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[Kiyevanie]

That first part made the grin in Rowellan's face widen even more.  She had seen Tayu's very first appearance, still back at the Wall, and knew that the owl - besides being a very competent archer - also had a high opinion of himself plus a certain amount of vanity.  So she could very well imagine Tayu curling up in his ball, recovering and waiting until all the feathers in his wings were back to their initial glory again.  "The gods beware we ever see *Tayu* tattered," she teased - a good natured teasing, showing a lot of affection for the bird that had, after all, lost and shot all these feathers in defense of Enya and the little group they were travelling in.

Bjorn couldn't help but grin about that too.  He hadn't seen Tayu's initial prancing around, but the way the girls were talking about the owl he started to get an idea.  "Hey, I feel for him.  A guy has to keep up his appearance," he said, stroking his well-kept beard.

He then curiously eyed Auryn's orb.  Not made for ball-travel?  He felt a story in the making here and - as he knew that it took time and focus to tell it the right way - waited for Enya to start hers.  Or better: Auryn's.

[Random the Navigator]

"Auryn, he not exactly a Soul-friend," Enya began; "Is to say, he not appear to me as body for part of my spirit.  He not has been with me for very long at all.  Juuuust getting good enough at going into and out of balls...  If anything, maybe I be his Soul-friend.  He need one real bad when I found him...

"You see, did find Auryn in Albion.  They had him in big dungeon in chains, with iron mask on his face so he not could bite anybody, and chains be so he not could scratch.  And they did mean things to him.  Albion fighters, mages, whoever, all practice on him.  Tayu find out about it, so *I* find out about it, and ev'ryone wanna do something for him, so we did.  Field Pepper torched was between us with Auryn and lobster-guys in metal suits.

"Had lotsa trouble getting him outta there; he not like bad stuff, but was familiar bad stuff, and he 'fraid of everything else 'cause he not did know outside world at all, or maybe knew and forgot.  Or maybe he not see enough through that mask to understand what he looking at.  Hadda get that offa him first thing, and Tayu hadda take us all into spirit-world to make it happen at all...  Hadda find his own spirit, spirit he lost being beat up all the time.  Then had to convince him that was really him, not poor sorry creature in chains...and that he could become this spirit, 'least long enough to go in and out of balls, and more and more long enough to help in fights.  So maybe now you understand why he seem a little unsure of himself, little shy, little standoffish; why he try so hard to please me; and why me and Soul-friends got a thing 'gainst Albion."

[Kiyevanie]

For a moment Enya's story took some time to sink in.  Then Rowellan's eyes first widened, then narrowed, shooting angry glances.  "Oh - those... those..."  A bunch of swearwords burnt the air for a while.  "Well - that much for their approach to being oh so honorable!"  The hunter spirit in her, the one that was able to bond with animals and had decided long ago that forcing any creature to fight against their will was wrong on so many levels she didn't even know where to start, revolted against the mere thought of using a caught creature as training dummy.

Finally the huntress took a breath, calming herself down again a bit.  "Sorry," she said, "but I hate every kind of abuse."  She too glanced at Auryn's orb. "He's been more than lucky then that you came along and helped him out.  Of course he has any right to be shy or standoffish.  You and your Soul-friends must have had a good piece of hard work to earn his trust at all."

"And there's another hero song," Bjorn added.  He had let Rowellan let it all out, knowing how she thought about abuse in general and especially of creatures of Nature.  "One of the silent ones.  For him - that he was able to keep his spirit somewhere and find it back somehow.  Makes him really strong in my eyes." He gave the orb a respectful nod.  "If he'd even want one or feel comfortable about being singled out that way."

"That!" Rowellan agreed.  "Not everyone might have survived this."  The initial anger left her eyes.  "He's been really lucky that you came along - not only for setting his body free, but the rest of him as well."  She wasn't quite sure how exactly Enya and her Soul-friends had done it - but taking them all to the spirit world was something that had a certain shaman ring to it, and she knew enough about Troll customs and rites to know how powerful those could be.

[Random the Navigator]

Oddly, Enya was beginning to look a little irked after these conversational high-fives.  Normally she liked praise and admiration as much as the next person her age, and when she was feeling flush with accomplishment any compliments at all would set her tail wagging furiously.  But this was not one of those times.

