Kyran continued to walk silently since Hikari hadn't said anything. He kept to petting the top of Nobu's head for a short while before glancing back over to her. He could tell that she didn't quite look herself, for obvious reasons. He just kind of wished she weren't so against admitting or talking about the specific things that were bothering her. He sighed quietly and lowered his eyes slightly until they rested on her hand. He reached over and gently took hold of her hand, giving it a light squeeze. He kind of wanted to reassure her that everything was going to be alright, though he didn't want to bother with saying it because she usually turned everything he said around so it had little to no meaning. Then he also wasn't so sure how much longer he'd be able to show any signs of affection towards her and he knew he certainly couldn't show up in a populated area holding hands or anything or the sort with their princess. Well, he probably could... but it probably wouldn't turn out to be pretty.

LaRae glanced over to Nanashi briefly once he had spoken up after she had finished talking. She just kind of stared at him for a moment after what he had asked. In all honesty she hadn't thought too much about his being scared about what had happened. He was still half fire dragon so she wouldn't have guessed he'd have too substantial a fear of his own element. If he had mentioned it to her before she unfortunately didn't remember, though that could be to blame on the fact that she really was only focused on her fear for the time being. She wasn't too sure what to say to him and she couldn't exactly try to make him feel better about his own fear when she was afraid of the same thing. Knowing now, or at least hearing it from him she did at least somewhere beyond her own fear feel the urge to comfort him though she was having some difficulties with that. She sighed quietly and kept her eyes averted for a few moments longer while she walked, though she did glance back over at him a little. Just looking at him was enough to make her feel bad, especially about being a bit afraid but she also thought her fear was justified. She kind of felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Part of her was afraid and kind of wanted some comforting but the other part of her wanted to cast aside her fear to comfort him. She continued walking next to him for a moment and then started to fall back a little, which most likely looked like she was choosing not to walk next to him any longer. She slipped behind him, out of his sight unless he turned his head completely and then caught up to his pace so that she reach over and wrap her arms around his middle and lightly nuzzle her head to his back. She was trying not to cause him to stop walking but at the moment even if that happened she didn't think she'd be holding onto him long enough for them to fall behind.

Nero stared over at Kanone, almost blankly after he'd slapped his hand down on his shoulder and told him to lighten up. He just shook his head a bit after he had continued on to say that he should look around a little while he could still see. He didn't particularly care to look around, even if he wasn't going to be able to see later. Besides, the crystal structures were practically constant reminders that things were only going to get worse since they appeared to be growing larger the further they continued into the forest. He sighed quietly and turned his eyes away from him. "...I don't have any real desire to look around." He told him quietly. He quirked a brow slightly once he noticed Kanone drop back though he hadn't bothered to really see where he was going. His question was pretty quickly answered as soon as he felt Kanone put his hands on his shoulder blades and start pushing him. He had noticed how far ahead the others were but he hadn't been too concerned with it, though it had only been a brief thought, the distance between them that is. He sighed heavily and shook his head a little. He didn't bother putting up too much of a fight with Kanone's pushing though he did pick up his pace a little himself so that Kanone didn't have to continue pushing him.

Hikari glanced over to Kyran again when she felt him take a hold of her hand, and that was the first she'd removed her eyes from where she was walking since they'd started. She stared at him for a moment and then smiled weakly before giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "...I'll be alright, Kyran..." she assured him quietly. She wasn't trying to worry anyone, on the contrary, she was trying to make things easier on everyone. She didn't bother to release Kyran's hand, rather she just tightened her grip a little and held on. She knew they didn't have too much more time to do things like this, so they may as well enjoy it while they could.

Nanashi did fully understand that LaRae was frightened and he didn't blame her for being frightened. He just didn't know what to do about it considering that he was the source of her fear he didn't know how to comfort her and didn't even really know if there was a way that he could. It was hard to reassure her when he didn't even have any assurance himself. He did notice when LaRae started to fall back and then just sighed softly as his ears fell back even more. No matter how well he understood her fear, it still didn't make accepting that she'd rather be so far away from him any easier. He was completely taken by surprise when she wrapped her arms around him and actually stopped dead in his tracks with a startled gasp before he took a couple of deep breaths and then slowly relaxed as he glanced down to see her hands in front of him. He uncrossed his arms slowly and moved his hand down to rest on to of LaRae's gently before he took one of her hands and pulled it up carefully and held it between his chest and his hand so that she could likely feel his heart, which at the moment was pounding pretty hard since he'd just been startled. He didn't bother to turn his head too much to see her, he could feel what she was doing at the moment and it almost made him smile, but he didn't. He hadn't smiled once in the past five days that he was aware of, he just didn't even think about it. Finally he just closed his eyes for a moment and then opened his mouth to speak to her quietly, still in the same language. "...I love you, LaRae...," he started quietly, "...I'm sorry...but I'm frightened as well... What if it was me? ...I don't know how it happens...so I can't control it... I...I don't want to hurt anyone...and I don't want you to be frightened of me... I...I just....I don't know what to do..." he finally admitted quietly, his voice rather tiny and almost childish sounding. "...I'm afraid....of what I could happen...and I don't know what to do about it....I really....really don't..."

Kanone just sighed heavily at Nero's lackluster attitude about the whole territory. "Blahh....you're such a stick in the mud," he whined, "You're as bad as Celestine." He continued to push Nero gently until he was going at a satisfactory pace, but even then he didn't take his hands from his shoulders, but he was no longer really pushing him. He moved closer behind him and bent his elbows so that he could get closer and peeked over Nero's shoulder a little playfully, tilting his head a little at Nanashi and LaRae. "Awww look, they made up," he said with a soft chuckle. Even he had noticed the way that LaRae seemed to be keeping some distance from Nanashi and Nanashi just seemed...well more depressed than usual. He was glad to see those two in an embrace, though they were a bit too far back to hear what was being said, not that he'd have understood it anyway.

Kyran happened to notice when she did look over at him after he'd taken her hand and returned her weak smile. He felt a little bit better to get a decently acceptable response out of her this time. He smiled again weakly after she had said that she would be alright. "...I hope so." He responded quietly. He was worried about her to some extent and he was fairly certain it showed, if not by his words than by his expression and actions. He really did want for her to be alright and he wished nothing was bothering her, even in the slightest though that was more than likely asking a lot.

LaRae of course had stopped when he had as it would be pointless to continue walking at that point. She smiled weakly when she felt him finally take her hand and move it up to his chest, near his heart. She absently tightened her hold on him a little, not enough to hurt of course. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest and for a moment she had focused on that, partially because it was beating so fast. She continued to stand where she was with her head against his back. She listened quietly while he spoke. She couldn't help feeling bad all over again after hearing him say that he was frightened too and that he didn't want to hurt anyone nor did he want her to be frightened of him. She wouldn't ever admit to being scared of him, though she'd admit to being afraid of the fire that could possibly come from him. She found it a little hard to be scared of him when she knew he wouldn't purposely hurt her or purposely do anything to scare her. She wasn't really sure what to say to him, honestly and the only thing she could think of just didn't seem like it would be enough. She nuzzled her head against his back again lightly. "...It'll be ...alright..." She responded back to him quietly, almost in a whisper.

Nero just kind of rolled his eyes slightly once Kanone had said that he was as bad as Celestine. "I hardly see where there is anything to be enthused about. I'm in a territory where I will soon lose my ability to see and on top of that everyone in this territory dislikes my kind." He paused. "To be honest, had I not had this silly mission to be on it would sound like I was trying to commit suicide." He muttered quietly though he was almost certain, that is if Kanone had any brains at all, he'd have figured that out on his own. He half glanced back at Kanone momentarily when he still hadn't let go of his shoulders and then turned his attention back in front of them when Kanone pointed yet another thing out to him. He just kind of stared at the two of them, LaRae and Nanashi, and then sighed quietly. He didn't particularly care one way or the other if those two had made up so long as they were still able to do their parts of this mission. So far, aside from collecting the relics this trip had practically turned out to be some love fest. There was Hikari and Kyran, LaRae and Nanashi, then he was leaning a bit more towards Aamori and Celestine since Kanone was still pretty new to the picture, well, that and Aamori did spend more time with the runt. He shook his head lightly and moved his shoulders a bit trying to signal to Kanone to move.

Hikari smiled warmly at Kyran when he said that he hoped so and then shook her head a little before she reached over with her other hand and placed it lightly in his arm. "Kyran...don't worry so much," she said softly as she offered him a warm smile. "...Really...I'll be fine... I live here, there's nothing for me to worry about really," she said with a slight smile. She glanced back briefly and then sighed quietly. "It's Nero I'm worried about..." she admitted quietly. That hadn't really been what she was thinking about, but that was another major worry on her mind. After all, her people were extremely against having the dark clan anywhere near their territory, so she could imagine that Nero wasn't going to receive a very warm welcome from her people.

