"Come on you three! Hurry up or I'll find a way to drag Waionr into this!" Baltanthan barked out at us while he was sat on a rock. Rose did not take kindly to this and got up to confront him. Leaving me with a bemused expression when Rose stopped halfway. We were in a hurry as it were and it turned out Rose wasn't very good at packing.
"You two made sure to take all metal items away from him, didn't you?" Einervaene asked me and Rose with a scowl as she came over to help the aelenvari. A claw gently tapping my masked chin shortly after as I tried to remember if we did that. I did not know, actually. So I decided that lying was the best action for now.
Besides... As long as she doesn't find out before I go off on my own, we are set because she won't see me for a short while!
"Yeah, yeah." I tell her with a wave of my left claw before slowly standing up with all the additional weight I had. Or well, the seeming weight, I suppose? I did barely notice it after all. Something not helped by our recent reduction and redistribution of the goods within the main bag.
"So what is this meant to say?" Baltanthan asked as he tapped the symbols that had been sewn into a thicker piece of material than the main bag that had been put on it. A mocking sad face coming from me as I noted the lack of any new decorations on my bag.
"Baltanthan," Einervaene said to him as she finished up with rose, "Rossie-chira." she then said while tapping the one on Rose's bag. And I guess that answered the question; they were name tags.
"None for me?" I then teased her with.
She went red slightly, "Well... I didn't think you would need one as you had a different bag entirely and..." she said before entering a state of incoherent mumbling. A laugh leaving me as she did so.
"Don't worry about it!" I tell the metallic-haired woman as I move to the exit of our camp. A few empty bottles being kicked around by me as I left.
"Is it acceptable for us to leave the area like this?" Einervaene then asked us all as her eyes looked on in embarrassment at the pile by where she had spent most of the night just gone.
"No one will know, now go! Let's go!" the other male of our group of four impatiently let out as he began to prod us out. A Rose soon entering my arms as we reached the top of the slope. A smile on her face as she snuggled against me tightly, confident in the idea of a safe journey.
"Fast way down or slow?" I then asked no one in particular as I came to another stop.
"Preferably fa-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Rose began to say before stretching it out into a scream after I lept away from the mountain while holding her. The crash I made upon landing not doing much to cover the noise of her screams. My laughter on the other hand? That did the job well.
"I-I'm s-sorry!" I barely got out between hysteric laughs as Rose lashed out against me in anger.
"Don't do that!" she then scolded me with as my laughter helped her calm down. Somewhat, maybe, I couldn't really tell while I was focusing on my fit of chuckles. It did not take long after that for a lightning bolt to follow us as well.
"Hurry up, Baltanthan!" Einervaene then joked loudly up at the loneliest member of our group. The smile she then gave me specifically only making my laughter come back while Rose stood proud and pouted at me.
"You want me to come up and get you!?" I then asked him as I watched him take his time. A series of unintelligible words being all I got from him. And all the girls then got from me was a shrug as I processed it.
"Go get him anyway." Rose demanded after having her rather short patience fuse burn out.
"Is that really the wisest idea? He's already at the halfway point." I retorted back with while taking into account the way the path was. It got very rough at the halfway point so coming into grab him might cause a serious accident.
"He's a root, wisdom is not needed in dealing with them." she spat out venomously.
"Fine." was all I could be asked to respond with before I leapt the distance and came to a running halt at the bottom. An expecting gaze on the man when he finally reached the bottom along with a raising of his arms.
"Let me go quickly." was all he had to say before I grabbed him and went back to the other two.
"Let's go!" Einervaene spoke cheerfully as we were all now ready to start heading to Thrurstradtur.
"Which one of you has the map?" I asked them as I went slightly ahead of the group so I could more readily check the lay of the land as we went.
"I packed one in everyone's bag, even yours!" Einervaene answered with a sprinkling of pride.
"And which one is the map relevant for the remaining distance?" I asked, blowing away that sprinkling of pride as she now tried to figure it out.
"All of them... All of them are relevant!" she then said to me in annoyance while I smiled behind the mask. That period of confusion she went through before answering hitting me in just the right spot in terms of enjoyability. Both in how the trick worked and it was nice to experiment with what caused Einervaene to lose her posture. It was fun to do this to Rose, too, but it was a little easy at times as it basically boiled down to me being involved.
"Whose bag is the lightest and roomiest then?" I asked everyone so we could get to one of these maps quickly.
"Ironically considering how bloated it was before, yours." Baltanthan said with a jab of his hand. Something that led to me unslinging my bag and rummaging through it while I walked alongside them.
"There we go." I let out before unfurling the map and going through the phases of remembering that I can't read it. As such, I went to pass it on to someone else but Rose just kept it in my hands and came over. With that now being my situation, I was forced to pick her up so I could keep on walking without issue. Which, going by her expression, must have been her plan.
