Firewater

A surreptitious glance to the side showed Tal just how uncomfortable the lady was getting and he grimaced in reluctant sympathy, reaching up to rub the back of his neck as he walked and resolutely looking forward again. Though the name Caelynn dropped was familiar, even if he hadn't seen the woman in what felt like ages... "Lena? From the Celestine? Nah, y'can trust her," he assured the Ancient at his side. "She's not th'kind t'play tricks. An' I sure as hail wouldn't waste time makin' stuff up." That, and he was a terrible liar, so what was the point?

At her further question he could only shrug uncomfortably, nose wrinkling as he thought and thought but couldn't come up with an easy answer. "Dunno. I don't think so? An' some people weren't really, uh, saved? They just... wanted t'become Ancients for... reasons, I guess." Edmund came to mind, and maybe Fox for that matter. It wasn't really his business to pry into what people had been in the past, however, and he kicked a rock with his boot, sending it skittering ahead. Boreal snorted and shot a look back at her companion before continuing her scouting.

"Deal," Tal said with satisfaction. He was getting what he wanted from the bargain, even if it wasn't what someone else might have considered as valuable. When they stopped to examine the stones, Tal considered the bag, selecting a mid-sized pigeon's blood polished stone to slip into his pocket before handing it back to Caelynn so she could choose the raw stones. "So, uh... how long ago did y'wake up?" he asked cautiously, wary of setting off another round of discomfort.

Caelynn nodded as he questioned the name she spoke. "Good. I'm glad that she is trustable. I don't usually like to think that someone would lie, but it's hard to understand anything right now."

He didn't keep eye contact long but when he was talking about Lena his eyes were solid, they didn't look away. She felt like she could trust his word from the way he responded. In that moment Caelynn decided that she needed to trust *someone* and he was one in front of her confirming those things that Lena had told her. He was standing up for someone, he knew where she worked and he seemed to know enough about Lena to state that she wouldn't play games or lie. Caelynn respected that about a person.

People wanting to become Ancients surprised her. She didn't want to press further into that subject until she met one of the turned Ancients. Caelynn wanted to meet them, wanted to know their stories, learn about their connections to Dygra. That whole situation confused her, but she was glad that her God had chosen more children.

She let him choose and then handed over two raw stones. One a beautiful green shaded Olivine chunk, the second a red quartz raw stone chunk. Both stones are sized well and could be smoothed and chopped down to make 2 to 5 necklaces of similar sizes depending on the skill of the jeweler. She listened to Tal's question and she blushed bright red. "This morning."

caelynn

I will keep you, day and night,
here until the day I die.
I'll be living one life
for the two of us.

He'd heard about Ascended who had slept for a long time - decades, even a century or so - and then just woken up after the Voice had come out of her imprisoned slumber, so even though he didn't really understand it, Caelynn's situation at least wasn't totally alien to him. But most of the Ancients that he knew of had woken up several seasons back and were up on all the hot regional gossip.

Of course, he was about to figure out that there were plenty more Ancients who he didn't know about that might still be sleeping somewhere, just waiting for... well, he wasn't clear on the details, but for something to wake them up!

He was relieved when bargaining seemed to help her calm down so she wasn't as tense or upset. He picked his ruby out and then accepted the olivine and quartz, weighing them in his hand and then giving a decisive nod. They would do. He had plans for the ruby, but the two raw stones would be used to trade for supplies and maintenance on the Peregrine when he got to Torchline.

They had just started walking again when he asked his careful question, but at her answer he stopped dead in his tracks and turned to stare at her. "This mornin'??" he repeated, taken completely off-guard. She was blushing, but he was still trying to process the revelation of just how new she really was to the modern world. He waved his hands helplessly in the air, gesturing as he spoke. "Wh... but... how?? So y'don't even know what's been goin' on with th'meteor an' th'Void critters?"

Caelynn walked along with him as they continued towards the shores or docks, however he hooked up his air boat, that’s where they were headed. She found her eyes wondering around her home land. Looking at the trees that weren’t there before, the erosion and the walkways that have new foot travel.

When he completely stopped she moved another few steps before realizing. Turning back towards him she was shocked at his response. ”Yes, this morning.”Watching the wheels turn in his head she giggled softly and then she turned white. ”I’m sorry?A meteor!? Void critters? I think Lena said something about void but I figured that was just something from where she’s from I didn’t understand.” Caelynn took a few shaky beep breaths attempting to calm herself. She gripped her backpack and turned to continue down the path, ”We should keep moving.” She locked herself down and held back all of the wild emotions she was feeling though her eyes were silently leaking. The fear and confusion written on her face.

