Avanthal's Tundra Said What?

[Sairque]

3 Winter, 510 AV Dawn Outside Denval Crouched against the wind, the unlikely pair gestured to the ground between them. One, presumably slight beneath the thick layers of winter clothing, sat on her heels, bare hands vigorously rubbed together. The other, presumably a Wind Eagle, towered over her, head cocked at an angle and wings slightly unfurled to encourage the wind passage around instead of through his companion. The storm had relented, but one glance up revealed dark clouds gathering up their resources for another go at the travelers. This map is accurate, right?” Sai asked, scrutinizing the unfolded parchment. We shall find out, will we not? It was correct in its bearing to Denval. The Endal glanced up dubiously. Catabasis simmered quietly, carefully controlling his irritable mood. All right… she agreed, deciding to go with their map instead of searching through the town for another to check it against. Producing the shiny compass from a fur-lined pocket, she mindfully set the instrument on the map, and just like the first fumbling attempts the day before, pushed it around uncertainly. With long pauses, Sai pushed one end up against the dot denoting Avanthal and lined it up toward Denval’s dot. The incongruence of the lines on the compass base and the lines on the map drew another pause, this one productive. Hurry, the storm approaches, Catabasis warned. Find the bearing to that river delta. The shivering Endal adjusted the compass to follow his command, belatedly remember the first step in this process. The needle quivered and settled to north; Sai rotated the map so that it properly represented the lay of the land. North on the map actually pointed north now. She then adjusted the compass dial so that the orienteering arrow coincided with the needle; both pointed north while the compass itself pointed off to her right. Now line up the orienteering lines north-south. Doing as ordered, she then slid the compass, mindful of the orienteering lines, so that the device was lined up correctly between Denval and the indicated delta. The needle swung off to the right a bit, so she adjusted the orienteering arrow again to hold the needle within it. There. Now the compass pointed toward the delta they would fly across the bay to. All she had to do was keep the orienteering arrow pointed north, done by keeping the needle within the arrow, and the compass would point her to their destination. Right, Catabasis agreed, reassuring the novice navigator. Sairque grunted, trying to brush off nagging worries as she neatly folded the map back up and slid it into the watertight case the library had supplied upon check out. Are we going to take another bearing once we get to the other side of the bay? Yes, this way will be easier to know where we are. Trusting him implicitly, Sai closed the lid on the compass and slipped it in her pocket for the climb into the saddle. Once seated, rear a little sore from the many hours spent there already, the compass reappeared and she felt Catabasis monitor her thoughts more closely in order to adjust his flight patterns based on what she saw and thought about the instrument. Clamping tightly with her legs, warned of his intentions to take off by the subtle motions of his shifting weight, she gripped one handhold and directed her attention to the compass. Intriguingly, it swung around, bouncing, gyrating, shivering with every slight motion the duo made on their take off. As much wonder as she felt watching the compass multiplied and fear-a-fied as she glanced back up to the impending storm clouds.