Delivery Surcharge May Apply

Tal saw the staff spinning idly around, noting how easily Melita moved it through the air. His axes weren't nearly as well-suited to such casual displays of prowess - and besides, his erstwhile guide couldn't see him from her place ahead of him. He didn't quite pout, but his scowl was becoming permanently etched into place as he hurried after her as best he could.

Tal tried to picture what a god of summer would even look like. Something like the Eirachi, but all in reds and yellows? Fire to her ice? Another glance around the fiery landscape made him swallow uncertainly, the notions of 'kindness' and 'lava' having difficulty sharing space in the same thought.

Her question had him shaking his head, until he realized that she couldn't see him. He sighed - coughed - and then grumbled a negative. "No. Never been one for much praying. Leastwise, not at shrines." He tried to shrug and almost lost his balance against Boreal, who rumbled a sharp, if amused, warning. "Uh. Guess I might start, though. Y'ever meet any of the others? Old or new?"

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

Man, all this dude seemed to do was grumble and pout. Melita wrinkled her nose a little, out of his sight and vantage point, purposefully skipping and frolicking now in order to push past the point of obnoxious. She bounded over several cracks clearly filled with lava, before turning another corner, and reaching the perimeter of a cavern – the maw opening to reveal nothing for the moment. “We have to go this way,” and she pointed at the distinction, ignoring any chance for rebuttal by continuing onward. “Watch for gore crows though.”

She shrugged once more at his lack of seeing a deity; some people didn’t want to, and perhaps there needed to be some modicum of respect there. To remain without the influence, flux, and sway of the deities and cosmic beings; persistent in whatever suited them best.

But her experienced differed there, and she hummed a little beat to the movement of her staff again. “Old. Ludo is my favorite. But I’ve seen Safrin too.”

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

The girl was getting farther ahead, and there wasn't much that Tal could do about it. He was already hobbling as fast as he could go. For a moment he wished wistfully for Zuriel's haughty glare; the unicorn might not deign to carry him, but she could fix his ankle in a two shakes of an ursur's tail. The wish faded away under the sullen red glow of the lava pits in the distance--

And near at hand. Tal eyed the cracks with trepidation as he and Boreal approached, but the dragon crooned encouragingly and spanned the cracks with her large, sturdy body, enough to steady the courier as he stepped gingerly across each one, leaning on his companion all the while.

He caught up with Mel at the cavern and eyed it dubiously. Back into the darkness, at least for awhile... "Shit, there are gore crows in there?" His question was almost immediately met with a call of

Meat! Meat! Meat!

in the distance behind them, but growing closer, and he swallowed back any further protest to follow the flame-haired girl into the dark.

"Yeah? What'd you think of Safrin?" he asked curiously, wondering how her impression would differ or mesh with the General's experience.

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

The distance outcry made her snort, and then ponder over switching weapons. While her staff was the favorite, it didn’t herald quite the same range as her bow, and she permitted the injured invalid to catch up while she placed the armament along her belt, and opted for another. Drawing her motions back from the bracelet on her wrist, the archer incantations rendered corporeal and tangible in her grasp, callouses well-formed over the hilt and strand. “Yeah. I just find them obnoxious.” Meat, meat echoed again, and she rolled her eyes, selecting a lightning arrow to notch and ready.

Then she kept on walking, unbothered by any state of panic. Fangorn bobbled along, rolling occasionally and picking up some nearby rocks in his vines. “I thought she was nice. Beautiful.” well before her uncle was dumb enough to become swindled and enchanted and then nearly destroyed. “We exchanged some rocks.” Pretty little ivory ones she still kept on her mantle. "We owe a lot to her in Torchline."

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

Tal stole glances at Melita's preparations as he caught up with her, eyes widening at the bracelet that became a bow. Magic, and not small stuff, either, always caught his attention and no little envy, but her casual dismissal of the avian predators had Tal swallowing back the exclamation of admiration that nearly escaped. "Y-yeah, me too." He tried to play it casual and act tough - too little, too late - but Boreal snorted her amusement and rolled her eyes and then began to follow the human girl and her gourd again, forcing her bonded to keep moving or lose his support.