”Is there anyone who can explain and show me what I’ve missed?” She asked as they hiked. Letting Tal lead the way she kept herself close by, but she kept her face turned away from him. She didn’t want him to see her tears it was easier if she pretended that he couldn’t.

caelynn

I will keep you, day and night,
here until the day I die.
I'll be living one life
for the two of us.

Neither shores nor docks were needed for the Peregrine, luckily for Tal. The larger passenger ships couldn't land in the Climb, or any place without a proper skyport or dock, but the smaller personal skyboats could flit around in much rougher terrain, more agile than their larger brethren, even if they were slower. There weren't many of them; the magic that went into creating skyships was extremely powerful and generally from a deity's blessing, not usually accessible to individuals.

But there were exceptions, especially among Accepted.

It was out of the Burrows and onto the Crust that Boreal and Tal led them. The lava flows were different in their specifics but similar to what Caelynn had once known at the same time, and in the middle of the region it was hard to see much of the changes that time had wrought. Although the mountain range to the north, though it had once been largely obscured by the ash that choked the air, was no longer visible at all.

Not that they were making much progress. Not with how Tal had stopped in surprise at Caelynn's situation, and though her giggle was far from reassuring her reaction to the Void beasties was both reasonable and appropriate, in Tal's opinion.

"Uh... no, Stormbreak's been affected th'least," Tal said slowly, nose scrunching up in thought. "I mean... since it's floatin' now, an' all." Another recent update from the War. None of Caido's landmasses had previously floated, although that had changed three years ago. He hesitated and then began to walk with her again as they spoke, letting Boreal show them the way from a few paces ahead. A look over at the Ancient showed those awkward emotions flitting over her expression again and Tal grimaced, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck and smearing some falling ash over his brown skin before he looked away to give her what privacy he could even as she hid her face from him.

"Um. I guess I can... mebbe start? There's maps on th'Peregrine, leastwise. An' I can try t'fill you in... more or less. On recent stuff. Never was much good at history, 'specially outside o'Halo," he admitted grudgingly. "Uh. Where d'you want me t'start?"

Caelynn

I will keep you, day and night,
here until the day I die.
I'll be living one life
for the two of us.

Caelynn knew nothing of the boats made for the sky. Only that they existed, were scary from below, and honestly seemed like an accident waiting to happen. She looked around and blushed, ”This questions seems stupid, but honestly - everything today has seemed stupid. Are we going to the docks? Like where they put boats for water?”

Caelynn warned of a few spots in the lava flows that were soft during her life, once she almost fell in one. When her feet hit hard slag she froze for a few seconds. “it can’t be… the lava flow would keep this hot for another 10 years…” She tried to hold back the whine that escaped slow and fearful. Another thing that changed, another thing that showed her she wasn’t at home, not *really*. Then she heard his words, since it’s floating now. Her whine only depended. ”Floating? Like the sky boats? Or like… it’s just been raised a bit from the ground growing like it can in quakes? Caelynn was afraid of his answer, she really couldn’t imagine what he was saying. What either him or Lena had told him. It was all crazy, they both had to be crazy. Unless the crazy one was her, but she couldn’t believe that too.

Shaking off the fear she looked around again, ”The smoke is thick today, can’t even see the mountain range.” She chose to believe that the smoke had patterns that obscured the mountains this badly. Though her face still held tears and her cheeks reddened from the anxiety and worry she picked her head up and hiked on, this was life not a dream. She’d already tested that theory.

Caelynn listened contently and sighed, ”I guess start the farthest back you know? Or maybe .. maybe I should take a break from feeling like I’m in a new world. Tell me about your life?” She asked to learn about him so casually that it even caught her off guard. She just wanted the weird information to stop for a bit, wanted to feel normal for a minute or three.

Tal turned his head to glance at her quizzically, but he was starting to get used to the idea that was basically like an Outlander, dropped into modern Caido with no clue about how the world worked. She seemed to know just enough to maybe get herself in trouble, but otherwise...

"Uh, there's no docks in th'Climb," he said slowly, brow furrowed. The lava flows on the coast made it too dangerous to bring a ship near to the shore, and anyways... "No one's really lived here for... well. Long as anyone remembers, least until th'Ancients started wakin' up." He shrugged uncomfortably. "It's part o'th'Wilds these days. Mostly people just passin' through. No civilization, y'know?" Nothing permanent, at least, that wasn't subject to being melted by the lava or destroyed by the dangerous fauna.

