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_Sutato _
"... Since I am following you, where are we going?"
I tapped my journal quietly, tilting my head as I was thinking to myself. He found a lake, right? I remember some rabolks talking about it, saying how the water heals anything interior that was damaged or wrong. I looked back up to Castit who was waiting patiently before realizing something, "... Maybe I shouldn't have asked you that--- knowing that I keep forgetting you can't talk at times."
I gave him a look before turning towards the forest and in the direction of the lake. I walked forward as I heard him say, "... I ... guess we're going to ... whatever place you have in mind." I slowly nodded and led the way.
We walked through the forest as I set my journal inside my jacket's pocket, keeping it there as I view the environment with my eyes. The vines were scattered everywhere on the tree's barks, displaying flowers when we drew closer to the sound of singing. I halted when I noticed Castit wasn't following me anymore. He was still behind me but he was a little freaked out. I gave him a gentle smile and held out my hand. It's fine, nothing here will hurt you.
He snapped his gaze at me, looking nervous as he took it, "... Do you have a clue on that ... singing?"
I shrugged, gently guiding him forward as he frowned, "... Is this your first time hearing it?"
I shook my head. I have heard the singing before but ... I never went to the lake to actually view it.
"... Then you have located where the sound is coming from and been there?" He asked. I ... I'm glad he's asking questions where I can move my head with a "no" or "yes." I thought he would wait for me to pull out my journal to write to him, but I guess not. Though that question sounded like I needed to explain a bit more than a movement of my head. I turned my head to him, shaking my head when we were very close to the singing. The lake presented its appearance to us, but it was different from the last time I saw it.
I looked confused at it when I turned my head back to the scenery. The singing didn't seem bad, it felt like something was resting on my shoulders, telling me to relax and become calm with its presence. I stepped out and took in the view completely. I widened my eyes at the gigantic leaf in the center of the lake. It was floating with rabbits on it as they were releasing some kind of cloud up in the air. I tilted my head, confused at the sight before a thought appeared in my head. Are those shamans? Are they trying to make everyone feel at ease?
I turned towards the movement of the bushes, watching Castit slowly step out and displaying the same expression I made when I first saw it. He gazed at the different kinds of animals here and how well they were all gathered around the lake: deers, bears, rabbits, foxes, raccoons, herons, and many more that I didn't recognize. It was quite odd for all of the animals besides the rabbits to be gathered up without fighting or escaping like normal animals are.
Are they something different than normal animals? I saw Castit approaching the lake to a bear well-rested there. It turned towards him, giving him a wave of his paw. "... a folk?" He asked as I was right beside him.
The bear nodded its head, making me assume every one of these animals was a part of the folks' race. It makes sense now that I think about it. "What ... is going on?" Castit asked as I begin to sit down by the waters.
"Shhhh! Resting Gathering! Be quiet!" One of the raccoons hissed right beside us.
"A-Alright! Sorry..." Castit whispered, sitting right next to me. He frowned with the guilt on his face, making me pat his shoulder with a smile. He glanced at me before looking away at the rabbits on the gigantic leaf platform. The lake was massive so they looked like they were miles away from us but their voices were so clear and loud. Maybe it's a power that the nature elementals have.
I blinked when the singing stopped and some of the rabbits by the shores with us told the animals to drink. We were told to do the same. I nodded and went ahead to do it when Castit tried to warn me. He looked nervous when I lifted my head back up to gaze at him. I gave him a gentle smile, which he gulped and bent his head down to drink some of the water from the lake. Once he was finished he blinked his eyes with confusion. "... Why does ... it tastes so ... nice?"
"It's the power of a nature elemental's strength! Especially these shamans' power!" A rabbit whispered, bouncing up and down.
"Why ... do- why does everyone drink it and why gather here?" He asked, turning towards the rabbits who gathered around us.
