Closed [Jungle Wilds] "Reunion" (Oryani)

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

20th of Bell, 80th of Summer 514 A.V, Jungle Wilds

"..."

The fiery female Viper - in human form - suddenly stopped her trek in the Jungle Wilds, her expression turning into that of traumatic fear. By now, she knew where she was going, the infamous - in her mind - Kandukta Basin, the wettest (literallY) place in all of Falyndar and where all of her horrors were held. Safe to say, Aka was a hydrophobic girl and that meant she was really bad with water, large amount of water pooled into one gigantic 'bowl' on the ground kind of water.

Ironically, the Viper disliked Summer the most because she was in a Jungle and that meant lots and lots of rain. She didn't get it, how did the hottest season of the year have so much rain, so much water? Aka knew that the cursed basin would be flooded by now, terrifying liquid overflowing from its belly, she could feel it in her veins. She was a paranoid sort, sure, but that paranoia saved her countless times... from drowning.

The Viper was in the late stage of her pregnancy and she herself questioned her decision to come out here in the jungle this night, her belly took on a noticeable bulge and she was moving far slower than usual, as slow as a common untrained human, imagine that! Aka sighed, she was bored of staying cooped up in the nest, she wasn't mean to stay still, pregnant or no. Her stubbornness would get her into trouble this time it seemed, but no matter, nothing a flame of Ivak couldn't handle. Besides, she was the strongest reimancer around in Zinrah... her magic could solve everything, at least she thought so.

The Viper, slowed down by the egg clutches in her belly, almost tripped on a vine, cursing in Common. She continued her walk around the basin, she didn't want to go there. After inhaling another humid forest air, Aka supposed she could go home, just ten more chimes of night walk and it would be done. She didn't know that Fate would play its hands today, she would reunite with the fellow desertkin she enslaved in her dreams.

[Oryani]

Oryani could not believe Poma today. The woman had decided that, as a kind of ‘training lesson’, they’d try their hand at fishing. However, even Poma didn’t know how to fish. Which made the lesson absolutely pointless. Still, they’d tried, until even the Myrian had given up, deciding that she simply didn’t have enough experience. It wasn’t like you could make it up at the spot. However… it seemed they’d come all the way to this Kandukta Basin for… nothing. When that had been mentioned, Poma had proposed swimming. Oryani had denied that outright. She’d never been swimming, and never wanted to. The jungle’s constant rain was plenty enough for her.

Poma had wondered off after that, on her own little adventure, ordering Oryani to stay and watch their camp. And keep trying to fish. Their fishing supplies were very… limited… compared to those she’d seen on the Svefra ships, with their long rods and lines. They only had the line, a long piece of fishing wire that the Myrian had tied a bit of food onto. One was supposed to toss it into the water and wait for a bite, before pulling on the string, much like with a rod. However, it had quickly been declared useless. If Poma lacked anything, it was patience.

With nothing exactly to do, she’d ended up trying the fishing after all, sitting on a high rock above the basin, where she could get the fishing line in, but avoid falling in at all costs. The deep water had been a little freaky at first, but after staring at it for quite some time, she grew more comfortable around it, mostly sure that she wouldn’t fall in. By accident, at least. She had the strangest feeling that Poma would push her in. Or something else would push her in. Or pull her in. She’d been warned that sometimes Dhani lurked around here… which didn’t quite explain their logic for coming here as a pair, then splitting up once arriving.

Still, she wasn’t planning on moving, so instead she sat on her rock, alert to the world around her. Movement, sound, ripples in the water… she watched for all of them, feeling almost a bit paranoid. She was so tense that a small splash startled her, until she realized that something had bitten the line! Hurriedly, she pulled at it, having a small tug of war before the tension relaxed and the end of the line recoiled, swinging up back onto land… missing the fish, and the food. This really didn’t work, apparently. Upset, she scowled, marching away from the rock in irritation.