Nanashi was a little uncomfortable when LaRae tightened her grip, but mostly because he was still sore, so even being touched at all was a little uncomfortable, and he didn't really bother him enough to make any complaints about. He simply pressed her hand a little more firmly to his chest as she nuzzled him and finally put up a tiny hint of a smile before he released her hand and gently moved the other away from his waist so that he could turn around. He looked at her for a moment and then slowly raised his hand to her face and pressed his fingers to her cheek lightly. He just stared at her for a moment and then leaned closer to her and lightly pressed his lips to her forehead as he wrapped both arms around her and hugged her close to him for a moment. He closed his eyes and then nuzzled his cheek gently against her head for a moment before he lowered his arms and stepped away from her. He wandered to enjoy being able to be so close to her while he could since she was being so skittish around him. Honestly he didn't really like cuddling too much when everyone could see them, but of course he'd never said and probably never would say anything about that. It was just a little embarrassing, but he didn't even really care right now. Once he had lowered his arms he simply started to turn around to continue walking. "...Come on..." he said quietly, reverting back to speaking in the common tongue.

Kanone sighed softly when Nero said that he didn't see where there was anything to be enthused about and went on to name off all of the bad things about this territory for him. He smiled weakly at the trying to commit suicide part and shook his head a little. "...I think everyone's going to be in that boat at some point during this trip... You guys haven't been to Medini yet, have you?" Honestly he could say that he half hoped that they had been...that would really save him a world of headache, but he kind of suspected that they hadn't just considering how soon they had gotten to Caledonia. He looked down to Nero's shoulders when he started to shake them and then chuckled softly as he pulled his hands back again, though as he started around to the side of Nero he patted his shoulder one more time. "You'll be alright," he tried to assure him lightly, "No one's going to stand idly by and let anyone bother you. I know I won't." He just offered him another warm smile and then shook his head a little. "...And just try not to worry...I'm sure we can figure something out about your eyes." He really was trying his best to cheer Nero up a little and put him a little more at ease. That was just the kind of person Kanone was, if you had a problem he'd bend over backwards trying to fix it or at least make you feel better about it...well unless that problem included yard work.

Kyran looked over at Hikari once she'd placed her other hand on his arm and told him not to worry so much. He sighed quietly and nodded his head weakly after she had said she'll be fine. Regardless of what she said though, he was still bound to be a little worried about her so long as anything of the sort showed on her. He continued to look over at her momentarily since she'd admitted to be worried about Nero. He figured she would be, especially since she already voiced a concern about his eyes. "He'll be alright." He responded. "Whether he likes it or not, there are all of us with him. So I really do think he'll be fine."

LaRae lifted her head very slightly when she felt Nanashi released her one hand and started to move her other away from his waist. She let her arms return to her sides once she noticed that he was turning around. She stared at him quietly while he placed his fingers to her cheek lightly. She couldn't help but smile faintly after he'd kissed her forehead and then hugged her like he did. She moved her arms to put around him as well, at least until he'd lowered his arms and stepped away from her. She just kind of nodded her head a little after he'd said 'come on' after turning around and walking again. She followed after him and caught up to walk next to him again. At least for the moment she was a little less uncomfortable about being near him, most likely because absolutely nothing happened while she was that close to him.

Nero sighed quietly after hearing Kanone respond that he thought everyone was going to be in that boat at some point during this trip. He did know that but he didn't think that the other territories were going to be quite like Glenys and Shyama. The dislike between the light and dark clans just seemed different in some way. The dark clan did hate the light clan like no other and they wouldn't mind riding the world of their kind whereas he wasn't so sure that the hate and what have you between the other clans was quite as deep. Being in Caledonia and seeing how LaRae was treated was nearly proof enough. Celestine had pretty much been the worst to the girl the entire time they were in that territory and he hadn't even been that bad to begin with. Then in Kairava, Nanashi only managed to get beaten up by one person. That hardly seemed that bad in his honest opinion. He shook his head slightly in response to the question that had followed that one statement. "No, we haven't been there yet." He added. He shook his head a little after he had said that no one was going to stand idly by and let anyone bother him. "I'm not particularly worried about anyone bothering me, I mean I know it's bound to happen..." He paused briefly. "I think I'm more concerned with my tolerance." He said with a sigh. He had barely dealt personally with people who honestly hated him or his clan so he wasn't entirely sure what he was in for though he supposed that so long as all anyone ever did was run off at the mouth he shouldn't have any troubles. He shook his head again lightly and loosely crossed his arms over his chest while he walked. He was worrying quite a bit over all of this and would rather have done it in peace but Kanone kind of ruined that for him since he'd been able to tell that there was something bothering him. He was starting to wonder if talking to Kanone and getting to know him a little was really a good thing.

Hikari sighed softly and shook her head a little when Kyran said that he'd be alright. "...Yeah...I guess so..." she responded quietly, not sounding entirely convinced of that herself. She knew that with all of them with him people were less likely to bother him, but she highly doubted that he was going to stay with them all of the time, and even then when her father found out about Nero the poor guy was likely to have no peace at all. It was an understatement to say that her father hated the dark clan and had ever since his wife had been killed. She sighed softly and shook her head a little as she lowered her arm back to her side and continued walking. she just wanted to get as far as possible before things got too bad about being bright. The strange white and crimson trees were getting to be a bit more common as the crystal structures grew taller, so she knew that soon enough they were going to be getting to the area where it would be less common to see a normal tree than those white ones.

Kanone smiled weakly when Nero said that he wasn't worried about being bothered and that he knew it was bound to happen, though he just shook his head a little and chuckled softly when he said that he was worried about his tolerance. "...Just don't hurt anyone... Who knows, maybe everyone will leave you alone...you are kinda scary looking." he said playfully. He sighed softly and just placed a hand lightly on Nero's shoulder once more as he looked over at him, though rather than come out with any more stupid comments, he just gave him a slightly sympathetic look and a reassuring smile. After a moment he lowered his hand and then turned his gaze back to the front again, intent on letting Nero have a bit of peace, though he continued to walk beside him rather than in front of him. He didn't want to completely leave him alone, mostly on the chance that he started to get even more upset. He just wanted to try to keep him from getting too worked up over what was bound to happen sooner or later.


It was another three hours or so before Hikari finally came to a stop, well for the night as she had already stopped once to let everyone rest for a little while. By then they were well into the territory and the crystal structures were almost everywhere you looked, and the majority of the trees had started to turn white. There was still a little over an hour left of daylight, but the day had taken on an almost rosy tent. She knew that this was about as close as they could get without someone possibly stumbling across the group, and it was probably quite far enough for LaRae and Nanashi to try to walk. She paused and then turned around to look at the rest of the group while everyone got caught up together. "...Alright, I think this is far enough for one day," she said softly. She glanced back over her shoulder briefly and then glanced back to the others again. "...I just thought I would warn the rest of you...if you're not used to being in places where it's usually pretty bright, then you may have a bit of a hard time with your eyes adjusting. I hope after just leaving Kairava it wont be so bad, but tomorrow things are really going to get kind of bright."

Nanashi was glad to be able to come to a stop and once Hikari had said that this was far enough for one day he almost fell over where he stood, but he managed to at least make it over to a tree to lean against with a heavy sigh. He had a stitch in his side already that was killing him and all he really wanted to do was curl up in a little ball. He glanced over to LaRae briefly, hoping that her ankles weren't bothering her too much. He had offered to carry her, but it turned out he wasn't really able to right now and walk effectively and he didn't want to risk dropping her with all of these random crystals sticking out of the ground.

Celestine sighed softly once Hikari had finally called it quits for the day and looked down to Esen as she took a seat beside him and then reached down to rub the top of her head gently. He looked back to Hikari when she warned them that it was going to get even brighter tomorrow and sighed softly. He'd already suspected that after seeing all of these strange crystals and even white trees. At least in the forest the trees were creating shade but if all of that was taken away, even if the sun hit the bark of one of those trees directly it would be almost blinding. He glanced back for a moment and stared at Kanone briefly, not too surprised to see that he was spending his time with Nero now. At least by now he's had plenty of time to calm down and wasn't really upset anymore. He'd just been taking in the scenery, and even thought he heard Lani calling out from somewhere nearby, so he was kind of hoping she would get closer. She'd probably been staying close by trying to make sure that she could find him again when he came back across the water.

Kanone was getting kind of tired by the time that they managed to come to a stop, mostly because he wasn't so used to walking this much. Of course the fact that the furthest he'd walking in the last week or so was to the training building and back to the island with food, this was a bit of a workout. He glanced over to Nero again once they'd stopped and then sighed and leaned over against the nearest tree to him, leaning his head over against it as well as he closed his eyes. He glanced at Hikari when she warned them about the light level and then just blinked before he sighed and shut his eyes again. Tell me something I don't know...

Kyran was a bit thankful for the final break when it did finally come. He didn't mind all the walking but that could still take a lot of someone. He stuck close to Hikari after she had stopped and just listened quietly as she had said that they were stopping for the night and also went ahead and warned the others about the brightness. He reached down and patted Nobu's head lightly and then looked back over at Hikari. He started to open his mouth, of course waiting until after she'd finished speaking all together. "...When are you planning to go by yourself?" He asked quietly, a bit curiously, honestly. He wasn't entirely sure the distance between where they currently were and where she'd need to go and he had no idea how long it would take. He just wanted to know when she was planning to leave.