"We gather here every morning to thank God's Grace for the gifts they gave us to live!" The smaller rabbit squeaked. "The shamans here connect with God's Grace and give us the strength we need to get through the day! That is why you see all of the animalic folks here gathered in one spot. Some come every day, some every other day, and some come once a week. That is usually the meat eaters but that is perfectly fine. They usually need to leave the Vined Forest to eat since they promised our leader to hurt none of the animals in this forest."
Both Castit and I nodded slowly with interest, making me tilt my head. This forest is really massive enough for all of us to thrive and live in.
"... Then ... with meat-eaters ... do they ... end up eating other ... animalic folks?" Castit asked, looking worried.
"I'm afraid so." The rabbit nodded its head. "Out there if you're an animalic folk and if your part of the prey list, you will both need to survive from the humans and the meat-eater animalic folk. Do not worry, feaolk! Lucky for you, you don't need to worry about it! It's basically natural as that is how we animalic folk work!"
"That's sad but ... I can't really do anything about it when it's nature doing its course." He said, nodding his head slowly. I had a frown on my face as I disliked the folks eating one another.
The rabbits took notice of my expression and droop their ears, "There is nothing we can do about it, Sut."
I slowly nodded, turning my head away across the lake where the gigantic leaf wasn't there anymore. It was gone as something red and bright flickered in the distance. I squinted my eyes, confused at the sightings. Is there a fire in the forest? "What is it that?" I turned my head back to the rabbits' voices who were now sitting right next to the shoreline.
"Can't be a fire since it looks controlled." Another spoke.
"Could be another folk we haven't seen?"
"I ... I think I know who is it," Castit said. I turned to him, puzzled for a moment before widening my eyes. My fingers began to make a fire shape with a lion head in mid-air as it confused everyone. "... Do you think it's the flaming lioness too, Sut?" One of the rabbits asked slowly.
I nodded my head quickly with a smile on my face, "If it's here, then we must confront it!" One of the rabbits said.
"I think I only want us to do that," Castit spoke, getting up to his feet. "If it's dangerous, we will alert you guys."
"However ... even if you guys go and alert us, it's better if you bring the folk to the cave so that Philia can meet them there." The rabbit spoke.
"... Is it required?" He asked.
"Yes." Another rabbit nodded.
"... Okay." He slowly nodded, helping me up to my feet. "Let's go and bring this folk to Philia then." He whispered before trekking around the lake to the other side. I followed behind, hoping that the figure in the distance doesn't move from its spot. It was across from us so we had to walk a long distance around the lake to get to it. It stayed there when we arrived and I widened my eyes at the sight. It was the flaming lioness! What is it doing here? I looked curious at it as Castit approached it with careful steps.
The flaming lioness turned its head and jumped, making us both flinch as it was growling before stopping. "Castit?" It spoke, widening its eyes. "Is that really you?"
"Do I look different than what I usually do? It's been at least ... uh ...-" He slowly looked over at me as I showed him five fingers. "- Five days since you left." He turned back to it.
"... I swear it, it was only three days ..." The flaming lioness spoke, tilting its head. It shook its head and turned to him. "It's nice to see you looking well!"
"You too, Carla." Castit nodded his head slowly. I turned to him and back at the lioness, tilting my head. I pulled out my journal and opened it, preparing to write in it if they had any questions for me. "What ... happened to do the two?" He asked.
"Oh. You know--- the usual." Carla growled, lashing their tail. "Ever since Purity told us that Tyler was captured, Winter was ... down for a while. But she came upon her feet the next few days and told us to forget what happened and keep going. I ... told them I wasn't gonna stay with them and Winter flat out told me to go back to the ... rabbits ... and be useless as they ... were."
They shook their head, curling their tail around their paws, ""The rabolks aren't useless! They're nature elementals for crying out loud, Winter!" That is what I wanted to say to her but I didn't stay long enough to hear Purity's protests. So I came back, had to travel day and night to get here---" They squealed when their stomach growled loudly.
"... You didn't eat?"
