Fish Food

            The next morning before the sun had risen and while their handlers still slept, the eleven Tokotas quietly slipped away from the campsite, stepping carefully so they would not trip over the sleeping bag wrapped humans or toss snow on their faces. Xiao Mei stuck close to Zrean and made a wide circle around them while Saffael carefully picked his way straight through the group and over to their still smoldering fire. With a little smile on his face he dropped his head and picked up one of the small logs still left in their wood pile, settling it carefully in the embers so that it would catch and continue to keep them warm while the Tokotas were away.

            Jacinta and Sarabi led the way through the snowy forest as the rest of the group fell in to two lines, each of them picking a buddy to walk with. Teddy came next beside Saffael who had walked quickly to get himself as close the front of the group as he could get. The soft-hearted dire didn’t mind the black curly male’s company at all – he found him fascinating even as his walking buddy began chattering about all of the comforts of his home. Gray of course chose to walk beside Sister Moon, finding the female starter to be the most pleasant of company; she had been a bit quiet at the start of their journey, but was now keenly interested in nearly everything the senior male had to say, something he greatly appreciated. There was almost nothing better than finding a female who showed genuine interest.

            Atreyu had grown very quiet and pensive after the previous night’s festivities, and so he still walked in silence beside Saren. The yeti did not seem to mind the quiet between the two of them and so he spent the first few minutes of the group’s trek in silent contemplation of his own. Xiao Mei had naturally fallen into step with Zrean, easily guided by the much larger female. The two of them were careful to keep a good amount of distance between them however, both in an effort to preserve Xiao Mei’s pride and give her some practice in sensing her surroundings in an unfamiliar area.

            Argus came up last, but without anyone to walk just beside him. The barbary almost preferred it that way since he did not have to watch out for bumping into anyone’s side as they traveled; on the other hand he did not really care for the view of ten other Tokotas’ rear ends.

            “Did we decide on hunting or fishing?” Argus demanded after they had walked nearly a mile away from their camp. It was not really a great distance, but he wanted a break from feeling like the last car on train, and it was about time they had breakfast. At his words the group slowly came to a stop, turning or stepping to the side so that they could form a circle of sorts on their improvised trail.

            “I voted to go fox hunting.” Jacinta said in a slightly haughty tone with her chest puffed out, but held it for only a moment before she let it all out in a defeated sounding sigh. “But…”

            “I don’t think any of our handlers want to eat fox.” Atreyu finished for her and then looked over his shoulder towards the river. “Which means we’re going fishing again. Waiting for them to clean up and cook deer is going to take too long, and we got up early to get breakfast so we could get back on the road.”

            “Besides, after that whole thing last night, nobody is going to want to stick around here for very much longer I’ll bet.” Teddy added, finding the fighting handlers made him very uncomfortable.

            “Is that why you guys tried to sneak off?” Cyrus demanded as the shape shifter suddenly appeared in his wolf form, trotting up from where he had been hiding in the snow laden brush. He fixed each of them with a stare, making Saren hide behind his fur while Gray and Zrean looked away with a little bit of shame on their faces. Sister Moon was too proud to look away and while Xiao Mei could sense the handler’s disapproval, being unable to see his face made it lose some of its effect.

            “We’re trying to help.” Sarabi said flatly, staring down the little wolf-man; she was not going to let him intimidate her on this.

            Cyrus turned to Gray then, counting on the older male to explain more than what he had already heard. It only took a moment for him to understand the meaning of the shape shifter’s intense stare. “Obviously Hal is mad and Kelle, and maybe she is mad at him too, even though we do not exactly know why. So we were thinking it is probably a good idea for us to get out of here, cause places can help you hold on to memories and all that, so the sooner we get going, the sooner they let it go. Hopefully.”

            After listening to the male’s short ramble, Cyrus sighed and shifted slowly back to his human form, standing up and crossing his arms over his chest. “Alright, I guess that’s a pretty good reason. I don’t know how much it’s actually going to help in all honesty, but it certainly can’t hurt. Let’s go fishing.”

            Without waiting another moment, Jacinta and Saffael were already taking off through the line of trees at a run and were quickly splashing into the shallowest portions of the river. Argus, Teddy, Sarabi, and Atreyu came next, followed by Zrean, Xiao Mei, and Saren moving at a slightly slower pace. Sister Moon and Gray again began walking side by side, but kept their steps leisurely, giving the younger Tokotas time to get acquainted with the waters before they got there. Now eager to help in gathering their morning meal himself, Cyrus shifted into his bear form and plodded along with the rest of them until he too was wading into the water and on the lookout for fish that swam too close.

            It quickly became apparent that they needed to spread out along the river a little bit as both Jacinta and Sarabi started chasing after fish that were flopping in and out of the water and nearly crashed into each other.

            “How many fish do you think we need?” Teddy called out to the group, looking up and down the river for opinions as he set his fourth catch on the bank; the four fish he had caught were all silvery scale and skinny, but fairly long for fish. He was certain they would make a good meal, but began wondering about human meal sizes. How much did a human need to eat in a day?

            “Let’s see…” Gray said quietly from where he was no lounging on the bank next to Sister Moon and Saren, who had tripped and was now dripping water from his thick coat from head to toe. “There’s eleven of us, and seven of them. Nita and Epona are pretty small, but Hal is a bigger human.”

            “He’s also upset so that could make him either really hungry or not want to eat at all. The same goes for Kelle.” Saffael chimed in after climbing out of the water and setting his third fish on his steadily growing pile.

            “Right, so that’s two more variables.” Gray said with a nod, looking up the other side of the bank. “Hal was saying Atreyu needs to gain some weight; and there’s something about fish oils that are supposed to be good for our fur so you probably need a couple extra too Argus.” He called out to the barbary and making him roll his eyes at the comment.

            “That’s a good point.” Jacinta said thoughtfully, wondering what a nice dose of healthy fish oil would do for her already exceptionally soft and luxurious coat. “I want an extra one too.”

            “An extra fish wouldn’t hurt me either.” Cyrus called out from farther up the river. Standing up on his hind legs he gestured down at himself with his bear paws and a sort of smile on his face. “I burn off a lot of calories with this shapeshifting business.”

            “Does anyone else have any dietary needs we should know about?” Zrean asked loudly so that everyone could hear her over the sound of rushing water.

            “Oh for heaven’s sake!” Argus suddenly cried as he stomped out of the water and shook himself, puffing up his extensive mane and throwing water in every direction. “We need a lot of fish okay! No numbers, no variables, and no weird dietary supplements that will make us all grow more hair! Just a lot!”

            Everyone was quiet for nearly half a minute after the barbary’s outburst until Xiao Mei lifted her head high and looked around at the group. “Does ‘a lot’ sound okay with everyone?”