#velardi (oc)

[yutzen]

Behind Every Scar (Part 1)

Deep within a dark and sodden cavern, upon a greenstone plateau worn and carved by thin streams of water that seemingly bled from cracks in the walls, two stout fellows forded a small brook right at the lip of its waterfall.

One was far bigger, his hulking, badger-like form bearing stripes of black against the lightest of cyans, and covered in ramshackle plates of improvised armor over a vest and trousers that water couldn’t soak. He’d planted himself right in the middle of the stream, and stretched one vast claw to help the other one cross… And he would very much need it, for he was a far shorter figure, thick and standing on almost stubby legs. Clearly a mole, visible even under the cover of actual armor and a helmet that hid his eyes from view; nothing could hide the enormous claws he grabbed the Toskar’s hand with, to pull himself across with one quick leap.

“You never really pack light, do ya, Vi?”. The Toskar was already climbing his way out of the stream with a smirk, wading through unexpectedly warm waters. “I could never truly afford to, I’m afraid. Roaming on my own as long as I have, you must be ready for anything, and the habit hardly wears off.” There was just a bit of trepidation in the Ferigozi’s voice, and he lost it only once he was firmly on the other side, where he turned around. The shard-badger’s smirk only grew as he reached and grabbed “Vi”’s claw, pulling himself up as if the mole were anchored to the rock. “Does that include being ready to cross running water? Doesn’t look like it.” It took a few moments for him to actually reply, letting the Toskar take the lead once more. “…admittedly that’s never been my forte, Askal. Quite the opposite at times, in fact.” Askal – or Askalim, rather – slowed his pace to let the mole catch up, so that he could face him with a raised eyebrow as they resumed their march. “What, fording rivers? I’ve seen you handle worse lands than these, you’re telling me a bit of water makes it that much harder?”

But Vi – actual name Velardi – didn’t return his look at first. “Whether you believe it or not. For one, I’ve always felt I work better with more metal rather than less, that should be obvious. I’m sure you understand, you’ve seen me work after all. But the other matter is rather more…” He trailed off for a moment, and turned his helmeted face towards Askalim, eyes hidden deep in its dark slits. “Well, suppose you’ll be the first to hear it, I’ve been dodging certain bounties enough. I… never did learn to swim.”

A snort, and a wider smirk from the badger, one that showed the tip of a large fang. “Not something they taught over at the Kingdom, or not something you bothered to learn? I don’t see you learning it ever if you keep packing half your body weight in steel everywhere you go, Vi!” He allowed himself a low, yet hearty chuckle, before laying one claw on the mole’s shoulder. “But I’m not judging, not anymore, and not on that. It took leaving the Empire for me to realize we were right behind Ishiss when it comes to swimming lessons, imagine that! And with the Kingdom being where it is? I ain’t surprised. Zee always told me not to touch the rivers over there.”

“She did well in telling you that much, Askal. ‘Don’t trust gathered water’, as we said back there, for quite a few reasons. Why, even a clean, untouched, uninhabited stream might scald your tongue off if you don’t watch yourself…” Vel allowed himself a tiny, sardonic smile, and a little chuckle on top. “If you’ve ever wondered about why the Kingdom is so thickly strewn with wells, now you know. Better to draw it out on our terms… Anyhow, I suppose it’s simply a little bit difficult to convince myself these waters won’t attempt to kill me.” To that, he briefly glanced backwards at the stream they’d just crossed, almost warily…

Right before Askalim pulled him away and back onto their track – in topic and path alike – his own little smile gone in a flash. “All the more reason to pack lighter so you don’t sink like lead, Vi, which I don’t see you doing.” He pointed one claw at the empty bag slung over his ironclad shoulder as he continued. “While emptying out your bag is a step in the right direction, carrying over half your weight in steel is a bunch of steps back from that.” The badger made his point with a quick finger-flick to Velardi’s breastplate, ringing the metal so he’d look down and remind himself of its bulk… and, perhaps, its unremarkable construction; as far as plate armor went, it was thick and solid but middlingly made, if not outright mediocre. “And don’t tell me it’s out of sentimental value, I know you bent this thing out of old rails in one evening.”

Something about the Ferigozi’s expression as soon as Askalim said that, however, made his smile drop. A lowered brow, a displeased twitch, and a lower voice. “It’s less than ideal, I am aware, but it’s something, and it’s what works for me, Askal. I’m not…” The mole trailed off, with little trace of his usually placid expression, as his sight seemingly wandered elsewhere. Anywhere other than Askalim, seemingly trying to find the words. Even sniffing, reflexively, as if he could track the right phrase by smell…

...before setting off quickly as fast as his thick, stubby legs could carry him. Seems he did sniff something out.

The shard-badger caught up quickly enough, on long and heavy steps that brought him right besides Vel. Before saying anything, he made a point of staring into his eyes with slight annoyance, which was quickly dismissed with a sigh. “Alright, Vi, but we will be picking that one back up afterwards. So, what’d you find?” Just in case, he turned ahead towards their apparent destination – a steep greenstone climb towards something unseen, right next to a plummeting stream just big enough to be called an actual waterfall.

“Ah, easy!” That smirk of his had come back in less than a second, matching his tone. “Air smudged with coal and oils, carried by their respective smoke, and mixed in with the slightest, yet unmistakeable scent of sparking metal, all coming from a spot we know has rails, thanks to your map? Askal,” he said in a lilting voice, turning towards him just to make sure he saw that confident smile, “I believe our train is here, and just in time~.”

How convenient, thought Askalim with briefly-narrowed eyes. Still, they had a job to do. A smash and grab of sorts, though with no windows to actually smash they would need to get slightly more creative. Up the incline they went, climbing up with claws on the firmer outcroppings, as the badger leaned in to whisper against his companion’s helmet: “Keep your voice down, then, and keep your clanking to a minimum, Vi. If there’s so much as one Vez in that train we’re gonna have a slight problem.” He was practically on all fours, making sure none of the metal in his outfit touched the stones beneath him; he’d need to speak little, and move perfectly, as the water’s flow could only mask so many words and steps before someone grew suspicious…

Velardi, however, crawled over the stones like a natural, in spite of his oversized claws and damn near paunchy breastplate. It slid over the rock without actually scraping, somehow, and his movements seemed fluid enough to avoid clacking the pieces together. And his claws just propelled him forwards and upwards, almost the same motions he’d use for digging applied to hook him on each stone and send him forth faster than Askalim could match. Vel knew it, too, taking a moment to side-eye him (he assumed) just to jovially whisper back: “Please, sergeant, I’ve worn this half my life, I know how to keep iron quiet.”

Sergeant. Askal hadn’t been that in a while, and hearing it gave him pause, slowed his climb at his lip twitched, unsure whether to turn up or down. Still, he forced himself to catch up, going on autopilot for a few moments before they approached the end of their climb. “Guess Zee caught you up with that whole thing, didn’t she,” he muttered, “saves me some time I guess…” Oh, he’d need to have a talk with Ziv-Ziri about secrecy, even if he’d never told her not to tell anyone about how he came to work with her. But then again, maybe she was just paving the road between them, Vel was a military mole- Velardi almost crested the edge of the climb, right behind a boulder, and settled in, motioning for Askalim to come and hurry. Another thought to put off for later, then, as he raced his way up to join him behind the rock, peer over its edge… and find the rails right there, not ten feet away from them. And right upon them, pointed West, stretching from the bridge ahead to a curve far to their right, was a heavy cargo train, utilitarian and plated all over with more steel than most. Every wagon was boxy and windowless, and the engine was oddly angular, practically a wedge on wheels with small windows and a chimney to break its geometric pattern.

“See, Askal,” the mole whispered right against the badger’s ear, “still smoking. The fires inside aren’t even out yet for this stop. We might even be ahead of schedule.” “Where Zee got a schedule good enough for us to catch this thing right here is the real question”, the badger muttered to himself as he glanced ahead of the train. Yet-indistinct figures – thankfully short ones, so no Vezarym to hear them – seemed to be examining the bridge ahead, one of them kneeling to have a closer look. “Perhaps the same contact that let her know such a train even existed? This one is quite unusual. Too muted to be ours, too simple to be Bannerbound, too unarmed to be one of yours, and too heavy to be most of anyone else’s, when it comes to the usual commerce”. He’d be right on all accounts, as far as Askalim knew, except for one he hadn’t thought of… “I almost want to say it’s Shumhaq, the Burnt Hive have a thing for the rough and simple”, he countered, before grimacing. “But that engine’s throwing me off on that, and I don’t see anyone with more than two legs up there.” Then, he looked towards the tail-end of the train, and began a slow and silent march. “Whoever’s train it is, what it’s got is ours, let’s get moving.”

Right behind the edge of the climb, the two made their way towards the rear of the train, with eyes, ears and noses perked for any details or movements that might make their job harder. Little to be seen in that regard, the lack of windows worked in their favor, so it was a matter of stepping carefully, watching their backs, and double-checking every time they were about to pass another car just in case someone was stepping between them. “Bit easier than I thought it’d be,” Askalim muttered to himself, before adding, almost hastily, “so far.” It seemed right to add it, just in case, but he hoped the very comment hadn’t jinxed their work.

Velardi just quietly shushed him with one claw against his own snout, staying ahead and finding the steadiest path to ensure no missteps or rolling rocks gave them away. He was careful to keep the scenery between him and the train where he could, just in case; perhaps there might be hidden slits or other visors somewhere in there, discreet but functional. Better to follow his lead, he did handle subtlety a little better than Askal ever did… an embarrassing thought, when talking about a guy with more steel on him than cloth. But he’d been wearing that far longer… and in fact it was rare to see him without any protection. Sure, this was dangerous work, but when had Vi been out there with some actual clothing on instead of plating?

The badger’d need to hold that thought – worrying as it was that he couldn’t even think of one occasion in that time – because the mole was nearing the end of the train, crawling his way across the incline right ahead of him. All with no sign either of them had been spotted. No alarmed voices, no hurried steps, no doors swinging open, and most importantly no gunshots. All smooth, all flawless… so far. Those two words were important to add. Either way, the last wagon was there for them, seemingly unattended, boxy and windowless like the rest; only the “intel” Ziv-Ziri had given them pointed at it as special. If she, or rather her contact, was right about this, then there would be a few very valuable, and very heavy ingots of…

“…Vi, what’s the stuff we’re here for called again?”, he whispered, keeping embarrassment to a minimum. “Sallow-silver I believe she said?”, the mole whispered back as he peered from behind one last boulder. He sounded uncertain, whether of the word or what it meant. “Got any idea what that even is, Vi?”, he asked. He may as well; he’d never worked metal, just wore it and swung it, Velardi was ahead of him there. “Not at all, I’m afraid.” Should’ve expected that. But then came his speculation: “Hardly sounds like jewelry, sallow isn’t a word for such, but silver is hardly war-worthy either. It must be something obscure. Perhaps even occult.”

Askalim could only nod quietly, as the idea completely left their areas of expertise. That was closer to Ushi’s playground, and she wasn’t here. All they could be sure of was that the ingots (presumably) in that wagon were very valuable indeed, to the point they’d hardly need many of them to cover their contact’s needs… he could only wonder if he could sneak any more beyond that number, just as a bonus for themselves. There had to be a market out there for it, right? Zee could surely find one, so long as they actually had the metal in her hands.

And so, the badger began his careful approach towards their objective, with Velardi right at his side. From rock to rock, on quick and light steps that wouldn’t scatter pebbles or rattle their own wear, quick looks and listens all around to make sure no one was close… by the time he made the last quick dash towards the train, both to use it as cover andd have a close look at the can they’d need to open, he couldn’t help but think this had to be the worst-guarded train he knew of. Even a passenger ferry would’ve spotted them by now! Were the ones making and riding these relying on thick walls to keep everyone out, and that’s it? Was this one just cheap, skimping on armaments and leaving only what could barely be called a skeleton crew, right at the front and nowhere else?

