To Find Healing

The sun filtered intermittently through the treetops overhead, creating brief patches of morning warmth in between the cool shade of the forest.

Cameron took a deep breath of the dew-heavy air and let it out with a smile. He loved mornings. There was something fresh and new about each sunrise that excited him.

By now the river was far enough behind that they could no longer hear the roar of it. They’d crossed in the early pre-dawn hours, using the cover of darkness to hide them from Moonfall patrols. It must have worked, because several hours had now passed and they were still walking free.

“Do you know the name of these woods?” Cameron asked, startling his companion out of whatever thoughts he’d been brooding about.

October shrugged. “Not sure. This region is full of forests. The locals use a lot of different names for them; it’s hard to keep track.”

“So you’ve been here before?”

“A few times. Usually in the Black Forest, though. Never this far south.”

A shudder ran through Cameron at the mention of the Black Forest. He knew their route was too far south to take them anywhere near that infamous swampland, but the childhood stories his den mother used to tell about it still haunted him.

Shaking off the thought, he went back to watching the scenery as they trotted past it. These woods were rather beautiful. It was much more dense than the forests Specter Pack lived in. Everything was more vibrant, too — from the rich, almost-black soil to the dark emerald shades of the plants. Even the flowers on the climbing vines seemed to glow in the shadows of the massive trees.

This was a type of wonderment Cameron hadn’t been allowed to experience in a long time. With everything so uncertain between the packs right now, traveling anywhere outside your own territory was a risk most weren’t willing to take. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been outside Specter Pack’s lands.

October eyed him for a moment, a soft smile on his face that looked foreign on the grumpy tokota. “Enjoying the landscape?” he asked, tone less mocking than Cameron would have expected.

“Mmm,” he hummed appreciatively. He pulled to a stop in a patch of sunlight, closing his eyes as he drank in the warmth from it. “This forest is beautiful. It’s like something out of a fairy tale.”

October huffed. “You’d be the only tokota to think that. These woods are usually avoided since there isn’t as good of hunting grounds down here. Most tokotas stick to the forests north of the Deadrun River.”

“Not everything has to have a practical purpose,” Cameron said. He opened his eyes again, gazing at the massive ivy leaves draping overhead. “It’s pretty.”

October tilted his head, staring at Cameron like a puzzle that needed to be solved. Cameron didn’t flinch from the scrutiny. For the first time in his life, he found he didn’t care what someone else was seeing when they looked at him. He was feeling too reckless to care; too free to worry.

“You’re such a weirdo,” October said after a minute, shaking his head dismissively. “C’mon, we need to keep moving.”

“Shouldn’t we hunt first?” Cameron asked. “There’s a lot of wildlife in these woods, and no enemy around right now. There’s no telling when we’ll be able to hunt after we make it to the Fae Hills.”

October paused mid-step, looking genuinely surprised by the suggestion. “That’s… actually an interesting point. Will you need to hunt before we make it back to your pack’s territory?”

“Well, duh. We’re going to be gone for several days. If we want to keep walking at a fast pace for that long, we’re gonna need to eat at least once during that time.”

Looking at the slightly annoyed and considering expression in his companion’s eyes, Cameron realized with a jolt that the thought had never even occurred to October. What kind of tokota doesn’t need to eat? he wondered, a chill running down his spine as a few possibilities flitted through the back of his mind. He pushed those doubts away. It didn’t matter. Right now, they needed to focus on the current issue.

“You said these woods aren’t as good for hunting, but there must be some wildlife, right?”

“Of course,” October said, tail twitching in annoyance. “Probably a lot of smaller animals, since the locals don’t hunt down here too often.”

“Perfect. Then we should be able to get some breakfast and get out of here without wasting too much time.”

“Fine,” October sighed.

Cameron got to work immediately, nose to the ground and ears pricked for any sign of nearby movement. It didn’t take him long to realize that his companion wasn’t actually contributing to the effort in any way. Whatever. He was determined not to lose his temper with October… again. If that meant doing the hunting, than he was fine with that.

A few minutes into it, Cameron caught a strong scent. It was fresh, too, whatever had been through here was only recently gone. He followed the scent trail forward until he caught sight of a dark patch of fur disappearing into the underbrush.

“Heads up! We’ve got one!” Cameron called over his shoulder before taking off after the creature.

