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She picked Patch up and smiled. Patch purred and curled up in Red's lap.
"Sorry.." she murmured to Arien.

"It's fine." Arien shook his head. Was this how his friend felt before they split up? Arien was typically the boisterous, overexcited one, unable to sit still; funny how one could change.

He went over to his pack and searched through his things. The salve was pretty much used up--only enough for one or two more minor wounds, but everthing else looked fine.

And from what he gathered, either the fire in the town had been finally put out, or it hadn't come this way to enter the forest, which was a relief. He frowned as his thoughts turned sour, though he didn't voice them.

Red felt something was wrong with Arien.
"Whats wrong Arien?" she said concerned.
Red put Patch on Neo's back then crawled over to Arien. She sat beside him.

Arien glanced at Nex before he spoke. "I was warned not to bring it up, but it bothers me. The town and the fire..." he glanced sidelong at Red, trying to decide how she would react. He kept his voice soft and neutral. "I gather it's not the first time this has happened?"

Pain flashed in her eyes and she looked at the floor.
"No..." Red murmured.
Standing up, Red took Arien's hand and walked them into her room.
"Do you want to know? I cant talk about it around Nex or Neo," she said quietly.

Arien followed, both surprised and confused, though he kept his face neutral. "I would like to know," he began, "but I don't want to force you either." He squeezed her hand gently, letting her know that he wouldn't hold it against her for not telling him.

Red hesitated then looked at the floor.
"No.. I can tell you.." she murmured.
Red let go of Arien's hand and crawled onto her bed. She smiled a little to show Arien she was ok telling the backstory to what happened.

Arien nodded and made himself comfortable on the chair next to her bed. He knew it couldn't be easy for her, and he was practically a stranger to her, but if he hadn't been there, there was no telling what might have happened.

Once he was settled, he waited for her to continue.

Red thought about where to start.
"My best friend in the whole world was a girl named Ash... We were almost complete opposites but somehow that pulled us together and at first we hated each other.. This took place when i was about 15.." Red paused and laughed a little at something she remembered. Then she suddenly frowned and a pained look came across her face for just a second though.
"Im not sure what happened to be honest. I just remember waking up to screaming.. And smoke smothering me. I got out of my bed and ran throughout my house. I remember my parents being trapped then flames engulfing their room..." Red stopped for a second, barely holding back tears that threatened to fall.

Arien gently squeezed her hand again, trying to comfort and draw her back to the present a little. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "Do you remember what caused the fire?"

Red looked up at Arien.
"Ash..set the whole town on fire.... But thats not where i left off..after my parents died i took my father's gold-bladed sword and ran.. I ran through the village.. Before i had made it out of the village a tiger jumped in front of me... She was carrying two cubs... I could already tell that the fire had blinded one..." Red whispered.
Rubbing her eyes, Red tried to remember what happened next.
"The tiger gave me her cubs before she stumbled and fell... She didnt get up again... I promised her i would take care of them before she died... I gathered the cubs up and leaped through a wall of flames, so i could make it out of the burning town... So much screaming and crying..." Red stopped there and put her hand to her head.
Red's arm started to bother her.

So that explained why she hadn't wanted to speak in front of Neo and Nex. And why she had two tigers in the first place. He couldn't imagine the hell she'd been through. At least his brothers hadn't set a town on fire.

"You should rest," he told her. "You're still healing."

Red seemed not to hear him but she looked at him.
"You wanna know why I almost collapsed the first time i met you?" Red whispered. She didnt wait for a reply, "The fire burned me really badly. So every now and then a still can feel the fire. The burning is on the inside of my body though. The healers cant figure it out, but I know Ash has something to do with it. Its not a normal burn," she said and sighed.
Red looked out the window, lost in thought now.

Arien twitched at the idea of burning on the inside. It hardly sounded pleasant. "Is that the only way your friend can communicate with you?" He asked. "Could she be in trouble and need your help?"

He didn't know anything about Ash, but he was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Although if she was responsible for burning down an entire town, he was going to have some words with her. Probably not pleasant ones either.

Red looked at Arien.
"Ash communicate with me? No. She wants to kill me," she said quietly.
Red's arm started to hurt a little.
"Thank you..Arien," Red said, smiling.

Arien offered a small smile in return. "That changes a few things then, but it's not the end of the world." He reached for the nearly empty container of salve and offered it to her. "If your arm's hurting, this--I think--should help. You can just apply it to the outside of the bandage--it'll absorb right through."

He stood and stretched; one could only sit in a chair for so long. "Do your tigers hunt? They could catch us some more fish or...rabbits or something."

"Neo is an excellent hunter. Nex fishes better than he hunts. You can take either of them out, i figure i can watch Bella for a bit if you want," Red offered.
She looked and saw the container was almost empty. Putting down the container, Red stood up and walked out of her room, shaking her arm a little to stall the pain.
"Neo. Nex. I want you to go out with Arien. Neo hunts and Nex you fish. Protect Arien if it comes down to it," Red told them.
Nex nodded and nudged Neo up. Nex picked up Patch and put him on Neo's back. Patch held on tightly and seemed to enjoy being around the two tigers.

Arien grinned as he followed Red to the other room. Hunting with tigers--just what he'd always dreamed of doing since he was a little kid without powers. "Hunting and fishing--my two favorite things."

He glanced back to see Bella watching him, ears back, head slightly turned down. "Bella, you stay with Red. Which, speaking of," Arien looked at Red and sighed. Embarrassment seemed to sweep over his expression.

"If anything comes up, and I mean anything, just say..." he hesitated briefly and seemed to brace himself, "Tabasco sauce. Bella will find me." At the word, Bella pricked her ears forward, and stood, tail wagging, her attention on Arien. "But for now, Bella, stay."

Red laughed and doubled over becuase she was laughing so hard. When she finally settled down she looked at Arien still smiling.
"Why tabasco sauce?" she tried to say without laughing.

Bella, true to Arien's word, "found" Arien by launching herself at him. A moment later, he was flattened to the floor, and trying to shove the nearly full-grown wolf off him. He scowled.

"Why? Because when she was just a few months old, I thought something was eating my food. I thought it was my friend trying to be sneaky--so I spiked everything with Tabasco sauce. Yeah...turned out it wasn't my friend. Bella hasn't forgiven me since." It was that or Bella had developed a taste for the sauce that Arien kept on hand at all times. "So now any time it comes up, she tackles me. Bella, off!" The wolf finally sat back, letting Arien up.