_Mystic Heart Odyssey_

_Part 7: Downtime_

_Chapter 17_

_Gleam’s got a lot to learn. Time for a few lessons with Lykou and Kuna!_

_\-Llox_

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Gleam opened her eyes and blinked a few times before suddenly sitting bolt upright and shivering. Everything was dark- more than mere nighttime would suggest. It was like she was in a dark void. She felt around and noticed no sign of Lykou or Kuna, or their bedding. In fact, she soon realized she was naked again. Growing increasingly frightened, she whimpered and curled into a ball as she glanced around into the inky blackness surrounding her.

“H-hello?” she called out nervously. “Ku… Kuna? L-Lykou??”

After a moment, she started to feel a strange presence nearby, though she couldn’t see it. She turned and glanced in every direction, but she couldn’t pinpoint it- she just knew she wasn’t alone. Suddenly, a voice began speaking, though she couldn’t parse what it was saying. It seemed to come from all around her, somehow.

She instinctively bolted away into the darkness. But there was no effect. The voice and the presence continued to surround her as she went. And no matter which way she went, it didn’t seem to get her anywhere. She couldn’t even see the ground. She could just feel a strange, smooth floor beneath her feet wherever she went. “Wh-who’s there??” she asked, panting. She was on the brink of a full-blown panic attack, and frankly she was surprised she hadn’t crossed that line already. “What do y-you want??”

Finally, a blurry apparition began to appear in front of her. It seems to be struggling to fully form, however. She cowered and tried backing away from it, only for it to glide along with her wherever she went. The squirrel finally curled into a ball again and whimpered, clenching her eyes shut. “P-please don’t h-hurt me…”

At that comment, a sudden, soothing warmth fell over her. A moment later, she yelped as she felt herself rising up into the air slightly. When she opened her eyes again to see what was happening, she saw that she was resting in the palm of a huge hand. Another was sitting nearby. They seemed somehow connected to the apparition, but its main body was still too blurry and indistinct to make out. She nervously glanced around, considering trying to bolt away again. But she had a feeling she’d have even less luck at this point.

The other hand lifted up after a moment and slowly approached. She scrabbled to get away, but the hand she was resting on curled its fingers up a bit to block her. She covered her head and prepared to be smashed… only to instead feel a gentle stroking on her head. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the other hand was just stroking her with one of its smooth, oversized fingers. A sense of kindness and adoration radiated from the strange entity. Her panic started to fade a bit, though she was still extremely confused.

“Who... a-and what are you?” she asked quietly, leaning back against the fingers of the hand she was resting on.

Suddenly, her mind was assaulted with blurry, fragmented images and sounds. She clutched her head and winced. A moment later, the deluge of broken information stopped and the entity seemed to let out an almost inaudible sigh before stroking her head again softly. A few more quiet, indecipherable words rang out in the air, then the entity slowly lowered her back to the ground. Its hands vanished, then the rest of it began fading away as well.

Gleam shook her head and rubbed it a bit as she recovered from the strange unintelligible messages. As she saw the being disappearing, she reached out towards. “W-wait, where are you going? Please, I’m so confused!”

But it was too late. The entity had vanished completely. She searched around a bit, until she started getting tired. She then flopped onto the ground and wrapped her arms around her legs, shivering. “Where the fuck am I?? What’s going on???” she called out. A moment later, she yawned and realized she was rapidly growing more and more sleepy, despite her confusion and fear. Soon she ended up laying down as she started to feel dizzy and light-headed, which only exacerbated her nerves further. And then, finally, she fainted.

\*\*\*\*\*

Gleam jerked awake and gasped slightly. This time, things were back to normal. There was some dim morning light flowing in through the narrow windows, and Lykou and Kuna were still laying next to her. As she sat up and thought back over the bizarre dream, Kuna began to stir next to her. His eyes blinked open, then he yawned and sat u\[.

