13

Silver left Senere in the forest all alone, on her own. She did not know that, but he was standing by close, just to watch over her, from the shadows of the forest, while she was looking totally lost, scared, but trying to find her courage to find her way back home. He left her there with a reason; she knew that. She had to learn, and this was important, and she needed to succeed.

Selene looked around carefully, and it seemed to her that all the sounds of the forest could be heard much louder than when Silver was beside her. The birds sang louder, even the wind moved the branches of the trees harder. Everything came to life and followed her. He had to get home. Had Silver really left her alone here in the woods, or was she following her somewhere hidden nearby? Did he see her now, how slow she was and how ignorant she probably seemed?

No, no, no, he had to do it, that's why he came here, right? To learn. So she can't think about what that man thinks about her, she just has to manage to get home, and just thinking she won't get there. So let's get started, she thought. East ... To the east ... so let's go!

She began to push the branches aside and make her way. Slow and insecure at first, she then regained her confidence. These days, that's all she did, she went through the woods; it wasn't that hard, was it? Come on, you can! She thought. How hard it can be, you're just doing the same thing you've been doing every day since you came here ... come on, you can!

Senere smiled, thinking of the words she just uttered. Silver was telling her those words, in order to motivate her. She never heard those words from anyone else in her entire life. No one has bothered to care enough in order to talk to her like that. She could do things if given a chance to learn. And she will do them now!

Keeping the knife ready and at hand, he walked the path carefully and followed the signs as he had seen Silver. How was Silver doing? He looked at the trees, touched them on the bark, looked for the moss. He follows the signs. So is she. The moss was there ... and look, there is also there ... so I must head it that way ... I will get home ...

Her stomach started to growl. She was already hungry; she hadn't eaten so well in the morning because she thought they would hunt something. Hey, good idea, let's hunt something ... what can he find here to hunt? Something easy to catch, because squirrels ... no, they are too fast and they climb trees and she couldn't even get up on the trunk of the tree ... hmmm ... what could be eaten ... She was really hungry and not having food at hand, she was feeling the hunger growing stronger.

She had to find something... anything to eat.

Wait, Moon taught her that there were fruits in the trees... all she had to do, was find one who had good fruits, ready to eat! So she looked up, searching in the trees. Walked some more and it did not take her long to find a wild apple tree, with fruits on. Mmmm...

Sour or not ... look they're coming! She picked up a larger branch from the ground, and she began to beat the apple wreath with it until a few apples fell. She took the first one that was closest and tried it. Mmmm, it was really good ... not like a steak, but there was something to put in her stomach that couldn't wait anymore.

After she filled her stomach with about three forest apples, she picked up as many as she could from the floor and put them in the scarf she was wearing after her, as she had seen Moon do. Good idea to imitate her, you see, it's useful for something.

At one point, she heard the sound of very hard-pressed branches and growls ... Oh, no, oh, you can't do that ... Senere froze, her face whitening and feeling all her blood flow from her body. The bear, of which Silver laughed ... it's almost ... the apples, where are the apples ... at hand ... Moon had told her that the bear likes apples, if she met it, she made her plan to offer it her apples so that it would let her escape with her life ... good trade, right? For both...

She walked on her fingertips, slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible or not at all, and at some distance, she noticed the bear, which was sitting at the bottom near a bush. What was the bear doing there? He was picking something, as if ... there were berries in the bushes and the bear was eating them! Perfect, maybe she wasn't more appetizing than those bear fruits ...

Senere continued on the road slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible, and at the same time, she tried to get away as quickly as possible from the area where the bear moved for food. She didn't want to be there as the next fruit in the bear's paws.

And incredibly, after a while, the noises made by the bear diminished, a sign that she put some distance between them. Or that the bear had finished the bush fruit and was looking for something more appetizing? No, no, she doesn't have to think about it, she has to hurry and go faster and get to her destination safely. But, she learned a good thing today, from all this ... in the bushes, you can find fruit ... she deserves to try to find it too, but next time, because now the bear was hunting.

And she was not dying to meet the bear face to face. What else will Silver and Moon laugh at when she tells them what she went through ... they must one day go hunting for berries ... together ... she needed to learn how to hunt too... but first, she needed to get home.

