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The Orc turned to Chris, "Don't trouble yourself boy, I've suffered worse. Besides, I've got a rather helpful hot spring at my home, it does wonders." Then an idea strikes him, "Matter of fact, how about a bite to eat. I've got a cave nearby."
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Chris looks off to where Gashka and Anyka went.
Terra's eyes pop open. what the hell? she seems confused, unsure what she saw.
she sits there quietly for a bit trying to make sense of the vision.
ahh hells, I don't understand any of this. she gets up and heads back to the group.
we need to move out, there is some sort of temple or shrine thing here. we gotta find it. we might find some answers there.
The Orc turned to the Earthbender, "A temple you say? I think I might know the one your talking about. It's about three hours from here. I could show all of you if you like?"
Gashka returns to the others with Anyka just in time to hear the last bit of what Terra says, "Okay...wait..what? Slow down for a just a second, what temple? What are you talking about?" She looks at Druuth, "Do you have any idea what she's talking about? Have you seen some kind of weird temple thingy around here?"
She shakes her head as they basically speak at almost the same time, "Sorry...." She looks at Terra and Anyka, "He wasn't lying before, why would he lie now? Should we just let him lead us there? Would probably be faster than guessing our way there and possibly getting lost."
"I'm just a doctor, not a diplomat," Chris says.
She looks at Chris, "I'm sorry....I don't mean to make you feel like you have to make the decision or anything....I'm just...I'm all over the place and don't feel like I have a very clear head right now...so if I'm not making sense about something just ignore me." Closing her eyes for a moment she rubs her temples, "I think that if he knows where this place is we should just let him take us there. If it turns out to be some kind of trap, we just kill him like we do everyone else that has had the balls to f$&% with us."
"Yea, we might as well. At the very least there's eight of us and only one of him if it works out that way."
Terra turns to Gashka, I know when people lie. and like you said, he was telling the truth before. funny thing about the truth though, unless you know its not true, you will believe it to be the truth.
afster a pause to try and figure out if what she said made any sense to anyone, or to herself, anyway I was trying to figure out about this voice in my head, and suddenly, BAM, this temple vision popped in my head.
She nods and gives Terra a small smile, "Yeah...I know what you're saying....it's just kinda hard for me accept at the moment. Druuth says he knows about the temple you're talking about....and as Flynt pointed out there's far more of us than him if he tries anything." She looks back at Druuth, "Somehow though I feel that's not going to be an issue, so we should just let him show us the way. If nothing else than to save time and not get ourselves lost on this whacked out island." She gives him a nod, "Alright...so take us to this mysterious temple then....thanks." She looks at the others and kind of shrugs as she still feels a little uncomfortable with the whole reveal and situation.
"As you wish Gashka." Druuth responded before picking up his shield and spear. The Orc started to head North. After three hours, as he said, the group stood before the strange structure of stone. The old warrior turned to the others, "I came here once, almost a year ago. Couldn't get near the place, a couple of rather large stony creatures prevented me from entering. Something about, 'This is for Children of Elements' or something like that."
As Druuth responds to her she kind of lets out a sigh and rolls her eyes. She could tell this whole princess bit was gonna get old pretty fast, but at least he was calling her by her name. It was all so confusing and all she knew is that whenever they got back home, her parents better have a pretty damn good reason why they had lied to her for only her entire life. She shakes her head to try and clear her thoughts, what good was it now to be angry over what they did or didn't say? It was already said and done and now it was out in the open....so, what was she supposed to do with that? Did she have to do anything at all? Did it really matter where or what her family came from? Hells no! I'm still me, princess or no and nothing is going to change that. Nodding her head in agreement with her internal questions and answers she looks up in time to realize that they had made it to the temple already.
Listening to Druuth's explanation she nodded before smiling and looking over at Terra she smirks, "Well sis, I guess that means this is right up your alley. At least now we have an idea of what that voice was on about. Want us to go with you? I'm not sure I like the idea of you going off into some strange creepy lookin' temple by yourself." She covers her head quickly to avoid being pelted by pebbles, "Not saying that you couldn't handle yourself, would just feel better if we went with you is all. I've got some frustrations to work out and I'm all for smashing stuff up if it comes down to that." She looks from the temple to Terra and back to the temple with a concerned expression on her face as she stands next to her fluffy pirate pants.
"Yea, we're going with you."
She laughs, "You heard your man, let's get a move on."
Terra looks at all of her friends, If I didn't want you guys with me, I would have gone off already in search of this place.
Terra smiles at Flynt, glad he is up for the challenge.
She nods as they head out the smile still on her face, "I know...just wanted to make sure you knew you had support."
Flynt smiles back at Terra. "Always got yer back."
Gashka kind of stays behind Tikkle to keep from being pelted with pebbles for her smart ass mouth.
As Terra steps forward, two huge creatures that appear to be made completely out of stone burst forth from the ground. They stare at the approaching woman for a moment, then in unison, kneel and bow there heads. "Welcome Child of Earth. You may pass."
"Uh, can the rest of us pass too? We're with the Child of Earth."
"Haven't seen that before."
Both of the creatures turn their gaze to the young man, then back to Terra as if waiting for instruction.
Terra looks ready to fight at first, but when they treat her like some sort of royalty. she eases up, but still looks rather confused.
