"Curiosity is a fatal flaw in most Outlanders," he cheerfully admitted to her observation that Halo was an odd choice for exploration. "Though we hardly have a monopoly on it." As the Naturals in his own guild so amply demonstrated. Especially the names of the deceased that hung upon the wall in reminder for who had been lost. "But the monks we ran into in the mountains were very insistent that no one else go that way on pain of worse-than-death, assuming death didn't get you first." And really, what could you do against a tribe of murderous monks looking to kill you for your own good?
Weaver's question was a good one, and Jigano gave a slow nod as some of his good humor faded. "Isn't that the truth?" he asked softly. "Monsters, demons, dark gods... but just because we don't know about them doesn't mean that they won't find out about us. I'd rather have some warning than none at all... assuming I survive the experience to carry that warning back here," he added ruefully. "Though you seem to travel a fair bit as well? At least to the Grounds and Torchline. Will you continue that now that you're running the bar here?" He wasn't sure how many days off she would have or if she'd have the luxury of time to travel with a teenaged brother to take care of. Though Korbin seemed to more or less take care of himself, he still seemed to need a little looking after. Not that any boy his age would admit to it!
”Fair enough,” she says with a grin. ”Curiosity is a fatal flaw in most of us.” After all, wasn’t she the curious sort? Wouldn’t she go running off to explore new things (hadn’t she, in a way, when the portals were opened)? No, she does not blame the Outlanders specifically for curiosity, but even the Naturals didn’t do much exploring in Halo. It was just safer not to. Well, it had been, anyway, though that seemed to be changing. The threat of the cannibals was growing worse, and Weaver didn’t know what else had happened that she wasn’t even aware of. ”Tell me more about the monks?” she asks, curious what exactly he’d discovered in his exploration.
Then he goes on to list all the possible things they might find. Well, all the possible bad things. There were good things to be found too, of course, but those were less concerning and they spent far less time speculating about those. ”Well I would agree with that. I would rather know, though it would be ideal to know before we run into them.” Or before some lesser deity decides to throw an Outlander in charge of your home...he could be worse, she supposes. {sbay}”Ah, I’m sure I will. We have plenty of help at the Kraai, and I am not sure I can stay put now that travel is the option. Though I don’t think I will be gone from Halo for long periods.”{/b} Short trips, but she wasn’t sure she’d feel comfortable leaving the bar for too long. Not yet, anyway, with the place still so new. ”Though thankfully we have Deepfrost to settle into a rhythm.”
He tilted his head at the question, thoughtful as he strolled down the snowy street, dredging up memories of a very different place. "There's not much to say, really. They lived deep in the Fangs and were very militant about not letting anyone trespass further into their territory. But they let us leave unharmed, once we agreed not to press them further." A curious group, and one whose motives remained strange to him, though their insistence on saving souls over lives struck a certain nerve.
Talk of monsters and other difficulties had him sobering a little, though he gave Weaver a wryly agreeing nod of his head at knowing the details of those dangers before rather than after they were met. "We'll just have to see how it goes," he admitted. "We can only prepare for so much without knowing exactly what to set defenses against." High walls did little good against enemies that could fly, for instance.
His smile became warmer at hearing that she would continue to travel and indulge her curiosity, always glad to find a fellow explorer. "Home is where the heart is. It's why I always go back to the Hollowed Grounds at the end of the day. But it's nice to have options, certainly." He gave a nod at the mention of finding a rhythm, hoping that Deepfrost in Halo would be safer than LongNight in the Grounds. Whoops.
She listens as he answers about the monks. Not a lot of information, but she’d never really known anything about them. The residents of Halo were, long ago, nomadic, so it’s not strange to find other groups of people in the Tundra. Still, it was uncommon, given the difficulty of survival out there. She wonders what they are doing deep in The Fangs, who it is they serve or what it is they protect. She only nods in response, finding there is nothing to add to the conversation, though she tucks the information away. What else had people found in Halo that she didn’t yet know about?
”Do your books have any good tales of what we might find?” she asks, not necessarily meaning the books in his hands, but rather books in general. ”I have found there is usually some truth in all those fairy stories.” Not exactly the truth, but enough that maybe they could have some indication of what else might be there. Maybe too he had some proper history books on Caido.