"Uh ... no. I know I'm supposed to!" Carla bounced to their paws, frowning afterwards. "But I was so desperate to get back to you that I never thought about eating..."
"You're bad about not eating--- worse than I am actually." He commented.
"Hey! At least I remembered to eat at the sound of it!" They huffed, turning to me. They jumped suddenly as I flinched from its motion, "Gosh was he always there?!"
"Did ... you not see him when you turn to me?" Castit asked, raising a brow as I did the same with both of mine up. How did you not see me?!
"No. I did not!" Carla frowned, "Should I have?"
I turned towards him to give him a deadpan expression as he shook his head at me, "... She's like this sometimes ..." I blinked as I felt guilty for calling her the wrong pronouns. He looked at me confused before turning back to the flaming lioness.
"I am not!" Carla looked like she rolled her eyes before lashing her tail sitting down and turning towards me. Before she could have said anything, Castit interrupted her, "Before you say anything else, the rabbits want to see you--- specifically the leader."
"Oh." Carla slowly nodded, getting up to her paws. "Okay ... I guess my questions for him can wait."
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...
We brought the flaming lioness to the cave below the slope, seeing the rabbits turn around to us at our arrival. Their noses twitched with ears flickering as they stood on their leaf platforms. I turned towards Carla who was in awe at the rabbits standing on their plant towers or ... movable plant towers in this case. I smiled softly before turning over to Philia to turn around and moved her plant forward before making it halt.
"OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" I slowly stepped away from Carla's shoutings as I rubbed my ears. I didn't ... expect that out of her.
Philia stared at her before shaking her head, "... Never mind about that. What are you here for, lioness?"
Carla paused and frowned, closing her mouth before opening it up to speak again, "I ... I'm here to ... stay with my old group member." She answered, pointing her nose at Castit before turning her head back at Philia. "... I promise I won't hurt anyone here."
Philia turned to him and turned back at her, slowly nodding her head, "Alright. As per meat-eater, we have rules set up for you. Luckily it's only two. Firstly, If you are hungry, you must hunt outside of the Vined Forest as hunting the other animals within this forest is forbidden. Secondly, you may not attack anyone here. It is forbidden as well."
"... About the first rule ..." Carla smiled nervously, "I don't how to hunt. I wasn't ... taught how to hunt when I was young."
"... Fish?" Castit suggested.
Philia turned to him, "... I don't think lions eat fish, Castit---"
"I tried fish and it was delicious!" Carla interrupted her with a smile.
Philia turned back to her, blinking at her, "... Alright then. Seeing how you are completely different from the ... other lions---" She was eyeing the flames on her back, "- You can fish in the lake but only after mornings. Mornings is where we set up the Resting Gatherings and everyone is prohibited to fish in the lake at that time."
Carla nodded, "Understood."
Philia dipped her head and turned towards her people, lowering her plant down to the ground to talk to them. Carla glanced at the other rabbits before turning towards Castit, "Can we fish now?"
"Yes." He nodded.
"Good! Because I am STARVING."
He gave a small smile before dropping, "Then let's head back to the lake then, Sutato?" I nodded and turned, showing the way back there. Once we arrived, we picked a spot away from the other races and fished quietly. The flaming lioness had a hard time catching a fish until on her fourth try, she caught one. She was proud of it and we both congrats her on it. She soon ate it raw as I watched the two exchange conversations.
I pulled out my journal and stared down at it, remembering the lioness needed to ask me questions. ... For what? I think ... she wants to know who am I. I nodded slowly to myself. Yeah ... I think that's it.
"Hey! Uh ..."
"Sutato."
"Hey, Sutato!" I turned over to the lioness, tilting my head. I stood up and walked over, sitting down in front of them as I tilted my head. "Can I ask my questions now to you?"
Castit raised his brows, "Why do you need to ask him questions?"