She first looks toward the Princess Gashka. whispering to her, Your a princess, what do I do?
She sighs as she swats Terra roughly on the backside, "For one, you stop referring to me as a princess. Two, tell them to let us pass. They're looking at you for instructions, so instruct them. No more of this princess crap either. I'm Gashka, just Gashka so just leave it be alright?" She says a little more irritably than she means for it to come out.
"Well excuuuse me, princess. Alright I got that out of my system. I'm good. Yea just tell them to let us in."
Letting out a growl of frustration she turns to Flynt with hot angry tears in her eyes, "That's right Flynt, because me being lied to my ENTIRE life is such a f!@~ing joke. Thanks for the support." Before she loses all sense of control she turns away from the rest of them and takes a few steps away to gather her composure.
"Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Won't happen again."
She doesn't say anything since she has no idea what would come out of her mouth. Somewhere deep inside of her she knew her friends were trying in their own way to try and make her feel better...but somehow right now it wasn't making her feel better. It was just drawing more attention to something that she wanted to just forget about until they had a chance to deal with everything else. Terra was always teasing her about something, she should be used to it....but somehow this time it just wasn't funny and did nothing to alleviate her growing feelings of frustration and anger at not being able to deal with their quarry.
She didn't even know where half of these feelings were coming from, but she just felt like running away. What was she supposed to do, just ignore what felt like insensitive comments and jokes about something that she wasn't even aware of....but apparently lots of other people knew about...including her parents who kept it from her this whole time? If they were never going back there though, then what was the big deal?
She could feel herself getting worked up all over again just from her thoughts, and she knew she upset Flynt...probably Terra too...but, didn't she have a right to be upset?
She just stands there looking off into the distance with her hands balled into fists at her sides as she digs her nails into the palms of her hands and tries desperately to hold onto what little sanity she felt she had left as the rest of her body shakes.
Chris steps next to Gashka. "Hey, it's alright. Whatever he said, it doesn't matter. You didn't grow up a princess and you're not sitting in a castle now, so you're the Gashka that you've always known. Whether your parents lied or not isn't what you should think of, they still raised you with love and kindness, right? So...all you need to do is just let it all go and focus on what we're here for: a way to stop the Piper...Carver...whatever it is."
Renard barks in agreement.
She nods, "You're right...I'm sorry. I don't even know why I got so upset in the first place. Somewhere in my head kept saying that...but I...I just couldn't get the other part of me to shut up....the part that felt betrayed...but, I have no right to be angry when they loved me so completely."
Taking a deep breath she turned around and faced the others, "I'm sorry I over reacted to everything. Terra...I'm sorry I smacked you and Flynt...I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just....I guess I sorta lost it for a minute."
"It's okay. You're stressed. We're here for you, you know that." Flynt says with a slight smile.
"So Gashka's mama and papa were bigtime, huh? Does that make me some kinda step-prince?" Tikkles guffaw sounds behind the group. "Nah, I don't like the sound of that any more than she does." He gets caught up on the rest of the details during the hike and focuses on comforting Gashka until the stoners show up.
Words fail him in comforting Gashka, so he just holds her and lets her speak her mind. When it seems that Flynt is doing ok with her, he moves to stand beside Terra. "The child of earth is a part of our fellowship, and would not be separated from us. Right Terra?" He nudges her and nods, indicating that she just needs to affirm the statement to the stoners.
She knew that Tikkle just joked about stuff when he was otherwise at a loss for words and that it was his way of dealing with stress, so she just lets his silly comment go. As they're standing there waiting to be let in she leans into Tikkle, "Ya know I'd take you over some pompous prince any day of the week.....right? You're all I want and all I need and I highly doubt some stuffed shirt could.....handle me the way you do anyways, so you don't need to change a damn thing about yourself Tikkle Ashcoat, or worry bout anything either. Got it?" She says with a wink as she presses herself up against him.
Terra was a bit dumbfounded for a bit, she has never really been the center of attention. She never felt so important before.
finally she steps before the guardians, feeling the support of her friends.
These people are with me. They shall be allowed to pass. she says with as much confidence she can muster.
The two rock creatures bow their heads and sink back into the earth, clearing the path to the Temple.
Terra is a little shocked that she didn't have to fight.
Well, that was easy. come on lets see what this is all about then. she says as she heads toward the temple entrance.
Gashka nods and follows her sister into the old temple along with the others.
As the group enters the Temple, something seems....off. The room was enormous, far larger than the outside would indicate, and looked more like ancient natural cavern with crystalline stalagmites. In the center of the cavern was a shaft of shifting light coming from the ceiling, and within the light, suspended in midair, was some sort of crystal about two inches tall.
Terra examines the light closely. pointing to the small crystal inside, I think I need to get a hold of that.
Looking to her friends, If something bad happens, I can count on you guys to get me out of there right?
She quickly takes a survey of the area. Then she firmly plants both feet in on the ground and closes her eyes in concentration.
Soon she starts to form a stone stairway toward the floating crystal.
She nods, "Don't worry Terra, we're here if you need us. You can do this though."
Chris studies the crystal for a moment.
"Yea of course. Be careful."
Anyka readies a blade to throw at anything that endangers her little sister.
Before entering, Tikkle answers Gashka with a smile and a kiss on the cheek.
After, He stands at the ready, sniffing about for any other creatures in the area while the brainy types investigate.