No Place Like Home [FINISH]

[Harpsdesire]

Cal followed Kafziel cheerfully, and when they arrived at the hollow log he poked his nose into it, sniffed, sneezed from the loose dust of rotted-out wood inside and looked at his strange companion in approval. "Good place you find." He smiled, as much as one with a beak could, and crawled into the space.

A rustling sound could be heard as he turned around a few times inside, testing the shape and size of the log's cavity. Then he poked his head out suddenly. "Can fit!" He chortled, "Can fit for tonight, maybe next night, soon walk outta the wood." The boy looked at her as if hoping for approval of his plan.

"You show where walk? Walk out of the wood?" He scrambled out of the log and gazed at her hopefully. The sound of the words and the promise of a safer, better fed life thrummed in his mind. Kafziel had given him that hope, like a gift better than meats. An awkward grating purr rumbled from his chest. "Kafziel. Nice girl. You show."

[Kari Muffin]

Kafziel perked a bit with cheer as she watched the boy fit into the space. At least he would be safe for the night, even if she couldn't take him home. "Good!" she said as she floated off of her perch.

Her ears swiveled to listen to the boy. He wanted her to show him out of the wood now? She glanced deeper into the Wood. Where her parents going to show up soon? What about her brother? She shouldn't have left him alone. She should go back to him soon...

And then the boy started purring. Her feathers ruffled slightly before smoothing out. "Okay, I can take you to the edge of the Wood. It's not too far and I don't think we'll run into anything or anyone dangerous."

She started towards the direction she needed to go, looking for a path that would be easy for Cal to follow. There wasn't really a path. If she had been capable of frowning properly she would have. "I'm going to leave markers in some of the trees. That way you can just follow theses on the way out and you won't get lost."

[Harpsdesire]

The child's tufted ears perked forward eagerly. She was willing to show him the way now, tonight? That seemed too good to be true, and he all but beamed. To most cards, the expression, with Cal's oddly clouded eyes crinkled in glee, could have looked disconcerting, even creepy. Calamity was blissfully unaware of this, and even wiggled a little in excitement.

Before this evening he had never even really considered going somewhere else-- he was only vaguely aware that other places even existed. (The Bad Place existed, he knew, but he was obviously not interested in going back there.) Now he seemed quite thrilled to head off into the unknown. Once the little Cannibal had a goal in his mind, there was little chance of discouraging him from reaching it. Now following that special word-rhythm that was also a plan seemed centrally important. Walk out of the wood. It was what he simply had to do-- perhaps his destiny, even, and it sounded cool besides.

He was sure his siblings would follow him if he told them what Kafziel said. More eating, less being eaten-- he saw no downside to such a place, and it never occurred to him to doubt Kafziel's words or intentions.

"Show edge?" Calamity looked at the half-invisible girl eagerly, a purr still rattling in his throat. He shifted his taloned paws, ready to pursue the goal that had inexplicably began to consume his thoughts.

"Make marks, good idea. Smart Kafziel, make marks.." He nodded as he followed Kafziel, murmuring to himself as if to memorize the brief instructions, "Follow marks with sister-brothers. Then not lost. Then..." He giggled, his voice rising somewhat as he uttered the oh-s0-magical words, "Walk outta the wood!"

[Kari Muffin]

Kafziel was horrible with facial expressions. Considering only one member of her family was capable of such things one hundred percent of the time. And her Daddy wasn't around as often as her mother and brother were. So she wasn't capable of telling if the boy was being odd or not, but perked ears did mean he was excited right? She perked her ears when she was excited.

"Yep! I'll show you," she said as she quickly marked one of the trees by carving an "x" with her talon. She was doing a good thing. Mommy would probably be a bit disappointed if he found out, but Daddy would probably think it was cool. Vergel would probably be jealous. Though that wouldn't be fun.

It was easy for her to "walk" through the brush and various trees. She marked the trees fairly close together so there was no chance of getting lost. Things could get tricky in the Wood, and she wasn't going to leave it to chance. She was getting rid of an outsider... she needed to do it properly.

And doing it the nice way wasn't so bad.

They came to the ever thinning trees, and Kafziel came to a stop. Her ears pulled back as she leaned on a tree. She would have looked distressed if she was capable of such a feat. The edge was within sight, the faint sight of Torquehelm was in the distance. "I...can't go an further. But you can see the other realm from here..."

[Harpsdesire]

Cal nodded emphatically as Kafziel marked a tree with her claw. "X mark the spot." He muttered, although he wasn't really sure quite what the phrase meant. He was sure he had read it somewhere at some point. Reading was his favorite, even when some of the bookwords made no sense. They had no meaning, but they made beautiful sounds, or came in lovely books with smooth, colorful covers. A spasm of longing gripped his heart for a moment. When they walked out of the wood, he wished the place they walked into would be full of pretty, pretty books for him to hold and read and love forever.

The X's Kafziel made came from books, and if he was very good and very lucky, they might even lead him to more books. Foods, books and less bad, bitey things... "Oh, good Kafziel, I see edge!" Cal's eyes widened happily as he stared out of the edge of the wood and into the bright openness beyond, where a road stretched to the horizon, leading the way to a better, magical place of food-meats. "Good-place... that way?" He extended a talon to point along the road which lead to the capital.

