Audas strolled into the Ray’s Bar, the tartan jacket settled loosely over his shoulders. The Hub had been firing on all cylinders when the rescue team returned, nearly every hand on deck to get the captured bandits locked into cells, the injured ferried up into the settlement’s main infirmary and the trade goods carefully off loaded. More patrols set off into the valley, sweeping the forests for any signs of the surviving bandits. Soon word spread that Ironhold – the nearest Nyúlfur settlement to the Hub - was sending its own patrols out to sweep their end of the valley.

  They had found nothing.

  If there were any bandits that had managed to get away from the battle, they were either keeping a very low profile or had slipped through the net.

  As the settlement settled back into a state of normalcy, Audas found himself surrounded by crowds of people. Hubbers celebrated the rescue party’s return, and critically, the lack of casualties, whilst the ‘Ironholders’ and ‘Starkwolves’, as they were called, had expressed their thanks.

  He could do little but smile, congratulate the others, shake hands and embroil himself in a near endless string of conversations. About the battle, about himself. Or just the making of new acquaintances.

  It was probably more overwhelming than the battle itself. No, scratch that. It was.

  Night had now fallen, and the bulk of the patrols had pulled back into the town as per usual. The excitement of the day had been and gone, giving him at last the solitude he needed. It was late enough that the Bar was now completely empty. And yet, the place had been left unlocked.

  Seems like I have the place to myself, still, I was expecting the others to be here already.

  He worked his way to the bar counter, where resting on top was a trio of glass bottles. Red, brown and black fluids filled each of them to the brim. He didn’t need to check the labels to tell it was wine, ale and cola respectively.

  Wait, how do they even make cola? He mused, leaning forward to inspect the bottle more closely. That wasn’t much of it back home, at least compared to some of the rubbish they made in the alleys.

  “Got a particular taste?” came the familiar voice.

  Alika smiled as she strolled in, followed by Dryston and Katori. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a taste.” Audas admitted, restraining himself from laughing. “Local?”

  “The Rocky Soda is.” Dray replied with a flick of his ears, “The ale’s Northarborian, and the wine ended up getting shipped up over from Japan.”

  Audas couldn’t stop his snort, “Shut up. That stuff’s priceless.”

  “Human wine is!” Dray exclaimed.

  Katori merely shrugged meekly, struggling to hold back her own grin while they gathered around one of the tables, cracking open the Soda and the ale, leaving the wine off to one side. Audas sat back in his seat, savouring the bitterness of the cola as he sipped it from a blocky glass. How long has it been since I drunk something like this? Five, six years?

  Cool drink eased the flow of conversation between Audas and his fellow Nyúlfur, and to his relief the battle got little attention. The group instead returned to the everyday details. What they had been up to? How was their work going? Did they have any plans?

  Audas couldn’t answer the third question, in truth, even with his new sense of self, he didn’t even have the foggiest idea of what to do. I will… eventually. He had to at some point. Maybe he’d go out of the way to do some woodworking. It was something he knew how to do, and frankly after everything that happened, it would be oddly satisfying to get his hands on all the materials.

  Alika would explain her time setting up a new trade arrangement with another settlement towards Cascadia’s more arid south. And Dray would talk about managing to configure a new broadcast dish’s software to pick up transmissions from an old tower in the American Badlands. Audas chuckled at that one, Alika may have started him down the path of seeing the Nyúlfur as something else, but Dray was constantly surprising him with his curious mix of talents.

  Then it came to Katori, the one Audas found himself surprised by most of all with her silent, simple yet impactful means of communication. A simple thumbs up when Dray asked how things were going on in the clinic. Or when he asked if she had any plans, there was a simple series of hand signals that seemed foreign to the former human. He had to guess it was some kind of sign language, but it wasn’t anything he had ever come across.

  Alika took the chance to explain to Audas how her sister communicated with everyone else. Sign language wasn’t the only thing, instead, she preferred to keep it as simple as possible. Thumbs up and down, pointing one or two things in the distance. Sometimes playing out an action with a simple flick of their hand.

  “There is a little bit more to it than that” Alika whispered, waving a finger between Katori and Dray as they interacted. “But that’s enough to get you started.”.

