The Road to Tullybrook

Wasn’t her fastest trip out forging, but it had been successful enough. She had the logs good and separated, a few bigger, and a touch waterlogged logs on her shoulder (they’d be good after they were skinned and cut and allowed to dry) and a collection of thinner ones tucked into the crook of her arm, these were drier, taken from the base of a tree kindly enough to keep it’s trunk drier than the surrounding sod.

A pouch at her hip sat a little fatter than when she had left, with a few blades of wild onion greens poking through the top. She hadn’t found much, but Sae hadn’t been foraging in earnest beyond what she had passed while looking for wood. Still, some onion greens for garnish along with the garlic she had in her pack along with some other dried odds and ends would make for a pretty fine meal.

Humming Abyrixa’s song, Sae returned to the tower. Why, she got herself all the way to the door before she realized that something was amiss. Sae poked her head into the room, which was looking a lot more burned than it had some time prior.

“Heavens be, what happened?” Sae asked, stepping inside. “Is everyone alright?”
 
There was a bright flash, very uncharacteristic of the dreary, rainy night, and with it a wave of heat. Viviane had been sitting just outside the tower, and had not noticed Rally go in. After the light and heat subsided, the Lady was left blinking, to shocked to even really react to what had just happened, and now her hair was a tad too dry, and maybe even a slight bit frayed at the edges.

"W-we're fine! Miss Abryxia and I. What was that?" she asked, a slight tremor in her voice. At least she wasn't cold, anymore, for what it was worth.
 
Fire like that didn't come without a source.

She had seen it over the horizon, by the side of the road where she walked- near a tower, for lack of a better landmark. Morgan waited, for a moment, to see if it would flare up again. A young tinderwyrm, perhaps? Or was that too optimistic? Her journey so far had been mundane. Dull. Mouse after pigeon after shrivelled little water-vole- and she was growing tired of it.

Unfortunately, given the circumstance, she could do little more than lurk. And, unfortunately, given her haggard face and the instruments hanging from her long coat, she could appear little more than ominous.

Best wait, best wait. If that thing's going to flare up again, only an idiot would approach- let's see if whatever angered it is able to kill it.
 
Abryxia might've been drifting off a bit. Might've, might've. It was cold, and she was curled up, and she really hadn't eaten much save for that piece of bread, so sleep wasn't the most difficult thing in the world. It, however, was very quickly chased away by one of the loudest thwomps she'd ever heard in her life, along with a blast of light and heat that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand end to end.

Jumping up, she leapt for the exit, glancing between Viviane, Sae, and a very satisfied looking Rally.

"Was - was that an explosion?" she said, voice shaking a little. "M'unhurt, too."

She paused, groggy brain putting together the remnants of the story she'd been singing just a moment earlier. Then, after a moment, a bit quieter -

"Ain't a dragon, is it?"

Her roar'd been too good. But no, that was a very silly thought, and dragons weren't around much anymore, especially south of the Snaggletooths. A little embarassed that she'd mentioned it at all, she shrank back into the tower stoop.

"Er. Or a trap, maybe. Ol' tower like this could have stuff layin' about."
 
Viviane and Abryxia were distracting each other well enough, it seemed like. Rally had wandered off. And Sae was gone to fetch firewood That left Dim plenty of time to carry out her plan.

Her plan was, of course, to fall asleep.

It didn't go so well. After what felt like only a few minutes of blessed rest, she felt a solid wall of heat pass through her, turning her internals to--well, slightly warmer internals, nothing too dramatic, but it was still unpleasant. The noise was worse; a big old fwampf. The only thing she could think of was the kind of laboratory accident that usually meant they'd need to break out the vats again just to cover the emergency repair work.

"What the hell--who died this time?!" She jumped to her feet, eyes bleary, voice raised to a hoarse shout. And then she remembered where she was, which was a relief, until it occurred to her that this far from home there really shouldn't be any explosions of that magnitude, and their existence represented its own kind of problem. "Was that one of us?!"
 
Everyone seemed to be standing around. Rally Rose looked around, as if this would help them figure out what the others were looking at, or for.

This didn't help.

"Um... I got the dry moss." Yes, that was right. That was what they'd been told to do, so it had to be right.

No, wait, it didn't. They didn't have to do what other people told them all the time-

-except it was just moss-

-except nothing was ever just anything-

-except why was everyone standing around? They'd missed something, somewhere. This was probably why they shouldn't have been gathering moss, otherwise they might have known what was going on.

"Can we... start the fire, now? It's only, I've never done it with moss before, and I wanted to see-"

A peering of pink eyes, from beneath the brim of the hat. "Why is everyone standing around?"
 
Abryxia tentatively stepped forward, reaching out to brush a bit of soot off of Rally's shoulder. She then quickly stepped back, folding her hands, glancing at the rest of the group before looking again to the (slightly singed, but seemingly unhurt) child.

"Rally, did ye, er," she said, not entirely sure how to phrase her question. "Did ye hear that explosion?"

She paused.

"Rally... were ye in that explosion?"
 
