The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 21

"Man, I love being me," Andrew stated as he threw open the unlocked door, the cool night air following them as they entered the warm house.

Andrew's eyes adjusted to the added darkness, the room coming to life in silver and gray. Karen wasted no time in crossing the room and turning on the lights, revealing the changes that had taken place since their last visit.

Karen took a breath as she admired how much Tani'm's house had changed. Andrew had a hard time missing it as well, as if the emotional growth the small woman had experienced was reflected in her house. The old broken bone knife from the fight with the wolf was hung on the wall, the two pieces attached to wood and hung as a trophy of the fight they had almost lost.

Small reminders of the forest were everywhere, plants and moss growing and shaping themselves along almost every corner and pillar. It felt like Tani'm, reminding him of the small woman and smelling reminiscent of the glade, sweetness mixed with musky scents from flowers and a bee hive that had just been started in the corner of the kitchen.

Something about it made him happy. Not for himself, or for what it meant for Karen, but for Tani'm. Her house had felt so normal and mundane before. Nothing like the powerful and yet broken woman they knew. Now, as he studied the living room, he could feel her in it. Nature and modernity merged together, living as one in a small yet resilient place.

He went to the table and found the GPS devices, batteries charged and frequencies set. Andrew studied them for a long few moments, his gift mapping the devices and studying their internals. He would have wanted to encrypt the communications, but unfortunately the devices were not capable of that.

While Andrew retrieved his backpack from the car, the tannin stained sheet and other supplies contained within, Karen followed along pontificating on Andrew's earlier comment about loving his gift. She wondered if he was more appreciative because of how old he was when he came into his power. Most wizard's gifts manifested between the ages of nine and twelve, fourteen at the latest. Because of that, wonder and awe were easily integrated into their daily life, those emotions so prevalent in the young.

Andrew agreed, but knew there was more to it than that. The fact was, he had spent a great deal of time thinking about exactly what they were discussing. His best guess was that he had spent most of his life escaping into the fantastical and magical worlds of video games and RPGs. He had found comfort in the impossibility they offered. He was smart enough to know that they were fake, science having done a wonderful job of dispelling his younger notions that they might be real.

His appreciation for science, he speculated, was the real reason that his simplest spells gave him the greatest joys. Every time he used his gift to lift a spec of dust off of the floor he was reminded that the world was not what he had once thought it to be.

By the end of their conversation Andrew had activated the Glamour ward on the corner of the sheet and mapped out the entire area for five miles around Tani'm's house. The internet was amazing, and had given him easy access to topographic maps he had used to create the hyper accurate rendering.

"Alright, sweetie. Stop horsing around and let's get started," he yelled out towards Sara as he exited the house and closed the distance to the SUV. Despite her agility, he could hear Sara coming up from behind as he spread the sheet out over the hood of the car.

"Who's horsing around?" Sara asked, her lips and lower jaw stained crimson. Sweat poured down her face, causing the blood around her mouth to drip off her chin in a horrid tablou.

"What the hell?"

Andrew's voice was panicked, furthering Sara's grin as she came up beside him. He could see a puncture wound on her shoulder and a pretty deep gouge on her side. Her finger hooked under his chin and pulled his eyes up to her's, amber orbs of glee and excitement reflecting her infectious grin.

"We're fine, my cute little worrier." She pecked his lips, their hearts fluttering as desire beckoned for them to deepen the contact. "I promise."

The punctuation to her whisper was throaty and labored, their sexual urges attempting to take hold.

"Little kitty can't hurt big powerful Thunderfoot!" a childlike voice declared directly into Andrew's head. It was a voice he'd heard once before, pleading for help the night he had first met Tani'm.

Looking to the side, he could see the large rabbit almost grinning up at them, its face broader and shoulders more muscular than he remembered. There was blood soaked into the fur at its neck, but no wound where one should have been.

Sara laughed and casually reached out, grabbing Thunderfoot's antlers and then slamming his head against the side of the vehicle, a large dent appearing where the jackalope's head made contact.

"Ooops, did little old me do that?" Sara asked as she grinned at the large rabbit, who wobbled on his feet and shook the after-effects of the impact away.

