Homeward We Go Part Three

Kentar smirks and wanders quietly for a few, face saddening up a bit as he starts to sing quietly, mainly to himself. "My friend was taken by the sea, she rests now in our boat. A good an' gen'rous beast she was, a brave an' cheerful stoat..." he starts.

Will pull his little mole figurine out of his pocket and rolls in around in his paw not liking where this song seems to be going. He won't say anything and he won't hit the stoat .... but does he have to sing out load about that?! The rat looks around for a distraction of some sort.

Aikuen sighs a pats Kentar on the shoulder, and says softly, "Come on mate... Sing of happier things... I know you... loved her..." He takes a quick glance to Will, "But... Certain beasts... remember... like a few days ago." Hopefully the Stoat will get it.

Kentar doesn't seem to notice Aikuen's words, though his voice goes down to a whisper anyways. "Had no flow'rs or blossoms to cast out on the deep....no stone will ever mark the place where she sank down to sleep...She was brown and grey, and sweet as a long summers day...Your memory lies within my heart...You'll be me mate always..." he mutters quietly, the song finishing as he keeps walking, shrugging off the paw, sighing.

Aikuen stops and watches the Stoat walk off. He tilts his head, and slowly catches back up. He says, "That was good..." He doesn't know what else to say right now.

Kentar hrms and wipes a tear from his eye, looking at Aikuen, shrugging. "Sang it to her when I was in the long boat. We had just given up looking for survivors and started for home in the boat..." he sighs and closes his eye.

Aikuen nods, "thats real nice... Once again im truly sorry for what happened" He sighs, "What you must have had with her..." He shakes his head.

Kentar shrugs. "Things happen, mate" he says, taking a deep breath. "I wish I had have died too that day" That was totally absentminded.

Aikuen frowns, "Though i do know what you are going through... You do not want to die... and i bet she didn't want you too, either!" His voice has gotten angrier, "We have gone though this before..."

Kentar blinks and ohs. "Right...s-sorry" he almost sounds scared there as he goes, turning to look at the sky as they walk.

Aikuen eyes Kentar, before shrugging and continues to walk with him. He sees that he is looking at the sky, and instinctively he looks up too, "What? Another bird?"

Kentar blinks. "What? Oh. No, no bird. Just thinking. I look up when I think"

Aikuen nods but still scans the sky, "Oh okay" He looks down and watches the bank of the river. He hums a little marching tune, and he lightly keeps in step

Kentar thinks for a few moments more before singing again, this time the tune a lot happier. "I am the fountain of affection, I am the instrument of joy...to keep the good times rolling, I'm the boy...I'm the boy...you know the world could be our oyster...if you put your trust in me...Cause we'll keep the good times rolling, wait and see...wait and see...oh wait and see" he grins, singing the merry tune, trying to cheer up and cheer Aikuen up from being annoyed with him.

Aikuen looks to the Stoat and smiles, changing his steps to keep in time with his singing. After awhile, The otter decides to sing along with the chorus, "When I'm up I can't get down! Can't get down, can't get level! When I'm up I can't get down! Get my feet back on the ground!" He laughs when he finishes.

Kentar grins and sings the verse himself, but almost stops when he hears the otter sing along, laughing. "Hahahaha" he can't continue singing, laughing too much.

Aikuen stops and glares at the Stoat, "What?! I liked that song..." He grumbles a little bit.

Kentar laughs and grins. "He just needs, something to blind him up! Something to wind him up...It wont take line to find him, when comes on strong! Wise guys are grinning, street lights are spinning, the night is just beginning, and it comes on strong..." he sings again. "it comes on strong...and I am lifted..." he motions for Aikuen to join in.

Will doesn't know the song they're sing and is still thinking so he doesn't join in the song.

Aikuen points to himself and smiles, singing the next part, more like belts it out, "I am lifted! I am Lifted!" Then sings the chorus again, "When I'm up I can't get down! Can't get down, can't get level! When I'm up I can't get down! Get my feet back on the ground" He has to stop, and take a breather. Laughing to hard!

Kentar also ends up laughing loudly, grinning. "What!? I liked that song..." he laughs loudly as the otter ruins it, well...not really.