She still wanted something productive out of this, however, so she gazed around. Looking up, she found that the tree above had a kind of fruit on it. Convenient. She had no idea if it was edible, but if she picked a bunch and asked Poma later… maybe they’d be useful. So, she made her way to the base of the trunk, considering how to climb it. Less conveniently, they were all out of arm reach… so climbing was the only way to retrieve them.

There was a nook at maybe chest height, where it looked like she’d be able to sit or stand once she got there. The problem was… actually getting there. There was a knot in the middle that might hold her foot, and a branch above she could grab… could. Quickly she jumped, wrapping her hands tightly around the branch and ignoring their protests of pain. She put a foot on the knot, trying to pull herself up… and slipped. She tried again, and slipped again. Scowling, she dropped again, shoving off her boots and trying it with bare feet, which were more flexible and more grippy. It helped, but not enough that she could successfully climb up.

Was it pointless? Possibly. Still, there was one more option at her disposal. She pulled out the tomahawk that Poma had lent her from her belt and began chipping away at the top of the bulge in the wood. Hopefully she could make it flatter, creating a better foothold. It was awkward holding it close to the base when she was so near the tree, so she shifted her hand up to the middle, and then right under the blade itself. It wasn’t like anything Poma had taught her, but it seemed to do the job, creating an indent rather easily.

For the seventh or eighth time she jumped up and hooked a foot into the nook, before pushing herself up so she could loop a leg over the spot she was trying to get to. For once, however, her foot didn’t slip! She managed to get up, standing awkwardly in the gap, one foot placed at an angle a few inches above the other. There were a few fruit around head height now, so she picked one and took a look at it. No familiarity. Not wanting to damage it too much, she dropped it carefully over the side of the trunk into soft grass and moss, where it landed without noise. She repeated the action with a few more.

She heard a soft curse in Common and twisted awkwardly in place, staring into the darkness that was the jungle. Was there someone there? She paid attention to movement as well as noise and felt… yes… someone or something human-shaped was waddling through the forest, apparently swearing. It might have been Poma… but the woman was too short by about a foot. She could tell that much height difference from motion.

She wished she had her bow on her, but it was with the rest of her things, at the rock far behind her. Alaril was… somewhere, though she had no idea where. If she called, the eagle would come… but she didn’t want to make a noise or a sound. She didn’t know if this person was dangerous or not. Instead, she went to the only weapon at her disposal, something she wasn’t exactly skilled at… the tomahawk at her belt. She shifted her weight so she was only leaning on her right hand, and plucked the axe from her belt with her left, holding it tightly while still staring into the darkness. She wanted to be ready for whoever had made that noise.

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[Soshakuakamamushi]

Ah, of course, luck deluded her these days, just when she was about to take a good quiet night walk, someone just had to ruin her moment. Aka squinted her eyes as she looked at the direction where she heard the scuffle of feet, it was not far and the source was a humanoid-shaped being, though the unknown presence looked alone, Aka breathed a sigh of relief, even if it was a Myrian, she could handle them... yes, while being pregnant, as pregnancy didn't dull her magical prowess, only her physical movements.

Her main concern if she encountered a whole Myrian fang was not that she would be killed, but she was afraid to burn down a whole patch of jungle... again. Being virtually immobile in a fight due to her bulging belly meant Aka had to resort to large all-encompassing spells to burn all around her. Getting the ire of whatever God that governed nature would be very unwise, it didn't take a genius to figure that out when you are in the middle of a petching jungle.

Still, she had to take precautions, the Viper kept her sitting position as gaseous res exhumed from her form, surrounding her like a sphere-shaped aura of cloud, ready to be used. This Myrian looked alone, both of them actually, a smirk curled from her lips, perhaps she could try to play a dangerous game, toying with a prey. Aka didn't want to kill this monkey immediately, who knows, perhaps she could scare it into retreat, for some odd reason, she didn't feel like hunting at the moment, she was about to give birth, give life, it seemed ironic of her to take others at the moment, even if it was a Myrian.

