When the early morning rays of light descended upon the forest, Henri Brown opened his eyes slowly, then blinked a few times. Yawning, Henri stretched his front legs, extending his claws, while his jaws opened wide to reveal his imressive teeth. Finishing off the yawn with a vigorous shake of his maned head, Henri got up from where he had slept at the mouth of the den. He peered inside to see the grey wolf sleeping peacefully beside the black panther. Henri breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the jaguar's side move up and down as the big cat breathed. Walking away from eh den, Henri headed over to the pond where Simon was already wading through hoping to catch breakfast. "Hey Captain." Henri said then lapped up the water with his tongue. "Brown." Simon acknowledged. "How are you this morning?" "Just fine. Jim appears to be alright. He's still sleeping. So is Blair." Simon nodded, "I expect Jim will sleep more as he recovers." A sound had them turning their heads to see Joel and Megan waking up. "Where's Rafe?" Henri asked. "I sent him out to scout around." Simon said. Henri nodded. Joel and Megan walked over to the pond to get a morning drink. "How are you two doing?" Simon asked. "Alright, I guess. Wishing I was back home sleeping in my nice big bed." Joel answered. "Same here." Megan said. "Wish I was back in my own damn body too." At that moment Maria leaped down from her restin place in the tree and padded over to the Major Crimes gang. "Good morning." She said to them. "Good morning, Maria." Henri answered back. Maria took a drink of water, then lifted her head to look at Simon. "I am assuming from the way everyone is acting that you are the leader here." She said to Simon. "I'm the captain, yes." Simon answered. "Then it is you that I must speak. this place is not safe. you are nto yet deep enough into the mountians to truly be safe from the elves, but for a group your size and difference, this place is not safe at all. Eventually, the food supply for your grass eater friends will run out. And predators of your size will over hunt this area." "What is it you suggest." "What I would suggest is that you split up, but since I know that will not happen, the next best thing is to go over the mountains into the land beyond it." "What is beyond htose mountains?" Henri asked. "Land that is not controlled by the Elves for one. Though they do occassionally come there, they do not do so in great numbers. A few live in that area. Small families that live in cabins, and rarely see the cities that are west and south of us. But the land is cold. At the base of the mountians on the other side is a forest similiar to this which is probably covered in snow or at the very least cold. It is not winter yet, this is only the beginning of Autumn. Yet this side of the mountains stays seasonly warm, while the other side is usually cold since it is furthur north and at a higher elevation. Beyond the forezt is a tundra with grass and no trees. Half the time its buried in snow, the other half snow patches the ground. But the pastures will feed your grass eater friends. and their will be plenty of herd animals to feed upon. Some not even of our world. "These elves that live in this area?" Simon asked. "Do not bother our kind quite as much as the city dwellers do. Occasionaly they will capture those like your grass eater friends for the uses they would bring to their lives. And only a mage would be interested in Henri and Jim. Rafe, Blair, and you would not be of interest to them unless you hunt their herds. They live simple lives in huts, herding thier beast that provide their wool or their clothing." Simon waded out of the pond and sat down on his haunches. He looked around his gaze passing over Joel and Megan, then looking to Henri. His thoughts turned to the two still sleeping in the den. "I think this is a good idea." Simon said. "I won't make any of you come..." "We follow where you lead Simon." Joel answered for the others. "We'll wait until Jim is fit to travel, then leave. However, I think I'll send Rafe to scout the area. By the time he gets back, I'm sure we'll be ready to go. And if you don't mind Joel, Rafe can ride on your horns so that he can recover from the long flight." "No problem there, Simon." Joel said. "Now that that is settled, I guess we need to turn back to the business of survival. Henri, I'm going to try and fish some more. I guess you'll have to do the hunting till Jim is healthy again." "No problem, Captain." Henri said. "Coming, Maria?" Henri asked the leopard. She nodded and the two of them bounded away to be swallowed by the forest. Rafe came back only about an hour after Maria had spoken to simon about leaving the area. Simon had managed to catch a couple of fish in that time, and he had Rafe eat one of the good sized fish, then rest before he began his scouting flight of the land beyond the mountains. Rafe agreed, and began his meal. Maria and Henri came back with a young purple deer like beast. By that time Jima nd Blair had exited the den, with Jim limping slightly. The predators feated on the kill while the grass eaters grazed. When they were done, Henri dragged the remains far from the camp to let the vultures and other scavengers feast. While they all lain down in the soft grass with Joel and Megan grazing not far from them, Simon told his plan and Maria's suggestion to Rafe, Jima nd Blair who had missed the earlier conversation. "Its a good idea Simon, but no need to wait..." Jim started but trailed off when Simon gave him ahard look. "No Jim. The last thing we need is you to aggravate your injuries. And besides, its best we wait till Rafe can come back form his scouting mission." Jim bowed his head in agreement properly chastised. "Since we are all in agreement, then Rafe can begin as soon as he's rested and ready." Rafe nodded, "That's good. I'll go take a nice short nap. I should be ready to go when I wake up." He flew up to a perch in a nearby tree and promptly fluffed his feathers tucking his head down in his chest and closed his eyes. The others lounged around in the soft grass. Jim fell asleep almost immediatly with Blair lying by his side awake and alert. "Henri." Simon said softly. The lion got up and walked over to where the captain sat on his haunches. "Yeah, Captain." "I've been smelling something off and on since we got here. If you wouldn't mind hanging here to guard the others, I think I'd like to go see if I can find what I've been smelling." Henri grinned a lion's