"Nice to meet you," Anson says to Mathias.
She turns to Panamax. "So what kinds of things were you and... Esha? talking about?"
"A little bit of everything," he says. "Its senses are not the same as ours. And I was asking it questions about some of the things that we were seeing."
Panamax waves to Mathias when he is introduced. He looks for a comfortable-ish place to settle, and settles there. He takes his hair down and runs his fingers through it, frowning at the tangles.
"Need to buy a hairbrush," he says to no one in particular.
"A halfway decent nights sleep will do me a world of good."
Mathias laughs. "You have more sense than I do." He takes a long sip from the thermos. "This stuff will pretty much ensure I'm awake for the entire trip. You know, to keep an eye out for kittens and puppies."
"I want a kitten!" The little boy belonging to the second family shouts.
"I want two kittens!" One of the girls fires back.
Jarris seats himself near the two families, drawing out items from his backpack. It only takes a few minutes for each child before he's crafted little wire-and-junk cats for them. They squeal with delight and set about playing all over the wagon with them.
"Neat," Ceri says through clenched teeth, a plastic smile plastered on her face. She looks increasingly uncomfortable as the children become louder.
"A little bit of everything," he says. "Its senses are not the same as ours. And I was asking it questions about some of the things that we were seeing."
"I think you did the right thing, taking it out of that building." She says, seriousness replacing the customary careless smile on her face. "May I see the container?"
"Need to buy a hairbrush," he says to no one in particular.
After Jarris finishes making little wire cats for children, he seats himself next to Panamax. "Two questions. One, would it surprise you to know that I have one in my bag?" He combs out his own hair with his fingers and a grin. "And two, are you uncomfortable with sharing such a thing?"
Several of the wagon guests make faces that indicate they are uncomfortable with the idea.
"I think you did the right thing, taking it out of that building." She says, seriousness replacing the customary careless smile on her face. "May I see the container?"
Panamax offers up the container. "I don't know how it works," he says, helpfully, "only that it seems to."
"Two questions. One, would it surprise you to know that I have one in my bag?" He combs out his own hair with his fingers and a grin. "And two, are you uncomfortable with sharing such a thing?"
"It would not surprise me," Panamax says. "But I would not want to sully your hairbrush with my own lackluster hair. That would be rude."
Mathias laughs. "You have more sense than I do." He takes a long sip from the thermos. "This stuff will pretty much ensure I'm awake for the entire trip. You know, to keep an eye out for kittens and puppies."
"Nothing to do with sense, coffee at this point would just turn me into a goo puddle."
"Neat," Ceri says through clenched teeth, a plastic smile plastered on her face. She looks increasingly uncomfortable as the children become louder.
Nalo slides into a space near Ceri, between the woman and the children. Quietly, "I'm pretty sure between the eight of us, we can jury rig some decent earplugs." With a sympathetic smile, even as she seems half ready to fall asleep.
"So I'm relatively certain that you aren't in league with our shadowy employer to make us responsible for starting a land war." She says this last with a deadpan made perfect by the exhaustion.
What do you know of the people I've hurt or not hurt with my narrow focus? My interests change with the wind.
Nalo's face, unguarded in her exhaustion, shows worry at the first, then a growing determination.
"One might say I live for secrets." She says with a grin.
Nalo pulls up a sleeve to look at the metallic tracing just barely visible through the epidermis. "They aren't tattoos." She turns her hands over, thumb rubbing over the pad of each finger making the lack of friction ridges more obvious. "When I was born this was the only place I had my markings. The rest came later."
"Nonsense. Your hair is..." he tilts his head, "very nearly as fabulous as my own. My brush would be honored to have your hair upon it. But I will respect your headspace." He makes a series of inappropriate noises and faces as he brushes his hair out, casting only one sideways glance to make sure he wasn't attracting the attention of the small humans sharing the wagon.
His expression sobers. "How are you feeling after all that business in the underground building?"
Anson apparently vanishes, although later he can be found on the top, wedged among the baggage, snoring quietly.
