Flare sets up the fire when we reach the perfect place to rest for the night. It's a small clearing, with what could easily become perfect dens with a little coaxing. Already, those among us with more talent in nature are working on 'coaxing' the trees into the perfect positions. I'm among them, focusing my power into the earth and watching as the trees weave and bend to make perfect dens for all of us.

I pass out in one of them, exhausted.

I wake up with Glaze around me. "Are you okay?" I ask.

"I couldn't fall asleep. It's just so rough out here." She looks down at my wings, which she's managed to steamroll in her sleep. "Sorry." She says.

"It's fine." I insist. "Don't worry about my wings, they've survived worse." I can feel a dull throbbing in them, but ignore it, tucking them back in. Some others arrive with food from the forest, which I eat greedily, then remember we're in the outside world and it's going to be much harder to get food for the next week.

"Right." I can't spit it up, but I do push the rest of the rabbit I was eating away. As I sit there, stomach growling in angry protest, Rain comes in with five neatly impaled fish. She looks proud of herself until Thistlepatch lands next to her with a fully sized deer buck.

He drops it on the ground, eating half of it and leaving the other half to us.

"Are you not going to eat the rest of it? It's your catch, and I know you need a lot of energy to keep fighting?" asks Rain.

"I'm not hungry." He lies down on his claws, wings angled to catch the sun in the dawn light.

We have some small bags to carry the leftovers, along with a small generator to make up for what Axel's natural energy can not produce in the way of moving that suit of hers, but besides that we do not have much on us.

Then again, the things I would've wanted to pack wouldn't have fit anyways. I'd like a good couch about now, and a spot by the window overlooking the whole city. Maybe some sweetbones.

Speaking of sweetbones, and the making of them, Glaze is probably doing the worst out here. She flinches at anything that moves, gets stuff stuck in her fur all the time, and won't eat any meat unless either Flare or Torch cooks it with some fire breath or in Torch's case, just holding it over his tail for an extended period of time.

She's never left the city before.

"How far do we have to run today?" She asks.

"Only a good forty miles or so. We're not running, we're trekking through the forest." Azim says, Minx at his side. The observant Felis has proved extremely useful in looking for traps and detecting enemies before they've found us.

"Can't we sprint it out and then rest?"

"Then you'll be even more tired."

"Well, yeah, but I'll get to rest some. I'm so tired."

"Try taking night watch for three hours." Minx says, "My night vision is extremely helpful in such matters, but if I have to stay up so late so often, I'll probably go blind."

"It's alright, I'll guide you even in the darkest nights." Azim promises.

"Oh, I know." She purrs, "I trust you on that one. Expect the same from me."

I listen to their graceful conversation, their pure joy and pleasure just to be in eachother's company, and I think about my slightly more... 'interesting' conversations with Gale. He's over with Thistlepatch, of all of the Sentients in our group. My heart sinks a bit. What if he really doesn't like being around me? What if his resentment over that fateful night is a bit more deep seated then I could've thought?

"Do you think Gale is mad at me?" I ask, my tone low and slightly distressed.

"Why would he be?" asks Minx, and then her eyes slit a bit. "Oh, that. Rena, are you ever going to get over that/ It's been months now." She looks over at my forlorn expression, tail down between paws and puppy eyes, and sighs. "It'll be okay. You're always going to be friends. The two of you have something special."

"Yeah!" Indy says, joining our posse. "How are you guys?"

"Fine." I say, smiling a bit more with his presence. "How are you?"

"Great! Oh yes, on your left."

I look to my left, past him and into the forest, and see there's a large animal with many potentially deadly teeth. It looks like a shark had a baby with a Canira. It jumps out at us, but we're prepared. Indy makes a shield of purple energy, which it runs into with a large clang.

"Pathogen's forces, I assume. End of the line for you." He gets back on his feet astoundingly quick, gill-like protrusions flaring on his neck. His tail, which is large and oddly sideways, like a shark's, slices the air, up and down.

Torch comes over to see what's going on and sees the shark Canira facing off with us. "Oh, Sam! You're here."

"Yes, I suppose I am. Are these yours?"

"They're members of my squad, yes. You're the backup?"

"We're the backup." corrects a Lapis, swinging down from a tree. "It's yours truly. Verde of Sukoma City, at your service."

Torch masks a snarl, but his tail gives him away. "Thank you so very much."

"You're very welcome, Torch. Anyhow, how are we going to fight this coming darkness? I would hope you have a plan."

Torch's eyes are wide for a bit, his mind racing, but Verde answers first, "Of course the one who went in to fight the Obsidians without a plan wouldn't have thought of anything. I'm not really surprised."

"I can't believe they sent you."

"I can't believe I decided to come. I need to be back at home, working on the footage. Does your group even know about your little princess?"

Torch snarls again, not even concealing it.

The others, who have gathered around, are confused by this. Neither Gale, nor I, nor anyone else who was there when we found out, has even mentioned it.

"What princess? Does Spritz want me to come back?" asks Rain.

"No, it's... well, sorry from keeping it from all of you, but it wasn't really important then. Rena is the reincarnated Princess of Dreamland."