“Everything alright, Gleam?” the sereva asked after a moment, then frowned after noticing her somewhat frazzled look. “Did you have another bad dream?”

“I… um,” she squirrel started to reply, then hesitated. She scratched her head for a moment as she considered it. “Well… kinda? It was kinda scary, but mostly just confusing.”

“Oh?” Kuna said, then glanced over to Lykou as he started to wake up as well. “Morning, Kou. Gleam had another strange dream, apparently.” He turned his attention back to the squirrel. “Do you still remember it this time?”

“Well… yeah, but there’s not a lot to it,” Gleam said, then proceeded to tell both of them about the dream-encounter with the thing with the huge hands.

Lykou rubbed his neck and blinked sleepily. “Big hands, huh? Weird…”

Kuna furrowed his brow. “Like… a lot of those statues we’ve been seeing.”

After a moment, Lykou’s eyes widened a bit as his mind caught up. “Oh. Oh yeah. I wonder if there’s a connection?”

“I mean, it could just be her dreams bringing in things she’s seen like usual,” Kuna commented. “But given what we’ve seen around here… I have to wonder if the people that built these ruins left some kind of astral message thing in that magic that transformed you.”

“Lot of good _that_ did,” Gleam complained. “I couldn’t understand a bit of it!”

“Well, remember, there’s a good chance it was part of some incomplete ritual or something,” Kuna pointed out. “Which would explain why it came across so broken and confusing.”

Gleam sighed and rubbed her head again. “I wonder if I’ll ever get a normal night of sleep,” she said, then glanced between them with a sheepish look. “Sorry for waking you two.”

Kuna gently hugged her. “Nothing to apologize for, silly.”

“You’re fine, Gleam,” Lykou assured her with a smile as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, then glanced up at one of the windows. “And hey, you made it to morning this time. We might as well get up and have breakfast anyway.”

“Are you sure?” Gleam asked. “Hate to think I cost you two any sleep…”

“Like I said, it’s fine,” Lykou reiterated, gently rubbing her back, then stood up. “We probably would’ve gotten up soon anyway.”

“And believe me, we’ve hiked with a lot less energy, in less safe places,” Kuna pointed out as he got up as well, then offer the squirrel a hand up. “Besides, getting a slightly early start is kind of a good thing.”

“If you say so,” Gleam said with a small smile as she gladly took his hand and got up. She stumbled slightly, but the sereva managed to catch her. “Oof, guess my feet are still waking up…”

Lykou chuckled. “Hey, they’re still technically new for you, too. So don’t fret about it.”

The trio ate breakfast and took some time waking up. Since it wasn’t a particularly cool morning and they planned to leave before long, Lykou didn’t bother starting a small fire. They chatted as they ate, then began packing up. Gleam’s bag held her food and with some of the remaining sewing material, they managed to bundle up her sleeping mat and small pillow so that she could carry them more easily as well.

Kuna had Lykou help him re-cast their navigation spell, which Gleam watched in fascination. With that out of the way, they took one last look at the old stone buildings nearby, then started hiking off in the direction the spell pointed them. Soon enough, they were back on the trail winding its way through the valley, even though Gleam was spooked several times by random animals moving nearby.

The startling little interruptions were less common on the trial than they would have been elsewhere. Nonetheless, the semi-regular swing from hyper-altertness to calming herself back down was very clearly starting to exhaust her by the time they stopped to rest by another of the trailside statues for lunch. She eyed the giant hands that were cradling some kind armadillo-looking creature, before ultimately giving into her fatigue and sitting down on the edge. Kuna sat next to her, with the canid sitting down next to him, and both began digging out some food.

“Lunch time,” Lykou proclaimed, smiling. “And before you ask, that’s what the midday meal is called.”

“Ah… I had no idea eating was so, uh,” Gleam said, pulling an apple out of her bag. “Organized.”

Kuna shrugged after taking a sip from his waterjug. “It’s good to have a routine. Evening meal is called dinner, by the way.”

