[IC] Wanderers

[Carantathraiel]

Ysaryn only smiled knowingly before she swiped another potato. "Good work." She repeated vaguely before standing upright again, her long braid swinging.
"I hear you tell Envy he can look at new land? Did Rulitus tell you we found someplace nice?" She asked, walking a slow circle around the hearth. Her gaze was on the embers, making her eyes glow a dull orange hue. "Maybe an hour after you depart. A long walk, but nice. Water." She added with a victorious grin.

"But," The elf said in a more serious tone. She spun back around on the ball of her foot, her braid swinging again as she turned to face Kire. "With you fears on Cordon, are you going to return? Do you decide it is safe, or will you remain until you pretty face is a different pretty face?"

[Michellin]

Kire held out her plate to Ysaryn, watching her swipe at her potatoes with amusement. "Alright. I'll take your word for it then." She looked up at Ysaryn as she told her about their find and she shook her head. "Haven't run into him yet today, so no, I had no idea. But that sounds lovely. I'd like to see it too when Envy joins us on the inspection." She wondered for a moment how the Kartain was going to manage a long walk like that, then mentally chastised herself for immediately thinking him incapable of doing so.

She frowned, thoughts on Ysaryn's question. "Not too long ago I'd rush back. I still want to. But with all the unknown variables, I can't risk it. I have both the hunt and our supply runs to worry about. If I get recognized while accompanied by any of you, I'll compromise you, too. Last thing I need is to put anybody else in even more danger." Her kip curled in anger at the thought. "I'd wring their little Gemini neck though, if I find them," she murmured in a low voice, before finishing the rest of her food.

"I suppose I should ask Rulitus when to expect the new face," she said, cleaning her plate before putting it away.

[Carantathraiel]

"Moment," Ysaryn said straightening, her brow furrowed deeply. "This word you use, I know it. Gem-an-ai." Her eyes unfocused while she tried to recall where exactly she'd heard it. Why it tugged at the back of her memory like a back headache. But nothing came. She exhaled noisily, disappointed. "I will think on it. Go and speak to you other business." Her worlds dissolved quickly into elvish as she spoke to herself, trying to coax from her own memory the root of the word as she wandered out back.

Out front, Ruli stood against the stones that made the foot of the mountains, his eyes on Zeke and Aeron. The two were completely ignoring his presence as they looked through the wood, measuring and marking what they would need for certain items for build and moving them into piles. When Kire appeared, Ruli turned his head and glanced toward her, then down at her hands. "Poultice help?" He asked idly, looking back to the work being done.

[Michellin]

Kire was about to head out when Ysaryn repeated the word. She turned, eyes wide. Familiar? If Ysaryn recognized it, that was more than enough confirmation about what she had felt yesterday. “Let me know if you remember,” she said, stopping herself from pressing the elf; Kire had to tear her attention away and leave the kitchen to look for Ruli. As she walked, she took out the poultice from her pocket and spread it over her knuckles; while her Ring could speed up the healing, this would help it along in the meantime.

After asking someone, Kire headed outside to where they had left the supplies yesterday. “Uh. Yes. Thanks. That plus my healing, they’ll be right as rain soon. Probably should refrain from punching at trees angrily for a while, though.” She looked over at Zeke and Aeron as they worked on organizing the lumber, then looked sideways at Ruli. She would offer her help, but knowing the fraught relationships between them, she knew now was probably not the time to do so. “Ysaryn tells me you and Envy have decided on the face. For the illusion. Do you have an estimate for when it’ll be done? If possible, I’d be more comfortable going to Cordon not looking like myself.” She huffed, crossing her arms. “Ysaryn recognized the name I gave her, the kind of mages whose magic I had sensed yesterday.”

[Carantathraiel]

Ruli grunted. At least her healing was working, as well. He hadn't been sure if it was a constant effort or if she had to willingly control it to help her recover. Relying on magic constantly made one forget how to make an effort, and to be left lost if magic failed. "I would recommend not punching trees in anger to begin with, but perhaps you Amrian's deal with your emotions differently."
Indeed, maybe a tree punched her in the face and left her with that scar.

He fell into thoughtful silence when she asked about the estimated time for her enchantment, trying to calculate in his head how long he would need, and what left out of the supplies he needed to find. When she mentioned that Ysaryn recognized the name of the mages she had sensed, he forgot about his estimations and looked toward the blonde again. "Well, that can't be a coincidence." Ruli agreed.
He fell back into thinking. "If you want a rush, we can go back to Ziad. Try to get into ..." He cut himself off, remembering just what potentially lay beneath the city, and what he would find if he found his way down.
Not just the bodies of Ziadi, but people he'd known and loved. Faces he did not want in his memory in any shape but their happiest.