  Katori’s hands began to move again, one swirling above a closed fist before placing two fingers into a cross. “See that?” Alika continued, “She’s saying that she has been mixing up medical materials in the clinic.”

  Audas raised a brow, “How do you even get the interpretation right? Someone could easily say she’s making drugs or something.”

  “She can try and stretch it out.” Alika replied with a faint smile, “But get to know her and you’ll pick up a few ques.” Softly, she nudged an elbow against his arm, which sent a cool shiver running down his back, “I’ll give you good pointers.”

  And of course, soon enough he would be testing those pointers as he found himself, for the lack of better term, communicating with her. Luckily, like the others, she stuck to the simple questions or recent events. Accepting of the Nyúlfur or not, he wasn’t ready to start going advertising his past.

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  “I hope I’m not running late ladies and gents?”

  Alika’s eyes widened for a brief second, Audas glancing over his shoulder to find Kaine strolling into the bar, hands resting behind his head with a white hood pulled up. Audas leaned further back in his chair, beckoning the grey furred Nyúlfur over with a flick of his head and a sly smile. “Cutting it close.”

  Kaine laughed, pulling a chair over from one of the other tables. “So, you do have a beating heart in there!”. He settled down on the chair, its backrest facing them with his arms resting on top.

  “I’m glad to see you two aren’t trying to kill each other.” Alika said, taking another mouthful of her ale.

  Yeah, I’m glad too. Audas’ quipped mentally to himself.

  “Turning a new page.” Kaine replied, sending a faint echo through Audas’ skin as his fingers wiggled between the open cola and ale bottles, before finally reaching for the alcohol and a spare glass on the table. “Besides, us two biting each other’s heads off would get boring real quick!”. He winked as he poured half a glass, chugged it down, then filled the glass fully and resting it back onto the table.

  “At least I won’t have to break up any more fights.” Dray chimed in, grinning again.

  A small smile formed on Katori’s face, as her hands began to flow around again. A few pointed fingers and a vigorous thumbs up.

  Audas leaned forward, lips tightening in thought. “I’m guessing you’re glad too Katori?”

  An unexpected warmth flooded through Audas’ chest as the white furred Nyúlfur’s grin lit up like a Christmas tree, returning an even more energetic thumbs up in response. Getting there!

  From that point on, the evening took a completely wild turn. Laughter spread amongst them as Kaine delivered his own colourful commentary and Dray, tongue loosening on the ale, started rambling about old historical documents, or old post-outbreak events that had been recorded in the archives. Or…

  Audas smirked as Alika kindly interrupted him, suggesting that he change the subject. Dray seemed flustered as he stared at the cup of ale with a blank expression. Before slowly blinking and pushing it away towards the table’s centre with a deliberate poke of his finger.

  Even Audas himself found some old part of himself emerging, mainly his dry remarks filtering into the chatter. He had almost completely forgotten he was a Nyúlfur, talking to others as if it were just another everyday human meet up. The tightness in his body was washed away as he found himself chuckling and otherwise, feeling content.

  Eventually, the two bottles ran dry, and Katori was tapping on her wrist. Was it getting late?

  Yeah, it had to be.

  “Well…” Dray started, lifting himself up to his feet. “I need to call in, got quite the workload tomorrow getting some of the reports uploaded to the net.”

  “You’ve still got a moment?”.

  The golden-silver form of Reyes strolled towards them from the entrance; his hands stuffed in his combat trousers. “Ah!” Kaine exclaimed, “The prodigal son of the Fort pays the bar a visit!”

  “I had my fair share of drink before I left the town.” Reyes replied with a smirk, “Though I’ll swipe a whiskey for when I get back home.”

  Alika crossed her arms, ear twitching. “You’re not thinking about headed back up there already?”

  Reyes shrugged, leaning against one of the other tables. “Someone’s running around the hills around the Fort causing havoc, they need me to help co-ordinate things back there with the fresh gear.”

  “You mean those new comms dishes the workshops were working on?”

  “Aye. Our camps will need the extra oomph and we can’t let this group throw a wrench in that.”

