Breakfast was slowly eaten before the Werebeasts all thanked Nakai, Wang Bao and Zhang. Once the Werebeasts started their trek down the mountain, Luka crawled out of the tent and slowly walked into the kitchen. Talking and crying with Zhang had helped ease Luka’s mind a little, and he sat opposite Ala while slowly drinking the broth Wang Bao had made for him. Ala narrowed her eyes at Luka, a little surprised someone could look so sick after being looked after for almost three weeks. For almost half the day, Luka sat in the kitchen and drank a pot full of broth. Wang Bao would come in intermittently to reheat another bowl, or ask if Luka wanted anything else. At the same time, Wang Bao was growing more tense around Ala, not because he was scared of her attacking him, but because the sun was close to setting and Alo still hadn’t come back. Once the pot was empty of broth, Luka tiredly ate a piece of bread Nakai had baked the day before, he was so tired after finally eating that he fell asleep at the table, still clutching the bread. Once Luka was asleep, Zhang came into the kitchen, ignoring Ala’s keen stare as he carried Luka back to the tent. Ala already knew everyone was avoiding the kitchen, she also knew Nakai was lying to her because Zhang couldn’t lie to save his life; Everything he felt, always ended up on his face.
When Ala caught sight of Nakai walking through the hallway, she shot up from her chair and chased after the Giant. As soon as she was blocking his path, Ala pointed a finger in Nakai’s face and shouted at him angrily.
“My brother has been hunting his whole life, Nakai! There’s no way he would stay out this long. Where is he?!”
. . . . . .
Mika woke up in the early morning like usual. He groggily stepped out of bed before stumbling his way into the living room, wanting to empty the ashes from the fireplace before relighting it. Mika had become so used to Alo’s sleeping body that was in the middle of the room, that he easily bypassed him while barely having his eyes open. While crouching down in front of the fireplace, Mika suddenly heard the hoarse voice of a man behind him.
“Can you hand me some pants, Mika?”
The moment Mika heard Alo’s voice, he instantly became wide awake and jumped into the air while screaming at the top of his lungs.
“AGHH~ What the hell?!”
Mika jumped and screamed again once he turned around and saw Alo looking up at him with an amused expression. While Mika tried to calm himself, he heard Alo let out a small chuckle. Alo didn’t expect Mika to be able to jump so high, and he found it quite funny. Once Mika was a little calmer, Alo held the blanket in one hand firmly, and he sat up with a long yawn. After looking around for a few seconds, Alo asked curiously.
“How long have I been asleep?”
Mika quickly counted the days on his fingers before answering Alo.
“...Six days.”
Alo hadn’t expected it to be so long and he scratched his messy hair with a sheepish expression. Before Alo could ask again, Mika walked back into the bedroom to grab the pair of pants and underwear he had prepared. During the time they had spent in the cabin, Mika had tried countless times to dress Alo, but he couldn’t force himself to remove the blanket. After throwing the clothes to Alo, Mika returned to the bedroom once more and closed the door, sitting on the bed while waiting. Alo made sure to dress himself quickly Mika threw the pants he had gotten out for Alo before leaving to sit in the bedroom with the door shut. Alo made sure to dress himself quickly, and he added more wood to the fire before knocking on the bedroom door. Mika quickly answered but instead of entering the living room, he sat on the bed while staring at the ground. Alo could see Mika was wanting to say something and he followed him inside, sitting beside Mika patiently. Every couple of seconds Mika would peek at Alo silently but Alo didn’t force him into saying what he wanted. After working up the courage, Mika finally opened his mouth and whispered.
“Alo…I’m sorry for running off… I felt like I couldn’t stay there anymore and when I heard Luka talking about my past with Bao, I snapped.”
Hearing Mika apologise, Alo smiled tenderly while nodding his head. It had been a silly idea for Mika to run away, but in the end he couldn’t blame him for doing so. Alo lifted his hand and patted Mika’s head softly while saying in a calm voice.
