Sweet as Sugar

"I don't know how to write." Mu replied. "Never learned"

"Oh," answered Melly. "But you could learn how to do it if you wanted to, right?"

"I guess. I've never needed to know how" Mu shrugged. "Can't read either"

"Really?" asked Melly, though she had no real reason to be surprised. Reading and writing were human inventions, rarely used by anything other than humans. "Well you should learn to read at least. If a sign stays "Rabid animals in the forest ahead", you'd want to know about that."

"I guess. I never really needed to know before" Mu stated

"How long have you been traveling by yourself?" asked Melly. "...Or did I already ask you that. I've having asking a lot of questions. Hope it's not bothering you."

"Not at all. I like telling you about myself" Mu smiled. "I've only been on my own a few months."

"Sometimes I annoy people with all my questions. Some people are very private, though those are often the people who need to open up the most," said Melly, looking thoughtful for a moment. "So where have you been so far?"

"Tons of places. I don't know all the names though." Mu smiled

"Well, what's some of the stuff that's really wowed you along the way?" asked Melly. "Like, have you seen really big trees or monuments or really funny rituals, anything like that?"

"Nope. I'm not wowed by much. But I do remember pink squirrels" Mu replied

"Pink squirrels?" Melly asked. She seemed to remember something about them. "I've heard those are bad. Oh, what did he call them..."

"Poor summer got bit." Mu stated. "And Gao had to take care of her for two whole days"

"Little Deaths! That's what they're called!" Melly declared upon remembering. "It's another term for love, since-" She paused with some embarassment. "...Define 'took care of'."

"I dunno. He wouldn't say. Just that Me and Hao weren't allowed back at the tent till he said so." Mu shrugged again.

"Oh well! All's well that ends well, right?" Melly declared a little too happily, deciding it was time to change the subject. "You know, I've been to a place where they worship wolves. You know what those are?"

"Wolves?" Mu asked "Yeah I know what those are"

"Yeah, they're usually scary, right?" Melly went on. "But there, the wolves lived with people like they were dogs. And all the people were dressed in wolf skins, and they could smell things out like they were wolves, but they weren't werewolves or anything like that, just people. And when they worked together the wolves and people could take down really big animals like demon bears and cougars and stuff."

"Cool" Mu smiled. "Hey, do you have any friends?"

Melly paused for a moment. "Yeah, I have lots of friends. They're just scattered around everywhere. But it's not lonely. I can sense how they're doing with the heart pieces I have from them."

"Heart pieces?" Mu asked

"They're...well, pieces of heart," Melly began. This was going to be hard to explain. "Every living thing with a heart gives fragments of their heart away all the time. Most of the time they don't even realize it. Like, if you create something, some of you're heart's power goes into that. Or if you care about someone, you automatically invest some of your heart in them. Most beings don't have control over it, but demons do and geniuses like me do, so we can sense and use them better."

"Oh. Okay" Mu smiled.

Melly wasn't sure if he understood that, but that was okay. A lot of people didn't understand it well.

"Anyway, long story short, I can sense my friends from far away. That makes it easier to find them, whether just to visit or if they're in trouble. A couple of those friends are at Redwood now, actually. That's one reason I'm going there."

"Maybe I can meet them" Mu smiled