1

"Aah!"
A dark, furry creature came flying through the air, and landed on the hard ground with a soft thud. Snarling, Mihio leapt to her feet and turned to face her opponent. With a scream of rage she threw herself at Rajme, but the other girl just smiled. Fractions of a second before their bodies collided, Rajme stepped aside, reached out and grabbed Mihio over the shoulders. Another scream was heard, and once again Mihio's dark form lay sprawling on the ground.
"Careful, Raj," she complained. "You nearly broke my tail."
She stroked the striped, bushy tail, eyeing Rajme with a hurt expression on her face. Rajme, knowing how sensitive racoons are when it comes to their tails, couldn't resist teasing her.
"Aw, who cares! You'll stick it in a mouse trap anyday, anyhow."
Mihio attacked again, with no better result than before. Rajme, laughing and wagging her own tail, turned to the audience.
"C'mon, Renno, gimme a match!"
"No way!"
The answer came from a leant-back, relaxed boy, sitting in the shade of an apple tree. Renno was a light-furred dog with a bushy pelt and a long, slender tail. At sixteen, there was still something childish over his somewhat lazy movement. He absent-mindedly scratched his chin, and shook his head again as Rajme beckoned.
"I said, 'No way!'."
At that, Rajme was hit in the back by a new attack from Mihio. The two girls rolled on the ground, fighting and laughing.
"I can't believe they can keep it up in this heat," Renno said, turning to those sharing the shade with him. There were his best friend, the fox Chaige, his little brother, seven year-old Tailchaser, and Tailchaser's constant companion, Rajme's kid sister Chara. The infant giggled as Tailchaser tickled her tummy. Although her nose was still much shorter than her sister's, it was obvious that the black-furred little pup would be a carbon copy of Rajme. It was Renno's fond hope that they would not share temper, as well. In a distant past, Renno and Tailchaser would have been called Golden Retrievers, while Rajme and Chara would have been Black Labradors. In this day and age, though, no distinctions were made between different dogs. Mihio sat down with them. Being a year younger than Rajme, Renno and Chaige, she was still, arguably, the most level-headed and mature of the gang.
"I'll spar you, if you will, Rajme," said Chaige, and stepped up.
"All right! Great! I'll try to spare you."
Poor guy, thought Renno, as his buddy hit the dirt. He can't really hide his crush on Rajme. His train of thought was interrupted by a yelp and a crash, and as he looked up he saw Rajme down on all four.
"Yeah, good one!" shouted Tailchaser. "You showed her, Chaige!"
"No kidding?" said Renno. "She actually bit the dust?"
"Should've seen his move, bro. He just dodged her, and... POW! She was down!"
Rajme smiled as she stood up, and within seconds it was Chaige's turn to make a painful landing. A sound of broken glass was heard, and true enough, his glasses were broken again. Taking advantage of the fox's poor sight, Rajme threw him again, and he landed with a grunt. Renno just shook his head.
"Poor, poor guy."
While Chaige crawled away to safety, Rajme once again turned to Renno.
"Come now, puppy, are you too yellow?"
"Nope, just allergic to dust. Practise your wrestling grips on somebody else."
"TC?"
"Not in this life!" Tailchaser held up the infant Chara. "Besides, I'm baby-sitting, remember?"
Rajme snorted and sat down with the others. For a while they sat in silence, as Chaige returned with his spare glasses on. Mihio tickled Chara, and was rewarded with a wailing howl. It took Tailchaser just a few brief seconds, though, to comfort the baby into silence.
"How you do that, I'll never know."
"It's easy, Mihio. She simply likes me better."
"Hmph! Rajme, your sister is ill-bred and rude. She'll be just like you when she grows up."
"Watch it, Mihio, or I'll throw you again."
"Look out!" said Renno suddenly. "Idiot warning at two o'clock."
The one walking up to the team was Irhabotu, a large, grey-furred cat. He was wearing a short, studded jacket, to go with camouflage coloured pants, and he sported an air of pure self-love.
"Aw crap, not him!" Rajme's whispering voice was almost loud enough to be heard. "As usual, tail held high."
"So," said Irhabotu as he stopped next to Rajme, close enough to send shivers down her spine, "How's practise going? You are practising, aren't you?"
"What's it to you?" Renno shared Rajme's intense dislike for the year-older Irhabotu.
"Oh, you haven't heard? Just so you don't lower my grades, we're on the same outing."
"We are?"
"Yup. The four of you."
"You've learned to count?"
Irhabotu pretended not to hear Chaige's little interruption.
"Not that it matters much. I'm shooting for a perfect grade. So make sure you're well prepared! I'm not gonna spoil my chances by dragging your tails out of the fire all the time."