“Or supper, according to some people we met,” Lykou added.

“Or that, yeah,” Kuna said. “Anyway, let me know if you need any water, Gleam.”

“Sure,” the squirrel replied with a mouthful of apple.

The three of them ate in silence for a few minutes, and she ended up finishing her food a good bit quicker than the boys. Kuna arched a brow at her and smirked faintly. “Remember, you don’t need to rush.”

“I know I know, just… habit,” Gleam replied with a sheepish smile. “So… how much farther do we need to walk?”

“Well, we usually just keep going until we either reach the next arch,” Lykou explained. “Or we start looking for another good camping spot once the sun starts going down.”

“Oh,” Gleam said, frowning a bit as she rubbed her legs. “My legs are already sore, I can’t imagine how much worse they’ll be by then.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Kuna assured her. “In the meantime, we can find you a walking stick to lean on. That might help a little bit, especially once we get off the trail.”

Gleam eyed the stick propped up next to Kuna. “I was wondering why you were carrying that thing,” she commented, then smirked faintly. “You know, it might not be as much of an issue if we could go around on all fours like I used to. Would probably be faster, too.”

Lykou and Kuna chuckled. “Maybe,” the sereva replied. “But unfortunately, these bodies aren’t built for that.”

“Would make carrying things more awkward anyway,” Lykou pointed out. “Trust me, it’s good to have your hands free for other things.”

Gleam opened her mouth to say something, then yelped and jerked slightly as an acorn fell from a tree branch above them and bounced off her nose. After calming her nerves, she shot a glare up into the trees where she spotted one of her feral cousins, who apparently had dislodged it. “Clumsy idiot! You lost your lunch AND startled me!” she snapped at the critter. After that, her words gave way to a mixture of agitated grumbles and half-squeak sounds. She glanced down, then picked up the acorn and popped it into her mouth, munching it up aggressively while eyeing the other squirrel. It made some kind of faint sound and she retorted with another little incoherent noise of her own after she swallowed, causing it to dart off.

With that settled, her attention returned back to the boys, who were both looking at her with expressions of mildly bewildered amusement. She immediately blushed and averted her gaze, then dug another apple out of her bag and began eating it, if only for the sake of having a distraction.

Lykou was the first to comment. “Did you just-”

“Noshutup,” Gleam quickly retorted between bites.

Kuna struggled to stifle a small giggling fit. Lykou shook his head slightly, grinning. “Gleam, that was… weirdly fucking adorable, whatever it was.”

“Isaidshutup,” Gleam repeated, folding her ears down and shooting him a brief glare out of the corner of her eye.

“Seriously though, what was that about?” Kuna finally asked. “Our medallions didn’t translate it so I’m guessing you weren’t trying to _talk_ to it.”

“Well _obviously_,” Gleam replied. She glanced back and forth between them for a moment, then swallowed her most recent bite. She sighed and looked away again with a sheepish smirk. “They might be stupid, but ‘fuck off it’s mine now’ is a pretty basic concept you can get across without words. Even to a dummy like that.”

Lykou chuckled. “I guess so.”

The three finished their lunch relatively undisturbed. When they started to pack up, Kuna helped Gleam find a decent walking stick. Just as they were about to leave, however, a somewhat large bird swooped down overhead, startling the squirrel again, and landed in a tree just off the trail up ahead. It eyed them for a moment, then began preening its feathers.

Kuna noticed Gleam’s gaze was fixated on the bird with a somewhat fearful expression. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “You alright?”

She slowly nodded. “S-sorry. Just… I r-recognize that from, um. Before.” She narrowed her eyes at the bird. “Th-those things eat squirrels.”

Lykou glanced over at the bird, then shrugged and wrapped an arm around Gleam from the other side. “Well he’s not eating this one. Nevermind that we’re here to protect you,” he said with a grin. “You’re big enough now you could probably kick its ass yourself if you wanted to.”

