Roses, Thorns, and Love

The unexpected guest

       Kalmar pushed Leeli off of him yelling, "What the heck?" Kalmar, out of habit, attempted to growl at her but turned his head away, eyes wide and cheeks red at the raspy squeak that came out of him. Leeli defensively yelled back, not noticing his attempt of growling. "You almost shot Baxter you fool!" Her furious expression softened as she embraced her dog and giggled.

"OH, sorry." He said, glad that no one mentioned the squeak. Leeli buried her head into Baxters fur as she sqealed, "Baxter look at how big you have become! Already bigger than nugget was, well, at least before the well water." Tears pricked at her eyes, threatening to fall as she hid her solemn expression. "Let's go." She said quietly, picking up Baxter, cutting Nia off as she walked ahead of the group. Kalmar and Sara shared a worried glance before continuing on the path.

  As they walked, Artham began to speak. "I am going to fly ahead and see if were on the right path, stay where you are." With that, he stretched his wings and dust pooled at his feet as he was lifted upward into the sky, a tiny amount of red feathers gracefully falling where he departed. Leeli sat down, stroking Baxters fur with one hand as she pulled her song book out. She seemed to be in another world as she jotted things down. "Leeli?" Kalmar began to ask, "Leeli, what are you writing?" Leeli looked up, pencil scratching the paper and suddenly skidding to a stop. "I'm working on a song." She meekly said, looking down. "Can I see the lyrics?" Sara asked as she scooted next to Leeli.

   "Well I'm not working on the lyrics right now. I'm working on the notes so that I can compose the music, and then write the lyrics." Sara nodded, answering with, "That's cool! I would offer to help, if I knew anything about notes." The light-hearted  comment lifted some of the tension as the three immersed in conversation, awaiting Arthams hopefully quick return. That was when their conversation was interrupted by a sound of batting wings as the three children quickly stood up and gathered their things.

"Were probably about 20 minutes away," Artham said as he continued to speak, "take a left here." He led them as they all conversed, there were sudden uncomfortable silences that someone had to break, usually Leeli or Nia. Sara seemed as if she was involved in the conversation when truly only one thing was on her mind, Janner. Leeli seemed to be the only one who noticed but didn't point it out, because that was the only thing on her mind to. Getting Janner back.

That was when they saw a clearing in the thick trees, a path that almost looked man made. They followed Artham on that path for about another 10 minutes, before they came upon the well.

(Quick authors note, sorry for pausing the story so suddenly but I'm sorry how cliche and expected this is but I couldn't help myself.)

They all smiled, before they heard Leeli yell in urgency. "BAXTER NO!" She screamed as Baxter jumped out of her arms and raced for the fountain, glad that their was finally a source of water. They all made an attempt to catch him, Artham got close but even he was unable to swipe the puppy away from the well. Baxter jumped into the water and drank as much as he could when leeli swiped him up into her arms. "Oh Baxter come on!" Kalmar started to laugh when Nia hit him on the back of his head, struggling to stifle her laugh as well. "Well," Artham joked, "we had to figure out if the water would work one way or another." Sara laughed along with Kalmar when Leelis tough exterior finally broke and they all cracked up laughing.

   They waited, and waited seriously wrong when Leeli broke the suspenseful silence. "It's not working! Why isn't it working? We're done for!" She yelled as tears tatted to cascade down her face when she saw a giant drop of slobble fall down in front of her face. She looked up to see a giant Baxter, almost as tall and big as nugget was after the water. Granted he was still a puppy. "Oh thank the maker!" Nia praised as Leeli hugged Baxter, her arms not even making it to the big dogs shoulders.

Baxter say down and wagged his tail, his unmistakable smile brightening. Clearly he didn't mind this change. "Oh Baxter, just look at you!" Leeli cheered as Artham sat Janners body up against a tree trunk, not wanting to ruin this happy moments just yet as they all gathered around Baxter showing him with hugs and pets, Leeli especially. "Maybe we should eat? I'm starving from all that walking, and I bet Baxter is starving from that ginormous change, pun totally intended." With that, the wingfeathers all opened their bags to munch on some filling lunch. They all pitched in to giving Baxter some of their lunch, as he needed a lot of food.

   Artham spoke as they packed up, "Are yall ready?" Nia nodded, hoping that this would work as Artham picked up Janner and set him against the well, putting the cup to lips and tilting it.

What did yall think of this chapter? Sorry for being dead for like 6 months. (Guess who's back, back again.)

Word count-913