Senere walked through the woods until she began to hear the sound of water ... yes ... she was on the right track. She already knew that the cold river was passing by the western wall of the capital Shiran, and she realized that what was harder had passed, because from here, there was no way to get lost. Where the water took her, she could not miss the capital.

She found the place where she and Silver and Moon went fishing so many times, and she thought of stopping fishing, because she was tired and secondly, she didn't even want to go home empty-handed. She lowered her fishing rod from the tree, where Moon had taught her to hide it among the lower branches, for if she could not yet climb the trees, she could at least make the fishing rod pass as one of the branches of the tree. And being well hidden, it would not be taken away by anyone else who would have been in the region, and if necessary, she would have found and used it without having to make another one.

She found it very easy, and she was happy because she could make a short stop fishing. Because she did not have the bait ready at home, with the knife that Silver had left for her, she began to dig a small hole at the root of the tree from which she lowered her fishing rod, to find some frames ... She found and took out of the ground some long and thick frames and put them in the scarf, instead of the apples she took out and arranged at the root of the tree. And she sat down to fish.

It took her a while to catch seven big, fat fish, and she finished the frames, so she managed to put 5 fish in the scarf and tied them well, but the others didn't fit, because they were quite big. As she thought about how and where to put them, she only heard a growl nearby and saw the bear approaching. Senere dropped the scarf from her hand and the bear rose to his feet, muttering threateningly at her. She realized that she had dropped the scarf with the fish, and quickly jumped back, and immediately the bear got on all fours and began to move towards her.

Very scared, Senere didn't even have time to think about what to do, being convinced that the bear will eat her this time! So she grabbed the first thing she felt on her hand, on the floor, and threw it at the bear, screaming:

-Take it and don't eat me!

She threw in the bear one of the big fish that had not reached the scarf, because they could not fit. The fish hit the bear directly in the muzzle, and it made him look even angrier, shook it's head, and immediately turned back to the fish that had left it with such a tempting taste and smell ... That it began to eat it.

-You probably didn't get tired of those berries, did you? Maybe you're still hungry? I still have some if you would only let me leave she said standing curiously not too close but not too far too, because she did not have the chance to make a run for it.

So she took a small step back to the remaining fish on the ground, and threw another of them at the bear, which caught him right in the claws, straight out of the air.

-Yes, I don't think I should stay, but here's another one and I ran away! Senere shouted at the bear, throwing the last fish at him nearby, to make him move and gain some more time, while she took her scarf with the rest of the fish, and then she slowly walked away, while the bear muttered contentedly, mumbling the fish.

Leaving the bear to eat there, and hoping that perhaps this would make her want to fish and not follow her, Senere began to run through the forest, to put enough distance between her and the animal, not to follow her.

She ran so fast and carefully, precisely, that she didn't even want to stumble and get hurt, and she thought she hadn't run so fast in her whole life. Okay, she couldn't even say she ever had to run away so fast, because her life would depend on it ...

But she ran and she was happy and satisfied that she had done well enough so far that she was alive ... and she had managed to get here by herself ... She felt as proud of herself as she had ever felt. She had never done anything so well, and she had never been able to do anything .... And now she could do it all alone!! She couldn't wait to tell Kaion, too.

Kaion? Will he be okay? Her speed slowed down a bit. She was a little worried about her brother. He accomplished everything he set out to do. Will ... will he really find a way back home? Silver and Moon had told her that they did not know why or when the portals opened, and those who had arrived here had never returned to their world. Was that Kaion's fate?

She knew how focused her brother was on finding a solution to help them return home. And she had told him she didn't want to go home. If he manages to find a way back, will he leave it here? She had told him she didn't want to go home ... but would he leave her, or would he force her back and take her back? Not!

Out of the question! She told him she did not want to get back there, and she would not! She promised herself that if he would try anything, she would just run away again and again until she would manage to find her way back into this wonderful world that was allowing her to live free!

She was enjoying her life here, and she was here to stay!

-Hei! I am not a bear, watch it!

She bumped her head into his strong, muscled chest, covered by the black shirt, and recognized the belt going across his body, from one side to another.