Ruli swallowed thickly, then inhaled. "I'll go back to Cordon on my own. There's bound to be a shop. If Ysaryn knows better, maybe I'll take her and she can gather what we need from her people. Once i have everything, it'll only take a few hours."

[Michellin]

Kire nodded. “Alright. Cordon, then. I can wait. I still have coin set aside, if you need it.” She saw the look on his face when he had begun to consider going back to Ziad. “Thank you, Ruli.” She looked back at the work the former captain and the boy were doing, itching to either pitch in or ask about them. Both options she knew were going to be fruitless. She leaned back against the mountain rocks silent, but after a while she huffed and straightened out, flexing her fingers. “Need any help?” she asked, stepping towards them without getting too close. She shrugged a shoulder. “Could carry some of that, if you need them to be taken someplace.”

[Carantathraiel]

"Right." Ruli answered her, content to let silent rest between them as he observed. Until Kire spoke up, inviting herself to help them. As soon as they turned their heads towards her, he slipped back inside the cave, unwilling to welcome any arguement Zeke would undoubtedly ignite.

Zeke, indeed, spotting Ruli, narrowed his eyes until the man retreated inside, then his grey eyes shifted over to Kire. He opened his mouth to answer her in a not-so-polite response when Aeron, beside him, said "Sure!"
Snapping his mouth shut, Zeke cast a glare in the boys direction before turning his back on the approaching woman, measuring once more.

"Karey, right?" Aeron asked as she drew near. When she corrected him, he nodded. "Sorry. You're the one who brought us the candies, right? They were good. Thank you."
He glanced down at Zeke, his dark curls sticking to his sweat-damped neck. When the man said nothing, his attention wholly on the task before him, Aeron looked back to Kire. "So. There's another someone wearing your face." It wasn't a question, and it was right to the point.

[Michellin]

Kire glanced at Zeke first, in case the man was raring to argue, but upon Aeron’s assent, she smiled and stepped closer. She beamed even wider when Aeron mentioned the candies. “You’re welcome. I have cousins who are around your age, maybe only a little older.” It occurred to her just then that, by a technicality, that might be quite an understatement, but in spirit, Etta and Precy were still at that age. “If I ever get the chance to, I’ll bring back a bit more. I’ve a sweet tooth, myself, so I know I’d miss candy if I couldn’t get my hands on it.”

She bent to pick up one end of a plank when Aeron made his statement. Just like Etta, this one. She smirked; at least this was a boy that didn’t need to hear any sugar-coating. “Yes. Terrible woman, from what I’ve heard, but what do you expect from someone who steals your face without permission?” She sighed, lifting the plank, then smiled at him. “I’d like to think I wear my own face better,” she said, winking at him with her scarred eye. “How old are you, if I may ask?”

[Carantathraiel]

Aeron's eyebrows knit closer together, not in a frown, but in thought. His midnight-blue eyes skimmed Kire's face when she mentioned she wore it better. He had no idea how to respond to such a comment. Not when her face was scarred as it was, but he supposed she would know better.
"Turned ten a few weeks ago." He said quietly, his lips twitching for a moment. Zeke glanced up from his work to the boy, all anger gone from his expression for the split second that Aeron met his gaze. He reached out and patted the boys wrist, and Aeron straightened.

"I'm told I'm not allowed to ask girls that question." He admitted, pulling his arms out of Zeke's reach and folding them across his chest. "You're going to go after her, right? The face thief?" Aeron looked down, nudging a pinecone with his shoe. "How did she get it? Is it an enchantment? Like Unc, erm. Like Ruli does?"

[Michellin]

Kire saw the understanding between Zeke and boy when she asked her question. Given the circumstances, she could understand why a birth-day wasn’t a happy occasion for a young lad like him. She saw, too, that he was trying to be strong despite it. What a hard childhood. She grinned briefly at his admission, then turned serious, nodding in response to his question. “That’s why I’m here. The face thief, and the person who made her.” She glanced at Zeke, half-expecting the man to stop her from talking about such dark things in front of Aeron. She patted the wooden planks she was carrying. “Where do I put this?”

