Legend Reborn

Chapter 16: Crossing Borders

I hadn't known what to expect once we reached the border.

It's been four days since our escapade at Sylvumbra, and we've continued walking toward the southeastern border between Bear and Wolf Territories. We left the forest clearing where the village had once been after reflecting on what had happened there. The pipes had been passes from hand to hand as everyone examined the gift from the forest spirits. I ended up holding onto it, and it's currently in my pack.

We had walked for the next two days until we reached Salictiligna to resupply. We left the same day. Our time helping the people at Sylvumbra had set is back a few days, and we needed to keep moving. We continued on our way until Feli stopped us.

"Wait, everyone!" he had suddenly called out. "Do you smell that?"

We all stopped to take a whiff of the air, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Except to the Wolf twins.

"I smell it to!" Lovino had said excitedly. Without warning, he took off into the thinning woods with Feli on his heels.

That's how we end up following after them toward the edge of the forest. The sunlight is much brighter out in the open than in the shady woods where it is dimmed by the green canopy, and we have to cover our eyes as we burst through the woods. The contrast in the setting is surreal.

The forest abruptly ends, and the land seems to expand before our eyes. Miles of undisturbed horizon stretches out as far as the eye can see. Thick grass carpets the ground, and grows as high as my waist in some spots. The occasional tree stands guard over the lush grassland and gives the area a lonely look. That is until the wind blows and the grass ripples like a living being. The breeze stirs some butterflies from the wide variety of wildflowers growing here and there, and they flutter through the air in lazy circles.

"It's so different," I say in awe. I look back at the shady forest, which seems almost sinister in comparison to the bright, cheery grassland. I can distinctly smell the strong scent of heather, and I assume that's what the two Wolves must have smelt in the woods that got them so excited.

"We're home, Lovi!" Feli says excitedly as he hops around in the grass.

For once, Lovino has a huge smile on his face. "No more sleeping on rocks or hearing creepy sounds at night," he mumbles, mostly to himself. He turns to face the rest of us. "We'll show you how much better the Wolf Territory is compared to you idiot Bears'."

Gilbert's face twitches irritably, but he doesn't say anything. I quickly say something to ease the tension. "Why does it change so suddenly? It's like two different worlds."

"The goddesses respect each other's boundaries," Ludwig explains. "The forest does not cross into Wolf Territory, and the plains do not cross into Bear Territory."

"Not that they'd want to," Lovino adds rather rudely.

"Liza!" Feli calls happily. "Come pick flowers with me!"

I smile at the younger Wolf's cheerful expression. He's so excited over something so simple. I join him in a large patch of flowers and watch him tie stems together to make a necklace. When I was little I had learned to make crowns and jewelry out of flowers, so I begin picking pink and yellow flowers to fashion a crown for the Wolf.

"I suppose this is as good of a time as any for a break," Ludwig says with a sigh as he watches the two of us laugh over our flower creations.

Feli's first attempt at a necklace falls apart, but I help him fix it. He happily accepts the crown I make and struts around like royalty with it on. We make several more necklaces and crowns to distribute to the other members of our group. Ludwig gets a large orange necklace, and Kiku gets a white crown, both made by Feli. Lovino gets an orange and yellow crown from me. He blushes when I put it on his head, and he threatens to tear it to pieces if I try to put any more on him. He doesn't take the flower crown off though. I make one more long, pink and white necklace for Gilbert.