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Zach
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"Are you ready?" Sierra asked, staring at me with her bright purple eyes.

"Bring it on," I cheered softly.

She lumped forward at me, and I performed the perfect duck and roll we had been practicing for the last hour.

She purred, and crouched down into an offensive position. "Ready for a bit of free-for-all?"

"You bet." I replied.

She dashed forward at me, then stopped halfway as a feint. I fell for it and had already jumped up. She had rolled over and her waiting paws clawed mockingly at my belly when I nearly landed on her.

She laughed playfully. Then rolled over and we circled each other. Until I made the first attack by the cliché dash frontal. She sidestepped it a little clumsily and fell. Which was something I was not used to seeing in my teacher. I stopped the fight immediately and waited for her to catch her breath.

She was panting rather heavily with a lost look in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned. "Do you need some water?"

"No, I'll be okay. I'm just old, that's all. I think that's good for today." She smiled weakly.

I walked away, throwing concerned glances her way. Sierra had been acting differently lately. Maybe she's eating too much or something, she's definitely gotten a bit rounder if you know what I mean. I frowned to myself at the thought. It didn't seem to make sense.

Lysander stopped me by snagging my shoulder with his wing. The evening light reflected back onto his sandy fur like a field of golden wheat.

"Hey, how's Sierra doing?" He asked, gesturing over my shoulder to where she was washing herself on the grass in the shade.

"Ah, good. She's a really good teacher, although if you're going to ask me about fighting techniques there's only so much I can tell you-"

"No, no, no." He interrupted quickly. "I mean how has she been feeling lately?"

I must have had a weird expression on my face because his eyes widened. "Never mind, I'll talk to her at next meal. You doing anything right now?"

"Uh, not particularly." Since when has Lysander hung out with me like this this?

He smiled slightly. "I'm weirding you out. Alright I'll let you go, but with a peice of advice."

"Okay..." I answered.

    "It is wise not to seek a secret, and honest not to reveal one, but nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets." He backed into the shrub, the green from his eyes leaving a fading glow as he disappeared.

    I stood there for a moment, considering his words. What in the name of Glamora was that supposed to mean? Was Lysander lonely and keeping a secret? Was I keeping a secret? I shrugged, maybe everyone was just nuts and my hearing is going out of whack.

    I wanted to talk with Fulgura, but I know Jay had been attached to her like a leech, pestering her about Zara. Then Sarah had taken a moment to show him a rare herb, and then apparently Excelsior had dragged him away from that to train with him personally. Now he was relying that information to Sarah. 

I wandered around, looking for something to do. Everyone seemed porcupines with their mentors. When I bumped straight into Skylark. The calico gave a start of surprise, flashing her wild green eyes at my happily.

"Zach! I was just looking for you. You won't believe what I just figured out."

"What?" I asked hesitantly, knowing that Scribe-claws could freak out over things from small grubs to earthquakes.

She dipped her head into a nearby bush (I don't even know anymore) and brought out a fairly large scroll. I couldn't help but notice her claws were stained a dark black color, like she had been writing. Then pushing the curling paper aside with her wings and I noticed a fairly recent dotted line had been added the was appeared to be a faded map.

"I've been chatting with Fulgura, awesome gal by the way, and from what she remembers about the journey before the snowstorm, I think I might have pin pointed a reasonably small area as to where this cave might be!" She squawked.

I stared at the line, it went right over the mountains and there was a large circle drawn around one area.

"That's brilliant!" I gasped. "Have you showed this to anyone else?"

"Just you, but I can't find Lysander anywhere, have you seen him perhaps?"

"Yeah he was just..." I glanced back to where he had been moments before, only to see a very Lysander-less area.

"That's funny, I could've sworn I just saw him." I frowned.

And where was my own teacher? I could've sworn she was laying the grass just a few minutes ago.

"Well, I'm sure he'll turn up. Do I have permission from future chief to start rounding everyone up in prep for the journey?" She stood at attention with one wing at her forehead.

"That would be awesome, thanks a bunch." I smiled and she bounced off (into a bush.)

Feurige had just walked in the entrance to the wolf camp, looking exhilarated from the hunt he had left on. I called out and he glanced up at me.

"Hey guess what?" I started. "We fought have found out where the cave we're looking for is!"

His face lit up. "Really? Will we be able to find it with just the two of us?"

I stopped. "I didn't think about that, is that really a problem?"

"I don't know, what do your instincts tell you chief?" He shrugged.

I got lost in thought. Did it really matter? It would make sense, prophecy stuff and whatever. But I didn't want to drag everyone out there and find out it was a failure.

"You know what, it probably doesn't. Do we even need the others? Remember when we kicked tail just a few weeks ago? What if your sister is there or something?" 

That stopped me dead in my tracks. That would definitely be a liable reason to go. Finding Zara was definitely one of our top priorities. And she would be able to tell us where the rest of the heirs are, which was the whole reason we came out here in the first place!

"Feurige, I'm so glad you brought that up, because we leave at first light." I decided.