chapter 1

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in collaboration with @Tenma Tendo

The dusty and wagon-grooved Gourdmarsh Road emerged out of the woods and marched alongside the swampy glimmer of a nearly dried-up lake. Clear pools of water reflected the scooting purple clouds, fireflickers darting brightly among the damp weeds, and the pink graceful necks of the flamingos that poked the mud with their stick-legs.

Sunny stopped on the road to gape at the wide open landscape of shimmering color; she thought she could even spy a waterfall at the far end, trickling happily. After miles and miles of autumn-fiery forests, this was a sudden and welcome change. She took in deep lungfuls of sweet swampy air and let the breeze chill her face. She had to be close now!

The sound of clopping and creaking caught her ear, and the dusty traveler rushed back to the road to see that a horse-drawn cart was headed her way.

With a laugh and a shout, Sunny bolted along the road to meet the confused merchant, her sandals kicking up dust behind her.

"Sir, sir!" she called as soon as she was within earshot, while the merchant pulled to a stop. Sunny skidded to a halt, her thumbs hooked in the straps of her small backpack. "What kingdom is this?"

The merchant raised his busy white brows and glanced around him, suspecting an ambush. "Well, ah --" He paused, staring down at the eager young lady, with her dreadlocks and her weathered clothes and nearly nothing on her person but a thin leather pack on her shoulders. "You're in Lythica at the moment. Might I ask --"

"WOOHOO!" shouted the traveler, who immediately dashed past the cart with a shouted thank-you before she disappeared around the next bend, leaving the merchant far more confused than before.

Sunny balled her fists and doubled her speed; she'd been walking all day, but a new kick of adrenaline threw her forward. She was so close to the information she needed! All she had to do now was to find that tarot shop -- and ask the most important question of her life.



...Finally. A quiet sigh escaped the cat hybrid as he was finally done with his last appointment. That meant that he could be alone in the confinements of his underground room; a room so dimly lit that it made it look like he was glowing in the center of it. The guards that were only a staircase away and keeping watch outside, were probably on their lunch break, giving the child absolute loneliness.

A hand slowly combed through the silvery white locks that stopped just above his shoulders and his feline ears flattened slowly against his scalp as if he was bothered by the empty sounds around him.

At times like this, where he knew he was completely alone, Laphicet would give his fortunes a little read to see where his life was going. Most of the time, his future remained stagnant with a few changes here and there, but nothing that really made checking every time worth it.

Ruby eyes scanned down at the tarot cards scattered among the table from the previous reading. Instead of arranging them back into a proper deck, the young boy reached out and picked one card up with a pale hand and flipped it over to see what is said.

...the World.

Laphicet could only furrow his brows at the sight. He picked a card like the World just based on chance? That never happens in his fortunes. Now thinking this was some kind of mishap or just pure luck, Laphicet picked up another card, only to stare in utter shock.

The Fool...

At this point the boy shook his head and frowned deeply, placing the two cards down before gathering them all around him. He wasn't in the mood to read his fortune anymore, and instead rested his head on top of his tarot card and closed his eyes, allowing the scattered deck to lull him into a light sleep.



The road swept over a hill and down into a sharp grassy valley, where a tight little town of angled blue roofs surrounded a gilded white tower. Sunny leaped down the hill, twice nearly losing her balance for her speed before she skidded into the town itself. No sooner had she stepped into line of sight of the shop windows, she was accosted by a cacophony of voices:

"Fresh fish! Fresh fish from the skies of Aldamia! Freshest fish!"
"Take a look at this, my friend, the last healing potion you'll ever need!"
"Scarves and hats here, made of the finest lleema wool!"
"Have a mug o' this ale, you'll never want anything else again!"

With wide eyes and a healthy curiosity, Sunny allowed herself to be distracted by the shiny things and soft fabrics. She told each of the vendors that she was completely broke, and asked if they'd heard of the tarot reader. Each of them pointed swiftly at the white tower, then quickly shut their doors.

Sunny took in a deep breath, rolled her shoulders, and strode finally toward the tower, ready to finally have her fortune revealed -- only the entrance door, in the dim evening light, had an ominous sign hanging on it.

"Closed?!" she whined, her jaw dropped. But she'd only just got here! With a swift look left and right, she tried the door. Locked, of course. No problem! She got down on one knee, and with swift hands procured lockpicking tools from her pocket. Just a little jiggle here and a turn there and --

"YOU THERE!"

Sunny was already on the run when the guards gave chase. She led them around a few shops, skirted around the tower, and just when she had escaped their line of sight she quietly slipped into the tower and locked the door behind her.

While her eyes adjusted to the dark, Sunny made her quiet way down a flight of stairs, listening for signs of the guards' return -- but it seemed she had lost them.

Below, as her vision sharpened, she saw him in a pool of light, sleeping with his funny-eared head on a table scattered with cards: the tarot reader.

She crept forward and bent to examine him a bit. He seemed younger than she'd anticipated, kinda scrawny and pale -- and he didn't seem like he smiled much, either. She grinned warmly, and she gave him a few gentle taps on the head.

"Hi!" she chirped, once his eyes had opened. "I'm Sunny. I heard you could tell me how to get to the Whistlehowl star."



Laphicet allowed his mind to wander freely, his imagination assisting by creating mesmerizing colors and shapes for his mind to run through like a slideshow. He dreamed about what outside looked like, and what he would be able to do once he got there. Unfortunately, due to his lack of knowledge, only white plains litter with ornate shapes came to mind. But that was enough for Laphicet. So long as he could dream about it, then--

*Tap*

Ahem, so long as he could dream abo--

*Tap* *Tap*

...So long as he could dre--

*Tap*

The boy's ears twitched ever so slightly before his ruby eyes fluttered open. Confusion was the first thing that hit the boy as he stared blankly into space for a moment. It was only when he heard a voice accompany the previous taps on his head that he quickly sat up to see who it was.

And, well, for one thing, it was clearly a girl's voice talking to him. The owner of the voice had an interesting choice of clothing, and that's coming from someone who has seen countless people from various walks of life. Her hair was styled into singular...braids was it? And her skin was a beautiful chocolate, far more vibrant compared to his sickly complexion.

Laphicet was so taken aback by her appearance that he hadn't even questioned how the girl got in there without an appointment and the door being locked. He simply stared at the girl with wide eyes, unsure of what he was suppose to do in a situation like this. She didn't seem scary at all in comparison to most of the people that came by, and her smile was extremely infectious (although not enough to make the child himself smile). Not to mention she was talking about something that he had never even heard about!

Skipping his own introduction, Laphicet slowly began to pull his cards back into a tidy deck, his eyes never leaving the other...Sunny.
"...Um, Miss Sunny? Wh-What's the Whistlehowl Star?" He questioned, his eyes unable to hide the raw curiosity in them.

As he awaited an answer, the boy slowly stood and walked over to the far corner of the small box room, relighting the incense that had gone out when he was asleep. His mind focused on the question, as he knew that if didn't, the reading wouldn't work.



