The Hovering Ingress: The Hidden World

Chapter 16

Training Visits

Five Sune Cycles Later

Jasar walked back and forth, from a large herb pile, to the herb cave, restocking supplies that multiple ophoree from the Forager rank had gathered. He was quite surprised at how big some of the supplies were, and he wondered if that they too were from the exotic region, much like the leaves that made for resting piles. None the less, he did his best and carried from branches with berries on them to large roots with strange roots. Soon enough, he was exhausted, and felt all of his muscles begin to fail on him. He could barely even step out of the herb cave before falling to the ground at the paws of an ophoris. Seeing them, the tom let out a gasp and quickly tried to stand up, though only fell on his bottom and scooted away. With wary blue eyes, he looked up at Kira, who had a few leaves in her mouth.

"Sorry I didn't come sooner to help, I didn't think your body would give up this quickly," she rumbled, lowering her snout and gently nudging the male.

A small sigh escaped the male and he shook his head and let out a tired chuckle.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get used to it," Jasar replied, trying to stand up before failing. Once again.

"Maybe you over did it this time? You could try resting every ten minutes. You don't have to push your body to... this extent."

"N-no, I was told to do it so I'll finish what I can- "

"Kira? Jasar?" Meditrina's voice echoed.

The two froze and they sheepishly looked at the commander, who tilted her head in confusion.

"You're the only ones here?" She asked.

"Yeah, the others are on their breaks. Taking in the herbs was pretty tiring for them, on top of the Warriors that came in after training this morning," Kira replied.

Quietly, the pale marked ophoris lowered her head and sniffed at the last of the pile, then rose her head up again.

"You can finish up these herbs on your own. Jasar, since you're the only other mender here, I want you to go down to Guard's Camp. They have a small wooden arena there for bifers, spar training is about to happen down there and since the place is so far away from here..."

"On it- "

"Meditrina, don't make him go. He's worn out from taking herbs from here to the herb cave, and you know how hard that is on his body. He hasn't even bothered to take a break and his muscles are just as stable as chewed meat. That walk would kill him!" Kira protested.

"He doesn't need to walk, a messenger from the Guards is willing to take him there, since bifers aren't as fast as ophoree," Meditrina purred reassuringly.

The last part felt like an insult to the tom, but he had to admit, since they were considerably smaller, a walk to an ophoris was a jog for them. Quietly he gave a smile to the pink marked ophoris in front of him, shrugging a little as he did. A huff escaped her, and she stepped over him, quickly put away the leaves, and then pushed him to his paws with her nose. He stumbled a little, but he had gained some energy as the two females talked, so he was at least able to stand. After giving a grateful smile to the ophoris, he headed out toward Meditrina as an unfamiliar ophoris walked into view.

"This is Fand, he will take you to Guard's Camp," the commander rumbled.

The tom cat looked at the ophoris and gave a small nod, not taking in any of his details. The creature lowered himself and allowed the bifer to crawl onto his back and nuzzled himself in between the wings. As they headed out of the cave, the feline stretched his limbs and then flopped onto his belly to rest. He gripped onto the creature's fur as it took off, feeling a little tired.