He pretended not to hear her whine as yet another change from the time she knew and the time she'd woken up in slid prickling talons of unease beneath her skin, but the question she asked had him sweating more than the local heat as he cleared his throat. "Uhhh... not... not exactly..." Maaaaybe he should have slowed down on the sanity-shattering revelations? Well... better late than never, right? Boreal glanced over her shoulder at him and rolled her eyes expressively. Her snort carried a note of fond exasperation, but when Caelynn commented on the mountain range Tal stayed quiet. He reached up to rub the back of his neck, biting his lip to keep from dropping any more uncomfortable truths on her just yet. She'd find out soon enough when the saw the maps...

He breathed a small sigh of relief as she decided to ask something less upsetting--

And promptly started to cough on a lungful of ash. He had to cough for a minute before he got a cloth tied around his nose and mouth and got a sip from his waterskin to ease his throat before he could answer. "Well, uh... I grew up in Halo. Got three older sisters. Lost my parents... well. Guess it's been awhile now. Mom's side's been merchants far back as th'family history goes, so we've got a shop in Snowcloak. Seawright's Sundries," he stated proudly. "My two oldest sisters mostly handle th'runnin' o' it. My da was a Deepfrost Shield, but I was too scrawny t'follow 'im. No good at followin' orders anyways," he admitted cheerfully. "So I 'prenticed with my aunt, runnin' the courier sled route 'round th'Tundra. That was back before th'Portals started workin' again, so no one really left their regions much." Without magical means of transport, like portals and skyships, travel around Caido had been incredibly difficult and dangerous. The gods had created barriers around some regions to slow the Voice's influence, and certain fauna, like Ghost Whales, made sailing on the sea around the outside of the continent a deadly proposition more often than not.

"What about you?" he asked curiously. "What were things like, uh... b'fore y'fell asleep?"

Caelynn huffed, "Well there used to be a few, we'd have to fix them often, but otherwise we swam out a bit in the warmer waters and climbed up onto the boats we were taking. It shouldn't be a surprise with these things in the air that docks on the water are gone." She began to look around at the sky, "How do you get onto the boat then? Since the Climb is too hot? It's not like we can fly."

She listened to Talyson's voice and found that she quite liked his accent. His voice was so different, she found that the way his words meshed together rather made him sound comfortable, relaxed. "Really? No one has lived here? There used to be so many people. No wonder I haven't seen anyone other than Lena and you. I can't imagine why no one would want to live here. Warm, sunny, fun. So much to explore in the caves and mountains." With a happy giggle she looked around again. This could be her last look at her home, would that make her a hypocrite? Questioning why no one would want to live here when she herself is leaving the spicy island.

As she looked around she grew concerned as her hiking partner began to choke. Looking over at him she cocked her head. Knowing that asking if he was okay wasn't going to help anything, she would have offered her own waterskin if his wasn't already up at his mouth. Suddenly a revelation hit her, his lungs aren't like mine. Suddenly her cheeks darkened, "Well, maybe that's why no one lives here. I forgot how hard visitors could have it in the ashy air. I have a handkerchief you can tie around your face. It will help." Tossing her bag around her shoulder and resting the bottom of it on her foot she reached into a pocket and pulled out a square tile of thin fabric. It looked ripped from a larger sheet of fabric and a little worn out but it would be able to be folded in half at a diagonal to cover from his nose to his neck and tie around the back of his head. She held it out to him and kept her bag on her foot just in case he would reject her offer.

Caelynn listened as they walked and carried on towards the ship. She'd never admit it but occasionally she watched him as she listened. He was different than she was used to. Something about his tall frame. It wasn't the fact that she'd never seen people without horns and tails, she had. Frankie hadn't had those, he was one of the people she loved most. It was like, he was missing something that the people she had met before had. A hardness about him. Like a shell. He didn't seem to have that. His face held emotion and reaction that she was only used to seeing from her closest people. As he spoke she started a mental list of words she'd have to ask about; Snowcloak, Deepfrost Shield, Portals.

Hearing the questions Caelynn smiled, "You called my home 'the wilds'. That is what it was like. We roamed our homes and other homes all the like as much as we could. Trading and hunting. My family and I spent most of our time here in Climb. Searching and researching the caves and mountains. We found so many wonders that we would spend the years rotating through them for vacations. Listing their changes in the time." Caelynn giggled, "My best friend, Frankie, and I would sneak away on weekends to the Burrows and party, steal, get up to all the chaos making we could handle. It was a blast, we spent most of our lives just being little chaos coordinators. On our first and last trip, Hak Etme, he got sick. I spent my last year caring for him. His parents didn't want him back, afraid that the illness would spread. What a bunch of babies, they left the Climb after hearing he was sick. Went back to their ancestral home."