All such musings came to an end when they came close enough to touch the armored wagon, and felt – the same way one feels an oncoming tremor before it becomes a quake – that something very large inside it moved.

Both froze in their tracks. No one had seen them, but it became increasingly likely that something had felt them, even if it didn’t know who or what they were. They’d need to coordinate.

Vel looked back at his companion, and motioned with his claws. Pointed at himself, motioned downwards with one claw outstretched, and thrust it forwards… A breaching action, presumably; he could probably mold an opening into this thing if it was steely enough, knowing what he could do with the formless iron glob he called a weapon. Then the mole pointed back at Askalim, pretending to lunge with both hands and grabbing something unseen… He breaches, he stabs in, and Askal rushes in and grabs. That’s fair, quick, and maybe too simple. But then again it’s not like they knew what else to try.

Nothing left to do but try, then. Velardi stepped forwards, holding a shapeless metal lump in his claw, hovering it mere inches from the wagon’s side, while Askalim remained right behind him, axe at his side and both hands empty to snatch up anything he saw resembling their quarry. Seconds passed, as they readied up for a quick and violent entrance… Before Vel raised his iron “weapon”, shifted it around his claws like a form-fitting glove, counted to one, and plunged the last remaining clawtip into the wagon’s side. After some digging, it slowly sank in, “glove” and all, and he opened it up with an upwards cut, one he slowly widened by the iron’s constant push-

Through which something – a huge, shining metal arm with three claws longer than Vel’s own – erupted with a thundering CLANG, reaching blindly for the apparent intruder.

Velardi had to be thankful for his short stature, as the initial swipe narrowly missed his head; Askalim was caught instead, the claws tightening around the loose, improvised “breastplate” right in front of his vest, which easily came loose as the badger threw himself out of the way. This bought the two a few moments, as the claw busied itself with trying to crush the scrap it just caught – and finding worrying success.

“CHANGE OF PLANS,” the badger called out, knowing all subtlety had flown off a cliff, “YOU GRAB IT! I’LL KEEP THIS THING OFF!”. Flinging himself forwards, he yanked his axe off its straps, and gave the arm a quick, surveying look: It was all metal, each segment a metal “girder” of sorts joined to each other by a comparatively simple hinge – all of this surrounded by contraptions composed mostly of a single, shiny metal tube for each-

On a hunch, he reared back and slammed the blade of his axe right where one tube ended and its contraption began. And where sharpness wouldn’t cut, the sheer force behind the swing did the trick. The blade was driven just a few inches in, but the great gout of amber fluid that spewed out of this gash once he’d pulled his weapon away let Askal know it was enough.

Yet as the badger pulled away, the metal arm strained against its confines to try and pursue. Something was twisting within the walls, turning the claw towards him in turn, but the lunge that followed after him wasn’t quite quick; just enough for him to swat the claw away and actually deflect it – barely. While the thing swung wide, he took a moment to glance at what Velardi was doing, far closer to whatever this arm belonged to… The mole was using the hole it’d opened up, reaching inside with one metal-coated claw to grab whatever he could. The iron twitched and flowed in his grasp, letting him know he’d at least have the reach.

The arm surging back to try and plant its sharpened digits into his back only confirmed Vi was on the right track. It strained itself, spewing its amber “blood” everywhere in an oily geyser, just to get at him. This time, however, its injury had slowed it down just enough for Askalim to react. He stretched out his arm, raised his dented axe, and hooked a different tube with the “beard” of the blade right as he planted his boots as firmly against the stone as he could manage.

The badger found himself launched forwards into the arm, crashing chest-first against the assorted tubes as his hooking worked out – and revealed who was heavier in the process. He barely managed to stop himself from getting winded, grappling the machinery almost instinctively, while he felt something spray against his leg. Something hot, practically scalding, and oily as well – that was good news at least. But the bad news followed as he rose his weapon again, prepared for a tangled scuffle, and found the axe had been practically decapitated by the impact, its “neck” bent backwards at a near-perfect right angle…

But even a bad blade can be a good bludgeon, as they said back in Voska. Or in this case, a good lever. He grabbed his busted armament in both hands before the claw could resume its assault and jammed it right between the main body and a different tube, reeling the whole thing in and giving him leverage to start bending it. Anything to keep it away and distracted from what they actually came for, even if it meant fighting something that could kill him with just the one limb.

As the struggle began, Askal’s quick and savage thinking was paying off: Its next move was to immediately try to lift him in the air, presumably aiming to toss him off or even slam him back down, but between his Toskar bulk and the damage to its tubes all it achieved was spewing more amber fluid than it’d already lost, just to raise him a few inches off the ground. Even better, it gave him ample time to start twisting what would be yet another weapon lost in action right around its moving parts, the groaning metal letting him know he was on the right track. And from the looks of it Vi was already pulling something shiny right out of the wagon, reaching in for-

The arm slammed down with the same alarming speed as the first time, planting the badger’s heels into the ground with an audible crack as his boots met the rock. It kept pushing down, seemingly aiming to crush him – or so it would seem, because the actual claw was heading straight for the rock as well, actively reaching out to grasp it. Leverage, he thought. Better to mess with that too, if he wanted to remain distracting. And not be crushed into a smear over the cavern floor, that was important too.

He quickly found it’d be a slow and losing battle either way. Askal pushed up with all his might, as firm as a mountain of muscle like him could manage, but muscle was no match for this… machine. Inch by inch it was reaching the ground, no matter how much he strained; he could hear pebbles being ground to dust under his boots, barely above the sound of his own heart in his ears, but on it went, little by little, seemingly pushed forwards by the one tube he didn’t smash open. Damn it. The silver lining of the whole thing, however? He didn’t need to win, or even last forever. He just needed to hold until Velardi had cleaned out what they needed.

…Velardi, who – thanks to a coincidental glance – he saw was about to be menaced by another arm just like this one, emerging from the top of the opening he’d made. And by the tilt of his helmet, right as he was reaching deeper inside, he could see it too.

The seconds that followed were a blur. Only after they were over could Askalim piece together that he’d rushed the wagon with the contraption-riddled limb still in his grasp; he couldn’t quite remember if he was trying to imbalance it further, or just tried to crush the thing against the nearest wall in a fit of panicked fury. It took him a moment to figure out why it had worked in the first place, as brute force alone hadn’t been cutting it, and the strength granted by such an outburst couldn’t have been enough by itself. But then he saw glints of bluish light reflecting off the arm, and the wagon behind it. He felt his opponent’s strength as it slowly returned, erratically and without direction, from a sudden absence. And he heard something echo across the cavern, the remnants of a CRACK that he had been too blindly enraged to catch.

A spark of lightning. Of his lightning, erupting from his body as soon as he’d been pushed far enough. Yet again he’d forgotten he could do that – and yet again it’d only come out once he was too far gone to think.

“That’s enough of that, it’s time we left!”

Velardi’s voice cut above the rising ruckus of the wagon’s dweller regaining its bearings; when Askalim turned to face him, he saw the mole right next to a haphazard pile of ingots, tossing some behind him with one claw while the other tried to shove the machine back into the dark. This “sallow-silver” hardly looked like silver – to his eyes it looked like gold that’d somehow grown deathly ill, too sickly-shaded to even shine anymore – but it’s what they came for, and it’s what they’d have to haul out. And so he went, tossing his “opponent” aside before slipping off his empty backpack, hurrying to pack their loot inside and leave…

Shoving the ingots in by the handful, the badger looked back at his partner-in-crime, just in case he needed to intervene. Almost, but not quite, from the looks of it: He was trying to “knit” the cut he’d made back together, using his iron supply as the metaphorical thread to pull the sides together and seal them. The mole was already giving up trying to shove the (first) limb back in there, and was just molding metal around it, trapping it at the joint and presumably hoping it would hold long enough, while it was still weakened. Funny how he’d picked up on that so quickly, when Askalim had been the one actually wrestling the damn thing.

Then the machine inside twitched, and the improvised seal started to groan and creak. They’d either need more haste, or more iron, Askal thought – right before an ear-rattling pop of once-bound metal let him know haste alone might not cut it.

So in he charged, barging past Velardi – dropping the bag at his feet – to stuff what he could of their attacker’s arm back into its box, while kicking part of the pile of ingots away from their struggle. “More, you need more in there! Close it before it breaks out”, the badger called out as he did his best to hold the construct at bay. Surely he could spare some, if anything his weapon was even more expendable than Askal’s own!

And sure enough, the mole set both claws to work, smearing iron like clay over the gash, slowly patching it up with their opponent still stuck in it… But when that ran out, there was a pause, a silence, that somehow pierced through the sounds of clanking metal.

“...Vi? That’s not gonna be enough”, the Toskar grunted out between pushes and shoves, side-eyeing the Ferigozi… the oddly quiet, oddly still Ferigozi, whose claw was reaching out, gesturing half-heartedly as if the iron he’d need would come from nowhere at all. But it was right there on his armor, he’d seen him mold it! “Vi, come on, we’ll pluck a rail or something later, move it!” A groan of effort punctuated their hurry, as the thing started pushing back – and through…

Yet the mole remained… confused? His beady eyes were wide, flitting around back and forth, so clearly he was present, but he wasn’t actually doing anything yet! He just kept glancing down then looking away like he didn’t want to. He swear he could hear him mutter, about not having… something, the struggle drowned out the specifics. Finally, he looked back at Askalim with those same wide eyes and asked, in a weak and uncertain voice, “Askal, can you come closer, I need your armor…”

Another creak of tormented metal filled the air, as the badger did what he could to keep the thing inside, but his attention was fully on Velardi after that, staring at him in pure bafflement. Then, before he could even think about what he’d heard, he was already yelling back. “THEN COME AND PLUCK IT OFF ME WHILE I FIGHT THIS THING IF YOU CARE SO MUCH!” Askalim snarled, showing teeth and flaring what quills he had, practically forced to swallow whatever Voskan curse he was about to spit out. This wasn’t the moment for… whatever this was! Especially not for someone like Velardi, sandbagging this at the eleventh hour was not like him. And that almost fearful look he was giving back even less so! The badger’s quills sparked, reflecting off the mole’s armor again, the same armor he’d risk him for! “YOU’VE GOT ALL THIS IRON ON YOU AND YOU CAN’T PART WITH EVEN A SINGLE POUND OF IT!? ARE YOU GONNA-”

Something even louder than a furious Toskar cut him off. A sound of ruptured metal as the construct’s other limb poked through, and widened the gap just enough for both to see some of its body. Or were those three shining lights upon a rounded, silvery shape like the edge of a massive disc merely what it had for a face…?

Velardi said nothing, not even a syllable, in spite of his open mouth. His expression seemed to outright blank, in fact, as he clawed at his own armor, sinking his fingers into it like clay and smearing it, outright tossing it all over the opening he was meant to seal up. Practically threw himself at the wagon, scrabbling over it in his suddenly-desperate attempts to shutter it. The construct inside it, in spite of its efforts, was buried once more, arm and “wrist” thoroughly gummed up with iron smeared like plasticine over its workings. It’d break back out, those three glowing “eyes” buried into theirs told them as much, but it would buy them time. Just enough time to grab the silver and flee-

...the former task falling entirely in Vel’s hands, because the unarmored mole had scrambled off so fast he couldn’t even catch what he was wearing underneath. Was he running off on all fours, throwing himself forwards with his claws…? That would be convenient, but… improper. To him, at least.

No time for that. After all that racket the actual crew of this thing had to be coming. Nothing left to do but open the bag, scoop all the ingots in, and run off after Vi before they could catch either of them. Easy enough, so long as he could run fast enough… And the banging of metal against metal right behind him gave him a much-needed jumpstart, sending him into a dead sprint before he even thought to look back.