“I understand, Mika. It’s okay to have moments where you react instinctively, especially with what you've been through; but next time don’t run off like that…Or at least wait until spring so I won’t have to sleep for a week after catching up.”
Mika chuckled before agreeing happily and they continued sitting quietly for a few seconds. With the sound of birds chirping outside, Alo finally stood up and held his hand out to Mika while saying.
“Let’s eat some breakfast. After our meal, we’ll hit the road.”
Hearing about breakfast, Mika’s eyes instantly lit up and he pulled Alo by his arm to the outside food storage. Ever since his first hunting experience, Mika had been hunting whatever small animal he came across. Once they were outside, Mika proudly opened the ice storage box before looking up at Alo. It was clear Alo wasn’t expecting to see dead animals in the chiller, especially squirrels and other sciuromorpha. Alo slowly picked up a skinned chubby squirrel that was frozen and he turned to Mika, speaking with surprise.
“Squirrells are close to impossible to catch, how were you able to kill so many?”
Mika wanted to act cool and shrug it off, but he couldn’t help but smile at his large haul and replied with a wide grin.
“They're easy to catch as a mink.”
Alo couldn’t help but return Mika’s smile before ushering him back inside. Alo followed close behind after picking up the inner container of the chiller. Inside were five squirrels, three chipmunks and a large alpine marmot. Alo didn’t know how much Mika would eat, but he was glad to see a good haul of meat since he was starving. While Alo followed Mika into the kitchen, he couldn’t help but realise the Mika that had been cooped up in the old house last week, was a completely different person now. Once in the kitchen, Alo emptied the container and showed Mika how to properly skin an animal since he had only been able to try twice before giving up. Once the animals were skinned and washed, Alo chopped the carcasses roughly and threw them into a pan. It was only once the pan was on top of the pot belly that Alo lit the fire. Alo finally handed the wooden spatula to Mika and said.
“I’ll go find some wild vegetables. Look after the meat while I’m gone, I shouldn’t take too long.”
Mika nodded seriously and watched the meat. Every few seconds he would toss the meat around, wanting to keep it from burning. Outside the cabin, Alo stepped towards the tree area in front of the cabin, but he quickly noticed a few trees were missing; after taking a closer look at the empty sections, he saw a handful of stubby trunks. Thinking there were other people in the vicinity, Alo made short work of foraging and quickly returned to the cabin with a handful of greens. Alo pushed the door open while calling out to Mika.
“I’m back.”
Mika felt something stir inside when he heard Alo calling out to him the same way he had done. SHaking his head to help shoo the feeling away, Mika asked.
“Did you find anything?”
Alo showed Mika the dark greens, and he quickly rinsed them off before chopping them roughly. Once the greens were chopped, Alo took over from Mika and finished off the simple meal. While plating up, Alo quickly mentioned to Mika.
“I noticed someone had been chopping down some trees. Did you hear anyone or see anyone when you were out there?”
Mika’s eyes lit up again before he answered Alo plainly.
“I chopped those down.”
Alo looked at Mika abruptly and saw Mika point at the wood basket that was almost overflowing with wood. Alo let out a quiet sound of surprise and handed Mika a bowl of steaming meat and greens. Once Mika had taken the plate, he reached out and pinched Mika’s thin arms. Mika was surprised by the sudden touch, but he didn’t push Alo away. Once Alo did pull away, he grabbed his own bowl of food while speaking with pleasant surprise.
“You really have changed, haven’t you?”
Hearing Alo’s sweet words, Mika turned around and walked towards the armchairs, wanting to hide the proud grin on his face. Alo followed closely behind Mika and sat in the armchair beside him. Mika was glad to finally be having a nice cooked meal since every time he had touched a pot or pan, his food ended up burning. The meal was eaten in silence, but the atmosphere was warm. As soon as the dishes were washed by Alo, he walked into the bedroom and came out with a coat and pair of leggings for Mika. Mika had been going pantless ever since they arrived, but only because he wanted to wear Alo’s clothes, not Ala’s. Everything was too big for Mika, but it would keep him warm while they walked up the mountain. Alo didn’t bother with a coat and he helped Mika put his socks and boots on, before lacing up his own. Once he was standing up again, he nodded at Mika and said.