LaRae was extremely relieved once Hikari had said they were done for the day. She'd about had as much of being on her feet as she could take for the day and she'd already gone past her limit to be honest. Her ankles had been bruised terribly and walking with her leather boots on for as long as she had wasn't exactly helping. She hadn't dropped to the ground yet, though she did want to. She waited until after Hikari had warned them about the brightness and then glanced over to Nanashi momentarily. She was a little concerned that the brightness might bother her eyes but she couldn't say for sure that it would. She'd never been here before so she just didn't know. Kairava had been bright as well, but the only thing there that really bothered her eyes was the bright white sand when the sun hit it just right. She continued to stand where she was for a few minutes before she finally inched a bit closer to towards where Nanashi had gone to sit down. She lowered herself down onto the ground as best as she could without hurting her ankles more than they already had. She hunched over a little where she'd sat down and reached for her boots to start unlacing them so that she could see how her ankles looked.

Aamori fell to her knees as soon as she'd heard that they were done for the day. Her feet were killing her from all of the walking and the heeled boots that she'd been wearing were to blame. She really wasn't used to walking with heels for this long, especially on this type of terrain. She stared over at Hikari as she started to warn about the brightness. She wasn't worried about it bothering her since she'd been so used to Kairava and that territory was pretty bright as well. She wasted little time at all stretching her legs out after she'd removed her blades from the holster. She glanced around a little at the others and then leaned over on Zale since he had sat down right beside her.

Nero didn't have an issue really with the walk, it wasn't anything new to him, well, with the exception of the territory. Once they had finally stopped for the day he couldn't help but glance over to Kanone, noticing when he leaned against the tree like he had. He shook his head lightly. "You don't exercise much, do you?" He asked, mostly teasing since he looked like the walk may have kicked his ass. He did hear Hikari when she started to talk about the brightness though it probably looked like he was completely ignoring her. He knew all too well that the light was going to bother him tomorrow and he wasn't looking forward to it. He'd also wasted enough of today worrying about it so it was near pointless to continue worrying about it at the moment. He was looking forward to the sun going down, a little more than usual. He was definitely ready for the moon to take over for the sun. At least the moon wasn't as bad as the sun.

Hikari watched as everyone started to relax after she had told them that they were stopping for the night and wasn't surprised to see LaRae and Aamori be the first to sit down. She glanced over to Kyran when he asked her when she was going to go ahead of them. "...In a few minutes," she said simply just before sinking to the ground. She sighed and stretched a little bit before she glanced up to him and smiled a little. Her feet were a bit sore as well, though that was nothing too new. She wasn't all that used to walking a whole lot, and she'd still been kind of tied when they left so she was about done for the day anyway, but if she hurried she could likely get to the city and back in another three or four hours, though it would be well after dark. She sighed and then glanced around a bit. "Hmm...I may need to borrow Nobu or Esen..." she said thoughtfully. She wasn't too familiar with the forest, so finding her way back could be a little difficult by herself. She looked at Esen and tilted her head a little, sure that either of them could sniff their way back, but Esen could also look from the sky if need be. She didn't really care which came with her, just whichever one she could get to lead her back.

Nanashi watched as LaRae came over to him and sat down and then slowly sank down beside her. Even now his midsection was still extremely sore, mostly since he had been kicked in the same spot so many times he'd lost count, he didn't know how long that was going to bother him. It wasn't as bad as it had been, but it still bothered him if he moved too much or the wrong way. He let out his breath once he was seated and tried to put some pressure on his side before leaning back against the tree again. He watched as LaRae started to remove her boots and tilted his head a little. He still wasn't being very talkative, but he did at least feel a tiny bit better after talking to LaRae earlier. He reached over to her and lightly placed his hand on her arm. "...Are you alright," he asked softly.

Celestine sighed softly and glanced around briefly as everyone was getting situated and then just walked over to the base of a large white tree and sat down beneath it slowly before he drew his knees up to his chest and sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned his head down on his knees. He raised his head a little when he heard Esen coming up beside him and watched her lay down before he reached over to pat her head gently. He then turned his gaze over toward Nobu and stared at him for a long moment before he sighed softly and closed his eyes. "...Are you going to avoid me all day or just until sunset?" he asked him in an almost teasing manner. He didn't really know if Nobu was avoiding him or if he just wanted to spend time with Kyran. He blinked when he heard Hikari say that she may need to borrow Nobu or Esen and then raised his head again and looked at Esen curiously. "...Do you want to go with her?"
Esen raised her head and looked at Celestine for a moment before glancing back to Hikari. She didn't know why she was going ahead in the first place she just wagged her tails slightly and then tilted her head a little. "...I can...do you want me to?"
Celestine shrugged a little. "...I don't mind...just do long as she doesn't get lost..."
"Alright...well...I'll go with her then..."
Celestine just smiled weakly and started to rub her head lightly. "...Thanks..."

Kanone raised his head a little when Nero started to tease him about not exercising much. "Hey, I got my exercise bringing you dinner, put a sock in it," he said with a half smile. He sighed and finally sank down to a sitting position and let out his breath. He was tired, and he wasn't used to walking so much, but he wasn't going to complain about it. He'd get used to it eventually. He just knew that he had no room to complain, he was coming along of his own free will, so he couldn't whine about having to walk a lot. Of course he might have if it was just Celestine, but he didn't want to annoy everyone else too much.

Kyran nodded his head slightly after hearing her answer the question he'd asked. Somehow he wasn't surprised to hear her say that, though a part of him would've rather heard her say first thing in the morning. He continued to stand and kept an eye on her for a moment, just about to look away from her finally before hearing her open her mouth again to speak. He stared down at her for a moment and then glanced over to Nobu momentarily before looking back at her again. He didn't particularly mind her borrowing Nobu and her taking one of the canines with her would make him a bit more comfortable. "I don't mind Nobu going with you and I'm sure Celestine won't mind parting with Esen for a little while, so, which company would you prefer?"

LaRae wasted no time at all getting her boots off and set them off to the side of her. She pulled one of her ankles up to rest in her lap and started to rub it a little. On top of the bruises her ankles were now quite swollen from walking on them for so long. She glanced over to Nanashi and continued to rub her ankle a little. "...Yeah ...I'll be fine." She answered quietly. Her wrists were still sore as well but thankfully they hadn't gotten a workout like her ankles had so the motion of rubbing and trying to massage her ankle wasn't killing her just yet. She was hurting a bit but she wasn't going to bother saying that. It wasn't like anything was going to be solved by admitting that her ankles felt like they were on fire.

Nobu stuck close to Kyran and kind of turned his head towards Hikari when he heard what she'd said about possibly needing him or Esen to go with her. Since he'd been beside Kyran for the whole walk he already knew where Hikari was going and had no problem going with her if she wanted his company. He finally started to turn his attention over towards Celestine when he heard him ask as question which he suspected had been directed at him. He hadn't been paying much attention to Celestine really since they started walking so for all he knew he could've been talking to someone else. Then again he wasn't sure how many other people were actually avoiding him. He didn't want to admit that he was avoiding both him and Esen but he couldn't very well ignore Celestine either. 'I'm not avoiding you, just spending some time with Kyran.' He responded. That wasn't entirely a lie. He did want to spend time with Kyran but that conveniently worked as a cover to avoid those two for awhile.

Aamori barely moved once she'd leaned against Zale though she did lift her head a little when she heard Hikari say that she may need Nobu or Esen to go with her, wherever she was going. She half wondered why only Nobu and Esen had been mentioned and not Zale too since he was a canine like the other two, too. Well it was probably for the better. She kind of liked having him to lean against and she didn't particularly want to go bother Celestine by asking if she could lean on him instead. Zale did fortunately make a decently comfortable pillow.

Nero shook his head a little after Kanone had told him to put a sock in it."You did that on your own, it isn't like I asked you to do it." He commented quietly. He turned slightly and looked back the way they'd come for a moment before he started to back track a little. He didn't go too far, just far enough that he wasn't exactly with everyone else like he usually did. He sighed quietly and finally started to sit down and press his back against the tree he'd sat beneath. He really did hope that he got over all the worrying and everything soon. He just didn't quite feel himself and that wasn't good. He was usually pretty vigilant when it came to taking up the rear and this time he really hadn't been paying much attention at all to anything else other than what was plaguing his mind.

Hikari half smiled when Kyran said that he wouldn't mind Nobu going and doubted Celestine would mind parting with Esen. "...Well it doesn't really matter do me... I suppose...I wouldn't mind taking Esen. Nobu seems pretty content glued to you," she said with a soft chuckle. She glanced over toward Zale for a moment and then half smiled. She might have asked to take him, were it not for how rambunctious he could be. It wouldn't surprise her for him to just run off and leave her to fend for herself on getting back. Personally, she'd prefer Esen just because she knew she'd have the best chance of being able to keep up with her. She'd seen Nobu run, if he took off after something she'd never catch him. She finally glanced over to Celestine again and tilted her head a little. "...Would that be alright, Celestine?"