After she set down the lumber, Kire turned back to Aeron. “Would you believe me if I said I was a hundred years old?” she asked, squatting down next to another set of lumber. “The face-thief, she’s probably only a year old, half a year. She’s like a human-sized puppet, and her master stuffed her with all the hate and evil he had. Terrible magic. I don’t think it’s like what Rulitus does at all.”

[Carantathraiel]

Zeke continued to ignore her, clearly unbothered by the topic, especially considering Aeron had brought it up. After all the lad had gone through, just as the rest of them, he deserved answers. Surely this woman wouldn't have all the answers, but Aeron could chip away at the stone in his chest.

Indeed, only more questions surfaced when Kire said that she was a hundred years old. As Zeke pointed to the pill a few feet away, Aeron turned in his place to watch her. "You're like Envy, then." He said, talking about her age. He glanced toward her ears, wondering if she was an elf as well.
"Why would he do that?" He moved on, watching her work, and ignoring Zeke, now, who went on measuring and marking with one ear in the conversation. "Why would he send her after us? We didn't do anything wrong."

[Michellin]

“Quite. A little bit,” Kire replied, when Aeron made the observation about her age. She continued moving the lumber as instructed, ignoring the dull ache in her hands. His questions were difficult, but justified. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she repeated after a long pause. She stopped in her work and looked down at the lad. Earnest had been this small, once. She put her hands on her hips, mostly to stop herself from reaching out to the boy. As much as she felt the impulse to give him a reassuring hug, or a gently touch on the shoulder, she also knew it wasn’t her place. From the way he reacted to Zeke’s attempts at comfort, Aeron didn’t need to be pitied.

“There are people who just want to take and take, and they don’t care who’s in the way. Empty inside, like their heart’s just a hole in their chest.” She let out a deep breath. “Some of them, they even enjoy it when others suffer. This man, he—” Kire frowned. “—his magic requires a lot of bad things to happen to other people. He needs that, for his forbidden magic, to make his dolls. But he also knows I care deeply for other people who are hurt like that. He knows I will be angry, and will look for him.”

[Carantathraiel]

Aaron studied her intensely, from the way her mouth move to where she put her hands. He watched her eyes, and the directions they moved, as he had been taught. She wasn't lying. Not that he could see. Which meant she was either being truthful, or was very good at manipulating.
The other one had been the latter.
Aaron wanted to believe this one was the former.

"Why do you care?" Aeron asked, then. You don't know us. We are people no one else wanted, or decided we weren't good enough. So why would you care?"
Zeke glanced up at least, his expression trained blank, as he looked past Aeron to Kire, likewise awaiting her answer.

[Michellin]

Why do I care? Kire stared at the boy, met his searching gaze. She pondered over what he had just said, words which she wished no other child in this world or in another should ever have to ask of themselves. He needs the truth. “Honestly? Maybe partly because I’m selfish. Or that's what my cousin would tell me when she scolds me about putting myself in danger.” Kire sat down next to the pile of wood. “I feel responsible for what he does. And whatever he does, it reflects on my failings. I can’t rest until I make up for it.” She looked back up at Aeron. “But more importantly, Aeron, I believe in the opposite of what you had just said. Nobody is ‘not good enough’. Unless you are exactly the kind of person he is, or the kind of person this face-thief is, who would trample upon somebody else. I don’t think you’re not worthy of care. Or anybody in this mountain, for that matter.”

She paused, looking at his expression to see what he made of her words, and smiled. “You know, back home, I used to be a leader to many people. So, I’ve had lots of practice caring for people I haven’t even met. They rely on me, even though they’d never seen me, and in turn I trust that they’d care for the land and for each other. I’d like to think we’re put on this earth to try and make one another’s life just a little easier, however we can. Of course, not everyone’s like that, and it’s a bloody difficult thing to do. But while I can, I’ll do it.”

[Carantathraiel]

Aeron's face didn't change as she answered, his eyes still watching her with the same intent focus only a curious child could perfect. When she challenged what he had said, he raised his chin, looking as if he were preparing for an argument, before he lowered his head in acceptance.
"I hope you catch the bastard." Aeron said.
"Ey, language." Zeke chided, though his tone was more relaxed. Really, Aeron had heard far worse, and Zeke was relieved that was the word he'd chosen to repeat.

With a shrug, Aeron turned around and grabbed a few of the marked pieces of too to put into their respective piles. Zeke glanced Kire over again, his gaze lingering on her face, before he looked away again. "Heard you're having yourself enchanted so you look different." He said. "Maybe then looking at you won't be so bad."