"Heeh..." Aka exhaled, deliberately loud to attract the Myrian's attention, the Viper then began speaking in Common, by all that was holy and divine, she really hoped this particular Myrian could understand Common, if not and it spurred it into attacking, well... one more monkey in ashes, no big deal, "I think you ssshould run, Myrian, I'm in a... 'good' mood right now, I don't feel like burning you to assshes, if you get what I mean," The Viper straightened her back, grunting as she held her stomach, "Ssso if you know what isss good for you... run back to your little city, monkey." Aka didn't even try to hide her mocking tone.

Of course, little did she know, the 'Myrian' was no Myrian at all, not even close.

[Oryani]

Oryani tensed even more (if that was possible) when the person exhaled, making their presence rather obvious. She tried to keep as still as possible and barely breathed, so that whoever was passing by would not see her. If they were a friendly Myrian, it was alright… but somehow she felt like it wasn’t a Myrian. The person was too small for that… maybe a child then? But why would they be alone? Actually, a person this short was a strange sight indeed. She’d been told all the snakes, as humans, were also as big as Myrians… which confused her even more. Was there another race she didn’t know of?

When the person spoke, however, she knew her cover was blown. The voice was female, and the first ‘s’… petch. She recognized the slur from her own experience with Dhani, that stupid hissing. She had no idea how to fight one of these on her own, and considering how big they got… she really wanted to go with the running idea. Run away as far and fast as she could. The snake was even suggesting it! Run and avoid death. What a smart proposal.

Except… she didn’t trust this creature. What if it bit her from behind when she wasn’t looking? She might not have time to get her bow, and what if it felt threatened from that and attacked anyways? She wasn’t going to leave it. She also had no idea how to get back to Taloba or the Den of Exiles from here, as her guide had been Poma. Except Poma wasn’t here. She wished the Myrian was here… the woman would know what to do. But would two of them even be enough to slay one of these things, as a giant snake? She didn’t know.

Unable to figure out the best plan of action she froze, not moving from her position and staring into the darkness. Half of her hoped that the Dhani would ignore her and slink off into the forest, and everything would go smoothly. Maybe she hadn’t been noticed, but that was impossible. What would happen if she stayed still? She didn’t know. Probably nothing productive. It was funny, she was thinking this all out methodically, logically, but deep down… she was petching scared. If this was a Glassbeak, she’d probably be in the same boat. She’d also know how to deal with it. There wouldn’t be any of this strange terrain around, she’d have her bow, she’d have Khal… if only she had the Strider now.

There was a quiet shriek from beside her, and Oryani finally moved to whip her head to stare at it. She spotted Alaril landing on one of the horizontal branches, also staring at the Dhani intently. “Alaril,” she hissed at the bird, before cursing herself for speaking. This was not a good time for the eagle to turn up, if at all. It would probably end up with the snake getting irritated and attacking, or... or… she didn’t know.

She contemplated the Dhani’s words once again, and came up with a slightly lame excuse. An excuse for not leaving, a kind of response… though it was painfully late. “You leave,” she called out, surprised at how steady her voice was. She didn’t feel steady. In fact, she felt like she’d fall out of this tree at any moment. Loose her footing her balance, and fall, cracking her head on the ground, or a protruding stone. Wouldn’t that be pleasant. Instinctively her hand tightened around the tree’s bark, to make sure that didn’t happen.

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[Soshakuakamamushi]

Aka practically cackled in her mind, she could imagine how surprised the Myrian must look, for someone to suddenly speak in Common from behind their backs, though she suspected her Dhani accent would reveal her nature, no matter, Myrians were used to giant Constrictors anyway, this one surely wouldn't expect the Dhani it would encounter would take the form of a pregnant young girl.

When she heard the flap of wings, Aka looked up, finding an eagle staring down at her, a magnificent bird, sure, but as a Dhani, Aka had a natural dislike to raptor, they ate snakes after all. Waving it off as an ordinary animal, though odd, those kind weren't seen in the jungle... until now, perhaps it was special, who knows, Aka shrugged, it could just watch with its bird-brained look, she had a Myrian to play with.