“Or let’s just not bother the wildlife and be on our way,” Kuna suggested, rolling his eyes with a mildly amused smirk as he started leading the way.

Gleam gulped and followed along after Lykou gently rubbed her back and pulled her along behind the sereva. She tried forcing her anxious look to more of a hateful glare as they passed near the tree, but she immediately yelped and jumped back a bit when the bird adjusted its wings and turned to watch them pass.

Lykou rubbed her shoulder reassuringly, then made a point of hefting his axe and pointing dramatically at the bird. “I’m watching you, big guy. I won’t start it, but I’ll finish it.” The bird, of course, just tilted its head at him curiously as they walked by. The konuul chuckled and wrapped an arm around Gleam once they were past the tree. “See? No problem.”

Gleam smiled sheepishly. “Thanks,” she said, then jerked slightly when she felt something brush her hand. She quickly turned to see that Kuna had slowed to let them catch up, and his hand had brushed against hers. She’d been so distracted by the bird that she hadn’t noticed him there.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to spook ya,” the sereva said, then gently took her hand with a soft, sympathetic smile. He could feel the tension in her grip. She wasn’t quite shaking, but it was obvious that her nerves were frazzled. “Hey, tell you what. I think I remember a few tricks my parents were teaching me when I was a kid, for dealing with my own impulses.”

“Oh?” Gleam asked.

“Hey, where was this advice when we were swapped and _I_ was jumping at every little thing?” Lykou demanded playfully.

“Well for one thing, I think she’s got it a bit worse at the moment,” Kuna retorted. “And if you’ll recall, I was a little uh… _distracted_ at the time myself.”

“Oh yeah,” Lykou said, chuckling. “Fair point.”’

“Anyway, first focus on your breathing,” Kuna said, squeezing her hand gently. “You’re naturally a bit on edge out here when you’re on the move. You heart’s beating and your body thinks danger is everywhere, so it’s ready to flee at any moment. You’ve gotta take back control. And the best way to start that is to start with your breathing.”

“Breathing?” Gleam asked dubiously. “How-”

“Trust me. Just close your eyes for a moment,” the sereva continued. “Don’t worry, Lykou and I will make sure you don’t trip on anything. Trail’s pretty straight here anyway.”

Gleam glanced over at Lykou questioningly. When he just smiled and nodded at her, she shrugged closed her eyes. She was a bit anxious about tripping anyway, so she kept peeking one open again every few moments.

“All the way, Gleam,” Kuna insisted gently. “Now, when I squeeze your hand, breath in. When I loosen it, breath out. Okay?”

“O...kay…?” Gleam replied, perplexed by the whole thing.

As they continued down the trail- albeit at a slower pace for the moment- he guided her through taking slow, steady breaths, occasionally offering words of encouragement or guidance. “Good… now just listen to the sounds around you. And tell me what you hear.”

“Besides your voice?” Gleam replied with a faint grin. “This feels a bit silly-”

“Come on Gleam, trust me,” Kuna insisted. “I know it seems odd, but it’ll help. You’re already feeling a little better, aren’t you?”

“Well-” Gleam started to reply, then paused. He was right. At the very least, she did feel a little more relaxed, however slightly. “Okay… um. I hear… our footsteps. And some birds singing in the distance. And… I think the river somewhere out there? And-” Suddenly, she jerked slightly when she heard something jostle some branches nearby. She instinctively went to open her eyes, but a quick, light tug on her hand and urging from the sereva convinced her to keep them closed. “W-what was-?”

“You tell us. What did you hear?” Kuna said.

“S-sounded like… um… something… running across a tree branch nearby?” Gleam answered.

“And do you think anything that small is coming after you? Think one of your little cousins is out to getcha?” the sereva asked. Though she couldn’t see him at the moment, she could practically _hear_ the smirk in his voice.

She couldn’t help but grin sheepishly and furrow her brow. “Well no, obviously, and it sounded like it was moving away any-… oh.”