[Michellin]

Kire smirked at the boy’s response. “I will.” And I won’t just catch him. She raised an eyebrow, amused at the rather halfhearted scolding Zeke gave Aeron. She continued helping them organize, ignoring Zeke’s stare. “That’s the idea,” Kire said, not taking his remarks against him. Really, it was the nicer of the many possible jibes she had thought he would throw at her. “Can’t say I haven’t heard that sentiment before. A lot of people hate my face plenty back home, too, and they make sure to let me know,” she added, smirking as she pointed at her scarred face before going back to work.

She was quiet for the rest of the task, speaking only to ask about what they needed her to do with the lumber next. When they had time later, she would ask Aeron if Envy had kept a library for them. She was sure there were such a thing; she had seen someone peddling books of some sort back in Cordon, and some remains of a library back in Ziad. And maybe, if they’ve warmed up a little bit, I can ask them what it was that Ruli did that was unforgivable. What it had to do with Akuma. When the last of the lumber had been sorted, she stood straight, stretching, and flexed her hands. They were in a much better state than they were this morning, though they were still sore, owing to the labor she had just completed.

[Carantathraiel]

The rest of her assistance was met with silence from both of them. Zeke deciding he would rather ignore her until she asked for direction, and Aeron focused on the task. It was just after noon when they stopped, all sweating and red faced. Zeke told Aeron to go drink water, and after lunch they would measure the sleeping quarters to see how many beds they could fit.

Pressing his fingers into the back of his neck, Zeke stood and groaned, saying not a single word to Kire as he wandered inside after Aeron.
Inside the main chamber, sitting on the ground by the wall, Ysaryn and Rulitus were speaking quietly with one another in elvish. As Zeke ignored Ruli, so did Ruli ignore him. Only Ysaryn looked up at him, her fuschia eyes following him, her chin upturned in challenge. Never halting her conversation, she looked away when Zeke kept walking, gesturing for Ruli to look at a finger-drawn figure in the dirt between them.

[Michellin]

Kire lingered for a little while after Aeron and Zeke had gone back inside, wanting to rest by herself before going in. She saw Rulitus and Ysaryn talking and observed them as she walked closer. For someone who had been warning her about the man, Ysaryn at least was able to be civil enough with him. She didn’t recognize the language they spoke, only that she knew the sounds from when the elf would mumble to herself. She noticed the figure drawn on the ground before the two of them.

“Aeron’s a precocious one,” she remarked, before turning her attention to the drawing. “Have you figured out where you remember hearing ‘Gemini’ before?” she asked Ysaryn.

[Carantathraiel]

They both went quiet when Kire spoke, two pairs of eyes rising to hers. "Yes." Ysaryn said about Aeron, her fox-like grin appearing. "Then no. I got busy." She answered Kire's follow-up with a gesture toward the figure. "Rulitus need to know how to find his item. I know. I help."

"The last few items I need she knows how to get in Cordon." Ruli clarified. "I've been keeping her mind busy. Sorry. I'll leave soon."
"I go!" Ysaryn sprang to her feet. "My people won't help without me. We take Bolym. I will go to fetch him."

She sauntered off, Ruli furrowing his brow at her as she went. "She's an enigma." He commented idly, likewise rising to his feet. He brushed dirt off his legs and backside. "Once we get back, I can get to work. You can have your new face by morning." He rubbed his eyes, rubbing the tired burn from them.

[Michellin]

Kire blinked as Ysaryn sprang to her feet and declared she was going with Rulitus. She watched, amused, while the elf walk off to find Bolym. "She's interesting," she said in response to Ruli's comment about Ysaryn, turning to him. "She was telling me she knows what you plan to make me look like, though I don't know if she's just teasing."

She nodded when he said he would have the enchantment done by tomorrow, though she noted how tired he looked as he said it. She kept that to herself, knowing his attitude. "Alright. Good. I'll look forward to it, then. Till then, I might disappear. Have to let my family know I haven't gotten myself killed just yet," she said with a smirk. "Besides, Zekiel and the rest might be more comfortable with me helping around if I don't look the way I am. Can't hold that against them." She nodded in goodbye, then turned to walk away.

She returned early morning the next day, reappearing outside the cavern entrance. She hadn't told her cousins about the Gemini yet, knowing they would be doubly worried that this was all a well-orchestrated trap. With a sigh, Kire went inside the caves, meaning to make coffee before looking for Rulitus.