“Argh! Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY?! Choose someone else! Anyone! Change your mind! I don’t want to go with you! You can’t make me go with you! I refuse! Teival! Tell him you don’t want to go with him!” As I screamed internally and begged for the decision to be rescinded, I suddenly realised that by joining the group I’d have a better chance of squaring off against Mr Stripey. Reigning in my anger, I continued my grooming session in a bid to calm my mind and focus on the pleasant thoughts of utterly destroying my sibling.

While licking my fur, I overheard the village elder regain his senses and query Anders’ final candidate choice. I vaguely recall hearing him mention something along the lines of wondering why a respectable Clan-man would want Teival – with said Clan-man responding with an amused laugh.

“It’s because he shows far more promise than the rest of your children. He also has an interesting crystal beast, so I wanted to see how she’d develop.”

“Hmm? Why do I feel a prickling sensation along my person?” Glancing around me, I paused mid leg-lick to discover the entire village staring at myself and Teival. Feeling that my current position was lacking the decorum required in such circumstances, I slowly lowered my leg and sat upright before staring back at them. Once I had deemed it to have been an appropriate length of time for establishing my assertiveness, I glared at Anders and growled in disdain at his words.

Of course, the man didn’t seem fazed by my hostility and instead laughed before announcing he’d had enough of all the pomp and circumstance. I watched as he waved his hands – as if to dismiss the crowd – before ordering Dinara, Tabitha and Teival to pack their things and meet him at the entrance…You know, it baffled me how these villagers were so readily convinced to drop their questions and disperse by a few simple words from Anders. “They really are stupid.”

As the crowd significantly reduced in size, I noticed Dinara being hugged by a crying Adah and Dad – or Solomon as Anders and the village elder called him. I looked up at Teival to see a beaming smile on his face before witnessing him turn around and pelt it towards our humble abode. Surprised by my master’s actions, I realised he was excited about getting to leave the village and must have been eager to finish his packing as soon as possible.

I reached our room a small while after Teival, mulling over how undesirable this situation was for me while ensuring I kept within the expanded safe distance from my master. Upon entering, I saw him in a mad scramble to shove his few belongings inside a few bags – including the many books Teacher had given him over the past few months. “Why are you putting those heavy things in? Don’t you realise that you’re going to be taken to the very place these items came from?”

Sitting at the doorway, I watched my master move from one end of the room to the other while constantly wearing a goofy smile of pure happiness. I sighed in despair over how far gone Teival was in his eagerness to no longer live in this village. After a few minutes, I witnessed him completely ignore my presence as he hauled his bags over his shoulders and hurried towards the village entrance. “You’re silly, you know? It’s not going to be sunshine and daisies when we get there. You’re going to end up in tears. At least…I know I will.”

Approaching the entrance, I saw Anders nonchalantly leaning against a large vehicle unlike the one that transported myself and sibling No.1 to this place. It was taller than an adult human but smaller than the previous vehicle. The bottom had eight round things attached with crystals embedded inside symbol circuits. The length was greater than Teival’s home, however that’s not much to go by on account of how small our humble abode was in the first place. Several doors led inside the vehicle from either side – whereby the interior was separated into three distinct sections.

“Looks like you’re the first one, Teival. Go on and hop in while we wait! The front seat’s free.” Anders said while opening the door in the front.

“Absolutely not! We shall be sitting in the back in the seat furthest from your undesirable self! Come on, Teival!” I tugged at my master’s trousers towards the back of the vehicle while refusing to look at the man in black. I then experienced a sense of weightlessness as my body ascended vertically before whizzing through the air towards the front of the car. Before I understood what had happened, I found myself unceremoniously dumped onto the front seat.

“Here you go, princess. You deserve the best seat: beside me!”

“Nooooooo!” I scrambled towards the door only to find Teival already at it and entering. “Master! Quick! We must evacuate this danger zone immediately! It’s not safe sitting here! Abort! Abort! Abort!” Unfortunately, Teival smilingly ignored my pleas and gently grabbed hold of me before placing me on his lap. “Master hates me! Was it because I sneaked into the bag last night and ate a lot of the snacks? Oh! Was it because I accidentally ripped your pillow in my sleep, imagining it was Anders, a few nights ago?”

