Back on track; a few days away

Sarale jolts awake and shakes her head then starts giggling.

SARALE:

"that hurt~! Jerk!"

Vajor looks over at Sarale with concern.

VAJOR:

"dove?"

Sarale looks up, holding her head with a smile.

SARALE:

"hmm?"

VAJOR:

"Who were ya talkin' to?"

Sarale yawns and stretches before going over to sit next to him.

SARALE:

"John."

She looks around curiously.

SARALE:

"Where is everyone?"

When she spies Karma, she stands and runs to them.

SARALE:

"Karma!"

Sarale glomps Karma full force in a tight hug causing them to stumble. Karma teeters back with a grunt as they do their best to hold their balance from Sarale's sudden embrace and hugs her back lovingly yet confused.

KARMA:

"Sarale~! hey. You good now?"

Sarale nuzzles into Karma.

SARALE:

"Mhmm, yeah. I just missed you."

Karma giggles, satisfied with Sarale's answer.

KARMA:

"Aktlass told me the wanderlust fae is also a dream fae. That's been the reason for all the sleeping and the reason you're acting so... energetic. I take it that something good is happening now that we're not sleeping as much as before. So is the Fae helping us now?"

Sarale pulls away and taps her lips.

SARALE:

"hmm~ well to be fair I wasn't sleeping. The mean demon lady wouldn't let me." She shakes her head and crosses her arms, puffing out her cheeks in frustration, "she kept sending the mean shadow to hurt me and say really mean things."

Vajor approaches them and frowns.

VAJOR:

"is tha shadow still here?"

Sarale looks around as if searching for something and shakes her head.

SARALE:

"No… the night I ran away, Carrot-Top got rid of it and I haven't seen it since."

Sarale covers her head and looks around as if waiting for someone to throw something at her. nothing happens for a while and Karma looks at her more confused than earlier.

KARMA:

"C-carrot-top?? You sure you're okay?"

Sarale lowers her hands and looks around earning a strange look from Vajor.

VAJOR:

"yer actin' like yer waitin' fer someone ta smack ya."

SARALE:(giggles)

"I am.. he doesn't like it when I tease him because of his hair, but to answer your question, Karma. I don't know if he's helping because he wants to or not, he's not very nice, but he is helping. Or trying to… sometimes he's not very good at it."

a buzzing suddenly starts echoing into her ear as something slips under her top and crawls around her breast and ribs. Sarale squeals and starts squirming tugging at her shirt.

SARALE:(panic)

"ahhahaha stop! No! Nah~! Get it off! Eeahhahahaha! It tickles!"

She starts to raise her shirt up trying to get out of her clothes and away from the buzzing critter crawling around under her clothes. Aktlass quickly rushes to Sarale's side and stops her from lifting further as he pats around her body to chase the critter away. It flies out of her clothes and buzzes around her face before flying off into the woods. Sarale glares at the bug as it flies away, upon noticing its bright blue eyes.

SARALE:(mutters)

"Pervert."

She dusts her clothes off and huffs as she straightens her shirt. Vajor stares at her with a goofy grin and a dreamy expression. She glances at Aktlass and her shoulders droop.

SARALE:

"uhm, Aktlass?"

Aktlass looks at Sarale and tilts his head in concern. Sarale opens her mouth and closes it again before sighing.

SARALE:

"I'm sorry.. for the way I acted before. I know you would never intentionally harm me. It's just.. I didn't see you. It wasn't you. Your anger was just so intense. It…"

She looks down and plays with the hem of her shirt.

SARALE:

"reminded me of someone else. All I saw was him. Then I felt your pain… and I realized what I did. (*looks back at Aktlass*) I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

Aktlass' expression relaxes and he huffs with a gentle expression then pats her head.

AKTLASS:

"you have nothing to apologize for... I hope I can say the same for Tunda later on, but for now... I hope you can understand that my anger cannot be subsided so easily for anything at the moment. I have already explained this to everyone else."

Aktlass goes back to setting up the rest of the tents with a content expression. Sarale follows after him.

SARALE:

"I'm not asking you to forgive Tunda. I'm asking you to forgive me. I did do something wrong. I did a lot wrong. I just hope I can make it right."

Aktlass stops and looks at Sarale then looks out to Vajor and Karma who are now working on the food together. He looks back at Sarale with an odd expression of worry.

AKTLASS:

"... I forgave you long ago as I learned of your past... and your pain... It will be harder for me to forgive him because of his connections with Karma. They are part of my soul now... their past, as you've also taken part in, makes it harder to accept him as he is. So have patients with me. I know in my mind no one is to blame for anything that has happened... but I can't bring my heart to accept that yet."

Sarale watches him and chews her lip before rushing forward and hugging Aktlass around the middle without a word. Aktlass lets her hold him, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other starts to pet her hair gently. they stay together in silence before he speaks up again.

AKTLASS:

"... since you're up and well, you can either help with the food or help me set the rest of the tents."

SARALE:

"I'll help you. Vajor and Karma seem to have the food covered."

She pulls away and looks back at them cooking, then looking up and giving Aktlass a sad smile, before she gets to work helping set the tents for the party.

Once the tents were set and done, Aktlass offered his hand to Sarale to guide her back to Karma and Vajor. Sarale takes his hand and squeezes it with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes and follows him back to the others. Karma offers a large bowl of venison and root salad to Aktlass made of mostly meat while Karma's had a balance of both meat and vegetation with roasted nuts. Sarale sits next to Vajor and he offers her a bowl similar to Karma's, while his more closely resembles Aktlass'.

SARALE:

"Thank you."

Vajor smiles at her and nods.

VAJOR:

"Yer welcome."

He takes a large bite of his food and she crinkles her nose while looking down at her food, before leafing through it and avoiding the meat and some vegetables. Aktlass sees Sarale's being picky, and decides to sneak the last of his vegetation and steal her venison at the same time. Vajor spies Aktlass doing it and doesn't react as he takes a bite from his food. He cuts his eyes at Sarale when she giggles and takes a big bite of the vegetation she had just received. Karma and Aktlass finish their meal and stand together. Aktlass pulls Karma into a hug and kiss before speaking up.

AKTLASS:

"We will be taking the night shift this time. Karma needs to make up for their time sleeping."

Karma panics as their face turns a bright lavender color, their tail flails about behind them in protest.

KARMA:

"what!? That ain't my fault!"

SARALE:(giggles)

"It's okay Karma, there's nothing wrong with being loved."

She hops up onto her feet and grins, pulling on Vajor's arm.

SARALE:

"my mom and dad need alone time Vajor, come on! We get to have a sleepover!"

Vajor's eyes twinkle and he allows himself to be pulled towards their tent by Sarale. Karma has a panic fit while Aktlass holds onto them wide eyed. He sticks out his tongue and hisses at Sarale teasingly as she leaves with Vajor and enters the tent.

AKTLASS:(shouts)

"Dad says no funny business in the tent, you two."

KARMA:

"hold on a sec!! When did we become mom and dad!? I thought I was the child!"

Vajor's face turns bright red and his ears droop as he covers his face in embarrassment and Sarale squeaks and turns a shade of purple as she calls out.

SARALE:

"y-yes s-sir!"