Sweet as Sugar

"Do you want a fire?" Mu asked.

"Yeah, I'm about to go get some firewood," Melly replied.

"Okay, I'll wait here then." Mu smiled.

"Alright, see you in a bit," chirped Melly, heading into the woods.

Sometime it was surprisingly hard to find proper sticks for a fire, so Melly had headed out farther than planned. She wasn't worried about getting lost, as she had traveled this forest many times and knew it well.

Mu set to work digging a fire pit. If they were going to have a fire they needed a fire pit so it wouldn't spread. He didn't notice how far Melly was going.

Melly jumped when a thrush suddenly popped out of the leaves. Annoyed with herself for spooking so easily, she didn't think much of the random rustles she was hearing. It must have been deer walking about.

Mu was using a stick to dig rather than get his hands all dirty. He thought Melly might not let him cuddle her is he was dirty. His short attention span prevented him from thinking much of noises. He just pushed all the rustling to the background with the other noises of the forest.

Melly was just heading back when something grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth. Something cold and sharp rested against her throat.

"Aren't you a pretty one?" a voice hissed behind her. "It'd be a shame if I had to make you ugly."

Mu frowned as he finished digging his fire pit. Shouldn't Melly have been back by now. "Meeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllyyyyyyyy?" He called out. "Find the Firewood Okay?" He asked loudly, hoping she could hear.

Melly wanted to call out, but was unable since her mouth was covered.

"I've heard you got lots of pretty pictures. And lots of pretty money," the thief went on. "I won't hurt you or your friend if you let me have them."

Concerned that he wasn't getting an answer, Mu stood up and started off in the direction Melly had left in. "Meeellyyy! Are you alright?" he called

"Think about it, girl," said the thief. "We'll be back later. Don't resist."

The thief freed Melly and dashed away, leaving Melly slightly dazed.

"Meeeeeeeellllllllyyyyy!!" Mu tried again. "Where are you!!"

Melly came out of her stupor upon hearing Mu's voice.

"Over here!" she called.

Mu moved toward her voice and it was only a moment before he had found her. "Is everything alright? You didn't answer before" Mu stated with a small frown.

"Oh, I, uh, tripped and fell flat on my face," Melly replied with a nervous laugh. She didn't want to discuss the truth here. "Sorry for worrying you."

With a small frown, Mu scooped her up into his arms. "You should be more careful Melly. You could really hurt yourself"

"Yeah, right," Melly replied, leaning her head against his chest.

"Don't worry. You can sit in the tent and I'll go get firewood." Mu smiled. "Alright?"

"There's a bunch right there," said Melly, pointing to all the sticks she had dropped. "...Um, can you take me to the tent first?"

"Of course." Mu smiled. "Do you want to eat or sleep first?" Mu asked

"Um, sleep," Melly replied. "...Can you come in with me?"

Mu purred and nuzzled her gently. "Of course. I'll keep your bad dreams away." He smiled

"Right," she answred absently. "Let's go back."

Mu carried her back to their camp. "I already put all the bags in the tent too. After I dug our fire pit" Mu stated proudly. He set her down for a minute so he could unlatch the tent flap before he carried her in.