Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

Fog is in the Air

"These are GREAT!" Kipo cried, jumping up in excitement and throwing her fist in the air. "Look! We can finally move around out here!"

Wirt blinked, pausing in the doorway. A small, nervous smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "They're pretty good," Wirt looked down at the makeshift gloves that covered his hands. They were more like oven mitts than actually gloves. "But I think the stitching is a little clumsy."

He was right, of course. When the wind blew against her, Kipo cold feel it slipping through the holes in the clothes.

Kipo shrugged. "Yeah, well... We can fix that later."

Wirt titled his head at her. "But we ran out of thread."

"Well, yeah," Kipo admitted. "But we don't ONLY have to use thread."

Wirt blinked. "W-What."

Kipo turned around. "It's okay! We'll figure it out. Now, let's go to the forest!"

Wirt opened his mouth, as if to say something, and then closed it. He stepped out of The House, and followed Kipo out into the plains. However, they only got a couple feet before Kipo suddenly froze. Wirt stopped as well, a little surprised.

"Huh?" Wirt asked. "Uh, Kipo? Is something wrong?"

Kipo turned to him, but she kept her eyes on the ground. She bit her lip. "It might not be out..." she whispered, mostly to herself. Wirt's eyes widened.

"What?!" Wirt asked, loudly, and Kipo shushed him.

"A borrowing tiger," Kipo whisper quickly. "They're like worms but they look kind of like tigers and they burrow beneath the earth. Just look for any movement on the ground, alright?"

"What?"

"I'm sure it's fine," Kipo quickly reassured him. Before Wirt could question this, Kipo started off again. "I mean, the long necks are hibernating, and they probably wouldn't be if the burrowing tigers were still out, right?"

This time, Wirt didn't follow Kipo, even a little bit, and Kipo had to stop. She looked back at him. "Uh... Wirt?"

Wirt blinked, and seemed to snap out of his daze. "Oh, sorry, uh..." Wirt rubbed his arm, looking awkward. "I just have no idea what you're talking about."

"Huh? You don't... oh! You mean you didn't see them?" Kipo raised an eyebrow at Wirt. "I can't believe I didn't show you before, they were right outside the window, I'm surprised you didn't notice..."

Wirt, once again, looked embarrassed. "I, uh, g-guess I missed it," he mumbled. "Again..."

"Seems so," Kipo agreed easily, and she tugged at the hand she had grabbed harder. "We're almost there!"

Together, they rounded the corner, and Kipo threw out her arms, dropping Wirt's hand in the process, and presented the odd group of friends she'd found at the start of her journey.

Wirt's eyes widened as they finally settled onto the odd, reddish mountain of Long Necks. "O-Oh," Wirt peered up at it, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. "I-wow. I can't believe I missed this, either."

Kipo laughed. "I know," she said, smiling. "Now, do you want to know their names?"

Wirt quickly turned to her, somehow even more shocked than before. "They have names?!"

"Well... no," Kipo admitted. "I gave them names. You want to hear them?"

Wirt looked from the pile to Kipo and then back. "I... that'd be great, thanks."

Kipo beamed, and hurried up to the pile, pointing at the one nearest to her. "This one is Velvet, she's pretty lazy, but she's really seems to like me! I like her, too, she likes listening to my music."