"Shen wake up!"

Shen jumped slightly as he woke up. Kaiya stood beside him, shaking his shoulder.

"What? Did we sink? What?" he asked sleepily.

"No, this is our stop. I think the boatman drove the whole night. Come on, let's go."

Shen stood, and glanced at the boatman. The fox was helping Kaiya get her things off the boat. He looked exhausted.

'He must've really wanted us off this boat.' Shen thought with a chuckle.

As he was getting off the boat, Shen looked at the boatman.

"Thank you for your services."

The fox just nodded, and the minute Shen stepped off the boat he shoved away from the peer and sailed off as fast as he could.

"Alright, now which way?" Kaiya asked.

She took out a map, and the two studied it for a few minutes.

"If we follow this trail past the mountain here, we should be there by tomorrow afternoon." Shen announced.

Kaiya nodded, and the two peacocks set out.

They passed through rice fields, rocky pastures, and at one point had to cross a river, which Shen found as a problem. Kaiya was able to easily cross, being smaller and lighter, and could easily jumped across on the rocks. Shen however, was bigger and heavier, added with his blades, so it was a slow process. One that ended with him slipping on the wet rock and falling in. Luckily it wasn't very deep, and he was able to trudge the rest of the way. He had to listen to Kaiya's laughter the whole way and 2 minutes after.

That wasn't the end of the problems though. The next thing that caused trouble was two long, rickety bridges. They couldn't even see the bottom, or how far down it was. Kaiya gulped.

"D-do we have to cross?" she asked.

"If you want to reach the valley, then yes." Shen replied.

He started across, but looked back when Kaiya didn't follow.

"I-I'm scared of heights." She said.

"Come on, it's not that far."

"Please can we find another way?"

"There is no other way. Unless you want fly across."

"I can't…I never learned how…"

"Then it looks like we're walking."

"Can't you fly us across?"

Shen held up his mended wing.

"Messed up wing, remember?"

"Oh…"

"Let's get started."

Kaiya gulped. She slowly took a step, then another, and followed Shen across without looking down.

"Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down." She kept repeating.

Shen sighed and rolled his eyes a little. About 10 minutes later, he reached the end, and turned around to wait for Kaiya. Another 5 minutes went by before she stumbled off the bridge.

"Now we just have to cross the last one." Shen stated.

Kaiya groaned as she looked at the remaining bridge.

"You go first."

Kaiya looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

"That way you reach the end quicker."

"No, no way. There is no way I'm-"

Shen pushed her onto the bridge and stepped on behind her to prevent her from getting off.

"Get going." He said.

Kaiya swallowed hard, and began slowly walking across. It was slower than before, and Shen was steadily losing patience.

"It's going to be next year before we reach the end, just walk faster and it'll be over with sooner." He called up to her after passing the halfway mark.

"Be patient, I'm going as fast as I can."

"Not fast enough."

Shen pushed her from behind, and she stumbled and grabbed onto the rope.

"Can't I just go back?"

"You're already over half way there, just keep going."

"Just let me off!"

She tried to run past him, but Shen stepped in her way, causing the bridge to sway.

"Don't do that!" Kaiya yelped as she clung to the rope.

"I'm sorry, do what? You mean this?"

Shen made the bridge swing to the right a little, and Kaiya yelped.

"Yes! Do that!"

"Yes, do that. Okay."

Shen made the bridge swing left and right, and Kaiya screeched as she scrambled backwards.

"Knock it off! I mean it! I'm gonna die!"

As she was yelling, she failed to notice she backed onto the rock where the bridge ended.

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die I'm gonna…"

She paused, and realized she was off the bridge.

"Oh."

Shen stepped off the bridge with a triumphant smirk.

"There, that wasn't so bad was it?" he asked.

He walked past her, and she followed with a frown.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" she mocked under her breath.

Dusk fell, and they set up camp for the night. After lighting a fire, Kaiya pulled out a bag of marshmallows.

"Smore?" she asked.

"Some more what?" Shen asked.

"No, do you want a smore?"

"…"

Shen's face made it obvious he had no idea what she was talking about.

"You've never heard of a smore? Wow, you need to get out more."

Kaiya stuck two marshmallows on two sticks, and handed one to Shen.

"You just hold it over the fire until you think it's done. If it catches fire, just blow on it. I'll fill you in on the rest later." She explained.

After a few minutes, both marshmallows were well done, and Kaiya pulled out graham crackers and a chocolate bar.

"Alright, this is where it gets fun. Do you care if you get sticky?"

"Depends, with what?"

"Marshmallow. Here, let me see yours."

Kaiya took it, two crackers, and broke off a piece of chocolate. She placed the candy on one of the crackers, then squashed the marshmallow between the crackers. She pulled out a plate, set the smore on it, and handed it to Shen.