After a few moments Caelynn took a deep breath and pushed back the tears, it hurt to both think about Frankie but to also think about her parents. It was only fair, he told her about his. "My parents, when I had 20 years of life, during a trip in the caves died. A fyrhund attack, I couldn't protect them. They'd not done much training for me on killing dangerous creatures in the caves. Only hunting for food, not for fun. I didn't have my hunting weapons on me. They put their lives on the line for me. I only saw one hound, but I know there was a pack. My life has been full of death, but there was nothing as hard as my best friend dying. I couldn't do anything to help him. He just got worse and worse over the year that he was sick. I put my friend at the alter. Asked Dygra to take him, protect him, love him until I could be with him again. She did. Then I went home. It took me 4 of my years to feel comfortable to pack up and leave as I promised Frankie I would do in his honor. During those years I worked, saved up, learned about my flora and fauna and then I packed my bags and I sat at the fire to eat dinner. I must have passed out without dinner from exhaustion. Then I woke up this morning, my plate dry, part the point of rotten, past the point of smell, dry next to me. My mug of tea, completely gone. Stains on the inside of the mug, the cup bone dry, the little leaves still sitting in the bottom of the mug were past the point of rot as well. My bags still sat by the door, the fire long gone out but the room not cold. Feeling as if I truly woke up the next morning." She knew she probably said to much, but those were the last memories she had. Her memories of yesterday. Which was apparently over 100 years ago by the way Lena and Tal had spoken. She merely felt like she'd had one sleep. It had only felt like two sleeps since she gave her best friend, the love of her life, to Dygra. Though she knew she gave him over 4 Deepfrosts ago.

Caelynn adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she climbed up a particularly chunky block of rock. "I live in this wild wilderness, when I got up, I knew something was different. There was no way one night would have affected my food as it had. So I took my bag and I ran. I ran to others' homes, no one there. I ran to the caves where I knew an old man to live and trade his stones, no one there. Not even his stone stash was there. No one was in my village. Not even a gore crow or rock slider which I figured I would have heard when I left my front door." Scratching at her hair she looked at Tal, "Our lives aren't so different, maybe Dygra woke me to a new world, one where I have to find Frankie?' Caelynn chuckled and shook her head trying to find something to ease the pain and fear she felt.

caelynn

I will keep you, day and night,
here until the day I die.
I'll be living one life
for the two of us.

"Y'climb," Tal said smugly and without further explanation as to how one boarded a skyboat, feeling quite clever for his little wordplay. She'd see soon enough; their conversation was doing a good job of passing the miles and they'd be at the Peregrine before too much longer.

As for the Climb's habitability, the courier could only shrug, giving Caelynn a brief look of disbelief, as if unsure whether or not she was being sarcastic. Sure, there was no rain, but the ash storms hid the sun pretty regularly and the remnants of the active volcanoes spewed ashen debris into the air no less often. A case in point soon followed as he realized too late that he'd failed to raise his face covering when they'd left the Burrows and he had to fight for breath. By the time his Ancient companion offered a cloth to him he'd already pulled his own into position, and he waved her off with a grunt of thanks.

As she watched him, so too did Tal steal glances at Caelynn. He'd met other Ancients and so far they'd been just like anyone else. A little funny-looking with those horns and tails, but otherwise just... people. Weirdos like Danta and normal guys like Fox, and the ones in the middle, like Maea. He wasn't quite sure where Caelynn fell yet, but when he asked his questions hooo boy did the floodgates open.

Which honestly suited him just fine. It was way easier to listen to her life story than to try and keep up with small talk, so he focused on following Boreal over the tricky landscape of the Crust while she chattered on behind them. He didn't really understand the whole falling asleep and waking up three hundred years later like it had been a short nap thing, but some of the other things she'd said resonated uncomfortably in his chest.

"Sorry 'bout your parents. An' your friend," he said gruffly when she wound down again. "It's... rough. Frankie's safe an' happy in Mort's Halls, at least," he added in an attempt to be reassuring. All souls went to the god of death after they'd passed, never returning without the direction intervention of a god to plead their case with the kindly lord of the afterlife. "But, uh... look, are y'sure y'don't want to... I dunno... go pray t'Dygra for answers afore y'leave? Far as I know, th'only other shrines t'her in Caido are in th'Hollowed Grounds. Might be your last chance for awhile, is all I'm sayin'." She seemed pretty devout, after all. And he didn't want to mislead her into thinking it'd be easy to call on her goddess once she was outside the Climb.