For someone who was so reluctant to participate earlier, October was quick to fall into step beside him now. He easily kept pace as they leaped over bushes and under fallen logs. If he were being honest, Cameron would have to admit that he was probably slowing October down; the orange toko didn’t look to be even slightly winded.

Keeping his eyes on the prey ahead of them, Cameron continued to dive over and around obstacles as he ran. He nearly tripped going over a particularly rough patch of brambles, but a shoulder bumping against his helped steady him in time. Of course, it was most likely an accident, since it wasn’t as if October would go out of his way to help him. Definitely not.

They came around a bend into a small clearing. Ahead, Cameron saw the badger’s tail disappearing into a hole at the base of a large Ashwood tree. He dove after it, teeth clamping down on air as he was a moment too late to catch it. The badger was gone.

“Great,” Cameron groaned, leaning against the tree. His lungs were burning as he gasped for air from the long chase.

“Figures,” October said, pulling to a stop on the other side of the burrow entrance.

Annoyingly, he didn’t seem to be tired at all. He could at least have the decency to look like someone who’d just chased a critter through dense underbrush. Even his fur wasn’t mussed, which gave Cameron the irrational urge to reach over and ruffle it out of place — an urge he thankfully tamped down on.

After getting a little more oxygen back into his system, Cameron sighed. “I almost had him, too. Only a few seconds sooner…”

“Alright, well, get it back out here.”

He stared at the orange toko in confusion. “Uh… what?”

October rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. Of course I noticed your pack markings a while ago. You’re a Creature Whisperer. From the Larkspur Pack, right?”

Breath freezing in his chest, Cameron took a step backwards, unconsciously angling his shoulder so the faint markings weren’t as visible.

It was silly, he knew. Some part of him had always been aware of the possibility of someone recognizing the markings and understanding what they meant. He specifically left them there — faded now by time and wear — because he’d told himself he shouldn’t be ashamed of his past. But this was the first time he’d met someone who knew what they meant — knew what that meant about him.

October huffed, shrugging his slender shoulders. “Oh, stop freaking out on me. I don’t care where you came from or anything about your stupid backstory. What I want is for you to get that badger out here with that magic of yours so we can back to our journey out of these woods.”

“Wait,” Cameron said, reeling back, eyes wide. “You want me to use my whisperer talent to lure it out here for capture?”

“What, that’s what creature whisperers do, right? You use your magic to influence animals, talk in their heads, or whatever creepy mystical thing you do to make them listen. My point is, what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I don’t use my talent for hunting.” Cameron shot back, expression turning icy. “It’s for connecting with animals and soothing them, not something I exploit to kill them.”

“Oh, sure, killing them is fine, but it has to sporting?”

“You couldn’t understand.” He could feel the defensiveness creeping into his tone, and fought it back down. Of course this kinsun couldn’t understand; he wasn’t a whisperer, so he’d have no way of realizing how personal that form of magic was. He couldn’t understand what it was like to feel that used against an unwilling party. He’d never feel it for himself…

Shaking his head, Cameron forced the thoughts away, shutting them into the dusty corner where they belonged. Injecting a bit of false optimism into his voice, he tried again. “Look, it can’t take us long to do this ourselves, right? Our ancestors hunted just fine without the use of magic. So can we.”

Shoulders sagging in defeat, October grumbled, “Fine. So what’s your wise plan for getting us lunch?”

“I was gonna take the more obvious approach here and go find something else to hunt.”

“What part of ‘bad hunting grounds’ was so hard to interpret earlier, Blue? We were lucky to find something as big as a badger once, we’re not gonna do that again. At least, not before we waste a lot of time we really can’t afford to lose.”

Cameron arched an eyebrow and lifted his chin a bit. “Okay, first, don’t call me Blue. Like, ever. Second, what do you mean we found the badger? That was all me, thank you very much. And third, I figured we’d save a lot of time by splitting up and hunting in different areas.”

October’s ears folded back defensively. “Oh. I don’t think that’s a great idea. The forest down here can be a little dangerous, especially if we wander off separately.”

“You said it was perfectly safe,” Cameron reminded him.

“Because we were traveling in a pair,” October clarified, but his eyes shifted to the side, belying his casual words.

Cameron thought over everything they’d said that morning, as well as October’s failure to help with the actual tracking. “Oh my…” he muttered, eyes widening in realization. “October… you can’t hunt?!”

“I can’t track,” he shot back, shoulders hunching. “Okay? It’s not the end of the world.”

“How have you possibly survived on your own for this long without being able to track?” Cameron asked rhetorically. He shook his head. “Okay, fine, let’s forget the separating idea. We’ve got a perfectly good badger right here we can catch. We just have to figure out a way to get it back up here.”

October eyed him in confusion for a moment — presumably surprised at how quickly he let the matter drop — before giving in and walking over to the badger hole. “Okay, how do you propose we get it out of there?”

“Don’t worry,” Cameron reassured him. “I’ve got a plan.”

He didn’t, but that had never stopped him before, and he sure wasn’t going to let it stop him now. One way or another, they were getting breakfast.

---

“You sure you’re tunneling in the right spot?” October asked casually. He leaned over to peer down into the small hole.

Pausing his digging efforts a moment, Cameron popped his head over the edge of the hole and nodded. “Positive. I should be through any moment now.”

The other toko merely hummed a brief acknowledgment. He’d been quick to express his doubts about this plan when it was first proposed. But, with Cameron’s certainty that it would work, he’d stepped aside and observed the progress with only the occasional verbal input.

The idea was to dig a back entrance to the burrow that was big enough for a tokota to fit through. That would then scare the badger out the front of the burrow, where October could catch him. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Almost an hour of digging later, Cameron wasn’t so sure anymore. After hitting another rock in his path, the blue toko let out a frustrated grunt.

“I don’t get it,” he said. “This hole is already deeper than it should need to be. Why haven’t I hit the burrow yet?!”

A shadow fell across him and he glanced up to see October peeking over the edge. “So, not to question your brilliant plan, but you did notice that it was a River Badger, right?”

“Of course. So?”

“So, River Badgers dig their burrows under a big tree — like the one we happen to be standing next to — so they can hollow out the inside and live in there.” He paused, as if for dramatic effect, before delivering the final blow. “You can’t tunnel into the burrow.”

Cameron closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Why,” he said slowly, “didn’t you mention this an hour ago?”

“I believe my exact words were ‘this will never work’. But far be it from me to correct the resident animal expert.”

Cameron scrabbled up the side of the hole, October grabbing the scruff of his mane to help haul him up. Once he was on solid ground, he glared at his traveling companion. “Okay, your turn to come up with a plan.”

---

“This isn’t working.”

October shot him an annoyed glance. “Well, I don’t see you offering any better suggestions. Now, help me move this rock.”

“I’ll help, but for the record, this plan is worse than mine was.”

Grunting as he shoved another rock into place, October asked, “Oh really? And, in your professional opinion, why not?”

Cameron leaned over the rock pile with an overly innocent smile on his face. “Well,” he said a little too cheerfully, “For one thing, you’re blocking the wrong hole. The burrow is under that tree.”

---

“We are not setting a forest fire just to catch one little critter!”

“Not a whole forest fire,” October said. “We only need enough to smoke him out.”

“It’s autumn. One little spark is all it needs to send this whole place up in smoke.”

“Look, do you want breakfast or not?”

“I’m not burning down a forest. End of discussion.”

---

“Blue, put that stick down before you get yourself killed.”

Cameron dropped his stick with a huff. “Don't call me Blue. And I was only trying to scare it out.”

“I can guarantee that if you start poking that thing into a badger’s home, you are going to get your face clawed off.”

---

“Well, that was a spectacular failure.”

Cameron sighed and flopped onto the ground, letting his crudely made net fall to the side. “Okay,” he said, “I’m all out of ideas.”

“You know, we still haven’t tried—”

“We’re not setting a fire.”

“You know, I’m pretty sure we’ve reached the point where this can no longer be considered breakfast,” October commented. He walked over to where Cameron was flopped out on the ground and took up a spot beside him, leaning against the tree casually. “Maybe it’s time to raise the white flag.”

“At the rate we’re going, we might as well have just hunted down something else,” Cameron said, trying to shake some of the dirt from his mane. “Probably would have been faster.”

“So why don’t we?”

“Because this has become a challenge now,” Cameron said. “And I’m no quitter. We will win this thing if we have to go down fighting.”

“You have issues, Blue.” October noticed the lack of correction on the nickname this time and wondered if it was a sign of exhaustion or resignation. Either way, he’d take the win.

“Alright,” Cameron said, sitting up and clapping his paws together decisively. “Let’s think this through. We’ve tried scaring it out. We’ve tried tunneling, prodding, tricking…”

“Okay, fine,” October sighed in defeat. “Since you insist on doing this, I do have one suggestion. Can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but why not try taking a page out of your own book? The diplomatic approach.”

Cameron cocked his head to the side. “Say what?”

“If we can’t force it out here, try luring it out instead.”

Cameron turned that idea over in his head for a minute. Slowly, a smile spread across his muzzle. “Yes! That could work.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” October said dryly. “We need to find bait, though.”

“Oh, I’m way ahead of you, Grumpy Fox,” Cameron informed him cheerfully. Waving a paw at the trees surrounding them, he said, “We find ourselves a honeyguide.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” October said, “but what is a honeyguide?”

“It’s a bird. Y’know how ravens will help lead us to carrion so we can share the kill with them? Well, honeyguides do the same thing but with bee hives. They’ll lead you to the hive and eat part of the honeycomb in return.”

“Okay, so we need to find one of these birds, let it lead us to honey, then put the honey out as bait to catch the badger. Is it just me, or does this all sound way too complicated just for a meal?”

“Oh, come on, this will be easy now that we have an actual plan,” Cameron assured him.

As it turned out, it did go fairly easy. Cameron managed to find them a honeyguide after only a little bit of searching and sending out bird calls. They tramped after the little bird through some rough marshlands before it finally took them to a bee hive. Cameron used his Whisperer talent to keep the bees calm while they removed a small piece of honeycomb. October wanted to point out that this didn’t seem all that different from using his talent to simply draw out the badger in the first place, but decided it wasn’t worth starting another argument.

Once the bait was placed in the middle of the clearing, both tokos took up a hiding spot in the bushes, waiting for their prey to appear.

“You okay there?” October asked, faintly amused at the nervousness radiating off of his companion.

“Yep, fine,” Cameron said, tapping his claws against the ground. “Completely fine. Totally fine. One hundred percent fine.”

“Uh huh, sure you are.”

Cameron sighed. “Okay, fine, I’m nervous. I’ve never actually… you know… fought anything before. Like, not something as mean as this is going to be. I’m more of a small prey hunter sort of guy.”

“And I’m not even a little bit surprised,” October said. “Don’t worry about it, Blue. Luckily for us, fighting is one thing I can do very well.” A rustling in the clearing drew his attention. “And it looks like it’s show time.”

He sprang out of the bushes and dove at the badger. Like a lot of the wildlife in this region, it was enormous, almost the size of a small toki. It bared its fangs at October and lashed out with claws that had much farther reach than his own. Unfazed, October easily dodged the attack and lunged in closer to keep the fight on more equal grounds.

It was over in a matter of seconds. Cameron carefully slipped out of the bushes after the last sounds of the fight had disappeared. He looked a little embarrassed at not having done anything to help, but October wasn’t in the mood to rub it in. He just wanted them to be back on their way as quickly as possible.

As they prepared the meal, Cameron hummed thoughtfully to himself.

“What?” October prompted, curiosity getting the better of him.

“I was just thinking. We really did end up needing both of us to get this done, didn’t we? I mean, it was your sneaky mind that came up with the idea, my animal knowledge that got us the bait—”

“And my fearless nature that brought our prey down in the end,” October interrupted smugly.

Cameron smirked. “I was gonna say vicious, but sure, let’s go with fearless. My point is, we make a pretty good team.”

The amusement dropped from October’s face. “Whoa there. I never said anything about being a team. I’m acting as your guide, for a small profit. That’s all this is.”

Cameron visibly fought back a laugh at the other’s panic. “Relax. I’m only saying that our skills complement each other really well. And, even though it hasn’t been going exactly as planned, I’m glad you’re the one acting as guide for this trip. We do make a good team, even if it’s just for this one mission.”

October shrugged, choosing not to comment on it further.

Deep down inside, a tiny thread of light began coiling its way through the darkness, leaving behind an unpleasant feeling of guilt and shame. Of all the times for his long-dead conscience to kick back into gear, this had to be the worst. He wished he could fully hate the stupid blue tokota for waking it back up.