'Pretty' and 'nice' were familiar words and the courier took them as a good sign. Mention of rock exchanges, however, had him frowning in confusion. "Rocks? You and a goddess traded just... regular old rocks?" That didn't seem like a very godly thing to do, but then, it wasn't like he had any personal experience of his own to go on. "Huh. Okay, then. What's she done for Torchline?" Now his curiosity was piqued, and at least the conversation kept his mind off the throbbing in his ankle.

He still kept an eye out for the gore crows, however, one hand on Boreal's shoulders but the other hovering near the handle of his axe.

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

Melita huffed at the insinuation. “They were nice rocks.” Considering this doofus hadn’t even met any yet, she wasn’t certain why there was a layer of judgment stuck and lacquered to the tones. Rolling her eyes, she considered not even bothering to waylay any gore crows if they came towards them – maybe she’d simply let the avian assholes have at him. Easy pickings.

The echoes of meat persisted, and so did she.

Rounding a corner, and not bothering to look back to see where he was, her strides continued. “She created some canals for the merfolk to travel in, protection from monsoons, and we recently got some healing waters.” From no small amount of effort on their part, but well worth it for all the shielding proportions.

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

"Okay, okay. Sorry. I dunno much about rocks." Tal realized too late that pissing off the woman who knew where they were going was probably a terrible idea, but graceful exit from a bad conversation was a skill he'd never bothered learning. And it didn't look like he was going to make any progress now, either.

But he was trying. Maybe that would count for something, someday.

Maybe.

The cries of the crows crawled under his skin and made his shoulder blades itch, and he kept tossing glances behind him worriedly. Even Boreal seemed to be growing annoyed with the echoes, shaking her head repeatedly and huffing a small plume of smoke as if stoking her inner fires in preparation.

Boy and dragon rounded the corner as Melita finished talking, and Tal let out a low whistle. "All that? She must really like you guys. Did she ask for anything in return?" A slightly wary question, not implicating the minutiae so much as the broader prices; from a man used to goddesses who traded in favors and ice-locked futures.

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

She huffed some bitter notion of irritation and annoyance, but let the nuances go when her attention had to meander towards the distant sound of wings – back on high alert, listening to how the cries echoed down the chambers. They were getting close to the springs, but the birds as well. Her eyes narrowed, bow drawn a little tighter, waiting for any opportunity to strike. For his efforts, Fangorn continued to toil along, clearly unbothered.

Speculation of Safrin’s niceness and love of the sea could’ve sauntered anywhere, but the youth chose to oblige their own efforts too. “Oh, we had to do plenty. This last round we had to lead a herd of unicorns from King’s End, and back to Torchline.” She paused, considered, and then continued on down the chamber. “I got to shoot a molten tiger.” Which Melita obviously found greatly appealing.

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

Tal's scowl deepened as he tried to guess what the crows were doing so deep in the caverns. He figured they'd either found something to torment, or something to eat, and either way he wasn't eager to meet them. But if the healing waters could help his ankle at all... The courier winced as he put too much weight on the foot, and Boreal huffed warningly as she shifted to compensate for the increased weight on her withers.

Questions of why and how the hell were momentarily brushed away at the image the creature's name conjured. Tal whistled low and quiet, impressed in spite of himself. "What're molten tigers like? An' why d'you think Safrin likes Torchline so much, anyways?" Not that Halo went entirely unregarded; Frey had their own interest in the land of eternal snow as of late, and Tal could appreciate a deity's generosity when it didn't come with more ice attached.

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

“Big tigers. Neat colors though – some are silver, gold, bronze, all elemental and stuff.” Her eyes traced upwards, in the rushes of crimson shadows and brushes along the walls, watching and surveying, because she could’ve sworn the outcries were becoming far more distinct, the more they meandered through the cavern. Maybe they were already feasting – down one of the other tunnels, and the course of action wheeling its way through her mind wasn’t necessary.

The ignoramus behind her had an appeal for distracting questions anyway, to which she snorted. “I think it’s the loyalty of the leaders. My uncle, Sunjata, was the Governor previously, and was quite enamored with her.” By her? She wasn’t sure anymore. That had changed anyway; rapidly and dangerously. “Maeve is the same.”

