Emily and Blue did not, unfortunately, find the river. They did not find much of anything, in fact, but more bushes and trees and at some point, a roaming pack of Red Moon Lemurs. The last of which caused a mini panic attack in Emily as she imagined those grasping little paws reaching down for round two, and a bout of furious screeching from Blue.

  Emily followed what she believed were Blue’s tracks for hours, but turned out to be none other than the tracks of a very angry monster swan. Emily noted that it did, if you squint hard enough, look a little bit like Blue. But other than the long neck, the two could not be any more different. It was mostly the width of the monster swan’s body, being much wider across than the streamlined Blue. As well as the cracks of mana running through its body that all monsters possess, of course.

  At least Blue seemed to enjoy the taste of it. Particularly the neck. He seemed to chew on that for what seemed like hours.

  As the sun rises on a new day, Emily rubs her eyes against a growing headache, the lack of sleep and dehydration getting to her. Opening them once again, she squints up at the sun, trying to remember if the river was east from the camp, or west.

  “Or was it north? What direction were we heading in when we set up camp, again…?”

  She turns to look at Blue, the baby oddly attached to her today. He’d hardly left her side since the griffin attack, and Emily had conflicting feelings about that. On the one hand, she was appreciative of the company. She didn’t know how crazy she’d get if she was alone. On the other hand, though, he seemed more… Subdued. Pacified, maybe. It was as if a part of his boldness was tempered. And while he was getting a bit out of hand for a bit there, she found his antics amusing… Sometimes.

  Blue stares back at her with an expression that Emily can’t decipher. He lets out a coo, bending his neck back and preening his feathers.

  Emily lets out a sigh. “Great. Thanks for the help, Blue.”

  Blue ignores the Caretaker’s babbling, continuing to preen his feathers without a care in the world.

  Emily licks her lips, her tongue already feeling dry and her lips starting to chap. She considers her options, wondering what to do now.

  “Well, if I find the river, I’ll find water…”

  Her stomach growls, the sound cutting through the silent forest.

  “... And maybe some food. But I have no idea where the river could be.”

  She squints back up at the sun, watching it rise for a moment and tracking where it came from.

  “If I just follow the sun, maybe I’ll find it? Or maybe I’ll get to the end of the forest?”

  She turns to look at Blue, about to ask him for his opinion almost out of habit, before remembering that he’s an ostrich and can’t be expected to understand her. Also, he was still busy preening his feathers. And that seemed to be more important to the ostrich than listening to her babble.

  Emily lets out a sigh. “Great, and now I’m antropo… Anthrophor… Humanizing the ostrich. I’m already losing it.”

  Flipping a coin in her head, Emily decides to walk East. The ground seems to slope downwards in that direction, anyways, and Emily vaguely remembers Nora saying something about water being found downhill or something like that.

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  “Come on, Blue. Let’s go.”

  Emily starts moving, and Blue stops his preening, watching her move away from him for a second before following behind her.

  They walk like that for a while, Blue in step behind Emily, as Emily’s headache grows in intensity as the day progresses. Her throat grows more and more parched, and the growling of her stomach seems to scare off prey and attract predators at the same time. After slicing another giant spider in half before it could drop on her, the exertion causing her head to seemingly split in half, Emily has had enough.

  “Blue,” she pleads, turning around to face the ostrich. Blue stops moving, cocking his head at Emily curiously. She licks her lips, her tongue like sandpaper scratching over dry lips. “I need water. Can you find some for me? Please?”

  Blue cocks his head to the other side, staring at Emily for another second. He then screeches at Emily, flapping his wings momentarily before settling them down again.

  “Waa-ter. Water.” Emily intones, miming taking a drink to the confused ostrich. “Get it?”

  Blue did not, in fact, get it. In fact, she was finding this entire experience amusing, watching as her silly Caretaker flaps around their fleshy, wiggly bits towards their mouth and then back down.

  Blue cocks her head to the side again, her apple-sized brain sparking and fizzing as a single, new thought comes to mind.

  Does Caretaker want food?

  Blue keeps watching her caretaker carefully, as her caretaker releases air from her mouth in a huff, her shoulders slumping forwards. Caretaker shakes her head, licking their fleshy mouth bits again and smacking them together. Caretaker mouths Blue’s name once again, and then slowly but surely, babbles incoherently once again while lifting their fleshy bits to their mouth.

  Blue stares at the motion, her frontal cortex running on overdrive and heating up at the exertion. All of the memories throughout her not-so-long life flash before her eyes, moments in front of a fire at night, surrounded by the other two-legged things as they ate their meals. Walking through the forest with Caretaker, when she reaches into that sack-thing that carries treats, taking out some of that dry meat and bringing it to her mouth in that same motion.

  The gears click together, and Blue clucks excitedly in affirmation as it all makes sense to her.

  Caretaker wants to eat.

  Blue turns around and searches deep within the forest, trying to spot suitable prey. She sniffs deeply, her keen sense of smell letting her pick up the scent of all that have passed by here in recent times. She hears Caretaker gasp behind her and babble excitedly, as she presses her wiggly, fleshy things against Blue’s feathers and scratches them in a pleasing way.

  Blue refuses to get distracted, though. Especially after she spots movement out in the distance, just a short run away.

  With an excited screech, she turns to Caretaker, hopping from one foot to the other in excitement. There is a ritual to this, a certain way that things are done. And Blue wishes to do it right.

  Caretaker cocks her head at Blue, her hairy face thing raised and her fleshy mouth bits turned down. But she shrugs and lifts her fleshy bit into the air.

  “Ready?”

  Blue recognizes that word, and squawks in confirmation. Finally, Caretaker wants to hunt! Blue has been sticking near her all of the day, in case more of those scary things are around. But clearly, it must be safe, if Caretaker is deciding that it’s hunting time.

  Caretaker drops her wiggly fleshy thing towards where Blue was looking.

  “Hunt!”

  Blue lets out a squawk and sprints towards the prey, her legs a blur underneath her and the wind whistling past her feathers pleasantly. Excitement and anticipation bubbles up within her stomach, her vision narrowing and sharpening with razor focus on her target.

  Before she feels yet another heavy weight fall upon her from above and pin her to the ground, pressing sharp claws into her hide. Blue panics and swings her head into the flesh of its leg, drawing blood and getting the ferocious creature to loosen its grasp on her just a little bit.

  “Get off of him!” Caretaker babbles, as a familiar glow starts to emanate in the corner of Blue’s eyes.

  And Blue feels relieved, as once again, Caretaker comes to her rescue.