Sunny dropped into a chair and leaned her elbows on the table, watching the tarot-reader's movements with intense interest. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't questioning her presence either -- which was as good as a warm welcome as far as she was concerned.

"The Whistlehowl Star," she began with a broad grin and a reverent voice, "is the brightest star in the sky, and the eye of the Shambler's Dragon." She curled her fingers around her eye for emphasis. "People say that if you're standing directly under it at just the right time and you whistle just the right way, all the wolves in all the woods will howl all at once. But the best part is, the star isn't a star at all. It's a ship. The ship that belongs to the greatest Vagrants that ever lived." She tapped the table excitedly, her eyes locked on the tarot-reader to make sure he was hearing every word. "The legend goes that they defeated the sea-god that would've otherwise drowned the whole world -- and after that, they sailed up into the stars where even now they're still keeping watch." She jutted a thumb at her chest. "I'm gonna find it, I'm gonna meet those Vagrants, and I'm gonna have an even bigger and better legend sung about me when I'm through."

After a few beats she sat up straighter with a fantastic idea. "I can show you!" she piped, and she scanned the darkened room. "Where's the way up from here? We'll go to the top of the tower, I'd bet you've got a great view of the sky!" She got up immediately to search for the door that led into the tower above. "Hey what's your name?" she asked while she peered at the walls, and she stopped to flash him a smile.



Laphicet unconsciously hastened his movements, more than interested in what this foreign girl had to say. Most of his costumers would simply ask for the fortune and leave, despite the curious questions he would occasionally ask. This girl was different, nicer, and answered his question immediately after he asked. It felt nice to finally be heard...

The child slowly settled down in his own chair, directly across from Sunny, his tarot deck on the center of the circular table. He listened on quietly as the young lady went on about the secrets of the Whistlehowl Star and the legend that come with the ship. And although his face didn't show it, his ruby eyes were practically glowing with wonder. Ears perked, Laphicet nodded slowly.
"That's...a cool goal..." He whispered in response, bowing his head faintly in gratitude.

Just as he was about to start the tarot reading, the girl suddenly shot up, causing Laphicet to flinch and clench his jaw. She wanted to go up the tower? Confusion now written all over his face, the child also took a look around the darkened room, ears flattening in the process.
"I-I live down here...and I've never b-been at the t-top of the tower." He answered, now watching Sunny move around his little room. "The only exit I know o-of...is over there." He concluded, as he pointed to the staircase she had just entered from. As he pointed to the staircase, it finally dawned on him. "You wanna take m-me outside?" He blinked with an almost shock expression, as he was now standing up, clutching his tarot card close to his chest.



Sunny spun around to face him with a grin on her face -- but as he spoke, stuttering and folded into himself, Sunny's smile slowly faded. Realization dawned on her by degrees; she'd walked into something far more serious than she'd ever expected.

A key rattled in the lock, and Sunny looked quickly toward the door.

"Okay." A gleeful, dangerous grin flashed on her face, and she suddenly grabbed the tarot-reader's hand. She locked eyes with him, confident. "Hurry!"

With her new friend in tow, a strong hand gripping his, Sunny bounded up the stairs toward the door, just as the knob was turning.

She flung herself into the corner between the door and the wall, slammed the tarot-reader against the wall beside her and held an arm across his chest protectively. "Don't breathe," she whispered softly.

The door creaked open, swinging toward them, hiding them from the moonlight and heavy footsteps.

chapter 1 (cont.)

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in collaboration with @Mokley

Laphicet quietly awaited an answer, but before he could get anything from the girl, the familiar sound of one of the guards trying to open the locked door ringed in his ears. Wait, locked?
"H-How did you get in here?" He hesitantly questioned, furrowing his brows when she enveloped his hand in her own. He was barely given a chance to do anything to get away as he was easily whisked away by Sunny, who pushed through the door that he was always too afraid to go through.

The boy was immediately assaulted by the sounds and sights of the surrounding buildings and shops. Ruby eyes darted from place to place, ears flattened tightly and eyes wide with a mixture of fear and wonder. The next thing he knew, he was pushed against a wall next to Sunny. Unable to hide the fear running through his veins, Laphicet began to tremble, holding his breath as he was told, praying to whoever's out there that the guards wouldn't notice to them.

Even after the footsteps faded away, Laphi kept a hand over his mouth and shut his eyes tightly.



Sunny watched and listened until the footsteps faded deeper into the basement -- a swell of adrenaline told her it was time to go! She caught the tarot-reader's eyes with a grin, grabbed his hand again, rushed out and around the door --

-- straight into the belly of a second guard.

"Hey it's you!" he bellowed.

Sunny shuffled and dodged his swinging meaty hands, and once again dragging her partner-in-crime behind her she bolted around behind him and sprinted around the white tower. The guard was in hot pursuit.

"Faster, faster!" Sunny shouted with a laugh, gleeful in the chase as if their lives and their freedom weren't in grave danger.

And there, finally she spotted it: the folded wooden ladder that connected to the landing high above, and a stairway that coiled around the outside of the smooth bright tower.

Sunny dropped his hand to take a running leap; she caught hold of the ladder, and her own weight and momentum brought it clattering down. It clicked into place just as the guard came wheezing around the bend.

"Alley-oop!" Sunny leaped onto the newly extended ladder and dragged her new friend up with her to the stairway landing. The guard was close; he closed his hands on the rungs of the ladder, reaching for and just missing Laphicet's heel. Sunny slammed her foot into the old fastener that held the ladder to the landing, and encouraged him to do the same.

Just when the guard might have climbed up with them, the ladder broke loose and sent him crashing to the ground.

Sunny laughed aloud at the way the guard squirmed and rolled under the broken piece of ladder that had fallen on him; she cast a grin at Laphicet and continued up the spiraling stairs.

The moon shone bright above them, a perfect crescent among a shimmer of stars that went on deep into the endless sky. They could see the marsh from here, and the pink dots of sleeping flamingos -- and the crisp lines of the jagged hills, and the subtle moonlit fire of the autumn forest.

Sunny scaled the tower, round and round along the stairs, which ended at an unlocked door. After listening for movement inside, she carefully pushed it open. Her eyes widened, and she stepped into the room high up in the tower.

At the center of the circular room was huge shining sculpture of the solar system; the enormous amber sun was lit up from within, and cast a warm glow on a chaotic mess of strewn parchment and paper.

"Where did the boy go?"

A faint voice could be heard in the corner -- a metal thing that looked like a trumpet, connected to a pipe that led into the floor.

"He was with her, they ran toward the top!"

Sunny ignored the voices -- instead she gravitated toward a mess of papers all drawn with different constellations she'd never seen before. She was on her knees, sifting through the drawings.

"Well get him back before someone notices!"

The voices were coming from the basement.

On the far wall were more papers, but filled with a very different type of information. The names of each of Laphicet's customers were written there, with lists beneath each name:



There were notes on every single reading Laphicet had ever done.

Many of the names and lists were crossed out. Those were the customers that had stopped coming a long time ago.

"Find another ladder and get up there!"

