by Mikayla Lane
Gracus tried to resist the urge to rip the damn EAT system out of the dashboard and instead sat back in his seat with his arms folded across his chest as he silently fumed. So far, the views were awe inspiring, the food magnificent, but the transportation systems were the worst he’d ever experienced and he was definitely going to have a talk with Grai about his damn EAT system.
Earth Assistant Technology his ass he thought with a huff. There were obviously some serious glitches in the damn system if it thought that he, a damn pilot! Couldn’t drive this small, flimsy craft.
Once they left town, Gracus was again captivated by the scenic route back to the cabin and had completely forgotten his irritation at the EAT system by the time they pulled back into the garage.
Gracus grabbed his bags and went inside the cabin to pack a few of his purchases into his gear. He put the items that he would take back to the Adaria on the couch for the time being as he laid out the things he would be putting in his gear for his first excursion into the forest.
He took one look at the candy he’d bought at the novelty store and poured most of it in the side pocket of his tact pants, wanting to save them for later. It was his one weakness. Everyone else seemed to be enamored of one earth thing or another and candy was definitely his favorite thing.
Figuring it was early enough in the day to take a short hike, Gracus stood. He planned on hitting bed early tonight so he could start the first two week trek he planned to make the next morning, but there was plenty of time to get a few miles in today. It was a good idea to acclimate himself before heading out for his longer trek in the morning.
Only expecting to hike a few hours, Gracus put a water bottle in the deep side pocket on the opposite leg from the candy and his comm in his back pocket. Since it was still really chilly, he threw on a lightweight tact jacket and set off into the woods at the back of the cabin towards the Colorado River.
He marveled at the tiny creatures that the humans called squirrels as they jumped around the trees, chittering their delight in the morning. And the birds, he thought in amazement, there were so many of them and so many varieties. Their beautiful songs rang through the trees around him, accompanying the sound of the rushing water of the river that wasn’t far away.
Gracus had studied the indigenous creatures and environment so that he would leave as little of an environmental impact as possible while on his trip, and couldn’t believe how the images he had seen didn’t do justice to the real thing.
He reached out and touched a fluffy fern, surprised at the feel of the slick dew coating it. The colors were so vivid he almost felt as if he was seeing some for the first time. Majestic trees towered over him as if fighting to touch the beautiful, clear sky first.
The sky, he thought, tilting his head back to enjoy it. Even the sky looked so much more beautiful from the planet than it did from above it. Gracus had only been here for a few hours, but he already loved it here and began to feel connected to planet.
He walked closer to the river and reached into his candy pocket, pulling out one of the treats. It was one of the hard ones with a stick and he undid the wrapper and put it in his pocket before placing the round ball in his mouth.
He sucked on it for a few minutes, wondering at the unusual flavor when he saw a bald eagle sitting on the branch of an Aspen tree. Gracus was stunned at the size of it. He’d seen the pictures and recognized the bird immediately, but the images hadn’t prepared him for how big the bird truly was. Or how majestic. It was at least the size of one of the Sibiox cats from Valendra.
He watched in silent awe until the bird finally spread its massive wings and expertly weaved its wave through the trees in flight. He had no words to describe how amazing that had been to see and ignored his beast who was telling him that something wasn’t right.
To Gracus, nothing could be more perfect than this. He spread his arms out wide and tilted his head back and almost choked on the now empty candy stick in his mouth. Pulling it out, he put it in the pocket with the wrapper of the last one and grabbed another one of the candies.
He started to add the new wrapper to the last one when he decided to try and see what flavor it was. He pulled the wrapper taut so he could read it. “Mike’s Mountain Magic Blend”. Gracus shrugged and put it in his mouth. Whatever flavor it was supposed to be was just perfect, he thought with a sigh as he headed further into the forest, alongside the river.
The voice of his beast seemed far away and annoying, like a buzzing in his head, so he ignored it, using his energy to block out everything but the wondrous world around him. He stopped, not far ahead to watch a couple of squirrels chase each other up a tree and laughed as their bushy tails shook fiercely before they disappeared from view.
His laughter seemed to echo loudly in the forest and Gracus slapped a hand over his mouth dramatically and looked around with wide eyes, as if to see if the animals had heard him. His own actions caused the laughter to bubble up in him again and he snorted and giggled in his efforts not to burst out laughing.
A part of him wondered why he felt so much like laughing while the rest of him felt so damn happy and free that he didn’t care. He finished off another one of the candies and suddenly thirsty he downed the entire bottle of water in one long pull. “Ah,” Gracus said, eying the river as he looked at the empty bottle in his hand.
With a spring in his step he gingerly jumped onto a boulder on the edge of the river and leaned down on the rock as he held the opening of the bottle in the water. He laughed when the rushing water quickly filled the bottle and ran over his hands, tickling his fingers with the icy water.
Gracus grinned as he pulled up the bottle and drank deeply. Oh damn that’s the best water he’d ever tasted, he thought as he finished it off and refilled it again. With his mouth no longer feeling so dry, he stood and headed back through the forest, popping another stick candy into his mouth. This time he didn’t care what the flavor was, it was good. And good was the best flavor of all, he thought with a lopsided grin.