Aikuen actually has to sit down, he is laughing to hard. Rubbing his eyes he says, "That song brings back memories... hahah..."

Kentar laughs. "Really?" he asks, smiling some. "Better be good ones" he nods.

Aikuen gets up, and is still lightly chuckling, "Aye! Could never forget my season as a sailor!" He pats Kentar, "Thanks mate! that was fun!"

Kentar smiles and nods. "Not a problem!" he smiles. "My while at Sea wasn't...Great, but I remember some fun times" he laughs, smiling some more, starting to walk again.

Will follows the others humming to himself.

Aikuen coughs some as his throat is telling him to stop laughing now. He gives a quick look to Fira, who is still lagging behind. He sighs, "You go on ahead, Im gonna see what Fira is up too..." He gives a small wave, before walking back to her.

Kentar blinks a bit and stops laughing. "Okay..." he nods watching the otter go before shrugging. "So Will. Anything wrong?" he asks. "Awfully quiet there."

Will shrugs, "Lots of things. Like when you were sing that silly song I was thinkin' how funny it'd look if Denny fell in a pot of custard. He would'ave like it except for being hit on th head for fallin in." The ratling grins not caring that Kentar has no idea who Denny is.

Kentar laughs, smiling and chuckling. "I'm sure it would be funny" he chuckles, figuring Denny was a mole, since the one in his song was a mole.

Aikuen talked to Fira for a little bit, and she told him to go back to the group, that she'll be fine. He reluctantly goes back to the group, just walking behind them.

Will follows the stoat no longer humming but smiling a little.

Aikuen walks along, for a good while along the stream. He counts the fish as they pass by. He laughs lightly as he swore one of them looked him in the eye. He lightly taps Will on the head, "Hey matey, Hows it going?"

"Don't," Will ducks away from the tap then answers the otter, "I'm fine." He seems to be happy though he's stil mostly quiet.

Aikuen coughs, not quite sure he believes that, "Really? Okay..." He shrugs and continues to walk along, still thinking of something to say. The otter steps into a hidden puddle, and he shakes the mud from his leg, "Great..." Shrugging he says, "Your awfully talkative today" He jokes.

Will shrugs.

Aikuen coughs again, "That's... good to hear... or see..." He coughs again, and says, "So... What do you think of Fira? She'll probably be spending a lot more time with us, if I can help it!" Laughing then coughing ensues.

"She's nice. She's my friend and I like her. We get along good .... She can see really good and I hear good ... When you and Kentar went off on the way up we got along real good with just the two of us," The rat says pausing to chew on his lip thinking about the rest of what the otter'd said, about Fira spending a lot more time with them.

Aikuen smiles, "Well that's good to hear matey! I wanted your opinion on it, and what you said makes it perfect!" He hums a happy tune loudly again. What is wrong with this otter!... Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that he was killing without a second thought. Somethings up...

Kentar has been quiet while the others talked mostly singing to himself still.

Will find his old tablet and some chalk in his pack and starts to write on it keeping watch that the otter doesn't see what he's writing. "I know you like Fira a lot Pa and she's nice .... You still thinkin of living at Camp Willow when we get back and teach weapon training?" he asks to avoid any questions about what he's writing. He also hopes the otter's grasp on the English language hasn't improved too much.

Aikuen scratches his head at the writing, but keeps his eyes on the path ahead, to avoid anymore puddles. He tilts his head at the question, "Er... Im Not quite sure anymore... Yes, i do want to teach weapon training... but i don't want to live there. Besides, im sure im going to have to pass some sort of test before they let me in. and supposedly the skipper is a real..." He grasps his fist tightly, "Like that..."

Will hmms, "Kip said she was nice but he was born there so he's bound to say things like that."

Aikuen nods, "Well according to the Guards, she is nice up to the point you make her mad... Then you better get away...fast!" He laughs, and coughs. clearing his throat he says, "Ow... thats getting to sting now...ahem..."

Kentar hrms and looks over. "pass a test? to get into an otter camp? Why?"

Aikuen shakes his head, "No. I probably need to pass a test, before I become the weapon trainer. Because I just don't want to be a guard. And hopefully they're not all... you know... a 'Vermin are bad!' group... I don't want to join if that happens..."