“Exactly,” Kuna replied. “Now describe a few things you _feel_.”

“Um. Well… your hand, obviously. It’s… warm, and nice,” the squirrel replied, squeezing his hand gently. “And… a small breeze. Feels cool and nice, too. And this… poncho thing. Still kind of awkward and I wish I could take it off. My legs and feet are sore...”

“Okay, now go ahead and open your eyes,” Kuna said. “And describe a few things you see.”

Gleam opened her eyes and blinked a bit. “Uh. Well, the trees are tall and… have a bunch of branches. Those ones over there are full of prickly ball things and pointy leaves. And those have bigger leaves. Better for shade. Er. And the ground. Lots of… fallen leaves, and sticks, and… a bunch of little rocks and stuff. And there’s some pretty flowers of there. Nice colors… Oh, and there’s another one of those statues. Huh, don’t think I recognize that creature. I wonder… what…” She trailed off and blinked a few times, then shot Kuna a look. “Why am I doing all this?”

He just grinned and squeezed her hand again gently. “How are you feeling?”

“Well, fine, jus-” she started to say, then paused and looked around, starting to smile a bit more. “Actually… I do feel a little more…”

“Relaxed?” the sereva suggested.

“A little,” Gleam said. “Wow. Huh…”

“Hehe, way to go, Ku,” Lykou said, grinning over at the sereva. “I never would’ve thought of any of that.”

Kuna shrugged. “Just some grounding tricks I know. As my grandmother used to say, nature is a lot of things, and it’d be a shame to only focus on the parts that scare you.”

“Heh, I like that,” Lykou commented. “Wish I could have met her. And your parents, for that matter.”

Kuna sighed. “Yeah, me too…” he said, then quickly shook himself out of the funk before it had a chance to settle in and turned his attention back to Gleam. “Anyway, if you start feeling jumpy again, just start with the breathing thing and do that again. Remember, slow and steady.”

“I’ll… keep that in mind,” Gleam said. She hesitated for a moment, then grinned and suddenly hopped over and grabbed the sereva into a big hug, briefly bringing them both to a stop. “Thanks, Kuna.”

Kuna yelped slightly, then smiled and returned the hug. “No problem, Gleam.”

\*\*\*\*\*

The rest of the day went a bit more smoothly. Gleam still got startled several times, but as she practiced Kuna’s tips, she was getting better at dealing with such instances, little by little. Chatting with the boys also helped keep her mind occupied. Eventually, when the sun started hiding behind the tops of the mountains, they found an ideal spot to set up camp not far from the trail. There was a rock overhang, with a waterfall not too far away that fed into a large stream, which then wound its way down into the valley towards the river.

Kuna quickly set to work setting up some organic walls along the sides of the overhang, while Lykou went to collect some firewood. Luckily, the konuul didn’t have to go far. There was a fallen tree nearby that looked like it’d been there a while, with a number of its branches still intact, and his axe made quick work of them. Gleam just stood by for a few minutes and watched Kuna work his magic in awe. “Hey Ku?” she asked eventually. “Do you think I’ll ever be able to do any magic stuff?”

The sereva paused and looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, then resumed his work. “Well… I don’t know, Gleam. Most people don’t. And a lot of the ones that do have to meditate and work at it for years to get anywhere with it,” he explained, then dismissed the magic after wrapping up the last of the organic barrier. He then smiled sheepishly at her. “I just, um… had a weird advantage.”

“Yeah I remember you guys talking about it earlier,” Gleam replied. “Something about that monster that… uh…”

“Yeah, that,” Kuna said, shivering slightly. “It… was part demon, and the demon part apparently bit my soul, cracking it. And uh… unfortunately left part of its spirit-tooth behind.” He sighed and rolled his eyes up briefly, then started setting up the firepit. “On the one hand, learning magic’s easier since it somehow made it so I can feel those energies more easily. On the other, there’s a certain nightmare I keep having every so often. And… apparently other demons can do shit with that tooth.”