Celestine stared at Nobu for a moment and then just smiled weakly when he said that he just wanted to spend some time with Kyran now. He lowered his eyes for a moment afterward and sighed softly. He guessed now that Kyran knew he could talk he could just talk to him if he needed something, and it would be easier on him to boot. Just as Nobu felt useless to him because he had Esen now, he felt a bit useless to Nobu since he'd been spending loads more time with Kyran since he'd started talking to him as compared to before. He knew that Nobu was Kyran's canine, but he was still very fond of him, and it did make him a little sad that he wasn't staying with him as much as he had been before. It really did almost seem like he was avoiding him. He did love Esen as well, but even at that, she wasn't Nobu. He raised his head a little when Hikari asked if it would be alright if she took Esen and looked at her for a moment before he nodded a little. He was pretty sure Esen would stay with her and help her get back alright, and Esen had already agreed to go if she'd asked for her, so he say no problem with it. "...That's fine," he said quietly before he glanced back to Esen again. He reached over to her and rubbed the top of her head lightly before motioning over to Hikari and then laying his head back down on his bag.

Esen glanced back to Celestine when he rubbed her head and gave her permission to go with Hikari and then back to Hikari after he had motioned in that direction. She remained there until he'd put his head back down and then stood up and walked over to Hikari before sitting down beside her and tilted her head a little. She hadn't been paying too much attention to where Hikari was going, but she would let her lead the way there...she guessed her job was just to play lookout and make sure that she could find her way back to where the others were. She glanced over to Nobu for a moment and wagged her tail slightly before she sighed and laid down beside Hikari for now. She'd get up and go whenever Hikari decided to leave, but for now...she wanted to rest a while.

Nanashi watched as LaRae rubbed her ankle and then sighed softly and shifted positions a little, mostly just moving over so that he was close beside her. He looked down at her swollen ankled and then reached over to her and laid his hand gently on her ankle. Again his hands were cool, mostly because the sun was lowering in the sky and it was getting much cooler, especially since they were still relatively close to the ocean. He wasn't too terribly cold at the moment, his new coat helped with his temperature a little, but it would likely go down as the night went on, and his hands were almost always cool anyway. He leaned over against her lightly and then laid his head against hers as he began rubbing her ankle himself, trying to help her make them feel a bit better. After a moment he kicked his own shoes off and pushed them off to his side a little before he resumed rubbing on LaRae's ankle lightly.

Kanone glanced back to Nero again when he said that he'd done that himself and then shook his head a little after he'd said that he did that on his own. "...I know..." he smiled a little and sighed softly, "...I can't very well leave my buddies in their room to starve." He closed his eyes again and then sighed and leaned his head back against the tree again, though he opened his eyes and looked after Nero once he started to move back the way they'd come and then watched him go find a place to sit, though this time he didn't follow him. He thought the guy could use a little while to himself, and frankly...he was too tired to get back up again.

Kyran glanced down to Nobu momentarily after Hikari had said that she wouldn't mind taking Esen and then commented that Nobu seemed content glued to him. He had noticed that Nobu had been spending a lot more time with him lately than he had been when they first started this trip. He wasn't really sure what had happened but he wasn't complaining. It was kind of nice to get to spend time with Nobu for a change since he was usually glued to Celestine. The fact that Nobu could talk didn't entirely change much in his opinion. He would still have wanted to spend time around him regardless, it was just a bit of a bonus that there was someone else to converse with. He reached down and patted Nobu's head again gently and then looked back over at Hikari after Celestine had answered her and said that it was fine. In a way he was relieved that she was taking Esen over Nobu. He'd much rather have the faster of the two here in case he got overly worried about how long she was taking. "...About how long do you think you'll be gone?"

Nobu pushed his head slightly against Kyran's hand when he started to pet him again. He almost would have rather gone with Hikari, mostly because it was a way to get away from the possible barrage of questions that could arise from Celestine once Esen was gone. He watched Esen briefly when she started over to Hikari and then turned his head away slightly. '...She wants to go into a town. She's interested in something to protect Nero's eyes.' He told her quietly so that she'd have some idea of what the task at hand was. He wasn't so sure that Hikari would actually talk to a canine she had no idea could talk and tell it where they were going and why, so he went ahead and did it in case Esen had been curious.

LaRae glanced over to Nanashi briefly when she noticed him move closer and then wound up trying to help with her ankles. She smiled weakly and just let him keep rubbing her ankle. The fact that his hands were cool was actually a bit nice. She kept quiet for a few moments and then started to pull her own hand back to rest in her lap. "...You're still sore yourself, aren't you?" She paused. "You don't have to worry about my ankles... they'll be fine." She told him quietly.

Nero merely shook his head lightly after hearing him say that he couldn't leave his buddies in their room to starve. Yes, he could have. He wasn't going to let himself starve to death. He just didn't want to leave the room he had been in nor did he want to mess with trying to fix something to eat at night when everyone else was asleep. He'd also gotten relatively used to only eating when he really, really needed to. Food just wasn't the top of his list of things to worry about and it wasn't like a couple days of not eating anything was going to kill him. At any rate, it was clear that he'd have to people on his ass if he didn't eat properly. It was bad enough having Hikari bothering him to eat but now he had Kanone too.

Hikari smiled slightly when Celestine agreed to give up Esen for a little while and then reached down to stroke the top of her head gently. She glanced up to Kyran again briefly when he asked her about how long she would be. "Oh...three or four hours...maybe five, it depends on how fast I feel like going on the way back. It should only take me an hour and a half or so to get there if I hurry..." She knew the shops wouldn't be open for too terribly long after dark, so if she was going to get everything tonight, she was going to have to really make a dash for it. She sighed and finally pushed herself up before she glanced back to the others briefly. "Well, I'll be back. Just stay here and rest, there shouldn't be anything to worry about around here." She turned her gaze back to Kyran and smiled slightly, "I need to hurry if I'm going to make it in time. Don't worry, I'll be back." She glanced back the way that they had been going and then sighed heavily again, not really looking forward to the trip. She glanced down to Esen and smiled slightly. "You ready, girl?" she asked lightly, "come on." She patted the side of her leg lightly and then turned and started to practically jog deeper into the forest.

Esen glanced over to Nobu when he explained to her what Hikari wanted to do and then nodded her head a little before she glanced back to Celestine. "...Okay, thanks," she responded quietly. She really didn't want to go with Hikari, she'd rather stay here with Celestine since he just seemed to down in the dumps today for whatever reason. She whined softly to herself and then turned her gaze back to Hikari when she got up and started to call her. She finally got back to her feet again and watched her as she patted her leg. She just tilted her head a little and then watched as she started to jog away. She glanced back to Nobu for a moment and then sighed softly. "...See you later..." she told him quietly before she started to hurry after Hikari.

Celestine looked at Nobu and Esen for a moment and then just kept his head down on his knee, though he kept his eyes open and watched at Hikari started off and Esen started after her. He kept his eyes open until he couldn't see either of them anymore and then sighed softly and closed his eyes. He of course had no intention of pestering Nobu, Nobu was his friend, but he didn't think he had a right to be upset that he wanted to stay with his owner. He did hope that Nobu would come over and sit with him, but at the same time he wasn't about to ask him to. He'd have to be really depressed and desperate to ask Nobu to come away from someone else to stay with him. Esen just wasn't as talkative as Nobu at times, and she also just couldn't do some of the things that Nobu could. She had tried to block out his bad dreams one night, but once she fell asleep, she couldn't keep it up. He still didn't really feel like being around everyone right now, he might have gotten a little more sociable over the time he'd spent with everyone, but some habits died hard and at times he just didn't want anything to do with his own kind. Nobu, Zale, or Kyiri were the only ones still here that he felt like having anything to do with, and he wasn't in the mood to play, so he doubted Zale was going to have much to do with him. He'd stay there for a little while just to see if Nobu wanted to come to him, but if not...he could go find somewhere else to sit that was out of the way. He did still prefer to sit in a tree over sitting on the ground, he was only staying on the ground for Nobu's benefit since he couldn't very well come up in a tree after him.

Nanashi just continued to rub LaRae's ankle and then glanced back to her face again when she asked if he was still sore himself. He stared at her for a moment and then shook his head slightly before he sighed. "...I'm alright..." he said softly. He continued to rub her ankle, even after she said that he didn't have to worry about them. "...I know...I just want to help..." he responded softly. He kept his head resting lightly against LaRae's as he continued to rub her ankle and then glanced to her other foot quietly. "...Tomorrow...if they're still bothering you...I think I can carry you..." he said quietly, just loud enough fro her to hear. "...You don't need to push yourself..."