Will puts the chalk away holding the tablet toward himself so the writing on it can't be seen. "You hurt your throat or something Pa?," he asks the otter before turning to address the stoat, "He wasn't born there and to make sure he'll follow their rules and stuff I guess they have some test ya got t do fore ya can join em and live there .... Flicky took the test and is a OtterFox so it can't be a very /strict/ test if Flicky was able to join."

Kentar ohs and nods, chucking a bit. "Ah, okay" he nods.

Aikuen nods to Will, "I didnt think of that, that makes sense. and my throat is fine... laughing too hard and too much for one day, I guess" He smiles some, dodging over a puddle.

Will rolls his eye remembering where he'd gotten some of his info from, "Kip's annoying most of the time but sometimes I can't help but hear what he's talking about, though usually it's about how great his is at something. And I asked Flicky one time how he got t be an OtterFox."

Aikuen looks back to Will. He never asked how flicky became an Otterfox... just assumed the worst. He asks, "Really? and what did he say?" A small cough finishes that sentence.

Will eyes the otter before passing the tablet to Kentar, "Kentar, could ya step over there," he point a short ways away, "And look this over for me please?" He doesn't know if the stoat is allowed to know or not, but he promised not to tell and he won't if the stoat listens.

Aikuen scratches his head, and shrugs. "Well fine then, I'll just be over here, if yah need me..." He goes over to the stream and plops his paws in, cooling them off.

After the stoat is far enough away Will walks up at the otter, "Pa, you have any of the medicine stuff of yours left that you use instead of eating?" The rat's voice is frim and he is genuinely concerned that the otter's cough could be something bad

Aikuen looks up, "hmm? oh..." He looks into his pack, and pulls out the flask that he was talking about, "Yah, i haven't had to use it in awhile, er... why do you ask?"

The rat looks skeptical, "Haven't /had/ to use it or haven't used it? You're coughing and unlike Kentar you didn't get hit in the neck. It would be a miserable trip back if you got sick. Well It'd be miserable if any of us got sick but you're the only one acting sick."

Aikuen points to the Flask, "This is a medicine that I created to help me eat food, when i couldn't keep it down. It has nothing to do with my cough. This un' on the other hand..." He reaches into his pack and pulls out a brown vial, "...Can help my cough. I just agitated it, thats all" He opens it and takes a wiff, "Eck... Well" He can tell the Will is concerned, why else ask about his health so much. he drinks the vial, and clears his throat, "Disgusting..."

"Medicince usually is," the rat says matterafactly walking off toward where Kentar is with the tablet. He's forgotten to tell what little he knows about Flicky becoming an OtterFox and would like to talk with the stoat about the writing on the table, alone if he can.

Aikuen scratches his head again, and thinks to himself, 'Will sure is acting weird... Was it something I said?...hmmm'. And he actually hmms aloud at that thought, as he remains in the water.

Will taps the stoat on the shoulder, "You uh read it ..." he asks holding a paw out for his tablet.

Kentar blinks and ohs, nodding. "Yeah...I did" he hands it back.

Will says, "Sooo Aikuen loves Fira. You said so and they act all mushy when they're together anymore. Pa asked what I though of Fira and says she's gonna be spending a lot more time with us. He wants to know what I think. I like Fira and she's my friend and all, I told him that but I don't know if I want her for my new Ma. I doubt I have much of a choice but I don't know. I made a list as you've read now. Normally I'd ask Miz Gwen or Flicky for help with this kind of stuff but they're not here and you are and I sure can't talk to Pa about this and definitely not Fira." He waits for Kentar's response.

Kentar nods slowly and thinks as he listens. "Well...You can ask me for help with anything I guess...If you need or want to" he then thinks. "But I'm not entirely sure what you want me to say, or do about this"

Will bites back the response of asking if the stoat were in any way related to Gwennethe the batmaid but figures it isn't too likely and the stoat's nearly identical response is just a coincidence. "Aikuen wants to know what I think of Fira who might marry Pa and then .... I'm not sure what'll happen then and I made a list of all the good things about Fira and a list of the not so good things. And I need help with .... I just need help and a list of the good and bad helped before." Will isn't sure this will work out as well as it did the last time. Maybe he should try to talk to Aikuen about it instead ... of course the otter may take it the wrong way and then he'd be in more trouble.