This time, however, keeping up with the mole proved almost impossible. He’d never seen Velardi move this fast before, scrambling over the sodden earth almost like a wild animal. Easy as it’d be to think this was just how he moved when finally unburdened, it didn’t feel like enough of an explanation. Even less so after Askal saw him rush the edge of the plateau they were on and leap right off, disappearing from his sight completely… And the glimpse he got of blank, beady-eyed panic on the mole’s face before plummeting below sealed the deal. Askalim didn’t call out his name, not yet, not when they were being followed (not that he looked back to check). All he could do was rush in as fast as he could, panting and on aching legs, hauling however many pounds of priceless metal over his shoulder, to reach the same edge he’d jumped from so he could find a better way down – and more importantly, find if he’d need to carry off a shattered Ferigozi on his other shoulder. And when he came to a skidding halt right at the edge, and practically belly-flopped onto the edge to peer down without fear…

The good news was, there wasn’t a mole-shaped splatter down below, and “below” wasn’t too far off, with a few manageable meters right beneath him. The bad news was that said mole was nowhere to be seen, intact or otherwise. Nothing but a couple boulders and craggy stone. He reluctantly shined what light he had upon the place, hoping to catch even a single sign, but he saw nothing more, other than some scattered pebbles that were right below him. …that got joined by a few more, scattered from the cliffside itself into the open.

If that was what he thought, Askal was still right on time, and if it wasn’t, he’d be far enough behind that he may as well check. Clinging with his claws to the edge, slid down and dropped off, landing below with bent knees to make sure he didn’t crack anything – Toskar didn’t handle heights well. Turning to face the cliff he’d just dropped from, he saw a large vein of white stone among the green, and upon shining his light on it all he saw what he was looking for: A single, large crag upon it, recently shattered and widened, with more and more pebbles tossed out of it… He’d need to crawl in there, squeeze in, but he could manage it. And so, swiping off his improvised, clattering armor and stuffing it into the bag with their haul, he got on his knees and started pushing himself in there, hoping he wouldn’t get stuck… Then again, maybe that would wake Vi up from this panicky fugue.

In he went, squeezing his bulk through the confines of the crack, and the tunnel inside it. The badger could only be thankful much of that bulk budged before the pressure, that his vest and fur were smooth enough not to snag on anything, but the process was slow, and reversing would need a prodigious show of strength, or Ferigozi help. He could barely keep a light forwards, shining through the newly-made tunnel in this softer, easily fractured rock, see the contours of a passage so hastily made, the clear gashes on the wall, with unmistakable clawmarks… He uttered into the dark: “Vi? Vi, this ain’t a bad hiding spot, but you can stop now.”

He held his breath, and heard the cracking of stone a short way ahead. Pebbles rattled as they flew out, bouncing underneath him. Perhaps he didn’t hear, perhaps he ignored his words, but Velardi was somewhere in there.

Further in he went, scraping himself against the rough edges of these hastily-carved walls. Not a place for a Toskar, not in the least, but he could say the same of this whole plateau. And the situation as a whole… Not the time for such thoughts. “Vi”, he called out once more, just a little louder, “slow down for a sec, I can barely get through these! Bit of help!?” He didn’t need that much help, but having him widen the gap a little further would be good. Especially if he needed to turn around for any reason. “I can’t follow you inside like this, come on!”, he called again, before adding almost absentmindedly: “You’re not gonna leave me behind, are you?”

That stopped the noise ahead. The grinding, the cracking, and eventually the clacking of pebbles and rocks against the confines of the tunnel. Silence reigned, saved for Askal’s breath… and, if he listened closely, Velardi’s.

Groaning, he made his way further in, practically pulling himself in with one free claw while the other dragged the bag behind him, legs planted firmly on the ground to shove him in. He hurried as much as his bulk and the bag allowed, even putting away his light to advance. An advance in near-complete darkness was still an advance, and the path was but one. The breathing was closer now, he could hear it – ragged, exhausted, yet still hurried and shallow… And when he thought he heard it close enough, and how little it had changed, he did what he could to squeeze his other claw past his body, little by little, holding his only light – their only light, after the mole left his behind.

And so, he found Velardi, unarmored and bare, seemingly just… staring at the wall he’d been tunneling into, not even turning to face his partner in crime. Surrounded by soft, scattered pebbles and bigger shards that’d been hurled right behind him. The detritus his desperate tunneling had shredded his shirt, such as it was, baring him to the badger’s eyes, and…

Askalim knew the scars of battle, knew the marks that warfare could leave on a body. He’d read entire histories on the weathered skin and fur of fellow combatants. But what he found on Velardi was an outright pristine pattern of smooth, almost shiny scales. Unscathed, and dare he say outright untouched, with neither the scrape of a blade nor the crack of a hammer upon them. The pattern was unbroken all over his back, from his unexpectedly long tail up to where his collar would be…

Save for a single, scale-less scar, inches long and remarkably thick, narrowly missing his upper spine.

That wasn’t a battle injury, Askalim knew. And from the haunted look he could see in Velardi’s eye – he’d been so distracted he didn’t even see him turn – it wasn’t a scar he wanted to show, let alone boast about. Was he trying to hide it this whole time? Hiding the history behind it, and- …doing all in his power so he wouldn’t repeat it. That sounded more like it.

Quietly, the badger took his time in pulling the bag through a gap between him and the wall, sliding himself back to place their loot between them… Not just the loot, but Askal’s ramshackle armor as well, still strung by its improvised straps as it was unveiled, and laid before the mole. “Here, you can have it now”, he whispered, as he put out the light.

Then, darkness, and a silence broken only by a soft sound of fur brushing against metal as – Askalim could only assume – the iron was reshaped under his claws. Not by brute force, but by whatever it was that let other Ferigozi give life and puissance to anything their hands could shape. And when that stopped, there was nothing but soft breathing, so much calmer than before…

When the light came back on, it was in Velardi’s claws. It’d been enough for a breastplate and greaves, but either he didn’t want a helmet, or it hadn’t been enough for one. And thus, one could see into his eyes… Distant, looking well away from his own, but very much there. Trying to glance at the badger, only to wince and shut them as if he’d stared into an open crucible. His mouth almost opened, as if it tried but couldn’t, with no words to justify it. A far cry from the usual…

So Askalim spoke first. “Caught one blade too many, didn’t you?”, he asked in the most empathic tone he could manage. “Y-you saw it… Y-you don’t understand, one was too much, t-that one was too much…” Vi could only stammer in response, but it was progress. “Not much of a battle-scar, that one.” Now for a risky maneuver, something closer to a bitter joke. “You hear talk about being stabbed in the back, sometimes, but I’m guessing this was pretty damned literal.” A held breath, let out. Almost like a sob, in fact, but not quite there. “Y-you d-don’t know the half of it, Askal, it’s-” On that, he had to interrupt. Gently, but firmly, briefly holding his snout shut between two fingers, but with a small, if ironic smile. “Way I made it here, from a Voskan sergeant to an outlaw hiding in a cave, thanks to a certain captain… I might know some of it. Maybe not half, but some at least.”

That silenced the mole, even after Askalim let go of him. One could almost hear the gears grinding in his head as he processed it all… Before he closed his eyes, sighing. “...perhaps. Perhaps you’re right on that. Of the sorry lot we’ve become, you might come closest there, shameful a badge as that may be.” The mole shook his head with a mirthless little smile. “A badge, I call it, as if this were a competition. As if anyone wanted to win… Heh. The closest thing to a prize for it was almost getting you killed, wasn’t it?”

Askal could only shrug. “Eh, almost sounds too close to me. Didn’t happen, that’s what matters right now. And this little hiding spot you made actually works so far, so that’s a plus. Just…” He trailed off, looking at the ceiling as if he’d find the right words there, before giving up. “Try not to lose it like that next time. Or any time. That’s all I can ask. Because wanting to know what the story is behind… that, that’s just curiosity, not my business to pry-”

He found it was his turn to be silenced, with one clawtip pushing his jaw shut. Velardi’s ever-present smile… bitter, sorrowful, but at least it was back. That was something. “No, no, after that… after that, I think you’ve at least earned the right. And besides, if we’re going to hide out in here, with hours to burn until the train moves on, we may as well burn them with something to bridge this whole business, don’t you think?” Lowering his claw, and setting it against the walls that pressed against Askalim’s ribs, he started digging them in, gently, inch by inch. “Let me just clear ourselves some ground for a proper camp, here in the deep. It’s about time someone else knew…”

“…funny that. All the stories I tell, and I never got to the most important one, didn’t I?”

[yutzen]

Where the Heart Is

"There you are! You’re going to give me a conniption running off like that! Are you alright? I smelled smoke, and I got very worried. Smoke in the lakes is usually terrible news! Oh, thank goodness… I know it’s very little smoke, but you have to understand, any smoke here, where things so seldom burn, it could mean- What? ...Usherrimi, you didn’t grab any matches from the house, did you? Because if you did- Usherrimi? Ushi, please, slow down and tell me what you did, okay? It’s fine, it’s fine. Nothing bad happened, so long as you’re okay, it’s all okay… Oh! Oh… I’m sorry, Ushi, it just slipped out of my mind. I know you wouldn’t do that! I had a student who did once, is all, and I panicked at the thought… ...pardon? Nonono, it’s not dangerous, it’s a fine little fire, and with the crystal here it won’t spread, but… you said you made it? By yourself? Without matches, or tinders, or anything else...? Ushi, it’s not that, you don’t know what it means to- Usherrimi, no. Something that you can do is never a bad thing. You didn’t burn anything down, you didn’t hurt anyone, including yourself, this is fine. Okay? Good. Because what I wanted to say is… This is actually pretty rare! We’re not especially close to fire, not even here, but at your age, and enough to start this one here, that’s… It’s remarkable! Very remarkable! Actually… Can you show me? Just a little spark if you can, okay? If you can’t, that’s fine, these things can be tiring- OH GOODNESS…! Ahahah, this is fire! They’re like little candles on your gills! And- Ow! Oh, it does burn! Wait, you haven’t burned yourself have you!? Okay, good, good…! Just making sure, these are tricky energies to manage, but you’re doing it so well… It’s amazing! I knew it! Oh? I meant, I knew you were a talented young lady, I could see it from the start. Ahaha, no. Talent is talent, no matter where it lies. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, okay?"

“Something up, Sherry?”

Usherrimi – the “Sherry” in question – felt a long-fingered claw lay on her shoulder right as that question snapped her out of some old, old thoughts. The Ifchi’s gills twitched in surprise, but she took her time to actually turn around and face the one who asked… Yep, there she was. Ziv-Ziri was there, her gleaming yellow eyes looking down with great concern. “Usually you’re first up for getting the campfire going, but I found you, well… here.”

Here. Right. When Ziv told her she’d be getting the whole gang together, she didn’t think much of the place she’d pick for such a widespread group. She thought it’d be nice, in fact. She’d never been to the Stonelit Meadow before, and since it was close enough to the Lakes, she expected a little nostalgia. The sodden ferns waving in the warm breeze and the faded lichens that crunched under her steps were familiar enough, but they were thick here, not quite what she remembered…

But when she climbed the last hill and found herself standing before a great quartz monolith, glowing with an inner light just like the ones she knew, and with many more dotting the distance, as a tiny stream of tepid water ran right under her bare feet, just like the ones back-

“Sherry! There’s not something with this crystal, right? Not… burning or anything? You’d know those more than I do, so…”

Of course she would. These luminous crystals, warmed and grown by the streams far beneath, were just like those in the Lakes. Shining down on her with the same light that lit her lessons with her tutors as she perfected her gifts, the same light that let her read her books beneath the surface and get lost in others’ worlds with no one to bother her. Stones like these were the first – and once, only – witnesses to her own light, to the flames she could bring forth… And it was right under a monolith like this one, so much like this one, that she lit the first flames she’d actually share. Her tutor Neshuri had been so proud that day…

“I…”, she began, but the words that’d follow just wouldn’t come out. The Ifchi’s gaze fell to the ground, almost wishing she could close her eyes. ‘I thought I could handle it’, Sherry thought, clenching both her fists, ‘I thought walking away from Ishiss, wandering the caves would do it, would cut those strings that pulled from waters I left behind, and yet here, here…’ Did those strings just never snap, and she’d just managed to ignore their pull, or was taking a glance at just… this, a simple glowing rock, knit them back together? It brought back some old things, the oldest of all, she was a child back then! Right by the weakest spot, yet somehow the most vivid, it had grabbed her and dragged her into all the rest, right down to the last day before she left towards Ishiss. And there she was, the wayward mage, left feeling like it had pulled her heart all the way back to the Lakes.

