[SE] The only way to be sure

Was there ever an acceptable time of year to be in the desert? The Halovian courier sure didn’t think so. Even in Leafchange it was hot and dumb and he’d generally avoided it as much as possible. But the infestation of cloud spiders had been coming from somewhere and Hak Etme seemed like the most likely culprit. Since he’d had a delivery to make at the old Caravanserai he figured he could do a little digging into the source of all the spidery mayhem. Sure, he’d left the monster hunter’s guild, but old habits died hard, and his curiosity died harder.

Since he’d been in Stormbreak when he’d accepted the delivery job he’d checked in with Soh to see if the Heart wanted to tag along for a little mapping adventure. It would take them a little over a week to fly up north and back, but they’d have a bird’s eye view of the desert from above, which always beat tromping down amid the sand.

So here they were: a hundred feet up above the Sea of Dreams at sunset, on the lookout for Cloud Spiders while Boreal napped on top of the cabin’s roof. ”See anything yet?” Tal called forward to Sohalia from his place at the wheel.

I've been searching through the highs and low
Tryna find out where all the lost souls go

When Tal had asked if she wanted to accompany him on a mapping expedition, Soh had jumped at the opportunity to get out of Stormbreak for a little while, hoping that the distraction would help to calm her frazzled mind. Although she was recovering from the pain of Jude wanting some space, it was still strange to be in the apartment alone, and she much preferred having company over sitting alone with her thoughts.

The pure white of the salt flats had turned orange with the light of the setting sun, and Soh was mesmerized by how pure the color was and how far it stretched. There was very little to map save the distance they were traveling, so her job was fairly easy. "Nothing except the flats," she called back, jotting down a line to mark another mile past. They really did stretch on forever, it seemed. "Is it all like this? The Sea of Dreams, I mean."

Running wild, but I'm running free
Lots of ground to cover and places to see

Sohalia

Tal shrugged from his place at the wheel and then remembered Soh couldn’t see him. ”Dunno,” he admitted. ”Never had t’deliver anythin’ here, an’ mostly I just go around it. I’m seein’ it for the first time today, too.” Which made it kind of fun to be out exploring together someplace neither of the friends had been before. He just wished it wasn’t so damned hot!

”How’s bein’ leader goin’?” he asked, turning the wheel slightly to angle towards a low, fluffy white cloud in the distance. He didn’t know enough about the desert to think it was strange; he just wanted to try and sail through a little dampness to cool them all off. ”Seems like it’d be a lot of work!” She still hadn’t told him about her personal life and Tal was blissfully unaware of the romantic adventures and entanglements she’d been part of in recent seasons.

I've been searching through the highs and low
Tryna find out where all the lost souls go

"It's strange to think that there are still places in Caido you haven't seen. I assumed you'd been everywhere by now. But then, I guess people don't really live out in the Wilds, mostly," Soh mused. Deliveries happened where there were people, so she supposed it made sense for Tal to not have been everywhere.

"It's going well, I think. No one's rioted yet, anyway," Soh said with a self-deprecating laugh. Honestly, leadership had been simpler than she'd thought. She had her council, and the people were just relieved to have a leader. "I think we're making good progress towards dismantling the Abandoned defenses," she continued. "And I think that will be good for Stormbreak. We'll see how things change, once everyone is allowed in." She tapped out a rhythm on the ship's railing with her fingers. "It's still strange to have people looking to me to make decisions, though."

Running wild, but I'm running free
Lots of ground to cover and places to see

Sohalia

Tal shrugged from his place at the tiller, steering them towards the little cloud at a leisurely clip. "Oh, they live out in 'em, sure enough. There's just a lot fewer people there, an' not many of 'em get deliveries. They usually moved out there for a reason, y'know?" And that reason was usually to get away from other people. "But also I don't really like the desert. Too hot an' sandy an' awful an' hot." He didn't seem to notice that he'd said 'hot' twice. "So I don't go outta my way t'take on those jobs." But sometimes they found him anyways, like they had this time, and Tal's professional pride wouldn't let him not deliver a package once a client had retained his services!

He listened to Soh's laugh with a little frown pinching his brow, but he didn't push it as she continued. "Yeah it'll be interestin'," he agreed, though his usual cautious pessimism was in his voice. Some Breakers might have been open minded, but the anti-Abandoned sentiments had been deeply entrenched for generations, and he figured the mages in Halo were right to be worried about what kind of reception they'd receive once they could walk through the gates.

He shook it off, though, focusing instead on Soh's admission as they approached the cloud that looked strangely... wriggly? "Better you than me," he teased her with a grin. "What kinda decisions have you had t'make so far? Aside from th'Abandoned welcome project?"