I whimpered for a while until Teival soothed me with his harmonious humming and soft stroking. “Ah…that feels nice. I might forgive you for your transgression, however you’ll need to make sure I get more food in my next meal.” By the time I’d calmed down from my hissy fit, Dinara and Tabitha were still yet to arrive, causing an awkward silence to resound inside the vehicle.

“How come you didn’t say goodbye to your dad, Teival?”

I scoffed over how little Anders seemed to understand about Teival and his pseudo-family, “Ha! You fool! You think Teival’s dad cares about him? I bet he’s already bringing out the booze in celebration over legally getting rid of a nuisance in his family’s eyes! You know nothing of him, Anders!”

“I’d rather not ruin things for Dinara.”

I licked at Teival’s fingers to show that I still loved him, before snuggling into his arms and resting my head in the hollow of his elbow – facing away from Anders, of course. My ears pricked up on Anders intaking air to respond, however the shouts from Dinara and Tabitha announcing their readiness interrupted the conversation. Of course, one of the first things to be mentioned by the two girls was a complaint over Teival stealing the front seat from them.

“Relax, girls. The journey’s going to be long enough for you all to take it in turns.”

I glared at Anders, making it abundantly clear that I would much prefer to sit in the back than in the front for the entire journey. Alas, he just smirked at me before leaving his seat to help store the girls’ luggage inside. Once everything was sorted, Anders inserted a large, white crystal inside a slot surrounded by complex symbols – stirring the mechanisms of the vehicle to life.

With the vehicle activated, I saw Anders twist some strange devices before we began moving away from the village. Climbing up to the hard hole, I peered out and watched as the already small village shrank to a speck on the horizon. Experiencing a mild headache whenever I glanced at Anders, I decided it would be more beneficial for my health to just sleep for most of the journey and thus repositioned myself with my head on Teival’s lap before closing my eyes. I remember holding hope that this would all just be an unamusing nightmare whereby I would wake up on my master’s bed with no sign of Anders. Alas, the constant throbbing pain in my head consistently reminded me that this was unfortunately reality. “I hope the journey will at least be fun this time…”

+++

I woke up to darkness outside the vehicle. Yawning and stretching on Teival’s lap, I blearily examined our surroundings to find trees dotting the landscape. Enjoying an ear scratch from my master who had noticed my arousal, I rolled over and exposed my stomach while leaning my head down his knees for a change in perspective. A few minutes later, Anders announced we’d be stopping for the night before slowing the vehicle down.

Once we’d stopped, Teival opened the door – no doubt to stretch his legs and help set up camp – before I ventured out to pay nature a call. Running to a secluded spot behind a tree, I was about to urinate when Mr Stripey and the crystal honey badger appeared around the corner. “Go away! Can’t you see I’m relieving myself?” I pushed my paws against my sibling’s face in a bid to make him go somewhere else but was ignored as the both of them began urinating in the spot I’d chosen for myself.

Mithering over how the two boys completely lacked social propriety and manners towards a girl wishing to relieve herself, I decided to ignore their pitiful presences and choose another location instead...If only that were the case. At some point, those two must have got it into their heads that it would be incredibly hilarious to follow me around as I searched for a secluded spot. It eventually got to the point where I didn’t care if they ended up in the line of liquid released, and so did my business while sulking.

After that brief episode of animal welfare, I returned to the vehicle with my brethren to discover its appearance had changed drastically. The previously oblong vehicle had expanded in both width and length – with cloth material draped over the edges to provide shelter from the weather. Observing the scene, I saw a crystal barrier arranged around the vehicle – much like the one surrounding the village.

Returning to Teival’s side, he rubbed my head before feeding me some food. Once I was suitably sated with my meal, I lay on the ground and stretched out lackadaisically. After some time, Anders talked about how even with the barrier it can be dangerous at night and so promised that he and his crystal honey badger would keep watch while everyone else slept. I, of course, held no qualms over this and promptly headed back inside the transformed vehicle.

Witnessing the seats having been altered into small beds, I jumped onto the one with Teival’s scent and claimed the pillow as my bed. Curling up my body and tucking my tail beneath my chin, I closed my eyes. I vaguely recall hearing my master sigh over the loss of his pillow, however I knew he deemed my needs as more important than his own since he simple lay beside me and stroked my soft fur as we both drifted off.