It was like a path to the promised land... whatever that was. He read about it in his book several times, but he still wasn't sure what made it 'promised', only that it was a good place, and it had milk, which he liked, and honey, which he had never tried since it usually came with too many bees. He thought that he would happily deal with the bees if the new place had as many books as he imagined it did. He hopped up and down a few times in an excess of childish excitement. "Whenna light-morning come back, we walk to there!" Oh, he was sure his siblings could not help but feel the very great rightness of his plan, and the X's now marking the trail were but another sign of it.

Overwhelmed by excitement, he quickly padded the few steps over to Kafziel and affectionately nudged the least-invisible part of her that he could reach. "Friend-Kafziel so niiiice!" He crooned, purring again.

[Kari Muffin]

Kafziel had done the right thing, and no one had to get hurt. Her Dad probably would have been secretly proud of her. She had heard the stories that her mother told about letting outsiders free when they gave her a story in return. This was the same thing really.

The let out a surprised squeak when the boy rubbed up against her. She would have blinked a few extra times if it were possible. "Ah um... it's nothing really. The Wood isn't a nice place for Outsiders so... Outside seemed like a good place to take you." She had never heard a purr before, it was interesting. "I'm glad we're friends... you're my first one."

She felt a bit more cheerful about the entire situation now that she had made a friend. Maybe she could talk to her brother about this? Though he would probably be upset that she had left him behind.

[Harpsdesire]

There was that word again, 'outsiders'. He and Cat and Fi and Herlies were outsiders who lived outside. Mostly outside was better than inside, since inside was mostly inside the Bad Place... And Kafziel was taking them... more outside? Cal wrinkled his brow for a second. "Outside is good place?" He sounded hopeful.

"First friend?" The little cannibal sounded rather pleased-- if he didn't count siblings, he supposed she was his first friend, too! Having a friend was useful, it seemed, as well as fun. He should try to get more of them, when he got to the outside place. "Kafziel is first friend also." He purred.

"Is lots of friends in Outside?" He thought that with the foods and the milk and bees, such a place would also have plenty of new friends. But... when he was there, finding the new friends, Kafziel would still be here, far away and near the Not Nice eating things! Cal frowned, looking suddenly sad as the realization sunk in. All he really needed was his siblings, but he liked floaty Kafziel!

"We go walk outta the wood, Cal not see first friend ennymore!" He made a mournful, keening little sound. "You still in the wood!"

[Kari Muffin]

"Outside is a good place for you," Kafziel confirmed, her wings twitching slightly as she felt awkward about the whole situation. "Bad things and people live here, and they'd want to hurt you."

People were bad enough about her, she couldn't imagine what it was like for an actual outsider. She also couldn't imagine what it was like sleeping outside when the scary monsters were out in the dead of night. Outside of the Wood must have been better.

And she was his first friend? Oh... she was doing the right thing though. She didn't want a friend to get hurt in a place like this. Mommy and Daddy would be proud of her for doing the right thing.

"There are a lot of people Outside... you'll be happy," she said with a reassuring nod. If she had been capable of smiling properly she would have.

The mournful little sound and realization made the girl droop. "I.... " she began as she sunk a little. "I can't leave. People scream when they see me and they're from the Outside." It was a miracle she was capable of talking to the Highlander boy in front of her. She had honestly thought he would run too, but....

A small whimper escaped her before she spoke again. "I can try to see you one day. I'm going to learn lots of magic, so I'll be able to go Outside of the Wood. You should leave because it's the right thing for you to be happy. You can have a home, and food, and not live in fear out there."

[Harpsdesire]

"Bad things, yes." Cal had seen a few of them, heard many more, and smelt the blood of the forest things the Bad Things killed. He was glad to know that outside had less of them. And more people, good people, Kafziel seemed to think even friend-people lived outside. That was good, since he'd be losing his first friend, and he was sure his siblings would like friends of their own. Not that he wasn't share Kafziel if they asked nicely... but she would always be his friend first. He was glad he had stayed to work on the house so she could find him. Only now he was going to lose her... He sniffled, but tried to smile, since that's what she was doing. "Outside, maybe friend two make?"

He looked at her curiously, head tilted to one side. "People... scream?" Why would that be? Was it because she was floaty and some parts were invisible? Cal considered this, and it did seem to make her different from himself and his family, but he didn't really have enough experience with other cards to know how very unusual Kafziel was. It didn't really occur to him to find her frightening. Maybe they were doing it just to be mean? She made a very sad sort of sound, and Cal thought that confirmed his theory.

"Mean people." He grumbled, and gave her a sympathetic nudge. "You come to home, I tell my sisterbrothers, 'not scream!' They be nice-friendly, too."

[Kari Muffin]

Kafziel would have cried if she thought about the situation too hard. It was a good thing the boy as sweet as he was, otherwise the girl would have been at a loss of words. "I would like to meet your siblings." She replied quietly as she brushed against the boy with her tail lightly.

She had to go home now though. She knew Mommy would be upset and come looking for her if she didn't go soon. The one thing she didn't want was her mother finding out she was talking to an outsider who was a Heart. The thought of losing her friend because Mommy couldn't control himself was far too frightening.

"I have to go now though. I'll be back tomorrow morning if you want to see me... I'm sure your siblings will be back then too! And maybe I can lead you out of the Wood myself."