“How do you do it, Ziv?”, the axolotl muttered under her breath, staring at the shimmering ceiling of the cavern, and finding it, too, brought unwanted reminders.

“Do what, Sherry?”

Sherry swiveled towards Ziv-Ziri, almost startled. Damn it, she forgot she was a bat and had the hearing to match! There had to be an out of that little conversation… Or, at least, a way to breach it gently. She knew Ziv’s parting had been outright acrimonious, so while she may understand, it had to be a far bigger hole in her heart. It only made sense…

First, dismissing the question she shouldn’t have asked. “Nothing, nothing, just… stray thoughts is all. Just taking in the sights, mm?” Sights… That’s one route. She did like this place – that was, in fact, the problem – and it was only right to let her know. The little smile that came next was more genuine than the olm expected. “You sure know how to pick a scenic route, Ziv. Or meeting spot, rather. You have a talent for that one.”

With a grin and a flick of her ears, Ziv-Ziri let out a little giggle. “I know, right? I’ve been here once or twice, I can’t linger around too much ‘cause they’ll find me, but it’s nice for a stop when you don’t have anything to hide. Can’t say I’ve seen any border guard, or even bounty hunters, either! Uh, not counting Vel, I mean.” After that digression, she stepped closer, and leaned in with all her height, her grin turning sly. “And besides, I knew of a certain someone from the Lakes that would appreciate a few sights like these~”

And with that, Usherrimi’s smile faltered, barely even staying on – which in turn, made the bat’s own turn to a slightly baffled frown. “And you were right on the money, Ziv”, she said, before noticing said frown and feeling she’d been caught. Time to salvage this, she hoped: “Look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate the sights. It’s just… You really did hit close to home, it’s just… Too close? Does that make sense? Please tell me that makes sense.” That last one almost came out unprompted, blurted with unbecoming nerves, and if anything it made Ziv look concerned…

“It would make sense to me, Sherry”, answered a different, far deeper voice. The two found a pair of black, beady eyes when they turned, as a familiar Ferigozi crested the hill to join them. “Too great a reminder, I bet. Made you think deep enough about ‘home’ to bring back all of those reasons you left.” The old mole offered a tired, bitter smile as he closed the distance with the other two.

The axolotl answered before the bat could intervene. “First, I was asking Ziv, but, late for that. Second, that’s not what I meant at all, Vel, this isn’t about why I left.”

But Velardi, as usual, was undeterred by that, still with that small smile on his snout. “Was it, though? You said it yourself, a closer reminder of old comfort… Followed, right after, by the thought ‘why am I not there?’, wasn’t it?” He set the indistinct lump of steel he called a weapon against the earth, elongating it until he could use it as a walking stick, and leaned upon it with that sagely smirk of his – with no seeming notice of Usherrimi’s souring expression. “Well, Sherry, in business like ours, home is often the place we can least return to, and honestly, we should hardly want to. Very easy to remind yourself of why you’d never go back.” Then, those tiny eyes narrowed as the mole almost hissed: “Remembering why it stopped being ‘home’.”

With raised brow and narrowed eyes, Sherry didn’t hide how unimpressed she was… But after a deep breath, she softened her expression. “I’m gonna be honest, old man… The reasons are the least of it. Becoming persona-non-grata… You could say it was my fault.” With a flare of her gills, however, her next words filled with hatred: “But I don’t regret even a moment. They knew what they said, they knew what they were doing, they knew what they made up about ME, and thought they’d get away with it ‘cause they were staff. Fuck them, and fuck their academy.”

When the fire died down, all she could add to it – after a heavy sigh – was: “I’ll give you one thing: The part where something in Ishiss, the city, all the way North, is what cost me my spot in the Lakes… That part hurts. Even if it means you get to be wrong about it.”

The Ferigozi was given pause by said outburst, raising his brow even if his placid expression remained. “Ah. Mm, a little more different than I thought… But not quite as different as you would think, Sherry.” He approached the glowing monolith as he rambled, tracing the stone with one claw. “It’s all Ishiss, I’m afraid. The price on your head, or what I assume is one, it’s not the only thing that stretches from border to border… So are the failings and flaws that made sure there was one. Think about it long enough, and you’ll remember all the little red flags, all the indications it wouldn’t be so different, given half the chance… Another easy mistake to make, forgetting that. Why, even I made that one, once.” He looked into the quartz, lost in his words, almost as if he expected to find something in there…

Yet before Usherrimi could pounce on the chance to reply, before she could voice her affronts at the idea her home was anything like the capital, Ziv-Ziri quelled her with a hand on her shoulders, and stepped forwards to answer instead, disapproval all over her face. “Vel, come on. You’re making it sound like she should hate the place, what the hell!? Can’t someone just miss the place, the things they liked about it? The reasons they didn’t leave until they had to? ‘cause I know I do mine.” Then, with eyes narrowed to glowing slits, she leaned all the way down, face-to-face with the mole, before her expression softened, just a little, as she spoke with actual concern. “I know there’s something like that for you too, Vel. There had to be. You’re gonna tell me there isn’t anything you miss from the Kingdom?”

He looked into her eyes, before his gaze turned distant. And with that, Vel’s smirk turned wistful, before falling to a seldom-seen frown… And then, an even-rarer scowl, his claws scraping along the monolith as they balled into a fist, lips pulling back to show needle-like teeth that rarely saw the light. For once – as far as Sherry knew – Velardi of An-Vescaria was caught out with nothing to say, as he looked back up towards the two, turning from one to the other as the gears ground in his head, treading old ground. And in the end, all the mole could offer were four words, almost spat out rather than spoken: “Like I said: Once.”

Silence would’ve followed, broken only by the droplets falling from above and the gentle whisper of water through the lichens… Were it not for the heavy, ironclad steps that sounded up the hill, as the biggest of Ziv’s entourage made it up the hill, casually resting his huge, webbed paws upon Velardi’s shoulders as soon as he made it there. He tried to whisper, yet all could hear the words that brought a quiet sigh from the mole: “Vi, you’re doing it again.”

Sherry could feel the tension drain off the conversation, even if the interaction before her left her a little perplexed. Vel was never touchy as far as she knew – a hard thing to avoid when Ziv’s around – and yet there he was, leaning back into the mountain of bristles that was Askalim. But then again she’d never seen the mole get like that before. With a convo she started, with this moment of weakness of hers. Time to plot out an apology, she thought. “...ssssorry, didn’t know there had been… an incident, there. Or that it was that bad. Sorry.”

Velardi smiled once more, yet it didn’t reach his eyes at all. “I should apologize, Sherry, for losing my temper. I’ve had more time than any of us to get over such a thing, to think of my old place in the Kingdom without flaring up, and yet here I am…”

He didn’t see the shift in the Toskar’s expression when he said that, but he sure felt the squeeze to his shoulders. “Vi?”

“Yes…?”

“You remember what I told you, back in the Empire, with the captain and everything after him, didn’t I?” He leaned down, just to make sure the mole was facing him.

“In detail, yes… So-called soldiers like him, I met far more than I’d like, but you-”

Askalim stopped him with a single finger against his snout. “No, not the point. What I’m getting at is… Knowing that much, and knowing me, if you heard anyone tell me I should just ‘suck it up and get over it’, you’d pluck their ribs out, wouldn’t you?”

It caught Vel by surprise, but he found his answer quickly this time. “It would be tempting, I’ll admit. Very tempting, if they had the details. And if they called you what we know, I’d happily add their heart to it.”

“Right. And now, with that in mind”, the Toskar said, one digit propping up the mole’s snout to look up, “think a little about what you just said about yourself.”

Sherry and Ziv shared a glance, with plenty to say to each other yet fully aware this was a bad moment for it. Looking back to the mole and badger, they could see Velardi struggle with his words again. “Noted”, he began, lingering on the word, before adding a half-hearted “much as your case is different…”

For that, the badger immediately rounded him to speak face-to-face – you could almost see him resisting the urge to lean down to speak at his level, but it didn’t stop him from once again propping Vel’s snout up to look him in the eye. “Let’s retread: You did what they asked, you stood head and shoulders above the rest, you went above and beyond for all a Ferigozi’s supposed to be, only to get fucked over for it. Doesn’t sound all that different, does it?”

And now Askalim leaned in, softening his almost martial tone before Velardi could reply. “Look, I caught a bit of your convo, Zee didn’t make it hard at all.” He glanced at the bat just to catch her embarrassed grin, then continued. “I get why you’d take things like you do… It’s a stab in the back, after doing everything right. But it wasn’t the Kingdom that held the knife, was it? Just as it wasn’t the Empire that buried one into my back. It was captain Valkut – Worm take his ass – and everyone that believed him. Just as in your case…” He stopped, once again glancing at the others present. “…up to you if you tell them, but I won’t.”

Then, a smirk from the badger. “But it didn’t really stop you from being exemplar, did it?”, he began, and the word seemed to freeze the mole in place. “Ha. That one always gets you, doesn’t it, Vi? But I mean it. Way I see it, you took the right lessons, everything your home would’ve looked up to, and took it with you… Like I’m trying to do with mine. Because… Yes, I can’t go back. I am still an outlaw… But I know what a Voskan ought to be. Even one in this business.” He finished with a jab of one finger against Vel’s chest: “Just as you know what a Ferigozi ought to be… And hell, somehow, in this, you’re making it work.”

And, little by little, that sagely little smile was back on the mole’s face, making Usherrimi realize she was actually kind of missing it. “...heh. I did always say you were a sergeant at heart, Askal, that much has never left you.” Then, Vel turned back to the other two – demoted to a mute audience as they’d been – and his smile got sly in turn. “Why, you even perform well with an audience. Well, Sherry, I suppose that might’ve brought you more answers than I could?”

But Askalim just blinked in confusion at that, and interrupted before the olm could reply. “Wait, this was about her?”, he began, before actually addressing her. “Didn’t take you for someone with homesickness, honestly.”

Finally given the chance to speak, Usherrimi began… With a long and bitter sigh. “Neither did I, Askalim, neither did I right until I suddenly was. Fuck, I thought I was over it…”

Ziv pounced on her chance as well. “Yyyyeah, no one ever is, Sherry.” She laid a hand on the olm’s slimy shoulder…

Before clenching it as she was startled – along with everyone else – by a shrill, chirping voice: “SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, BOSS!”

Ziv-Ziri barely had the time to step aside before a runaway Cheli practically crash-landed onto the spot right next to her, claws gouging the lichen layer on arrival. And yet, she had her usual grin to greet her. “Chi! Didn’t hear you arrive! I mean, I rarely do, but this time especially…!”

With a couple flaps and a few sweeps of her claws, Chitwy’s feathers were tucked neatly back in place,“That’s ‘cause I was quiet, quieter even, didn’t want to miss a thing here. Soon as I saw Embers over there with that look on her face I knew I’d want to hear this.”

