Colin's posts

"..." Adym was silent as she asked her question.

"I.... ah..." he stammered.

He then closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on where the growls were coming from, no matter how hard he tried. It seemed like they were always coming from all directions, which was unnerving.

"No." he said.

"It's impossible to say." he told her.

"But we can't just stand around. We have precious little time." he sighed, as he looked at the one on the right.

"I guess... this one?" he said, unsure of himself.

Adym just sighed.

"No." he replied.

"No indicator." he told her. "I am generally good with a sense of direction, being an elf and this being the woods and such." he said. "And if the woods were normal, my being the Nature crux would allow me to navigate flawlessly, but it will take time to heal. As it stands, my being the crux I am won't help too terribly much." he then admitted with a sigh.

"But I'm sure we'll be fine." he then assured her.

"Which is to say, we won't run into any problems." he clarified.

As he said that, whatever it was that was above them continued to look down at them, before leaping forward, slightly ahead of them.

Adym looked over to the boy and his guardian, before looking away and smiling slightly.

"Maybe there is." he said.

"Looks like the seeds of tolerance may very well have been sewn today." he added.

"And yeah, I'm ready." he told her.

The two then exited the village, with a few lingering elves waving as they did, before he turned off the small barely-visible trail, and they started to head through the thicker trees.

"We need to head in this direction." he told her, pausing and looking back. "And no, there are no paths or anything. So this is as good as it gets." he finished, unaware that something seemed to be hovering above him, and started to slowly descend down upon him, as though floating in the semi-darkness.

"....yeah, sure." Adym responded.

"We did what we had to be done, as Callie said." he echoed.

"We wish you both the safest of journeys." the one elf finished, before they all started to part, fanning out and dispersing into the village. However, before Callie could take a step forward, she felt a tug on her leg.

When she looked, she saw a little wood elf boy there, had to be no older than 5. He looked at her in almost awe, before he handed her a single flower. It looked like a tulip, but it was slightly smaller than one, and its petals were an alternating deep purple and light blue.

"...thank you for helping the guardian." he said to her quietly as she accepted it, before quickly running back to an older female elf, either their mother or older sister. Perhaps an aunt.

"All right." Adym responded.

Overall, it hadn't taken them long, a little more than a half-hour, before Callie had finished everything that there was to do, or would be to do, and Adym had prepared food for them to eat as they left. He made sure everything was clean when he was done, and they stood there, packs on their backs, food in hand, dressed to go.

"Well... let's move." he said.

Callie nodded in response, and the two of them left the house, closing the door behind them.

As they walked, they saw and heard people looking at them and whispering about them, causing Adym to roll his eyes slightly.

"Ignore them." he whispered.

"Odds are they're not saying anything go-" he started to say further, before a large crowd of wood elves could be seen in their path, almost seeming to block their exit.

"...what now...?" Adym growled, before they all bowed towards the two in perfect unison.

"What the...?" he muttered, as one stepped forward.

"From the entire village... we thank you for saving us. We know it must be weighing on your consciences what you did... but we are forever in your debt for saving us, the village, and the forest." they told them.

"You've been doing practically all of the work while I was indisposed." Adym replied. "Only seems fair that I be the one to cook up the meal to go." he reasoned with a light chuckle.

"But if there's anything else you feel should be done around her last-minute, might want to do that while I make the meal." he suggested.

"Because, essentially, we'll be leaving as soon as this is ready." he said further.

"We really can't afford to lose time." he sighed. "We have a small safety buffer of time, but that's it. Small." he lamented. "It'd be quicker if we could use the main roads, and an alternate mode of transportation, but... as I said before, if we do that, we're taking a risk on whether we even make it there at all." he went on.

"...okay, we could deal with bandits, but it'd be more exposure than we want." he then clarified. "Still. Not optimal at all. Being on foot, away from general eyes is best." he reasoned.

"And yes, I will know the general way to go." he added, though he was wondering about his pathfinding skills, honestly. These woods were his home, and he was the crux of nature, yes, but that would only go so far. He wouldn't know the absolute optimised route for them to take, sadly.

"Well, it's greatly appreciated. I thank you immensely." he told her.

"Also... hmmm..." he mumbled.

"Let's do both." he suggested.

"Make something up here, but make it portable, so we can take it with us." he clarified. "A good meal on the go, and it should keep us going for a while." he reasoned further.

"Sound good?" he asked.

"Try and use up the remainder of the food here that will spoil, at least?"

Adym accepted the cape and unfolded it... to find it back to pristine condition. Better than he had looked in ages. He was silent, stunned, in awe at what he was looking at, before slowly looking towards Callie.

"You... you did this? For me?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Oh... oh, wow." he said, putting it on with a bit of a flourish, clasping it around his neck.

"Heh... love how it feels." he commented.

"Thank you... so much." he told her with a warm smile.

"Oh, absolutely." Adym responded.

"...okay, maybe." he then said.

"It's quite the distance away, but... wait..." he then mumbled.

"I would say we can take a horse and carriage, but those can be pricey for such a distance, and there have been more and more bandit and robber incidents as of late..." he went on.

"No... I think that if we hoof it, we'll get there with a night to spare. 2 if we're lucky." he surmised.

"But we should head out... like, NOW."

"...." he was silent as he read the letter and saw what was in the pouch.

"I..." he stammered, before turning and heading back into the home.

"Callie?" he called out.

"Callie, I... we're not going to be wandering aimlessly, it seems." he told her. "Remember how our plan was to try and find a crumb of information wherever we could find it?" he asked.

"Well, we've been given a whole loaf, so to speak." he continued.

"Looks like we're headed to Dweldyn, and we need to get there in 10 days."

"Ah, good thinking." Adym responded.

"Anything that is perishable, we'll try and use before we go, or make sure it's the first thing we eat while we move." he reasoned, as he made his way to his kitchen area, and started to prepare something.

"How hungry are you?" he asked.

"And are you craving anything?" he asked further.

"Like, do you want meat, or think you just want veggies and greens, or anything like that?"

"I understand." Adym responded.

"Well, hmmm." he then mumbled.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her. "I can make something up for the both of us." he suggested. "It will pass the time, give me something to do, help test out my endurance, and results in food for us." he reasoned.

"So... yeah, you think you could eat?" he asked again.

"From what I've seen, we have plenty to work with." he finished with a small chuckle.

Adym just nodded.

"Makes sense." he said.

He then slung the pack over his shoulders, and made sure it was comfortable.

"An hour." he told her.

"We'll see what happens." he said further.

"But I DO feel amazing." he assured her. "Maybe not as good as new, but I honestly feel ready to set out." he stated, and she could hear the certainty in his tone.

Adym nodded in response, and she saw him look at the pack, as though he had been eyeing a bothersome barrier.

"So. We meet again, old foe." he declared in a tone that indicated courage and bravado, like a hero returning to face a previously insurmountable obstacle. "You thwarted me before, but I have come back. Stronger. Better!" he continued.

"And now... we BATTLE!" he yelled.

"HRAAAAAGH!" he called out, grabbing the pack... and lifting it up.

And then there was silence for close to 5 seconds, before he looked over towards her.

"Ha-HA!" he laughed triumphantly.

"I have passed the trial of the pack!"