"Lemme know when you two be all done nodding and smiling at me," she said in a tone of impatient annoyance.  "Story was not to celebrate or plan what kinda fuss you gonna make or not make next time Auryn comes out of his ball.  I go back to travelling on my own 'fore I subject him to that.  But you missing point, a big one.  Maybe think 'bout things I share with you 'stead of being all noddy and smiley and 'Yah, we agree'.

"Look at me.  Look at my belt.  Six orbs; six Soul-friends.  Only Auryn not really a Soul-friend.  So, six orbs; five Soul-friends, when did come to Albion.  Where the other one?  Or why I had an extra ball?  Why carry one with no Soul-friend inside?  What Enya thinking, making that journey with more balls than she needs, huh? --Na, Auryn needed safe place, and orb needed someone to keep safe.  Like before, when did have six Soul-friends.  Why that ball empty now?  And why be it blue?  Look at this and tell me you gonna make a song out of it."

The orb was indeed blue, a metallic sky-blue with a symbol on it that could only be waves.

[Kiyevanie]

Rowellan's face fell.  "Hey... we were just talking about hero stories a moment ago," she protested, but then some pieces clicked together in her mind. "Guess...well, kinda thought you'd carry spare ones for emergencies. Like - when one broke or something, it's not as if you could go to the trader at the next corner to buy a new one, and I don't know how they're made.  And you're very far from home... but..."

She swallowed.  "You don't carry spare ones, don't ya?  You've lost one of your Soul-friends."

"And that means," Bjorn added quietly, "that you've lost some part of yourself out there."  He shook his head, as understanding dawned on his face.  "Nope - that's not a subject for a song.  Sometimes being a Skald also means to know when to keep your mouth shut about other peoples' business."

"The part related to water?"  Rowellan's voice sounded more than hesitating, trying to figure her way through what had to be more than a sore spot.  "The way that orb looks... and still Auryn somehow fit in there."  By now she knew better than to pour something like pity over Enya.  "You once said, he can be your everything..."

Back then, still at the wall, Rowellan had taken that at face value.  But now she wondered if that really was enough, if Auryn was able to fill what had to be a major hole in Enya's spirit.  She couldn't even imagine how this had to be, having literally a part of your own soul missing.

[Random the Navigator]

"Did lose my Water-friend," Enya confirmed, her voice subdued.  "What kinda Islander not got a Water-friend?  What kinda sailor?  I raise her from little butt-ugly fish to beautiful sea-dragon...took long time...ai, how pretty she sing!...and we ride...and..."

But there weren't really any words for the hollow in her soul, the missing Element--and of all the Elements that could have been lost or changed their faces, surely Water was the most vital of them all.

Finally she looked up.  "Auryn try so hard...  I not know what happen to his wings; maybe Albion magic too.  But do think this is why me-Auryn can work how we do: I have lost Sea, and he has lost Sky."

[Kiyevanie]

"Both the major parts of what makes them," Rowellan whispered, more to herself than anything else.  "Helping each other to fill the holes, maybe making them feel less empty, but never complete."  Maybe the only thing she could imagine that fit would be if she lost connection to Skadi, the goddess that she prayed to, the one that helped her melt with the shadows or protected her bond with Venn.  Or maybe like a mother losing a child - there could be other children, but none would fill this certain space in a parents' heart.

"Makes me wonder," Bjorn hesitated too, "and I don't know if there's even an answer for that, if Auryn is the part of someone else's Spirit?  Some other traveller who got lost in the Albion border, leaving nothing behind but this strong part of his soul?"  Could a lost part of a spirit even survive on its own?  Because with a bond that close, Bjorn guessed that - once free from his torturers - this lost part of someone's soul must have been drawn back to where it belonged...or not?

[Random the Navigator]

Enya pondered this.  "You think maybe Auryn been a Soul-friend before?  He not seem to know how it works; is only just learning, but learning good...  But you got wood-stoves and we have pit-ovens; they got same job, bake bread and cook meat.  So maybe is something like Soul-friendship somewhere in Realms, and maybe does work a little different here than in Alola.  Maybe is not a thing that needs orbs.