"Oh, it wasn't an explosion," Rally Rose corrected, with patience. They had needed the same correction once, after all. Only once, though. It had been a very memorable lesson!

"Explosions have force. That was just a fireball, just heat and light. No kaboom. The tower is still standing! Well, as much as it was before. And the moss is dry! So... can we make the fire now?"
 
Given proximity to the 'fireball,' Viviane found herself thanking the Saints that she was still alive. Rally was right though- there hadn't been any force, otherwise she would have been thrown quite some distance... as well as the rest of the tower. She took a moment to take stock of herself, before realizing there was a small bit of steam rising from her now, on account of the sudden and intense raise in temperature.

"I would prefer if we did, yes. If you will all excuse me for a moment, I need to check on my horse. I'm sure that was not a pleasant experience for him."
 
"Right -" Abryxia said slowly, glancing at the Good Lady Allard as she went to tend to her horse. She stepped to the side to let her by, then again stared at Rally. "And, er. Did ye - say - know what caused it?"

She quickly shifted into a gentle smile, if still a bit obviously shaken, and moved to kneel beside the child.

"Yer not in trouble or nothin'. We're all really happy yer safe! Jus' if there's somethin' round here settin' off exp - er. Fireballs. We're gonna need ta know, yea?"
 
Not in trouble. Dim clamped her mouth shut, pushed herself to her feet, and began to pace. The shock was gone, replaced with a deep-seated aggravation. Right. Explosion. Could have hurt themself. Not in trouble. Aurgghh.

She was steaming, too. Which was silly. She unscrewed the cap on her flask and took a sip from it, glaring venomously at the tower. She wanted to glare at Rally instead, but they were a child. Children were supposed to be emotionally fragile, or something. She'd always been told that if she ever met a child, she should be very careful not to upset it.

"Yes! Not in trouble. Nobody died! So it's fine!" Shouting was a hassle; she felt like she was going to tear up her throat if she did much more of it.
 
“A fireball?” Sae asked, mainly to herself as she stepped inside and surveyed the damage, which was a lot of charred stone and charred things that had gathered on the stone over time. From the look of things, it seemed less like a puff and more like the old war magic her pepaw with more greats to his name than she would care to speak told her stories about.

There was charred moss too, which the girl made clear enough had been her objective. While the others talked, Saw made her way to the other side of the room and placed the wood down, the drier pieces upon a useful spot where the ground bowed upwards slightly, and beneath a piece of roof that was less porous than the rest. She placed her hatchet down next to the wet bits of wood, she’d need to get them skinned and cut before she could use them anyhow.

That done, Sae stood and stepped back over to Rally and the moss. She squatted down, and picked up a clump of the stiff. It was, as the girl intended, quite dry now.

“Mm, the idea was there Rally, but the execution was a touch zealous I think.” As she spoke, the elf broke apart one of the larger clumps, trying to find what all was still usable within. The girl had done her best after all, and it seemed a shame to let it go to waste. “Magics got its uses dear, and it certainly makes things easy, but you need to know when to use a light touch so you don’t go and burn all the things you don’t mean to burn. Ah, here we are.” Sae found herself a chunk that seemed like it would still be useful kindling.

“For now, let’s get a fire going and maybe get everyone a bite or two for their bellies. Once we’re all clear headed we can talk more about the magic. Sound good?” This, she mainly addressed to Dim and Abyrxia.
 
Rally was not in trouble.

This was a strange thing for Abryxia to say, because everyone seemed to be acting like Rally was in trouble. It had been... quite some time since they were in trouble. Quite some time, and yet, at the same time, not very long at all. Trouble seemed to be like that. The starting point could be some ways back, but it lasted. It was kind of like a river, that way.

Maybe they should have just picked the one up at the crossing and dropped it in a field or something. That would have simplified all of this. People were very particular about rivers, though.

At least Sae seemed to be interested in the moss, which had been the whole point of this. Rally pulled the hat down a little more and went over to sit a little closer to her, without answering the question about the cause. It wasn't like they didn't know.

They definitely were not pouting. And if they were, that was why they had a hat - so no one could tell.
 
Predictably, her horse had spooked. Unpredictability (or maybe we all knew this would happen), however, the manner in which she had tied him up for the night was not as effective as Viviane had wanted it to be. Her horse was gone. He'd bolted, presumably when the fireball whoomphed out and lit up the night in a not-exactly-normal way. The Lady stood there, miserably, for a long few moments, with only her pack that had been tied to the saddle remaining.

She picked up the pack and slung it over her shoulder, nearly moping back into the tower. With nary a word, Lady Viviane Othelia Allard sat in a slump, next to the sad pile of crisped moss and dead logs, pouting nearly as much as Rally Rose but without the hat to hide it.
 
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Rally seemed positively unperturbed by the talk about explosions, though they did look a bit shook by the fact everyone else seemed perturbed instead. Abryxia opened her mouth, as if to say something more, but there wasn't really anything more to say. The question Rally hadn't answered had already been answered by Sae.

Magics.