grin, "Sure no problem, Captain." Knowing that the rest of the group was in good hands ere paws, Simon lumbered off into the surrounding woods following his nose. Within minutes, Simon found exaclty what his nose had told him was out there. In the hollow of a dead tree the scent of honey wafted to the bear's nose. He saw the bees buzzing aorund the opening, but knew that the stinging would only be slight nuisance to his thick tough grizzly bear hide. The honey would be a welcome treat to everyone. Simon just had to figure out how to get it to them. Short of taking the tree, anyway. He lumbered over to the tree ignoring the stinging of the bees. It sorta of felt like someone was pinching him, not the stinging feel he would get if he had been in human form. Digging his nose into the tree carefully, Simon managed to grasp and remove a whole comb that's interior was filled with honey. Some dripped, but the comb was mostly intact and kept the honey from dripping out of its cells. Placing it on the ground, Simon stuck his head back in and took another intact comb out of the tree and set it on top of the other, then took both in his mouth. Simn turned in time to see a large Black Bear standing not far from him no doubt lured there like Simon but the smell of the honey. Not watning to fight and perhaps damage his prizes, Simon set the combs down carefully and stood up to his full intimidating height. The Black Bear was no fool. Simon outweighed him by nearly four hundred pounds. The Black Bear turned and left the aread backing away from Simon, who chuckled and took the combs back into his mouth and headed back to the camp. He noticed that the Black Bear raided the comb as soon as Simon left the area. Though there had not been alot of honey within the two combs Simon brought back, it was still a welcome treat to everyone. Each of them got a few generous licks of honey, and a couple of bites of the crunchy comb. After Rafe got his share, the large golden eagle lifted off and began his scouting trip. He heard Henri's voice bidding him a safe journey. Rafe flew on the currents, finding only a few thermals that allowed him to rise higher into the sky. Thanks to the winds and currents, Rafe didn't use most of his strength trying to flap to stay aloft. He looked down upon the world below seeing the majestic mountains and the thick forest. He did not fly far above the mountains, perhaps only a few feet. The air was certainly thinner, but not too thin. His height allowed him to see the pass through the mountains that his land bound group would surely have to take to reach the other side. Though the pass had trees growing along it, as well as the river they had followed, Rafe noticed with some trepidation that that pass was also used by the elves. And in fact a small caravan was making its way through the pass. The caravan had three wagons being pulled by oxen. Knowing that the oxen had been humans in their world made Rafe shudder. He was glad that the oxen looked in good health and weren't being beaten by the elf drivers. Other elves rode unicorns alongside the wagons, while two of them rode horses. Rafe wondered if it was a good thing or bad thing that the caravan's were heading away from the tundra and toward the forest. He hoped that they did not run across his friends, but did not think they would if they continued along the dirt paved road. Rafe shudderred again when he saw what one of the wagons held. It was cage made of iron bars and inside a lioness paced back and forth. Catching a thermal, Rafe rose higher into the sky, and away fromt he scene below him. The pass had good cover,a nd hopefully their group would be able to travel through it without being discovered. It would help that Rafe would be able to fly and scout for them as they went. The golden eagle that was Bryan Rafe, folded his wings and lost altitude swooping down closer to the pass now that he was far from the elven travelers. His eyesight told them that his group would have plenty of non-earth game for them to hunt as well as access to water. Nodding to himself, rafe continued his journey using the winds and currents within the pass to make his way through it. Riding a thermal, Rafe flew above the pass and exited out the other side to find more old growth forest, not nearly as thick as the one he had just left. And in fact the forest thinned much more quickly and gave way to a rocky plain, that eventually gave way to a sea of grass and snow and water. Herds of caribou waded through the thick rushes, eating the stalks and drinking the water. A horse herd grazed not far from them on dry land, a white stallion standing watch over the herd. Rafe's eagle eyes saw the pride of lions led by three strong healthy males, and the family of cheetas staying far from the pride. Hyenas, meerkats, warthogs, giraffes, elephants, elk, antelope, deer, unicorns, purple deer and light blue furred elk like creatures all lived upon the large tundra that seemed to go on and on forever. The sight of smoke had Rafe investigating to find huts made of wood, mud and grasses sitting in a circular pattern surrounded by a wooden fence. Outside the fence the land had been replanted. Instead of the grass, the ground supported corn stalks, and wheat. Along the wet marshland not far from them grew rice. Elves dressed in clothing made of wool no doubt gotten from the sheep like creatures that were grazing under the watchful eyes of elf riders on unicorns were moving amongst the huts. Women and children mostly. The few males appeared to be working out in the fields tending the crops or on guard on the perimeter. Riders on unicorns chased away grazing animals that did not belong to them, and the guards were not doubt on the look out for predators. Rafe saw a few earth animals among the huts. Dogs mostly. A few horses tied to posts, and a few cows in pens made for them. Amongst the sheeplike creatures were real sheep and goats. What frightened Rafe the most was the sight of the cheetah lying outside one of the huts that had what looked like charms on the hut itself. The cheetah was grooming its immaculate fur, and looked well fed. The sight of the leather collar around its neck made Rafe flap far up into the sky trying to get away from the sight. Gaining altitude allowed him to see more. Several miles from the first village was another village. Rafe, figuring he'd seen all he needed to see, turned and headed back. He stopped in the forest when night began to fall, and roosted in the safety of a tree.