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(( Day 4 I spent editing the chapters I had finished so far so I did very little writing that day. Day 5's entry is a little bit longer the previous ones to make up for the lack of writing on day 4.))

Dream World Mirau by Josephina Mari
Day Four & Five of NaNoWriMo

“I’m sorry Claria. I know she’s not what you expected, but I’m sure she is the girl I saw in my dream. She will save us. Please believe me.” Karou said after he transformed into his human form upon arriving at the clearing. I arrived shortly after to find both Claria and Karou were safe much to my relief. I didn’t hear anything that Karou had said so it puzzled me to see the look on his face. So many mixed emotions saw then from both of them, it was hard for me to decide what to say. “I’m sorry Claria. My memory is still messed up and I didn’t mean to upset you. Please forgive me and come back home. Karou will worry about you and so will I.” I said trying to be sincere as possible. What I didn’t know was Karou had already convinced Claria to return when she felt ready to do so, but my plea brought a smile to her face that sealed the deal so to say. “I’ll go back home soon. Right after I’m done collecting these flowers. The ones on the table are starting to wither so I thought it was about time to replace them. It is I who should apologize. I overreacted and let my emotions get the better of me. I am sorry to worry you. If you’re ready to go home now, I’ll cook us some dinner. You must be starving by now after your two day slumber party.” Claria said sounding more like her normal self again.

Almost on cue my stomach growled loudly and my face blushed red with embarrassment. Claria looked at me surprised while Karou laughed out loud before he said “It sounds like you swallowed at monster before I found you. We better go home to feed it quickly before it thinks we’re food.” Karou’s sarcasm was starting to get on my nerves a little. It was hard to tell when he was joking around and when he was being serious. Claria let out a soft sigh as she looked at her brother. I got the impression that Karou was always like this and that I should try to be tolerant of him from the look on Claria’s face that seemed like an unspoken apology on her brother’s behalf. “If it was a monster I’d think it would eat the cute looking rabbit with a big mouth first before it goes after Claria.” I thought to myself while I smiled and responded “Very funny Karou. Miss Claria I’d love to try your cooking. Maybe I could help if you show me what to do.” I said feeling more comfortable around Claria now as if she and I were old friends getting together, rather then the girl I made cry earlier for a reason I still wasn’t aware of. “Sure I’d like that Mari. Karou never helps me with cooking so I will be nice to have an extra set of hands. Between you and me I don’t mind cooking at all since Karou has to do the clean up in exchange. I think I got the better end of that deal don’t you?” Claria said in a low voice to me as we walked. Even though Karou was walking right beside us he pretended not to hear his sister talking about him while we walked along the main road that branched off in several directions to connect houses with the different shops that were scattered throughout the village. Now that I had time to actually look around a bit while we walked at a slower pace, I was able to get a more detailed view of the village and I realized how big it truly was. I would definably get lost trying to find my way around if it wasn’t for my guided tour thanks to my new friends.

Before I knew it we were back at Karou’s house on the far side of the village. As soon as we crossed over the threshold Karou transformed into his animal shape then he jumped onto what looked like a makeshift couch made of tree branches held together with some rope and on top of it was an animal skin to provide some comfort. Whatever animal the skin came from had to have been pretty big and probably strong as well. I wondered if Karou and Claria somehow hunted and defeated the creature that once wore that skin, but it was something that was hard to believe, especially if Karou hunted in his animal form. I pictured Claria’s animal form to be similar to her brothers since they were siblings after all. “How could two rabbits bring down a grizzly bear?” I thought to myself as I watched Karou spin around in three circles before he laid down and curled up into a small ball of fur with his tail wrapped around himself. “Is Karou alright? Maybe he got hurt when the Kageru attacked us...” I thought to myself as I took a set forward toward Karou but then I stopped in place as I heard Claria speak “Let him rest. He’s had a pretty busy day, pretty busy last two days actually. Come with me Mari, the kitchen is over here.” Claria said as she motioned to another room somewhat separated from the living area by a partial wall that opened up into the dinning room. I wanted to see if Karou was okay, but Claria didn’t seem worried about him, so maybe I shouldn’t be worried either. “Coming Claria!” I said turning to face her before I gently placed my backpack onto the floor and then I took off my shoes and placed them down on the wood floor near my backpack.

