Vale Adventure 04

   The next morning, Willu left Glitter asleep in the hollow and set out to find new treasures. They figured it was a risky decision, but they didn’t want to be interrupted or distracted. Before leaving, they wrote a small message in the dirt floor: “I’ll be back soon. Don’t break anything.” With that, they set out with a small pack strapped to their back and their soft green glow lighting the way.
   Meanwhile, Kauri was still searching for Glitter on the opposite side of the hill. She was at the bottom of what appeared to be a large valley that might’ve been quite pleasant if not for the general dampness, darkness, and fogginess of the landscape. It was still hauntingly beautiful, though, and Glitter stopped briefly a few times to catch her breath and admire the aesthetic. The glowing wisps gave the place an unearthly warm tinge that strikingly contrasted the blue-grey of the dim natural light.

   “Glitter! Glitter, where are you?” Kauri’s yells didn’t travel far before disappearing into the mist. She was close to giving up until she saw a massive shape looming from the mist ahead of her. Cautiously, she approached it until the fog parted around it. It was a huge rectangular stone, standing straight up in the ground. It was definitely too large to be mogi-made. When she got a little closer, she could see rows of runes surrounding the outside edge of the stone, but she couldn’t read them.

   Willu carefully picked their way through the forest and down a gentle slope, their inner light dimly illuminating the ground in front of them. As they reached the base of the hill, they noticed a looming dark shape in front of them. As they drew closer, a monolithic stone jutted sharply from the smooth earth in front of them, with small foreign runes around the edge. They sidestepped closer, cautiously sniffing and looking around every now and then. Suddenly, a soft noise made Willu freeze where they were. Something else was very close by. Very, very slowly, they pressed themselves against the stone and peered around the corner.
   Standing on the other side of the stone was an obnoxiously purple mogi with a veritable waterfall of blue fur around her face. She seemed confused, and was looking around the clearing almost frantically, as if looking for something. Quietly, Willu snuck around the stone pillar until they were standing very close to the newcomer.
   “Hello.”
   “AAAAAH!” Kauri screamed in a rather undignified manner before pulling herself together. She shot a glower at the green mogi as she decided whether to trust them. Finally she decided that she didn’t have a whole lot to lose...she could always run quickly if things got bad. “Have you seen my friend anywhere?”
Willu was curious. “What do they look like?”
   “A ball of pastel rainbow fluff with a sparkly horn and too much energy...you’d know if you’d met her,” Kauri replied half-sarcastically. She was rather tired of worrying about herself or her friend, so if the new mogi had answers she’d find Glitter as quickly as possible.
   “Yes, I’ve seen her. Your description is quite accurate.”
   “Really? Where is she, if you know?” Kauri was finally hopeful--maybe she’d see her friend again soon!
   “At my house,” Willu replied. “Since you’ll be following me back there, you might as well get to know me better. I’m Willu.”
   Kauri was briefly taken aback. “Why is Glitter hanging out with someone like you?” Then she realized what she’d said and covered her mouth with a paw in surprise.
   Willu chuckled. “It’s not unreasonable for you to ask that. She poked me, I took her home to clean off, and she wound up staying the night--” Kauri raised an eyebrow. Willu continued, “She was worried about you and I agreed to help her find you.”
   Kauri was touched. She honestly hadn’t expected her friend to think much about her, since Glitter was the more irresponsible one by far. The fact that she had indicated that she might actually be maturing (something Kauri was very much looking forward to), and now that Kauri knew she’d been in reasonably good hands she wasn’t nearly as worried as she’d had been a few minutes ago.
   “Well then, let’s head back to your house,” Kauri suggested. “I’d like to see for myself that Glitter’s alright, even though I’m not really looking forward to the inevitable bear hug.”
   “She gives bear hugs?”
   “Yeah...every day at least. One of the perks of being friends with a ball of energy.”
   “...great. I look forward to it.”