“All right, let’s go. Hopefully my sister is slow and we beat her to the house.”
. . . . . .
Alo’s hopes were instantly crushed once they made it back to the house. The sun had already set behind the mountain, but there was still a pink light in the sky. Alo felt he had beaten his sister up the mountain because of how quiet the area was, but his hopefulness was quickly cut short when Ala stormed out of the door, a burning fire in her eyes. Alo gave Ala a tight smile as he tried to hide his surprise, but he had to quickly duck because Ala threw a swift punch towards his face. As soon as Alo dodged the bitter attack from his sister, he pulled Ala into a tight hug. Just as fast Ala had run out of the house, Luka was also quick to run out into the snow. Mika was busy staring at Ala in shock when he was suddenly tackled to the ground by Luka. The moment Mika felt his little brother in his arms, he held Luka close to his chest with tears in his eyes before standing up. Once they were both standing, Mika leaned back in order to get a better look at Luka, he could already feel Luka was close to a bag of bones, but the tears in his eyes wouldn’t stop flowing once he saw how sick Luka looked. Mika couldn’t handle the sight and he pulled Luka back into his chest while apologising profusely. Unlike Luka and Mika, Ala shoved Alo away angrily before shouting at him.
“Where the hell were you?!”
From behind Nakai, Wang Bao and Zhang all stepped outside as well. Alo looked over before replying and quickly caught sight of Nakai pointing a finger gun. When he looked back at his sister, Alo shrugged innocently before replying.
“I went hunting. I only found a mink though.”
Alo shot a smirk towards Mika, causing Ala to almost burst a blood vessel and she turned on her heels, her finger pointing right at Nakai’s face. Her voice was quiet but full of scorn as she spoke to Nakai.
“I know you’re lying! Where did he go, Nakai?”
Nakai couldn’t stop himself from laughing at Ala’s fiery rage, and he felt Wang Bao lightly jab his waist. Motioning towards Alo who was walking over to them, Nakai said through a light chuckle.
“I’ve been telling you this since you got here, Ala. The man went hunting.”
Zhang was finally relieved to see Alo was back, and he clapped the man on the shoulder warmly before walking over to Luka, who had run outside without putting any shoes on, and his feet were turning blue from the layer of snow that still covered the ground. Zhang didn’t want to disrupt the warm reunion, but he gently patted Luka on the shoulder before saying in a quiet voice.
“The two of you should go back inside, you don’t want to get sick.”
Behind Luka and Mika, everyone else followed in behind them. Ala was set on not believing Nakai, and she tried to dig the truth out of Zhang since he was the weaker liar, but Zhang quickly slipped away into the kitchen to get a snack for Luka. When Mika walked into the house, he found that the suffocating feeling from before had lessened, and he moved into the living room to lay on the couch with Luka. Everyone decided to leave them alone for a while, and Mika couldn’t stop himself from pinching Luka’s thin cheeks, a sadness in his eyes when he said.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you, Luka, and for running away. I didn’t consider how leaving would impact you.”
Luka shook his face free of his brother’s gentle pinching before talking sadly.
“I shouldn’t have talked about your past without asking you, I’m sorry too. I just wanted to help you get better and I didn’t know how to do that.”
Luka and Mika made up quickly but Ala and Alo were still having trouble. Alo was still in the hallway and he looked into the first bedroom, but saw it was empty then noticed how quiet the house was except for Ala’s yelling. Ignoring his sister, Alo asked Nakai who was walking towards the kitchen.
“Everyone is gone?”
Ala rolled her eyes, and stepped in front of Alo, who was also trying to get into the kitchen. Her eyes were on the verge of shaking from how angry she was, and she poked Alo’s shoulder harshly while saying.