"Why?" Carla turned to him. "Well- First off! He looks so interesting! How can you not ask questions about his appearance?!" She asked, perking up with an excited smile and shooting Castit a glare of disappointment. I blinked at her as I became nervous, gripping my journal tightly.
"I'm not like you, you know." Castit shot her back the glare.
"I know! But I just gotta know what he is!" She spoke, turning back to me. "So ... who are you?"
I stared at her, still feeling nervous as I turned over to Castit for help. He turned and walked over to me, "It's okay, Sutato. She won't hurt you." He halted beside me and gaze down at my journal. I breathed in and out, nodding slowly before writing down my greetings. I showed him it as he translated to Carla, "He says hello and that he is Sutato."
"He can't speak..?" Carla widened her eyes in shock. "That's terrible! Which humi did this to you?! I will beat them up if they hurt someone so innocent like you!"
I blinked at her response as I didn't accept it. Why do you all of a sudden trust me? That's ... weird to trust a stranger right away. Castit nodded, "... He can't ... though he can. I suppose he can speak when he is in comfortable situations." I slowly nodded to his word as he sighed in relief. I chuckled quietly, assuming he was being careful of what I was feeling. Then again he can somewhat detect what I feel so ... I don't know why he would be careful or nervous about that if he's right about it.
"Oh ... well that's alright! I'll gladly wait for your response." Carla smiled softly.
I wrote down in my book as I showed it to Castit, "She's so different from Purity. I thought she would be like her about my speaking problems."
"... I can tell you that she isn't what Purity is, Sutato." He said, looking annoyed, "And ... of course, my sister would have a problem about you not speaking..."
I frowned, nodding at that memory before dropping it. I turned towards Carla and wrote down something else for him to translate, "What else do you like to ask about me?"
Carla looked a little lost or zoning out before she blinked back to reality and jumped up to her paws, "OH!" She sat back down again as her ears drooped, "Got distracted again... Okay so! I wanted to ask what type of folk are you! But I wanted to guess what kind are you! So ..." She stared at me, examining me with her eyes before she continued on, "You could be a folk who has horns on top of their heads ... but you also have wings ... Gonolks? Then again ... Gonolks are extremely rare to come across nowadays and I don't think ... those wings are the shape of a gonolks'"
"The hell is a Gonolk?" Castit asked. I nodded to him as I sat down, assuming this'll take long on what am I. He did the same as Carla lay down.
"A gonolk is a dragon folk creature. You know--- stories you've been told from giant fire-breathing lizards that flew across the skies." Carla explained.
"I never heard of stories being told to me about that." He said. Me neither. I shook my head.
"... Oh ... then I guess it's just me then." She blinked before shaking her head. "Anyway ... I think most gonolks don't have humanoid forms so ... they're not so alike with us animalic folk. I think. I'm not quite sure."
I tilted my head, writing down a question that pop into my head. Once I was finished, I showed it to Castit to translate, "How many races there are in each section of folk?" I noticed he replaced folk with race as I frowned slightly.
"As many as there are out there. Animalic folk is the complicated ones since they have sub-sections of the many folk types there are. For example, Leorolks is a sub-section for both rabolks and harolks. I'll ... just name the most common ones to not confuse you both. How about that?" She suggested.
"Sound good to me." Castit nodded his head as I did the same.
"Alrighty then!" She smiled excitedly. "First off on our list is Caolks. Can be known as cat folks. They like to ... uh ... be very territorial of their land and such. Their ... group can be difficult to explain so I'll just move on to the next. Wololks are wolf folks, who care for their family and protect them no matter what! A strong family bond is what I like! Liolk is what I am! a lion folk from the savanna lands. Though some of us prefer the tree's leaves always sheltering under us. We work almost like wolves but differently since we have leaders in our society!"
"Oh! And since ... these rabolks have their own culture and whatnot--- I believe each folk has their own culture if they are living like a colony like this. If they're on their own, then I guess they're a wild folk instead of a civilized folk like us." She explained. "Onto the common elemental folks. Now, Elemental folks are usually more connected with their own elemental that they were created from. I think ... I'm not so sure about that one so don't believe my word for it."