Gleam gulped then came over to help him. “What exactly _is_ a demon, anyway? Sounds scary.”

“That’s an understatement. A demon’s basically a spirit that’s turned evil,” Kuna said. “It’s more complicated than that actually, but that’s the basic idea. They’re very dangerous.”

“Yeah we had to deal with one on the islands we visited,” Lykou chimed in as he walked up and deposited some wood near Kuna. “Which… come to think of it, I think that’s the next big part of our story we need to tell you about.”

“S-sounds good,” Gleam said, glancing between the firepit and the wood nervously. “I’m… gonna go set up our sleeping area real quick.”

Lykou sighed and shook his head with a smirk as he watched her scramble off to their shelter with the bet mats and such. “Gonna have to get used to it eventually, you know,” he called in after her.

“Uh, you sure that’s enough wood for the night, Kou?” Kuna asked as he eyed the single arm load sitting next to him.

“For now. I cut up some more that I can go grab in a bit. For now though,” Lykou replied, then grinned and started taking off his shirt. “I say it’s bathtime.”

“Always playing in the water,” Kuna teased him with a smirk. “Can’t pass up a chance to get wet, can you?”

Lykou grinned impishly and shot a glance towards the shelter before leaning towards the sereva and lowering his voice. “I seem to recall you enjoy ‘playing in the water’ a bit more now, too.”

Kuna immediately flushed brightly and glanced back briefly before glaring at the konuul. “NotinfrontofGleam!” he snapped in a hushed tone, flustered but grinning back in spite of himself.

“S’why I said it quietly,” the canid retorted, snickering. “Won’t be able to tease you about it when she comes back out.”

“Pervy brat,” Kuna said, giving him a light, playful swat on the arm.

“What are you guys talking about?” Gleam asked as she came back out of the shelter. “And why did you take that uh… thing off that you had on, Lykou?”

“Shirt, and it’s because I don’t wanna get it wet,” Lykou said, then gestured with his head towards the stream not far away. “I figure we should go get cleaned up and relax a bit over at the stream. Always nice after a long day of hiking.”

Kuna suddenly blushed again and fidgeted, seeming to be lost in thought.

Noticing the sereva’s shift in demeanor, Lykou smiled and wrapped an arm around him. “C’mon Ku, it’s natural. Not like _she’s_ gonna think anything of it.”

Kuna shot him a look. “Still…”

“What’s this about ‘cleaning up’?” Gleam asked as she joined them.

“We’ll show you. C’mon, let’s head down to the stream,” Lykou said, leading the way. Gleam followed after him curiously, and Kuna followed suit a moment later, after some hesitation.

When they reached the deeper pool of water at the base of the falls, Lykou quickly finished stripping and started wading into the water.

“Oh hey, we can finally take these things off?” Gleam said, then started taking off the poncho without waiting for an answer. “I was kinda getting tired of having it on all the time. Uh… whatcha doing in the water, though?”

“Cleaning off, like I said,” Lykou answered cheerfully as he lunged further inward, diving under briefly. A moment later he popped back up and shook his head, spraying water around. “Come on in, the water feels great!”

Gleam hesitantly started wading in, eyeing the water warily. “Uh… all the way in huh…?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, it’s not that deep,” Lykou reassured her. “Good place to practice.”

“Practice… what, exactly?” Gleam asked.

“Swimming!” the canid answered. “It’s an important skill to learn.”

“He’s not wrong,” Kuna pointed out, even as he still lingered on the shore, fully clothed. “I guess you’ve never gone all the way into the water where you can’t touch the bottom, huh?”

“That seems like a good way to have a bad time,” Gleam said flatly. “And uh… what’s the point?”

“It feels good, and lets you clean all the dirt and stuff out of your fur more thoroughly,” Lykou explained. “Plus, if you ever fall in accidentally, it’s good to know how to swim so you don’t drown.”

