Arizium

Chapter 24

Bear was highly aware of the fact that Phoenix always kept her distance from Wolf. Every time he would get too close, she would pick up the pace and pretend like nothing was happening. Bear exhaled through her nose Can't she act like a grown up already and just deal with it? She screamed internally and slowed down until she was side by side to Wolf and Lynx, who were having a conversation about fish.

"Oh, hello Bear. What do you need?" Wolf greeted once he noticed her.

"You have to fix this problem. Now," Bear demanded curtly.

"What problem?" Wolf asked, feigning confusion. Even Lynx scoffed at how bad of a liar he was as she hopped over branches.

"You know damn well what problem I'm talking about Wolf," Bear growled "You need to mend this relationship before it starts effecting all of us. I wish I could do this for you, but I really can't," She stated as she hacked at shrubs that stood in her way.

Wolf sighed and mussed with his hair, "Yes, I am fully aware of that, thanks. I'll do it soon. Promise."

Bear intercepted him and stopped him in his tracks with a glare, "You better," she retorted before leaving him and Lynx alone again. She gazed lazily at the sky through the treetops and noted the clouds that had started forming, Damn, all this good weather and you choose to get bad when we are travelling? She cursed the few pieces of fluff and hoped that they at least found some sort of town sometime soon. New clothes wouldn't be a bad idea, she noted and picked at her tattered short-tunic's loose strings.

Bear listened in on Amaria and Lucius's conversation unintentionally as she made her way forward.

"Could capturing Knox end the war with Movrias?" Amaria thought out loud.

Lucius pondered that as he stepped over a fallen branch, "They would probably still find some way to blame this all on us," he concluded "I do not think that they are entirely convinced that this all the works of a singular person."

"To be fair, it is a tad unbelievable," Amaria admitted "How can one person do this much damage, anyway?"

"Because he's insane and merciless," Bear commented and sliced another shrub.

Amaria turned towards her, realizing that she had been listening in, "Why is he like that?" She asked curiously.

"I gave up trying to figure it out," Bear admitted "Maybe he's got some serious disease contaminating that head of his. He used to be so brilliant and clever, but then something just randomly changed in him and before we knew it he was offering us mutilated animals as trophies. He grew fond of the sport of maiming and killing creatures, which now that I think about it was probably why he never resonated with anything. What sort of beast would want to be allies with such a, well, a beast. But how he managed to completely deteriorate the prey in such a short time is beyond me."

Lucius glanced sideways at her, "Perhaps he connected with something after all."

Bear thought about that and shrugged, "I suppose it would explain things a bit better. If his beast was able to do all this damage so easily, I fear to know what it is," she shuddered and drifted away from them to find another person to mingle with. She picked her way through the trees and weeds and found Arro, but decided that she'd rather avoid a conversation with her if at all possible. With a huff, she went and found Nevaeh lurking near the back by Wolf.

She looked at the big brown bear lumbering obediently along on all fours and asked Wolf "Have you ever thought of using Resa as a mount?"

He must have been deep in thought, because he jolted at the sound of her voice, "I, erm, n-no... no I don't think I have," he stammered.

Bear eyed him mischievously, "Could you imagine how terrifying it would be if I rode into battle on the back of Nevaeh? A crazy short girl waving around a machete like a maniac and spurring a giant beast forward. Now that would be a sight to see," She fantasized and strolled up to Nevaeh, "How about it old girl? Think you could handle my big fat bottom?" The grizzly rolled it's head to look at it's master and cocked it to the side as a sort of "I don't know, probably."

"Wait," Wolf interjected "You're going to figure out how to ride Nevaeh?"

Bear gave him a look and responded, "Yeah, obviously. Stop for a second lady, let's see if this will work." She said to Nevaeh, who stopped obediently and lowered herself onto her stomach so that Bear could clamber up. It took some time, but eventually she was able to situate herself comfortably behind the grizzly's shoulder's. She wormed into Nevaeh's mind to search for any levels of discomfort and, when she found none, urged her forward slowly. Bear had to admit that she underestimated the gait of a bear, as she nearly fell off from swinging back and forth.

"You are insane," Wolf commented with a shake of his head before running alongside Resa to catch up with the rest of the group.

Bear smiled at the back of his head and said to Nevaeh, "We can do this girl, try picking up the pace a bit." The bear sped up a bit and Bear found that the gait was much less pronounced. With a giggle she commanded, "Run, Nevaeh. Try not to trip, I would hate to fall off of you." She lurched forward as the pace suddenly changed drastically and hugged the bear's neck in an attempt to keep from falling. The trees flew past her as they gained ground on the group.

With a hysterical laugh of excitement, she and Nevaeh ran past Wolf, Lynx, Madelina, Lucius, Amaria, and Raven. All of who stared at her with a look of disbelief (Whilst Arro simply glanced at her with a bored expression) before she finally caught up to Phoenix and commanded Nevaeh to return to a walk. "How's the weather down there?" Bear asked cheekily.

Phoenix turned and shook her head in disbelief when she found the short girl atop her grizzly. "You are downright insane," Phoenix stated with a chuckle.

Bear grinned toothily, "If I wasn't insane then I wouldn't be able to make these amazing discoveries!" She exclaimed and threw her hands up in the air triumphantly.

Phoenix shook her head again, "I suppose it is sort of genius, in a weird twisted kind of way. It will definitely give us an upper hand in battle." She observed.

Bear grinned pridefully and spurred Nevaeh forward, "Alright lady, let's see if we can't find a village."

(A/N: Bear-back riding. Hell. Yes. I'm going to have so much fun with this)