Certainly an interesting one... Annoy me and worry me with the idea of tripping up over her because of my further-reaching strides...
"Keep on going forward and..." she quietened down before looking up at me, her head-bulbs lighting up before she looked down again, "Make a right at this mountain, the start of the road is just a little beyond there."
"What mountain? We are surrounded by them!" Baltanthan moaned as he emphasised his point by spinning around with his hands held out wide.
"The largest one before the greatest one, obviously you stupid root!" Rose spat out at him, nearly literally was it not for my body being in the way.
"And by the God of them, which one is that?" he shot back with, growing increasingly sick of the aelenvari.
"Rose, let me have a look." I asked her as I fiddled with the map. I couldn't read it, but I could use it. A thought that I did not think made much sense...?
"See, that one." one of Rose's slender fingers pointing the mountain out on the map. A slow nod coming from me as I looked around to see if I could make out any other landmarks. I could make out something, but I wasn't too sure. So I had Rose get down before flying off and jumping from low peak to low peak.
A frown settling in on my features on the way down along with a light pebble rain.
"Well?" Einervaene asked as she approached. A small boulder soon smashing into my back while I was trying to figure out why she moved so close to me.
"Oh, that's why." I commented while moaning a little at the dull sensation my back was now experiencing.
"You really need to be more careful when using your magic, you know, you don't have to break everything."
"Says the one who met us by smashing through a window."
She looked away, "I was tired and a ball of lightning."
I snorted in amusement, "But, to get back on topic, it seems to be that one right over there if you can see where my ha- claw is pointing." I tell her.
"I think I see it. And now that I also see it so clearly from the ground..." she let out as we now had a much better view of the mountain Thrurstradtur was on.
"Hey, Baltanthan?"
"What?"
"Does that mountain have a name?"
"No, next to none of them do. Why?"
"Just got curious is all. But, now that I know, why? We've been past a few with distinct shapes and stand-offishness."
"If we gave a name to every pile of rocks on this continent then we'd never know where we were because there are so many we'd be repeating names until we die!" he told me, his annoyance being founded in that tone of his. A tone that just screamed the idea of 'how do you not know such basic information?'
"No need to be so snappy." was all I had to say to him after that as a quiet enveloped us as we got closer and closer to this mountain in particular. A strange sense of nervousness filling me as the path became increasingly well-trodden to the point we could even see distant groups. Most importantly, however, we were now fully in the shadow of the mighty mountain that glowed with golden light last night. And I was so close to seeing Vapooliar again...
Maybe that was why I was nervous? I was just so excited to see her again and get it all over with? To get onto the path that would send me back home, the path that would let me put all of this aside and relax as it were. I wanted it to come so badly yet I gulped it down with a heavy heart.
It was not going to come quickly, even if I assumed it all went so well from here on out. The distance to travel itself was still something that would take weeks upon weeks upon weeks... It might even be several years until I see Tobaballe again! And, that worried me, it worried me a lot as I wasn't sure if I could keep my memory of home alive long enough for that...
I did not want to develop a horrendously wrong mindset of what my home was like, but, I guess, misremembering was better than forgetting...? I did not know the answer to that if I was honest... But...
"Humans really are incredible..." Rose muttered in awe when a sudden noise took me out of my thoughts. It was almost, vehicular? No, it was!
"Now that is impressive..." I said with a loosening jaw as a mountain of metal flew over us with jets of pure emerald leaving its underbelly. The light, unfortunately, obscuring most of the vehicle with the exception of this protrusion based from its rear. Or, what I assumed to be its rear as the vehicle otherwise seemed to have a cog-shape to it...?
Even worse than not being able to get a good look at it, however, was the fact it soon disappeared. Right over a nearby mountain peak in but a moment! And with such a sight having been in my eyes, I felt refreshed. An adrenaline rush purely for the optimism within me!
Such a sight having been seen, however, my mind found itself trying to force its inclusion into my plans to get home. If I could not get one of that design, another would suit me just fine. Of course, I had no idea if I would even be able to purchase one as surely one must have had to be whatever was a high-floor equivalent here to buy it. Or, to put it into terms Rose would use, would I have to be a petal to buy such a machine?
If no rank minimum was there to stop me, how much would it even cost? Would I become so obsessed with trying to get one so I could go home that I spent more time trying to get it than it would have taken me if I did not see it? I was extremely confused right now because of it. Thankfully, I could get my mind off of the topic by just looking ahead.
And it turns out I was wrong because now I was looking straight at some kind of legged vehicle with a set of jagged, solid metal wheels. They even went inwards and made the vehicle taller as it went on to the now clearly busy road up the mountain. I don't think I have ever seen this many people, actually. We must have been at the tail end of a double-digit thousand total at the very minimum!