I've been searching through the highs and low
Tryna find out where all the lost souls go

On Soh's part, she was glad that Tal had taken this job and invited her along. She'd yet to explore any part of the desert, and the Sea of Dreams in particular was intriguing to the young woman. Just look at how the salt stretched on and on, seemingly for miles, with nothing to see but salt flats reflecting the sky! How could someone see all this and not be impressed?

She harbored her own reservations about opening Stormbreak to Abandoned, although she was more optimistic than her friend. After all, they'd put it to a vote, and the vast majority of the city had seen reason. Sure, there were likely to be those who distrusted the Abandoned - but so, too, were there those people beyond the confines of her region. One way or another, it would be fine. She'd make sure of it.

As for other decisions: "Oh, just deciding where to focus our efforts as a region. Training for soldiers, or gathering resources, things like that. I'm trying to establish relationships with the other regions, but I know that will take time. Most of my time has been taken up with the 'Abandoned welcome project.' I'm trying to educate our people ahead of time and stay on top of anti-Abandoned sentiment to try to nip that sort of thing in the bud."

Running wild, but I'm running free
Lots of ground to cover and places to see

Sohalia

At least up here they were out of the hallucinatory dust and Tal could almost appreciate the sere beauty of the place. It almost reminded him of Halo, what with the unending stretch of white beneath them, and Soh's excitement over the place was a powerful influence. The courier glanced over to his friend fondly, especially when she was so stubbornly set on opening Stormbreak to his friends who had magic. It wasn't going to be an easy road, but in spite of his concerns he was impressed with her for trying.

"Huh. Sounds complicated," he admitted, trying to imagine all the pros and cons and meetings those decisions must entail. Endless meetings. Doing nothing but talking.

He shivered a little in spite of the heat reflecting up from below, but his grin came back a moment later. "It sounds like you're doin' good, Soh," he told her warmly. "Y'ever need anythin' I can help with, all y'have t'do is ask. You know that, right?" And sure he'd grumble and grump and put up a front about it, but he'd be the first one there and the last to leave.

A pity he was paying so much attention to their conversation that he didn't pay closer attention to the 'cloud.' Which, while it certainly had some similarities to a cloud, it was not, in fact, made of water vapor.

No, it was made of spiders. Millions of spiders, floating on a shared web.

And the Peregrine flew right into it.

I've been searching through the highs and low
Tryna find out where all the lost souls go

The bad news was that Soh's job did involve a lot of meetings. The good news was that she had never had a problem talking. It had made things easier, that much was for sure. "Thanks, Tal," she said, shooting a sincere smile at her friend. She knew him well enough by now to know that he'd do anything for her, if she needed it, and though she wasn't one to call on her friends for just anything, it was comforting to know that he'd be there all the same.

Everything was fine, and then, suddenly, it was not.

As they approached the cloud, Soh frowned at it. There was something strange about it, that much was certain, but she wasn't sure what it was until they sailed right into it. Then she quickly realized that the cloud was comprised of millions of spiders, and she let out a little shriek of surprise and fear. "Tal!" she yelped, frantically looking around to her friend. "What do we do?"

Running wild, but I'm running free
Lots of ground to cover and places to see

Sohalia

Tal didn't reply to Soh's gratitude out loud, but he looked pleased as punch as he finally turned his eyes back to the front of the ship.

And, really, there shouldn't have been any problems this high up. Aside from the cloud the sky was empty, and clouds were wet and cool but posed no problem to a ship flying through them aside from reduced visibility. This was just a small cloud and they'd only be passing through it for a moment--

Except it wasn't a cloud at all, and now there were spiders everywhere. Some splatted against the hull, and some were pushed aside from the air displacement of the ship's flight, but quite a few latched on to the sails and the rails and began to skitter as their webbing fouled the rigging and stretched across the deck in sticky, ropy strands.

Soh's shriek was echoed at a lower timbre by Tal's equally dismayed yelp as he spun the wheel frantically, but even as the ship turned the damage was already done.

"Get these motherfuckin' spiders off my motherfuckin' ship!" he yelled back at her unhelpfully. Boreal was already on her feet, shaking herself furiously to rid herself of the gaseous arachnids before diving off the back of the vessel into clearer air, a rumble of fire building in her chest as she reacted on instinct to the unexpected assault.

I've been searching through the highs and low
Tryna find out where all the lost souls go

Spiders were everywhere.

Soh had never seen so many spiders in her life, and she was not pleased to be experiencing such a thing now. She wasn't afraid of spiders, per se, but that didn't mean she had to like them. It certainly didn't mean she had to like a swarm of them covering the ship and everything in it.

They scrambled across the deck, tangled in her hair, skittered across her skin, and she whimpered softly, paralyzed for a moment with fear before beginning to swat wildly at the little creatures, trying to brush them off her without hurting them terribly, for it wasn't their fault that the humans had flown their vessel directly into the cloud of spiders. At Tal's shout, though, her attention turned to the ship and she stared blankly at it, then at her friend. How in the world was she supposed to get the spiders off the ship?