He’d only walked another mile or so before he realized that he was getting hungry. In fact he was seriously craving more candy or pancakes like from breakfast! He thought with a grin at the memory of the greasy spoon. He was definitely going back there for breakfast again.
He sat down on a large boulder right on the river and pulled out a handful of the candies. Gracus spread them out on the rock and counted. He had twenty, he thought with a grin as he picked one up to see the flavor. “Mike’s Mountain Magic Blend”, he read before reading the smaller print underneath it. “All natural herbal flavor blend”. He put them all back in his pocket, save one.
Gracus grinned like a fool until he burst out in giggles again. He popped the candy in his mouth and laid back on the rock and closed his eyes. The sound of the water rushing beside him wasn’t loud enough to dull the song of the birds and Gracus felt like he was swaying back and forth with the music of the Earth’s heartbeat and nature.
He stayed like that until the candy was only a tiny ball in his mouth and he sat up, crunched the rest of it and went to grab another one when he heard the low growl from a few yards away. Unable to see what was making the noise, Gracus jumped down from the rock and swayed for a moment. He smiled widely, thinking that the planet wanted him to dance and that was why he and forest around him were all swaying to the music that the Earth was creating for them.
He put another lollipop in his mouth when he heard the low growl again. He stumbled forward a few feet and giggled at how relaxed and limber he felt, the slight fuzziness in his mind letting the energy of the planet echo pleasantly in his head. This place was magic, he thought as he threw his arms wide again and stumbled around in an erratic circle.
This planet was magic! he thought with a silly grin. He heard the small growl again and giggled at how he had forgotten that he had got off the rock to go look for what it was. He stood there and swayed for a minute, looking around, when he realized he was hot!
Damn hot! he th
ought as he used the sleeve of his tact jacket to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead. Gracus spread his feet wide and fumbled with the closure before pulling the jacket off. He looked at the wadded jacket in his hands for a moment, wondering what to do with it when he heard the small growl again.
He slapped a hand on his forehead and giggled. Why did he keep forgetting to look for that? he thought with a grin as he looked blankly at the jacket in his hands, unsure why he was holding it. He dropped it to the ground and looking at it laying on the forest floor felt wrong to him. Out of place.
Gracus leaned down to pick up the jacket and looked up in time to see a fuzzy brown creature a few yards away, near the water’s edge, emitting a low growl. As a host to a beast, with exceptional senses, he didn’t understand why the creature was fuzzy at such a close distance and he stumbled forward to see it better. The creature emitted another low growl along with a squeaky sound that Gracus found adorable.
“Awww, little forest creature,” Gracus said with a giggle.
Something about hearing his own voice mixed in with the sounds of the forest and the low growling as he got closer to the creature, seemed so strange. And so funny.
He stopped and realizing he was done with the candy in his mouth, he replaced the now empty stick with a new one while the fuzzy brown creature growled and squeaked again.
“I’m coming,” Gracus said with a grin as he stumbled towards the creature again. Gracus had gone a few more feet when he finally realized what the animal was.
“A bear!” Gracus said as he giggled and stumbled closer to the animal who growled and bleated out strange but adorable sounds.
He stopped suddenly. “Wait! Wait! There’s something I should remember about bears…,” he giggled and swayed a bit as he crunched the candy and got another one out of his pocket.
He put it in his mouth as the bear bleated and grunted near the base of a large tree. Not remembering why he’d stopped, Gracus moved towards the bear again with slow and unsteady steps.
He looked closely at the bear as he moved within a few feet of it and scrunched his face up comically in confusion. “I thought you were supposed to be bigger than this,” Gracus said in surprise as he inspected the small creature that was only as high as his calf and more fur than flesh.
He attempted to squat down to inspect the bear and stumbled and fell on his ass hard. He giggled and righted himself into a sitting position and marveled at how his body was so in tune with the planet that he swayed in sync with its heartbeat.
He heard the strange bleating sound and looked back at the little bear and wondered if it was injured. Gracus scooted forward on his ass and held out his hands to the little creature, hoping to coax it to him so he could inspect it for wounds.
His brain tingled wildly and he tried to ignore it as the small black/brown bear took a few tentative steps towards him. Gracus grinned stupidly and cooed at the creature.
“Awww little guy, come here and we’ll see if you’re hurt,” he said, his outstretched hands swaying with his body awkwardly.
The little bear padded slowly towards Gracus until it was cuddled into his lap, burrowing his head into the amazed Valendran’s thigh. Gracus was stunned for a moment and just sat there, until finally he placed his hands on the soft fur of the little creature and he breathed out a sigh of contentment.
“This world is truly magical,” Gracus said as he and the bear cuddled happily together.
That made him realize that he needed another candy. Pulling out the now empty stick, he moved his hand away from the bear and into his pocket to grab another one when the bear moved and snuffled his nose at the pocket.
Gracus giggled at the little bears antics as he pulled out another piece of candy. The rest didn’t have sticks and he looked at the blurry wrapper to see what they were. Unable to read the fuzzy letters, he recognized the same “Mike’s Mountain Magic” symbol that was on the wrappers of the stick candy and figuring they had to be just as good he popped one into his mouth.
