Page 49 of Cozy Prisons
“I didn’t realize how out of shape I was until now,” Nataly said.
They were on the far side of the village and had barely entered the wilderness. Despite the slow pace, she was sweating as if she’d been running!
“Your shape is as it always was,” Daxus said with a concerned rumble.
She snorted. “It’s a term that means I’m not as physically fit as I should be.”
Daxus crouched in front of her. “Are you tired? Do you want to return to your domicile?”
“No,” she responded quickly. “We’re learning so much, I want to keep going.”
Through trial and error, they’d found out that she had more difficulty walking around the area inside the ring of houses that made up the village so far. The closer she got to the center, the worse her anxiety became. With Daxus at her side, it never got so bad that she was overwhelmed, but she could definitely feel when it was growing or retreating.
As they’d gone around the outside of the village in widening circles, her anxiety had diminished. Now that they were nearly into the forest on the east side of the village, it was almost nonexistent.
“I’m dumb,” she muttered with a shake of her head. “Why didn’t I think of trying a different direction? I kept making myself go into the center of everything instead of outside it.”
“Sometimes we’re too close to a problem to see possible variations," he answered.
Forcing herself to straighten up, Nataly gave Daxus a big, confident smile. She pointed to a narrow path that led deeper into the woods. “Let’s keep going.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, standing back up. “I’m not sure where that path goes. I haven’t explored it yet.”
“It’s fine, it leads to a grass valley, and beyond that is the base of a hill,” she explained. “A couple of us hiked up there a few times when we first got here.”
Daxus didn’t agree right away, so she gave him her best sad eyes. “It feels so good to be out in the sunshine and not be afraid. I don’t want to stop yet.”
It worked. Daxus started purring and held out his hand. “We can walk a little further, but after another mark, we must turn back.”
She wasn’t sure she’d last another mark, but she liked that Daxus had more confidence in her endurance than she did.
They’d only walked a few strides when Daxus grabbed her and pulled her behind a tree. She gasped but didn’t fight him. When he pointed, she saw the very good reason he’d hidden them.
“Babies!” she whispered as several fuzzy yellow balls tumbled out from under a bush. Arise didn’t have many animals larger than a bug, but dorungs were one of them. Dorung adults had six long, thin legs, long necks, and stubby, round bodies. They foraged high in the trees for insect hives, leaving the babies on the ground at the base of the tree. Unlike the long-limbed adults, the baby's legs were only little stumps, but their necks were long, making them awkward and adorable.
“I want to pet one so bad,” she whispered.
“You must fight the urge,” Daxus replied with a quiet, amused rumble.
“How are they so cute?” she asked as one of the babies tried to chase another one and ended up rolling over their sibling instead.
“Their smallness probably makes them easier to deal with at this age,” he noted. “They can’t get far with legs that are almost useless.”
She giggled as the two who tumbled got back to their feet and tried to run again. “Good point.”
They stayed and watched the playful pups until their father came back and spread his legs in preparation to regurgitate a meal for them on the ground. Nataly didn’t need to see that part!
It took a while to go around the family, but eventually they were back on the path. She judged they were about halfway to the field when she realized she wasn’t going to make it. Herlegs were starting to feel heavy, and she was walking slower and slower. As much as she wanted to keep hiking, it was time to stop for the day.
It seemed that Daxus already knew what she was going to say when she stopped walking and faced him. Before she could utter a word about turning back, he pointed to another path.
“I believe that will lead around the village and end near your domicile.”
She was tired enough that it took her a moment to understand what he said. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
He sounded a worried rumble. “I can carry—”
“Nope,” she said, cutting him off. “I’m walking.”
