Planteria

Chapter 4

When I got to the mountain base, I took out my tools and started climbing. Climbing without any safety is pretty risky, but it's the fastest way up. After what felt like an eon, I finally reached a part of the mountain with a path and kept going from there. As I walked, I came across a couple of patches of MoonGlows. I picked the sadder-looking ones so that if anyone asked what I was doing, I could feed them the same story I did, Elfer Lars, and not get in trouble or mixed up with stories. The only downside to this story is that MoonGlows don't grow high up in the mountains, so it will be harder to tell the story the higher up I go. Then again, not many people go past the Quarrelsome Caves. Yeah, it sounds like a lame name, but it's the only thing that the people who found them could come up with. Whenever you are near the caves, you have an urge to fight. It doesn't matter how you fight, whether you beat your fist against a rock or beat your best friend or verbally fight whatever is nearest you. Only strong-willed people can walk past them without fighting something. I didn't know if I was strong enough or not, but I thought I'd find out when I got there. As I walked, I heard steps behind me. I stopped and turned around. The steps stopped too. I took a couple more steps, so did the other set. I hid behind a large rock and waited. The other footsteps started coming forward so quietly I could barely hear them.

"Here Kitty Kitty," I heard someone whisper. "Come on, you know I don't bite."

"Hoot!" I heard a baby chowl jump out from a rock and start towards the boy's voice. I carefully peeked around the boulder. The baby chowl was hopping towards a boy of about 15.

"There you are!" I heard the boy say as the chowl jumped into his arms. "I was worried that you had gotten yourself lost. You know that Kai worries about you flying off on your own."

"Hoot! Hoot!" the chowl jumped out of the boy's arms and started waddling over to my hiding place.

I quickly pulled my head back around the bolder and scanned the mountain, trying to find another place to hide. Too late.

"SQUAWK!" the chowl screeched as she found me. The Saph boy was surprisingly tall and quickly caught up.

"Kitty, stop running off all the ti-," he stopped short when he saw me

I stood and brushed the snow off of my clothes as if hiding behind rocks was entirely normal. I held up the chowl that had jumped into my arms.

"Do you belong to her?" I asked the boy.

"She belongs to me and my sister actually." the boy replied.

I shook my head. "Chowls choose their owners, not the other way around," I told him.

"Good to know," the boy said, "that actually explains a few things."

"Squak!" the chowl said, reminding us that she was still there.

"Is her name Kitty?" I asked, gesturing at the grouchy chowl.

"Yes, it is," the boy replied, "may I have her back now?"

"That's her choice," I told him. "Would you like to go back to your servant?" I asked Kitty. Kitty nuzzled against my head, then jumped across to the boy.

"Thanks," the boy said, "My name's Kaiden by the way."

"And mine is Kaia," I said. We stood there for a couple more seconds before I remembered I had a mission.

"Pleasure to meet you, but I must get going," I told Kaiden as I started walking away.

"Pleasure to meet you too and all that," he said as he followed me. "And where, may I ask, is your destination?"

"You may ask, but you will not get an answer," I told him, speeding my pace a bit.

"Well then I will ask until you tell me," Kaiden said, speeding his pace to match mine. "Also, it is dangerous to walk at this pace in these parts of the mountains, there's a lot of ice."