Kentar thinks for a few moments then goes to sit down. "My question for you, Will, is why are you nervous about it?" he asks.

Aikuen yawns and gets up from the stream. Pulling the tarp from his pack, he begins to set up camp here for tonight, though its quite awhile before nightfall, they have been walking all day, and its not like there in any hurry. He hums happily as he works, quite unaware of the conversation that's happening away from him.

Will blinks, "She might become my new Ma and while I would like a new Ma I don't want her to replace the one I had before. And they may have dibbuns of their own and they may like them better than me. And don't say it's not true I've seen it happen a lot!"

Kentar frowns and shakes his head slowly. "Will. Aikuen is your Pa. There's no way, no how, and no way at all he'd ever, ever, ever like anyone more then you. Even if him and Fira had dibbun's of their own, I know that nothing would ever change the fact he still likes you more then anything."

"Maybe," he grunts. ".... She doesn't act like a mother but they're not married yet so that could still change ..... Lately they're always goin off by themselves and wouldn't know if either of us where around or not, though at home Pa's usually off somewhere much of the day as it is .... if they were married he's just take her with him ..... wouldn't change somethings too much ...... it'd take a lot of getting used to if she moves in with the rest of us ..... I wonder if she knows about Racky yet," he wonders aloud.

Aikuen has built the fire and begun to toast a few biscuits for their dinner. Fira had came just after he had built the tent, and they talked as they waited for the other two. After awhile of waiting, they finished there food, and Aik went to go lay down for a nap. Fira soon after retreated to her own bedroll. They left the two biscuits by the fire for the other two, when they returned.

Kentar Thinks for a few and nods. "Yeah...probably...but look. You don't need to worry ever. Aikuen will never like anyone else over you...it's not possible" he says. "To be honest, I'm sort of jealous of him..." he looks over in the campsite's general direction.

Will asks, "Why?" Yes the otter has his good points but the rat can easily think of many of his bad points as well.

Kentar Blinks and looks down. "Why what?" he asks.

Will sighs and asks again, "What makes you sortof jealous of Aikuen?" The stoat had said him meaning Aikuen or so the rat assumes.

Kentar ohs. "Oh...yeah...sorry...I just am. I miss having someone of my own to hug and kiss and vanish off with randomly" he describes Aikuen as best as he can. "Good to know he has someone he really likes though."

Will says, "Oh. Yeah it is good they like each other the way they do .... though they need to learn to vanish better."

Kentar chuckles and nods. "Agreed" he gives the ratling a bit of a nudge. "You should teach them to do that better" he nods.

Will pretends to act shocked, "And have them beat me up? No thanks, you know more about it than me you can teach them."

Kentar laughs and smirks. "Fine, then I will" he nods, chuckling some.

"Good, then I won't have to hear about how beautiful her green eyes are or anything else." He makes a face to show his opinion of the otter's endearments toward one another.

Kentar chuckles a bit and smiles. "One day, Will. That will be you, telling someone about how beautiful some gal's eyes are" he chuckles.

Will shakes his head, "Shows what you know. Though if you're asking .... they're blue." He glances back at where Aikuen was and notices the otter's had set up camp while he and the stoat were talking, "... Race ya to camp!" He calls out jumping up and running toward the fire to evade any questions Kentar may ask.

Kentar Blinks and was about to ask something before standing and darting after Will. "Hey...come back!" He calls out. "Who's eyes are blue?" he asks as he runs after him.

Will grabs a biscuit and munches on it, "I'm not telling you!" he calls back, "and if you don't hurry up I'll eat your biscuit too!"

Kentar comes up to the camp and blinks a few times. "Go ahead and eat the biscuit..." He then tilts his head. "Come on, why wont you tell me?" he smirks before chuckling. "Ah, alright, don't...anyways, I'm going to turn in for the night...C'ya in the morning Will" he smiles before heading off for his bedroll.