Following Sky

Ocean: Another Campanion

4

   Once I wake up, Ace isn't there. I look over and see Hare cuddled up in my cape. Pathetic. I roll my eyes and go look for Ace. I look outside the cave and see that the rain has finally settled down. I walk through the trees and see berries lined on the floor. I smile and follow the berries. It leads me to the ocean. I look around and he's nowhere to be found, but then I see a head pop out of the water. A black head. He sees me and starts walking towards me. I walk up to the shallow. I notice a pile of fish on a handkerchief close to where I was stand. He puts his new catch into the pile and starts tying the handkerchief. 

"S'Rabbit awake?" He says in one breath. His breath short.

"No. He was too snuggled to wake up." I said with a monotone voice. He stops and looks up at me, water dripping from his hair. “Sarcasm." I say.

"Yeah, I know." He picks up the tied handkerchief. "You plan on forgiving him?" He says as he starts walking. I follow him arms crossed. 

"I don't know. Probably. I mean, I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t bother me always." I say. Again, he looks back at me. With the same face. Of faint disbelief. "No, I'm not grateful for him treating me like trash. But… I don't know." I give up on explaining. 

"Yeah, don't stress it. I get it."  We enter the forest. I don't mention the berries. Save someone from embarrassment for a while. We get back to where we camped. Ace kicks over Hare. 

"What!" He sits up, his hair messy, drool over his chin. "Oh." He says after he realizes he wasn't being attacked. I fight back from laughing. My bully was this guy? What a nutshell. I feel stupid for even crying because of him. 

"We're going to have to pass by Desert then Mountain to get to Sky." Ace says while we all pack our things.

"It's Mountain, Desert, and Mountain again then it’s Sky." Hare says.

"Desert has the division of Rock. Those rock mountains are Desert. So it's Desert, Mountain and Sky." Ace ignores Hare and looks at me while he talks. I nod.

"So how long is that?" I ask while putting my cape in my knapsack. It's too hot for that now.

"7 weeks." Hare says. Waiting for us. Ace looks at Hare irritated. 

"7 weeks, but being realistic almost 9." Again I nod, more than a month of walking. How will we last on the little food we have? Desert or the Rock Mountains don't have any oceans. How will we even have the strength? "I have coins, so we can combine what we find and buy what we need. And stay for a couple nights when we arrive at Divisions." Ace said, reading my mind. We start walking on the path again. It doesn't take long for Hare and Ace to be arguing. About water. 

"It hasn't even been 4 hours and you're already annoying us about water! We need this water to go through Desert!" Ace's strong voice can be heard from a mile away. I continue walking.

"Yeah, well you said we'll buy what's needed at Desert!" Hare screams back. His voice cracking like a little boy.

"Common sense to human is that we economize!" Ace stammers.

"How about we economize over a fight!" Hare yells. That made no sense but I turned around as soon as I heard fight. Ace throws his bags on the floor and walks toward Hare first. Hare throws the squared bag on the floor and the fish fall out, but they don't notice. I run in between them and put my arms out.

"I always wanted to punch a Forest's face in." 

"STOP! Get a grip! What is wrong with you guys? You're fighting over water for crying out loud! Hare, you volunteered so you stop whining! We’re not even close to being there!" I shout, "Look at what you guys did!" I point at the squared box. Where the fish is being devoured by some sort of creature. It looks like a Forest Guardian.