Gonalona Pack

Carefully Soren placed the last rock that was in his paw on a soft patch of grass on the border of his tribes camp. He just got done with his newest work, but wasn't sure if it would work as expected yet. He had spread many of these paw sized rocks around the camp, on the ground and in the trees. They were crystals his partner Hinami had found in the caverns of their territory which he had coated with a bioluminescent substance gathered from plants and insects and were now supposed to light up the camp in the night. During the day they charged up with sunlight, which made the coating glow, so when it was dark they would be able to brighten the clearing. The albino was pretty proud of himself for discovering this, despite never being able to enjoy it himself. Though he knew he would've never been able to do it without Hime, as she was the one that directed his attention to the glowing substance, which he would've never found otherwise. Koda walked up to him and curiously looked at the greenish blue stone that was glittering in the last rays of the sun.

«And this is supposed to make light?»

«Yes, if everything turned out correctly.»

«You don't know?»

«How would I, I'm blind mousebrain.»

Soren pulled one of his lower eyelids down with his claw to demonstrate, and the green hob stared right into the bright pink eyes with the cloudy white veil, then cleared his throat and looked away.

«Right, sorry about that.»

Soren sighed overly dramatic.

«The nerve of some Salikos...»

Of course he wasn't pissed because Koda had said that, but he liked making the newcomer uncomfortable. No one else around here would give him a hard time, as they were just too friendly, and he wanted to have some fun being cheeky again.

Finally the sun had set and blue darkness began to crawl across the jungle. The whole tribe waited on the clearing in anticipation of the albinos work, who sat paitiently in the middle and waited for the others reactions. It was quiet for a long time, which made him worry the stones wouldn't light up after all. In his mind he already heard the others lie to him, say they'd see it despite it not being true, but suddenly a murmur started up and everyone was whispering to each other, then groaning in amazement. They'd never be able to fake a reaction like this.

«Woah, look! It's beautiful!»

«This one is the brightest!»

«But this here has a different color, I like it the best!»

Soren noticed how Hinami, who had been sitting next to him with her tail lovingly entwined with his, got up all of a sudden, purred quietly and ran around the camp, checking out every single rock in excitement. This made him smile and he thought to himself that all the hard work had been worth it, hearing how happy she was about it.

Suddenly the peaceful calm was disturbed as the bushes at the entrance of the camp, rustled all of a sudden and all heads turned towards it.

«Who's that? All of the tribe are here.»

Kali stepped forward and dropped into a defensive, crouching position, ready to attack the intruder. She hissed at the bushes and the rustling stopped for a moment, then a dark head emerged from the fern.

«Sheesh, what's wrong with you guys? It's just me, calm down.»

«Octavia! We didn't expect you.»

«You never do.»

She grinned and winked at the leader.

«Well only because we never know when you're coming around. How was your journey?»

«Good good, I can't complain.»

«Where's Majula, did she leave your group as well?»

«No, I'm afraid she has found a love interest and didn't want to join me for this trip today. She might be here by tomorrow though.»

«I see. And heard anything of Cheondungchida again?»

«Nothing, but I'm sure she's fine wherever she is.»

Now Sage stepped forward, he was one of Octavias best friends and the two gave each other a warm welcome with a tight hug.

«Glad to see you're alright, O.»

«You too, Sage. How's the family?»

«The whelps have grown a lot since you've last been here! You might not recognize them anymore.»

The healer fluffed his chest proudly and pointed at Hinami and Tengu. Octavia was really surprised as she saw them, as he really didn't lie at all. Both had become tall, strong adults and she was a little taken aback by this, especially by the younger cream hob.

«Oh wow! I really didn't recognize you two at all! How are you?»

Tengu walked closer and tried to sniff her secretly, as he didn't remember that female anymore. He had been too young last time, but he didn't want to be impolite so he did his best to remember her. Hinami on the other Hand was just curious and friendly towards anyone and ran up to Octavia, nuzzling her shoulder as if they'd been old friends.

«Hey there, little moth! You've turned into such a beautiful jill, I can't even believe it!»

Hime gave a bright grin towards the leaf-grey female while Tengu was struggling to find anything to say.

He was never the quiet type, but this time he was just at a loss for words. The dark jill before him looked strong and self confident, the muscles moving smoothly under her fur and her smirky expression enchanting him immediately. She looked him right in the eyes and waited, his mouth wide agape, trying to say something but impossible to do so.

Now she tilted her head in confusion and whispered towards Sage.

«Uhm...is he deaf too? Why doesn't he say anything?»

The young hob cleared his throat nervously.

«I...I'm fine. I just don't really remember you, I'm afraid.»

«Thats quite alright, you were rather young last time I was here, I didn't expect you to know me anymore.»

She smiled at him and his heart skipped a beat. Tengu became more and more uncomfortable, unsure about why he was behaving so strangely without him actually doing so intentionally. He uttered a quiet 'bye', then ran to the exit of the camp and left, trying to clear his head by taking a walk alone.

He was head over heels for her but quite ashamed for that. Not that he was too young to get a partner, but he was inexperienced, being used to only family and older Salikos being around him in the tribe. While Hinami wasn't really Sages daughter, she was like a real sister to him, so he had not met a potential mate until today and his body showed him clearly that he wanted to be more than friends with her.

The cream hob climbed one of the trees and proceeded running and jumping from branch to branch, high up in the crowns, his favourite way of traveling. Hardly anyone was as comfortable or fast as him when leaping through the treetops, but to him it was just like running on ground.

Octavia had followed the hob secretly, trying to find out why he had been acting so strange. The tribe she told she wanted to go for a late night hunt and that even though they had caught prey in the camp, she wanted to catch it herself so they could eat it themselves, which they respected. She had noticed Tengu leaving the safe floor and continuing his journey in the trees in a breakneck speed she would not be able to keep up with, so she stayed below and followed like that, trying not to rustle the ferns too much. Then, all of a sudden, she had lost sight of him, but kept running for a bit, thinking he was ahead of her, but he had noticed her and fell behind a bit, switching to being the follower himself. At the edge of a moonlit clearing she stopped and looked around in confusion, when suddenly she was ripped off her feet and rolled across the ground, then Tengu pinned her to the ground. He looked at her questioningly, but not mad in any way.

«Were you following me?»

«Isn't that obvious?»

«It is. Why though?»

«I wanted to see what you were up to, you were acting strange back there. I wanted to make sure you're alright.»

«Is that so?»

He looked at her lying below him, her dark brown, doe like eyes looking up to him and glittering in the low, bluish light. She was stunning and obviously very skillful to be able to follow him like that. She raised an eyebrow and smirked.

«So you got me, what are you gonna do now?»

He hesitated for a second, but then gave in to his feelings and cheekily licked her nose. The jill seemed a bit surprised but was not reluctant to his advances, so she returned the gesture and he felt the blood rush into his head.

«Are you blushing?»

«Of course not!»

He stepped off of her and let her get back up, expecting her to walk away, but instead, she got closer to him.

«You got really handsome, you know?»

«Did I? I mean...you too.»

She giggled and nuzzled his chest, giving him clear signals that she wanted this little flirt to turn into more.

He nibbled on her mane and caressed her back, making her purr happily. They didn't get home until very late that night...