"Ha, Are you asking with me to lea-..." Aka's voice cut itself off when she heard the voice to be female and... the accent, she didn't sound like a Myrian, not at all, in fact, Aka had heard this kind of voice before. A long time ago, in the vast desert of Eyktol, one of its denizens, the coal-eyed people called 'Chaktawe', this voice really, really, sounded like a Chaktawe. Aka peered her head as she decided to reveal herself to look into the woman. Also, she felt like she heard her voice before, somewhere... but she couldn't quite place it.

"You..." Aka's eyes widened, the person was not a Myrian, but a Chaktawe! A fellow desertkin! How luck, going out to venture into the jungle had been the right decision, in all her time in Zinrah, she never even thought of encountering a fellow Eyktolian in the farawy land of Falyndar, "Chaktawe?" Aka called the woman by her race, in Common, for she didn't know Tawna. Aka had a poor grasp of Arumenic but those belonged to the Eypharian, not Chaktawe.

"Hey! I'm Viper Dhani," So excited, Aka prompted herself to stand up, "Agh!" Before grunting due to her bulging belly, steadying herself, Aka slowly made herself forward before the Chaktawe, "A-are you from Eyktol? W-what are you doing here? W-well..." The Viper stammered, fidgeting with her fingers, "T-the same question could be said to me... ehehe," She awkwardly chuckled, ah, she had to explain her belly, it was the most noticeable of her features aside from her deep scarlet eyes and iconic long twin ponytails of course, "Oh thisss? I'm uh... pregnant right now, s-ssso, that assside, what are you doing here, all alone? Thisss place isss dangerousss, trussst me, I know." If it had been a constrictor, not her, Aka would suspect her cousins would capture this exotic-looking being, for them anyway, Aka had seen her fair share of Chaktawe.

"And uh..." She couldn't get this out of her mind, "Why do I feel we have met before?"

Little did she know, it was also the Chaktawe people who slaughtered her nest.

[Oryani]

When the Dhani began responding to her order, the tone wasn’t pleasant. In fact, it was positively harsh. Insulted. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to tell the snake what to do, when she was obviously in the more vulnerable position. However, the words stopped as soon as they had started, halting in the middle of a sentence and leaving the Chatakwe slightly confused. She didn’t like people stopping sentences in tense situations. Poma did that when sparring, and it usually meant she would attack. But this? She had no idea. Instead her fingers curled more tightly on her weapon’s handle, hoping to all the gods she knew that she wouldn’t have to use it. Luckily, that hope became reality.

The snake asked the oddest question after that, one that made no sense at first, being completely out of context. “Cha… What? Oh. Um. Yes?” The last word was set as a question, mostly because she was rather bewildered at the turn of events. At first it had been violent, and now… friendly? How had she even been found out? She thought that, in dimming light, most people’s eyes looked black. Other than her slightly smaller build after that… she appeared quite similar to a Myrian.

The snake suddenly set off on a tangent, calling themselves a Dhani viper (did it mean anything different?), and going on about Ekytol and being here and… it was hard to figure out. Oryani was slowly growing more adaptable to the Common language, but fast speech usually blurred into gibberish rather quickly. When that happened, she generally just picked out words that she recognized and attempted to work off that.

”Um,” she said lamely, not entirely sure how the situation had turned. The Dhani seemed friendly, almost excited, however, so… was she safe? She still needed to be careful. The fear had turned into blunt confusion, and she wasn’t really frightened by this small snake. Rather just… a bit weirded out.

Her feet had begun hurting, being wedged in between the two branches, and crushed together. She was safe though, wasn’t she? It would work if she could get down… and that would bring her a step closer to attack or react, if it turned dangerous. Slowly she lowered herself to the ground, moving into a sitting position before slipping her feet off the side. When it seemed like a reasonable height she pushed off, bending her knees slightly to absorb the shock of the fall. She’d landed flat on her feet, however, so those hurt instead.

Straightening, she found herself much closer and face to face with this excitable Dhani. She didn’t quite know how she was supposed to handle this situation, whether to attack or run away, or… she didn’t know. She could start with answering questions, and maybe asking a few of her own. Though she barely knew what to ask, she was so confused.