"But he not a Soul-friend like I know.  They not can exist without the people who have them.  Apart from, yes, but not without.  So if Auryn be any kinda Soul-friend, his person still be alive and looking for him...and while me-Auryn still be getting to know each other, do think he would have told me that first thing, 'cause all a lost Soul-friend wanna do is get home."

Then she regarded Rowellan with something like her usual mischief coming to life again in her eyes.  "So...when we gonna meet your Wolf-friend?" she grinned.  "He gonna want to know all these promises you made for him!"

[Kiyevanie]

"I have no idea," Bjorn admitted.  "I'm still trying to grasp how it works for you.  Personally I know nothing similar, but hey - that doesn't mean it ain't there; until I met you I didn't know about *your* Soul Friends either."  He nodded to Enya's last words.  "That's what I guessed from what you've said...so he has to be something else."  He eyed the blue orb again, knowing that this mystery might never be solved.  "There are a lot of creatures out there in the Three Realms none of us has ever seen before.  And between your home, Enya, and the Realms there have to be a lot of other lands with endless possibilities - you know probably better than me, because you've travelled there.  One thing we know for sure though - whatever he's been before, right now he's at a much better place than in an Albion mine as a practice target."

He then eyed Rowellan with some amusement.  "You could of course always ask this Wolf if he might want to try and fit into a ball that size..."

Rowellan gave the Skald an indignant 'Hrumph'.  "Venn will bite your nose off if you suggest something like that, and you know it."  She turned to Enya.  "He'll show up sooner or later, the farther we get away from the wall and the more important border keeps.  I've told him to stay away from those; it ain't safe for him, and I know he likes to run with a pack more in the southern part of the Borderlands.  The bond between him and me is much different from the one you and your Soul-friends share.  We're friends, but we're pretty much independant from each other.  If something happened to him I'd grieve and cry, more than just a bit, and there'd be a scar on my soul too.  Like it would if something happened to any of my family and friends.  And in some way, yes, some part of me would be missing; we're friends since I was very young and he just a little puppy.  And I'm sure he'd miss me the other way 'round, but he can survive without me."  She looked into the distance where the sky was bright now, the sun having burnt away the last traces of the morning mist.  "He'd come if I really needed him or called for him and he probably knows I've been in trouble this morning.  You know, I *want* him to live a happy Wolf life.  A free one - but that doesn't mean we don't like to spend time with each other and that he ain't deep in here."  She put a hand over her heart.

[Random the Navigator]

"'How it work for me', huh?"  Enya smiled a little and stroked her chin, looking thoughtful.  "Yah, more fun talking 'bout when we get Soul-friends than whether we lose 'em.  So...  First Soul-friend be given you by Kahuna of your Island.  He be like shaman or druid; he speak to Moon and Sun and Sea and small gods who protect the Islands, to Giants from smoking mountains and to Menehune under hills, the First People.  And he give you first Soul-friend.  He show you baby Grass Owl, baby Fire Cat, and baby Sea-lion, and he let you pick which one calls to you most.  Other Islands, those first three be different; could be Grass Snake, Fire Pig and Water Otter--I know, it rhymes!"  She giggled.  "And Seafolk on most rugged Island, their Kahuna give toughest Soul-friends of all: little toad-lizard with vines, turtle who shoot water, or baby Dragon!  But Tayu suits me, and anyhow he prettier than little toad-lizard, so I not mind if he not does tangle people with vines.  He always tell me is not 'cause he can't, but 'cause he not feel like it!  He got better tricks; more elegant ones, too.

"But all Soul-friends after that?  Little-kids with first Soul-friend get sent on big long journey; is called Iknimaya.  Is to explore, be challenged by world and by other people with Soul-friends, learn how to handle hunger and weather and rough land and hardships and things-not-go-right and, yah, things going right, too.  Gotta visit ev'ry Island, get stronger, and beat their Kahuna 'fore you come home and battle yours.  And is not always just a battle!  Most Kahunas want to see that you're clever too, and wise, and coming closer to understanding Mother-god and all things being One.

"Is on Iknimaya that we meet rest of Soul-friends.  Happens when part of you grows up.  And you never know which part be next; I pick Grass-friend, and first one to show after that was Fire, and you almost never see those two kinds together.  Guess I growing up weird!  But I adventure with Fire and Grass, yes.  Then Wuffels come, she Rock; she make my first pongu, 'cause Rock smother Fire, Fire burn Grass, and roots of Grass break up Rock.  You got three who can help and hurt each other that way, you got a pongu.  'Course they not gonna hurt each other, but being three like that, balanced out, makes all stronger.  Good pongu got a chance 'gainst anything.

