[SirMax]

At the base of a small mountain, hidden in the expanse of Roraldi forests, there was a small vine, which lead to a small ledge, which had a small rock, hanging on a overcrop, covering a channel between the living rock...

Keltor, the only who knew about the cave at the top of this near-secret mountain, was currently fighting through the miles of overgrowth between it and the nearest path, making sure to cover his trail as he made sure that his lifemate Lasha was keeping up.

Poking out his head, finally in the grove, he shimmied up the vine, helping Lasha follow, before twisting the small rock hang, opening a secret passage between two rocks, which he slipped down, pulling Lasha after him, climbing up the winding path to a grotto, which branched off in three directions. "Welcome home, huh." he whispered, pulling her close to him and nuzzling her happily, striking a match and lighting the torches that lined the walls of the crossroads. "Want the grand tour, huh?"

[[47]]

[SpringsSong]

Lasha smiled as she looked around.  "It's beautiful, Keltor..." She said, looking around at everything.  She had never been to the mountains, but Fire had told her about her own trip to the mountains once and had always wanted to go since then.  "Sure, the grand tour would be awesome." She said, looking around the haven.

{73}

[SirMax]

Keltor grinned widely, grabbing one of the torches and setting down the first passage, bringing Lasha to the room where he kept supplies. "This is junk room, huh. Stuff that's not being used in other rooms goes here, huh. Kids beds, partitions, etc, huh..."

Heading back to the three passage entry way, he walked down it, as the passage started get lighter as he put the torch on a holder as he walked towards the light...

Revealing an expansive orchard, with a small river flowing down the side, light filtering through the thick net of trees. "Nothing can get in here except the sunlight, huh. The trees are even thicker than in Tengel, huh..." he said, grinning. "There's a couple windows, huh. And there's lots of fruit trees and vegetable beds, enough so that you can live here forever just on the food from here, huh. The water's always clean, it's from a spring that comes up here in the mountain, huh." Keltor had taken a lot of care filling the holes with high quality topsoil and nurturing self-sustaining crops. "There's also a few chairs there for sitting the sun, huh."

Going back once more the darkened entrance, Keltor took the torch with him, moving towards he final passage and the most exciting in his opinion...

There was no light at the end of this tunnel, but when he entered it he lit the torches all around the area, casting flickering low lights onto the area. "This is the hot springs, huh." he whispered, the pools bubbling up and the small channels that Keltor had carved carrying fresh water in and out of the main pool.  A corner of the room had a pool with a oven pit and other kitchen furniture around it, drawing from the natural heat for cleaning clothes and other things, a channel leading it off and away.

Taking Lasha's hand, Keltor lead her into an offshoot of the room. "This is our bedroom, huh." he said quietly, lighting a torch to reveal two fluffy looking beds around a huge hot spring pool, with small tabletop type rocks with drilled holes for holding bottles and glasses. At the moment these were occupied by a bottle of champagne and two glasses. Keltor looked over at Lasha and grinned widely, waiting for her response.

[[48]]

[SpringsSong]

Lasha smiled as she looked at everything, taking in every detail of the haven as Keltor described it.  She was a little surprised that everything was already so organized, but she felt that she could live here forever.  "It's all so... beautiful.  I've never seen anything so... magical in my life." She said, smiling.  Looking over the two fluffly beds, she grinned.  "Now, if only I had remembered to bring the medallion that Auntie Tali?±a gave me when I was a kit, as well as some of the things I made when I was confined to the nursery..." she said, sighing.  Everything here was truly beautiful, and she was ready to leave everything behind just so she could live here, hidden in the mountains, with Keltor.

{74}

[SirMax]

Keltor gazed at Lasha for a moment, and then said quietly "Let's both go back to our pens, huh. Then we can get all the things we want to have here, then meet at the entrance to Roraldi, huh. Then we can come back here, huh. I spent years making this place almost completely self-sufficient, huh. There's enough crop space  to easily feed both of us, and even kids, huh! We could live her forever, together, huh. and live here forever, huh. We'd only ever have to leave if we wanted... visit the breeding room, huh." he grinned impishly, then his face returned to a serious expression. "What do you say, huh?"

[[49]]

[SpringsSong]

Lasha grinned as she said, "Okay.  I could do that." She stood up, looking around.  Then, in an instant, she made some sort of a knapsack appear out of thin air; completely empty and capable of holding several items.  "I'll only need a few things... the sculptures I made of my family... the medallion... What else was there...? Ah, yes; my book that I've been studying since my kithood." She said, running off the chechklist in her mind.  What book did she refer to, and how had the knapsack magically appeared with no more than a flick of her tails?

{75}

[SirMax]

Keltor grinned widely in glee, hugging Lasha. She was going to live with him, here, alone! He did, however, blink in confusion as the backpack appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Uh..." he said, then stopped and shook his head. Didn't matter. "Let me show you the way back to the entrance of the forest, huh." he said, grinning and taking her hand, starting to lead her out of the mountain sanctuary.

[[50]]

[SpringsSong]

Lasha's own grin widened as she followed Keltor, some sort of unspoken secret hanging on in her eyes.  She remembered the first time that she, unknowingly, had made something magically appear before her with only so much as a flick of her tails.  She had been shocked, and Aya had said that it was merely an illusion.  She'd scoffed.  "I hardly doubt that this is an illusion, Aya!" She said, her red eyes gleaming.