"Crazy cat," the childlike voice announced, Thunderfoot's innocent looking eyes focusing on Sara before he turned his head to the side and rested his neck against her. Her hand settled on his head and idly caressed his fur as she turned her attention to the map.

"So, what's the plan?"

Andrew gave up trying to understand Sara's relationship with Thunderfoot. They clearly adored each other, respect transformed into kinship, but they were so rough with one another that had he not known her heart he would have thought them enemies.

Handing one of the three walkie talkies to Sara, Andrew began, "You and Thunderfoot are going to go searching for the passage to his homeland."

As Andrew spoke, he pulled the black harness he had used the night they had blown up the wolf, hooking the second walkie talkie to the back. He barely had to kneel to come face-to-face with Thunderfoot.

"You gonna be okay to wear this?"

There was excitement in the rabbits eyes as it nodded. "Yup."

Andrew smiled and joined Sara in rubbing Thunderfoot's head, the large rear paw of the jackalope thwamping against the ground as his eyes rolled back. It was hard for Andrew to believe how much Thunderfoot and Tani'm had grown, one mentally and the other emotionally. What an amazing pair they made.

"I knew you would, big guy."

With a little teamwork, Andrew and Sara were able to get the harness onto the rabbit. While Sara had an earpiece that allowed her to hear the communications from the device, Andrew was forced to turn up the speaker on Thunderfoot's enough that it could be heard. After a bit of testing it was little more than a whisper, the supernatural creature's hearing seemed to be better than Sara's, so there was no need to make it very loud.

Andrew brought the map down to the ground, where Thunderfoot could see it, and explained his plan.

"My assumption is that there are one of two things going on. The first option is that there may be conditions that need to be met in order to gain access to the path that you used to get here. If that's the case, we're fucked, and there's nothing we can do until we know what must be done to open the way there.

"Since that option's a dead end, let's assume that's not what we're dealing with, and hope it's the second possibility. I've read about this in a few books, and we have experience with it ourselves. There might be a ward preventing anyone from wandering too close to the path. Something that makes you change your course, or skirt around where the passage to your home is."

Karen gasped, while Sara blurted out, "Like 'The Glade!'"

"Exactly, just less aggressive, since Thunderfoot and Tani'm would have noticed if they got paranoid whenever they got close to it. If the stories I read are at all accurate, then it..."

Andrew's voice trailed off as he saw the distant look on Thunderfoot's face, the large rabbit peering out into the canopy just over his shoulder as it thought.

"That's it," Thunderfoot stated, his gentle voice echoing in their minds as he continued to think. "Me and Tani'm try to find you special place... The Glade. Never do. After start, we stop right away, trying to find my special place instead."

"That didn't seem odd?" Karen asked, her eyes growing sad as she looked at Thunderfoot.

"Of course not," the child like voice entoned, "I need get home. Why would be odd? I try and find my path... my home."

There was panic and defensiveness in the child's voice, Karen thinking that Thunderfoot was at the edge of a tantrum.

"That's not what I mean, Thunderfoot. I'm just wondering why yo-"

Karen's explanation was cutoff as Thunderfoot almost yelled into their minds, "My mate home, my babys home too. I need be there. You think what you have more important? More important than finding my home?"

Andrew and his mates crossed worried glances, no words needing to be shared as they all considered how strange the rabbit's behavior was. His reaction was far too intense for the simple question Karen had asked, and Andrew could feel fear tug at Karen's heart as he watched his brunette paramour shudder.

She knelt down and wrapped her arms around thunderfoots neck. Her fingers sliding through his soft fur, the bloody patch seeming to cause her no bother as she eased his pounding heart with the aid of her gift.

"I'm so sorry, Thunderfoot. You're absolutely right, getting back to your family is far more important than finding our stupid Glade. You definitely made the right decision."

As she stood, Andrew and Sara were looking at each other with confusion, their eyes turning back to Karen and pleading for understanding of why she had said that. Andrew knew that she had done nothing wrong, and that Thunderfoot was acting like a child, likely because of the ward that had kept him from finding The Glade. He wanted Thunderfoot to see that, to understand why he was acting that way.