"Where am I even going to go...?" I muttered in disbelief while taking in the scale of it all. There were just so many people going up that I was not confident in the slightest that I would be able to get up there without being spotted.
"If we go to the back of this... Queue... Then we might be able to find a quiet spot for you to disappear up?" Einervaene contributed quietly as her eyes lingered on a small group of men in brass armour. They were even carrying those fancy magic guns we used in the hive back when I first met everyone. It made me a little nostalgic, actually, despite it not being that long ago.
"Don't think we have a choice in that matter." Baltanthan said cautiously with an extension of his finger. The finger guiding our eyes to the sight of a rowdy woman trying to force her way into the people going up the road. Only for her to then be shoved off and sharply gestured towards the rear of it. Which she reluctantly went towards with a scowl.
My eyes going to Rose after seeing that as I knew that could happen to them if she couldn't keep it together, "Let the other two do the talking unless necessary, please?" was what I then asked of her.
She nodded and smiled, "Of course, my love, if you believe that is for the best." she tells me without a single issue. This surprised me a little as I was at least expecting a jab regarding Baltanthan... What was she up to...? Was I wrong to not trust her right now?
I honestly couldn't tell as I was just so swept up by the scale of it all, even being someone who lived in a densely populated city!
"There seem to be machines that can take us in even from here." Einervaene points out as we began to walk towards the end of this near-endless column.
"No, we walk." Baltanthan tells her which caused her to look at her feet.
"Can't we at least take one up some of the way if it is possible? We've been walking for so long and the terrain of this land is not suited for long walks." Einervaene complains while moving her feet about.
"My flower and all the others move around quite fine without issue." Rose tells her with a shrug. A snort coming from Baltanthan when he heard that. One that Rose did not rise to challenge... I was somewhat impressed, actually.
But, that did not stop her from gently growling and sneering at him.
"On that topic, though, shouldn't you be quite used to long journeys?" I ask her while moving closer to the trees that still stood at the base of this road. And, from there, I just looked on at all the other ways to this mountain which were much more well-used and even paved! Was this likely to do with the borders Futhans mentioned before?
What defines a mountain-state and a ravineer town and all that?
"I still spent most of it in some reasonable comfort. I wasn't always dressed in filth like I was before I met you." she informed me.
"Even then, surely you did a lot of walking? You said it was a multi-year journey."
"Not really." she muttered while considering how strange it actually was to spend most of her journey on what sounded more like mobile hotels.
"Well, if your feet are hurting, would you like to hop on up? I have no issues with carrying you for a bit." I offer to her while Rose seemed to back away the moment I made the offer, "You can get up, too." I then offered to her, but she turned it down with a gentle shake,
"It's fine, it's fine." was all she sighed out before moving ahead a little.
"What about you Baltanthan? I got a space next to me if you want it?" Einervaene then offered to the named member of our group.
"No, I'm fine walking."
"Really? I thought you would have wanted a little break so you could spend more time focusing on the city."
"I could fall over, nearly dead and I would still enjoy it!" he declared to her.
"You don't look like you are enjoying it."
"Because we are not there yet."
"We nearly are, though, so shouldn't you look more excited?"
"No."
"You really should, it was nice seeing you smile back on prior days."
"I'm not going to compliment you." he then said which confused the now raised up Einervaene.
"I... I wasn't looking for compliments...?"
"Good."
Einervaene sighed as she sprawled herself out on the bag, "What about you, Urtuoi-kischu? Are you excited over the fact we are finally here?"
"Admittedly, I am more worried, but, all these vehicles are nice to look at. Very brass, though." I answer before commenting on the hundreds of vehicles we had passed by.
"That is true, a lot of them have been brass, copper or gold-like colours." she said as she let her hair fall down as she leaned over the top. Her upside-down face not being far from a potential pecking should I have wished it.
"It's called having pride in your home." Baltanthan then said in a defensive manner.
"I didn't mean any offence, I just found it interesting." Einervaene then apologised on behalf of both of us. Even though I did not see a reason to apologize. If he wanted to act up over an observation then let him. We can bruise him for it later.
"Why are you so defensive about it, anyway? Thrurstradtur is not your home from what I gather." I add in while making reference to his little town which he seemed to be offended by.
"It soon will be, so don't ever bring up that backwater with me again." he nearly snarled out. This contempt for home he had upset me for some reason. Maybe it was because I was desperate to get back to mine yet he was so eager to leave his all behind?
"So, Einervaene, anything you want to talk about?" I then asked my passenger after looking at her.
"Well, let me see, I could speak about what I know of the school we are going to."
"That would actually be very helpful, so explain away." I tell her as she smiles at me.