Rhazien wandered through the forest, hands brushing the different conifers as he followed behind Nereus, glaring at Lothien. Why had he decided to listen to her? He never had before. Why did he choose to do it now?
Lothien had wanted to go exploring as the sun's first light breached the quiet darkness of dawn. Taking nothing with them but their wits and sleep-filled eyes, the twins had set off into the forest, watching as its inhabitants woke up from their slumber filled nights or went to sleep from their busy moonlit days.
But now that confidence had waned, the fatigue of traveling catching up with the twins who had eventually settled beneath a tree to rest. Moments had passed before wings filled their ears, their eyes snapping open and widening as Nereus landed in front of them, head tossed up in annoyance and wings ruffled in agitation.
Lothien was the first to look down, the great beast properly chastising her without a word said. When the familiars' eyes turned to Rhazien, he had already dropped his gaze, not even putting up a defense.
That was how they wound up following behind Nereus as the trio walked through the forest, dodging trees left and right. The familiar easily weaved through the trees, his lithe body twining around their trunks like a house cat. His tail brushed the ground as he walked, the tips of it flicking sideways, the feathers staying just above the ground.
Lothien had stayed silent the entire trek, Rhazien only glancing up from the trees when Remys' voice filtered into his brain.
Her oak colored hair was pulled into a complicated system of braids, the silver strands littering the twisted knots. When Nereus let out a low trill, his feathers laying flat; only then did Remys notice them. With an amused smile, she shook her head in amusement before gesturing towards the wagon.
"Get some sleep you two. Learning starts as soon as you wake."
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Remys walked around the camp, checking on the border runes with satisfied smiles. On her next lap, she stopped at the horses, grabbing the small bag of grooming tools from where they hung off a low branch. Mystic was the first to notice the grooming tools and pranced over with a toss of her head, settling in for a rub down.
With a startled laugh Remys started to rub the mare down, the stiff brush of coarse boar hair easily raking the dirt out of the mare's coat. The small wooden brush was in her hand next, brushing out the mares vibrant white mane, untangling the soft waves.
With nimble fingers, Remys split the mare's mane into a top and bottom half, flipping the top half onto the other side of the neck. Ducking under her arched neck, she braided the top half into the neck, using small strands from the bottom half to keep the braid only on the top of the neck, the end of the knots secured with a small iron clip, while the tail dangling loosely unbraided to match the rest of the hair.
Mystic gave a soft nuzzle in thanks before walking back towards the group. Remys laughed and shook her head before brushing out the rest of the horses and braiding their manes in similar styles, though the stallions had a less flashy style and just had a singular braid of the entire mane going from their poll to their withers.
Walking away from the horses, Remys stroked Mercy on her feathered head, passing up a small nugget of chicken meat to the hawk before walking towards Jynx.
The white wolf looked up at the quiet steps and gave a low huff in greeting before closing her eyes again. Grabbing the biggest brush out of the bag, Remys set to combing out the canines glossy fur, soft croons echoing through the small clearing. The wolf always took the most time to groom, her size almost dwarfing the griffin who refused to be groomed unless it was on his own accord.
When the sun finally reached the highest point in the sky, Remys sat back and nodded, satisfied with the sheen on the wolf's coat; the natural oils brought back to the surface and gleaming. Jynx had fallen asleep at some point, pink tongue hanging out of her mouth.
Shaking her head, Remys stood and brushed out the dirt from her trousers, the brown fabric one of her oldest pieces. A yowl from the wagon drew her attention to Kasimir who was trying to get comfortable on Nereus' wings, but the familiar kept opening and refolding them every time the kit tried to nest on them.
Within one moment and the next Remys appeared next to the indignant kit and picked him up, settling him next to Jynx whose body radiated heat. The kit easily curled up in front of the wolf's shoulder, between her legs, and fell asleep, his purrs mixing with her soft snores.
Nereus bumped the edge of his wing against Remys' shoulder in thanks before curling up again and napping in the sun. Rogue slithered up Remys body and curled around her neck, roped around like a well-loved necklace. Scratching the snake's chin with a careful circular motion, Remys walked into the wagon and chuckled at seeing the twins hanging from two of the hammocks. Their boots were haphazardly thrown on the ground near the wall, their coats dropped near the foot of the hammocks.
With a soft laugh, Remys slowly roused the twins, Lothien waking almost immediately while Rhazien swatted her hand away a few times before begrudgingly waking. His eyes met Remys' with an indignant stare before a low groan left his lips, head shaking to clear any lingering sleepiness.
Rhazien slowly stumbled out of the wagon a few minutes later, pulling on a different ankle-length coat while swiping an apple from the basket by the entrance. His smoky colored eyes were rimmed red and squinted, brows pinched in annoyance at Lothien's boisterous voice.
Looking up Rhazien saw Remys and Lothien seated on a few logs, a journal on his twins' lap as she slowly wrote her name out, Remys' careful instruction splitting the peaceful silence.
Lothien was sitting cross-legged on the log, Remys sitting on the floor leaning against Nereus who had his neck curled around her front to rest his chin on her lap. Her right hand absently stroked his forehead, low rumbling purrs rocking her body.
Rhazien absently walked forward and sat on her other side, leaning his head against Nereus' stomach. The griffin paused in its purring to open an eye and look at him before relaxing and resuming his crooning.
Remys held out a hand and immediately a black journal and a red feathered quill floated above her fingers, cinnamon and raspberries invading his nose before the scent faded just as fast as it came. Delicately, he grabbed the items and watched as she pulled out a journal of her own and slowly showed him how to hold the quill and write in the flowing Elvish script. Underneath she wrote in the common tongue.
He copied the flowing symbols down, easily committing them to memory just as she wrote out the entire alphabet, the common tongue under the different symbols. Copying after her, he could feel the slight tinge of the earth in every stroke, the Elvish script dancing across the page.
She wrote another few sentences down in common before showing him the letters connected together, speaking it softly as to not distract Lothien who he could distantly hear whining about how hard the grammar was. The script was similar to that of the dragons, which Lothien never bothered to learn, just softer and elegant.
With a soft smile, Remys showed the twins the wonders of the Elvish language, speaking in that lilting tongue as easy as breathing.