Sunny had found a page that caught her attention, and she sat on the floor to stare at it by the light of the amber sun. It was a map of the sky with the stars connected in peculiar ways, and an image that she was sure was her home.



Laphicet dared to open an eye, only to see Sunny smiling down at him. Barely able to suppress the blood rising to his cheeks, the boy looked away and took a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves. As the same warmth from before caught his hand once more, the boy found himself being pulled around again, only to see Sunny run right into one of the guards meant to ensure that he stayed in his prison.

It took everything in the boy to be able to keep up with the girl, not even bothering to look back at the guard that was probably right on his tail. Instead, he kept his eyes on Sunny, who maintained a very mischievous attitude; it was charming to say the least.

As Sunny let go of his hand, Laphi immediately slowed down, watching in awe as the girl effortlessly moved to bring the latter down; it was almost like she was use to doing things like this... He followed the girl to the best of his ability, climbing the latter speedily, mostly in fear of getting caught.

Just as the both of them finally reached the stairway that coiled the white tower, Laphicet looked down and unconsciously grabbed hold of the back of Sunny's shirt right when she began kicking at what held the ladder to the stairway. Getting the idea, Laphicet gave the fastener one final kick before the ladder came tumbling backwards with the guard's weight adding momentum to the fall. A small smile, almost smirk, formed on the silver haired boy's face as he held in his laughter to instead follow his...his new friend.

As the two steadily climbed up the stairway, Laphicet honestly wished he could stop and take in the beautiful starry night sky. Just a few quick glances were enough to put butterflies in his stomach. He easily picked out constellations with his finger as well as how the moon, which he expected to look like cheese, bathed the ground in a radiating soft light.

While Sunny checked if anyone occupied the room the staircase ended at, Laphicet took the time to commit the stimuli to memory, assuming it would be the last time he would see it...

A warmer light quickly caught Laphicet's attention as he turned to face the now open door and walked inside after Sunny, quickly gravitating to the miniature sculpture in front of him; he did step on a few of the papers that littered the floor, but it didn't seem to bother him.

Feline ears twitched when the voice of the familiar guard reached him. Despite being worried of what they would do when he eventually had to come back down, Laphicet was too enraptured by the glowing sculpture, walking around it a few times as if expecting to find something different when he came back around.

He continued to do so until he almost bumped into Sunny, who had moved closer to the light to read a specific paper. He wanted to ask what was on it, but instead, he sat beside her and set his deck down, quickly drawing cards and placing them down in a similar fashion that the stars were connected on Sunny's paper.

Only waiting a few seconds, Laphicet's eyes dilated and dulled, as if in a trance and began to flip the cards over to reveal what they were.

The Fool.

The Magician.

The Star.

The Reversed Moon.

And finally...Judgement.

Laphicet stopped there, as the image and words began to form in his head.

"The Whistlehowl will fully reveal itself to you once you've followed the path of the stars and collected the "stars" that you've deemed worthy to carry out your wish. Judgement will...J-Judgement will..." Laphicet began to lose his words as his eyes returned back to normal and he slouched. "S-Sorry, I got a little distracted...I hope that helped though..." He said before lowering his head in defeat. "...S-Sorry." He repeated. Sunny had done so much for him, but he couldn't even fully answer her question.

Movement in the corner of her eye drew Sunny's attention away from the trove of constellations, to the tarot-reader who had begun placing cards in a deliberate pattern over the chaos of the papered floor. With intense interest she stepped out of his way and sat cross-legged among the sketched pages to stare at the cards as each was revealed. Only when his steady voice broke the silence did Sunny notice the peculiar look of his eyes -- like a trance, like he was communicating with something profound ... or it was communicating through him. She held her breath.

After he'd finished -- when he'd hung his head and stuttered an apology -- Sunny was quiet for a moment.

Slowly, a grin spread on her face.

"IT'S A MAP!" she shouted suddenly in a burst of unbridled excitement. In a whirlwind of realized answers she descended upon the piles of papers and flung them in the air, searching deeper among them. Finally she waved a single page triumphantly, a big smile on her face and her hands shaking with pure adrenaline, and she shoved the drawing of a constellation at his face. "The Shambler's Dragon is a map and I can't just go straight to the eye can I?" she talked in a flurry of fast words, barely pausing to think. She flipped the page and stared at it for a split second before she charged across the room where a map of the continent hung on the wall. She held up the constellation against the map. "I need to go to each point and find something! Only then! Only then!" She stopped and squinted at the page, then the map -- then the page again. Her jaw dropped. She started to bounce giddily.

"This is the first point!" She waved the page in the air, grinning at him. "Right here! Where we're standing right now! Your reading, this map, this has got to be the first thing I need." With a triumphant laugh she grabbed him in a tight embrace and swung him around among the pages. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!"

Once she had calmed a little, Sunny stepped back, jamming the paper and a few others into her pocket, and moved away some more of the papers to reveal a small chest full of fruit, biscuits and dried meats. She laughed aloud at their luck, grabbed a canteen out of the chest and gulped down some of the wine before handing it off to him. "Time to celebrate!"



Laphicet had expected to receive some kind of scolding or a look of disappointment. However, he was given quite the opposite, as he looked up after said girl's burst of excitement, his own eyes wide with surprise. He could only stare and attempt to grab the flurrying papers Sunny was haphazardly throwing around.

Some of these papers were filled with familiar names and questions that he just couldn't lie about. Each name brought back a sour memory of the burns and scars his parents had given him, he unconsciously running his free hand over the clothed burn or scar each name pertained to. Slowly placing his small collection of papers down, Laphicet let Sunny's words go in one ear and out the other, flinching back a bit whenever she got too close. It wasn't like any of this would pertain to him when once she was gone. Once she wasn't there to protect him from the fury of the guards still trying to reach the top of the tower. Once she wasn't there to show her anymore of the outside world...

He lowered his gaze for a brief moment, as if he was about to pick up his tarot cards, which were sifted underneath the papers, but before he could do so, Laphicet's body was hoisted up into the air by an overexcited Sunny.
"Wh-Whoa!" The child gasped as he was enveloped in a warm hug, singing a mantra of "thank you"s that warmed the boy's heart.

This lasted only for a few seconds as Sunny finally let him go and moved back to the papers scattered on the floor. Laphicet could only keep quiet as their eyes landed upon a chest of goodies for the both of them. The child slowly sat back down where he stood and watched the girl take a quick swig out of the wine canteen before handing it to him, which he took with shaky hands. He stared at the container with sad eyes before looking back at Sunny.
"D-Does that mean you're gonna leave now?" He asked, mostly because he wanted to gauge how much time he had before he received his punishment. He tried not to show it in his face, but the tears forming in his eyes were a dead giveaway.

"You bet!" Sunny piped with a big grin. She pulled the crumpled page from her pocket again and traced the line of Shambler's Dragon. "Looks like I gotta head northeast from here, and there'll be something I need somewhere around Occurro. I've only heard of that town, but there are stories of walking buildings and the rivers go in corkscrews! I'd bet it's something amazing."