His eyes opened wide at the burst of flavor as he pressed the chewy material between his teeth. Oh these were even better than the stick candy, he thought with a grin as the little bear continued to nuzzle at the pocket containing the other candy pieces.
Gracus giggled at the little bear and petted its soft fur as he tried to nudge the animal away from the pocket holding the candy.
Then a thought struck him and he dramatically slapped a hand to his forehead and giggled before picking the bear up, hugging it closely.
“Are you hungry little one?” Gracus asked as he put the bear down in front of him and reached in his pocket, for a piece of ‘Mike’s Mountain Magic’. Truly magical candy for such a magical place, he thought as he unwrapped it for his new friend with a giggle.
Chapter Three
Rebecca set out the next morning a little earlier than planned, too excited to wait any longer to leave. She’d watched dawn break as she rode the current down the river and breathed in the early morning air.
Hours later she was soaking up the midmorning sun and drifting past her normal stopping point when she saw something on the ground, farther up, on the opposite bank of the river.
Rebecca leaned over the edge of her raft and tried to see what it was. Still too far away, she grabbed her oars and guided the raft expertly towards the bank of the river. She ran the current until she was closer, before she banked the raft and secured it to a tree.
She stood for a moment, listening for any sounds that would tell her if something was wrong, but all she heard was a slight rumbling sound.
Rebecca moved forward cautiously until she came upon what she had seen. She reached down to pick it up and saw that it was a lightweight black jacket. Her first thought was to inspect it for tears or signs that its owner may be in distress, but she found nothing. It was like someone had taken it off and just dropped it on the ground, uncaring of the impact it would have on her pristine forest.
She scanned the area, looking for the inconsiderate owner and noticed the wrappers littering the ground. She picked one up and shook her head in anger. Fucking great, she thought. Some idiot decided to get stoned on marijuana candy and come out into the forest. Brilliant.
Rebecca sighed and checked her radio to make sure she was still close enough to get a signal and was thankful that she was. She knew she was going to have to make a call about a dead tourist, which was if she could even find the body. Between the cold at night and the animals, she was confident that there was little hope of finding the fool alive.
She hadn’t gone far when she found another piece of clothing among at least a half dozen wrappers of Mike’s pot candy. Rebecca checked the pants for tears and only found a pocketful of lollipop sticks, more Mike’s wrappers and a few uneaten pieces of Mike’s marijuana taffy.
Damn, she thought, this idiot wasn’t going to be dead of hypothermia or animals, he was probably dead from overdosing! She knew right away, from the size of the pants, that it had to be a man. They were huge! she thought as she held then up to her and they went from the ground to just above her waist.
Rebecca heard the rumbling get a little louder and turned in the direction of the sound. Although it wasn’t necessary since she only had to follow the wrappers that were littering the ground randomly. It was right inside the tree line, behind a strand of several Aspen’s that she found the source of the rumbling. And the idiot tourist.
Her eyes widened in shock and she stood stock still. There lay a completely naked man… cuddled up to a large momma bear and a small baby bear. The rumbling sound she was hearing was the snoring of the three. All of whom must be completely stoned, Rebecca thought with a silent shake of her head as she saw the piece of wrapped taffy candy in the paw of the baby bear.
Feeling almost like she was in some seriously screwed up fairy tale, Rebecca stared at the man to see if he was truly snoring or potentially dead and sure enough, his huge, muscled chest was moving up and down correctly with his breathing. And s
noring she thought as he emitted a loud snuffle and turned to cuddle closer to the baby bear.
Rebecca was stunned. She couldn’t believe that not only was the fool alive, but he was cuddled up to a momma and baby bear that hadn’t eaten him. Yet. That was the operative word, she thought. There was no telling what the hell a stoned momma bear was going to do when she awakened.
Damn, damn, Rebecca thought, wondering how the hell she could get the fool extricated from the bears without waking up the predators. She stared at the guy for a minute and couldn’t help but appreciate how truly well-formed he was. At least the side of him that she could see as he cuddled with the bears.
Oh that was such an understatement, she thought as her eyes travelled from his head of tousled light brown hair to the profile of his face. He had strong cheekbones and a square jaw, with full, soft looking lips.
His chest was large, his muscles well defined and toned. Damn, Rebecca thought, he looked like a body building fanatic or a Greek God. Not exactly the type of guy who would normally wander into the woods and get stoned with the bears on pot candy.
She shook her head, clearing her sympathy for the fool. It was Colorado, most of the developed world had heard of their legalized pot and the danger of the candies that this idiot had consumed mass quantities of, along with the bears.
She pulled out her digital camera and took a few pictures, knowing that no one would ever believe her. She ignored the part of her mind that screamed that she wanted the pictures for herself and had no intentions of showing anyone the pictures of him. The guy was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen, she told herself, trying to justify why she was taking pictures of the unconscious and gloriously naked man.
Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Rebecca backed slowly away from the scene to gather her thoughts and try to figure out how to get the man safely away from the bears before they awakened.