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

"Huh. Those sound pretty cool," Tal admitted, surprised. A lot more interesting than boring old ursurs, at least. She made them sound beautiful as well as deadly, and he was intensely jealous that she'd gotten to see one, much less ... well, chase it off, he assumed.

Ugh. He didn't want to think that she was cool. He scowled at her back, but seeing her checking the walls and ceiling was a reminder that they weren't safe by any stretch of the imagination. As if the echoing calls for meat weren't reminder enough. He eased the axe a little looser in its strap and flipped the buttons on the leather scabbard that fit over the blade, so it would slide free with a single jerk if he needed it.

"Huh. Wonder if that'll happen to Halo now, since Noah's all blessed by Vi an' stuff." Though Frey seemed to have more interest in the snowy lands and the welfare of its people than Safrin so far. "What's Ludo got that Safrin doesn't?" A question asked with a hiss of pain as Tal stumbled on a crack and barely caught himself. Boreal rumbled in concern and pressed closer until he caught his breath and balance and went back to his stubborn hobbling in Melita's wake, determined to keep up with her.

Somehow.

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

Passing by another one of the tunnels, but not falling for its labyrinthine aspects, Melita only paused for a moment. “They’re down there,” she whispered, not pointing, not doing anything else to grab the birds’ attention – further along the pathway, upon the narrower edges, they were clearly feasting on something. It could’ve been one of the many other residents of the Climb, like one of those blind rats, or some other unfortunate fool. The honeybee wasn’t about to wander down and investigate – even she wasn’t that dumb.

Treading lighter, with steps not as echoing or bounding, they came upon another bend, to which she hastened to the right. She didn’t know about Halo or Frey, or Vi’s reaches, so she could only shrug at the question, presuming it was rhetorical. “I like Ludo more,” she stated, as if that was all that needed to be conveyed. “It likes to have fun. Plays games. One time it took down someone’s pants at a picnic.” Which she found, due to that unrefined immaturity, hilarious.

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

Tal followed Mel's glance, swallowing hard at the sight of the birds feasting on--

Nope. He didn't want to know.

Even though he was trying to stay behind the fiery girl, he slowed his steps to a more cautious pace, leaning on Boreal and wrinkling his nose against the throbbing pain from his ankle every time he put weight on it. The courier took each unsteady step with as much care as he could not to trip again or make unnecessary noise. Boreal bristled, tense and unhappy under his hand, as they moved away from the crows, and the images she sent him were full of fire and the smell of roasted fowl.

A turn to the right, and there was more stone between them and the flock. Tal relaxed a little, loosening up enough for another question which received an answer that brought his scowl back as he recalled a similar story from Sah. Damn, had everyone been at that picnic?

"Only time I've seen it, it wanted to play hide-and-seek in Torchline an' then gave me nightmares," he grumbled. But the memory of Sah brought something else to the surface, and he hesitated a moment before asking: "Hey, have you heard about this war that everyone's gettin' so riled up about?"

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

Beyond the bend were the springs themselves, and as they walked further along, in between gore crows and the unknown, came the soothing, and slightly humid, airs of the pools. Stepping forward was like a breath of fresh air, if only because she’d never seen a treacherous wake in the grounds of the remedial abyss. By way of either audacity or experienced comfort, the youth put her bow away, plucking the notched arrow off the strand and back into the quiver. “There ya go,” and she extended her arm in a modest presentation of the bubbling bath before them.

Without preamble, she placed her bag on a nearby boulder, Fangorn following dutifully as the guard pumpkin, and then she dipped her toes in, content to hum at the pleasant feeling along her feet. “Oh yeah, the nightmares are sometimes a thing. It will take memories too, if you need them gone,” and she shrugged her shoulders, having been one of the many who’d had one wiped away from her mind.

The next subject line hastened forth a sigh though. “Of course. The fucking war.” Melita paused, gilded eyes flickering across the terrain, fingers clenching over the dirt and stone. “It wasn’t always like this.”

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun