Homeward We Go Part One

Characters: Aikuen, Fira, Will, Kentar

Location: Eastern Shore, Broadstream

Eastern Shore

Fira's woken up reasonably early and quietly made a start on making breakfast. Seaweed experimentation seems to be the call of the day as she's got the fire going again and little pot of fish and seaweed in it. Smells quite good too.

Aikuen nose twitches to the smell of food. Sleeping in, is not known for this otter, but ever since he told her, he has been sleeping quite well lately. Aikuen slowly gets up and rubs the sleep from his eyes. Looking around trying to bring focus to the world, he can see Fira. He smiles and says, "Mornin'..." Yawning, he goes over to the fire sitting close to Fira. He takes a big waft of the small before asking, "Smells good! What's for breaking our fast for today"

Fira looks up when she spots movement, namely Aikuen coming over. A little smile creeps out "Morning" leaning over to aim a little kiss at his cheek soon as he's sat down "Fish and seaweed...broth...thing. It'd sound better if I actually had a name for it...Saves dipping into supplies for all the others might get tired of fish"

Aikuen smiles as as he is kissed, and close his eyes for a second before leaning over toward the pot, looking in at its contents. He takes another smell, "Mmm, if it taste as wonderful as it smells, you can call it anything and it wont matter!" He laughs and pulls out his pack that is near him. He digs through the pocket and pulls out his last canteen. Placing it near them, he continue to look through the pack. He sighs and places the pack behind him, "Good thing were using what we can find... i have three days of rations left" He rubs his face.

Fira stirs the pot with one paw though her eyes are on him, smirking a little. She peers at the pack when he gets it out, making a half hearted effort to see inside from a distance "Hmm, rest of us have probably got about the same then and it'd take more than that to get back unless we were really careful about it...guess we'll just have to keep an eye open, catch some more fish and hope to gather some more stuff on the way back"

Aikuen nods some, "Aye, im not too worried at least" He shrugs, and pops his back. Sighing he says, "We have a great gatherer and a not so much great gatherer... But if push comes to shove, we can make the food last." He drinks lightly from the canteen.

Fira gets to dishing out a couple of bowls of the seaweed broth, offer him one of them "We'll be fine once we're back in some woods...and the river goes on for a bit, can always catch some more fish then there's just a couple of days south before we hit the river Moss"

Aikuen takes the bowl and slurps a little of it, "Thanks.. It tastes... Amazing!" He is not lying, its the truth, he has also never tasted something like this before. Its an Experience. He smiles and says, "Then after we hit the river, go west 'till we get to the path, then follow the path down until we get back home... wherever that is..." Shaking his head, he takes another slurp.

Fira smirks again "Stuff tossed in a pot and heated. Clearly one of my specialities" the smirk kind of fades a bit at the directions and she looks down to her own bowl "Hmmm. Home. Never been away so long"

Aikuen puts down his empty bowl, putting an arm around Fira, he brings her closer to him. He is afraid that he struck a point when he said home, "Er... Sorry... But where do you live anyway... I thought you just wondered." He lightly squeezes her.

Couple of points in one but none big enough to keep her from smiling as she settles into his side "Well, wander the area for food. Always go back home though. Holt Silverwater...Not much to it these days I suppose but, still, my own personal lake hidden in the woods"

Aikuen nods his head, but then realized something she just said, "Personal? Do you mean you live all by yourself?" He is quite surprised at this, but tries not to show it.

Fira has to keep her head at a bit of an odd angle to keep lip reading, ends up just resting her head on his shoulder, watching from there. She nods slowly to the question "For a few seasons now"

Aikuen scratches his head with his free paw, "It its not too much to ask, but... What happened? If its only been for a few seasons, then... I don't know" He breathes deeply.

Fira shrugs a shoulder uncomfortably "Well my dad was alive back then...The holt though, well that place has been empty for as long as I've known it. Beasts moving out, dying...sometimes a place just slips off the map"

Aikuen nods. Its true on any map that Aikuen has seen, he has never seen or heard of Holt Silverwater. He senses that she has gone a little stiff, so he gives a tight hug, and kisses the top of her head, "Im sorry... to hear that" He gives another squeeze before asking, "After your dad... um... Why didn't you leave... go to the Abbey or something."

Fira smiles faintly at the kiss and after a short pause she puts her bowl and what's left of her breakfast to one side, free up her paws to slip her arms round his waist. Another light shrug "I didn't want to. I've always lived there and it's not like I can't take care of myself...Sure it's quiet on your own" she smirks faintly "What isn't when you're deaf?...I don't know, it's home and I don't like being surrounded by beasts...it's hard to keep up"

Aikuen laughs lightly, "Aye... i guess being deaf can have that effect." He looks out to the ocean, and stares for a few moments before looking back and sighing, "Its good to have a home... even if it is empty" He has gone a little stiff at this statement.

Fira tilts her head faintly, the stiffness has not gone unnoticed "What about you then? Where are you from?...If you don't mind me asking"

Aikuen shrugs, "Wherever i can lay my head for the night, i call home now. I have a place at the abbey... but they don't really like me there... Then there is Moledeep, been abandon home for some time. Me and Will live there sometimes." He takes a deep breath and continues, "Camp willow is okay... its also sort of empty... and they kinda don't like me either..." He shakes his head, "The only place where i truly called home... was where i was born... But the king had me exiled from the island... I can never go back." Once again he shakes the bad memories from his head, then sighs, "Im sorry, this is probably boring, we can talk about something else if you want..."

Fira looks a little surprised, both at the mention of kings and that no place apparently likes him. Smiles faintly at the apology though "I'm not bored. I want to know things about you...still don't want to make you uncomfortable in the process though"

Aikuen smiles and shakes his head, "I don't mind... Its just when i talk about, it makes other beasts uncomfortable. I try not to say anything much about it... My past... lets just say... wasn't the greatest. In fact, I am despised for it... I Changed... Im not all like that anymore...only a little" He gets stiff again, and mumbles something out. Another deep breath, and he smiles, "Thanks..."

Fira tilts her head faintly but chooses not to push. Everything has a way of coming out in time. She shifts after a moment, turning to easily wrap her arms round his neck "Well, I never was one for living in the past...or the future actually now I think about it" tiny smirk.

Aikuen turns to look her in the eyes, and he smiles, "Come on now! Never think about the future?" He is grateful that she didn't push the matter, he would have to tell her... then she might not like him anymore. He gets really close, but not so close that she cant read his lips, "Then what do you dream about?"

Fira blinks faintly and actually seems to have to think about that for a moment "I...Guess I don't" sounds weird even to her "I don't know..." slightly smirking again "Been too busy staying alive to think if things were different. Should probably start doing that sometime soon eh?"

Aikuen nods a little, "Aye, you should... makes life better!" He laughs a little bit, "I know what i think about in the future..." He smirks back at her.

Fira slowly starts to grin back at him, she has some ideas "And what's that then?"

Aikuen gives a big old smile, and leans in, giving her a kiss on the lips. He leans out, and says "Do i have to explain it?"

Fira's grin gets a little bigger. Aren't they a horribly soppy pair? She moves a paw to his cheek "No, I guess not" going to give him another longer kiss back.

Aikuen smiles and leans back in, putting his paws around her waist. After a few wonderful minutes, he pulls away, and says, "You have gorgeous green eyes..." Yes, that was random, but he cant think correctly at the moment.

Fira sighs faintly, content and then looking a little embarrassed at his words, happy though. She looks down, avoiding his eyes for a moment "Thanks, kinda born with them" has to joke.

Aikuen laughs, one of the things that draws him toward her. He brings both paws behind her head, nudging her to look back in his eyes again. He smiles, and plants another kiss on her before saying, "Its true... and I cant help it... I notice things like that..." He chuckles.

Fira is still embarrassed but she can't help but grin at him after the kiss "It's sweet..." she chuckles quietly "I don't know what to say, I've never had someone complimenting my eyes before."

Aikuen tilts his head, "Really? that's one of the first things i noticed about you..." He moves the paw from the back her head, and onto her shoulders, "Im not much into saying that type of stuff... but..." He sighs and smiles warmly.

Fira rests her own paws on his arms, rubbing one of them as she smiles, looking down again for a moment before back to him again "Well I live alone, not going to compliment myself."

Aikuen laughs, "Haha, I guess your right!" He winks, and plants another kiss, "Well im glad that it was me who first did..." He playfully nudges her arm.

Fira kisses him back before she chuckles quietly and aims a light shove back at his shoulder "I bet you are, it probably works all the better."

Aikuen chuckles, "Well, I am! And for me, it works just great!" He rubs his shoulder where Fira shoved him. He becomes mock in pain, "Ow! you got a mighty shove! Almost broke me shoulder you did!" He laughs and pokes Fira in the ribs, to see if she is ticklish.

Fira smirks at his pain, she knows she's not that strong. There's a small high squeak at the poke and her stomach instinctively retreats away. She is indeed ticklish "I'll break the other one in a second too" she jokes.

Aikuen laughs as she squeaks, "Haha! Did i find a point!?" He aims at her ribs again. He moves in slowly, just to see what what she might do.

Fira squeaks again! And as he moves in she grins, grrrrs and launches forwards, going to try and get him in a loose headlock.

Will watches the otters from a distance, he's been trying to stay out of the way since the accident with Kentar. All his things are packed and he's more than ready to start heading back home. He'll leave the otters alone for a little longer though.

Aikuen eeps and falls to the ground, with Fira attached to him. He laughs as he tries to tickle her, and if he can kiss her as many times as he can!

Fira eeks and laughs, trying to escape again, more from the tickles than the kisses. Totally unaware they have an audience or she might be embarrassed again right now.

Between Will and Kentar everything has been packed up and made ready for the trip back.

Aikuen pulls her closer and slowly transitions from tickling to kissing. He smiles a big fat grin, and looks into her eyes again, "Your... Just so amazing...eh?" He points behind Fira, where the tent has magically disappeared.

Fira stops trying to escape as the tickling subsides, just enjoys the kisses instead and grins back at him. She's trying to think of something witty to say back when he points though and she looks round, little surprised that there's a lack of tent there "...Well when did that happen?"

Will grins, "We're heading back today. We were gonna tell you but you we're busy."

Aikuen scratches his head. Shrugging he gives a last kiss to Fira, before getting up with her still on, by picking her up. He looks around and says, "err.. you were watching eh? heh..." He puts her down, and dusts himself off of the sand. He could be more embarrassed, but Fira probably won that fight.

Will shrugs, "Only a little, we were mostly packing stuff up."

Fira is lucky she has fur or she'd be rather red right now. She kind of stalls briefly soon as she's put back on her paws, avoiding looking at anyone...and she can walk out of this situation! "I'm...going to just fetch my pack" pointing vaguely to it and just walking off that way.

Aikuen rubes the back of his head, "We?" he looks to where the stoat was sleeping, but he should have realized. Tent down equals woke Kentar. He frowns slightly and mumbles, "Er... yah me too... pack... yah..." He doesn't have to go far to get it, and he sits it on his back. He tosses sand on the fire, to smother it. He doesn't really have to do that... he just needs something to do

Will has been ready for a while now and watches the tide go in and out as the otters awkwardly go for there respective packs. He smirks to himself over their antics. This day is going quite well so far, much better than the last few days.

Fira is a little better once she gets moving. Smirking faintly and just shaking her head at herself as she shoulders her bag and picks up her spear. Simple as that she's all ready to go and heads back towards Will, even if she's actually sneaking a small grin at Aikuen.

Will look up at Fira as she comes over, his smirk reduced to a smile. "Ready to go?" he asks.

Aikuen returns the smirk to Fira, before standing and looking to Will. He taps each item on his person naming them off before saying, "Im all set..."

Fira draws her attention back to the rat and offers a small nod "As ever"

Kentar has been helping with the packing, mostly staying quiet. After stabbing Fira, he's not really been himself. A lot more quiet, and he's not eaten much. "Ready here as well" he pipes up.

Will stands up, "Let's get going then."

Aikuen nods, "Okay... lets go..." He has a slow gait as he begins to walk north, toward the stream, way in the distance

Kentar slings his pack over his shoulder and starts to follow.

Will follows Aikuen and the others up shore to the mouth of the Broadstream River. From there they follow the river west back toward the Mossflower woods and beyond.