Treke stepped outside of the temple and was about to make her ascent back up to the nomad's camp, when Kvati, who was crossing the temple garden, spotted her in time to greet her. A large clay water jug sloshed about in the big desert fuglan’s arms before she set it down in the dirt with a thud.
“Treke, dear! Good morning! I expected you’d still be with the nomads at this hour,” Kvati chirped, brushing her hands free of dust.
“Good morning, Kvati,” Treke greeted with a bow. “I wanted to visit the temple one last time before we left. Taksue is still there as well. What are you doing here?”
“I'm just watering the garden. I have a little patch where I grow spices. Would you like some?” Kvati gestured to a nearby plot filled with several types of plants Treke had never seen before.
“Perhaps when I return from my travels, thank you.” Treke glanced at the water jug, remembering something Taksue mentioned the night before. “Do you have any smaller jugs you could spare, however? I don't think Zizi could make it through the desert without water.”
“Zizi?” Kvati cocked her head in thought until she remembered the bug nesting in Treke's collar. “Oh yes, your little kikri pet! I think there are some spare empty pots laying around here. Let's have a look.”
Several abandoned pots and jugs of different sizes could be found around the garden, many of them repurposed into planters for various kinds of flowers, herbs, and saplings. Treke wanted something small enough that she could easily carry around. Traversing the garden, she admired all the plants Hulerin was able to grow, before she came across a small jug with a closed handle loop on one side. It was perfect.
“I think I’ll use this one,” said Treke, picking up the discarded pot and shaking out the dust still inside. “Maybe I can tie some twine on the handle to make it easier to carry around.”
“Not a bad idea. You can fill that up in the stream nearby,” said Kvati.
Treke did so, filling up the container about halfway, which seemed to be enough for Zizi. The kikri buzzed and smacked its wings against the inside of the pot as it crawled in, before settling down in the cool liquid.
“I’m glad your little friend has a new home! As for twine, I could spare a length for you.”
Treke smiled, happy for Zizi too, when Taksue burst out of the temple, excitedly shouting something on his way out. “Treke, Treke! I talked with my ancestor Sraniak!”
“That’s wonderful, Taksue. Look, I’ve got a pot for Zizi, just like you mentioned.” Treke held up the pot to show Taksue, but he was too excited about his own accomplishment to notice.
“No, no, not just that! I spirit bonded with them!”
Treke lowered the pot, her mouth agape. “You managed to do that all on your own? Amazing…”
Scratching the back of his neck, Taksue seemed bashful about it. “Well, yeah… I mean, I couldn’t have done it without your help.”
“Spirit bonding is nothing to dismiss though. Only fuglans worthy to become a ruksala can spirit bond with an unesudrat.”
“Y-yeah? You think I could really be a ruksala?”
“You’ve already spirit bonded with your ancestor, so technically you’ve already become one.”
Kvati, standing nearby, couldn’t believe her ears either. “You can talk to spirits now, Taksue?”
“It’s hard to believe after wanting to for so long, but yes!”
For the next twenty minutes or so, Taksue proudly gushed about his ancestor Sraniak. Apparently Sraniak was once a ruksala themself while they were alive, and was a direct follower of Nakuka. This made Taksue even more excited, but he understood that he had a lot to learn first before interacting with Nakuka. For Treke, having a ruksala with a daytime spirit would be extremely useful, however, as desert fuglan spirits tended to get their energy from the sun instead of the stars.
“Do you think the temple will be alright while we’re gone, Treke? I’m kind of worried because of yesterday,” said Taksue.
“I don’t know… I’m worried too. It would be helpful if someone could protect the temple while we’re away, but…”
“I could try,” said Kvati. “I don’t know much about being a ruksala, but I spend enough time in the temple to know about spirits. Perhaps if I prayed regularly?”
“That would help, but we’d need something in place to keep out the negative energy. I have been casting wards, but sadly I can’t maintain them during the day, and I must continuously concentrate.”
“Do you think I could help with casting magic?” asked Taksue. “What if we combined our magic together to make an even bigger spell that lasts longer?”
“Is that even possible?” Treke wondered. There was a lot to spiritual magic that she hadn’t even considered.
“It actually is, child,” said Klaiune. “With the help of other magic users, energy can be combined to create more powerful spells. Taksue has a good idea. You could both cast a ward at the same time to make it more powerful.”
“But how will we channel the spell while we’re away?”
“Kvati also had the right idea. Your friends can pray to Nakuka while they upkeep the ward. While not the same as a ruksala channeling magic, praying can help extend the spell. It won’t protect the temple forever, but it will at least give them time while you’re out in the desert.”
Treke was unsure how much praying was needed to extend the spell, but it was worth a try. Kvati was already committed to helping out. As the others could not hear Klaiune, Treke relayed the information to them. “Yes, let’s try casting a larger ward then!”
With the help of Klaiune, Sraniak, as well as Nakuka, Treke and Taksue were able to cast a ward around the temple by collaborating with their combined energy. No rranha would be able to enter the temple while the ward was up, keeping any fuglans inside the temple safe as well. Kvati agreed to spend time in the temple in Taksue’s place, keeping the place tidy and praying to Nakuka. Lasranu was sad to see Siku go after only seeing her for a couple of days, but she still had Kvati as a friend and decided she would stay with her in the temple to pray as well. If they could convince more fuglans in Hulerin to come to the temple to pray, even better.