She smiles as he mentions that home is where the heart is. Her eyes drift back and little, toward the direction of her own street and her house, nestled in the heart of Snowcloak. The Palace looms closer, but the Palace is not really Halo. The town is Halo. The people are Halo. The Palace is something they will all come to accept, in time. Or it will explode. ”Home will always be Halo. The world is a fun place to see, but I am a girl made of ice and snow.” Of ice and snow and the fires that keep them warm.
"Unfortunately, the books in the Atheneum were all written after the Barrier went up three hundred years ago," he admitted, not without a little embarrassment. "At least, the ones we can read were. I have a rough map of this continent's shape and some of the general areas of it, but no more than that. We've heard rumors of a desert wasteland - somewhere to the west of the Greatwood, I think it is? And a land of fire and heat to the south. There was a Capitol City of the land, once, on the southernmost tip of the continent... but whether it still stands or if it fell in the war I don't know." As for fairies and beasts of legend? No, there was little enough of that he'd found since he'd stumbled across the pictures of the Eirachi last LongNight.
He followed her gaze curiously, from the Palace to elsewhere, and couldn't blame her. The palace seemed a cold place, intimidating but without a warm heart to give it life.
It reminded him of Zariah, come to think of it.
"We'll have to take care that you don't melt in the Torchline sun," he teased lightly, happy to turn his thoughts back to his far more pleasant companion. "Is your bar much farther?"
She listens as he speaks of what he knows of Caido. More than she does, but not much. It is perhaps disappointing, but she cannot say she is surprised either. To expect actual information is to be far more naive than she is, even if she can be a hopeful creature. To be hopeful does not require one to be naive, just practical. ”Well, I suppose only time will tell.” Or someone would try to stop the Ascended, though that doesn’t seem like her problem (ha).
She turns her attention back to him at the mention of the Torchline sun. ”It is less the melting and more the burning. I get picked on endlessly for wearing pants there, not that I care.” Her fair skin did not do well with the sun, though she’d gotten used to it enough to at least wear short sleeves sometimes.
”Right over there, actually,” she says, pointing down the next street that’s right ahead of them. ”You are welcome for a drink, but I don’t want to keep you from Loren if he’s waiting.”
He nodded at her practicality, in agreement with her mindset. They'd learn more eventually, he was sure, even without the Ascended. Safrin had transplanted Ronin and Remi across the world, after all, and if Wessex could learn to teleport, perhaps others could as well. There had to be ways around the portals...
He just hadn't figured one out yet. But there was time and more ahead of them for such things, when Deepfrost preparations didn't keep them so distracted from the farther future beyond.
"Ah, my condolences," he offered ruefully. His own honey-toned skin darkened to a fine brown after a day in the Torchline sun, but he'd gotten a nasty burn his first full-day foray to the beach. "Maybe Hotaru can make something stylish as well as protective for your vacation days?" He was only half-teasing; their mutual friend was a talented seamstress and likely able to manage just such a sartorial feat.
He found the bar quickly once she pointed it out, but at her offer he smiled ruefully and sketched a bow. "Thank you, I appreciate the courtesy. I'll be sure to swing by and see you for that drink after Deepfrost. Warm fires and kind roads to you, Weaver. Stay safe next season." A hope he held for all his friends in the winter to come.
Things that have been started have a way of continuing. The world had begun to open, and one way or another, she suspected that would continue. Life in Caido would never be as it was, but then, the only constant is change.
She chuckles at that. There were certainly some pitfalls to being as pale as she is, though given where she lives, it has never mattered. Her skin has always been well suited to the climate she lives in, and she cannot say she expected to ever see a place like Torchline. ”I probably ought to have her design my entire wardrobe. Maybe she can make my rather practical wardrobe a little more stylish.” After all, Weaver’s clothes were boring. Leathers and wools, designed for training and hunting, and she never really worried about things being flattering (though she had the sort of figure that wasn’t too picky here). Still...it’s not a bad idea.
”You as well, Jigano. I am sure we will see each other soon.” After all, they had a way of running into each other. With that, she gives him a wave, and heads down the street and off to work.
(finished)
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