True to her word, Nira did not so much as blink when Jeremy stripped and transformed. She did however hold a hand to her eyes to shield them against Syna's rays as the Kelvic took flight. For a handful of ticks, she watched him go, the grace of his falcon form quickly turning into nothing more than a speck in the sky. Then it was gone from her sight.
Nira placed Jeremy's clothes carefully in her pack and continued on foot. She wanted to cover some ground while her chaperon took the skies, but was careful not to travel so far that he would not be able to find her upon his return.
It didn't take long for the teen to notice something small and red in her peripheral. Wasting no time, Nira came closer to inspect it. The thing appeared to be a short length of red ribbon, tied hastily but firmly and frayed at the ends. It was twirling gently in the Summer breeze. Without hesitation, the Chaktawe untied it from its branch and pocketed the potential clue. She would show it to Jeremy later, once he returned.
The Kelvic didn't come back until Syna's light was just starting to sink below the peaks and valleys of the Cobalt Mountains. It was with a measure of relief that Nira greeted Jeremy upon his descent with a handful of his neatly folded clothes.
"A camp?" she echoed, her voice mirroring his excitement. "We're so much closer than I thought we would be..."
Nira waited barely long enough for Jeremy to finish clothing himself before pointing herself East and heading deeper into the woods. "Come, there's no time to waste. We've only rations for a day and we can use the darkness to cover our approach. Two bells is more than enough for Leth to take Syna's place. How fresh did the campsite appear?"
For the next half a bell or so, Nira grilled--civilly, of course--Jeremy on every aspect of his findings that she could think of. Did it seem like whoever had set it up left in a hurry? Were there signs of struggle? Were there tracks visible anywhere around the site? Perhaps a bit of red ribbon or cloth left behind, by some chance?
It wasn't until the last question that the teen suddenly remembered her earlier finding. Digging deep into one of her pockets, Nira fished out the scrap of red ribbon. "I found it tied to a branch near where you first took flight. Maybe someone left it behind on purpose." She thought for a moment, then added, "I do remember Dina mentioning playing with something of Maggie's. A pretty red string, she would call it. Might've been the ribbon this piece used to belong to...I suppose we can try to find more?"
By the time they reached the campsite, the ashes had grown cold and everything deathly quiet, save for the usual night time din of bugs and the odd rustle overhead as a breeze blew by. The pile of leaves covering the ashes was still present and looked like they might bear rifling through, but otherwise there did not seem much left behind at the temporary campsite.
"Can you see anything in the dark?" Nira half-whispered to Jeremy. She was creeping very carefully around the campsite, looking intently around her, hands splayed in front. She could sense motion well enough, but darkness was another thing altogether.
"East, though..." the Chaktawe whispered, almost to herself, wracked with unanswerable questions, "Where could they be going? Not the outpost, and the mountains would be madness." She went quiet for a few ticks before adding, "I guess we press on and hope for the best, for now. Have you found anything?"
A noise made her go suddenly very, very still. It had sounded like a shout. A hushed one, but a frustrated one nonetheless. Something whimpered in response. Black eyes stared at Jeremy from the other side of the dead fire, the question in their gaze evident enough even without words.
How should they now proceed?
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