"And how this happen, meeting Soul-friends?  When part of your spirit becomes strong enough, you see an animal who stand for that part, maybe part you never knew you had.  And you know is a part of you, 'cause what soul not does recognise itself once shown?  So you name that part; when Pepper came, did say 'Ahh, Fire-friend.'  Creature gonna nod...and then it attack you!!  And you gotta fight it and win to show that you want it, you want that part of you to be strong and to help with Iknimaya, you accept that you got that part in you even if you not did know it before and it be big surprise.  'f you win, Soul-friend comes to you and goes in orb.  'f you not win, is okay too; it show up again later, 'cause is still part of you, 'cept fight gonna be harder 'cause that part of you has had time to grow stronger.

"After that...well, it not does end there.  Pepper come to me as little puppy; Wuffels too, and 'Iheyu.  Kilvanä was klutzy little foal, legs too long, feet too big; Tayu itty-bitty and look like he just fall out of nest; and have already told you 'bout Aroree, my Water-friend--she so shabby-looking that other kids laugh at her and say 'And where you get that ugly little fish??  Somebody pee in the water?'  They laughing out other side ot their face now, 'specially after she grow up and shoot big water at them, real hard--HAH!!

"But Soul-friends be like this: They want to grow up and grow strong just like you.  They want to do it with you.  Pepper wanted to be big, magnificent Fire-dog, and when Fire in me was full-strength, he became so.  Is wonderful to watch them change shape, sometimes become something totally diff'rent than how they started.  Just look at Kilvanä now, or Tayu!  But they had that power and beauty in them all along, and is only by adventuring and fighting that they find it for themselves.  Once you got Soul-friends, you gotta help them do that.  Feed 'em, play with 'em, but mostly help them grow their strongest."

[Kiyevanie]

If Rowellan and Bjorn hadn't been riding behind each other, they'd have shared a look about that.  As that wasn't possible, each of them just stared at something along the way, processing what Enya had just said.  And it was a lot to process, so for a good while they rode along in thoughtful silence.

"I think I see how it works," Bjorn finally said.  "So, what kind of Soul-friends you'll have - and in which order they come to you - it all depends on how you grow.  And I guess that there probably ain't two people out there in your home who have the same group of Soul Friends, because everyone's different in the end."  He had seen and read about a lot of coming-of-age rites during his studies, but this was indeed the most hands-on approach he had seen, in some way.  "Recognizing the part of your soul that has grown strong over time, that's something some people do and some never, no matter how old they get."  And of course it also explained how Enya could be that sure that Auryn had never been part of somebody's soul.

He gave a wry grin.  "Your people, Enya, are the only ones I've ever heard of that actually have to fight through to prove that they've mastered or recognized a special part of their personality.  But of course they're also the only ones where parts of the soul actually take shape of a Soul-friend and can be carried around in an orb at your belt.  Ya know, I like the part that you still have to care for them afterwards, until they're really as strong as they can get.  After all, soul-searching is never over."

Rowellan leaned forwards, gently scratching Kilvanä's massive neck.  "It's hard to imagine her as a foal," she mused, "all legs and hooves."

"Hey, you weren't born as apt with a bow or a sword either."  Bjorn slightly nudged his friend's shoulder.

"Sure not."  A small smile showed up on Rowellan's face.  "Klutzy, thin as a twig, red-headed with tons of freckles, and not really knowing what to do with all my arms and legs while growing up, so I guess I can sympathize with foal-Kilvanä here.  Or that little fish you're talking about."

A thought crossed her mind and her smile widened some more.  "But what you say about your 'pongu', how all the elements balance each other out, it kind of reminds me of an old kids' game we played back home... 'Rock, Parchment, Blade' it was called; you played it with your fingers, usually to figure out who was about to do some unloved task."  With each element she formed the shape with her hand.  "Every element had its strength and weakness - stone could break blade, but could be wrapped by parchment. And parchment could be cut by blade...  If you look at it the other way 'round, they balance each other out and support each other too: rock can also hone the blade much sharper, and parchment can wrap up and protect both stone and blade too.  It's just a matter of perspective."

