The Hovering Ingress: The Hidden World

Chapter 30

Repayal

Three Sune Cycles Later

Rose clapped as the spar battle ended, watching as Xengu panted in place before slowly rising up and huffing. The dust slowly settled, leaving a white samoyed face down on the ground, only donning bruises. The fox watched with intent as the canine slowly rose up. She then hopped up in a flash, awe in her eyes.

"That was great! I wanna have another go!" she barked.

Rose chuckled and got down from the Stalking Tree, Whiz and Lark joining her.

"Yes, it's always good to be excited for training, however, I think it's about time we all get home and rest up. Especially Xengu, considering we don't know how much training she did down in the lowlands," Whiz laughed out.

Xengu turned and glared at the shepherd dog as he came up to her and patted her on the shoulder, but, in general, there was a sense of friendliness behind her gaze. Rose clapped her hands together and sent a rose into the air, which puffed out into pink dust, falling to the ground.

"Take care everyone! That should be enough to let the commanders know that we're done," she said with a smile.

Everyone bowed their heads and started walking off, all except Xengu and the samoyed. The samoyed was Vaidya, an aspiring mender, or nurse, as she had stated. She turned her lilac eyes to Xengu, who was walking off toward the tree.

"Hey! Could we be partners in crime on the battlefield? We could dish out some sweet moves and serve Sinister limbs on platters!" Vaidya cheered, pumping her fists.

Whiz chuckled at Rose's side, while the winged panther looked back at her and rolled her eyes.

"Maybe, that depends. I don't even know which line spies are on," the dark feline said as she picked up a serkil pouch and strapped it around her waist.

Rose flicked her ears. She had noticed over the past few sune cycles that Xengu seemed more or less cheerful. The panther had always been distrusting of the group at first, but it seemed that she was getting used to them. Vaidya eventually quit bouncing and looked to the sky. Gray clouds loomed over the forest and blew wind through the trees.

"Oh boy, the first showers of autumn," Whiz grumbled.

Xengu looked to the sky as well, frowning a little before glancing around. She made eye contact with Rose, who flinched and looked away quickly. The fox was embarrassed, though when the panther tapped her shoulder gently, she relaxed to see simply uncertainty in the feline's eyes.

"Uh... could we talk in private for a moment?" Xengu asked.

Rose widened her eyes before glancing to the shack that hid under the trees. She gave a small frown before nodding to the panther and leading her there. Lark went to follow them when Xengu gently held up a hand.

"We'll be back out in a moment."

The doberman held out a hand before sighing and nodding. The two girls then entered the hut and Xengu sighed, lashing her tail. Rose turned and spotted the panther pat the serkil pouch on her side before turning to the fox.

"You... know when we were on the island for our first few cycles, you took us out to see Highland Town and eat food?"

Immediately Rose's eyes widened and she took a small step back, her eyebrows furrowing.

"You're going to try and pay me back, aren't you?" the fox mumbled.

"It's the right thing to do, right?"