Shelter DH

The sun was setting, creating a beautiful scenery. The snow covered plain was enlightened by the golden colour, perfectly matching with the sky. Behind us were the mountains, which took us great effort to cross, while in front of us was infinite space, waiting to be passed. Kyuhyun suggested to make a camp already, before the sun completely sets down. I couldn´t anything but agree because we  were all tired from carrying the additional baggage. I realized again, how important Eunhyuk as a guide was.

Speaking of my friend, he was currently resting in my pocket. I kept my hand around his small body the whole way because I wanted to keep him warm and make sure he´s breathing properly. I felt like I would go crazy, when he suddenly collapsed, feeling lost and hopeless. Thanks God, Kyuhyun acted fast. I think, I found new respect for the younger.

Camping on the frozen plain will be hard, there are no rocks nor trees and seems like even the hunter wasn´t experienced in sleeping outside like this. At that moment I felt a small bite on my finger. Hyuk must be awake. I pulled him out of my coat, but continued holding him on my palm. The tiny creature stretched and with its paws cleaned its eyes, which were probably still drowsy. Then the mouse stood up on its back legs and nodded the head a few times. Eunhyuk once told me, that he hated talking in this form, it made him sound funny, that´s why he was just waving his small paws in front of me. Nevertheless, I understood and put him on the white ground. A few seconds later, a lanky man was standing in front of me. I could tell, he was still weak, so I helped to hold his skinny body up.

"Uh. Thanks, Donghae," Eunhyuk muttered, trying not to lose his balance, "I felt we stopped, so I guess you´re calling it a day?"

"Hey, good morning, Sleeping Beauty! Yeah, we wanted to make the camp. Good you´re up," Kyuhyun didn´t miss the chance to mock my friend, but his face was full of relief. Partially, that Hyukkie is okay and also that he doesn´t have to build the camp all by himself.

"There´s still not enough snow to build us a shelter and we´re buying the winter stuff in the city nearby,” Eunhyuk said while stretching his sore body.

“My friend has a shop in that town, we should arrive there tomorrow if we hurry. So you have to bear it for tonight." Although those were some bad news, everyone respected his decision. We were supposed to be only the two of us, the original plan didn´t count with another two people curling into my friend´s fur.

Eunhyuk seemed to gather enough strength and walked to his harness, his long coat made him look tall but I found him somehow skinny. Perhaps I couldn´t get out of my head the image of him collapsing.

Hyuk asked Sungmin to dig a hole in order to keep the fire from being extinguished by the wind. I was to prepare the dinner while Kyuhyun had to help with building a place to sleep. They used Eunhyuk´s blanket that keeps the harness from scraping his back and Kyuhyun´s spare leather raincoat. Sewing the cloths roughly together, a big sheet was made. They tacked it to the ground on two opposite sides, one of the longer sides then was sealed with our backpacks. The whole object only had one side of the rectangle open. The low tent looked very well isolated and solid, but I couldn´t imagine how the four of us could fit inside.

When the guys finished building the shelter, I and Sungmin welcomed them with the dinner. The fire was about to die down, since we didn´t bring much fuel. The charcoal was almost used up by now. At least we managed to warm up the dinner and our frozen hands. I looked at Hyuk, who was sitting next to me. He looked very pale and he ate only half of his usual portion. It made me worried, I rubbed his back a little and he shot me an awkward smile.

"Please, let me apologize once more. I´m really sorry, Eunhyuk," Sungmin suddenly spoke up.

He might have noticed Eunhyuk´s low spirit too. At first I was mad at Sungmin, I hate seeing Hyukkie in pain. But he didn´t do it on purpose, he didn´t know, how bad could the sensitive creature react to chemicals. Sungmin felt honestly guilty but it was only an accident.

"Things like these are bound to happen on a journey. We have to learn from them, but we shouldn´t dwell on them too much," Eunhyuk calmly answered and let out a small polite smile. Has he always been so wise? I was left in awe while my sensible friend just continued to play with his food.

The fire had died down and the sun had already set long ago. We were about to dive into the low improvised refuge when I finally realized our sleeping order. Me, Sungmin and Kyuhyun were sleeping inside and the only open part was to be isolated from the wind and cold by a certain wolf.

"No! You´re not sleeping outside!" I tried to protest. This didn´t make sense.

"Hae, my fur is thick and warm enough," the silver wolf countered.

"Maybe, but you´re still not feeling well. I´m not going inside, unless you go too," threatening should work on him. Or not?

My coat was grabbed by strong fangs and I was shoved into the tent. Before I could turn around or complain, a big silver body blocked the way out. So instead I decided to sulk, until I fall asleep, which was very fast.

The first thing I felt in the morning was something warm wetting my face. What the hell? I opened my eyes just to see a wolf my face. It´s not like I´ve never been by a dog. It´s just that I knew it was Eunhyuk and it somehow felt weird because he would never do that in his human form. What am I thinking anyway, so early in the morning?

"I´m hungry," came a low growl, when the wolf realized I was already awake.

"Good morning to you too," I tried to sound angry, but still I happily got up and started rummaging through the backpack.

I pulled out a bread and a cheese and handed it to Eunhyuk. His fingers were quick to ram the food into his hungry mouth. He looked healthier and his appetite had returned too. I heaved out a sigh, I didn´t expect to feel that relieved.

The way to the next city went quickly. I and Sungmin were rotating on sitting on Hyuk´s back and even Kyuyhun got to climb up once. Eunhyuk insisted, that we had to make it to the town by today and instead of stopping, when someone whined from being too tired, he loaded him on his saddle.

Like that we managed to arrive to the town before dark. Eunhyuk tirelessly led us through confusing long streets and then turned into a dark narrow alley. I had goose bumps from the place, but I didn´t have any choice than to trust our guide. Turning into even narrower and darker street we finally stopped in front of heavy wooden doors.

"I didn´t know, something like this was here," Sungmin quietly said. Wasn´t he a local?

"We´re here," Eunhyuk exclaimed and energetically opened the door. I didn´t follow, instead I looked up above.

´Reowook´s giraffes´ read the sign. Why does it sound familiar?