She leaned against Andrew, lowering her head and whispering into his ear, "Whatever the ward did to him, he cannot even justify trying to get there now. Even considering it seems to make him long for home even more, and I can't put him through that again."

Andrew loved her more than he ever had, kissing her cheek and smiling into her hazel gaze, small flecks of blue shining out from that radiant sea of brown.

Sara still didn't understand, but was content in knowing that Andrew did. Her heart holding onto a bit of frustration, but happy to share in the loving emotions of her mates.

"If you two are done with the love fest over there, how about we get this show on the road?"

Her grin was wide as Andrew and Karen looked at her. Thunderfoot still standing tall in the glow of Karen's kind words and magical influence.

"You gotta be careful, Honey," Andrew whispered to Karen, "Like me, your gifts are getting stronger, and it seems like you might have pushed a little too much contentment into our little friend here."

"Me little? You shrimp!" Thunderfoot said, his voice surrounded by ghostly sounds of laughter in their minds as he spoke.

"Do you even know what a shrimp is?" Andrew asked, his brow furrowed with anticipation of the rabbits response.

"You??? Me not sure. Tani'm laugh after saying that, always after thinking about you. Me think it good tease."

There was a pause as Thunderfoot's large black eyes looked up at him. "Was it mean? I wanted funny, not mean."

They could hear worry in his little voice as he began to look sad. An expression that changed almost immediately as Andrew tickled the side of Thunderfoot's face.

"No, it was perfect. Well done."

Again the rabbit beamed with pride, his jab seeming to have been expertly placed.

Andrew focused on the two devices, ensuring that they were all set to the frequencies he had wanted. He kept channel one on his device to the same frequency that Tani'm had originally put them on, just in case she tried to reach them on it, but put the other two frequencies to something new. He was paranoid, and didn't want to risk others from the Quinault Indian Nation listening in.

For a moment he revisited the thought of trying to rotate frequencies. There was not a lot of memory on the walkie talkies, and even less processing power, but he was pretty sure he could do it. Sure, their conversations wouldn't be encrypted, but if they were constantly shifting between four or five frequencies then it might as well be. Not only would someone have to-

"Earth to Andrew?" Sara interrupted his thoughts with a quick poke to his forehead. "Are we doing this or what?"

Andrew shook his head and laughed, his eyes apologizing as he cast his gaze across those gathered around him.

"Yeah, go ahead... Don't wait for me, I'm just overthinking things like usual."

She kissed his cheek and then took off towards the trees, where Thunderfoot was already standing. God, he must have been in his own little world there for a minute, because he hadn't even seen the jackalope leave.

"Love you," Sara called back, her words soft but well meant as she vanished into the forest.

The sight of her cresting into the trees reminded Andrew of another time not long ago. Karen's hand pressed against his back, rubbing a gentle circle as she asked, "You okay?"

Of course she could feel his worry, Andrew realized, but unlike Sara she had no sense of what was causing it.

"Yeah. I was just remembering the last time her and Thunderfoot ran off into the forest."

He could feel a cloud of darkness form in Karen's chest as she was reminded of that same night.

"The wolf is gone, hopefully dead, and this is nothing like that. They'll be okay."

Andrew took a deep breath and forced a smile onto his face. "I know," he lied.

Worrying was a habit he was having difficulty breaking. Karen was right, this was nothing like that night they attacked the wolf. Even knowing that did not stop him though, his worry circling the same question; What might be waiting at the entrance to Thunderfoot's homeland.

Turning his attention to the map, Andrew connected his mind to his GPS walkie talkie before setting it off to the side. Two red dots appeared to the northeast of Tani'm's house. A faint red trail behind them as they moved further and further away. It was Sara and Thunderfoot, the path they were taking as they journeyed deeper into the forest.

Andrew knew that Sara was fast, but never realized how much she held herself back until he saw the two dots moving across the map. They were both traveling almost twenty five miles per hour over uneven and difficult terrain. Karen seemed oblivious, still rubbing his back and marveling at how talented her mates were.

"I'm gonna pop back inside and make some tea. You want some?"

It took a few seconds for Karen's question to register, his response coming just as she was turning to leave.

