Carantathraiel

Wanderers

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.

Wanderers

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."

Wanderers

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.

Wanderers

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."

Wanderers

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?"

Wanderers

"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.

Wanderers

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."

Wanderers

"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.

Wanderers

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?"

Wanderers

Ysaryn listened, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She looked thoughtful as Kire explained how she was feeling, how infuriating it was to feel so close but unable to make a move.
"But you are aware." She said in offering. "Finding a scent is good, especially if you prey is not aware, no? You watch. You learn. And when you can, you attack. Like hunter." Her wicked grin appeared. "You not hunting alone, Kirai. More eyes. More learning."

Taking a step away from the wall, Ysaryn crouched and took a potato off Kire's plate and popped it into her mouth. "How long until you face is new?" She wondered, studying Kire's current one, her gaze lingering on her scar. "I hear Rulitus and Envy speak. I know what you will look like." She twitched her eyebrows upward suggestively. "Very lovely."