The Moon Goddess' Chosen

278 Shimmering River

“Of course, I am okay. Why wouldn’t I be?” Katie asked, this time noticing the worry behind his words and action. No matter how much he told him that, he just didn’t seem capable of letting it go.

“Your metabolism is faster than it was in Brigadia. It can only mean you’ve been trying to heal your body with everything you eat. Bare with me, Katie, but you need to get better and I’m worried about you,” he pleaded, holding his hands up with his palms together with his head bowed down.

Katie looked at the man before her and sighed. She could feel the worry coming from him through their link, “How could I say no to something like that? I don’t want to see you doing something like that in public though. Come on... It’s embarrassing,” she blushed red.

“Huh, what’s embarrassing about a girl with an appetite? It is the easiest way for me to know that you’re returning to your old self,” Cole replied with a hearty smile.

The girl found herself laughing at his statement. It was not the first time she’d heard him compliment something she found embarrassing.

The last time she could remember was the time she’d talked about her ability to talk to animals. His reaction had blown her expectations. This was no different, “Was it something I said?”

“No, no, Cole. It’s not,” she replied when her laughter began to die down, “Now let’s finish up. Sandra should be waiting for me by now.” Continuing in her private thoughts, ‘You’re just perfect.’

Her following thoughts weren’t without worry though, ‘My old self... huh?’

.........

.....

Sandra stood in the parking lot leaning against a black SUV while she waited for the hunter/former mentor. Humming to a tune she’d heard recently from Jason’s phone, she continued to wait.

She’d been waiting a short while before she heard rushed footsteps coming towards her, “Sandra... Sandra...” Katie’s voice came from the car at the start of the parking lot. The hunter was... oddly winded, but still tried to speak, “I’m sorry, I’m... late... Oof, those are so many stairs.”

“Are you okay, Katie?” Sandra asked the girl as she tried to catch her breath. She put her hand to her friend’s forehead and noticed there was barely a drop of sweat. Her temperature was alright as well.

“Yeah, just a little winded is all,” Katie replied, “We should get going. Do you know where the Hunter’s Agency is?”

“Yeah, I know where it is, but Jason assigned us a driver. He’ll wait for us until we are done and bring us back... Or take us shopping as I’d originally thought to do.”

Katie smirked at the girl’s idea, “Very well. What are we waiting for then?” she responded, smiling at her friend before heading for the door of the SUV. When the former mentor had taken her seat in the car, Sandra tried looking back to gauge what distance the girl had run to reach her.

No matter what way she looked at it, she just simply couldn’t find a reason for Katie to have been panting as badly as she’d been doing. Scrunching her eyebrows in confusion, she entered the car.

The two of them sat in the back and asked the music to be turned up while they waited. Taking in the sights as they drove through was breathtaking for both of them, “It’s amazing, isn’t it, Katie?”

“Yeah, it is. Lycaon doesn’t have the same feel to it as Sirius, but you can’t deny the peace in this city. Even after what happened a week ago, the city seems to be healing already,” Katie responded.

“Exactly... the people here though... They know their food,” Sandra replied, pointing to the restaurants as they drove through the city.

Katie wondered what the girl was trying to point out when she spoke of food, but dumped the idea the moment she realised her stomach was already drained of all its contents.

“Food is one thing all werewolves have in com-mon...” Katie went silent as the car drove over a bridge.

Out the window, they could clearly see a river that flowed through the city much like the one in the Sirius capital.

The sun was rising over the horizon and its rays bounced off the surface of the smooth flowing river, giving it a beautiful glassy appearance that captured the eyes of anyone that saw it.

The river seemed to flow through the capital and continue on endlessly into the forest and vanish as far as the eye could see.

“Beautiful,” the girl exclaimed before she could stop herself.

“Isn’t it?” the driver intervened, “one of the two Great Sister rivers. This one was never named by the king of Lycaon, so the Sirius empire chose to call the entire thing the Great Sirius river even though they are originally two rivers to speak of.”

“Do the rivers have any connection to each other?” Katie asked, suddenly interested in knowing what the man had to say.

“Well yeah, according to what the legends say. It’s said that the two rivers meet at a confluence deep into no man’s land. When the two royals were looking for humans to turn and increase their forces, they went their different ways at that confluence, following the river upstream and the rivers led the two of them apart until they found the places on which they built the two Great capitals and founded the empires.”

Katie mused as they passed the large bridge, mesmerised by the sun reflecting off the gushing water. The rest of the journey was a little quieter as they soon reached the Hunter’s Agency.

“Wow, it’s huge,” Katie exclaimed when they got out of the car.

“Oh, I just realised you never once visited the Hunter’s Agency back in Sirius,” Sandra remembered, “Our little facility back in Brigadia is nothing in comparison.” The girl chuckled nervously, shivers going through her body...

Katie noticed and pulled her friend close, “Hey, calm down, okay? You’re going to do great. Once you have a gift, it’s not going... anywhere.”

Sandra thought she felt something wrong with the way the girl said her words of wisdom, but seeing as she was doing her best to cheer her on, she couldn’t let her mind focus on anything other than the task ahead of her, “Yeah... you must be right...” she convinced herself.