Chapter 78: 77

Walking down the road, the five travelers passed by field after field. No words were shared among any members of the group, but the silence itself was comfortable. There were barely any signs or tracks indicating anything had been through recently. Apparently, Copper and Tin had come from the east as they were looking for a good place to have their litter, so there was no chance in even running into any of their tracks. However, regardless of the lack of tracks, Natalie and Shannon continued down the road armed. Since she was not up to full strength and dexterity quite yet, Nat passed the fire axe that had served her well so far to Shannon. That way, she would at least have a measure of offence and defence. While hoping that it would fill Shannon with some measure of confidence or at least security, Nat herself traveled with her bow out, quiver full of arrows hanging off her hip. The pack stayed wary of anything that may be around them, still unsure if goblins would just pop out of the woodwork of one of the nearby barns.
Eventually they finally ended up passing the village of Nobleford. Despite not seeing any movement or hearing any noises, the newly coupled women both agreed they did not want to enter the village at all. Surprisingly enough, they did not even have to vocalize their short-lived debate. All it had taken was a single shake of Shannon's head for them to agree to move on. They both had their fill of unknown people back in Lethbridge, and neither wanted to deal with anyone else for as long as possible, albeit for different reasons. Shannon was still was working through her recent trauma, and probably still would for the rest of her life. Natalie felt that if she had to deal with anyone, she was just as likely to stab them as she was to help them. Unanimous in their decision, Emily led the way as they continued down the highway.
As they continued to head towards the looming giants in front of them, the road never shifted towards either side. Not a bend, nor turn to be seen. Finally, after what felt three times as long as it really was, they saw another town on the horizon. However, as they did, they noticed that the sun had already started to kiss the tops of the mountains. With maybe an hour of daylight left, they had to find a place to set up camp and settle down before it became too dark to see. Continuing along, they found a densely wooded property just inside the city limits. Going through all of the buildings, they quickly made sure the area was clear of anyone else before getting camp set up in the middle of the yard. To expedite the whole process, most of the other canines came out to help check. Kali, Maia, and the coyotes stayed back and kept watch over the pups who seemed to be bouncing with energy. They set up two tents again, at Shannon's request. While she was happy with their new relationship, she was apparently too shy and too stricken with pain and grief to join Nat right away.
Noticing the pained look on her new partner's face, Nat knew exactly what was needed. Getting out the movable fire pit they picked up, she got a fire going before covering it with a grate to grill on. In these troubled times, it was very likely that Shannon had not had her favourite food in a while, and she also knew none of the canines had probably had it ever before. Knowing that she would need quantity, she got Maia to help her bring out everything she needed to make a lot of hamburgers. As the canines saw that she was cooking once more, their tails started wagging enough to act like a fan, causing enough wind pressure to cause ripples on the surface of the tents behind them. Putting five whole boxes worth of hamburger patties on the large grill, she started cooking up the still frozen slabs of meat. Shannon tried to offer to help set up, but Nat just returned the mischievous smile she had received earlier, along with, "Nope!" Hearing the message loud and clear, Shannon went back and started petting one of the canines that sat down beside her. Before Nat could warn her, every single one had swarmed her, wanting to receive scratches from her as well. Chuckling, Nat was glad for the space, taking the opportunity to focus on making up the burgers.

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Melting cheese on top of the patties, Nat made sure that they were all grilled, put in buns, and put on the large platter before getting Maia to store them. Calling out that dinner was on, Maia proceeded to bring out a dozen platters of burgers. What Nat would have thought was overkill for any barbeque before, she now wondered if having only a dozen platters would be enough. Moving on, she got her plate and filled it with burgers, topping them with ketchup and relish. Moving to sit down, she saw Shannon already sitting down with a plate that had to have at least eight individual burgers piled onto it, Each with Shannon's unique combination of toppings. Pickles, mayo, barbeque sauce, and sauerkraut were Shannon's go to additions to her burgers, a sight that even weirded out Nat. Nothing was said on the matter though, as Shannon's expression was the happiest that Nat had seen since rescuing her from Lethbridge. Almost as if they had temporarily returned to better times. Turning her head, she saw that each warg had monopolized a platter. None of the others cared that much.
When dinner and clean-up was done, most of the group retired to the tent for the night. The four coyotes stayed out, starting their watch over the surroundings, and Natalie still sat by the dimly glowing fire pit. Focusing on her hand, she tried to draw out whatever feeling she could remember from when she shifted previously. As she tried to bring that to the forefront, she felt a sort of warmth flow from her chest out down her arm and into her hand. Slowly, as the warmth accumulated there, she looked on in awe as fur started sprouting from her hand. Almost as soon as it started however, she felt forced to stop it. The fur receded back into her skin, as she fell short of breath and exhausted. Sitting there, she picked up her notebook and wrote down her observations on the whole thing. It seemed to take energy, and was tough to do at the moment. Would it grow as a muscle, and be easier to use the more she exercised the ability? Was it tied to her Soulscape, and require her to bond with more canines? Was it something that jut grew over time and she had no way to influence the process? With so many questions, and no energy left to try for answers, she quickly doused the fire, said good night to the coyotes, and stumbled to her tent. Seeing an opening in between Maia and Kali yet again, she collapsed directly into the vacant spot. And as soon as her head hit the pillow, Nat zoned out into a nice, deep sleep.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Eric, Corgi, Lachlan, Adam, John, Nicholas, Jacob, Onean, Hades, Neal, Sebastian, Sir Hellington, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 25 patrons, which I will then open up an official discord for everyone to come and discuss the story in and hang out!

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