"I'm... Sorry... Sorry you had to see me like that. It was unprofessional of me," Neeameth tells me, looking back at me as I otherwise silently ride my elderly juperse. Doesn't seem like it's going to be passing away anytime soon. Most certainly not if we're both riding at a gentle trot.
Acknowledging the end to the quiet, nature-sounding trip, I pay more attention to her. I've spotted a few look backs over the course of our journey, but now I will focus. She's clearly been meaning to say something all day since we first left the camp. We left bright and early, too. No doubt, her words or some variation of them have kept her up at night.
"I don't really care if it is professional or not, Neeameth. It's just not something that I can find myself to be irked by. Whatever is in your head, is in your head. Same as I. Getting back to town, that's all I care about." I explain to her, somewhat hoping we might return to the quiet. Though, my hopes of shooting down any further talking have failed. Her eyes say a lot, as does the energy in her lips. It's a bit hard to try and look away when I can anticipate what I don't have the energy to tell her to 'shut up' over.
In this moment of future sight, a word clings to me... Irony.
"No, no... Please, hear me out. You had an osibindah in your hands. Your hands! How you did it, I do not know. It was probably a spell or something. But... But me being there... I ruined it. I'm sorry. Whatever you were trying to accomplish, we're not short an osibindah prisoner."
My mask covers a most baffled of eyebrow raises, "It doesn't matter."
"Except it does! And all because I couldn't keep it together hearing roars like those again..." she whimpers, her finger stroking at the swollen mark near her eyebrow region. There's something off about this girl. Memories have her in tears, but constantly stroking a very sore gash is somehow getting nothing out of her.
"What do you mean by that? This 'again' you're speaking of?" I ask, finding myself guilt tripped over the idea of trying to dismiss her about it. Or, maybe, in a rare moment of luck, I've found a reason to seek some kinship with her. We're both victims of the osibindah. I wait in the silence that occupies the air between us.
Her lips part with a sigh, "Me... Me and my family were attacked by some osibindah... When I was very young. I guess I just never got over the way they sounded."
"Henipiotch said you have fought them before?" I ask, not meaning to imply that her past is one such battle.
"At a distance!" she blares instantly, spooking our juperses a little, "... Never up close like that... I thought after all this time I might have been used to such sounds. But, I guess I was wrong about that... Getting hit the way I did must've knocked some common sense into me."
"Certainly better than me, either way." I remark not quiet enough.
"How...? You went up there and killed several without issue." she asks, her finger swinging in the general direction of the blood still staining parts of me.
"The only reason I am out here, Neeameth... Rather than halfway to Thrurstradtur. Is because someone had to convince me to go. Even then, I could not do anything until I worked myself up." I answer, thinking of Rose-sweerui and what will probably happen when I get back. We've not been gone that long, so I doubt there is much to expect. At the temple, she said, she will be waiting at the temple.
"You were just going to run when you heard there was osibindah...?" Neeameth clings to and I nod first, a laconic answer brewing in my lungs.
"Yes." I answer firmly while my eyes and features become sullen with weakness. I just demolished what pride I have right there. Went right out and admitted to being scared of bugs. So terrified that I was cowering at the mere thought, let alone the sound or the sight of them. Thoughts...
"But why? You are so strong! Strong enough to kill them with your bare hands!" she points out as if I am not already aware. I've been aware since the day I-
"Because I spent far too long in one of their hives-" I let out, my rash thought finding itself in silence as quickly as it came out. If she knows about my past, she'll be able to connect the dots regarding all the strange things about me. The secrets I want to keep.
"You are a former prisoner of theirs? And I thought I had it bad..." she awkwardly laughs, my lack of an expression to see throwing her off of her already rickety path. The air is suddenly tense now with all these nervous feelings.
"I don't want to speak about it..." I say, forcing my verbal legs through the mire.
"I-It's nothing to be ashamed of. It is far more common than you think for people to have escaped osibindah hives!" she says in a tone that is... Inspired? Am I hearing her right? Is my short-term memory really that bad?
"You are speaking very highly of people who were captured." I point out, my tone flat with... Confusion. It's all there really is right now.
"Because I always thought they were the bravest people out there! I am terrified of osibindah as you saw, but those people... Those people not only fought them at distances I could not even have imagined! They also fought their way out of their hives!"
"And hearing what I just said has made you rethink that?" I ask, quite bitter with paranoia.
"Quite the opposite...! If anything, it makes me feel a little better about myself. Knowing that there isn't as much distance between us as I thought. You are one of the strongest people in town right now, yet you are scared of them!" she rambles out, laughing quite heartily at the end as if my failing is her strength to throw the weights off her mind. I raise a sharp, angled brow.
I have a distinct feeling that if the circumstances were different, my fuse would have sparked away in an instant. I'd lash out and have red to add to my yellow stains. Thankfully for all parties, these are not those circumstances. Gods above, I would certainly feel it in my soul if it were.
"Well, I am glad to be of some help." I snap sarcastically, getting some of my annoyance out. Bringing my elderly beast to a halt, I get down from it. Looking on at Neeameth as she talks to herself and cluelessly keeps riding ahead... I smirk when she notices. She rides back with an embarrassed expression and comes to a sheepish stop.
"Why'd you stop?" she asks, getting down with the rub of her neck's backside.
Shrugging and standing still, I idly gaze at our surroundings. Walking off without explanation, I ascend the steep incline and properly make my way up one of the valley's mountains. Surveying the surrounding land, I take a deep breath and think of as little as I can. Not quite nothing, but letting my brain cling to all the details of the world is good enough.
Though... One little detail is starting to surface in quite the spectacular manner. How much riding time do I have left before I get back to town? I've no knowledge of the local terrain, nor a map to contextualise my place. There's no way to answer this question.
The only way is to simply not waste time and get going. So... I best get going then. My claw releases the rock and I find myself in a run.
Leaping out of it and crashing down, I try to make my way back to the beasts a steady one. They jitter and shake at the presence of my magic, and I mount up. Noises leave Neeameth and she rushes to mount back up. Her juperse noisily slurps at nothing.
"What was all that about-?"
I interrupt her expression by galloping off with all this old animal can muster.
"Hey! HEY!" she begins to shout, catching up with my slower animal.