I quickly ran over to the kitchen after Claria for my cooking lesson. “What do you want me to do Claria?” I said as I watched her gather up the cooking tools we would need to make her mystery dish. “There are some bottles of water on the shelf behind you; could you please get down two bottles for our meal tonight? First we will need to pour the water into this cooking pot and then the empty water bottles are placed on the bottom shelf of the cupboard. After we have used half of our water supply, Karou will travel down to the fresh water spring a little south of this village to restock them. After we have the water ready I’ll start the fire.” Claria said as she held a cooking pan out to me with both of her hands on the handle while she waited for me to take the water bottles off the shelf. I noticed as I reached for one of the water bottles that it was made out of glass rather then plastic which made it heavier then I expected when I lifted it down from the shelf. I held the bottle with one hand while I removed the bottle cap with the other then I carefully poured the water into the cooking pot filling it about a quarter of the way full. I placed the bottle cap back on the bottle before I carefully set it down on the bottom shelf with the others. I repeated that same process one more time for the second bottle of water which filled the cooking pot to be about halfway full of water. I watched Claria as she took the pot over to what looked like a metal stand of some kind. It had a spiral surface at the top that was about two inches wider then the cooking pot all around it and four small legs to raise the pot up about a foot off the ground. Below the metal object was a small pile of wood surrounded by some large white stones that made a circle around it. I didn’t really understand what the strange object’s purpose was in the cooking process until I remembered Claria mention that she was going to start a fire.

“Erna, eire!” (Burn, fire!) Claria said as she held her hands over the pile of wood for a moment. At first it seemed like nothing was happening at all and then I watched Claria slowly raise her hands up to reveal a tiny orange and yellow flame peeking out from the wood. The fire spread over the wood then it reached up towards the pot of water to boil the water within it. To my surprise the fire did not go past the white stones so I guessed that they might contain some kind of magic to allow them to extinguish the fire upon contact. “That is so cool. How did you do that Claria?” I said curiously. I was hoping that it might possibly be a skill Claria could teach me later on. “Magic takes a lot of practice to allow you to use it properly without any recoil. Let’s try to focus on finishing up dinner first. There will be plenty of time for magic lessons later. First we will need to cut up the vegetables and place them in the water then we will add in the meat. It shouldn’t take too long to cook. Once the vegetables are soft and the meat turns brown it will be ready to eat.” Claria explained as he gathered up all the vegetables that would go into the stew. She had five large carrots which would be cut into bite sized pieces, five large potatoes which would also be cut into bite sized pieces, and three ears of corn which she would cut the kernels off of for the stew. Claria handed me one of the carrots and knife from one of the cupboard drawers nearby and then she said “First you want to chop off the end with the leaves coming out of it and discard that part; the rest of the chopped up carrots will go into the soup. I’ll let you work on the carrots and I’ll do the corn kernels. We can both work on the potatoes together since we have to remove the skin before we cut them up.” I heard Claria say as she picked up an ear of corn to begin cutting off the kernels which she allowed to fall down into the heated water.

While Claria and Mariam were busy at work in the kitchen Karou opened one of his eyes slowly and then he took a quick look around the room to make sure no one could see that he was only pretending to sleep. Karou got up slowly and quietly as he possibly could hoping not to draw attention to himself as he jumped down from the couch to the wood floor below. Karou slowly inched his way towards Mariam’s backpack on the other side of the room to investigate its contents. “If curiosity killed the cat then rabbits shouldn’t have to worry about it right?I wonder what she keeps in here. Whatever it is must be really important if she carries this bag with her everywhere she goes. I know she must have some sweets inside. It would be rude for her not to share after I saved her. I’ll just take a quick peek inside while Mari and Claria are cooking.” Karou thought to himself as he climbed into the backpack by squeezing under the flap that buckled in the front to make sure things didn’t fall out. Once inside Karou was disappointed to find only a few textbooks, a spiral notebook, a few pens, and other school supplies thrown carelessly to the bottom of the bag; but there weren’t any sweets or any food at all for that matter.

Karou turned around so that he could exit the same way he came in, but as he was about to jump out of the backpack he suddenly felt a tug on his neck that prevented him from moving any further. The bracelet Claria had made him out of colored string and various gemstones she found while she ventured outside the village has gotten caught on the edge of Mari’s notebook. When Karou was human he wore Claria’s bracelet on his left wrist, but in animal form he wore it around his neck almost like a collar. Karou was beginning to panic that he might get caught snooping around where he shouldn’t be. What would Claria and Mari think of him then? Karou knew they would be angry with him at the very least. Karou tried his best to get the bracelet loose so that he could get out, only to cause the delicate threads to become untied from around his neck. The bracelet fell down to the bottom of Mari’s backpack out of Karou’s reach. If the bracelet was found Claria would know it was his, but if he transformed human to retrieve it he would surely be caught looking around in the backpack which would get him in trouble as well. Karou decided that the lesser of the two evils was to escape the backpack leaving the bracelet behind. He transformed human and walked towards the kitchen just as Claria was about to call him to tell him the stew was ready. Karou tried his best to forget about the bracelet for now, but he planned to try and get it back tonight after Claria and Mari had gone to sleep.