”Um. I am here because…” Should she say it, and risk insulting the snake? Possibly not. ”Eh. Complicated. From Sea of Grass, Endrykas.” She paused, not quite sure what to say next. There had been so many questions she wasn’t sure if she’d answered them all. But that one at the end… the familiarity… it did ring a bell, just a small one. Vaguely she frowned at the Dhani, the face and voice coming together and not bringing any kind of memory, but instead… an unpleasant feeling. A distrustful one. She didn’t like it at all. In answer to the question she shrugged, letting her confusion spread to all her features. ”Maybe? Small. Only met six Dhani. You not one.”

She drifted off, unsure how to take the rest of this situation.

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[Soshakuakamamushi]

The woman confirmed that she was a Chaktawe, of course she was, unless there was another Myrian who had the distinct voice and look of the desertkin, Aka had spent a century of her life in Eyktol, she could recognize a Chaktawe, Benshira, or an Eypharian with a passing glance. This particular Chaktawe looked startled and confused though, it didn't surprise Aka at all, she would do the same thing if a pregnant small woman suddenly approached her in the middle of a petching jungle.

"Eh?" Aka tilted her head though, she was from the Sea of Grass, the land of those horse-riding people, then she was horribly out of place here, no horse existed in the jungle, even if they were, they would be considered food and a delicacy. "Aren't you from Eyktol?" Aka let confusion coated her words, she truly didn't expect this Chaktawe to answer 'Endrykas' instead of 'Eyktol'. Alternatively, it only roused the Viper's curiosity further, she might mean she got here from Endrykas, but she was born in Eyktol, "Okay then... where were you born?" She worded her question carefully, this one seemed to have a poorer grasp in Common compared to Aka.

Complicated, huh? How odd, Aka could say the same for herself, explaining on how she got to Falyndar in the first place would be a long and painful story, starting from her accidentally murdering Galbern, her Nuit mentor. Aka let this one slide for she felt a kinship with the Chaktawe, not just because of their Eyktolian heritage, but for some odd reason, their story would not be that different...

"Ah, you have met Dhani before, here?" Aka assumed the coal-eyed woman was familiar with the Vipers, being of Eyktolian blood, but she might be surprised by the sheer size of her Constrictor cousins here, how odd, if she had met the Dhani, why was she still out here, and not enslaved? Unless her cousins ignored her because of her odd eyes, "Curiousss, my cousinsss are usssually pretty brutal and viciousss... they love to enssslave and literally eat their captivesss, you managed to talk them down or run away?" Aka tilted her head, but she soon groaned in pain as she felt her eggs shifting in her womb, "Agh!" The Viper stumbled to a nearby tree and sat on it, "I... it hurtsss..." Alright, now this was bad.

The Viper dreaded this, her mind telling her that her eggs might demand release soon, no, this wasn't supposed to happen, it was still too early! "I uh... petch... damn..." Aka spouted profanities as she held her stomach, "C-can you... help?" The Chaktawe was the nearest person she could talk to here, and she was already asking for help, they didn't even introduce each other yet. "H-help me... I might... t-they might come out.. sssoon... aaagh!"

OOCDun dun... plot twist! Sudden labor!

[Oryani]

The snake echoed Oryani’s confusion at her explanation of her home. It was rather complicated, and usually not understandable at first sight. Or… hearing. There were two questions posed, which had conflicting answers. Personally, she was not from Ekytol. However, she had been born there, though left with her mother when she was maybe three, and barely remembered the place. All she knew was sand and heat, sand and heat… something she never saw anymore. She was almost a little jealous, wanting to go back to that place where it was always warm and never raining. Rain was nice when you needed it. But in the jungle, here… there was too much to be useful.

”Yes…” she said carefully, in answer to the latter question. This Dhani seemed to excited that she was also from Ekytol, it might even be dangerous to wreck that hope. She wasn’t a true Chatakwe, she’d never considered herself one. She’d never worn the colors of a tribe, excluding her own Drykas clan, and barely knew the desert. She didn’t worship their gods other than those shared with the Drykas, with the exception of Eywaat, slightly, a faith taught to her by her mother. But she had the body and natural skills of a Chatakwe.