"Walla, a smore. Just be careful, it's a little hot."

Kaiya fixed hers, and immediately started eating. Shen sniffed it, then took an experimental bite. Although quite sticky, it actually tasted good.

"Pretty good, huh?" Kaiya asked.

"It's okay…" Shen muttered.

"I can't believe you've never heard of a smore until now. Didn't your parents take you camping or-"

She paused when she saw Shen's eyes narrow a little.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to upset you, honest I didn't. But…what happened with you and your parents that you seem to dislike them so much?"

"….I'm going to get more firewood."

Shen stood and left, leaving Kaiya by the fire.

"Nice going, Kaiya…" she muttered to herself.

As she stared at the fire, she chewed herself out in her head.

'You idiot! Why would you say that? Why would you ASK that? It's obvious he's sensitive about his past, and I should understand that, I should know not to just bring that up out of nowhere like that!'

Suddenly she heard a twig snap, and she faced the direction it came from.

"Lord Shen? Is that you?" she asked.

No answer.

"I-if you're mad about what I said, I understand, but you don't have to try and scare me if you want an apology."

She heard a laugh, and a wolf stepped out of the forest. 6 more followed him.

"Who…who are you?" Kaiya stammered, getting to her feet. She started backing away as the wolves closed in.

"What do you want? I-if you want money, I'm afraid we don't have any-"

"We don't want money." The first wolf growled.

"Then what do you want?"

"To get even."

"Even?"

"With Shen."

"Well, he'll be right back; you could wait and talk things out when he does."

"We're not the kind of people who talk things out. He's going to pay for blood with blood."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"He killed someone important to us, so we're going to kill someone important to him."

Kaiya gulped as she was backed in a rock face.

'Please come back soon Lord Shen!'

Xoxoxo

Shen meanwhile, was walking through the woods, picking up a stick every now and then.

'Why should I care about my parents, they never cared about me! Why should I feel upset when they're mentioned?'

He let out a dragged sigh, before pausing. He thought he heard voices. Maybe there were some other people camping nearby or something.

He started walking again, but his felt his foot step into a pit or something, and looked down. It wasn't a pit. It was a paw print; a wolf paw print.

"A wolf? Why would a wolf be around here?" he murmured.

Then he heard the howl of a wolf, and a scream that made him freeze.

"Heeelp!"

"Kaiya?"

He put two and two together, and although he didn't quite understand why, he ran for the camp site.

Xoxoxo

Kaiya dashed out of the way as the first wolf lunged at her. Another wolf blocked her way, and the group of wolves surrounded her.

"Just hold still kid and this'll be quick." The lead wolf growled.

He was about to jump at her, but suddenly there was a flash of silver, and a throwing knife was lodged into the ground between her and the wolf.

Then Shen landed between them, and the wolves growled and lunged at him, axes and swords raised. Shen pulled out a few throwing knives, and blocked all their blows. He kicked out at one that decided to get closer, and sent him flying into a tree. Another ran at him, but he threw his tail up, blocking the wolf's view of him. When Shen dropped his tail, he was holding a wavy sword, and swung at the wolf. The flat side of the blade hit the wolf on the side of the head. He was knocked to the ground beside the one by the tree. The first wolf swung his axe at Shen, but he blocked it with his sword. They jumped away from each other, and slowly circled each other while glaring at one another.

"So, how have you been, Lάng?" Shen asked with a smirk.

Lάng snarled at him.

"You gathered all these wolves just to get me? I must say, I'm flattered."

Lάng growled, and lunged at Shen. They blocked each other's blows with their weapons, and sparks flew from the colliding metal. Lάng jumped back with a growl, then let out a howl. He turned and ran into the woods, and the rest of the wolves followed suit.

Shen sighed, and turned to Kaiya. The younger peacock was standing with her beak hanging open.

"You're going to catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that." Shen stated.

Kaiya shook her head.

"That…was…"

Shen waited for her to freak out or run away or something.

"The COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!"

Kaiya was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"That was awesome! I didn't know you could do that! You're like a sword master or something!"

"Like a sword master? Try are a sword master."

"So, who was that guy?"

Shen sighed. "That was Lάng, and his little band of wolves. Or what's left of them."

"What did he mean by, you killed someone important to them?"

Shen didn't reply for a few minutes.

"He meant his brother. We knew each other in the past, but hit a little trouble, so he's a little cross with me."

"So you…killed his brother?"

Shen was silent for another few minutes.

"Yes…and it's a long story that I'd like to skip for now."

"Okay…"

"I'm turning in early, go to sleep whenever you want."

Shen turned away and settled down on the other side of the fire, facing away from her. Kaiya watched him for a few minutes, then watched the fire.

Xoxoxo