Violet eyes rolled in their lidless sockets, as an unimpressed Ifchi cut in. “Glad to hear someone is having fun with this little moment.”

“AH-AH-AH.” Sherry found the swallow right in front of her quite suddenly with a clawtip pressed against her snout. Her gills sparking flames at their ends as a reflex. Not that the bird cared, despite her dry, mossy wear. “This isn’t about ‘fun’, Embers, this is about you and this heartache of yours. Better to bring this up here before it becomes a problem on the job.”

A low, throaty chuckle coming from behind Chi turned both their heads to find a smirking mole. “Didn’t know you cared this much, miss Krivru, I’d heard quite the opposite before”, he teased…

To that, the Cheli started numbering on one free claw. “One, fuck whoever said that. Two, believe it or not I like it here. And three, professionalism. You should know, Whiskers, especially if Quills there with you did tell you about his blowout back in the Snowdrifts.” Askalim’s brow furrowed at the comment, but before Vel himself could raise an eyebrow she interrupted herself: “I don’t mean the part where he killed the guy, if anything we need more of that. Cleanses the soul. I mean the part where it froze him in there and locked him in when we had six other guys or so surrounding us! Yeah, sounds like a problem to me.” Then, she swieveled back to Usherrimi, who didn’t bother hiding her judging stare. “Also four: This was about you, he’s just the example. And while I can’t guess how things could go wrong in your case, let’s make sure it doesn’t. And besides, think Whiskers’s covered already.”

The olm glared. ‘What would you know about this, you’ve never been kicked out. You never lost it. You can return any time, with someone waiting for you, knowing there’s a point to it. You can fucking fly home, right now, and no one would stop you. What would you know about missing anything.’… All this ran through her head, but she did not say it. She just sighed, looking down, holding back these aches and letting reason prevail when it told her, perhaps this little hunter had something to help. Perhaps she didn’t know the whole story, and it would aid her to know. When she fixed her gaze back on Chitwy, it had softened somewhat, and she could speak in a calmer tone. “Fine then… I heard these two already, and much as I’d like Ziv’s take, you jumped the line, so tell me: How do you do it?”

Again, a claw raised to her snout, though at least the swallow had the decency not to touch her this time. “Ah-ah, not the right question, since this isn’t just a me thing. When you roam the caverns far and wide, when you’re a hunter like me, you work with many that’ve been just like you, or him, or that one” – pointing at Sherry, Askalim and Velardi in succession – “who’ve been thrown into the outskirts and worse because wherever the law treads is off limits to them. And I’m not gonna lie to you: At the campfire, and with a drink or two, they always drifted back there. Back to whatever house they had, even if they would’ve hated it months ago. I get it: It hurts.”

Sherry raised her brow, letting out a held breath. “So it’s not uncommon then. Helps to know… Much as I didn’t even need to be drunk to feel it. Or get to the campfire.” Right, that was usually her job, even if it was little more than being a showoff it felt good to have those honors… And right now, she had to wonder just how much of that feeling was ruled by those days she had been rudely reminded of. “Still, you said it yourself, better to bring it up here. Let me rephrase then: How did they do it?”

Yet again, a claw raised to her snout, almost poking her with one sharp talon. “Did you miss the ‘not just me’ bit? Pah, no sidetracking! Here’s the outline.” With one quick inhale, and raising her wings in the air as if stretching out paper for display, Chitwy began. “Home isn’t a place. No, it’s not one place. Like I almost want to say it’s more of a when than a where, but that wouldn’t be right.” The olm raised one doubtful brow, but didn’t interrupt yet. “When you get down to it, ‘home’ is more of a feeling than a place – feel right at home, and all, that’s what I’m going off here. You have to find that for yourself, out there, that’s what smothers those aches you’re having.”

“So far, so utterly vague.” Sherry pushed her glasses back against her eyes with a faint scowl.

The bird lunged at her for that, actively jabbing her clawed finger against her snout – and narrowly pulling it away before she could grab it in one sparking hand. “I WASN’T DONE, EMBERS.”, she screeched out, before another quick, sharp inhale, and a long sigh. “But fine, I’ll skip to that, since you’ll get it that way. Lemme… what’s the word? Condense.” Chitwy backed off, wings clasped in front of her beak as she paced, ignoring the Ifchi’s indignant glare…

Before she swiveled in place, and turned back to face said glare. “A personal example, you look like you need it. I know, the Pact won’t kill me on sight or anything, but the thing is: Home? It’s not always a roof, a garden you made all by yourself and a bed with someone waiting on it. It can be that, it has things you yearn for, that you want and get. But sometimes… Often, even. To me, ‘Home’ is often just…” Those big, sharp eyes closed slowly, and a rare smile graced her face right behind her beak. “…the wind against my feathers, heavy with whatever the breezes stir in the cave. The echoes of untamed wilderness, with no bustle to drown it out. Pristine sights, untouched by road and country… The feeling of finding something, sometimes someone, that no one else was supposed to find. Of tracking it and hunting it down…” She opened her eyes, glancing at the group, one by one. “…knowing whoever’s at my side knows what they’re doing. That they see it all just like I do. That they get it. And that whether it all goes right or wrong, they will have your back.”

After letting it linger for a few seconds, with no one to interrupt, Chitwy turned back to Usherrimi properly, and resumed, calmer than the olm had ever known her. “That’s where I feel at home. And of those sorts that kept drifting back to what they’d lost during those long nights by the campfire… By morning, they remembered what they had out there. What they sought and found in those faraway places. The reason why they stayed out there, on hunts of their own… Even if they didn’t always know what it was.” One last time, the bird pointed at the olm, finally keeping a polite distance. “You don’t know what it is right now, but you have it, you’re still with the Boss and everyone else here. Start from there.”

From there, just a moment of silence, and Usherrimi found herself looking down, and back at the monolith, starting to wonder… What had kept her in this track, rather than trying to hide away in the nation’s outskirts, in some dark river somewhere? What made her stay away with her head held proud, rather than trying to bow to the city, begging for forgiveness? …Other than the fact that was pathetic, of course, she had to leave aside matters of self-respect. She had to be enjoying some of this, she knew she was. They’d caught her smiling before, and some enjoyed making a fuss about it. She just needed to put her finger on it, right…?

Much as her actual fingers were back on this glowing monolith before her. Its light was still soothing, even with all its reminders. Again she was lost in thought, and by the time she realized she forgot to actually answer, Ziv had already done so for her, with a “Wow! Chi, you’re actually a pretty good speaker!”… Debatable, Sherry thought, but it didn’t address the point either way, didn’t it. The bat then stepped right between her and the rest, with one hand on her shoulder – a hand she didn’t recoil from, this time, despite feeling just as sharp sometimes. That was something to think about, wasn’t it… Maybe that was the avenue of thought she ought to pursue, once she had some time to herself, and she didn’t have Ziv prattling on about how much of a pleasant surprise it was to see this admittedly feral Cheli being so insightful, as she was now…

…though when that shoulder-squeeze tightened, and she picked up the slightest hint of a giggle in the bat’s voice – she knew that one well after all this time – she turned around, just in case, deciding those thoughts could wait…

And she did so just in time to see a wiry figure in a rainproofed coat right behind Chitwy and her smug little scoff, with a pair of striking green eyes beneath the drooping brim of his hat. Just in time to hear him utter, with a lisping voice that was just a tinge too loud, “Don’t think y’got th’ whole tale there, lil’ hunter.”

Right, that accent of his. This “Liyon Pinweave” was one of the newest in this little… enterprise, as Ziv liked to call it, but he was already damn unmistakeable, especially for one of the Bannerbound. Recognizable enough that even Chitwy managed to remember who he was before she tried to rake his face, but after she sprung in flight, startled into a shriek that sent her twenty feet into the air. It got the tiniest smirk out of Sherry… But she couldn’t help but widen it as soon as the Vez with her started outright cackling at that. Oh, she was in on it, wasn’t she? She would’ve heard Pins coming, but didn’t say a thing. Maybe even distracted her. “Heh. Hah! Oh, Ziv, you’re evil sometimes, you know that?”

“Turnabout is fair play, greeheeheeee~!”, she practically wheezed out in response, as her own laughter made Askalim belt out one loud “HA!”, and even made the mole crack a wider smile he felt the need to hide behind a claw. And once the Cheli landed right in front of her to glare at her, and perhaps yell at her own boss for that little scare… The scowl on the bird’s face just made her cackle even harder, to Chitwy’s resigned displeasure. “Fuck’s sake boss. I guess I earned that, I know I was loud about it too but STILL.”

Pins joined the group proper once his “victim” had landed again, and the moment died down. “I’ll be apologizin’ fer that one”, he said, “that bit of braggin’ had me mighty tempted. But it ain’t th’ reason I wanted t’pipe up about it all. ‘cause I was hearin’ all of ya on this-”

Sherry outright hissed her interruption: “Yes, again, without warning. Is everyone in this enterprise of ours going to just eavesdrop on this? Ziv, have you hired anyone recently, so that I may know before they just show up having heard this little convo?”

“Uh, no, that should be it. I swear I didn’t plan on this, I didn’t know…” Ziv lowered her head, just a little. “I really didn’t know, actually. Sorry.”

“Th’both of ye can hash that out later, yeh? I ain’t about to start mockin’ or anythin’, but I did have a bit to add.” Already he was striding closer to Sherry herself…

“Of course you do”, she bitterly replied. “Everyone in here just seems to be bursting with advice today, just for the occasion…”

Again, a clawed grip on her shoulder – both her shoulders this time – and the friendly voice of Ziv-Ziri. “Sherry… We’ve all been through one measure or another of this. And no one wants to see you like this… Not here at least. And those who would, I think you’ve toasted most of them, hee…!” After a little chuckle at her own joke, she sighed, and rounded to face the olm properly. “Sometimes it just comes out all at once, when you get a reminder, right? Like just now. It had to be bottled for a while…” Then came the sharp-toothed smile. “I did have something to say too, even if you don’t wanna hear it anymore, but I don’t think I’m that good a… consoler, I guess? Not the sharpest tool in my skillset? So I was leaving me for last, but if this is too much…”

“No, no, it’s not…!” Sherry blurted, almost in a slight panic, but swallowed, cleared her throat, and continued with more composure. “It’s not too much, just… Needed a moment to pace myself. Hard to remember to expect help out there. And in here, in fact. But… No, I’ll hear it out.” And from there, the lightest of whispers, not even coming closer to Ziv to say it, but knowing full well ears like hers could catch it, and no one else’s. “I think yours is the one I’d need the most. I don’t care if you think it’s terrible, Ziv.”

And taking a moment to smile warmly – and then a little smugly when she saw Ziv practically melt into one of her widest grins – Sherry turned around, and faced the Bannerbound. “Very, Mr. Pinweave. What did you have to offer?”

“Pins is fine, y’know”, he said, making Sherry’s smile a little smugger still, “but I’ll give what I got. ‘cause y’see, ‘s a bigger thing than any one fella, bigger ‘n you or me. Can get big like a whole damn country, ‘n I know it ‘cause it did. To us.”

“You mean the Clans…”, Sherry replied before the others, though there were mutters she couldn’t pick up among the other three. Right, the Seven were more attached than usual to their ancestry, to their time before the caverns and the land outside their Exit. Far more attached, at that. But the comparison seemed unfair, to compare a whole nation to just her. Could an entire country miss something, was it enough of an entity to feel such a thing…?

“Yeh, th’ Clans.” Out came his gloved hands, starting to enumerate as he listed out what he’d expect of those gathered. “I know V’lardi’d knows Zau, ‘n maybe Sofize.”

“They do good business with a mole like me, much as Sofize likes to obfuscate the way they do things, and Zau’s little… Proselytizing problem.” Seems Vel sure did.

