"I'm pretty much out of chakra," Hazō said. "If one of you has anything to dig us out, great. Otherwise we can wait until I've recharged a bit."
"It's fine," Cangue said. "Which direction?"
Hazō pointed and Cangue reared up on her hind legs. Her front paws blurred, scraping through the wall with little effort. The others shielded their faces as a fountain of dirt shot out and sprayed across them.
"Cangue! A little warning!" Canaut said.
"Suck it up."
Hazō forebore to comment, focusing instead of keeping the dirt out of his eyes. A minute later, the group was on the surface and looking around.
The ground was ash and smoldering fire for a half mile in every direction. Off in the distance the leading edge of the fire was spreading out across the tall grass, leaving flattened charcoal behind it.
"Ow, ow, ow, hot!" Cantelabra said, dancing around until Hazō unsealed the components of a wooden skytower platform for him to stand on. The other dogs hadn't complained but they were quick enough to step up on the wood, as was Hazō. His sandals protected him better than the dogs' pads did but it was still uncomfortable and a show of solidarity seemed like a good political move.
"Well, at least it will be harder to ambush us," Canabisu said, clearly trying to find a bright side.
"Not going to be any hunting," Canaut noted.
"I've got plenty of food in my storage scrolls and I can get more from the Human Path," Hazō said. "I'm sure we can find something you guys enjoy eating."
"That slimy red stuff smelled good," Cantelabra said hopefully.
"The stuff I had last night? That wasn't slimy, it just had a sauce on it," Hazō said, smiling. "Trout with pepper cream sauce. I've still got some if you want to try it. Anybody hungry?"
"Uh-huh!"
"I'm fine," Canaut rumbled.
"Well, I suppose if the boy needs a meal I might as well nosh a bit," Cangue said casually. "Just to keep him company, of course. Stopping for a full meal at this hour seems lazy."
"Absolutely," Hazō said, pulling out the relevant seals. "Definitely lackadaisacal. Fish or beef?"
"Uncle Hazō, how are we supposed to eat with these dumb muzzles on?!"
Hazō looked around at the wisps of smoke that surrounded them. It was probably okay to go without protection. "Okay, let me take them off of you. I don't want them just falling on the ground and getting all sooty."
"Speaking of sooty," Canabisu said, nodding towards the charred lion corpses a few yards away.
"Oh, right. One second." He sauntered over and slapped an empty storage seal against each of the corpses, sucking them up into non-space, then kicking over the dirt to ensure there was no evidence remaining.
"Dude, those things are just super convenient."
"Sure are. I can probably teach you to use them.
Making them is harder, but using them is easy."
"Sounds cool." The little dog looked around. His muzzle was flecked with green where he'd been eating the cold gazpacho soup that Hazō had offered. "Looks like we want to wait for the a bit before moving out, so eat 'em if you got 'em." He turned his head so he could see his left saddlebag. Invisible fingers untied the knot and opened the flap up to retrieve a small paper-wrapped packet.
"Anybody else?"
"What is it?" Hazō asked.
"Little bit of mellow from my private stash. It's good for nerves post combat. Relaxes you, smooths the chakra out."
Hazō digested that for a moment. "Sure, thanks."
The packet floated over to him and deposited itself in his outstretched palm. The other dogs shook their heads and looked away; Canabisu nodded and floated another packet out of the bag for himself, setting it on the wooden platform and fussing with the wrapper.
Hazō unwrapped the small packet and studied its contents. Smoked meat of some kind, soft and slightly sticky with honey or some other sweetener. It had a tangy scent that he didn't recognize. Shrugging, he popped it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. It was sweet and savory and one of the most delicious things he'd ever eaten.
"Now," Canabisu said, "if this is the first time you've ever tried it, you'll probably want to start with oh dear."
"Wha'?" He swallowed to clear his mouth. "Something wrong?"
"Oh...nothing. We might want to make camp for the day. And you might want to sit down."
"Huh? Why?" He glanced up at the sun. "There's sstill hours. We c'n make some good tiii yeah sit sounds good." He sat down quickly. His legs thought that no longer supporting his weight was an excellent idea. His back muscles wanted in on the action so he let himself lean back.
"Stars and sky, Canabisu," Cangue said, disgusted. "What did you give him that it hit that fast?"
"What?" the elder dog said defensively. "I told you it was the good stuff. My own recipe, plus the fleth oil in the meat gives better uptake as well as canceling out the tang that you said you don't like."