“Don’t change the subject, Alo! You changed into your beast form didn’t you? Where were you hibernating? Also, do you really expect me to believe you went “hunting” when that kid's brother was sulking in a tent when I arrived?”
Alo had to give it to his sister for being quick witted, but her stubbornness was quickly wearing thin on him. Because Ala wouldn’t stop until she received the truth, Alo sighed tiredly and pulled his hair back out of frustration before revealing part of the sotry, wanting to prevent a bigger freak out from his sister.
“Mika ran away so I followed him. That’s all.”
Ala looked like she wanted to dig deeper but Nakai had had enough of Ala’s shouting, and he called everyone into the living room. Wang Bao came into the room last, handing over a hot drink to both Alo and Mika, before wandering back into the kitchen to grab a bowl of stew for Luka. Wang Bao was glad to see Luka eating and smiling again, and he wanted to start fattening him up before they left. Nakai didn’t bother to wait for Wang Bao to finish hurrying around, and he started talking while leaning against the wall by the kitchen door.
“It’s too late for us to start travelling up the mountain and we don’t have enough food. Ala, Alo and Zhang will come with me, and we’ll butcher whatever meat is left; tomorrow we’ll go hunting. Wang Bao, I’ll show you how to preserve the meat, and you can start preserving the last of our butchered meat from the barn.”
Because Wang Bao had made sure to make Luka’s food the perfect eating temperature, Luka had chomped it down quickly. Nakai had barely finished talking when Luka was drifting off to sleep, stew staining the corners of his mouth. Mika slowly took the bowl away from his brother before following Wang Bao and Nakai into the kitchen. Nakai had already set up the empty large jars their own preserved meat had been packaged in, on the kitchen counter and he started explaining to Wang Bao.
“The meat we have in the fridge is only enough to fill two of these two litre jars. Slice the meat into thin pieces then stuff them inside the jars, it’s important that there’s little to no air inside. /Make sure you leave about one or two centimetres of space from the top and then use the last of the oil to pour over the meat. There’s not much meat left in the barn, but after the hunting trip, I’ll use the mincer that’s out there to mince a whole beast and that will hopefully fill the rest of the jars.”
Wang Bao listened carefully before grabbing a sharp knife in order to get started, from behind Mika suddenly spoke, surprising both Nakai and Wang Bao.
“Is it okay if I help?”
Wang Bao and Nakai both turned around to see Mika standing in the doorway with Luka’s empty bowl and his cup. They could see Mika didn’t know if he should walk into the room or not, and Wang Bao happily agreed while taking the dirty dishes. Nakai didn’t linger after Mika came into the kitchen since it was already dark and it was best uif they left early in the morning to go hunting. Wang Bao felt it would be best if he cut the meat and Mika stuffed it into the jars, and he gave Mika the two jars to put on the table since Mika was too short to reach into the jar comfortably at the counter. While Wang Bao started slicing up the large slabs of meat that was in the fridge, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about Mika’s reasoning for running away. As he added slice after slice of meat to a small plate, Wang Bao apologised to Mika.
“About Luka and him talking to me about what happened to you, Mika. I didn't mean to pry..;”
Wang Bao didn’t really know how to word his apology but Mika interrupted him, speaking in a soft yet stern voice.
“It’s okay, Bao and don’t worry about it; I know my brother and why he did what he did.”
After taking on what Mika had said to him, the guilt inside Wang Bao decreased and he was able to work a little easier with Mika. While they worked quietly, Wang Bao found this was the longest time he had spent with Mika, and he found there were a lot of similarities between him and Wang Lei. Thinking of his own brother, Wang Bao felt a little complicated and without realising, a slight frown appeared on his face. Wang Bao couldn’t lie to himself and say that having someone that reminded him of Wang Lei was bad, but there was also something lurking in the back of his mind towards his brother. Wang Bao was busy trying to work out his own thoughts that he forgot Mika could see his face. Mika didn’t want to disrupt Wang Bao’s train of thought, but he couldn’t help but ask out of concern.
“Is something wrong, Bao?”