{76}

[SirMax]

Keltor lowered Lasha carefully down from the entrance, then forged towards the path again, covering the trail as he lead her to the entrance of the forest, licking her check and murmuring "Meet me back here soon, huh?" before running off to collect the few things that he hadn't already moved to the storage room. And, of course, to tell dad and Vicky that he was going away to live in solitude with his lifemate forever.

Come to think of it, he doubted Raiden would be very upset.

[[51]]

[SpringsSong]

Lasha nodded.  "Okay, Keltor." She said, nuzzling him before she left, her dark purple bag hanging off of her shoulder.  She walked to the entrance of Roraldi, and then from there, to the Arena of Fire.  As she walked in, she was greeted by her grandmother who seemed to be fretting over her absense.  "Don't worry, Grandma." Lasha had said.  "I've found a mate, and I'm going to live with him in Roraldi.  You don't need to be afraid for me."

"But what about Aya?  You know that she loves you, Lasha." E??wyra had asked.

Lasha sighed.  "I'll leave a gift for her.  After all, it's not hard for me to conjure something up in a heartbeat." She said as she went tog gather up her things.  After she'd found the medallion and sculptures, she sat for a moment, eyes closed in concentration.  After a moment, another figruine appeared; with a Spectrakuhna and a Doomsberry Kuhna on it.  On its placard, she wrote, "To my sister, with love."

And then, she stepped out of the Arena for the final time, returning to Roraldi.

{77}

[SirMax]

Keltor, meanwhile, had returned to his own pen to pick up a few things, and now he was waiting by the entrance to the forest for Lasha, scowling slightly as he held his cheek. His father had been... let's call it supportive. He hadn't objected, and had even, to Keltor's surprise, congratulated him for finding a lifemate. His sister, however, had not been too happy that he rubbed in the fact that he had found a lifemate first.

But she'd just glowered at him for a little. No, the one who had slapped him was none other than Satar, who had been VERY upset that Keltor hadn't told him about Lasha. Stupid camp Kuhnas with their long nails...

[[52]]

[SpringsSong]

Lasha walked up to the entrance of the forest, her eyes gleaming like the medallion around her neck.  Said medallion was an amethyst-and-ruby mix of stones set into a marvelous silver chain.  Behind the stones was a black onyx, which mirrored her colors perfectly.  Wyra had been proud of her niece, just as E??wyra had been proud of her as well.  Erica had merely shrugged, and Aya... The Spectrakuhna had walked in at the last minute to find Lasha walking out.

"Where are you going?" She'd asked.

"To Roraldi; to live with Keltor, my lifemate." Lasha replied, flatly.  What had happened next baffled Lasha.  Aya had first looked over her sister, and then, run into their section of the Arena.  When she came back, she had a pile of papers.

"Here... for when you wish to look back on what we've gone through." She said.  Lasha blinked.  "You're not mad at me for leaving?" She asked, and Aya laughed.  "No, not at all, sister.  Farewell until we should meet again."

In that, she'd smiled and embraced her sister.  But now, she saw Keltor waiting for her, so she walked up to him.  Noting the cut on his cheek, she set down her bag and laid a paw on it.  "Who caused that scar?" She asked, her paw remaining gently on it.

{78}

[SirMax]

"Eh, I doubt it's going to scar- it's pretty shallow, huh." said Keltor, shrugging and smiling at Lasha, covering her paw with his own. "It was just Satar, huh. He has really long nails for a guy, huh." snorting, he shook his head. "Anyway, you got everything you wanted, huh?" he asked, gazing momentarily at her necklace before looking back into her eyes. "Then let's go back, huh."

Grabbing her hand, he ran back towards the mountain, still making sure to cover the trail, even in his haste to get back to their new home. Shimming up the path and back into the entryway, zooming through the security almost unconsciously, bringing Lasha with him. When they reached the entry passage, he pulled her up, and, grinning at her, pushed a boulder onto the entry hole, blocking it off before pulling her close to him and grinning. "Welcome home, huh." keeping her close to him, he headed towards the bedroom, letting go of her long enough to jump into the hotspring and pour champagne into two glasses, grinning gleefully up at her.

[[53]]

[SpringsSong]

Lasha grinned as she said, "Yes, I got everything I wanted... even a farewell from my sister that I had not expected." True, part of her was glad to be away from Aya's need to research everything--even Lasha's own abilities--but part of her already missed her sister.  "I honestly wasn't expecting such a calm farewell from her.  I was expecting her to be nearing hysteria--like my grandmother was--or to be extremely mad at me.  Instead, she seemed to... to understand.  But I couldn't help but notice the distant, pained look in her eyes..." She sighed, slipping into the hotsprings.  The water soothed her physical body from having trekked all that way, but it did not ease her spirits any...

{79}

[SirMax]

Well, that was what Keltor was for. "I'm sure she'll be fine, huh." he said softly, setting down the glasses and gently paddling over to Lasha, nuzzling her quietly, not saying anything for a while, just lying against her quietly as a warm comforting body.

[[54]]