  Someone? What someone?

  Audas narrowed his eyes, “Any idea who is doing this?”

  “No idea, apes, Nyúlfur, we haven’t been able to work it out.”

  Huh, so why is Reyes mentioning it?

  “I’m guessing you need some help though with that?” he found himself questioning.

  Reyes straightened up, “My guys will be alright, but some of them are going to need a few more days to heal up. I was looking for extra hands to help cover the convoy.” He flicked a finger towards Kaine, “I heard you were planning on heading over at some point anyway.”

  The grey furred Nyúlfur’s smile vanished as he leaned back, hands resting behind his head. From where Audas was sitting, all the humour dissipated into thin air. “Still keeping your ears close to the ground huh?”

  “You could say that.”

  “I need to visit too at some point.” Dray added, frown on his lips. “But I’m sure you can get some extra guards from here or Ironhold.”

  A canine seemed to flash underneath Reye’s lip, out of anger or humour, Audas couldn’t tell.

  “Look, how long have we known each other? Twelve years?”, Reyes crossed his arms, eyes narrowing, “I figured I might as well do you a favour. Besides, the roads have been getting worse the last couple of months now the winter’s done with, I could do with some decent shots.”

  Kaine shrugged, rising to his feet and spinning the chair back underneath it’s table. “Sure then.” He replied, giving the seat a gentle kick to knock it in. “Could do with the fresh air!”

  The smile returned across the Starkwolf’s face, “We’ll get plenty of that.” He turned towards Dray, “How about you?”

  Dray rubbed the back of his head, chewing on his lip, “I suppose I could tag along.” He replied, “Another gun can’t hurt, those reports can wait.”

  As his head drifted round, Alika was already shaking hers. “You know what happened last time I went to the Fort.”

  A sense of unease settled over Audas as she stared at Reyes across the room, her fur seeming to rise along with the faintest growl. “I’m not going through that again.” She finally uttered. “And I’ve done enough travelling again for a month.”

  “Then I won’t push it.” Reyes replied, tapping a few visible fingers along the outside of his trouser pocket.

  Alika’s cold reply sent a faint tremor down Audas’ neck. What had happened there? What had put her on edge? Even though they didn’t show it as much on the surface, Dray and even Kaine were also uneasy. Are the other settlements that different?

  “Well, I don’t blame you Katori. Audas was it?”

  Blankly, Audas blinked, “Yeah.” He said stiffly, turning to face the golden Nyúlfur.

  “Want to tag along?” he asked, “I mean, with a stunt like that charge and fighting that asshole… a few of my guys have actually been begging for you to come along.”

  “Hey! I charged too!” Kaine exclaimed, a hurt look forming.

  “But you got your ass handed to you.” Reyes pointed out bluntly.

  Kaine shrunk before them, sheepishly trying to smile back. “Eh… that did happen.”

  Audas toyed with a tuff of fur along his neck. Perhaps he could do with sometime in the open country himself. A good walk might do him some favours, and learning more about the other settlements and Cascadia as a whole…

  But what should he expect? What dangers were hiding out there? And what about the towns themselves? They could be an entirely different environment to the peaceful, friendly one of the Hub…

  He let the hand fall away, turning back towards Reyes. “I could do with getting a lay of the land.” He tapped the wooden table, “And if there are more bandits out there, you could do use the extra help.”

  Kaine’s head snapped back, laughter erupting from him. “Should make the trip more exciting.”

  “Come to think of it.” Dray started, “You’re both right.”

  “You guys are going to get into trouble!” Alika exclaimed, more cheekily than worried.

  “I’ll keep them in line.” Reyes chuckled, “You can trust me with that much at least Alika.”

  Alika shrugged, “Yeah, I’ll hold you to that.”

  Steadily, the group began to rise to their feet, putting the glasses and bottles away to one side. “It’ll be a couple of days before we’re ready to head out. “Reyes explained, “I’ll give you a call when I know for sure.”

  “We’ll be ready.” Audas replied.

  One by one, the group began to depart. But as Audas started to move back through the maze of tables, something brushed by his arm. “Audas, can you wait a second?”