The snake’s curiosity about her encounter with Dhani was laughable. She had been enslaved, there was no doubt about that. However, she’d gotten out of the enslavement. By killing all the Dhani. She hadn’t actually been involved in the killing, as that had been the Myrian’s job… but the snakes had died none the less. As brutal as it had been, it was almost a pleasant memory. A satisfactory one, at least. She’d faced a dark fate before that, and then… she’d been freed, and ended up in Taloba to build a new life for herself.

She snorted at the question, but didn’t have time to formulate an answer before their conversation was cut off. Funny, they were actually having a conversation. She’d been having a conversation with a snake, unbiased by power or control. That was also laughable. How was such a dangerous situation turning almost amusing? However, the Dhani contorted suddenly, shouting in pain and cursing. The woman clutched her belly, which Oryani belatedly realized was swollen. For such a slim person who looked almost like a girl, it was almost certainly pregnancy. Was that the way Dhani reproduced? Did they have live children like humans, or eggs like snakes? What she did know what that she was now being asked to help.

This was a fast turning situation. At first she’d been the one in danger, and now… she was helping a Dhani? She hadn’t even started helping yet. She didn’t even know what to do. She stood there clueless for a few seconds, staring at her hands and wondering how. The ‘they’ used seemed to imply babies… was this snake going into labor? That sounded even worse than being attacked. She had simply no idea how to deal with babies and pregnancy and… all that womanly stuff. Despite being a woman.

”Uhhh,” she stuttered, staring at the Dhani and wondering what to do. Pain, right? Well… start with the pain. ”Sit!” she said, half to herself and half to the snake. Why was she helping anyways? Wasn’t this bringing more little Dhani into the world, to go kill more Myrians? She liked the Myrians. With the snake in a state like this, it probably wouldn’t be hard to bring her tomahawk (which was still in her hand) down on the woman’s throat and end it all. But… that felt more like a theory than a true decision. She didn’t think she could bring herself to do that.

Instead she darted through the few steps left between them and awkwardly helped the woman sit, shuffling her back a bit so the Dhani could rest against a tree trunk. That done, she was just as clueless as before. ”I don’t petching know how to deal with this,” she growled to herself in Pavi, so the snake wouldn’t hear. ”Do I… do I… I don’t know!” Shouting to herself in a strange language probably looked odd to her new companion, so she stopped and switched abruptly to Common. ”Water?” she asked in that language, though it was a pointless question. She didn’t have a water skin on her… there was never a point. She could last a while without water, and it was everywhere here…. So it wasn’t like she needed one.

Oryani groaned in irritation, muttering to herself in Pavi once again. ”How can I help?” she finally asked, feeling almost odd asking the question. Wasn’t this person a Dhani anyways?

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[Soshakuakamamushi]

"Unh... agh..." The Viper groaned and tossed restlessly near the tree she was leaning on, her womb was kicking at her, torturing her with pulsing pain, it was clear that her children wanted out, the Viper's vision started to tunnel due to her adrenaline pumping in response to the pain. Aka gave an annoyed growl at the Chaktawe, she was already sitting for Ivak's sake, she didn't need to told what she must do, she needed someone to alleviate this pain! How? She didn't care! This was the first time Aka had given birth and part of her mind panicked at the sudden nature of it.

"Get..." The Viper hissed as she clutched her womb like it was going to burst, she had to think of something, the Chaktawe looked as panicked as she was, she couldn't handle this bumbling female the safety of her snakelings, focusing despite the pain assaulting her, Aka managed to exhume her gaseous res from both of her palms, the substance slithering around both her and the Chaktawe until they made a circle, then with a force of her will, Aka breathed out as walls of stone rose around them, about one and a half height of the average human, creating a little safe sturdy sanctuary for them both. Wait? Why did she need to protect the Chaktawe? Perhaps out of consideration for a fellow desertkin.

