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Description
Sky blue eyes followed the movements of a yellow butterfly that almost seemed to dance through the air. Nanna perked her ears when the little insect landed on her nose, flapping its wings gently.
She had seen many of these but never this close. She couldn’t understand why many of her brethren would actually try to catch them in their mouths. They were gorgeous little creatures.
Nanna was lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice Rakuseki walking up beside her, and was startled when the female nudged her shoulder with her muzzle.
The butterfly flew away, frightened by the sudden movement. Nanna watched as it flew away in the gentle breeze.
Anvindr and Nootau laughed, the brown female was so very innocent and very delightful to be around. She could always provide a good laugh with her behaviour.
Nootau called the two females over. It was midday and if he was right they were halfway to their destination. Embla had told the two of a cave she had found while out hunting, and the two could hardly conceal their own excitement about exploring it.

They got the girls ready and set off, for some reason the two prefered to do their exploring on foot instead of riding. The two walked in a steady pace, letting Rakuseki and Nanna go on ahead and pretty much do what they wanted.
However they always stayed within sight, and never went after any small animals that crossed their path.
The group had walked for twenty minutes when Nootau stopped and pointed out the small, almost hidden trail leading off the path.
It was the one they had been looking for, the start of getting to the cave. Anvindr called to Nanna and Rakuseki to come, and the two females were soon beside the two men.
It was pretty obvious that it was a deer trail, even tho the most recent tracks seemed to be at least one week old by Nootau’s guess.

As they trudged along on the trail, Nanna kept close to Anvindr. Almost a bit to close. Everytime he had to stop for a second she would bump into him.
He didn’t blame her. The forest was thick around them, and with her being timid and so unsure about herself of course she would stick close to someone she felt safe with.
In front of them Nootau walked behind Rakuseki, not bothered at all with all the roots and rocks on the ground.
To Anvindr it almost seemed like Nootau sometimes walked just as good as an animal on uneven ground, and snow as well.
Almost as if he’d heard his friends thoughts Nootau looked back and asked how it was going for him. Anvindr just said that he was fine, but he’d seen that slight smirk on Nootau’s face.
The two might not be brothers, but sometimes they sure acted like it. They would be at each others backs and tease one another. Not that they meant anything by it.

Rakuseki and Nootau both stopped simultaneously, making Anvindr stop dead in his tracks as well, and not a second after he felt Nanna bump into him again.
Before he could even open his mouth to ask why they had stopped, Nootau held up his hand in a waiting sign.
Rakuseki listened carefully and Nootau did the same. He knew he couldn’t hear as good as she did, but he did hear something walking in the thick underbrush, and whatever it was, it was heading in their direction.
It didn’t take long before the source of the noise came into view. Out on the trail stepped a piebald female tokota. She had in addition to her piebald markings a gorgeous cream tundra color.
Anvindr did recognize the female, as he’d seen her before. He knew that her name was Sedna.
He crouched down and gently called her name. She perked her ears and looked at him. Then she walked past Rakuseki and Nootau and stopped before Anvindr who let her sniff his hand before petting her.
“Shall we keep going?” Nootau asked looking back at them.
Anvindr nodded and stood up. “See you later Sedna.” He started walking after Nootau and Rakuseki, with Nanna in tow after him. And to his surprise Sedna walked right next to her.
“Looks like we got another traveling companion.” He said smiling to Nootau.

Anvindr had picked up his pace and tried his best to walk next to Nootau, much to his amusement.
“You’re terrible at walking over roots, do you know that?” Nootau asked, looking as Anvindr once again pulled his foot loose from underneath a root.
“I’m sorry I don’t have magical feet like you.” He replied back.
Nootau laughed and patted his friend's back. “You’ll learn.”
Rakuseki looked at them, they were an odd pair indeed. As they caught up to her she started walking again.
Nanna walked a bit behind the two next to Sedna, she felt safe with the female. It had been a long time since she felt this safe. It reminded her about the time with her mother.
It almost seemed like Sedna picked up on Nanna’s feelings, as the older female gave the younger one a quick lick on the cheek.

Rakuseki stood on a small hill looking at a deer that grazed next to the trail. Once it heard the footsteps of her companions it lifted its head, and one it saw her it took of like a rocket into the woods.
The party kept going, with Nootau making periodic stops to check for landmarks to ensure them that they were going in the right direction.
It wasn’t long until he found what he was looking for. A huge oak with roots that formed a heart on its east side. Now all they had to do was walk a quarter-mile to the west and they would arrive at the opening of the cave.
While they walked Anvindr took note of how calm Nanna seemed to be, he hadn’t seen her so calm ever before. He was glad that Sedna’s company was so calming for Nanna.
It didn’t take them long to get to the cave opening.

Nootau and Anvindr couldn’t keep their excitement down any longer. They almost ran to the cave in pure joy of getting to explore something new.
Rakuseki stood at the mouth of the cave and waited for Nanna and Sedna. Once they got there Nanna stopped dead in her tracks.
The cave seemed dark, and to her, scary. She didn’t want to go in there.
Sedna could tell that she was scared and gently nuzzled her. Rakuseki walked up to Nanna and gently nudged her, trying to encourage her.
Nanna looked at the two females, perhaps if they were there with her it would be ok. But she was still nervous.
Sedna took one step forward and looked back at Nanna, Rakuseki did the same. With both of them giving her encouragement to go forward Nanna slowly walked into the cave.

It didn’t take long for the females to find the Nootau and Anvindr, they had stopped and were examining a seeming bioluminescent mushroom. It lit up a good portion of its surrounding, and there were many more like it all around them. The inside of the cave wasn’t as dark as it had looked from the outside. The only dark parts were behind various stalagmites and stalactites from their shadows.
It was truly a marvelous place. Rakuseki went up to one of the mushrooms and sniffed it. It almost smelled like a flower.
Nanna was the only one that wasn’t exploring the cave, she kept close to Sedna as she walked around the cave after Nootau and Anvindr who walked further into the cave.
Rakuseki was quick to catch up to them when they weren’t in her sights anymore. She was almost as curious as the two men were.

They had walked a good distance into the cave when they heard the sound of water. In the stillness of the cave it was very clear what it was.
After turning around a corner they found a small river, it ran past the corner and into a small hole in the wall.
Following the river for a while they soon entered a large open space. In the middle was a small lake that formed from the water that ran down a small waterfall in one end of the cavern. Or rather three small waterfalls.
The two men wasted no time in starting to walk around the room having a look around at everything. While the tokotas walked up to the lake.
Sedna smelled the water, it didn’t smell salty, so she tasted it coming to the conclusion that it was freshwater. The females quenched their thirst, then looked at the two men who were having an excited conversation about something they had found.

Nanna laid down next to the lake, letting one of her front paws touch the cool water. She felt someone lay down next to her, glancing to her left she saw that Sedna had settled down next to her, and looked at her with warm eyes.
Then she felt someone on her right side, looking over she saw Rakuseki, who also looked at her with friendly eyes.
Nanna laid her head down on the ground, soon feeling Sedna resting her head on her back and Rakuseki’s on her shoulders. Nanna felt great comfort for having them close to her.
Now they only needed to wait for Anvindr and Nootau to finish their business of exploring the cavern and they could start the journey back home.