"Heck, I've almost forgotten about that one," Bjorn grinned.  "But you're right, there is something of that in it, ain't it?  Only that for you," he looked at Enya, "it's indeed about how those elements balance each other out and *support* each other - eh, that means bringing the idea of a 'well balanced mind' to a whole 'nother level."  He scratched his head.  "But there's one more thing I wonder - how about kids who aren't adventurous at all?  Are all of your people born with the urge to travel and explore?"

[Random the Navigator]

"Just like that," Enya agreed to both Rowellan's game comparison and Bjorn's guess as to the uniqueness of each person's party of Soul-friends.  " 'most ev'rybody find Fire, Water and Grass first, but is never gonna be same three animals for any two people.  Me, I find Water-friend after Wuffels.  Each Island got its own kinds of animals; some happen on more than one Island, but some in just one part of one Island--those be hard to get!  So you maybe end up with Grass-friend from Melemele, Water-friend from Akala, and Fire-friend from Ula'ula...sure hope you got another kind of pongu before then, 'cause Ula'ula be dangerous place!  Gots mountains, desert, beaches, towns...  But is good place to find Lightning-, Ground-, Steel- and Water-friends, Ice-friends in tallest mountains, and even coupla Dragons."

She then answered Bjorn's question.  "We walk, we ride, we sail, we fly.  We be Ikran People of the Eastern Sea.  Restless as waves.  Live in house-boats.  Of course we all made for wandering."

[Kiyevanie]

...

...And wander indeed they did, partly riding along, but also using their own feet to give their mounts time to recover now and then.

The area changed again, to softly rolling hills, most of them still snow-covered; but there were also free patches of ground where fresh green grass peeked up, showing the first signs that even in the Midgard borderlands there was something like Springtime.

And then the trees and hills parted, giving way to land a bit lower than what they had traveled before, then yielding to the sight of a huge body of water, glistening in the afternoon sun like a blue sapphire in a bed of diamonds. "This," Rowellan proudly declared, "is Yggdrasil Lake, the one lake that never freezes over."  And indeed there was a slight haze over the water, as if there was eternal steam or fog over it.  "And all the trees around it are called Yggdrasil Forest - although the really dense part is a bit away from the lake." She smiled.  "If we want to see the frost foals at play, we need to get closer to the lake - they love the open land there."

[Random the Navigator]

Pepper and Kilvanä couldn't help it; while they'd seen their share of forest and even jungle on their travels, both of them were made for open spaces.  As soon as the trees parted enough, both mounts took off and made a mad rush towards the lake, which, besides allowing them to see further, gave them a chance to slake their thirst.  Kilvanä only seemed to remember at the last moment that she had guests, and pulled up just before charging into the water for a nice bout of frolicking in the shallows.  But Enya let Pepper have his head so he could race along the shoreline, where indeed he resembled nothing so much as a flaring comet.  She'd said he was swift.  She hadn't gone into detail, but the Fire-dog could cover leagues at a gallop; if she so desired, he could have delivered her back to the Faste by late suppertime.

Finally returning, giddy and laughing and gasping for breath, Enya dismounted and checked on her human companions.  " 'f we want to see Frost-foals," she opined, "we better hide good and stay as far from Lake as we can 'til they forget all 'bout Pepper!!  He kinda like open land too."

[Kiyevanie]

"We noticed," Bjorn noted dryly, but couldn't hide the merry sparkle in his eyes.  If ever something had betrayed Enya's love for open country and water, then it would have been this crazy, playful race along the waterline.  Yes, it had been Pepper doing that, and both Norse by now knew that each and every one of Enya's Soul Friends had their own will and quirks; but they had also felt how happily Kilvanä had stepped to the shallows, so this had to be a part of Enya's personality that had rubbed off.  Well, little wonder with someone who had grown up on a bunch of islands.

"And yepp, we better give the wildlife some time to recover from that," Rowellan grinned.  "And I know just the place where we can do that - I was hoping we'd get there, 'cause it will make the perfect place for our night's rest."  She swung a long leg over Kilvanä's neck and dismounted, right on the border between water and shoreline, then knelt down, slightly putting a hand into the water.  "Can you feel it?" she asked.  "It's not exactly hot, but a lot less cold than it should be in this area this time of the year."  Actually, the lake had the temperature of a much smaller one on a Summer evening; it would have been cool to the skin, but not icy cold.  "And that's 'cause it's fed by hot springs - most of them down on the ground, but not all of them.
  We'll have warm water tonight!"

