Day 41

I got up from my nap much later than I thought, the sun had already sunk below the forest, but the moon was already sinking to, now that the clouds where gone. I was still feeling tired, the past several days I've been getting snowed on, and it's been frustrating as all hell, I hated being cooped up in my hut for a long period of time, and I wanted to stretch my legs. I grabbed my talon knife, and my jacket, now covered in Lupe's hair, and ventured into the storm, Lupe trotting along on a rather long leather leash I had added to his harness. I exited easily, the snow seemed to be along the left and right of my snow cabin. I had to carry Lupe though, as he didn't seem to want to crawl out into the snow. It took about walking 20 feet into the forest before the trees had enough coverage to block most of the snow, their bows filled, making a huge icy ceiling.

I set Lupe down, and held tight to the leash, as Lupe immediately started running around, stopping short about 30 feet when the leash snapped taught, eliciting a yelp of surprise. He looked back as I jogged to catch up, and I swear he rolled his eyes at me in the glow of the Manaphage. “what? Not losing you in the trees.” I said and he turned back and started to walk forward, now next to me, making me collect the slack of the leash so it wasn't dragging behind.

He seemed to be enjoying himself, every now and then running up to trees and sniffing at them, and we seemed to be following the general direction towards the rock and hole, as I kept seeing my marks on the tree towards it. Soon enough we reached it, and he dashed forward again, diving into the hole, and I had to run to keep up, my legs burning in the freezing cold air.

I had to crouch and run at the same time, further inflaming my legs, and I kept having to hold the leash tight, as Lupe kept pulling it hard, not really stopping. We made it down in record time, and we both slid down the side of the rock, Lupe pulling to a stop and looking at me, panting just a little bit, “just a short break Lupe,” I said, and he sat down next to me as I collapsed on the ground leaning up against the spire.

I absent-mindedly scratched his head, as he leaned against me a little, licking the Manaphage. I sat there for a good hour, finding myself relaxed, before slowly getting to my feet. Stretching my arms, I pulled at the leash a little, Lupe getting up, and standing at attention. I started walking around, following Lupe as I marked trees as we went going deeper and deeper into the underground forest.

We walked for a good two hours before Lupe tired out from all the walking. I picked him up and started heading back, following a winding trail, it felt familiar, like when I had brought him back when he was wounded. I took a look at his leg, finding that it had already healed, I was surprised for a second, before rationalizing it away with him being magic or something. I carried him back to the rock and hole, slowly climbing back up and soon breaching the surface, I clambered out and found that the sun was already starting to rise, and I was feeling properly tired now, not the lethargic tired from before.

I trudged home, the melting snow dripping down on me from the treetops, splashing me and Lupe in the face. He stirred a bit in his sleep, and eventually woke up just as I got home. We walked back into the hut, and started eating breakfast outside, I dragged my table out, fitting it through the doorway, and sat there while Lupe out of his bowls, enjoying our meal outdoors.

Soon after eating I decided that I would do one more thing before taking going to bed, the long nap I had taken had really messed with my sleep schedule. I pulled at Lupe's leash and started to lead him up the mountainside, all the way up to the plateau. We reached the top quickly, finding that the snow up here was almost three feet thick, I froze a large section of it with the Manaphage, and stepped up on top, picking Lupe up and placing him next to me. We looked out, at the treetops, the snow on top already dripping through in places, making a beautiful patchwork of green and white.

We stared out at the never-ending forest and stood there for a while, just taking it all in. Not long after we started back down, eventually reaching our hut, and eating a small snack before meditating and going to bed.