"That would be great, Honey. Thanks!"

Sara and Thunderfoot were moving in unison, every moment taking them further and further away. They followed the contours of the terrain, passing through gaps between the steep rises and sudden falls. Remaining up on the sides of the rolling forest floor they managed to stay out of the valleys, seeming to avoid the open and flat areas.

It was strange, the two-dimensional nature of what Andrew was looking at felt like 3D. As if he knew exactly how the land rose and fell around them. The lines of elevation giving his gift a sense of how the earth was shaped, and providing him the information needed to feel those differences in height, even if he couldn't see them.

The topographical details on the map moved with them, keeping their two red dots near the center while Tani'm's house moved closer and closer to the left side of the sheet. After almost fifteen minutes her house was no longer rendered, a vast sea of curving and circular lines surrounding the red dots that seems so all alone.

"Thunderfoot says we're in the area," Sara's voice stated through the walkie talkie.

"Great," Andrew responded, a hint of worry seeping out despite his efforts to contain it. Of course he knew that Sara could feel it, but he thought hearing it would be somehow worse. "I want you two to try and keep equal distance from each other and move directly east. Let me know when Thunderfoot thinks he's out of the area where it is."

He watched as the two dots changed course, slowly losing the slight north from their movement until they were heading directly east. After a few minutes they stopped, and Sara's voice returned.

"He's pretty sure we missed it."

Andrew looked at the map, his gift telling him that they had gone nearly a mile and a half east. He shook his head in amazement, still shocked by how fast his feisty mate was.

"Perfect, head north for about half a minute and then head directly west."

There was a moment of silence as the two dots remained stationary, Andrew's eyes fixed on them as he waited for movement. Karen's hand on his shoulder caused him to jump, her laughing voice following as she said, "Sorry 'bout that. I'll just set your tea down here."

With a light kiss on his cheek, they smiled at each other. "Thanks."

"Of course," she whispered before returning to Tani'm's house.

The tea smelt wonderful. Different from her normal mix, more floral with a strong scent of honey. He wanted to pick it up and taste it, but was captivated by those two unmoving dots.

"Everything okay?"

Any attempt to hide his concern was unnoticeable as his voice went over the airwaves.

"Stop worrying, silly. I was just talking with Thunderfoot and we figured out what you're doing. Do you want us to add a bit more distance between us for this nifty little grid you're mapping out?"

Andrew smiled, loving how smart Sara was. Her carefree attitude and laissez faire demeanor made it easy to forget how wickedly clever she was.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I love you?"

"At least twice a day, but please, keep it coming."

Andrew laughed, leaving the radio on so that Sara could hear the joy she felt from him.

"That would be great."

There was another pause, before Sara's voice came back through.

"Copy that, just let us know when you want us to cut north and shift east. My sexy little man with the map."

Right after that the two dots began to move, both of them heading north for almost half a minute, until Sara broke off West and Thunderfoot continued north. Sara started at a slower speed, giving Thunderfoot a chance to add the distance they'd agreed upon before catching up with her. Andrew could almost hear their banter as Sara undoubtedly teased the poor animal who was only trying to find his way home.

When they were finished, their dots were not exactly perpendicular to each other, which if Andrew had to admit kinda bothered him.

With Sara and Thunderfoot once more on the move, Andrew was able to lift the large mug of tea and give it a deep sniff. Wow, it smelled fantastic, his olfactory system coming to life with the wonderful mixture of herbal scents that assaulted them. He could feel Karen's sense of accomplishment, and looking over he took in a beautiful sight, her curvy body leaning against the doorframe as she watched him with equal joy.

She held her own cup up to her mouth and was blowing steam from off its top as its warmth spread out through her hands. For a moment he wondered how he had ever gotten so lucky, her beaming smile casting away his persistent worry.

Its taste lived up to the promise of its aroma, every tantalizing scent present and amplified by the perfect amount of fresh honey. In a weird way, it reminded him of the waters from the pond back at The Glade. As if somehow Karen had captured the magic of that place into the tea he held in his hand.

After a few more appreciative sips he picked up the radio and stated, "Alright, cut north."