“Seems like just avoiding the deep water in the first place would be safer,” Gleam commented as she slowly inched her way further in. “It… does feel kind of nice though…”

“Don’t worry, like I said, it’s not too deep here,” Lykou said. “And Ku and I will make sure you’re safe.” He shot the sereva a look. “If he ever gets his butt in here, that is.”

“Sorrysorry,” Kuna said, blushing and grinning sheepishly. “Uh… l-look away?”

Lykou smirked and rolled his eyes, then turned his back. “Don’t look at him for a moment, Gleam. He gets anxious about people watching him take his clothes off.”

“Oh, uh… okay?” the squirrel said, chancing a quick glance back before turning her attention back to the water in front of her. “Why though?”

“He’s just funny that way,” Lykou replied.

“It’s not _that_ uncommon!” Kuna said defensively as he quickly got undressed. A moment later, a big splash announced his sudden arrival in the water, as he opted to jump in rather than wade in.

Gleam let out a squeak and jerked away. Fortunately, Lykou was close enough to set a hand on her shoulder and calm her. They both shot the sereva a look as he popped his head back up out of the water.

“...s-sorry,” Kuna said sheepishly, subconsciously covering himself under the water even as he crouched down so that only his head and shoulders weren’t submerged.

“He was just in a hurry to hide his bits underwater,” Lykou said with a smirk.

Kuna blushed and stuck his tongue out at the canid.

Gleam rolled her eyes a bit. “I don’t see what the big deal is. Why do you always want to hide that stuff?” Suddenly, something occurred to her and her expression softened a bit as she glanced down under the water at Kuna’s crotch. “You worried it’s gonna get hurt? I guess I can see how that’d be worrying for you guys with that stuff just… hanging out.”

“Uhhh… sure, I guess that’s one worry,” Lykou said, blushing a bit as well. “But so you know, you’re also kinda not supposed to stare at that stuff.”

“Ugh, stupid weird rules,” Gleam said, shaking her head. “How do you guys even have babies with all this nonsense?”

“There’s just a-a time and place for it, y-you know?” Kuna said, once again averting his gaze with a flushed look. “Only someone you’re, uh… t-trying to be intimate with should be paying a-any attention to those parts.”

Gleam shot him a confused look. “Inti-?”

“Sex, Gleam. He’s saying only someone you’re gonna be, uh… ‘using’ those parts with should be looking at them much,” Lykou explained awkwardly.

“Oh. Mating. Why didn’t you just say that?” Gleam retorted, then let her gaze drift down again, this time looking at Lykou. “Huh… sorry, but you know, I don’t think I’ve seen a male’s parts up close before. Er… as far as I can remember anyway. Never had a mate.” She glanced back over at Kuna. “Wonder how similar you are to squirrel guys. Er, assuming they were… you know, people-ified.”

“Let’schangethesubjecthisisgettingawkward,” Kuna said, blushing more intensely.

Lykou snickered. “Nothing wrong with curiosity,” he said, though he was a bit flushed still himself. “But I guess he has a point. Like I said, best not to stare. We can talk about it more some other time. Don’t wanna make Ku melt, as cute as it is to watch.”

“Fiiiine,” Gleam said, rolling her eyes again. “At least now I know for sure you guys _are_ male. Part of me honestly wondered at first if I was just jumping to conclusions this whole time.”

“Yep. Although… you wouldn’t be the first to question it, in Ku’s case,” Lykou said with a devilish grin, glancing at the sereva. “Remember those giant bees I told you about?”

“SHUT,” Kuna blurted out, glaring daggers at the konuul.

“Yeah?” Gleam asked, grinning a bit.

“Welllll, the one that helped us out initially thought-” Lykou continued, before being interrupted by a flurry of furious splashes from the sereva. He started backing away, sputtering and laughing. “That he was a female and-”

“Dammit Lykou!” Kuna snapped, pelting him with another splash before lunging at him. He couldn’t hide a flustered grin, though.