The tarot-reader's tears hadn't gone unnoticed. Neither had the obvious implications that his life here was a prison -- that every move he made had been watched and dictated, that the guards were there not only to keep the riffraff out, but to ensure he never saw the light of day. It was no life for someone as good-hearted and talented as him. That's why she wasn't going to give him the chance to overthink a very important decision -- one that he'd made the moment he stepped out into the moonlight, though he might not have realized it.

Sunny had just stuffed more handfuls of food in her pockets when a clattering and voices sounded outside; the guards had found a ladder, and were making their noisy way up the spiraling stairway to apprehend the trespasser.

"C'mon hurry!" Sunny grabbed his hand again and dragged him quickly to a ladder that stretched up to a trap door in the ceiling. She clambered up, and the trap door opened with a squeak and a bang to admit her to the starlit top of the tower.

The view was stunning and went on forever; the jagged hills in the distance, the reverse waterfalls in the west, the flickering green and blue lights along the horizon to the north, the floating boulders and islands like dark dots in the south. But what she was most interested in was the small herd of impossibly tall beasts that glinted and walked toward them from the marsh; they had stick-legs as tall as the tower itself, with tawny striped fur and graceful necks. A small white light dangled from an antenna on their foreheads, beckoning curious sky-fishes into their waiting mouths. They moved silently and slowly, but with each slow stride they covered an incredible distance.

Sunny went to the edge of the tower, cupped her hands around her mouth and sounded a long, high-pitched howl that echoed across the kingdom. After a moment, a couple of the long-legged beasts responded with the same sound, and the group began to move directly toward the tower.

"Here comes our ride!" Sunny shouted, grinning at the tarot-reader -- and she climbed up on top of the stone wall, precarious on the edge of a very long drop.

The closed trap-door began to rumble and bang; the guards would get it open soon, and they wouldn't be happy.

"If I'm gonna be a great legendary vagrant," Sunny went on, looking out over the moonlit landscape, "I'm gonna need a coterie. I'll only settle for the best crew -- the very best, most amazing, most legendary people I can possibly find, who will be the greatest asset in the journey for the stars."

She looked back and down to him with a smile, just as one of the stilt-striders got close to the tower, its tawny back almost level with the lip of the wall she stood on. Sunny reached down to Laphicet with an open hand, just as the trap-door began to bang and crack loudly. "So come on! All ya gotta do --" she grinned, "-- is tell me your name. And hold on tight!"



Laphicet sighed before closing his eyes. As he expected, Sunny already had plans to move on from his lonely little tower.
"O-Oh..." The boy's voice cracked, and as a way to hide it, the silver haired boy took a quick gulp of the wine handed over to him. He soon opened his eyes to the sight of Sunny shoving as much food as she could into her pockets. It was then that the boy took the time to pick up his cards and make sure they weren't damaged by Sunny's fit of excitement.

Once he had picked up the Fool card, the sound of heavy footsteps became extremely prominent. Laphicet clutched his tarot cards with one hand as Sunny proceeded to drag him around once again. She still wanted him to escape with her? But, all he did was just slow her down. Not to mention that leaving him there would almost guarantee her safety and survival. So...why?

Laphicet thought of multiple possibilities, but they ultimately drew a blank as he was given a chance to go back outside, and there was no way he was going to pass up on that.

Now standing on the very top of the tower, the child could only gape in awe as they were now even closer to the starry night sky he'd always dreamed about seeing. He barely had the control to tear his eyes away from the sky as he looked along the horizon, only to be greeted with dazzling colored lights, floating boulders, and grassy hills.

It was pretty hard to miss the large striped beasts walking across the marsh and towards them with ease, but when Laphi's eyes fell upon them, a quiet gasp escaped his lips and he moved over to grab hold of Sunny. He moved when she did, giving her a questioning look when she began screeching utter nonsense. A bit too afraid to ask what she was doing, Laphicet kept quiet and watched at the girl's side to see what the howling was all about.

Almost the exact same sound was produced by the striped beasts as they were now heading straight for the tower. Laphicet was now clutching his tarot cards with both hands as his worry was getting the better of him. He didn't have to wait long to hear what Sunny's plan was, and that, coupled with the heavy banging from the guards on the floor below and the idea of his parents hearing all of this happen to him, it only made the child even more nervous for what was to come. And despite the danger she was putting herself in, Sunny continued to smile at him...

She had everything he didn't. A dream. A personality. And a drive to achieve that dream. Her words hit the boy hard, she wanted him to go with her as a part of her very best, most amazing, most legendary group. Despite only just meeting each other, Sunny had so much praise and love to shower him with...she made him feel far more important than anything else on this planet, and Laphicet believed every word of it.

She wanted him to go with her. And the only thing she wanted din return was...his name? That's right...Laphicet hadn't even introduced himself yet.

The trap door shook with intense force, causing Laphicet to jump. Was he willing to leave his parents and join some stranger on an adventure he wasn't sure he was fit for?

With his drive to see the outside world with his own eyes, the child reached out and took the girl's hand tightly.

"L-Laphicet! Laphicet Kyrielight!" He shouted out with all his might. He had made his choice, knowing there was no turning back after this.

The trap door burst open in a shower of splinters.

Sunny yanked Laphicet up onto the wall with her.

The two guards crawled, shouting, out of the trap door.

"Stop right there!"
"Don't move!"
"You're in big trouble!"

With a whoop of joy, Sunny held Laphicet close and together they dropped off the edge --

-- and onto the coarse bony back of a confused stilt-strider.

"Let's go! Go go go!" Sunny shouted.

The stilt strider craned its long neck, huffed loudly in annoyance at the shouts and jabbering of the two guards, and turned with a step away from the tower. From the strider's back the tower seemed to rush away from them, as if the landscape itself were moving under them, as the sweet-scented wind swirled by. The fur they sat on was long and rough and warm, rocking gently from side to side as each impossibly long step took them closer to the herd -- and to the bright Whistlehowl star shining ahead.

Sunny twisted back to thumb her nose at the raging guards, who now looked like nothing more than little flailing monkeys atop the receding tower. It seemed so insignificant now -- though it had been the entirety of Laphicet's world. She cast a grin to the tarot-reader. "Welcome aboard, Laphicet Kyrielight!"

chapter 2

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Morning dawned bright on the mountainous horizon like fire and violet and cotton candy, streaked with errant purple clouds and dotted with birds flocking to new adventures. The stilt-strider's long steps cut through a rich blanket of fog that swirled and puffed and reflected the bright oranges and blues of the sunrise. There was little to be seen of the ground below, save the tops of a few autumn trees and the elliptical silhouettes of the sloping mountains -- and, faint in the distance, the glinting spires and rooftops of a town.

Sunny had slept through most of the journey. She lay with her face pressed into the strider's fur, drooling a little and breathing peacefully. She had no clue how to steer their steed, and instead had decided to trust that wherever the strider was headed was exactly where they'd wanted to go.