Wang Bao suddenly stopped slicing the meat and looked down at the chopping board in deep thought. Mika wasn’t sure if Wang Bao had heard him, but after a few more seconds, he heard Wang Bao speak with quiet uncertainty.
“I don’t know if I would call it missing. Like you, I have a brother and certain circumstances have forced us apart; those circumstances have also distorted my view of him....I miss him yet... I hate him….Sorry.”
Wang Bao shook his head as he realised he wasn’t making any sense. No one said anything after that and they continued working quietly. Every couple of minutes Wang Bao would fill a plate with thinly sliced meat, and Mika would walk over and replace the full plate with an empty one; despite being unsure about cooking and food prep, Mika worked hard to stuff the jars with the meat, making sure there was no air.
. . . . . . .
In the stable, Nakai and Alo skinned a fat caribou Nakai had hunted while Alo was away, before slicing it into large sections. With the large sections, Zhang and Ala butchered the meat into smaller pieces; the plan was to bury the meat in the snow to freeze it until they were ready to move out. The frozen meat could then be stored in containers, and placed on the small wooden sled that would be dragged by Nakai. While everyone worked quickly and quietly, Nakai asked.
“Has Luka or Mika mentioned anything about travelling to the Valley?”
Alo answered no as he sliced a thick layer of fat off of the hind leg of the beast, they would keep the fat and melt it down when filling the other jars to preserve the meat. Ala didn’t bother to answer since she didn’t know, and she focused on hitting her cleaver with a mullet to slice through the bone. Zhang had to shout over the loud noise in order to be heard.
“Luka will follow wherever Mika goes. Though, I think both of them don’t want to go to a new place where they don’t know anyone. Especially with what they’ve been through.”
Nakai had no intention of ditching the two young men since he had grown quite fond of them, and he continued working quietly. When it finally came time to sleep, everyone stayed in the living room and slept on the floor; Luka and Mika could no longer sleep inside their tent like usual, but Luka made sure to stick close to his brother's side under the blanket. Ever since Mika had come back, it was as if the brothers had switched personalities; Luka had barely spoken all day, whereas Mika was sticking close to Wang Bao in case he could help with something. As soon as Luka laid down beside Mika, he quickly fell asleep and it didn’t take long for Mika to follow. Outside of the tent, Nakaia had offered to grab one of the mattresses from the bed or bring in hay from the barn, but Wang Bao felt he had been sleeping on the hard ground ever since arriving at the house, so there was no point trying to find new comfort now. In saying that, Wang Bao had never felt more uncomfortable than now. The ground felt harder while whatever position he tried, it would leave him with a sore back. In the end, Wang Bao crawled on top of Nakai’s chest and stomach because his muscles were softer than the ground. Nakia didn’t mind if Wang Bao wanted to fall asleep on him, and he slowly massaged Wang Bao’s body under the blanket.
Nakai could feel Wang Bao had gained quite a bit of weight since they had first met, and his muscles had become more prominent thanks to all the heavy lifting he had been doing around the house. Wang had been laying on his stomach, but it felt too uncomfortable and he rolled onto his side tiredly. This gave Nakai the opportunity to rub his hands over Wang Bao’s stomach; the soft area was still flat and unfertilised, but the more time Nakai spent around Mika and Luka, the bigger the urge to impregnate Wang Bao became. Nakai had known for most of his life that he wanted kids, but he had never been interested enough in other people to try and find someone suitable to marry. Nakai had only known Wang Bao a few months, but they had already revealed so much to one another, that Nakai couldn’t see himself with anyone that wasn’t Wang Bao. In the back of Nakai’s mind, he was still unsure about whether Wang Bao was still against having children; he knew they would need to talk about that sooner rather than later, but Wang Bao’s disbelief in the matter made that difficult for Nakai. While Nakai had these thoughts running through his head, he continued rubbing Wang Bao’s stomach but he didn’t realise he was rubbing a little too hard. All of a sudden, Wang Bao pushed Nakai’s hand away while grumbling half asleep.