Kyran continued to look at Hikari and then nodded once she'd said about how long she would be gone. At least the lesser of the hours didn't seem like that long and he didn't think he'd have any trouble keeping himself awake if the time escalated to five hours. "...If you're not back after five hours, I may send Nobu after you two." He told her. Even though she had continued on to say that there shouldn't be anything to worry about around here he wasn't ruling out the possibility, especially with her going out with only Esen while the sun was setting. This may have been her territory but any territory could be dangerous, especially if hunters happened to lingering around somewhere. He finally cracked a slight smile and nodded his head again after she'd said not to worry and that she'd be back. "See you when you get back." He watched her and Esen as they started off and continued to keep his eyes turned after them until they weren't visible any longer. Once they were gone he started to pull his blades from the holster and then walked over to a tree to sit down, setting the the blades down beside him. He stared over at Nobu for a moment and then cast his glance towards Celestine briefly. He had noticed before that Nobu hadn't been spending a lot of time with him and now that he had a spare moment without Hikari right near him he thought to ask about it. He motioned for Nobu to come closer and once he had he put his arm around him slightly and leaned against him a little. "...You and Celestine get into a fight or something?" He asked in a whisper. He knew wind dragons had pretty good hearing so he was at least trying to be extra quiet about his question.

Nobu nodded his head very slightly after Esen had said her thanks and then just continued to stand there quietly. He didn't verbally respond when she said she'd see him later, he just nodded his head again and then watched her hurry after Hikari. He started to stand up a little once he noticed Kyran move to sit by a tree. He was already planning to follow him but hurried slightly once he'd seen him motion for him. He sat down beside Kyran and perked his ears slightly after he'd put his arm around him and started to ask a question. His ears dropped slightly and he finally glanced back over in Celestine's direction for a moment before looking back to Kyran. '...Not exactly.' He responded to Kyran, though with Celestine's abilities if he really wanted to he could probably listen in with a little effort.

Kyran tilted his head slightly and quirked a brow. "Then what is it? You're usually attached to him." He paused. "Not that I mind your company or anything."

Nobu laid his ears back slightly since it had apparently been abundantly clear that he'd been avoiding Celestine. Or at least going a little out of his way to spend more time with Kyran where he ordinarily would have stuck to Celestine unless Kyran needed something. '...It's just ...he's got Esen now.' He answered quietly.

Kyran shook his head lightly and reached up to rub Nobu's head a little. "Is that it?" He paused and shook his head again. "You need a better reason than that."

LaRae stared down at her ankle while Nanashi was rubbing it and sighed quietly after he had said that he was alright. He'd taken quite the beating so she imagined he must still be sore, even if he said he was alright. Besides, she had a tendency to do the same thing... say she was alright or fine even when she was sore or hurting. She lifted her eyes slightly and stared over at him momentarily once he had said he just wanted to help. She smiled weakly and lowered her eyes back down to watch him hand. "...Thank you." She responded quietly. She really was a bit happy that he'd wanted to help. She wanted to do this herself but with her wrists still hurting too she could only handle the motion for so long. She shook her head a little, almost immediately after he had said that if her ankles still bothered her tomorrow he thought he could carry her. "You don't need to push yourself either Nanashi." She told him after the last thing he'd said. So long as he could still possibly be hurting himself she wouldn't be able to bring herself to rely on him to carry her when she could just put up with the pain and walk herself.

Celestine was just sitting there, trying to mind his own, up until he heard his name, or at least thought he had as Kyran was being excessively quiet. He glanced over to him, barely able to make out what he'd said other than 'Celestine' and 'fight'. Hhadn't really been trying to listen or he probably could have heard everything Kyran said even from that distance, considering that his hearing was advanced even for a wind dragon, but as he wasn't paying too much attention he missed a good portion of it. He sighed softly and then lowered his eyes again before just closing them all together. It took no effort at all really for him to hear Nobu, he just couldn't really block out the canines when they were intentionally sending out thoughts, even if they weren't directed toward him, he picked up on them almost like radio waves. After hearing that Nobu's answer he sighed when he heard Kyran ask why he wasn't with him. He was a little curious to know that himself, but again he didn't really have to put forth an effort to hear Nobu's answer. His ears laid back a little when he heard Nobu respond that he had Esen now. Well, that explained it... He raised his head a little and looked over in Nobu's general direction for a moment before he sighed after catching part of Kyran's response. He did think Nobu needed a better reason than that, but of course he wasn't goign to butt in in their conversation. Honestly he was just sitting there pretending like he hadn't heard a thing, though he couldn't help glancing at Nobu occasionally before he closed his eyes again and sighed. he was still debating on going to find a tree to sit in for a while, but he didn't even really feel like getting up.

Kyiri had been noticing the way that Celstine seemed so down, and now that she was safely on the ground, she crawled out of Celestine's bag and up into his lap before nuzzling him gently with her head. She looked up at him with those big amber eyes as she wedged herself between his stomach and his knees and then began purring softly as she rubbed up against him and then crawled her way up to his shoulder and began licking his cheek.

Celestine finally smiled a little and opened his eyes again before chancing to Kyiri and reaching up to stoke her a couple of times. "...What?" he asked quietly as he ran his fingers gently over her fur. "...Go play, Kyiri...just don't go too far."

Kyiri had no real intention of going to play, or at least not until she noticed a firefly happed across in front of her. She stared at it for a moment and then suddenly pounced off of Celestine's shoulder and started to chase after it, and then jumped up and swatted at it, though it had flown too high for her to reach. It was getting to be the time of day that the entire forest was almost flooded with the little glowing insects. There were at lest fife just int he general area where they were all sitting, so Kyiri could have a ball trying to catch them.

Celestine just watched as Kyiri went after the firefly and then chucked softly and shook his head. Well, at least Kyiri was entertaining to watch at any rate. He couldn't help but smile every time she jumped for one of the bugs and then nearly fell over backwards when she landed, and actually did fall over backwards a couple of times. At least she was easily entertained.

Nanashi smiled weakly and nodded his head a little when LaRae thanked him and then sighed softly. He shook his head a little when she declined his offer to carry her if she wasn't up for walking and then glanced over to her again. "...I really don't mind..." he said softly, "...You're not heavy...and there's nothing wrong with my feet...." That was probably the one thin on him that hadn't been injured at some point through the entire process of being grated like a piece of cheese, falling down steps, and getting beaten up. It was his midsection that was still giving him fits, but even that was bearable. He just leaned his head against LaRae's again for a moment and then slowed his massaging to a stop before he tapped her other leg gently, thinking the other one could use a rub before his hands were too tired to continue.

Nobu just eyed Kyran for a moment after he had said that he needed a better reason than the one he had. Part of him could probably easily agree with that but he couldn’t exactly help what he was feeling. Answering the way he had was kind of loaded, there was more than just ‘Esen’ but it was more the little things as a whole and it was a lot easier to jumble it all together in just one phrase. He had Esen really did say a lot, or at least in his opinion. Celestine didn’t need another canine and what was even better was Esen could actually fly whereas he was limited in where he could go.

Kyran sat quietly while he waited for some sort of response out of Nobu and then sighed heavily when he didn’t get one. He put his hand back on top of Nobu’s head again and roughed up his fur a little. “This group can be moody and depressed enough as it is… we really don’t need you canine’s in unpleasant moods as well.” He said quietly. “Just go talk to him or something.” He said as he pulled his hand back from Nobu’s head. “I don’t want you hanging out with me if it’s just to stay away from him.” He added lastly.

Nobu laid his ears back very slightly as he continued to listen to Kyran. He didn’t really want to go talk to Celestine about what was bothering him. If Kyran thought his reasoning wasn’t good enough than surely Celestine would think the same way and he really didn’t want to get into it trying to justify his feelings to anyone else. His ears fully laid back at the last thing that Kyran had said. He did feel kind of bad that Kyran saw it that way. It was kind of true but he hadn’t meant anything bad by it. So far his being upset and a bit depressed really wasn’t doing him any good. He hadn’t bothered looking in over Celestine’s direction much at all while he and Kyran were talking. He didn’t really want to look at him at the moment and on top of that he wasn’t entirely sure that Celestine hadn’t heard anything and he’d be able to tell to some extent if he looked at him. He did finally cast a brief glance in his direction after Kyiri had gone to play. He knew he should go and try talking to him but he really didn’t want to.

Zale for the most part had kept where he was laying so that Aamori had something to rest against. He could, surprisingly, be pretty calm when he needed to be. He did listen to commands pretty well, also. His ears perked up slightly when he heard Celestine tell Kyiri to go play. Of course he lifted his head a little and was watching the small cat. It didn’t take very long at all after his tail started wagging for him to get a little wound up and want to play too. In one rather swift motion he had slipped out from under Aamori, causing her to hit her head against the ground and then taken to wiggling his rear in the air near Kyiri. Obviously intent on playing and should she not be interested it really wouldn’t take much for him to find something else to play with, especially with the fire flies around. Those were things he hadn’t ever really seen before so of course he was interested in them as well.

Aamori had been curled up slightly using Zale as a pillow. Given the surroundings she was pretty comfortable and could have easily fallen asleep after having walked as much as they had. That kind of fell through as soon as Zale got up and moved. She hadn’t seen it coming at all and wound up smacking her horn right into the ground with a thud. She winced quietly when her horn connected with the ground but other than that made no noise really. She just laid there for a moment with her eyes closed tightly before started to sit up a little. Once she was sitting upright her hand immediately went to her head and she held her hand over her horn. She didn’t usually have any major issues with her horns but it sure did hurt when they connected hard with anything and that sure did feel like having a hard solid object smashed into the side of one’s head, well, that really was what it was but not everyone had horns like hers.