“Treke, before you go, I’d like to give you something I baked last night,” said Kvati, handing Treke something wrapped in coconut leaves. “Siku told me you don’t like to eat meat. If I had known, I would have prepared something else for you yesterday.”
“O-oh, thank you!” Treke unwrapped the gift, revealing several white crusty-yet-fluffy looking treats. They smelled of coconut. “Fish is okay, but I think I’d prefer to eat that sparingly. What are these?”
“They’re coconut cookies! They’re very dense and filling, so these should last you a couple of days. The nomads like to hunt on their trips, so you might want to eat these instead. Don’t tell Taksue,” Kvati giggled.
Treke bowed, grateful for the baked goods, before wrapping them back up and placing them in her backpack. “Thank you once again, Kvati. I appreciate all the help you’ve given me.”
“Not at all! Come back soon and I’ll have more for you when you get back.” Kvati gave her a warm smile, eager to feed Treke and her friends again.
Now that the necessary business was taken care of, it was finally time to leave. As they said their goodbyes, Kvati and Lasranu couldn’t help but tear up a little seeing their friends leave on a dangerous journey. The kariags were all packed up with food, water, tents, and other supplies before Treke and her friends headed out into the scorching, merciless desert.
“Karrak! Something is amiss and I'm not pleased about it.”
It was only two days until the full moon, and everyone was on edge in the Derunerin caves. The Ralukah clan had successfully driven out any resisting fuglans into the nearby forest, preventing them from reentering the caves, but Ludaru still wasn't satisfied.
“What is it, Ludaru? I've done everything you've asked so far, so surely it is not my fault.”
“The tukran I sent to Hulerin are missing. I no longer sense their presence. This will be a problem.”
“How do tukran go missing?” Karrak was unconcerned about the tukran themselves, as there were still plenty left collected from the Ralukah clan, but he was not certain how it would affect the upcoming invasion. The tukran were not only meant to weaken any living fuglans in Hulerin with their rranha but Nakuka as well.
“Banished to the spirit realm, I suspect.”
“Banished? By whom?”
“Only a ruksala can banish tukran,” Ludaru hissed, their shadowy form writhing in fury. “I thought we found no ruksalan in Hulerin!”
“Then perhaps they're not from Hulerin,” said Karrak, lowering his head in thought. “I hope this doesn't hinder our plans.”
“It already has, you fool!”
“If that is the case, should we continue with the invasion?”
“We've come too far to stop now. I will send more tukran, but you will need to double your efforts because of this setback. There will be less rranha to weaken Hulerin.”
Karrak remained silent, his mind stirring with aggravation. Another ruksala in the area? He wondered…
“We're nearly out of time, Karrak. There is little room for error, so I'm counting on you to make this right.”
“Yes, Master Ludaru.”
Karrak grumbled to himself as Ludaru vanished, leaving him with his thoughts. Forcing the resistant members of the Ralukah clan out of the caves was difficult enough, and now he had a new problem to deal with. With only two days left to prepare, he needed to amend his tactics.
“You seem uneasy, Karrak. Is something the matter?” The acidic remark came from Fevren as he entered the dimly lit cavern. Still uncomfortable with the darkness, the hybrid fuglan stayed closer to the surface in the upper tunnels and quickly learned of Karrak’s favorite moss-covered cavern.
“Eavesdropping is impolite, Fevren,” said Karrak, casting a pointed look, his green eyes glaring at the hybrid.
“Surely you know by now politeness is not my style. Besides, I like to keep an ear out for anything going in and out of these caves. What was that about the invasion?”
“It's still happening, but we may have some… issues.”
“Such as?”
“We seem to have lost some of our tukran. They were meant to weaken the desert fuglans so that you… ah, we, could drive them out of Hulerin.”
Fevren snorted in disdain. “Then I suppose we'll get some compensation for this blunder?”
“I will give you extra food stores once we seize them.”
“Double the amount we previously agreed upon and we’ll have a deal. My clan will need to fight extra hard for this invasion.”
Karrak clicked his beak, not pleased with giving the hybrid clan more resources, but it seemed he had little choice. “Very well,” he growled.
“Iatak! Pleasure doing business with you, Karrak.” The aslauk grinned with delight before slinking away back into the cavern tunnels.
With that dealt with, there was still the matter of telling the Ralukah clan. Duikez and Tsevik were not far, as they currently guarded the upper levels and barring the unloyals from entering the caves. Both of them had proven themselves well by persuading the rest of the clan at least.
“Karrak! It's getting difficult keeping the others out of the cave,” Tsevik loudly complained as he spotted Karrak's blue tail light down the tunnel.
“It won't matter after we leave in two nights, just keep them out for now,” Karrak growled. The caves would be abandoned once they left, so the unloyals had no reason to gripe. “Keeping out a few fuglans will be nothing compared to what we'll deal with in Hulerin.”
“What do you mean, Karrak?” asked Duikez nonchalantly.
“I mean it’s going to be difficult.”
“It should be simple though! We'll sneak in at night and attack while they're asleep and weakened by rranha–”
“That’s the issue!” Karrak snapped at the portly cave fuglan. “There will be a slight change in our plans. I've already talked to Fevren about it, but we'll have to resort to more force than we planned.”
The cave fuglans were nervous as Karrak explained the situation to them. It would be a test of loyalty for certain, but he could simply sprinkle in more promises and lies to placate the clan should they get skeptical.
“Kalagala, I certainly hope we can pull off this raid like you envisioned,” whined Tsevik, pulling at his whiskers.
Indeed… You had better, Karrak.