“That hurts~.”
Nakai paused his hands from massaging Wang Bao’s stomach before trying to gently rub over the soft area again, but his hand was slapped in order to stop him. With his eyes closed, Wang Bao groaned in pain and Nakai finally stopped, thinking while Wang Bao was able to finally fall asleep.
Two nights later, Mika, Nakai and Alo were the first to wake up, the sky still dark with no sounds of birds yet. Nakai laid Wang Bao on the sofa to continue sleeping, while Mika also made sure not to move too quickly since Luka had slept against his side. In his sleep, Luka could feel Mika moving away and he mewled softly before wriggling around to find him. Mika stepped out of the blanket gently before he rolled Luka over towards Zhang’s arm. Feeling someone grab a hold of him, Zhang suddenly woke up and looked down at his arm before going back to sleep, Ala was still sleeping as well and the three men made their way into the kitchen. Mika wanted to make a hot drink for Nakai and Alo and he turned the kettle while Alo sifted through Ala’s duffle bag. Once he found what he was looking for, Alo handed Mika a change of winter clothes that would actually fit him as well as a pair of boots. Mika looked hesitant to take what was being handed to him, and Alo said in a quiet voice.
“The journey is going to be hard from now on, and your body will take a while to get used to it. If you don’t want to come with us, Zhang is willing to take you and Luka down to the Valley.”
Mika slowly reached out to grab the clothes and boots, but even when he was holding them, Alo kept his hand on the clothes as he waited for an answer. Mika looked at Alo a little confused before asking quietly.
“Do you not want me to come with you, Alo?”
Alo quickly retracted his hand from Mika’s clothes and he stumbled over his words while trying to explain himself.
“Wh-What? No, it’s just that...with Luka’s body and the trip...I’m just saying it will be hard.”
Mika gave a simple nod before he took the clothes and left to go change. In the living room, Ala had woken up, she was about to wake Wang Bao and Luka when Nakai stopped her by whispering.
“Leave them, Ala. We’ll get ready first then wake them up.”
Ala didn’t say anything as she walked into the kitchen. Zhang was left alone, laying on the floor wide awake with Luka still clinging to his arm tightly. Nakai and Ala took care of the frozen meat by taking it out of the snow under the tree line, and used two large plastic containers to hold everything; to ensure the chunks of meat stayed frozen, they compacted snow around each large cut piece. With the containers full, they carried a container each to the barn where the wooden sled was waiting. Yesterday Wang Bao, Mika and Luka had worked hard to fill the remaining ten jars with minced meat, topping them with melted lard in order to preserve the mince, and a large duffle bag Ala had brought with her was being used to hold all of the jars. Once the sled was done being packed securely, the sun had slowly begun to rise and Nakai finally went back into the house to wake Wang Bao; he made sure to dress Wang Bao as a way to save time. Zhang felt he could finally wake Luka too and he gently pushed the small boy away from his arm while sitting up. Feeling the emptiness in his arms, Luka patted around himself anxiously, but couldn’t feel anyone and sat up with wide eyes. Before Luka could start looking around, Mika rushed into the living room and handed everyone a cup of soup before he sat beside Luka. Mika made sure to keep his voice quiet while talking with his brother.
“Do you want to go with Nakai or leave to go to the Valley?”
Luka was confused with the sudden question because he thought they were staying with Nakai and Wang Bao no matter what. Sipping at the soup Mika was forcing on him, Luka answered after a few seconds.
“I don’t want to go to the Valley….Is that where you want to go, Mika?”
Mika instantly shook his head before replying.
“No, I just wanted to make sure. It will be hard on both of us though, do you think you can do it?”
Luka gave a firm nod and he downed his soup before leaving to change into the clothes Ala threw over to him. With everything and everyone ready, the group of seven left the large house and walked down the long snow covered dirt road. It was hard to believe for Alo and Nakai that it had been close to a month since dealing with the slave traders using the property; they couldn’t help but hope they wouldn’t run into any more trouble while on the mountain.