LaRae sighed quietly when she heard him say that he didn’t mind carrying her and that she wasn’t heavy, nor did he have anything wrong with his feet. She lifted her hand lightly and reached over like she was going to prod the hell out of his midsection but paused a little bit away and just pointed. “You may not have anything wrong with your feet, but that’s still bothering you isn’t it.” She paused. “You don’t need to be carrying me when you’re still hurting yourself.” She told him and then sighed quietly. “I’ll be alright.” She added. Her ankles were still bothering her and of course they’d still be bothering her tomorrow but she was pretty sure she could handle it so long as she got to take a break once in awhile and got to stay off of her feet at night to let the swelling go back down. Had Nanashi not been hurt too, she might have been a little easier to talk into carrying but she didn’t want to be the cause for any further strain. She stared down at her leg momentarily when he tapped it and mouthed a quiet “…Oh.” Before shifting so that her other ankle was propped up in her lap instead.

Celestine kept his eyes on Kyiri for a few moments longer before he noticed Zale get up to go play. He cringed a little when Aamori hit the ground and looked at her as she say up. He thought to ask if she was alright, but didn't bother as he already knew the answer. She'd be fine, it was just a little painful. He turned his gaze to Zale again, sure that he already knew what he would tell him as he told him the same thing every time he tried to play with Kyiri: be careful with her. He did hear Kyran telling Nobu to go talk to him though and then sighed softly. Clearly Nobu didn't really want to talk to him, seeing as he didn't move. He did glance over to Nobu again shortly after he's looked in his direction,t hough considering Nobu's lack of eyes it was a little hard to judge whether or not he was being looked at. Finally he sighed and lowered his gaze again before he started to stand up. He didn't bother to say anything to anyone, he'd just leave Kyiri to her play, certain she wouldn't wander too far and that Zale would likely stop her if she tried to. He didn't want to sit here with everyone if he wasn't going to be talking to anyone he preferred to just be alone. At least when he was alone he could entertain himself with music. He didn't particularly like to play in front of people, he more or less just enjoyed playing for himself. Of course he wouldn't mind if Nobu decided to follow him, and honestly hoped he would, but judging by his reluctance to speak to him, he doubted that he would come after him. Celestine could be a little on the stubborn side, at least when it came to opening up about what he wanted. He wasn't going to force Nobu to put up with him and Esen if he'd rather just avoid them both, though he was still very attached to Nobu, and likely would remain that way unless he insisted on staying away from him all of the time just because Esen was nearby.

Kyiri continued to pounce at and jump for the fireflies, though she did pause when she noticed Celestine getting up. She looked back at him for a few moments, tilting her head slightly as if debating on following him, though when she noticed Zale get up and get into a playful stance she rather quickly turned her attention back to him and tagged his nose with her paw before turning around and darting off around the clearing. At least this time there were plenty of trees around so she could climb one of those easily enough when she was tired of playing with him. As she ran she did occasionally still dive at a fire fly, though of course she was more interesting in keeping away from Zale than catching a bug.

Kanone blinked when Aamori hit the ground and then shook his head a little at Zale. "Geez, mutt, you could warn a person," he said with a slight chuckle. "You okay, Aamori?" He glanced at Celestine when he started to get up and wander off. "Hey, now where are you going?" he asked though Celestine gave no sign of having heard him , though he knew that he had. "Hey! Geez, don't ignore me!" he snapped, though he nearly cringed at the evil death glare that Celestine cast him. Obviously he was still mad about earlier. "...Okay, fine, just don't get lost..." he muttered.

Nanashi cringed slightly when he caught sight of LaRae's hand going for his midsection, even though she hadn't touched him. He sighed softly, letting out his breath once she'd only pointed. He'd been prepared to try not to make a sound when she jabbed him but he was glad that she'd avoided doing that. He shook his head weakly when she said that his midsection was still bothering him and then sighed again softly. "...It isn't that bad..." he said quietly, "...It's just a little uncomfortable when I bend over..." It also hurt when he'd walked for a little while, though since that was less obvious he didn't bother to mention it. He didn't want LaRae worrying about his injuries, especially since it was little more than bruising and a few nearly healed scrapes and cuts. It wasn't really interfering with his ability to walk as it was with her. Once she'd put up her other foot he reached over and began rubbing her ankle again as he had with her other foot, gently trying to massage the pain away.

Kyran kept staring down at Nobu for the most part, barely looking elsewhere. He did finally shift his attention completely when he noticed that Celestine was getting up and heading off. He couldn’t help wondering if Celestine had caught any of the conversation he and Nobu were having. He didn’t know exactly how much of what Nobu had been saying could get around to anyone else. He kind of hoped that Nobu had been able to put some sort of block on what he was saying, anything at all just so he wouldn’t feel bad if Celestine had managed to overhear. He shook his head lightly and then put his hand on Nobu’s shoulder blade and gave him a rather hard shove. “Go talk to him.” He told him rather sternly. “You two need to talk and make up.”

Nobu glanced back towards Celestine momentarily when he caught Kyran looking in that direction. He tilted his head slightly seeing as Celestine was heading off on his own. He kind of suspected that maybe he had heard something, otherwise it was just good timing. He started to turn his head back to look over at Kyran though he practically fell over when he felt Kyran shove him. He kept pretty balanced however and only sank to the ground a little before sitting back up. He stared at him for a moment before lowering his head slightly. He almost regretted saying a word to Kyran. He didn’t look like he was going to leave him alone about this or at least he didn’t sound like it. He turned his head a little and looked back to the way Celestine had started and then stood up reluctantly intent on following after him.

Aamori continued to hold her hand to her head for a few moments and then glanced to Celestine briefly when she noticed him having gotten up to wander off. She just kind of stared after him, a little bothered that he hadn’t said a word to her. Sure, it was no big deal, she’d only hit her head a little but she’d kind of thought he’d ask if she was alright or something. She sighed quietly, assuming something must still be bothering him. She cast her glance over towards Kanone when she caught him ask if she was alright. Well, at least someone cared enough to ask. “...Yeah, I think so …thanks for asking.” She responded and then winced again a little once she’d accidently applied too much pressure to her head. “…I guess Zale doesn’t make the best pillow…” She commented quietly as she turned her head slightly to watch him chasing Kyiri.

LaRae noted that he had cringed a little at her almost poking his midsection but said nothing. That was just more confirmation that it was still bothering him. She sighed again when Nanashi proceeded to say that it wasn’t that bad and that it was just a little uncomfortable when he bent over. Her only point had really been that it was still bothering him. That was more than enough reason to decline his help and enough to make her concerned about him. “My ankles aren’t that bad either.” She told him, though she was lying. Just walking on them for a straight hour or two was enough to make them sore, add any more time to that and they were beyond just sore. “You really don’t need to concern yourself with carrying me.” She added quietly and then started to lower her eyes slightly to watch while he started rubbing her other ankle.

Celestine didn't really do anyone on his way out of the little clearing, well other than glare at Kanone for speaking to him. He thought he could at least get away from everyone for a little while without having to tell everyone where he was going. He also caught onto the way that Aamori thanked Kanone for asking. He sighed, sure that she could get the impression that he wasn't int he mood to talk or ask questions that he could answer himself without needing to ask. He shook his head weakly, already a few yards further away when Kyran decided to shove Nobu after him. He did hear him say something, but he had been trying to ignore the two of them, so he didn't really understand what had been said. He didn't even bother to glance back again, he just continued further into the trees. He moved at least fifty feet away from the clearing where the others were located before he sat down beneath one of the larger white trees and leaned his back against it. He sighed and laid his head back a little so that he was staring up at the odd crimson leaves. His stomach growled softly and he sighed as he eyed the odd berries. He would have eaten a few if he knew for certain whether or not they were eatable. He'd never seen anything like this before, so he didn't really know what to make of the strange trees. The fruit could be poisonous for all he knew.

Kanone smiled slightly when Aamori thanked him for asking and then glanced after Celestine again. "No problem.... don't mind him, He's still got his head up his ass." He sighed and then laughed quietly at what she said about Zale making a bad pillow. "Yeah...I'd say he qualifies as a pretty useless pillow. Especially when that little hair ball is around," he added as he pointed toward Kyiri with his thumb. He knew Zale was bound to want to play with Kyiri whenever he got the chance and Kyiri was almost always in the mood to play, so Zale could likely get to be pretty rambunctious for a while.

Nanashi sighed when LaRae said that her ankles weren't that bad and then glanced down to them for a moment before he shook his head slightly. "...LaRae..." he started, but he only cut himself off when she said that he didn't need to concern himself with carrying her. He just continued to rub her ankle gentle and then sighed again. "...Then I guess I will just have to do this every night..." he said softly. "...You lie better when I can't see the swelling..." he said quietly. He leaned his head over against hers again lightly and nuzzled her gently. He wasn't going to argue with her too much, he was too tired tonight to keep one going for long. He would offer again tomorrow, probably more than once, and again so long as her feet were giving her problems. He didn't really care about his midsection, it didn't hurt him that badly.