[Random the Navigator]

Finally relieved of her riders, Kilvanä sloshed into the lake right up to her chest, took a long drink, and then did a little dance that looked like a puppy chasing its tail.  Finally she stood up tall and straight, stretched on her tiptoes with her chin held high...and keeled over with a huge splash, the titanic-equine equivalent of a cannonball dive, coming back up again to her own joyous braying and Enya's uproarious laughter.

"Ahh, this place be all backwards, huh?" Enya asked her Soul-friends, dismounting Pepper so he'd have the chance for a drink too.  "Back home, is islands of land surrounded by ocean; here, is islands of water surrounded by land!  ...Ahh, but even back home we have lakes, so we know what to do with 'em.  Maybe even tell Bjorn 'bout Lake of the Moon, huh?"

She nudged the dog, then released everyone else.  "Frost-foals gonna need a loooooong time to think 'bout us," she grinned at Rowellan.  "Maybe we see 'em tomorrow!  But now that we make all that noise and splash"--as an owl, a puppy, a fox and a Griffin were doing now, each in its own way--" 'least Foals know we not trying to sneak up on 'em; we must not be Foal-hunters, 'cause we got nothing to hide!"

And if she thought she couldn't be any merrier at that moment, it only lasted until Rowellan's announcement:  "Warm water??  Ah-YAH-yeh!!!" she whooped.  "Warm anything!!  And leave supper to 'Iheyu.  She *really* good at fishing!"

[Kiyevanie]

Skald and huntress watched the merry display with wide grins and giggles of their own - the Soul-friends' playfulness was just too infectuous.  "Skadi's arrows," Rowellan finally managed, "it's a good thing that 'Iheyu's good at fishing then - 'cause I think we've successfully shooed off any game around here."  She grinned widely.  "And probably everybody else as well."

"Yeah, that was as far away from 'sneaking' as it can get," Bjorn confirmed with a wide grin.  "No sneaking up on anything or anyone for this afternoon, evening or night."  He gave Rowellan a sideways glance.  "Warm water, huh?" he asked. "That wouldn't by chance be one of those famous hunter's dens?"

Rowellan tried to keep up a mysterious face - hard to do when the grin tugged at her lips, watching Tayu and Auryn having one of the most epic splashing fights she had ever seen.  "And what do you happen to know about hunter's dens, Skald?" she asked, raising a brow.

"Ahhhhh...." said Skald spread his hands in mock innocence, "a guy has his sources."  He turned to Enya.  "You know, our hunters spend a lot of time outside in the wild, and they survive nights you'd never guess a human could. So there are rumours about dens they have, spread all over the Borderlands."  He rubbed his bearded chin.  "Now that I think about it, I might even have rested in one once or twice myself.  So there'll be fish and warm water tonight?  I can live with that!"

[Random the Navigator]

"So," Enya said around one of the rolls she'd saved from that morning, "be 'hunter's den' like hole-in-hill in Bjorn's long story?  One with mark only magic-people can see?"

Then she spotted her Lightning-friend wading carefully into the water.  No one in that era knew the physics of it, but Enya knew that the fox's electrical attacks were extremely effective against aquatic life.  Enya tipped her head at Bjorn and asked "How many dozen fish you want?  'member, not more than we can eat or dry and carry!"  Then she called after 'Iheyu:  "Hei!!  Wait 'til we get where we sleeping tonight!"

[Kiyevanie]

"A little bit like that," Rowellan nodded.  "Not all of them are holes in a hill - although the one we'll be heading to tonight will indeed be not too far away from Bjorn's cave.  But there are others as well - some are dug into the ground, some are niches between rocks, some are even actual huts, just that they're that overgrown nobody recognizes them as made by people anymore.  Some of the lighter ones are built into trees; whatever the area provides.  Some are more durable and comfortable than others, that too - some have to be given up after a while, maybe cause they get spotted by enemies or cause weather just finally gets to them.  Young hunters learn all the locations and how to open them up, and every time we come back to our headquarters we share news and updates about them."