A distant, rumbling BOOM spooked a flock of bright parrots out of the fog and into the rich sunrise. The fog swirled and undulated at the site of the noise -- but from here there was no other indication of its source. Sunny had completely slept through it, murmuring in her dreams.

The silt-strider stopped. For the first time since their escape from the tower, everything was still.

Sunny shifted and blinked -- but she was only barely awake before their trusty steed began to descend toward the fog. It spread its legs in all directions, and like a spider lowered its torso down at their center. All around them, the other striders of the herd were doing the same.

"Whoo-ooaah!" Sunny yelped, snapping awake in time to clench her fists in fur, stopping herself from falling over during the descent. Blearily she looked around, breathed in the chilled damp air, and checked on her companion with a grin. "Hang on Laphi!" she called, just as the fog enveloped them. "We're goin' down!"

After a few moments, the strider settled comfortably in a foggy field of bright green grass and yellow flowers, and heaved a tired sigh. They had reached their destination -- wherever that was.

Sunny patted the beast's long neck and slid off its shoulder to the grass. It felt weird to be standing on solid ground again. "Thanks buddy!" she called to the strider, and she stretched out a hand to be sure she knew where Laphi was in the fog. "C'mon, let's go see where we are!" She picked a direction and started walking, while the strider curled its neck and went to sleep.

Soon the flowered grasses gave way to roots and rocks and dewy fallen leaves underfoot. The air had a sharp woody scent of pine and petrichor. The trees here were white and gnarled and looping and woven, tangled in themselves and in one another, sharing branches and orange-violet leaves. The fog created a stillness here; a few birds whistled occasionally.

"HELLOOOOO!" Sunny called into the fog, her hands cupped around her mouth. "WE'RE LOOOOOST!"

Laphicet had also been asleep throughout the night, although he didn't go down without a fight. The brand new sights and smells were very enticing to the silver haired boy, as he even stayed up past Sunny's curfew in order to take everything in...and also ensure that they were at least going in a sensible direction.

By the time the crescent moon had made its slow escape from the skies above them, taking the stars with it, the child curled up into a loose ball around a particularly soft tuft of fur. If it wasn't for his red trimmed clothing, he could have blended in perfectly with the beast's fur. He had remained entirely motionless until a strong rumbling caused him to stir, reminding him that this wasn't all just a dream. Instead of checking to see what was going on, Laphicet buried his face into the silt-strider's fur, hoping to relieve his sleep deprived body and mind for just a few more minutes.

Unfortunately, he wasn't given that luxury as he felt his body begin to slide off the edge of the large beast. Luckily, Sunny was there to wake him up enough to at least grab hold of a bit of fur and stop his descent.

The half asleep neko yawned as he followed Sunny's actions and slid down the silt-strider, landing on the ground with another sleepy yawn. Barely able to keep his eyes open at this point, Laphicet reach a hand out, only for it to automatically intertwine with Sunny's.
"...O-Okay..." He mumbled sleepily while rubbing his eyes.

The whole idea of being on this adventure still had yet to hit the half albino, and the lack of sleep wasn't really helping with it. He simply followed beside Sunny, dozing off every now and then when they stopped moving.

@Mokley@Jade113

Deep in the fog, sat against a tree, a vagrant knight holds her armored palm out to catch a falling violet leaf. She stares at it beneath her helmet, completely still for what could have been hours, before a gentle breeze blows the leaf away. She looks around herself and notices beams of shimmering golden light shining down through the trees, clear in the dense fog.

Shaking her helm, the knight slowly stood, taking her time with her rusted armor and gently emptying out her boots of the water that had collected inside. With renewed vigor, the knight began to gently stride through the dense forest, taking in the sights and the rare sounds with interest and appreciation.

She had been in this same forest for days now, originally on a trek to the town of Occurro. The forest had calmed her greatly, but each day brought new light to the very same sights, and the utter silence had always been a soothing and reassuring-

Nyte straightened and went stiff at the sound of a voice piercing through the calm atmosphere, turning to face the source and tilting her head. “Lost, are they…?” She muttered to herself before carefully waltzing through the forest, only tripping twice on the way to the voice. She had drawn her sword, an ancient and barely used thing, using it as a walking stick to keep herself from falling apart.

After careful, hesitant deliberation on what exactly she should call out in response, Nyte nodded, steeling herself before finally calling out, “Who goes there?!”

Sunny kept on walking for awhile, traipsing through brush and over snaking roots, waving away the fog ahead of her in rolling billows of white. It was like walking through the middle of a cloud. She kept a tight hold on Laphi's hand, and she cast an occasional bright grin at him, encouraging him to keep moving though he was sleepy and there wasn't much to be seen. For all she knew, they were walking in circles.

She'd just drawn in a deep breath to shout once again when an unfamiliar voice called back out of the woods.

A wide smile broke on Sunny's face. She knew they'd be found! "We're Sunny and Laphi!" she yelled in the general direction of the voice she'd heard -- it seemed to have come from everywhere at once. "We're vagrants! We just arrived! Hello!"

She scanned the fog and blinked, wide-eyed, when she thought she saw a shadow moving between the trees -- it was huge! "Hi there you are, over here!" She waved a hand over her head and charged forward, eager to meet this person who would surely know where they were and how to get to where they were going.

The rising sun, meanwhile, was slowly breaking through the fog to warm the ground. One such shard of light reflected dully on a rusted helmet, the bent-postured armor, the sword pressed into the ground. Sunny ran through the fog and suddenly stopped, faced with the broad shoulders of a decaying knight among the sweet flowers and hanging branches.

Sunny gawped at the armored presence. She cast a glance at Laphi, and she spoke in a hushed voice: "This might be a guardian of the forest," she told him. "We probably have to answer a riddle or pass a test before we can pass."

She cleared her throat and spoke articulately to the knight. "O reverent guardian! We are strangers to your forest, and request passage to the next town!" She gave a wink to Laphi -- she would absolutely show him the proper way to deal with forest guardians. They were suckers for big words and proper grammar, at least as far as storybooks had taught her. "Issue us your task, we humbly beseech you!"

Nyte had been wearily approaching the voice when a response rang through the silent forest. Nyte tilted her head at the unfamiliar names, but if they were vagrants like herself, they shouldn't be hostile. Nodding to herself, Nyte stuck her sword in the ground, ready to approach.

She didn't manage to move an inch before one of the vagrants charged into view, prompting the rusted old knight to turn and face her.

One of her armored hands reached out to carefully pluck a fallen leaf from the air, and she tried in vain to hear what the two were whispering to one another. The short, pale one seemed awfully tired, and Nyte resisted her coddling instincts to attempt to decipher the vagrant's meaning.

"My... task?" She uttered, voice metallic but clear, "I don't have..."

Suddenly, Nyte cleared her throat awkwardly. "Why, yes, uh, vagrant wanderer, your task is simple! My armor, it is old and rusted! Perhaps... you can... uh... take me with you, and... find me a new set!"

She nodded and cleared her throat again, satisfied with her impression but immediately feeling bad.

"But, uh, vagrant wanderer, do not feel, uh, forced! I am perfectly happy exploring on my own."

