Unhurried and willing to give the stranger the time he needed to absorb the Tidebreaker's words, Hadama kept his attention mostly on Michael though his gaze occasionally roamed to the world around them, alert for things that were more dangerous than the flowers beside them. Ursur. Frost giants. Dragons. Halo was more civilized than it had ever been these days, but the Fangs were far from tamed and Evie, Deimos, and Noah alike had warned him of their dangers.
The wait for an answer was done in silence, but the other man's quiet voice broke it with a quiet caution that bespoke someone wary and cautious of his surroundings. Hadama tilted his head again in acceptance of the offer, and he shrugged out of the terrarium that he had hauled along. "It is called the Void," he explained as he wrapped a cloth around his face to keep out the pollen of the Frostblooms and then assembled a collapsible shovel from his pack. "And it came from the stars. A place far from Caido." Safrin's absence in previous years and her disastrous return a year prior had been well-known at the time, so he did not repeat it. "It is consuming our world. One region at a time." His voice hardened as he steeled himself against the dire aura of the flowers and began to dig beneath one that had crept a little farther from its fellows. Muscles bunched beneath his coat as he forced the shovel through the frozen soil, shattering it as much as digging through it in order to get beneath the roots. "Stormbreak is now ruled by a member of its Family. Leaders of the Void." His stoic expression turned grim as he recounted that news. "But the other regions are seeking help from the Old Gods to create barriers. Defenses to keep the corruption out. To protect our people." The flower was freed with a final grunt of effort, a section of frozen soil lifting free with it as Hadama transferred it to the terrarium on the end of the shovel and then closed the thick glass container up again.
Frost crawled up his gloves and sleeves and the shovel was white with it. The blade seemed brittle and on the verge of shattering itself. Hadama set it aside and took a moment to flex his fingers carefully against the nascent frostbite that numbed their tips even after so short a time in proximity to the frostblooms.
The wait for an answer was done in silence, but the other man's quiet voice broke it with a quiet caution that bespoke someone wary and cautious of his surroundings. Hadama tilted his head again in acceptance of the offer, and he shrugged out of the terrarium that he had hauled along. "It is called the Void," he explained as he wrapped a cloth around his face to keep out the pollen of the Frostblooms and then assembled a collapsible shovel from his pack. "And it came from the stars. A place far from Caido." Safrin's absence in previous years and her disastrous return a year prior had been well-known at the time, so he did not repeat it. "It is consuming our world. One region at a time." His voice hardened as he steeled himself against the dire aura of the flowers and began to dig beneath one that had crept a little farther from its fellows. Muscles bunched beneath his coat as he forced the shovel through the frozen soil, shattering it as much as digging through it in order to get beneath the roots. "Stormbreak is now ruled by a member of its Family. Leaders of the Void." His stoic expression turned grim as he recounted that news. "But the other regions are seeking help from the Old Gods to create barriers. Defenses to keep the corruption out. To protect our people." The flower was freed with a final grunt of effort, a section of frozen soil lifting free with it as Hadama transferred it to the terrarium on the end of the shovel and then closed the thick glass container up again.
Frost crawled up his gloves and sleeves and the shovel was white with it. The blade seemed brittle and on the verge of shattering itself. Hadama set it aside and took a moment to flex his fingers carefully against the nascent frostbite that numbed their tips even after so short a time in proximity to the frostblooms.