She smirked at Bjorn.  "Now that I think of it, you might have indeed spent a night or two in one or another."  Then she looked thoughtfully at 'Iheyu and then Enya.  "Mmmmhm - depends on what she can find.  If there's one of the big salmons around one of 'em would be enough for the three of us.  Plus, of course, how many your friends need for themselves."  Her face lit up.  "We could have fire-salmon tonight!  And she can catch right now, it's cold enough to keep fresh - the place I have in mind ain't too far away and I'd rather not attract any attention to it by any hunting activities in the immediate neighbourhood."

[Random the Navigator]

"'Iheyu not gonna catch any fish right now," Enya observed; "we done too much splashing.  And she should know where 'home' be for tonight, 'cause she gotta have somewhere to bring fish home *to*.  Fish come back by time we find that hole, but rest of animals prob'ly gonna hide 'til after Sun goes down.  'Iheyu like hunting at night anyway.  And you not worry 'bout if she catch extra fish; if I not know how to jerk fish, I not be Seafolk!"

Then her face lit up at the news that they would be camping near Bjorn's cave.  "Ahh, did think that was just place in a story!" she exclaimed, her tail swishing and her ears pricking so high that the tips almost met at the top of her head.  " 'magine spending night under Menehune-rocks or in Mother-Tree 'f they only been tales to you, 'f you never seen them for reals...  Gonna be like that for me.  We gotta go see Bjorn's cave!"

[Kiyevanie]

Well - neither Rowellan nor Bjorn did know the real location from the cave in his story, so while none of them was actually sure that it was Bjorn's cave, they also couldn't say that it wasn't.  And apart from that... the idea was kinda compelling.  "Sleeping in something from a story," Rowellan mused, trusting Enya's judgement in 'Iheyu's fishing skills.  "I've never thought of it that way, but I like it."

"So far I've mostly slept over a story," Bjorn said.  "When I had to learn it and fell asleep over a scroll or a book."  He eyed Enya's friends.  "Ready to go and see this story for ourselves?"

[Random the Navigator]

By now Enya's Soul-friends were circling the lake, headed towards the further shore of that wide body of water.  She could, of course, still summon them with her traditional calling-cry; but her expression of enthusiasm at the prospect of warmth, which wasn't much different, hadn't seemed to attract their attention any.  So she went to her fallback option:  "Look and listen," she told the Norsefolk.  "Is how I call them when they not can hear me, either 'cause they too excited, too far away, or my voice be too weak."

She fished an item out of her belt-pouch--a smooth, pierced stone on a string.  Swinging it over her head like a falcon's lure, she heard it whistle, then thrum in a vibration the others could feel in their bones.  "Is Ikran-caller," she explained over the rumble.  "Works on Soul-friends too."

And indeed the racing animals paused, pricking their ears, then made their way back to the near shore...albeit not in quite such a hurry.  "They grumpy now 'cause I end their fun," Enya smirked, as if that needed explaining.  But once she produced the poffins, all was well again; then, too, her Soul-friends might have been worried that they were going to be sent back into their orbs, and now that they saw this wasn't the case, they were as eager to trek with their human friends as Enya was.

"Ready!" she said once everyone was.

[Kiyevanie]

"I like that calling thing," Rowellan stated as they moved again.  "At first it hurt my ears, but then everything I felt was something like...I don't know, some humming in my bones?  And that's probably just because we stood nearby."  She raised a brow.  "Too bad we can't use it on stray group members - ya know, like that Dwarven healer that was once travelling with us, getting lost collecting herbs all the time?  I know it was important, but it also got a bit old after a while...  'Too excited' hits the spot pretty much."

"Eh - you would probably have had to let that thing hit his helmet," Bjorn grinned back.  "That was the only thing bringing poor Tarvi back to his senses once he got lost.  He was a great healer anyway, and I hope he's fine now. Working as a village healer is a much better place for him than out here in the Borderlands."

They were following the banks of the lake for a while now until Rowellan finally headed east, following landmarks only she knew.  They were walking a bit up again now, stones and rocks sprouting left and right, the forest getting denser again until the huntress finally stopped, slightly tilting her head as if listening to something.  Then a smile spread on her face.  "Wait here for a moment," she told the others.  "I just felt Venn coming closer.  I think he'd like to join us for a bit - once I have assured him that your Soul Friends won't bite."