“Ashk’lim’d fer sure know Norrish-”

“Yes, yes I would, and the fact they kept showing up baffles me.” Why and how a Clan kept sending raids across that patch of caverns would baffle more than a few, Sherry would admit.

“‘n our hunter’d been t’ Vesh, knowin’ ‘em ‘n what they’ve got down there.”

The little bird grinned at that. “Oh they are fun, some of the best tours of my life~.”

“Anyone’s ever touched th’ Consortium’d know Vesnor, but I know our bossh’s been wheelin’ goods t’Zau ‘n Heese.”

“And also Vesnor, in fact!” Ziv grinned, proudly. “The silk bans were their idea but they sure kept buying!”

“‘n as someone from th’ lakes, I know ye’d hear some less ‘n fond words ‘bout Issouf.”

“...I will give you that one. Mother had some choice words about the Rishim Aquifer.” Sherry could remember those rants very clearly, and the less of Father and his words on the incident, the better.

“Mill-Iron Aquifer if y’ask ‘em. But ye know ‘em all between th’ lot. Good, makes it easy. ’cause it lets me get t’the gist.” With a motion within that coat, Pins cracked his shoulders and neck very audibly. “Y’see, I’m a Sofize hob, ‘n even as a hob I don’t always get th’ other six. ‘n you don’t always get th’ ones y’see. Might not get ‘em at all even. But if y’gotta get one thing ‘bout th’ Seven, it’s th’ common thread. Th’ Urul Peaks. Th’ frozen land on th’ other side. What we all lost, ‘bout as lost as it can get. Turns out y’can miss somethin’ y’never even knew. ’n so, the Seven work with that lil’ weight on ‘em. Whole damn history with a home that’s dead ‘n buried, pretty damn literally. ‘s one of th’ first things we all learn…”

“Followed by how y’deal with it.” With that, he raised the brim of his hat, and one could tell there was a smile beneath that scarf… Much as it would be a crooked smile with a sharp tongue, as some there would know. “Y’see it in all Seven, th’ common thread of it. Home ain’t quite one place, Chitwy got th’ gist of that one. ‘s somethin’ you bring with yerself. ‘cause it ain’t just vistas ‘n buildin’s ‘n landscapes, there’s plenty of non-material there. Th’ ways folks were with each other, th’ things ye praised ‘bout it, th’ stories ‘n lives of th’ place, that’s th’ real heart of it, th’ parts that aren’t luggage ‘n land. Ye pack it all up… ‘n then set off with it in yer pack, knowin’ they can’t get it off ya. ‘n when you set roots again, wherever it is, however long y’have in there… y’get to unpack it. Get to be it. Show it, praise it, let ‘em all know that’s what made ya. ‘n by layin’ it down, by puttin’ it out there, by bein’ it all… Even a windy, sand-choked hellhole will be a little more like home, every day. ‘n even a campfire with folks y’ picked to be surrounded by, ‘cause they’d be right at home with ya, can be like th’ place ye lost, in th’ ways that matter.”

…huh. Once again, Usherrimi caught herself looking down at the lichens beneath her feet, eyes unfocused, with no real answer to that. Pins didn’t exactly have a way with words, but there was enough to parse, there. Enough to pick through, and get the base ideas. At the very least… She now knew more or less why the Bannerbound were the way they are. It was hard to understand missing something you never had, and so, she – whose only thought on the lands the Ifchi lived in before the caverns was that it was a monument to her species’ mistakes – had never thought of how doing so would shape a nation. But down to the individual, and realizing she was now stranded from something both beloved and impossible…

“Wow! You’re actually a pretty good speaker- Hee! Not pulling that one twice! But I mean it, though!”

“Might’ve been cheatin’ seein’ this is somethin’ most hobs get, but ‘s what I got. Hope it helps, yeh?”

Maybe it wasn’t so impossible. If she brought along the parts that weren’t old slate rooms, glowing monoliths and steamy water between her fingers. It was a place where talents were seen and recognized, maybe she’d have to do that more for others, as they were doing for her. A place away from cold judgment, away from disappointed eyes of those who saw her through a skewed lens… A place where she was free, too, wasn’t she? Where light and flame were welcome, where she could actually roam, and see a little more beyond walls of black and sodden stone…

“You’re missing the whole POINT of being in a new place! You can’t just impose yourself like that, where’s the thrills!? The discovery of things you’ve never seen, all the things you haven’t even TOUCHED!”

“Burnin’ ‘n buildin’s a whole ‘nother business that-”

“Okay that’s kinda true in ways, but in others, none of that means tearing everything apart, and besides, you need a place to settle even if it’s just to sleep once, right?”

Roaming, right… She’d seen far more of the caverns, of the Subterraneum as a whole, than she’d ever dreamed about. And she had always wanted to see more… Granted, some places had been a little disappointing, but even the Great Dust Gyre of all lands had a charm of their own. And she hadn’t regretted it one bit. One of the pleasures she never got… There was something to that, about the road. But it didn’t mean she couldn’t bring a bit of her home along in every path…

“Some things must unfortunately be changed, miss Krivru, if only because they will be the end of you if you don’t. Though that is true even of a land you live in all your life, isn’t it?”

“That’s the thing, Vi, not changing it means letting it fester, it’s something you need to work on. Even when it’s your very own home you need to work on it, and some of it’ll be ugly. But when it’s done, when you leave it all better than you arrived…”

“Hey, just one person can only do so much there, but then again, I’ve found after a little bit it’s never really one person, right, Sherry?”

…not just a bit of home, a bit of her, in fact. Because throughout it all, she was still Usherrimi Neshi Anei Var. The same that refused to be pulled off her own talents just to beat her head against disciplines she hated. Who strode into the academies of Ishiss ready to rock their foundations, thanks to one tutor that actually knew how to teach. A teacher who actually knew what to do with her… She was the one who refused to bow to anyone, especially those who taught her such in the first place. Who refused to bow her head even if it meant being nothing more than a drop-out, a criminal, in the eyes of those who’d demanded it. Even if it meant striking back at the ones that thought tormenting her and ripping into all she held to her heart just for the sake of some “experiment”… Even if it meant making examples of them, and never seeing the ones that made her who she is, ever again, for good or ill… No matter what, she’d been her, that much was true, no matter what anyone else thought. Even if it meant having to leave them, leave those that welcomed her, once, twice-

“Sherry? SHERRY!”

She made a startled yelp, suddenly finding Ziv-Ziri was practically in her face, a mere inch away, and with her voice rattling her ears. “...sorry, Ziv, just needed to process for a moment, is all… Where were we?”

Ziv looked just a little concerned. Less than at the start of… This, but still. But then, a little smile crawled onto her lips, and she turned to the others. “Guys, and the one gal, you mind setting up the camp? Right over there, the dry spot next to that little stream down there! We’ll get there when it’s time to light the actual fire, okay? Just need a little moment is all!”

“Yeh, sure”, said Pinweave, his very voice a shrug, before turning around and walking away without a word.

“About time, boss! I’ll get to that right away!”, followed Chitwy, immediately taking flight to beat the others to the spot.

“As you say, Zee, I’m gonna grab our stuff, we left it all the way down.” Off went Askalim, in a fairly different direction, his stride unperturbed.

“I’m sure you two’ve got plenty to ruminate on, after this all, don’t you? Why, I know I have my share.” Unhurried, Velardi followed the badger, with a strange smile on his face.

And as soon as they were alone, without a word, Ziv laid one clawed hand across Sherry’s back and urged her back, to walk just a little further away, behind the glowing monolith that had started this whole… Affair. The olm was just a little weirded out by it, but walked forwards, looking at her in confusion. Once in its (nonexistent) shadow, she finally turned to face her… And sighed, looking around. Was she unsure where to begin…?

“Feeling better, Sherry?” was the first thing Ziv said, at last, once she found the words.

It’d be the polite thing to say yes, but here, with just her, she could be a bit more truthful. “…A little, Ziv. Just a little. I think I still need to process that whole… Affair. It’s a lot. And honestly… Honestly, I think this is the first time I realized this was an actual problem. Does that make sense?”

“Oh, it does, Sherry, it really, really does. And I kinda wish I had seen it earlier.” All of a sudden, the bat looked slightly uncomfortable, conflicted even. “Sorry, I really didn’t know it stung so much…”

“Neither did I, Ziv, I said that already. It just… Hit me. All at once, and I didn’t even know it was waiting there.” Once again the olm’s gaze drifted down…

“Still feels like I should’ve seen it coming, you know? We’ve been in this longer than any of the others…” More conflicted still… Right before she looked back into her eyes. “But better late than never, right? Right…? Now we both know…! And… Oh, lords, what I wanna say is gonna sound so selfish, I’m sorry, Sherry…”

That didn’t seem right. And she wasn’t afraid to say it, along with some other thoughts along the way. “That doesn’t sound like you at all, Ziv. I want to be the judge of that. Say it, you’ve been quiet long enough and it doesn’t seem fair to me.”

“Okay okay, so, how do I put this…” Ziv-Ziri started pacing, fretting with fingers interlocked, trying to keep her eyes on Sherry’s throughout. “When I got thrown out of the Consortium, I was… Terrified. Even by the time you met me. I just kind of stapled a smile over my face and kept going while I could, for several reasons, but one of the big ones was… Well, after everything, getting split away from the friends I did have back there, and family, one of the things stuck in my mind was… “I’m never gonna meet anyone that understands me ever again”. ‘cause every other place is so different, and sure, I’m pretty good at reading others, I could adapt and I did, but…” Her pacing quickened, and her voice rose in volume and pitch. “Sometimes you just want someone to understand you, right? That can see a bit more than just a saleswoman, or a smuggler now I guess. Nothing but business associates from here on out, Ziv-Ziri, have fun dealing with yourself all by yourself! No one out there has what you need anymore!”

Usherrimi could almost feel Ziv’s voice quivering now, she hid it well at first, but now it seems either she couldn’t, or she wasn’t even bothering anymore… But on the bat went: “And at first, I kinda… Kept thinking that, for a while. Though you helped a lot there, because we were on pretty similar boats, but with others… I thought Vel just had enough time to get over everything, but I guess he’s just scarred so thick you can’t reach him – or at least I can’t. I misread him a little there, but even then! And then, Chi just doesn’t have the same trouble, nowhere NEAR, even if she knows those who do, she still has a partner somewhere in the Pact and everything! And then Pins is… Pins. I guess he had a lot more to say on the general level, if not on the personal one, that surprised me, but they all surprised me, and that helped… More than I thought it would, right now, but I’m getting sidetracked.” From there, a sigh, as those big yellow eyes looked down, and closed. “And Kal… He was hardened, and even just learning the name of the guy who screwed him over was hard. He was closer, we could relate a little, but his case was just… Different, he had a face to give his woes, and I think that kept him going. And when he just stumbled into a reckoning in that castle, after that, he’s been… Calmer. It’s helped him. And that’s something I don’t think I can get, or ever will…”

The Vez turned around to face her again, but couldn’t quite look her in the eye yet. Sherry didn’t remember seeing her like this, ever. Not this deep. And it concerned her, outright worried her. Ziv needed to speak this piece, didn’t she? “And… Sherry, I am so, so sorry, but you asked for the truth, and you’ll get it. At first, I saw you so… Not stoic, but… Solid. Steadfast! That’s the word. You were handling all this so well, I thought. Our starts into this whole… Life, they were so much alike, but I… Sorry, I thought you were handling it so much better, way better than me! You were like an anchor sometimes, keeping me grounded on things, and I asked myself, more than once, ‘how does she do it?’” Those words, those exact words, made Usherrimi’s thoughts stumble. She asked that about her? She felt a pang very, very deep in her chest with that, losing her breath for just a second. “But I kept hiding it and never asked, and I never knew. I guess I was getting comfortable, getting used to it, and with the things folks did understand, it was enough, it felt nice, but the depths still stung a little, I thought I just needed time! So I never asked…”

At last, Ziv looked at her straight in the eye, with a hopeful, almost trembling smile and eyes that could barely focus. “But you get it, right? I’m sorry I never realized, but… You get it, right…?”