Kyran was at least a little glad to see that Nobu looked like he was going to listen to him. He leaned back against the tree he was under once Nobu had started off after Celestine. He didn’t particularly like anyone being in a bad mood if it could be helped and Celestine had already been in a bad one to begin with today so he didn’t think the stuff with Nobu needed to add to everything. In the long run it would be better anyway if those two got this worked out now if they could than to wait until it was too much later. Other than that he didn’t really want to deal with Nobu being in a down mood too. He was a canine for heaven’s sake. He almost had to say he liked it better when he didn’t know that these canines were capable of such thought processes and emotions. Keeping eight people happy, or at least as close to happy as possible was hard enough without tossing in the canines too.

Nobu did, after a moment or two follow after Celestine. It wasn’t going to be hard to find him no matter how much farther ahead of him he was, he just hoped that he didn’t wind up climbing up in a tree. He continued off in the direction that Celestine had gone and came to a stop a good five or six feet from the tree he had sat under once he’d reached him. He wasn’t really sure how to even start to bring this up so he was a little reluctant to get closer at the moment. He had kind of hoped maybe Celestine hadn’t noticed him just yet so that he could try and think of something to say first.

Aamori sighed quietly at Kanone’s first comment and nodded her head very weakly. “I can see that…” She responded quietly. She still would’ve liked him to have shown some concern, just a little would’ve been nice but obviously that was asking a little too much when he was in a sour mood. She nodded her head slightly after he had said that Zale qualified as a pretty useless pillow. “…Unfortunately he doesn’t stay put quite like Nobu did for me.” She said quietly and then started to stand up. She stretched her arms out a little and then thought to shrug out of the straps for the small backpack she was wearing. Once she got it off she pulled it around in front of her and then started to walk over towards where Kanone had sat down. She had just kind of dropped where she was and thought she should move off to the sidelines for lack of better words while Kyiri and Zale played. She went ahead and took a seat near Kanone and set her bag down in her lap while she watched the two playing. After a moment she had something dawn on her and she started to open the bag in her lap. She didn’t have to dig far mostly because aside from the wrapped relic the only other things in her bag really were several smaller bags clearly stuffed to the brim with something. It actually looked like the backpack itself had been brought only to carry all these smaller bags. She smiled slightly and removed one of the bags and started to open it slightly revealing these small almost cube shaped pieces of food. She shook her head lightly and pulled one out, it looked to be cut up fish molded into a cube along with a couple other things. She waited until Kyiri seemed in close enough distance and then called out to her. “Come here for a minute, Kyiri.” She paused. “Annon made goodies for you.” Honestly, Annon wouldn’t let her leave without taking something with her and on top of that she did still have that little deal going with Kyiri and she was going to need a little something here and there, though once these bags were empty the treats were going to become less fancy.

LaRae smiled very slightly after Nanashi had said that he’d just have to do this every night. She thought it was sweet of him to even being doing it at all so of course she wasn’t going to complain if he wanted to do it a few more nights for her. It really was nice having someone else to rub her ankles for her and she figured she’d be less worried around him if things like this continued on without a hitch. She smiled weakly after his comment about her lying better when he couldn’t see the swelling. “…I could cover my ankles up and then say the same thing again.” She said quietly, only joking of course. She was glad that he hadn’t pushed any more about being able to carry her. Unfortunately this time she wasn’t likely to budge on the topic and if he was really bent on carrying her it would probably work out better for him to just grab her and carry her than wait for her to give him permission.

Celestine still wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to much of anything. Though moments after sitting down he finally reached into his bag and slipped out his pipe. He looked down once he had it in his hands and then sighed as he raised the pipe to his lips and started to blow into it, producing the soft sweet sound. He hadn't played this thing is well over a week or more, so he was kind of glad to have a chance to play it where no one was going to be listening, or at least not very easily. He hadn't really noticed Nobu, though he had already begun to play moments before the canine approached him. He closed his eyes for a few moments as he played, though after a few moments he opened his eyes again and happened to catch sight of the purple mass of fur. He paused in his song and slowly lowered his pipe before turning his eyes over to Nobu, slowly followed by his entire head. He stared at Nobu for a moment, almost curiously before he smiled weakly at him. "...Hey..." he said quietly before he laid his pipe back down on top of his bag again. He was silent for a moment or two before he sighed softly and then glanced away from him again, though he did place his hand on his leg and patted it lightly before he glanced back to Nobu, trying to signal for him to come closer or even come to lay in his lap if he wanted to.

Kanone half smiled and then shook his head a little when Aamori said that she could see that. He sighed and then just shrugged. "...He'll get over it..." he said simply, though he sounded as if he wished he would hurry up. He had just been joking around with him, he hadn't really been trying to set him off so badly. He laughed slightly when Aamori said that he didn't stay put like Nobu did. "Zale? Stay put? What alternate universe are you living in?" He blinked when Aamori decided to come over it sit near him and then smiled as she sat down, though ha made a face when she opened her bag and pulled out a load of fishy smelling snacks. "...Why, woman? Why?" he practically groaned when she called Kyiri over to her.

Kyiri's ears perked up when she heard her name and 'goodies' and she stopped dead in her tracks before turning around and running right between Zale's legs to get back to Aamori, though rather than jump into her lap she pounced into Kanone's and nuzzled against his stomach before wagging her tails slightly and looking back to Aamori with those big amber eyes. Moments later she was perched on Aamori's knee looking at her expectantly.

Nanashi just shook his head a little, barely smiling when LaRae made her little joke, and then sighed softly. "...I believe it's a little late for that..." he said softly as he continued to rub her ankles. He was just enjoying being able to be close to her and touch her for a while without her looking as if she wanted to run away from him for once in the past few days. He wasn't going to push her right now, but tomorrow if her feet did still appear to be bothering her, he might just take it upon himself to relieve her of walking on her own. He did have a sharp eye, so if he noticed her even starting to limp he wasn't beyond doing just that and picking her up with or without permission.

Nobu continued to stand where he was for a few moments, mostly thinking quietly to himself. He did look back over at Celestine once he had heard him cease his playing and say ‘hey’. He hadn’t really meant to interrupt his playing and would have waited for him to finish before saying anything. That was also a nice way to buy some time since he still wasn’t entirely sure how to go about this. He just knew he needed to have this conversation or else Kyran was liable to be a bit agitated with him. He kept staring over at him for a couple seconds after he noticed him pat his leg and then started to inch over in that direction. He paused just off to the side of Celestine and sat down, slowly lowering himself down so that he was lying down with his head raised. He sat there for a moment before he finally started to say something. ’…I didn’t mean to interrupt you.’ He started quietly. ’…Kyran kind of gave me a shove in this direction …and said I needed to talk to you.’He paused. ’Apparently it looked like we’re having a fight.’

Zale was barely paying attention to anything else other than Kyiri and he didn’t even hear Aamori call for her. He watched the small cat when it ran between his legs and thankfully didn’t try to follow the way she had gone. He merely stared after Kyiri for a moment and then started to head over in that direction. Once he neared them he just plopped down on the ground where he stopped and stared over at Kyiri as she went from Kanone over to Aamori.

Aamori smiled weakly when Kanone asked what alternate universe she was living in. “Contrary to popular belief… Zale can be still… sometimes.” She told him. It was true; Zale could behave himself and sit still when he was told to, it was just very difficult for him since he almost always had to be moving. The only times he was really still at all was when he was asleep or resting for a short time or when he’d been ordered to sit still. She glanced over to Kanone briefly when he started to groan when she called Kyiri over. “…Well …blame Annon for the goodies and I called her over because she hasn’t really had anything to eat today that I know of.” She said and watched as Kyiri came over and wound up in Kanone’s lap first. She just smiled down at Kyiri since she obviously remembered the deal they had worked out. “See, she does love you.” She said almost teasingly. She waited until Kyiri came over to her and then held out one of the cubed treats in the palm of her hand.

Celestine watched as Nobu finally came over to him and laid down beside him before he reached over and laid his hand gently on top of Nobu's head. He shook his head weakly when Nobu said that he didn't meant to interrupt him. "...It's alright," he responded quietly. He continued to keep his eyes on him until he had finished speaking and then sighed softly and glanced away as his ears fell a little. "...I know...I heard," he admitted softly, "...To be honest...I was starting to wonder that myself..." He looked back over to Nobu again and gently ran his fingers through the fur on top of his head. After a moment he shifted positions and moved away from the tree so that he was sitting on his knees facing Nobu and then gently placed one hand to either side of Nobu's face and leaned down so that his head was resting against Nobu's lightly. He remained silent and kept his eyes closed as he started to comb his fingers back through Nobus' fur gently, repeating the motion as he put his fingers back into position. "...It's okay," he said softly, "...Please...don't be jealous of her... I still love you just as much as I did before. Esen my be mine...but she isn't you. She will never replace you." He did at least want to try to make Nobu feel a bit better about Esen's being here. He was glad that they were alone, it was much easier to be affectionate and speak openly when he didn't feel like he was being watched. He nuzzled his head gently and then raised his head slightly before he let out a soft sigh and opened his eyes again. "...You're still my best friend," he told him with a weak smile. Kanone could probably fill that title as well, but he was almost more like a brother and he was also a relation, and Aamori was closer to a girl friend than a best friend, so he thought it was safe to call Nobu his best friend. After all, he had known Nobu for a month longer than Esen, and Esen was still rather shy, even around him at times. Nobu was easier to talk to when he had a problem, though Esen was a bit more affectionate. The only plus side to Esen was her ability to fly, and quest honestly...that didn't really matter to him. It was nice that he didn't have to carry her, but that was it. If he ever really needed to he had already proved that he could help Nobu through the air if need be, so Esen's flying ability was only a small bonus.