"I'll list the common ones there too. You have Feaolks, Seolks, Groolks, and ... uh ... whatever the fire folk was called. Wind, water, earth, and fire. Feaolks are fantastic at flying at incredibly high altitudes, as well as flying for days on end without ever getting tired, hungry, or thirsty. But ... that seems to be wrong when I look at ... your sister, Castit." Carla narrowed her eyes.
"Not every feaolk gonna be like my sister, remember that," Castit told her.
"Right, right." She nodded. "Anyway, I believe feaolks have many different abilities that they are born with to help with their flight ... or ... their survival ... not much of an expert on that topic." I gazed at Castit before quickly looking back at her, thinking about it before shaking my head. He can tell her if he has one of the abilities or not. "Seolks are the guardian of the seas. That's ... the only thing I know of them since I'm not from the seas. Groolks work underneath the ground's surface. I believe they have a strong connection with the earth itself but that may just be me. And ... the fire folk I couldn't name ... not much information on them." She explained, drooping her ears.
"And soon we have our Mythical Folks, who are ... much more difficult to learn about because you don't know what they are. Gonolk is underneath the label and the only one I know, sorry boys." She smiled nervously.
"It's alright." Castit shrugged as I had a frown on my face. I was curious to know everything about the races.
"... Do ... Elementals count as folks...?" Carla asked, tilting her head.
"No idea." Castit shrugged once more. I wrote in my book and showed it to him, "... Race?"
I nodded, pulling my journal back to me. He tilted his head, looking like he was thinking about it, "They're elementals for sure but ... I guess race can cover them."
Carla gasped loudly as both of us flinched from her sudden gasp, "THAT'S IT! That's the difference! The Folks of us are an entire race together! And ... the elementals are another race of its own! Along with the humis as well!" She chirped, bouncing on her paws as the ground was shaking slightly. She was much larger than a lioness would be so ... yeah.
"... And then ... the folks are broke down into separate races of their own." He added.
"YEAH!" She smiled happily. "I like it! I love calling ourselves 'race!' Thanks, Sutato." She turned to me.
I blinked at her before nodding with a smile. Glad I could be a help with that. She gasped again with the realization appearing on her face, "I forgot to ...--- great, I got carried away with explaining each folk."
"It was fine really, I think it didn't no harm." Castit said before flinching and scooting away when Carla jumped in right in front of his face, "BUT SEEKING WHAT SUT IS, IS IMPORTANT TO ME!"
I hung my head before getting up and walking over to her, patting her shoulder ... part. She turned to me, frowning as I shook my head. It's fine, I don't need to know what I am. "... You ... sure?" She asked as if she read my mind.
I nodded with a smile, closing up my journal and putting it back in my jacket's pocket. She sighed and stepped away from Castit who was upon his feet. Soon the three of us settled down as Carla turned toward me. "So ... you can only communicate with your journal?"
I shook my head while nodding my head, confusing her. "He meant he can communicate other ways," Castit spoke.
I nodded to his words as She slowly nodded, getting it, "Oh. Soooo ... how?"
"Well, if you ask him yes or no questions, he can communicate quite fine with his head," Castit answered. I held up my fingers before lowering them down. I pulled out my journal and wrote down my statement before showing it to him. "He says he can answer questions if you--- for example ... if you said two things like if you want an apple or not, he can put up one finger for the first prompt--- which is wanting an apple while two fingers mean he doesn't want an apple."
Oh. He explained it without having me explain it on paper, nice. Or he just made up an example while getting confused at what I wrote on paper. That could be it--- but either way worked. I nodded before turning over to Carla. "Ah ... I see, interesting."
I nodded slowly, turning towards the lake and across it. I turned back to the two and decided to get to know them more.
It won't hurt to do so, wouldn't it?
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- End of Chapter 6
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