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Luck was with Baruna as she dashed into the village. Most of the wolves were away from the fire, and the few stragglers barely took notice of her as she wandered over towards Loka's hut and furtively opened the door.

"Are you here, priestess? We need to talk..." She poked her head inside the door - and found the older woman sitting atop her cot, legs crossed, eyes closed. She was in a trance, it seemed. Oh perfect, she thought grimly, the moment I really need to speak to her the most. The girl couldn't waste time. She knew Heeto would be returning eventually, as soon as he climbed one of the trees to retrieve the clothes she had tossed into the branches.

And he would not be a happy wolf.

Baruna leaned down and shook the older vixen's shoulder. "Loka!"

The priestess' eyes snapped open and she cried out, shrinking back against the cot and shaking. "Spirits...angry..." She looked pale; her grey whiskers drooped against her cheeks. She finally seemed to notice Baruna in front of her, and her eyes saw red. "What are you doing here, child?! Do you have any idea what you've done...you-"

"You need to be quiet and listen to me right now!" Baruna hissed, and was inwardly pleased to see the old woman back down, blinking confusedly.

Quickly the girl explained everything, from the lagoon discovery, to the conversation she had overheard by the fire, seeing the Mulu called Colonel, and his insistance to keep her and Loka under guard.

When she finished, Loka pursed her lips and shook her head. "My dear child," she whispered, taking a gentle hold of her paw. "Then the spirits have indeed been truthful to me. They fore-see a great danger to the village...flames coming from the sky...death to us all..."

"What?!"

"I heard what I heard, Baruna!" the woman snapped back, squeezing her paw hard. "Something horrible is going to happen to us...they say..." She closed her eyes, trying to remember. "I-I...cannot see anymore!" Loka moaned and laid down on her side on the cot. "It is not clear..."

"Loka, we have to do something! Listen to me. They want us to stay away from the lagoon. I have been there, and I think this," she held up the chain fastened around her neck, "is the key to everything!"

Loka sat up slowly and read the strange words written there. "What does this mean?"

"I do not KNOW, Loka. But I cannot show this to any of the Mulu. Something inside me tells me so, and it is not spirits. I..." She swallowed hard, looking at her, "I think if anyone found out, it could destroy everything..."

"What are we to do?"

Baruna stood up straight. "I will go back to the lagoon. I have to. There is something more down there, you said so yourself. But I am worried that something is about to happen there. They mentioned a sa...sal..." Quickly she tried to remember. "Salvage. That was it. They want to bring a salvage operation there..." Baruna sighed as she looked at the priestess. "I do not know what that is, but if it is coming to the lagoon, it must have something to do with what is down there!"

She started to walk out, when a knock suddenly came from the flap of the tent, and it started to swing forward. With a gasp, she backed away and scuttled underneath the cot just in time.

"Priestess?" Heeto's head poked in slowly. "I am so sorry to disturb you. I...I must find Baruna, have you seen her?"

Loka snorted as she sat up from the cot and walked slowly towards him. "Are you not supposed to be keeping watch over her?"

Heeto's yellow eyes flickered. "What do you mean?"

Loka smiled thinly, reaching out to touch his face. "I mean I know what you are doing, Heeto. I know what your plans are, and I know what you intend for Baruna..."

The girl put a paw over her mouth to keep from gasping. What was she doing?! she thought angrily.

"You...love her, do you not, Heeto?"

The wolf lowered his gaze, and a sheepish smile broke through. "I do..."

"Then how could you possibly lose sight of the one you love?"

"I..." he looked away, sullen again. "I need to find her. It is very important..." His eyes burned bright as he looked back at her. "If you should see her, please tell her I am looking for her?"

Loka nodded slowly and he left. Baruna crawled out from under the cot and padded quietly to the door.

"My child, what are you going to do?"

"I am going back to the lagoon. Right now. Before anyone realizes what is happening. And I will take Jeru with me."

"It is already past full-light..."

"Then I shall have to hurry. Tell no one that I have been here. You have not seen me all day..." Baruna went to the tent-opening and peeked out carefully, then turned back to the priestess. "I do not know what the spirits say to you. For many days I have been angry at you for trusting so much in their words, Loka. But now, I have such a belief in what they are telling you. I believe they are giving you, all of us, a warning. And I will find out why."

"Be careful, Baruna...wait..." She turned to her table and took a small gold chain from it, then slipped it around the girl's neck, taking the silver medallion from her in its stead. "I was going to give this to you," and she smiled proudly, "Someday...when your full gifts were made known to me. This will help to guide you..."

Baruna and the woman hugged tightly, murrring together, and then the girl slipped quietly from Loka's hut.

**

"We're goin' back?!" Jeru's eyes were huge with excitement.

Baruna sighed as she rummaged through her clothes, selecting a proper sarong wrap for her hips, and a pull-over leather top. "Yes, but you have to be quiet..." She then dressed and picked up her wooden spear. "And I need you to do one more thing for me before we go..."

A few minutes later Jeru came out of their tent and walked up to Heeto and the other Mulu, now situated around the fire again.

"Um...H-Heeto?" the young todd grinned, "Baruna just wanted me to tell you that," he made sure the other wolves were listening before blurting out, "she's really sorry she threw your clothes in the tree and left you naked in the river with no clothes on and kissing you and stuff..."

Heeto turned an interesting shade of crimson from his cheeks to his neck, competing for space on his grey fur, and his mouth dropped open amid a torrent of boisterous laughter from the other wolves.

"Oh way to go, Captain!" one of the others chuckled, and slapped Heeto on the shoulder. "You really have that girl eating from your paw, don't you?"

"Be silent!" Heeto hissed and sprang up from the large log, looking down at the todd and growling. "Where is she?"

"She's picking wildberries with some of the other girls. If you hurry, you can probably catch her..."

While the other wolves continued laughing, Heeto pushed his way past Jeru and stormed into the village proper. Jeru quietly padded past the wolves and signaled to Baruna, who was hiding in the brushes in the forest beyond, then met her at the clearing by the trail towards the river.

"Oh is he mad at you..." Jeru frowned as Baruna knelt on the ground and packed some fruit and a few other things in a small burlap sack.

"Well, he will just have to live with it..." the girl sighed, getting up. "I cannot trust him. Let us go, brother. We have a journey ahead of us." Reaching for his paw, she smiled then. "Do not worry. I think the spirits will be guiding me..." She fingered the gold chain around her throat and together the siblings started down the long trail.

(TO BE CONTINUED)