---

So, Luhan's plan for today has changed once again as he exits the tavern with three new companions on the same quest as him.

The only things that Luhan's carrying are some food provisions, his body-chargers, and a summoning paper that Jongdae gave in case of an emergency--all tucked into a knapsack. Jongin's only carrying some tomes, and healing and stamina potions in his bag, while Kyungsoo's carrying some paper, some more food and a pot to cook stew in. And Chanyeol's carrying all the rest--like his own weapons and some miscellaneous items.

Currently, they're all walking in an awkward silence towards the forest north of the tavern, with Chanyeol at the front and Luhan and the other two walking behind him. Luhan can still sense some distrust between Chanyeol and the other two, and in a way, he can't help but feel joyed to have met such caring people like Jongin and Kyungsoo. People besides his mother that actually seem to care about his well-being and would readily defend him if need be.

But at the same time, this silence between all of them is starting to unnerve him a little bit. So, he takes it upon himself to try and get everyone talking and eventually getting along.

"Hey, Chanyeol," he asks, and Chanyeol turns his head to look at him.

"Hm?"

"Which um, which village are you from?"

"Me? I'm from Emberashe," Chanyeol responds and Jongin lets out a gasp. Chanyeol flits wide eyes to him. "Wha--what happened?"

"What the--that's so far away! What are ya doing all the way over here?!" Jongin asks, incredulously.

Chanyeol lets out a relieved laugh at that and just shrugs. "Eh, I just kinda felt like going on an adventure, ya know? Turned out alright for the most part. And you guys?"

And so, they all inevitably chat about where they all came from and such, and Luhan smiles to himself before he suddenly hears something that stops him right in his tracks.

Wolves. Howling in the far distance.

The others stop too and turn to ask what's wrong before rushing over to him after seeing how wide and frightened his eyes must look right now. The wolves are far away enough that the others' ears can't pick up on them just yet. Kyungsoo then places a hand on Luhan's shoulder before he and Jongin ask him what's wrong for a second time.

"--a-are you like dying? Do you need a battery change or something?" Chanyeol quickly asks, and the other two look at him with wider eyes before turning back to Luhan. "Oh my sun, I can't watch an android die--that's too much. And we just met--"

"Quiet," Kyungsoo says, furrowing his eyebrows at him. He then looks at Luhan with concern again. "Seriously, what happened, Luhan?"

"I-I'm--"

"Deep breaths, okay?"

So, Luhan takes in a deep, mechanical breath before exhaling. "...I'm fine, energy-wise. And I don't need to be plugged in anytime soon." The other three seem to relax a bit at that. "But, we have to be really cautious now. Th-there are wolves up ahead. A whole pack of them coming from that direction," he says, pointing to the shortcut they were about to take. "So I-I think maybe we should find a different route..."

And it's not that he doesn't trust Chanyeol to be a skilled fighter, but a whole pack of wolves against one man? Sure, Chanyeol's apparently the descendant of a phoenix and can summon fire at will (according to Luhan's research before they left), but Luhan hasn't actually seen him in action yet. And Luhan definitely wasn't built for fighting, while Kyungsoo's just a polyglot star-maker turned chef, and Jongin's just a humanoid half-dryad. They'd all be outnumbered and bitten to shreds faster than they could even yell for help.

"Hey, hey, it'll be fine," Chanyeol says. "Remember? Brawn with actual skills--" He taps on his armor-covered chest and it clanks. "--right. Here."

Luhan just frowns some more at that. He doesn't want to hurt Chanyeol's feelings but he can't help but still feel worried. "Yes, I know but, can you fend for yourself against a whole pack of wolves? All coming at you at the same time?" he asks.

"I--"

"Hey, don't forget about us," Jongin whines with an adorable pout.

Kyungsoo then gently pats Luhan's shoulder, and Luhan shifts his eyes down a bit to look at him again. "It'll be fine, Luhan. No one's gonna have to fend for them-self alone 'cause we're in this together, alright?"

"Yeah," Jongin adds, wrapping his deeply-tan arm around Kyungsoo's shoulders and smiling. "We're in this together."

Chanyeol echoes their statement and Luhan feels his anxiety dissipate some at that, and slowly repeats back their sentiment with a small smile forming before they soon continue down the same path towards a mountain-pass.

---

Soon, the howling gets louder and closer to the point where the others can finally hear the wolves too. Luhan huddles into himself a bit as they walk, and jumps before relaxing when Kyungsoo links arms with him for security.

"It'll be fine, Luhan--it'll be fine," Jongin chants beside him.

He's been saying that mantra every now and then as they've been walking and Luhan's been finding himself relaxing each and every time he hears it. After the fifth time hearing that, he realizes that it must have to do with the half-dryad blood in Jongin's body. Maybe his aura just naturally calms others down.

And the closer that they get to the howling, the more vast and stunning the landscape looks and it almost serves as a double calming spell on Luhan even as he senses the pack right around the corner of this upcoming hill. Chanyeol's had his sword out for some minutes now, ready for an attack, but before Luhan can even warn him--one of the wolves from the pack rounds the corner and rushes towards him.

Then it happens in an instant, Chanyeol lifts up his sword, prepared to slice said wolf when Jongin suddenly yells out a Stop!

Chanyeol freezes with his sword still held up in the air and turns to look at him before his and Luhan's eyes widen at Jongin's entire aura. Pink daisy flowers have randomly bloomed in his hair, and a bright green magic flows around him. Jongin then quickly raises his hands as the rest of the pack come snarling and barreling around the corner before he throws these green orbs of magic towards the wolves. Each orb that hits, causes the wolf in question to instantly drop their aggression and stay still for a second before calmly going past them down the hill.

Chanyeol accidentally drops his sword at the sight and curses before bending to pick it back up. And once every wolf has calmed down and gone away, the flowers in Jongin's hair shrivel up and wither into nothingness, and his green aura disappears.

He then gives a sheepish smile at Luhan and Chanyeol, who immediately start asking him questions about his powers and why he never told them that he could do something like that, while Kyungsoo gives him a peck on his cheek and tells him of how proud he is.

"I-I didn't really know how to bring it up...it's nothing really special though..." Jongin says to the other two, while rubbing behind his left ear. Luhan and Chanyeol instantly beg to differ though and Jongin's cheeks raise as he blushes. "Um, can we talk about this as we walk please? My pacifying power doesn't last forever, and they'll get mad again once they sense we're still in their territory."