Laphicet kept a somewhat loose grip on Sunny's hand as he followed/was dragged around by said girl. Despite the smiles and grins Sunny gave him, they only barely kept him going, as he felt far too sluggish to really pay attention to where he was going. Who knew that going on an adventure would already be so taxing?

The child had given the other a dull look as she sucked in a breath once again, but before she could shout into the ambient fog once again, another voice called out, alerting Laphicet that they weren't alone.
"S-Sunny and Laphi..." He echoed before tilting his head in attempts to see through the fog, only to let out a squeak at the sight of an intimidating shadow moving among the fog.

As Sunny began bolting for the large shadow and possibly larger figure, Laphicet reluctantly followed, pulling on her arm softy in attempts to slow her down. As they got closer, the sun's rays granted the sight of a rusted over knight bent over with their sword pressed into the dirt.

He wanted to ask if there was someone in there, but was too scared of the possibility that the knight might jump up and attack them or something. Hearing Sunny's conclusion that this might be the guardian of the forest intimidated the boy even further. Guardian of the forest huh? That had to mean that they were super important right? Laphicet took no chances and hid behind Sunny, his eyes never leaving the rusted over knight. Not to mention, solving a riddle was apart of his job, but taking a test?
"I've...never taken a test before." He mumbled while stifling a yawn before staring back at the knight.

He then watched in awe as the dark haired girl began speaking in almost a different language. And when the knight responded, Laphicet gave a scared glance towards them, as if their were a monster right in front of him. He remained quiet, as if to keep attention away from him.

@Mokley@Jade113

"A new set of armor?" Sunny's eyes widened, and she quickly scanned the forest; as the morning sun rose and warmed the woods, the fog was just starting to thin and dissipate, exposing the twisting trunks and dangling bright leaves, a depth of forest filled with odd fruits and spiky, neon-green vines. There didn't seem to be much hope of finding a shiny new set of armor simply lying around.

In her search, Sunny's eyes landed on Laphi, who seemed to be frightened of the great forest-guardian that stood in their path -- he was all but cowering beside her, smaller than he had been a few moments ago. A slow grin grew on her face as an idea dawned.

"We accept!" she announced, and gave the forest-guardian a deep bow. "But we won't be walking in circles for days searching." Especially with the slow way this iron guardian seemed to be moving, Sunny suspected that the entire point of the challenge was to delay them for an eternity. But they had a secret weapon.

Sunny flashed a cunning smirk and rubbed a hand in Laphi's hair. "So how 'bout it? Think you can point us to where we can find a shiny new set of armor?"

So the monster..."forest guardian", wanted armor? Laphicet furrowed his brows, clearly not amused. They were stuttering just as much as he does on a normal basis...this can't be real and Laphicet didn't need a reading to know that.

His eyes remained on the iron-clad monster, just waiting for Sunny to blow this person off and get on to the next location, only for said girl to accept the pointless offer.
"Wh-What?" He blinked in confusion. "Y-You want us to help th-the m-monster?" He questioned in a much quieter tone. Laphicet was NOT in the mood to help out such a scary person. And with a reading, where he was left most vulnerable?

The tired boy gave Sunny the most worried glance he could possibly muster up...but the way she stroked his head was rather comforting and persuasive. Ears flattened lazily in defeat.
"I could...b-but only because you asked me too." He kept his voice low, hoping that the knight couldn't hear what he was saying, as he sat down on his knees and pulled out his tarot cards.

Since he was only seeking guidance in terms of an open question, Laphicet set three cards in front of him in a horizontal row. Letting out a deep sigh, the child reached forward and flipped over the first card, his eyes dilating and his body moving in a trance like state.

Reversed Wheel of Fortune.

The High Priestess

And finally, Strength.

"For those who seek protection against all forces, the path going northwest provides the fastest route." It was one short and sweet sentence, but it only made Laphi more tired than he already was. Instead of getting up after the reading, the boy remained seat, rubbing his eyes slowly.

@Mokley@Jade113

Nyte tilted her head in a way that could be perceived as a slow but thankful nod, her rusted armor grating loudly in the otherwise silent forest. As the fog slowly faded and the light of the dawn had risen, Nyte's features became more visible. Flowers and thin vines twirled around her chestplate, and a small, violet flower rested daintily on her left pauldron. She looked slowly to the smaller, pale vagrant and struggled to keep her ever-present gaze focused anywhere but his ears.

"Could you do that for me, child?" She asked in an almost motherly tone despite her somewhat dissonant voice, tilting her head gently to the side in an attempt to look slightly less intimidating in her towering suit of armor.

When the child sat, Nyte unconsciously took a single, slow step backwards, looking down in curiosity. The child went into a trance-like state, and Nyte stayed eerily quiet, suddenly still and silent like a statue.

"A fortune-reader of some kind?" She whispered once he had finished the reading. "You do not need to tire yourself out for an old pile of armor like me, child... If I'm not meowstaken - urk - apawlogies, er, it's..."

She cleared her throat and her helm swiveled to look away sheepishly. "Force of habit... Northwest is a good enough direction, child, I may head that way soon. Thank you for, um, completing my task."

Sunny crouched low to watch Laphi's reading for a second time, her arms folded on her knees and a look of wonder on her face. It was still fascinating to see his eyes change, to hear the shift in his voice; it sent a chill down her spine. She wanted very much to reach out and touch the pretty and powerful cards -- but her instinct told her this would be a very bad idea. Maybe sometime she would ask Laphi if she could handle them.

When he was finished, Sunny smiled fondly to see that he was nearly asleep -- that he'd sacrificed so much precious energy even though he was so frightened of the monster before them.

She opened her mouth to thank him -- but instead a few cat-puns dropped unexpectedly from the imposing forest-spirit. Sunny snerked and snorted, a hand over her mouth while she grinned like an idiot. "Apawlogies!" She couldn't help herself, and giggled til her eyes watered.

After a moment, though, she'd composed herself enough to lay a hand on Laphi's shoulder. "We should find us some decent food, too, huh?" The bits and snacks from the tower chest had all gone, and even Sunny knew not to trust the odd local fruits and mushrooms that bloomed on the twisting trees. "Wanna come with me? C'mon." If Laphi would allow it, Sunny would carry him on her back to let him sleep while they moved -- this was no place for a nap.

She tilted her head up to the forest-guardian with a confident smirk. "But the task is to retrieve your new armor! We'll see it through to the end -- I don't like leaving things half-finished." She glanced up at the direction of the sun, found Northeast, and started hiking resolutely through the woods.

She hadn't gone more than a few steps before a small, quiet whispering caught her ear.

Nyte might notice her armor decaying even more, growing more layers of rust as the whispering continued -- an enchantment of age and erosion.

Something flashed within a flowering bush: little reflective buzzing wings, belonging to a little fairy with a hateful expression on his tiny face. Fervently he cast the spell to grow rust on Nyte's armor.