[Random the Navigator]

"Why it not can work on 'ohana?" Enya asked, using her People's word for extended family...which, in her context, included fellow adventurers.  "You teach them what to listen for, and we already know they gonna hear it...  Or you gonna tell me Dwarf healer not pay as much 'tenshun as horses an' puppies an' butt-ugly fish?"  She winked, grinning.

The pongu, counting Enya, padded along behind Rowellan and Bjorn, Pepper leaving his usual "skylights for grass-seeds" everywhere his footprints melted the ice, and Kilvanä's hooves breaking the trail though the heavier drifts.  "Bjorn, you maybe wanna walk behind Kilvanä?" Enya offered.  "You got most armor, legs be heaviest; is hardest for you to trudge in snow, but look! --No snow left anywhere behind Kilvanä and Pepper!"...a fact of which her smaller companions, especially frisking little Wuffels, were gratefully taking full advantage.

Tayu, of course, didn't need anyone to break trail for him.  As the trees closed in again and he glided softly from one tree to the next, a sense of seclusion and the sacred seemed to come over the place, or maybe just over Enya.  What was Rowellan following, indeed?  Enya didn't know and maybe wasn't supposed to.  But she noticed herself speaking less, treading more softly, and thinking long thoughts...  Yggdrassil might not be here--Rowy had said that it wasn't--but this was still a special spot; and for one who had prayed at the foot of Eywa's Mother-tree, the peace in this forest approached sanctity.  Whatever it was, the Seafolk girl felt as if she were being drawn into some sacred mystery...or maybe that she'd crossed over the fuzzy border between the heroic and the mythic.

[Kiyevanie]

"Does the sound of this Ikran-caller really reach out for human ears for so far?" Bjorn asked curiously.  "When you were done swinging it I actually didn't really hear it anymore, it was more like a feeling than anything else."  Then he grinned.  "And for this special healer - he actually did pay less 'tenshun as horses an' puppies an' butt-ugly fish."  He had indeed fallen in behind Kilvanä¤ now - walking in snow was a lot easier when someone else trampled down a path, or, in Pepper's case, simply melted the snow.  Now he just stopped.  "Let's see how this other puppy listens now..."


While her companions were discussing the reach of an Ikran-caller on stubborn dwarven healers, Rowellan had walked a bit away and out of sight from the group, a bit deeper between the trees.  Now she let out a low whistle, undulating in a very distinctive way.  Then she cowered down and waited...

...just to get run over by something white and furry just a few moments later. She grinned, when a long, pink tongue thoroughly washed her face and then, for a moment, she and her friend were just rolling on the ground, yipping and giggling and renewing a friendship that had started so many years ago, when Rowellan had found a lost puppy on a cold Winter afternoon.  Now he had grown much taller, a male wolf in his prime, reaching up to Rowellan's hip, white and silver-grey shaggy, shiny fur with golden, intelligent eyes that now held joy and the mischief of play.

After a while the rough game changed into a softer cuddling and petting session, and finally Norse Huntress and Snow Wolf rested side by side, happy to be in each other's company again.

Rowellan and Venn didn't share a bond like Enya did with her Soul-friends. Their bond was founded on friendship, familiarity and trust, like any friendship between man and dog that had ever started in history - and still it had a mental component as well, that came from the goddess Skadi's gift to all hunters.  So even though the huntress couldn't see through her animal companion's eyes, she could still sense his feelings inside, and now she knew that Venn was more than a little bit unsure about Enya's companions.  The wolf had seen his share of strange animals out here in the Borderlands, and his sharp senses told him that Enya's friends were something else.  Not just animals, not even strange-looking ones, even if they seemed that way.

"No, they're not," Rowellan told Venn, knowing that the wolf understood much more of her words than other people thought.  Especially when she also projected her feelings along with that.  "They're something completely different.  But they're still friends you can trust - right now they're running with our pack.  Come - let me introduce you."  And because the wolf trusted the huntress, he wagged his tail once and then stood, ready to follow along.

Side by side, huntress and wolf now stepped out between the trees, Rowellan smiling widely.  "Now," she said, "let me introduce my friend Venn to you."