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Jaysen
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    I grumbled mercilessly the next day. Zach and I were going off by ourselves to save more time in finding this Jelu figure. Feurige and Ipa were going to give what Zach called a 'crash course on being a Great Beast' or whatever. I however missed out on the supposed message from my long dead parents and that tended to make me snappy. Zach didn't care though, he knew when I meant the words that I said and when I just wanted to be left alone.

    "You ready?" He asked, his green and blue eyes flashing with excitement.

    "Hmph." I grumbled, letting the wind buffet my fur. Then I opened my wings and waited for his signal.

    "All clear, just kind of windy." Zach answered, and I heard him unfurl his wings and snow landed on my face from when he pushed off.

    I leapt off and struggled to keep upright. Flying was easier than walking, there was a lot less stuff to crash into. But I remember how hard it was for me to learn how to, I could barely even walk for the first few weeks after my injury and I had zero self confidence, nobody believes this but I was pretty shy. Then Eudora adopted me and told me to suck it up, at first I hated her but I would have never stood on my feet if it weren't for her cold steely love. Despite her flaws I really love her.

    "You still with me?" Zach asked, breaking through my train of thought.

    "Yeah, it's nice up here today."  I commented, cooling down a bit.

We flew in silence for a bit. And by silence I mean I listened to the sound of Zach breathing like a pig. Ever since Scrylla he's had this flaw with his breath. I'm sure he's aware of it by now though. It sure does make him easy to follow though.

"Are you okay?" I asked, just for kicks.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"You sound out of breath." I explained.

"Oh, it's nothing really I'll be fine. Back when I was young I was slightly asthmatic, it shouldn't be a problem." He sounded strained.

"That's also when I met Jelu." Zach said, switching the subject.

    "Okay. Are we there yet?" I asked.

"Well, sorta...."

"SORTA?" I sputtered, "what do you mean by sorta?"

"Well I might have taken a short detour." He laughed nervously.

"Zachariah." I warned. "I swear to Glamor if you didn't happen to be son of the chief-"

"Hey, I have a good reason! This is the first time I've been near humans in more than a year. I want to check up on my old roots."

"Fine, sheesh." I sighed.

I followed him into the city and soon the rancid smell of burning oil and waste surrounded me. Partly drowned out by perfume and noxious plants. It's really a miracle humans can smell at all. We landed in the middle of a street somewhere, and Zach told me to wait for him in a nearby bush while he scouted his old pet shelter.

So here I was, bored out of my mind, in a bush. With the reeking smell of human all around me. My mind started drifting and I thought back to the prophecy given to me by the Shaman Mouse.

The search for family does begin.
He is closer look within.

Something bothered me about that line. Prophecies bothered me all the time. But this one was especially unnerving. And the frustrating thing was I had no idea why. And then there was the thing with with his parents, he wished he could see them again. Despite anyone's knowledge, dead claws could not come and go as they please. They had to be very special in order to request a visit. Apparently my parents weren't special enough. But they were special to me.

I jumped suddenly as I heard Zach come scrabbling back, the familiar hitch in his breathing apparent. Only he was followed by a loud squawk.

"Run run run run! I'm being chased by a mad chicken!" He screeched.

I didn't bother running. The whole moving fast and blindness thing does not mix. I spread my wings and after a few short planned hops I was in the air again. And after a few seconds of gliding in circles, Zach joined me.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Well I could see inside, it's looks like they finally hired a new employee, and I was about to move closer when I was attacked by a chicken that was not there before!" He huffed.

"Are we going to get on with the mission now?" I asked.

"You bet."

I rolled my eyes. I don't think it was very impressive though. I can understand where Zach's desire came from, but the sooner we defeated Tenebris and went home, the better.

After another long and not very eventful flight, we landed in a small forest clearing. It was around sunset now, the ground was starting to settle after being shrouded in clouds all day. We walked along a human road, made of dirt and pine needles. And according to Zach we came across a house. 

He walked up and scratched at the door.

-=-=-=-=-==-=-

The new employee at Pawsteps is named Forrest McCullen. Sound familiar?