Laphicet almost gave himself whiplash when both the forest guardian and Sunny made cat puns. If he wasn't so tired, he probably would have started screaming; he doesn't 'meow' unless he gets angry! Instead, the silver haired boy stuck his tongue out at the both of them.
"I-I'm never...helping anyone...ever again." He said half-heartily, too tired to really mean it.

As a familiar hand rested on his shoulder, Laphi turned to face Sunny who was smiling kindly down at him. A the mention of food, the child put a hand on his stomach and nodded slowly.
"Food..." He echoed, sighing quietly at the thought of getting a good meal. He hadn't eaten since last night, so he was pretty hungry.

When given the offer to go with Sunny, the child nodded almost immediately, slowly pulling himself up and letting Sunny pulling him up onto her back. Once situated, Laphi slowly placed his hands on her shoulders and rested his head beside her own. Letting out one more sigh, the boy quieted down and closed his eyes. It would have been hard to tell if he was asleep if it weren't for his ears twitching every now and then.

Just as he was about to slip into unconsciousness, a faint whispering caught his attention, forcing him to sit up with a cranky look on his face. Was five minutes too much to ask for?

@Mokley@Jade113

Nyte rubbed her helmet slowly with her left gauntlet, embarrassed at the accidental cat puns. She couldn't help it, she just looked at his ears and next thing she knew she had started saying puns! A catastrophe!

At the thought, Nyte quietly snickered as well, the tinny tone helping to echo the gentle noise through the silent wilderness. Nyte quieted down with Sunny, then went still upon the tired child's admission. "Oh my, no food...? We must get you filled up, child, so you can grow into a bright young woman."

She nodded, not realizing her mistake whatsoever, and turned once more to Sunny. She ignored the sight of the child getting pulled up onto the vagrant's back, looking to the side. "Thank you, wanderer. It has been some time since I've been asked to give other vagrants quests..."

She held her palm out to allow a small butterfly with brilliant purple designs on its wings to land gently on one of her fingers. "Not since my days of standing still in cities for weeks... They were always so happy, telling their friends how much experience they gained from my tasks..."

Before Nyte could follow the sunny vagrant, the whispering caught her attention, and the immediate acceleration of the rust in her armor caused the butterfly to quietly flutter away. She turned slowly, armor creaking and clanking loudly at the movement, and noticed the small, angry fairy.

"Oh my, are you alright?" She asked the fairy carefully, now resting against her sword. "I haven't upset you, have I? I'm fairy sure, er, fairly sure I haven't done anything to offend..."

The fairy yelped at being addressed directly and spun backwards -- but soon he regained his composure and flew directly into Nyte's face (well, her helmet) where he hovered like a very angry sparkly dragonfly.

"You're not going anywhere!" the fairy screeched, doubly determined to rust every joint shut on Nyte's armor. "This is revenge! This is vengeance! Maybe you specifically didn't crush our home, but you can pay for the crimes of your kind! Stand in this spot forever, where you'll be a warning to the rest!"

"There are more guardians?" asked Sunny -- just before a rumbling BOOM thundered through the forest; birds flapped and squawked out of the treetops and a small herd of three-eyed deer leaped past the vagrants away from danger. The trees leaned and rustled. The fairy spooked and cowered within a bush.

Sunny grinned savagely -- the noise came from the northwest.

"That's where we're headed!" she called, and with an eager and reckless leap she bounded off through the brightening woods toward the noise, Laphicet in tow -- but the forest-guardian was now far too slow to follow.

Meanwhile the fairy had reemerged from the flowered bush to glare hatefully at Nyte. "You see, you see!" he spat. "Nothing but destruction! You'll pay! I'll turn you entirely to rust!"

Northwest of that spot, Sunny skidded to a halt when she spotted something big moving between the trees. It loped and leaned as it gamboled awkwardly along, cracking branches and scattering wildlife as it picked shakily along on a dozen skittering, whirring metal legs. Mounted precariously atop the legs was a huge log house with broken eaves and crooked sides, tossing and flopping this way and that as it was carried along.

Lashed to a pole on the front porch of the walking house was a shining full set of armor. It was easy to see how the fairy might have been confused.

The legs lost their balance again and slammed suddenly into a tree; the tree cracked and fell in a whoosh and a thunder of destructive noise.

"Ah! You see that, Laphi?" Sunny called over the clatter. "Armor! We just gotta get up there and get that armor!"

@Tenma Tendo@Jade113

Laphicet stared wearily at the tiny fairy as he flew around in an angry buzz. It looked as if the fairy was making the forest guardian atone for for its sins, but shouldn't the forest guardian be loved by all the creatures that reside in it?

Too tired to think rationally about it, Laphi brought his head back down and sighed quietly. He did his job by steering the guardian in the right direction, so now it was Sunny's turn to do her part, right? Well not exactly as a thick rumbling reverberated among forest. The noises of other animals followed by the sight of them caused Laphi to tighten his grip on Sunny; how could she be so calm at a time like this?
"U-Um, Sun-- Whoa!" The child wasn't given a chance to finish what he was saying as said girl bolted off in the direction of the noise. All the boy could do was shut his eyes and hold on for dear life.

And after what felt like an eternity, Sunny skidded to a halt. Still too nervous to open his eyes, he kept them shut and only listened to the noises surrounding them. It definitely sounded like something big...every step caused the ground to shake. Whatever it was was definitely running into the trees and such.

It was Sunny who got the boy to open his eyes, and he was unpleasantly met with what looked like...a spider log house monster? Laphicet wasn't quite sure what he was looking at, but he didn't really want to know. What really caught his attention was the shining dot on the front porch of the log monster. They had to get that armor, huh. This probably meant a lot to Sunny, so, of course, he was going to help out.

"I-I can get us up there." He spoke up as he pulled out the Magician tarot card and held it out for Sunny to see. "We can teleport with this card...I think." He continued. Back at the white tower, his ability to mimic was stunted tremendously, but now that he was farther away from that hellhole, he hopes that his powers might be coming back.

Without waiting for Sunny's response, Laphicet began the incantation.
"A Magician's duty is to help the Fool, be kind to the Fool, and carry the Fool to greatness!" Right as he called the final syllable, the two disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing a multiple meters above the large monster.

Laphicet would have said that he had teleported too far up, but the boy was now limp and motionless, falling down and towards the top of the log monster along with Sunny.

@Mokley@Jade113

"Revenge?" The armored vagrant replied in gentle confusion. "Oh my, were there knights that harmed this forest some time ago? I do apologize for their actions..."

A thundering BOOM resonated through the slowly more active forest, causing the already sluggish knight to freeze. "Would that be the issue? I wonder what is causing that..."

Her left arm, wrapped with vines and quickly rusting over, slowly lifted up. "If you could undo this curse, small friend, perhaps I could put a stop to this... Whatever it is..." Finally,though, completely rusted over with her connecting joints locked, she became a statue, or something similar, still able to talk but unable to move. "If you wish to keep this armor here, friend, don't worry. I forgive you, and I'm quite sorry about this mess... I simply wished for some peaceful, beautiful views."