Without a better idea, she shifted. As a snowy owl, at least, she could try to use her wings to sweep the little spiders off the deck. And so she did just that, beating her wings hard and fast to blow bunches of spiders off the ship and into the air beside the ship before hopping to a new spot and trying again. It wasn't the most efficient of methods, but what other options did she have?

Running wild, but I'm running free
Lots of ground to cover and places to see

Sohalia

"Don't you fuckin' dare," Tal yelled after Boreal, feeling the building of fire in her chest like a pressure in his own throat. "Not yet!" He was breaking the Peregrine free of the great drifting cloud of the eight-legged bastards, turning the wheel to tack into a freshening wind and ramping the speed up as high as wind and magic could go in an attempt to blow some of the spiders off the hull.

He lashed the wheel in place and bounded around it, heading for the mainmast to wrestle the sails around into the new configuration, crunching over spiders as he went. Sohalia's gentler approach was effective for clearing small sections, but Tal was too busy keeping the ship running to care about how many arachnid lives he was cutting short as he squashed them or smacked them away.

Seeing Soh's actions, Boreal changed tactics and followed suit a moment later, adding her own larger wings to the efforts. Between owl, dragon, and wind the worst of the infestation was soon blown off the hull, but dozens of more resolute stowaways remained, doing their best to anchor themselves against the winds by squirting their steely webbing over the ship. One particularly large and daring spider even aimed its webbing at the owl in an attempted ambush!

I've been searching through the highs and low
Tryna find out where all the lost souls go

In another place and another time, perhaps this situation would have been laughable - but then again, given how strongly Tal felt about his ship, maybe not. This was probably one of his worst nightmares, actually, right up there with Boreal setting the skyship on fire or it being dashed to the ground in a massive storm. While the little spiders didn't seem particularly harmful, they were certainly messy, and their webs tangled around various parts of the ship with an enviable tenacity. It had to be driving Tal mad.

Soh continued to sweep her wings, clearing sections of the ship and wishing that Tal was also Attuned so that she could send him some reassurance through the bond. As it was, however, she merely continued diligently in her work - that is, until a particularly large and daring spider attempted to ambush her. It did not succeed thanks to a lucky roll of the dice, and she screeched in irritation as she turned to sweep it off the ship, batting it with one of her wings in an attempt to throw it overboard.

Running wild, but I'm running free
Lots of ground to cover and places to see

Sohalia

Boreal would definitely chortle about the misadventure in the future but Tal? Probably not so much. It didn't help that his companion's preferred method of dealing with the problem involved copious amounts of fire - which the Peregrine wouldn't survive. Between getting the ship away from the spidercloud and keeping a firm mental dampener on his dragon's arsonistic tendencies the courier had his hands full!

Luckily Soh was along to help, and she was doing an excellent job of clearing the deck! The big boss spider that had tried to catch her found the tables turned on it a moment later as it was clipped with a wing and sent flying - literally. This might not have been such a bad thing since its gaseous abdomen allowed it to float, but it hadn't reckoned on Boreal. The dragon saw Soh toss something overboard and she gleefully followed, her jaws closing around the big spider with squish-pop that left the dragon looking first surprised and then delighted.

With the cloud behind them, Tal was finally able to grab a belaying pin from the mast and begin laying about him with an angry scowl. "Get! Offa! My! Ship!" he yelled at the troublesome arachnids, smashing any spider he could reach. Having discovered just how crunchy the little menaces were - with an exciting bubble-pop at the end! - Boreal soon began hoovering around the deck as well, inhaling spiders and crunching them down with with relish.

I've been searching through the highs and low
Tryna find out where all the lost souls go

If Soh had to describe the sound that the little spiders made, 'squish-pop' would perhaps not been at the top of her list, however accurate it might have been. Indeed, the young Heart would later lament the fact that she was in a situation in which she would need to describe such a sound. But alas, here she found herself, and as she flung her wings hither and thither about the deck, she watched Boreal's antics with a mixture of amusement and dismay. It wasn't the spiders' fault that they'd flown into the cloud, after all, but it seemed that they were the ones paying the price.

Not to say that the Peregrine had come through the ordeal unscathed. No, she was covered in spider silk, and Soh was not looking forward to poor Tal's surliness for the rest of their trip given that his beloved ship had been covered in webbing. She could understand, of course, but there was little she could do other than begin to clear away the silk as best she could until they made their way to a port with more supplies.

With the spider menace handled, Soh shifted back into her human form. Moderately disheveled, she flicked one last spider overboard and shuddered. "Well," she said. "That was unexpected."

Running wild, but I'm running free
Lots of ground to cover and places to see

Sohalia