"You touch my tail and I'll kill you," said Mihio, snarling.
"See you next week. Remember, be prepared!" With that, Irhabotu left. Renno could barely contain himself until the cat was out of hearing range.
"Damn fool! What the hell's he talking about?"
"Dragging our tails..." Even the normally cool Chaige was fuming, his slender fox-tail up and his ears back.

"So, we're getting Irhabotu on our outing," said Mihio. "Hey, that means all four of us are on the same team!"
"We knew we'd be on the same team, Mihio," said Rajme. The two girls were sitting on the stone wall surrounding Chaige's house. Down on the lawn, Tailchaser was helping Chara practising walking. The two older boys were roaming Chaige's father's fridge.
"You knew, you mean. That's random."
"We're seven from Firstlight, and Jamir's got a broken leg. There are six to a team, what more do you want?"
"So, we're definitely getting Irhabotu. The sixth must be Katti."
"Unless she's asked to be on another team."
"D'you think we're that lucky?"
"Do you?" Both girls looked the other in the eye, and then fell backwards, laughing.
"Noo!"
Still giggling, they came back over they wall a few seconds later. Renno and Chaige were bringing food, and Tailchaser brought Chara over to join them. He sat down with the little girl in his arms, and helped himself to a sandwich.
"Mmm, cheese an' ham. You know, I really envy you."
"Us?"
"Yeah. I can't wait 'til it's my turn to go out on the Mainland."
"Wanna be an explorer, TC?" said Renno, teasingly.
"Who wouldn't," replied Rajme. "I'd much rather have him than the idiot Irhabotu."
"I thought all the girls liked him." This time it was Tailchaser who was teasing.
"Ha! You mean those bubble-heads at school, who drool after him all the time?"
"They say he's been very brave on island outings, and that Mainland'll be no problem for him."
"Well, you're trusting the wrong source, TC. Listen to ol' Rajme. That guy is brave 'cause he's too stupid to be scared. If he'd half a brain cell it'd get him killed, but Fate protects the fool."
"That's how she could wrestle me down earlier," said Mihio, earning a frosty stare from Rajme.
"That must be why I keep having bad luck," said Chaige. "Remember our outing last year, by Landing Site?"
"Ooh yes," said Renno, smiling. "How could I forget. First he wandered straight into a glade of sweetdrop flowers, then he knocked down a bee nest."
"You had to stay in bed for weeks," laughed Tailchaser. "He looked like a watermelon."
Tailchaser quickly had to dodge a boiled egg.

After their picnic dinner, the gang dozed in the late evening sun. Shadows were growing long, and it would get dark within the hour. Chaige's back yard had a wonderful view over the bay area, and those who could keep their eyes open could see the fishing boats returning to dock. People were running to and fro in the harbour, preparing to quickly move the day's catch to the cold storage. A few clouds had gathered on the reddening horizon, foretelling rain. Those clouds, Renno knew, were now raining on Mainland. Just one week, he thought. Am I ready? Of the four, he was the least explorer-type, and normally he just tagged along for fun. But now it was serious. An outing on Mainland was dangerous, not like the strolls they always had in the island woods. Doubts coursed through his mind, but he never even considered backing out. I want to do this, I just don't want anyone to get hurt. As he sat there, brooding in the perfect silence they had when all was well, Chaige came out from the house with a slip of paper. Renno hadn\x92t even noticed when he went inside.
"Well, what'll you have?" Chaige said as he sat down. "Good news or bad news?"
"We've already had bad news," Mihio complained. "We're outing with Irhabotu."
"Okay, good news or worse news, what'll you have?"
"It gets worse than that?"
"Oh yes."
"Let's hear the worse news," said Renno. "I think I can guess."
"Me too."
"Yeah."
"This letter makes it official." Chaige straightened his glasses. "We have Katti on our team."
A choir of sighs spread like a breeze around the yard.
"Well, we knew it."
"Damn. She's such a pain."
"What's the good news?"
"Good news indeed," said Chaige. "Our guide has been appointed."
"Who? Don't keep us in the dark, fox-boy!" said Rajme. "Tell me!"
"Are we getting Sashi?"
"No. Says here that she's taking a team from Landing Site, starting the week after us. We're getting Sahir."
"Sahir? Like in Sahir the wolf? Like in Sahir the greatest explorer ever?"
"Heh, calm down, Raj. Yeah, that Sahir."
"Yes! That guy takes what, one team in three or four years. We're rocking!"