Usherrimi wanted to say ‘Yes, I get it’. And she attempted it. But what came out was less than coherent. She tried again, with better focus, but what she said was barely passable as a ‘Yes’, before a sharp inhale- was that a sob? Her eyes were almost burning, so it checked out- Was she crying!? Right in front of Ziv, right now!? After she called her an anchor to her own pains!? Pains like hers at that!? No, she couldn’t, she had to stay strong, she had to stay strong for her, she knew how this hurt now and if Ziv had been hiding it all this time, while she, the fool, had been too deluded to realize it hurt, she didn’t have the right, she owed it to stay strong! She couldn’t cry, she couldn’t cry-

No can do. There she was, the mighty and steadfast Usherrimi Neshi Anei Var, brought low by a sobbing fit like she’d never experienced, one that made it hard to even stand. All she could do was try not to fall to her knees, lean on her pressed-down tail for balance, and cover her face with her hands so Ziv didn’t see her like this. She didn’t need to. Hearing her sniffle and struggle with words, and seeing just the teardrops that made it off her face, was beyond enough. But few could hid a fit like this, and an Ifchi least of all, with how those tears streamed. Lords damn it all, she couldn’t do it. And in the midst of this all, she couldn’t see how Ziv took this. Maybe she’d blame herself, or maybe she’d just broken the pedestal she’d been put onto, but either way, she’d disappointed her. That was the worst part, she’d been an anchor and the one time she’d found out how deep it went she blew it, and it only made her sob even harder-

“Sherry? Sherry, it’s fine- actually, come here.”

Familiar words said by the one usually receiving them. And when she opened her eyes, she saw Ziv with her arms outstretched in the exact same manner, too, even through the blur of tears. The Ifchi would appreciate the irony later, but right now, all she could think to do was to lunge towards the bat, and wrap her slimy arms around her cloak, sobbing openly into her chest and immediately staining the whole thing with her tears and slime. Almost bowled the bat over with her mass, but she couldn’t hold back right now. She needed someone who understood, and she was needed as someone who understood… The clawed hands pressed against her back, pulling her in so she could be embraced properly, only confirmed it.

Minutes passed, and neither of them let go. Sherry could barely hear Ziv’s little sniffles over her own breakdown, no matter how much she tried to muffle it against the fabric, and the soft fur she could almost feel beneath it. All the while, the bat laid her own head between Sherry’s frills, where she could definitely feel the fur getting slimed up, but she didn’t care one iota… Lords below, she felt like she was messing everything up just being there right now, and yet… Much as she wished she’d known it sooner, that behind that smile was a common wound, or that she herself had said wound, they knew it now, and selfish as it sounded, knowing someone hurt the exact same helped a little-

...that’s what she meant, wasn’t it. Selfish, in a way, but if Ziv-Ziri felt any better from it herself, in any way, it was worth it. Maybe she really did get it, after all…

And so, the sobbing died down to mutual sniffles, then to silence, broken only by soft breathing and the distant dripping of the caverns, with chatter from what’d be their camp once this was done. Everything that had been bottled up, coming out at once… They weren’t empty, but it was manageable, now, pouring out even in this growing quiet.

“Feelin’ any better, Sherry…?” Ziv was the first to break the silence that had settled.

“Think so”, she answered, before having to swallow just to continue. “S-sorry about that Ziv, so sorry…”

“Sorry about what, you did nothing wrong…!”, the bat answered, almost a little startled by the insinuation. She lifted and pulled her head back just so she could look her in the eye.

And the olm almost wilted under it, despite the kindness in that gaze. “Y’called me an anchor, y’said I was helping you, and here I’m just… Jus’ findin’ out you hurt like me and I’m the one breakin’ down-”

“Shh.” One clawed finger over her snout muted Sherry. “You needed that. More than I did. You held strong way longer, and I…” She sniffled again. “…it means something that you opened up like this, y’know?”

“’cause you get it! You always got it! Fuck!”. Unable to make herself let go, she just shamefully rubbed her face against the cloth to wipe some of her tears. “And I didn’t know… And here you are, opening up to me. Just this… Spoiled drop-out way in over her head who couldn’t read others for shit as far as you knew, j-just some newt with barely anything, who almost dragged you down, a-and you took me in, and you helped me, a-and you j-just- you just let me shine…!” It took effort not to hiccup right then and there.

Something about that made Ziv pause, almost as it if confused her… And then, she put both her long-fingered hands on either side of the olm’s snout, and leaned in closer, where she could see the little streaks of tear-stained fur under those big, glowing golden eyes of hers, gleaming like beacons to her… “Sherry, why wouldn’t I? I meant… Honestly, because you prefer that, honestly at first you paid your dues, so I had to, but then I saw what you could do… A-and then I saw who you were!” Something about the tone she said that in got to Sherry, who leaned back to look into her eyes properly, and her face as a whole, listening quietly. “You dealt with everything in stride, you’re good at what you do, too, and… It’s a spectacle, watching you work! It’s like everything some blowhards in Ishiss claim to be, but you don’t brag, you show! And it’s so… Pretty, too! I honestly kinda like how you look with your gills lit up, you know…?”

And that got to the olm even more. She’d love to have a sly little boast to offer, but right now, all she could do was listen, unable to see her own starstruck gaze – it’s not like Ziv’s eyes could reflect it – getting a little lost in her words.

“A-AND I MEAN- You’ve been pretty clever too, and so honest, and it’s so rare to see either, let alone both, and I can just be straightforwards with you with everything in our business, and I should’ve known it applied outside it too, but still…!”

The bat was getting warmer, Sherry could feel it. Part of it may have been panic from realizing what she just said, and trying to slide into something else, something more… Publicly acceptable, maybe? But part of it had to be something else. Could she relate to that, too…?

“A-and you have an eye for places, too, you really do have a traveler’s heart, I’ve liked that from the start, you know…? Though you’re pretty knowledgeable in general, I don’t think I ever told you that, but I should, because it’s like… Like those stories I hear here and there, of those roaming sages and wizards even, wiser than any of the ones from towers, a-and I always liked that thought, even if it was through my filter, of traveling artificers and traders of secret wonders, you know…?”

Usherrimi found herself leaning closer, ever closer, almost standing on her toes just to look deeper into her eyes even as they looked about as she tried to ramble away from a truth she wasn’t sure she should’ve said, burying it under her honest thoughts that only made it stand out more… Lords, those eyes. And that smile she had, when she meant it, when she let her teeth show without a care for tweaking how it looked. And that soft fur of hers, that felt like it shined even in the muddiest, bleakest holes in these caves. Closer still, and with wider eyes and mouth slightly agape, as she thought back, upon all those outings, all those times whether alone or with the others… Ziv had a light of her own, she shined as well, as herself, unashamed and bright, in a way that…

In a way that… Oh Lords…

“A-and I guess I just like how you’re you, if that means anything…? Like you’ve made all of this so much easier even when everything goes smoothly, you know? A-and, I mean, it’s just- Sherry? What- mmh!”

One last inch up, and their snouts met. Then their lips. In a moment, a single, fiery impulse, Usherrimi just went and planted a kiss, right on the lips of what until moments ago had been her boss and friend. With closed eyes, she couldn’t see her reaction, all she could do was feel the warmth, the rising warmth, and hear the silence that set in as their breathing stopped… No, it wasn’t quite silence, she simply stopped hearing anything that wasn’t each other, and she could swear she could hear the bat’s rising heartbeat-

Usherrimi pulled away, as reason came screaming back into her mind. What had she done, what the fuck had she done!? “Shit shit SHIT Ziv I’m so sorry I AM SO SORRY I DIDN’T- PLEASE DON’T-”

But she stopped, almost biting her tongue, as she saw the bat’s expression. There was no anger, no disgust, there were just a mouth agape in surprise, and those eyes, those great, glowing, tender eyes… Wide as could be, and… Starstruck? Pupils wide, and with just the slightest hint of new tears at their edges-

A rush of movement, pushing Sherry back on her feet. A lunge from above. And she felt Ziv-Ziri’s lips pressed on hers by her own volition, and reason, sated, stepped back to let everything else take over. To let their embrace tighten once more, and feel each other’s heartbeats and warmth, with everything else, even the monolith that shone a spotlight upon their encounter, fading into the background. With closed and teary eyes, and their ears focused on naught but their breaths and hearts, they let their other senses take over, melting into each other, slime and fur meeting with little more than joy in it. Feeling one another, with fingers that trailed along their backs, grasping each other in search of more. Tasting one another, as the bat started to give in, slipping the tip of her tongue into the axolotl’s mouth, pushing against her thick tongue, feeling each and every one of those tiny, sharp little snaggleteeth that she loved to see whenever Sherry truly smiled…

And in the end, they parted, with Usherrimi’s gills stretching wide as she gasped for air, and Ziv-Ziri simply smiling as she took in a deep, longing breath, smiling at the olm… Who, at last, smiled back, with glistening eyes. And with still-flared gills, that refused to stay put, her breathing heavy and heated…

“Sherry… I really wish we weren’t being waited on, because I would’ve liked to keep going.”

“…Same, Ziv. I could’ve gone for hours there, that felt… This is…”

“Shh, I think you’ve told me all I needed to know… You need a minute to calm down a little~?”

“...actually? Yes. You can always claim the stains were water, but I can’t face them this… Flushed.”

“Hee~! Nah, if you won’t hide it I won’t! Still, they can wait a minute longer!”

“…Actually… I have an idea to pass that minute. Want to help me with a cairn, here?”

“O-oh, you’re gonna mark the occasion? Like, to the whole Subterraneum like that? I-”

“I feel it’s right, you know? And besides… This quartz right here, lighting up the dark… I was fond of them then, and what can I say, after this, I’m fond of them now. It feels right to mark it, don’t you think?”

“...yeah, yeah I do. Look, that one could make the base, wanna help me with it?”

“Like I always have… Like I always will~.”

[yutzen]

Where the Thrills Lie

(another from the archive, another main crew story, introducing the oldest of our enforcers, prompt by Make Up a Criminal on Cohost)

Bounty hunter who won't stop backseat bounty hunting

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Vel, it ain't my first time here, come on!"

Two shapes, one tall and one squat, walked the bottom of a rust-red ravine. Small cliffs with strata of red and black rose at their sides as they walked a labyrinthine arrangement, striding a cracked basin with only a tiny stream of soot-choked water running through the iron-heavy stones. The ceiling above was out of sight, the air choked by smog both volcanic and industrial, but the two figures hardly needed their eyes to see.

"The Red Plateau's treacherous land, Zi-Zi, it pays to keep some things in mind." The shorter, bulkier figure walked on almost stubby legs, with a traveling cloak laid upon a thick plate of strangely noiseless metal serving as his attire. By his face, this was a mole - something close enough at least - with whiskers long enough to droop and smooth brown fur upon a visage that barely even showed its beady eyes. He was smirking with needle-like teeth lining his snout, while a claw - long as a dagger, yet thicker and so much blunter - scratched a spot around his neck where it found a thick scale rather than skin. "Like your compass being useless here, for example" he spoke, pointing at a pendant hanging from his companion's neck.

"Zi-Zi", a tall, bat-like figure, rolled glimmering yellow eyes as she jangled said pendant in one long-fingered hand. "I know, force of habit, it's really hard to get used to that and I keep grabbing it to check, but it doesn't mean anything, okay?". Letting go of said pendant - which let one see the needle stuck firmly downwards at all times - Ziv-Ziri strode ahead, humming a song barely on the edge of hearing. Her ears twitched as she went, always oriented towards the walls, whether far or near, seemingly spotting a hole in the cliffside far earlier than her eyes ever could. "See? There's the turn! Just as the map said!", she almost yelled, immediately heading for the passage in question... Before letting out a breath, turning to the mole once more. "Granted, tracking 'East' by where the earth is grumbling constantly feels a little menacing. I have no idea how the entirety of Ferigoz is just fine with it."