From someone their age? And - they hadn't even said anything about magic, before, had they? Wait, no. There was that bit about cursing the bridgemakers. That'd been a joke. That had been a joke, right?

Rally had to be some kind of prodigy. Traveling alone on their age, they obviously didn't have anything to fear of animals or bandits if they could - if they could - summon explosions from their hands.

Not explosions. Fireballs.

Same thing!

But - prodigy or not - magic or not, they were a child, and right now, they didn't seem in the best of spirits. Pushing down any worries about what this whole situation might entail, Abryxia smiled a little wider, giving a quick nod to Sae in agreement and following alongside Rally.

"Hey. Ye did a bangup job with tha moss, Miss Rally," she said cheerfully. "Maybe ye could take a chance at dryin' me too, I'm more water than woman after last night!"

She glanced at Sae.

"Miss Sae's gonna show us how to cook proper, I bet. Ye ever cooked before? Last time - last time I did, tha oven dinged an' instead o' me pumpernickel loaf a whole tabby popped out! Whiskers to tail, oath on me ma! Workin' in an inn, an' can' even keep straight a cat from a cake, aye?"

She bonked her knuckles on the side of her head and laughed.

"Bet ye'd do better, tho, yer right smart, jus' like Miss Sae."
 
Dim flashed Abryxia a deeply uncomplimentary look, but she didn't comment further.

"If you're handling that..." she grumbled, retrieving her tar flask. "Let's see about the fire." She gestured to Sae, indicating that she should lead the way to whatever fire site she'd picked out.
 
“Aye, we’ll all be feeling better after a nice meal I’d think. Sae said as she knelt down next to her pile of wood. First, she placed down the moss that Rally had dried into a little pile, to which she added a pair of small acorns. It likely wasn’t necessary given Dim’s paste, but Rally had wanted to see a proper fire for herself.

“When making a fire, the first thing you need is kindling, small dry things that burn quick. Leaf litter or needles, nut shells, pinecones, moss as we’ve got here, it’s all good. If Dim would be so kind as to add some of her paste, we can get the next part of the fire ready.” Sae picked up a bundle of the smaller, drier sticks she had found. While she waited, Sae turned her attention to Rally who was most certainly pouting, but it was best not to mention these things. “Your kindling will be what we use to start the fire, and that will be used to ignite these sticks and later our larger logs. For a little fire like this we’ll want to make a cone, it helps the fires take to the logs quicker, and makes it easier to add more logs later as the fire burns down. Making sense so far?” Sae turned her gaze to Abryxia as well as she asked.
 
"Oh." Oh. Abryxia was right there, asking to be... dried. Rally considered their hand, and the state of the moss, and the state of the tower, and the state of... well, everyone. "Ohh... I think... Maybe you just want to dry out the usual way," they suggested, though at least the hat had lifted a little bit.

"I don't, um." The hat tilted, something of a shake of itself or the head beneath. "The little spells. I don't do them. Drying everyone out would be very easy. But then you'd all be mummified." That was what happened, when you dried someone out, after all. "And I'd be by myself again." Rally reached up, pulling the hat back down, once more, perhaps somewhat definitively.

Sae started talking about firemaking, which came as a relief, because it was someone talking who wasn't Rally Rose. It was all very sensible and calm, and it didn't take too much of this to draw them out from under the hat once more, moving a little closer and looking at the acorns, thinking about poking them but being very careful not to just in case that mattered.

Little acorns, a little fire - all little things. Little things that were interesting, though. Rally Rose never really knew how people got by, how they did all those little things, all those interesting things. How was a fire made? How was Abryxia's lute made? How was a bridge made?

How was a friend made?
 
"Mummified! Wonderful." Dim still sounded disgruntled, but at least she wasn't shouting anymore.

The poisoner took an unused stick and dipped it carefully in the oil flask. She smeared it gently over the spots Sae indicated, her face a mask of deep, perhaps unwarranted concentration. After a few long seconds, she nodded and stepped back.

"Might smell a little bad, but the fumes aren't toxic," she said. "Little smear of it goes a long way. Better not to be wasteful." There was no pride in her voice; she hadn't come up with the formula, after all. Her job done, she settled back down to brood, knees pulled up to her chin.
 
"T'was jestin, Miss Rally," Abryxia replied with a grin.

It was - a little concerning that Rally had taken her comment at face value, but she didn'tr seem to be in any immediate danger of being fireballed, so she didn't fret on it too much. She wondered if the child had ever used their Big Spells on people before. They seemed to know a little bit too much than someone of their age about what would happen if they did.

But - no matter, and no worries. Rally was distracted, now, no longer sulking, and Sae and Dim were both helping get the fire started to cook some food, which let Abryxia slip away to the one member of the group who wasn't gathered around the pit.

"No need ta look down, m'Lady," she said cheerfully, leaning against the wall by Viviane. "Lil bit odd that a tyke like Rally can - do stuff like that, but no folks're hurt, an' honest, it's a bit o' spectacle ta be so close ta, well, magic, aye?"

She glanced at her.

"...y'alright, Lady Allard? Ye look like ye found a snake in yer shoe after puttin' it on."
 
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