Rajme started dancing across the yard, occasionally yapping and singing. The others laughed at their impulsive friend, but at the same time they congratulated themselves. They were really very lucky. Renno knew that Sahir had been on Mainland for the past year-and-a-half; for him to come back at the right time, and to choose their team, the odds had been fairly high. Perhaps having Irhabotu on the team was not so bad. Katti was another matter entirely. The lioness was a year younger than him, Chaige and Rajme; the same age as Mihio, but her total opposite. Where Mihio was kind, caring and humorous, Katti was ambitious and hostile. A loner, who wanted nothing but success, and who would not lift a finger to help her team-mates. At least Irhabotu could be counted upon not to cause others too much trouble. Katti was likely to seek out more danger than was necessary, just to show off her skills. For the first time, Renno was beginning to feel a sense of dread at the thought of the coming expedition.
There had been, at first, two gangs of explorers in Firstlight. One was formed by the reckless Rajme, always ready to risk her neck, and Mihio, not quite so wild, and with the ability to predict the consequences of her actions. Without Mihio to hold her back, Rajme would have been in mortal danger most of her life. The other gang was Renno and Chaige, later with Tailchaser as well. They kept to more quiet activities, with Chaige pushing for the exploring bit, and Renno being more of a prankster. At times they would outdo Rajme and Mihio, mind over muscle, but most of the time all of them stood back for Irhabotu or Katti, the loners. But as time passed, they found that they spent more and more of their time together. Where they had once been rivals, they grew to at least tolerate one another. When Renno thought about it, he found that he still did not like Rajme all too well. He could not accept her carelessness with her own life, nor the fact that she seemed disappointed that he, Renno, was not of the same stuff. Still, the teams began to merge, and tolerance turned into mutual respect, even fondness. The great change came after Chara's birth, when Tailchaser fell head over heels in love with the tiny infant. Suddenly they were never apart. At school, during outings, or just hanging about, the six of them were always together.
Renno's thoughts were interrupted as a hard-boiled egg landed on his lap. Snarling, he threw it at Chaige, who expertly headed it towards Mihio. The racoon caught it in her mouth, and started chewing. Chaige turned back to Renno.
"Back from the stars yet"?
"Did you say something?"
"Yes."
"What."
"Oh, now you want to know?"
"Yes."
"I was saying, that our boat leaves for Mainland nine sharp, next Saturday morning. 'Explorers, be well equipped' it says here. We should start thinking about what to pack."
"Big game rifles? Steel-reinforced mosquito nets? Tents with in-built electric perimeter fence?"
"Renno?" asked Rajme. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"
"Do-it-yourself easy fill-in last will and testament forms? One size fits all body bags?"
"Are you?"
"Second, third and fourth. I'm sure it'll be fun."
"Don't tell me you're scared, puppy?"
"Of course I am! Don't lie to me and say you're not even nervous, Raj. Scared, but excited. It will be dangerous, you know."
"Yeah, I know. 'Mainland is not a walk in the park.' They'll tell us that before we leave, you know."
"Stop trying to act tough, Raj." interrupted Mihio. "Danger's a part of exploring, and I think it's more exciting than scary."
She glanced at her watch, and then excused herself. It was getting late, and the daylight was almost gone. Rajme, too, left with Chara, and Renno and Tailchaser started walking homewards. They walked in silence for a while, until Tailchaser could not keep in his question.
"Will it really be dangerous, Renno?"
"It always is. Mainland's that kind of place, a place that wants you dead. But there hasn't been a death among explorer try-outs for over two years now, so I think we'll be all right."
"What about real explorers?"
"That's different. We don't get to be explorers just by completing our first Mainland outing. Those guys have years of experience before they go there alone."
"I mean, do they die? You said no try-outs in two years, what about real explorers?"
"Well, they often go alone, and into unknown places. I guess people go missing just about all the time. Last year there were fifteen explorers that went missing. All of them had aimed for the bad places. People like Sashi or Sahir usually work on expanding our knowledge of the places already known, they don't go wandering into the unknown. That scares you?"
"A little. I don't want any of you getting hurt."
"But you still wanna be an explorer yourself?"
"Yeah! I'd love to. I'd wanna sail around Mainland, to draw maps of the western coast."
"Not into the middle, then?"
"Don't think so. Heading for a possible death is exciting, heading for a certain death is just dumb."
"You're a man of my own kind, bro. Anyway, TC, we're just gonna go a bit along the coast, and with one of the best guides possible."
"But you still think there'll be trouble?"
"There might be. With Reckless Rajme, the idiot Irhabotu, that madcat Katti and unlucky Chaige, I guess it'll be up to me and Mihio to pull it all off." They both laughed.
"I still envy you."
With that, they were home.