"Wha's a fleth?" Hazō asked. It was a funny word. 'Fleth.' It sounded weird in the mouth. Or maybe that was his tongue. For some reason it was tingling.
"It's a small animal," Canaut said, tongue lolling out in amusement. "Furry little things. Quick, very tasty. They have a musk that can be extracted and makes a good seasoning."
"Only if you prep it properly," Canabisu said. "See, the important part is to use the fresh stuff and let the meat soak in it for a full day in an enclosed space so that the aromatics don't escape. If you..."
The sky was very interesting, so Hazō let Canabisu's voice fade into the background. That cloud looked a little bit like Akane, if you tilted your head and imagined a green youthsuit around it. Her. She looked good in that suit. And it felt nice. Oooh, the wood he was lying on felt nice too. A little splintery, but it had a nice grain. And that knot stuck up with an interesting texture.
Mmmm. The air was nice and warm. That was a nice thing about the Seventh Path. The weather. The Dogs were nice too. Fluffy. Oof, Cantelabra was heavy!
"You're funny, Uncle Hazō!" The little pup's face was blocking the Akane cloud, and his tongue was lolling out. There was a little drop of doggy spit hanging off the end and it was catching the light in a really neat way. "And your breath smells weird!" He leaned down and gave Hazō a slobbery licking.
"Gack! Cold!" The light breeze was making his cheek chilly where Cantelabra had slurped him.
"Leave him alone," Canaut said. "He's going to have to ride it out."
"Nooo," Hazō mumbled, stroking his hands through Cantelabra's fur. "Stay. Soft. Fuzzy."
"See! I'm fuzzy! And I'm staying!" Cantelabra stuck his tongue out at Canaut and then plopped down on Hazō's chest.
Mmmmm. Fuzzy and warm.
o-o-o-o
"Feeling better?" Canabisu asked.
"Yeah," Hazō said, pushing the blanket back so he could sit up and stretch. Cantelabra had wandered off at some point. "Wow. Sorry, I guess I dozed off. How long was I asleep?"
Cangue and Canaut exchanged looks and sniggered.
"A few hours, but who's counting?" Canabisu asked glibly. "But you feel better, right?"
"A
few hours?" Canaut muttered, clearly holding off laughter by the ends of his toenails.
A chill gripped Hazō's stomach and he looked around. The leading edge of the fire was out of sight. The area immediately around them had cooled and there were no longer any remnant flames. Also, the sun was still two hours from overhead.
"Canabisu, why is it morning?" Hazō asked calmly.
The little dog cleared his throat. "Ah, yes. Well, you chewed the mellow chip instead of sucking on it. And then you swallowed it. It...made you a bit sleepy."
"Do tell. Twenty-ish hours of sleepy?"
"Hey, how was I supposed to know you were going to swallow it, man? Everydog knows that you suck it!"
"I'm not a dog! We don't have that stuff on the Human Path!"
"Well...you...oh, fine." Canabisu's ears drooped for a moment, then perked up again. "But it was nice, right?"
Hazō took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "To the extent that I slept very well and am feeling extremely relaxed, yes. To the extent that my sleep was in the middle of an active wildfire area with powerful enemies around who have good reason to want us dead...less so."
"Yes, well. Ahem. Nothing harmed when there was no harm, right man?"
Hazō took another deep, calming breath. "Right. I'm going back to the Human Path for the morning check-in. The rest of you get ready because as soon as I'm back we're moving. We want to catch up to the leading edge of the fire and then keep it burning. Right now I'm planning to burn our way across Cat instead of putting up with their nonsense anymore."
Author's Note: This ends on more of a whimper than a bang but I'm out of juice for the night. You checked in with Cannai; he was worried that you missed the evening check-in and amused when you explained why. You talked briefly with, and hugged, Akane. You picked up some Rocket Boot seals and inserts although they aren't usable as such without the stunt. You put in orders for better masks. The bank run investigation is still ongoing.
After returning to the Seventh Path you started off after the fire. Canaut's ankle was sprained in the fall but after a night's rest and a few medicinal herbs from Canabisu it's back to form. You did the "how could that have gone better?" on the way. Everyone was generally happy with it.
XP AWARD: 4
Brevity XP: 1
"GM had fun" XP: 1
It is now about 1pm.
Vote time! What to do now?
Voting ends on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at 12pm London time.