"Vel", or rather Velardi, chuckled to himself. "Speaking as a Ferigozi in birth and in species, you get used to it. Just another little thing that might one day try to kill you, in a place with plenty of things that already are..." The little smirk never left his face as he shrugged, his armor raising with his shoulders. "Still, can't lose track, especially when you're tracking someone, Zi-Zi. You've got the maps right, you now need to see if you've pinned things right. You've got where this guy's struck before, you've got his kinda target, and I'm guessing you've got what he's been swiping." He counted on his claws as he went, right behind the bat.

"Yeah, yeah, I have plenty". The Vezarym spread her fingers as if there paper in the smoky air, outlining her own points. "Gotta be in a place thick with the stuff because all around this one's always been disappearing into the smoke after striking. Smash and grab every time, and you get it whether you're a big caravan or just a humble entrepeneur like me." Her knuckles cracked as she tensed and flexed her claws, withdrawing them back into her cloak. "Which is half the reason why I'm here. Tensions flaring, powders of all sorts gotta move from Ferigoz to the East, they gotta move quietly and I can't have some stick-up kid making a mess, thinking of jumping me and generally and drawing eyes." Finally, after a snort, she let a smile creep back on her face. "Or whiskers, 'cause my eyes and yours sure don't see squat here!"

The smirk on the Ferigozi's face lost some of its slyness. "Yes, you don't use your eyes in a place like this one. Good, you know it, saves me time." The bat glanced at him again, and before she could ask what he meant by that, his raspy baritone went on. "Now, the part you don't need to forget when you're hunting someone like this, they will leave tracks. Even if they erase their usual trails, they have to keep track of what they do, and they must leave markings that they think only they will recognize. Hidden goods, and sometimes-"

"Vel, I know what a stash is", Zi-Zi interrupted before he could proceed, rubbing her face with her claws. After a cough, she piped up again in a more neutral tone: "Still, those aside, and I'll keep track of those, there's gotta be other tracks around here. Robberies are messy, fleeing is also messy, you think they'll have dropped something off on the way that we can follow?" One hand went into the cloak's pockets, briefly fiddling with a folded piece of paper with a picture on it. "This one has been enough of a pain in the ass to get a bounty, so there's gotta be a lot of stuff being moved." By the time her smile was back, it had turned coy. "Heh. It's like getting paid twice for one job."

"You see the good of it already... Heh. It's a rewarding job, sometimes. Risky, of course, but that is why it's up to those like us, isn't it? The truly adept." Ziv glanced at Velardi as he continued with ever more theatrical motions of his claws, his whiskers twitching as he went: "It's challenging work in need of bold moves, of audacity as well as sagacity, sharp mind and skills, and just because it's in the fringes of it all doesn't mean it's not something to respect." His claws clenched, and he turned to his companion with a hopeful smile as they both emerged into a crossroads, a joint of what had once been tributaries in a canyon's stream. "Ah... You understand, do you not?"

He found himself being stared at by the Vez, who had stopped cold in place, her expression baffled... before something clicked, and she just grinned. "Hah! Even as an outlaw, you're Ferigozi through and through~ Don't get carried away, okay? You can boast for the both of us once we've found this guy. Now, tracks! We're gonna need to pick a direction here. Spot anything yet?"

The mole lowered his hood, trying to hide his expression - and perhaps himself as a whole - as he parsed through his previous outburst. Trying to cast the slight embarrassment from his mind, he peered towards the ground, sniffing-

And he took a deep, deep breath, with his head close to the cliffside.

Trailing one claw along the rock, digging in just enough to gouge it, he rubbed the ensuing dust between both fingers and sniffed it. "Damp", he whispered, knowing his big-eared partner would hear it. "You said this was an Ifchi, then this one's been here. Must've touched the rock in his hurry. Left some slime." Pushing himself off the rock, he walked in a direction that would've been upstream if these were rainy days - just close enough to let his whiskers touch the rock.

The Vez followed on very light steps, her claws kept off the rock and her profile low to the ground as her ears rose, aiming to hear anything at all... And the first thing she heard was Velardi's further whispers: "They have muffled steps, so keep an ear for voices. And of wheels, they have to be moving things somewhere in here. And when you do, tell me, because we'll need a plan." The only response he got were wild hand gestures in his general direction, bearing an air of annoyance, before she just kept going further into the smoke.

Though twenty minutes later, she would indeed hear something: The gentle ding of a canteen being placed against the rocky ground.

A crack in the cliffside. A gentle spill of glistening, clear water, picking up enough soot to go gray moments after touching the ground. A thick pocket of smog that would've stopped any sight cold at twenty feet. And nearby, all around an unhitched iron wagon packed high with crates of various stamps, five people rested silently. Three of them were Ferigozi wearing patchwork armor, just old enough to start growing their scales. The other two were fully-covered Ifchi, keeping only their gills and faces visible to keep the soot off themselves as much as they could. One such face, greenish and laden with rust-red freckles, would be one few would recognize in but a singular Wanted poster in a town ten miles from here...

If that poster wasn't in the pocket of the Vezarym that landed right behind him, unlatching from the cliffside above them - presumably, with the fog too thick to tell - and quickly hooking one arm around his neck. Before he could react, flaring his gills in preparation, he found the point of a long, silvery knife, thin as a finger and sharp as a needle, placed right against his neck. "Any of you even twitch wrong and I'll open him up!"

She held as much bravado as she could as the other four turned to her and pointed their respective weapons - one spear, one axe, and two crossbows - right at her, forcing her to lower her face until it was right behind the raider's shoulder. It wouldn't do to get shot in the face in a hostage situation like this one, but as soon as she saw a finger twitch, she tightened her grip on her knife and pushed just a little more, tearing through the cloak's fabric like it wasn't even there.

It was a standoff now. None of the six involved could make a move without risking death, of themselves or another they needed for their work. Deadlocked in place, they stared at each other for seconds that seemed perpetual...

Right until the six became seven, unbeknownst to all but the boss and Ziv-Ziri. Out of the smog, Velardi walked out, claws hooked on a lump of iron and squeezing it as if he expected it to bend and give way like a stress toy. It was amorphous and oblong - right up until it wasn't, thanks to a glimmer of red from his claws and motions that sculpted it into a rod, then flattened it into a blade, shaping metal like it were clay.

The four saw the bat look directly downwards, turned around at the sound of breeze, and the last thing two of the three Ferigozi saw was a slightly older mole swinging a rough proto-sword right across their necks. And the last thing they felt before collapsing to the ground was confirmation that just because it was rough and unfinished, didn't mean it wasn't sharp enough to go right through their neck guards.

The other two engaged Velardi as soon as they could, bringing spear and axe against him. Quickly he flattened this same lump of sword-like iron into something like a shield to stop both weapons from hacking into him, and getting them stuck in the amorphous shape. All the while, the boss struggled, finding the Vezarym that held him hostage lowered a wing right into his cloak, its (strangely mangled) finger rummaging through deeper and deeper. And before he could wonder if she was trying to molest him, she found something, and reached in with her knifeless hand...

As the mole kept trying to pry his axe out of Vel's shield-like glob, the ifchi decided he had no time for that, and left the spear in place to pick up something else. Quickly he spotted the crossbow of one fallen comrade, and lunged for it. Taking aim at his opponent, pointing right at his face at this close distance, he held as the bounty hunter struggled to cover himself.

And then: SHUNK. A bolt was loosed...

Right through the Ifchi's skull, and out the eye, dropping him to the ground. Behind this fallen foe, Velardi saw something that made him smile again: Zi-Zi holding a crossbow that belonged to their quarry, empty of the bolt that had just saved his life. She grinned back, and was left to watch as his companion took care of the one remaining grunt before she had time to look away: All he had to do was "flick" a piece of the lump forwards, shaping a vague spike aimed right towards his opponent's gut, and bash him with his "shield", letting said fragile, improvised shank stab itself into his gut and snap off in there, bringing the last one to the ground at last.

Ziv-Ziri's grin trembled in place, as she let out a breath she'd been long holding. A full three seconds passed before she did anything else. "I told ya I was a perfect distraction~!", she chimed in suddenly and manically with a tilted head, making their captive wince while she closed her eyes to avoid seeing him finish off his fallen foe - especially because she hardly wanted to see him dig part of his weapon out of his guts.

"Never told me you were good with a crossbow, though." Vel wiped off the blood as casually as could be, rejoining the parts with a quick motion. "A good snap-shot, that, though you should tell me that next time."

Ziv's face fell a little. "Yeah that one's on me. Funny, I keep asking for skillsets and forget to give you mine!" She giggled, almost nervously, keeping her eyes very much away from any of the fallen, fixed right on her companion - those parts of him that weren't bloodstained, certainly. There was just the slightest twitch to her wide-open yellow eyes.

"Now then", he began while he approached, "we have who we came from, yes? Take a look and confirm, check the accessories, the crossbow seems right, but do check the rest just in case. You'll need confirmation, for when you turn this one in. But first things first, before you do that, safety." Out of his cloak came a set of white ropes, their ends frayed but otherwise impeccable. "Shipping knots aren't going to cut it here, you need something that won't slip under duress, that he cannot cu-"

Another interruption, this time by a near-shriek from the bat. "VEL ARE YOU SERIOUSLY DOING THIS RIGHT NOW!?" was her deafening outburst, that had the captive struggling and trying to yell out - right before she pulled her chokehold tighter and yanked the hood over his face. Blinking rapidly, she looked down at the ground, trying to avoid any bodies with her sight. "Sorry, it's- it's a bad time for that, okay? I know I brought you along to help me with something that was more your style, but- I hate this part, okay...?" She sighed at last, looking back into his eyes, speaking with a lower tone: "I also brought you along so you could cover... that. I know it needs to happen, but... still."

Velardi stared, and could only offer a tired smile. "You were enjoying a bit of this until then, though. The tracking, the hunt, the actual thrills... Shame this bit's just for me, having someone who gets it is a joy, but I guess I can't have that in everything..." He approached with a shrug, taking the captive right off her hands and into his powerful claws. "But yeah, I can handle that bit. And this bit if ya need a moment."

"Yeah, just a moment is all, get the... blood outta my head. Sorry about the... snapping earlier." The Vez turned away, facing the wall with a deep breath... "It feels dumb, doesn't it? We're still in the business and everything, I knew I had to do this, and I know what I'm carrying over there and I still hate that part. How does that happen?" She stopped herself from turning her head to give the mole a side-glance...

The Ferigozi worked a gag and ropes with practiced ease, speaking nonchalantly as he went. "You weren't looking forwards to the chance we'd have to end someone, did you? I get that. As to the rest... guess it's just how minds work. Might make me worse, handling this, but I know who I am." He turned to her, catching her sideglance. "It was fun until that though, right? Guess it was for me. Got carried away and all, heh..."

Ziv-Ziri had a sad smile upon her face. "Yeah, I get the thrill. I had the thrill when I wasn't thinking about it. That's the business for you. I know it, and I've seen it plenty... In so many others I know." A thought crossed her mind, and her expression perked up ever so slightly. "Heh, I think Sherry'd like you. She's had to help me with... moments like these before."

"Would be happy to meet her then!", the mole spoke as he slung the captive over his shoulder. "By the way, it did say wanted alive, yes? I'm afraid I forgot."

"Y-yeah it does, wanted alive!", she blurted out reflexively. In truth, she had forgotten as well, but did not want to check. Otherwise things would be bloody and awkward, the worst combination she could think of.