• Inuko walked into the hall outside of her room and walked down the steps leading to the kitchen. Her grandmother was still there, hunched over the counter with her back to her.
    She took a step forward. “I’m leaving grandmother.”
    She shot up and turned around. “Leave out the back door, hurry!” Inuko tiptoed quietly almost leaping, to the dark family room. It was barely lit with light glowing from the outside through the glass door. She looked back over her shoulder at the old woman. Again, her back was facing her until the door knocked and they both jumped. Dear God the Akane villagers are here. And she’s just standing there! Why won’t she come? Should I stay? Inuko’s feet staggered on what to do. Her hand was on the door handle fidgeting. She found herself softly bouncing up and down with tears in her eyes with "Damn it just go, damn it just go, damn it just go" repeating in her head. She quickly slid the door open and slammed it shut after her. She darted for the next house and hid in the shadows against its back. A thud, a crack and another thud came from her house. She pressed her folded ands against her lips prayed: Dear God, please, please watch over grandmother. I promise I’ll come back for her. At least give me a chance to see her again someday. And may mother and father watch over me and Roy. Amen.
    She breathed, holding down the hood over her head and starred up at the sky. The fire from the buildings dimmed the stars. She began to imagine her and her grandmother reuniting. Meeting each other on the street covered with the war’s aftermath, rubbing the dust from her eyes. Is it really her? Roy’s tentacle brought Inuko back to earth. She heard glass break and jumped with a gasp. She peaked through the glass door of her neighbors and saw fire. Her eyes widened and ran from the building. The hood on her head flung off. Roy bobbled on her shoulder blades and her cloak danced behind her. It wasn’t long until she fell out of breath but she kept going. The warmth from the fire softens her eyes and they felt wide open. The smoke from the buildings clogged her lungs and she began having a stitch on her side and swollen pain at her chest. The rows of houses finally stopped but she was still within the borders of the village. Dry grassed brushed against her ankles. The back of her shirt was soaked with Roy’s residue and she began paying attention to that instead of running far away from Aika village. With her concentration changed, she lost focus on everything and fatigue finally caught up to her. Her heavy legs slowed down and she allowed herself to fall on the hard grass. With the village’s firry warmth behind she felt like dozing off to sleep. But Roy’s cold legs on her back kept her awake. Roy growled and immerged from his shell. Inuko starred blankly no longer feeling him move around. Tears followed their own path across the bridge of her nose and sometimes into the next eye. Her right arm directly underneath her and her breasts sandwiched in-between made it difficult for her to catch her breath. Roy growled again. Inuko responded with a short moan. She looked down at the village beyond her feet, bright with fire. …Grandmother. She rolled over to her knees and stepped up to her feet. She flipped the hood back on her head and started west from Aiko Village, marching at a steady pace.
    The old woman sat across from Inuko at the kitchen table with empty plates.
    “Thank you for the dinner.” Inuko said.
    “I’m glade you enjoyed it. Will you be making dessert tonight?”
    “There’s crème Brule in the refrigerator! Besides, it’s pretty late.”
    “Alright,” She said in a sigh and stood and took the plates to the sink.
    “Grandmother, what’s it like outside of Aiko?”
    “Nothing much is what I have to say. We only have two neighboring villages north and northwest from us. Everywhere else is a whole bunch of nothing all the way to the Arata Ocean.”
    “What’s the other village other than Akane?”
    “…Dai Village.”
    “…Never heard of it.”
    “It’s the biggest village in the country. That’s what it means...Dai-means-big.”
    “How do you know it’s the biggest village in the country? You only traveled from the most bottoms south of Aimi Country to here.”
    “So many questions... When you hear things: rumors, planes, schemes-… you see for yourself one day.” …
    Inuko stopped and took out the photo of the old woman and Arisu. Don’t start asking anybody where she lives until you’re far away from the village. So she’ll just swing around Dai village and onward to the next one, whatever it is. But she doesn’t know how big Dai village is.
    Inuko moaned and slouched. “Now what…?” She noticed the sky had turned a rich shade of blue. Her eyes grew cold, lusting for the warmth of the fire. The dawn’s cool air crept towards her. She was on Dai land now. The air was cool and grass was soft with morning dew. The grass grew wildly into fields of wheat and tobacco. The smell of it was intoxicating.
    She looked around. Aiko village was a clump of ash on the horizon. She lived near the borders of the village or it’s a small village, regardless she was off of its land quickly. The village is probably nothing by now. The sky was brighter on that side.
    She turned to her right and saw nothing but fields of wheat and tobacco growing oddly together to the south horizon. She turned right again and felt a presence of tight space, people in a fast moving world. She spun around, facing east again and saw nothing. Something wet and cold slipped down her back. She jumped and spun around. Nothing, but the feeling was still there. She roughly pulled off her cloak and took Roy off her back. He was drooping heavily from his shell. Inuko set him down and he felt the ground. His big eyes rolled up to her as she crouched down next to him.
    “Why can’t you sit still?” Inuko asked. He lifted a tentacle and dropped it like dead weight. “I don’t know what that means. Are you tired?” He blinked at her. “You wanna walk for now on?” He starred at her. “Say something! Are you hungry?” He lifted his two front tentacles and kept them afloat. “I’ll take that as a yes. But I don’t have any cake mix on me right now. I don’t think I even brought any food with me.” He dropped his tentacles. He looked to his left and crawled away. “Where are you going?” She asked standing up and spotted a dust cloud being kicked up from a distance. Inches away, the grass flexed in front of her in Roy’s movement. She picked him up and put him on her back with the straps looped around her shoulders. And she swung the cloak over her shoulders and started for the dust cloud.
    Inuko came close enough to its path to see a gap in the grass leading the west like a valley. Further up, the valley turned out to be a dirt road and on it was a fast moving wagon hauled by two large cattle. The wagon wobbled ruthlessly, threatening to flip off the road. Inuko flipped off her hood and walked in the wagon’s path. The driver yanked at the bulls’ straps and they slid and jerked to a stop. Their snouts heaved hot air at Inuko as she stood still in front of them. She took a step back and viewed the entire wagon. It was being hauled by two black bulls with blood shot, exhausted eyes. Her eyes followed the bulls’ strong shape up to the driver who was stringy compared to the cattle.
    “What in the burning hell is you doing out in the middle of the road?! Is you crazy?!”
    “Are you going to Dai Village?”