"Unnngh!" Another scream wracked the jungle as Aka held her belly, using the her remaining res to coat behind her as she created a bed-shaped stone slab, it was hard, but better than lying on the cold and damp jungle floor. The 'bed' slowly rose from the ground, pushing Aka with it, now that she got herself comfortable, Aka could focus on getting this once and over with, "Ah... kaha... kuh..." Aka's breath heaved up and down, then in her blurring vision, she looked at Oryani, "W-what? W... water?" She felt a sense of phobia-driven fear shot through her, but soon realized that the Chaktawe was trying to help, yes... yes some water would be good, for what? Aka didn't know, she just got the feeling it would help.

Clenching her fists, Aka exhumed a small amount of her res as they traveled to one spot of her stone fortress, transmuting the earth there into air, creating an entrance of some sort, "G-go! Go!" She hissed at the Chaktawe, then slumped back into her stone-bed as she spread her legs, her hands working on to tear away at her clothes, good thing she was wearing her simple black robe and red sash, the garments came off easily enough, now this was it, she had to endure this, she had no choice. With another painful scream, the Viper began contracting her womb, trying to push the eggs out.

[Oryani]

Oryani focused instantly on the ‘get’, instantly glad for the request and explanation of what needed to be done. She was probably in a worse mental state than the Dhani, as she’d been completely taken by surprise. She was facing a snake in labor, who wasn’t like the other snakes, and now she found herself helping, and practically happy to do so! It didn’t make any sense, and she wasn’t really sure what was going on anymore. She might as well continue with her current path, however, as she couldn’t find any problems with it, other than messing up completely. Which was actually a big and rather obvious problem, in hindsight. She cursed herself under her breath and wished she’d stayed at home.

She stared when gas flooded out of the woman, surrounding them, before turning straight into stone. Her hand gripped the tomahawk even tighter, as if it was some sort of refuge, a physical weapon to use against this… wall… which had come out of nowhere. It was a big wall. She had memories of people using magic like this, though could never pronounce the name, and always found it a tiny bit disturbing. Despite her people being of the Sapphire Clan, they didn’t focus on any magic other than Webbing. However, she’d never seen it on this scale… and it was frightening.

The snake seemed surprised at the idea of water, but quickly took to it, somehow making a door in their protective wall and urging Oryani out. At least it wasn’t a cage, then, and it hadn’t been a bit trick. She hurried out into the open jungle again, having to half-crawl through the small whole. Only once she was out did she realize why she’d regretted offering water. She had nothing to carry it with. She rapidly and mentally went through all the items she’d brought with her, as she rushed to the basin nearby. When she crouched right at the water’s edge she glanced down, and saw… her boots. She wasn’t even sure why she bothered wearing boots. She didn’t need them, but for some reason habit had caught up with her. However, boots… boots were made of leather, and water-tight… so they could carry water!

She quickly ripped them off, and stuck the right boot under the water, filling it up with the cool liquid. She didn’t know if the snake would approve of drinking out of a boot, however. She certainly wouldn’t. She could at least make sure it wasn’t a dirty boot though… so when she pulled it out of the pool she swished it around a little before completely emptying it. She repeated it with the left boot, before completely filling both up. She took one in each hand, glad for the stiff sides that meant they would stand up straight even when full to the brim. Though they probably wouldn’t be full by the time she got back.

She walked rather than ran back to their little walled room, wanting as little to spill as possible. Her feet were fine with the rough terrain, her feet already covered with natural soles that protected the appendages just like boots did. Crawling through the entrance was the hardest, as she had to carefully push the boots before her without letting them fall over. She made it through in record time, however, and stood up panting to look at the Dhani again. Why was she doing this? She wasn’t really sure.

“Water?” she asked almost shyly, holding out one of the boots. “No water skin… I wash boots.” She gave an apologetic look, to show that she was sorry for the ramshackle solution. If the snake could make stone, though… couldn’t she make water as well? Or maybe that was out of the woman’s range. You could never tell, with magicians.

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