"Are we really getting on?!" Blair shouted to Samsara.
Samsara had made her way up onto the tail of the giant turtle and was running up to the top of the shell. Blair and Spectre were only just getting on the tail.
"Yeah, Sam! What are you doing?! I don't like this! This is super dangerous!" Spectre had almost just tripped off the edge but Blair just barely grabbed him.
"Don't be a pussy! This could be something good!" Samsara yelled back at them.
"Okay hold on! Lemme just get this hoodie on! We don't wanna get recognized! You guys should put something on too!" Blair said as she ripped a soaked hoodie out from her bag.
She was holding her staff in her armpit, her bag in one hand and the purple hoodie in the other while also running up this turtle's tail made her feel like she was in some sort of circus show right now.
But once she finally got her hair in her hood, she realized Spectre and Samsara weren't trying to hide themselves from anything.
"Hey shouldn't we hide ourselves?! I don't wanna get recognized here!"
"It's fine! Vanagloria is the one everyone's talking about, I bet no one even really cares about us! We can do whatever! Plus the only knight that'll know what we look like is blind!" Samsara said as she jumped up on the turtle's shell.
"I guess." Blair muttered to herself as she got up to the grassy back of the turtle. It didn't mean she was gonna stop wearing her hood though. She knew how recognizable her hair is, even if the knights had only gotten a glimpse of her surely they would instantly know who she was. There might have been five other people she saw with white hair on that colosseum floor. What were the chances that she just so happened to have the rarest natural hair color, earth humans couldn't even have it until they were like 50 or something. At least Samsara and Spectre looked kind of normal.
The village on the turtle was very small, as they walked up to it they noticed that there were only a handful of small houses. On the outside the turtle looked MASSIVE, but its size was still only capable of a village of this size.
"So what are we doing? Are we just here for fun or is there some sort of purpose for us visiting here?" Spectre asked his girlfriend while he eyed the houses.
Samsara must've been hopped up on adrenaline from the river because she seemed super energetic as she hopped through the village. Her eyes were still glowing blue and she was still completely dry, not a single drop of water had gotten onto her. Comparatively Spectre and Blair were completely soaked, any sort of food or clothes that Blair had in her bag were probably ruined.
"Yeah, we're here to ask for directions to El Dorado or stay for the night." Samsara said, like it was obvious.
"Aight then." Spectre sighed as he wiped off his hair.
"Come on, the sooner we know where to go, the sooner we can be done with this trail. Don't be a bitch." Samsara told him with a smile.
"Babe, I literally just got dragged through a river and thrown down a cliff, I need a second before we go exploring the turtle village. Or really anything, I just want to go back home." Spectre put his beanie back on with frustration.
"It's okay buddy, we'll get you your nap soon enough." Samsara laughed, she seemed to really like messing with him.
"Do I know you?"
Blair whipped her head around in shock to see an old man on a cane sitting in a cricket wooden rocking chair on his porch. He was looking right at her.
"No, I'm not from around he… i uh, I-were from a village down by… y'know over there." Blair pointed back towards the waterfall from where they came. "We're not really sure where we are right now."
"Which river do you live by? Twevisevilif? Babblebrook? Akheloios? Celadon? Malvam?"
"Babblebrook." Samsara answered before Blair could.
"Oh I see. Why are you visiting?" The old man said, leaning in on his cane placed firmly on the porch planks.
"We are looking for El Dorado. We want to meet our friend when they are done with their trail." Samsara started walking up the steps to the old man, which Blair hesitantly followed.
"Has the Vying started already? Oh no, I've missed it again. Are there any promising contestants this year?
"Yeah… there are a few. One of them is our friend, which is why we wanna visit them." Blair said as she stepped onto the porch, creaking beneath her.
"Well it was smart to come onto Enki. She will lead us directly to the golden capital."
"Really?"
"Yes, but you will arrive in March."
"Oh." Samsara and Blair both said awkwardly.
"So the Vying would be over by then." Spectre said, finally saying something.
"I guess so." The old man shrugged.
"Can we at least stay the night, we've been traveling nonstop for… I don't even know how long." Samsara lied.
The old man sat and pondered for a moment.
"...Sure why not."
"Thank you so much. We really appreciate it." Samsara said as she helped the old man get up.
"Please come in, I was making soup for my family anyways. There's always extras." He opened the door to an old woman looking very confused.
"H-Hello…" She said with a cracking whisper of a voice.
"They are travelers."
"How long?"
"Just a night."
She nodded and continued on her walk down towards what looked like the dining room.
The house looked extremely typical for an old couple, with light background colors as walls, plain brown wooden furniture, pictures of themselves along the walls.
It all looked super clean compared to the outside.
It made Blair feel super unwelcome with how filthy she had gotten from trudging around in the forest and that old abandoned village.
"Where's the bathroom?" She asked.
"Down there, the door on the right." The old man pointed to a door next to the stairs not too far from them.
"Thanks." Blair ran in, leaving Samsara and Spectre back in the hallway.
Immediately she turned on the sink and started washing her face. The ice cold water felt really refreshing for her. She had gone for what, like, three days in Alfhiem's forest? Even the river they had just been through felt grimy and gross, it just made her feel more filthy.
Her hands felt like they were getting a whole layer of dirt crusted off her hands. Her face felt similarly, the scar specifically was inflamed from its unhygienic state.
"Is this the first time I'm seeing myself since I left?" She thought, looking into the mirror.
She looked like a mess. Her hair specifically was completely tangled and all over the place.
Blair liked how her extremely long hair looked, but holy shit was it hard to take care of. Getting knots out in the thick heavenly hair was hell. Right now it just looked like one big chore.
Wait…
No…
Leaning into the mirror, Bair noticed something.
"My scar."
The purple cut permanently edged into her temple looked different.
It hadn't opened any more, thankfully.
But around it…
It looked like it was spreading.
The otherworldly purple color seemed to have only slightly to spreaded around it.
Her brown skin around the mysterious scar was blemished with a smudge of blackish-purple.
Very carefully she touched it, yet to no pain.
It didn't hurt but…
Either way…
"This can't be good."