Kanone blinked when Kyiri dove into his lap and started to rub all over him and then watched as she pounced over to Aamori for the treat. He just sat there for a moment, staring at the little blue fuzz ball before he shook his head and then gave Aamori a suspicious look. "Does she now?" he asked slowly before he narrowed his eyes a bit, "So tell me...why would she be loving on me when you're the one with the treats, hmm?" He prodded her in the arm once and then leaned dlower to her, giving her an accusing look. "What are the goodies for, anyway?"

Kyiri mewed softly as she sat on Aamori's knee and then reached over and snagged the treat from Aamori's hand once she held it out, careful not to grab onto her fingers in the process. Once she had her treat she hopped off of Aamori's knee and mack onto Zale's head as she began chewing on the treat, , purring all the while, which made for a rather interesting noise as she tries to chew and purr at the same time.

Nobu’s ears laid back slightly after Celestine had said that he had heard. He had kind of hoped Celestine hadn’t but at the same time that did make starting this conversation a little easier. He also wished there was some way to tell when Celestine could hear the things he was saying, especially the things he hadn’t meant for him to be able to hear. He watched Celestine for a moment once he had started to move away from the tree and wound up sitting on his knees facing him. He kept almost deathly still while Celestine ran his fingers through his fur and had his head touching his own. He listened quietly as he spoke and his ears pinned back a little more noticeably as he kept listening. He hadn’t wanted to put such a strong word to the emotion but it was pretty obvious that he was jealous of Esen. He really hated to admit that and thankfully it didn’t seem like he was going to have to verbally admit that. He didn’t bother saying anything, at least not yet. He was a little at a loss for how to respond mostly because he hadn’t really thought too much on anyone acknowledging that each of the canines were different, aside from the obvious differences. To him, most people looked at it as one dog was just like the next so as long as you had one it didn’t matter which one it was. That was a rather silly way of thinking but he didn’t doubt some of the others didn’t think that way too. After all it wasn’t everyday that they shared their ability to talk with more than just their owner and most people would think they were just stupid dogs over intelligent creatures capable of thought processes and emotions just like any human or dragon. He stared at Celestine for a moment after he had pulled his head back and then told him that he was still his best friend. He was rather happy to hear that especially and that was probably obvious because his tails started wagging a little after he’d said that. He then stood up slightly, just enough that he could lean forward and press his head against Celestine’s chest and nuzzle him slightly. In this case he could pretty easily get over what was bothering him. Just being reassured that he wasn’t replaced and being told that he was still his best friend was enough to make him feel better though he may need to be reminded from time to time that he wasn’t being replaced. ’…I think I may be glad you did over hear everything.’ He said quietly and then started to pull his head back. ’It certainly saved me having to try and explain everything…’

Aamori kept her eyes on Kyiri for a moment while she waited for her to take the treat from her though she couldn’t help glancing over to Kanone from the corner of her eye when she heard him ask ‘does she now?’. She noticed the suspicious look of course and just returned her attention to Kyiri. She shook her head lightly after he proceeded to ask why she had loved all over him while she was the one with the treats. “Maybe she was forgiving you for almost drowning her earlier?” She answered with a faint trace of a smile. “I’m not really sure; if not that maybe she’s just decided it’s easier to love you than hate you.” She shrugged lightly and watched while Kyiri was eating the treat and trying to purr at the same time. She chuckled quietly and started to fish another treat from the bag before glancing back to Kanone after his last question. She didn’t really want him to catch onto the purpose for the treats but it was easy enough to avoid, or at least she thought so. “…Annon wouldn’t let me leave without them.” She started and then looked back to Kyiri waiting for her to finish with the one before she handed over the other. “You saw how much weight she gained from staying with him. He loves Kyiri and made me bring all these treats for her.” She responded. It wasn’t really a lie, though it probably wasn’t the answer Kanone wanted. So long as she could avoid the real answer she would and thankfully she did have other truths that kept her from having to flat out lie to him.

Zale stayed where he was and just watched for a moment. His tail did start wagging a bit once Kyiri had come back over to him and started eating her treat on his head. He didn’t mind her doing that but it was probably a bit humorous to watch him trying not to disturb her balance and look up at her at the same time.

Celestine smiled slightly when Nobu stood up and nuzzled against his chest and gently wrapped his arms around his neck until he felt him pulling back. He just nodded his head a little, though he kept his hands on the sides of Nobu's face and gently stroked his fingers through his fur again. "...It's alright," he told him again quietly, "I understand... It's natural to feel a little jealous..." He smiled a little more and tilted his head a little before he glanced away from Nobu. "...I know Kyran is your master...but that doesn't really seem to mean as much as I try to tell myself it does." He knew that Nobu was bound to spend time with Kyran, but even still by now when Nobu spent so much more time with Kyran than he did with him he did tend to get a bit jealous himself. He looked back to Nobu again and finally just leaned forward and wrapped both arms around Nobu's neck gently, leaning against him so that his head was leaned over against Nobu's shoulder and Nobu's chin could rest on his. He just nuzzled against him lightly and continued to stroke his fingers through his fur. "...I love you," he said softly, "I always will. No matter who or what comes along, no one will ever replace you. You are special...and you will always have your own special place, just like everyone I'm close to. Esen has her place as well, but it will never overlap yours." He really wanted to make sure that Nobu understood that, he wasn't the type of person that thought all animals were the same. He could find likable traits in any animal, even the less complicated ones, so Nobu and the other canines were even easier to distinguish to him. Apparently he was going to have to remind him of that every now and then.

Kanone watched as Kyiri scarfed down her little treat and then shook his head a bit when Aamori suggested that she may be forgiving him for earlier, or just thought it was easier to love on him. "Eh...I still don't like the little hair ball..." he muttered under his breath before he sighed. He rolled his eyes a little when she said that Annan loved Kyiri and wouldn't let her leave without treats for her. "Oh wonderful...first Celestine and mom spoil her, not she's going to get spoiled by perfect strangers." He laughed a little and then shrugged. "Oh well, I guess if she gets too fat to fit on Celestine's shoulder then she'll just be out of luck.

Kyiri continued to sit on Zale's head until she'd finished the treat and then looked back to Aamori again, her tails swishing slightly as she reached over to take the other treat from her and again started to chomp down on it while purring nosily. Once she had finished with that one she turned back around again and tilted her head a little, pawing at the bag in Aamori's hand again and mewing for another.

Nobu hadn’t even thought that Celestine might have felt jealous because of all the time he was spending with Kyran. He had honestly thought that since Celestine had Esen there weren’t any issues anywhere, other than his own jealousy of course. He hadn’t meant to make Celestine feel jealous himself but that was a little unavoidable. He lowered his head down against Celestine’s shoulder once he had come close again. He just listened quietly to him while he spoke and couldn’t help feeling a tremendous wave of relief. Celestine had been the first friend that he had made outside of the family he had been in, so of course he had been feeling a great deal of jealousy towards Esen. It was like he was losing his friend, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. He was really glad to have heard everything he had from Celestine. He continued to stay where he was without moving anything more than his tails. ’…I love you too, Celestine.’ He responded quietly and nuzzled against him a little. ’…I am sorry …about any trouble …this may have caused.’

Aamori continued to glance over to Kyiri a little while she watched her eating the treats as they were given to her. She looked back to Kanone and shook her head a little after catching him mutter that he still didn’t like Kyiri. She didn’t see why Kanone could dislike her so much. She was adorable and well behaved for the most part, aside from the fact that she pestered Kanone. That was probably because Kanone reacted the way he did, it was probably like a game to Kyiri. Or at least she thought that. She smiled slightly after he had said that she was going to get spoiled by complete strangers. “Of course she is. She’s cute. Most cute animals do wind up spoiled.” She said as she looked back to Kyiri who was pawing at the bag and meowing. She shook her head a little and pulled out another treat before handing it over to her. “You don’t want to pig out on all of them now, do you?” She paused. “There won’t be any for later on during the trip if you keep at it.” She told her and then started to close up the smaller bag, only after removing one more treat to hold onto. There were quite a bit of treats to eat small bag and she did have several bags in her backpack but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to try and make them last a little. She turned her attention back to Kanone briefly. “If she doesn’t fit on Celestine’s shoulder any more we can see if she’ll fit on yours” She said almost teasingly. She then held the treat out to Kanone that she’d kept out for Kyiri. “Here, you feed her one. I’m sure she’ll be nice if you be nice.”