, his teeth shone in a strange green when lit by the fire. Nume couldn't help laughing whereupon Bay looked up and snorted at her.

'Sorry.' Nume muttered as the baymout got up, walked a few steps away and lay down again with her back towards the people this time. 'Kran, you've got something there...'

'Where?' Kran asked, trying to clean his teeth with a tiny branch. It didn't help and Raf got bored of it so he asked them whether they'd be leaving with Luthi.

'We can't, can we? He has his own herd now, I don't think it would be wise to take all of them with us. You need them here, after all.' Nume sighed. She would have loved to take Luthi with them, she liked the big fluffy gseirut. Because of some reason, he had never fully lost his soft fur and thus he was still as fluffy as he'd been as a baby.

'Yes, we do.' Tarlequin nodded.

'Well...' Raf started. 'Theoretically, me and Bay could come with you.' For a moment, the suggestion just hung in the air, waiting to be taken in by the others.

'What? No! That's not part of the deal, you can't leave me too!' Tarlequin shouted, earning and angry twitch from Bay's tail.

'Why not? I don't belong here, look around you. I never belonged anywhere in K'haren, I don't see why I shouldn't leave. And why would you not come with us anyway?' Raf suggested.