Lykou grinned as well and ducked back while Gleam watched on in amusement, giggling. “See with the bees -pffft- there are these big ones called… queens that are only female -pffft- and only the queens can use magic so…. So when a new one’s born… they -pfft- take some males to a new place and start a new nest… which means lots of baby-making,” he carried on as he continued evading the sereva. “So… she thought Ku was a new queen an-ghggpht!”

Kuna had finally caught up to Lykou and tackled him, wrestling him in the water while fussing at him and blushing furiously. “You’re getting a thorny vine up your ass!”

Lykou giggled and wrestled around a bit before finally prying the sereva’s arm away from his muzzle enough to continue. “-she thought I was there to breed him f… for more workers!”

Gleam snorted and laughed as she watched the two, then finally calmed down around the same time they did. “I guess that’s what happens when you cover your bits up,” she teased. “Someone might get confused.”

“Shut,” Kuna said, shooting a playful glare at her. “’ma boy, ‘mnot that-”

“You did look good in that sareo,” Lykou taunted. “Admit it, Ku, you do have a slightly-”

“I said _shut_,” the sereva grumbled, crossing his arms in a huff.

“Sorry Kuna,” Gleam said, still giggling slightly.

Kuna rolled his eyes and smirked, still blushing. “Mm. S’okay. Kou just likes to fluster me and pull other people into it.”

“Only because you’re so cute when you’re flustered,” the canid retorted, then poked his tongue out at him.

“Ugh,” Kuna retorted, playfully splashing him one more time before turning back to Gleam. “So yeah anyway. Uh. Swimming… you should work on that.”

“Er, right...” Gleam replied, looking down again. She’d managed to wade in enough that the water was up to her shoulders, but she’d been keeping both feet firmly planted on the rocky, silty bottom of the stream. “What… what do I do?”

“Well, to start with, just get a feel for things,” Lykou suggested. “Move around a bit, and try floating some.”

The squirrel waded around in the water, still clearly a little anxious. “Float, huh…? Um…”

Lykou smiled and moved over next to her. “Here. Tell you what,” he said, stretching his arms out in front of him. “Lay back in my arms.”

Gleam arched a brow and eyed his arms uncertainly for a moment, then slowly did as he said. “O...kay…?”

“Alright… I’m slowly going to move my arms away. Try not to move too much,” the canid said. “Your body will naturally float a bit as long as you don’t panic and thrash around.”

Gleam gulped. “Uhhh…”

Kuna joined them and smiled reassuringly at her, even as he blushed and tried to avoid looking below her neck. “Don’t worry, he’s gotcha. And I’m here too. We won’t let you drown. Just take a deep breath and relax.”

Gleam glanced back and forth between them, then took a steadying breath and nodded a bit. “Mmkay…”

Lykou slowly withdrew his arms and she noticeably tensed up a little, but managed to avoid panicking- at first, at least. She floated in the water for a few moments. However, eventually, she started to move in a way that caused her to start sinking, and she immediately jerked around and tried to right herself. The konuul quickly helped her up and rubbed her arm reassuringly. “Easy, easy! It’s alright, don’t worry!”

Gleam spat out some water and folded her ears down sheepishly. “S-sorry…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Kuna said. “You just gotta get used to things.”

“Yeah, nothing to be ashamed of,” Lykou said. “C’mon, let’s try again. Once you get used to this, we’ll teach you the more fun bits.”

Gleam glanced back and forth between them briefly. “Fun bits huh?” She grinned. “Well, you two certainly seemed to be having fun a minute ago…” Without warning, she suddenly lunged at Lykou, tackling him into the water.

“Gah! Gleam, quit it!” Lykou blurted out, laughing. He managed to keep from being completely knocked over, but the squirrel seemed to be trying her best to replicate what Kuna had been doing before. “You’re supposed to be _learning_, here!”

“I think she’s catching on quick,” Kuna said, snickering.