"You forgive me?" the fairy squeaked, fluttering and flashing in front of Nyte's helmet. "You forgive me?!" he screeched. "You're sorry?!" He stiffened and shook, his little fists eager for something to strike, some logical flaw in this metal monster's words. "You ... you!! You wouldn't know about beautiful views! You wouldn't know, you don't understand! You're made of metal! The most unnatural and ugly thing in existence -- armor and blades and machines made for killing and ripping and crushing. Peace, you say! Do you realize what you are?!"

Another BOOM sent the fairy darting back into the bush. For a moment all Nyte would see was the pulse of light from his wings, filtered through the tiny leaves.

After awhile -- after the fairy had had time to think, to realize that this metal monster had just accepted her fate with no argument nor anger -- his voice emerged again, hesitant and sour. "...Could you really put a stop to it?"

He finally emerged again, glaring at Nyte with a hesitant sort of half-trust. Sending her to stop the thing sounded like a far better idea than a useless statue in the woods.

"Fine." He lifted his arms, and the rust began to melt away from Nyte's joints. "I'll give you one chance."

Meanwhile, Sunny stood in the path of the mechanical spider-house's destruction, staring up at the shifting and creaking thing. Laphi held a card into her view -- the wise figure of an old robed man, glinting with magic -- and her eyebrows raised in confusion at his words.

"Telepo --?!"

Suddenly she was falling, crashing through the canopy of scraping branches and yellow leaves, toward the shifting and tilting roof of the spider-house below. Laphi fell alongside her, but his eyes were closed and his body was limp. Her heart in her throat, Sunny grabbed him and spun them midair to place herself between him and the landing. Together they crashed through the splintering roof, and Sunny somehow caught a beam inside with her one free hand.

For a moment she dangled from the ceiling beam, gripping Laphi by the back of his shirt while the new hole in the roof rained splinters down on their heads and the whole house tossed and tilted around them. She looked down, saw that the floor wasn't too far from Laphi's feet, and let him go before she dropped down beside him.

"Laphi, oy!" Sunny knelt beside him, a hand along his face, worried that he'd hit his head or overextended himself with -- what had even just happened? Teleportation?!

She yelped and flung an arm around Laphicet when the house gave a sudden jerk to one side. The smashed remains of a dining table and chairs, shards of plates and rolling cups skidded across the ruined floor. Above, tied to the beams, were swinging drying herbs and animal skins. It looked as if someone had lived here until only recently -- but there was no time to think about it while Laphi was in danger of being struck by skidding furniture.

Sunny hefted him up onto her shoulder and very slowly attempted to walk across the floor while it jolted and tilted. She somehow made it to the front door without getting hit too badly -- but once she'd stepped out next to the tied-up armor, she had a dizzying look at the ground below.

She wrapped an arm around the porch banister, staring at the ground far below, Laphi gripped in her other arm. Nevermind the armor -- how were they even going to get down?!

Nyte tried to nod, immediately forgetting that she can no longer move in her rusted state. Instead, she gave a brief answer. "Yes, I realize what I am. I cannot change that, I'm afraid..." She sighed gently, listening to the fairy before watching him dart off into the bushes after a second loud crashing noise shook her and nearly sent her falling. "My, yes, I'd definitely help stop whatever is making that racket."

Nyte flexed her metal joints as they slowly cleaned, and she sighed happily. "Thank you, friend. I will go put a stop to the destruction!" She said with renewed vigor, pulling her sword from the ground and sheathing it before posing triumphantly. "Oh, and, uh, feel free to rust any other knights who try to destroy these beautiful sights and sounds."

She coughed loudly into her fist, backing away awkwardly from the fairy before turning and running towards the disturbance. Her boot caught on a root and she stumbled, but persevered and finally arrived to stare bewildered at the clumsy house ahead of her. "Oh no, it must be malfunctioning..." she mumbled, hands on her hips, then looked to the path of destruction it had left in its wake. She sighed sadly, looking back up in time to see the two vagrants stumble onto the porch of the uncoordinated house.

"Not to fear, humble, um, wanderers!" She shouted to the pair, waving her arms and still not noticing that her left boot has vanished, "I can stop this poor thing and set it down! Just, um, hold on!"

She ran beneath the lumbering house as it staggered along, abandoning her armor once she had gotten directly beneath it. She darted invisibly to the whirring metal legs and held on, spreading herself over the dozen contraptions and forcing it to carefully slow to a stop, immediately noticing the lack of strength in the metal. Whoever had built the legs had not planned the weight correctly, and momentum caused it to stumble around clumsily.

She lowered herself carefully, legs bending inwards with loud creaks and groans as they gave way to the weight of the building. It finally slammed inelegantly to the ground, inches away from her old set of armor. She left the bent and crushed legs of the house behind and reinhabited her old set, stretching her much smaller form before jogging to the pair on the porch.

"That was rather easy!" She exclaimed, giving a thumbs up, "Was there anyone inside?"

A voice shouted dimly over the cacophony of slamming and banging and whirring and smashing, and Sunny opened her eyes wide and leaned over the banister to see the forest-guardian standing, one-legged, waving her arms in the face of destruction. "We're holding on!" she called -- there wasn't much else she could do but hold on -- but she yelped and shouted concern when she saw the forest-guardian run straight under the house, into the chaos of deadly spidery legs.

Sunny stared at the last place she'd seen the forest-guardian, her eyes wide in horror, certain that any moment she would hear the telltale crunch of armor being compacted by the house's merciless legs. The forest-guardian hadn't even been able to move earlier without the assistance of a sword -- how was she going to stop a runaway house?!

And then, the creak and whirr of the house began to slow. Gradually, the tilting stopped, the floor steadied itself, and -- while Sunny breathed raggedly and watched in awe -- the house came to a complete stop.

For a moment there was beautiful silence. A breeze hushed through the trees; a bird warbled. Sunny could hear herself think again, and she loosened her grip on Laphi to check if he was all right -- then yelped when the house suddenly dropped a few inches. She tightened her grip to the sound of creaks, snaps and metallic groans lowered the house in a series of dips and drops -- until a sudden, ferocious thunder of twisted broken metal left the house to the mercy of gravity.

"aaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH!!"

Sunny was sure she was dead -- but she carefully opened one eye to check. She was curled tightly against the railing, still holding Laphi in a vice-grip, but she was definitely alive and the house was mostly on the ground.

Dumbstruck in awe, Sunny carefully draped Laphi over her back and took a jump down to the grass below, hopping the twisted stump of a spider-leg on her way down. She stared up at the forest-guardian's thumbs-up with a slackened jaw.

"That ... was ..." she hadn't quite gathered her wits after that ordeal. "AMAZING!" A wide grin broke on her face. "How did you do that? You just ran under there and I thought you were a goner but you just destroyed that thing and got us down safe and I couldn't see what you did but it was brilliant and -- you're missing a leg." She blinked uncertainly down at the empty space where the guardian's leg had been.

"H-hello?" A feeble voice called from above; a rickety old man had shuffled to the edge of the porch of the house and stood woozily with a bony hand gripping the banister.