The sun has passed its zenith and is heading towards the horizon by the time Ada gets the wagon moving. Fluffy clouds grow thicker through the day, dropping the temperature slightly as the sun disappears behind them.
Everyone seems to be in good spirits - excited to travel, nervous about the Iron Wind, talking about their various reasons for wanting to head east.
The road is well maintained and the aneen are steady. Ada pushes the travel until the sky is a darkened purple before stopping the wagon.
"Alright, everyone, this is where we're going to make camp for the night. I have a few extra blankets and odds and ends, should anyone have forgotten something for their shelters. If necessary, you're welcome to make bed in the wagon, though I'd advise against all of you trying it at the same time."
She hops down from the wagon, doing another headcount before attending to her animals.
Nearly everyone aboard has at least rudimentary shelter with them, having expected to be camping off the wagon each night of their journey. As she did before, Tavene makes herself available to help people put up their shelters more quickly.
Jarris sets up his ridiculous luxury tent, and Ceri busies herself with getting a few fires started.
Once darkness falls, the grassy hills around them darken, and the forests disappear entirely. Stars are occasionally visible when the clouds break. The only light comes from a few torches Ada has set up, and the firelight illuminating faces and tents nearby.
This process is repeated the next day - pleasant travel, exchanged stories, a few songs, shared meals, setting up camp along the road. The caravan passes a few small farms, but it's not until the third morning that anyone sees actual civilization.
"That's Jaston, over those hills," Ada points out the tops of the buildings that are visible in the distance. "Worth visiting, but we won't be making any detours today."
"Mommy, mommy!" One of the little girls, Paitia, tugs frantically on her mother's sleeve. "A puppy!"
Anyone joining the girl's mother in looking out north-facing windows will see a creature that's absolutely not a puppy by the side of the road. It's small, fuzzy, and brown, with large eyes. When it raises four fingered hands towards the wagon, it makes a plaintive "yawwwww" noise that sets the children into a frenzy of "can we keep it" and "poor thing!".
"That's not a puppy..." Ceri squints as she looks out the window, looking concerned. "It's a brendril, and... it's weird that it's alone."
<- Are there other things around, is this a trap?
<-Jaston?
Edit:
When the little girl speaks, Nalo moves to the back of the caravan, climbing up to the roof to get a full field of vision. Then she strings the recurve bow that she'd been keeping safely out of the reach of the kids.
She leans down to be heard through the door, "Ceri, what's a brendil?"
You definitely have no idea what the puppy is until Ceri says something.
However, since you're unsure of what the animal is, you naturally turn your gaze to the side of the road to check for ambushes and other weird animals. The forest is a few yards from the side of the road, but you see nothing that would indicate there are people (or other animals) laying in wait for you guys to leave the wagon and investigate. You do notice that the animal is shivering and looks miserable.
Jaston is a walled town of around 8000 people who mostly devote themselves to agriculture in some fashion. It's a very old fashioned place, and they are known to have a distrust of nanos and numenera that extends beyond what would be considered 'normal' for a town that size. Sherine, Ceri, Panamax... they would definitely have trouble there.
Ceri gives a sideways look to the kids in the wagon before answering Nalo. "They're a pack animal, usually not found this close to where humans would be, like a busy road or big town. They uh..." she looks at the kids again. "When their burrows are bothered, they get angry, and they like to hug whatever made them angry. And since there tend to be a lot of them, the hugs aren't very nice. Too warm."
"But as you said, it's strange for one to be out here alone. Maybe its a pet?" Tavene asks.
"Maybe, they're pretty docile when they're not riled up." Ceri shrugs.
"Can I have it??" Paitia's sister, Amrita, asks her parents.
"Honey, if that's someone else's pet, they would be really sad if someone else took it home." Their father says, looking concerned. The parents do their best to try and distract all four children from the 'puppy'.
Anson loads his crossbow, gets out, and climbs to the roof of the wagon.
Nalo pulls up a sleeve to look at the metallic tracing just barely visible through the epidermis. "They aren't tattoos." She turns her hands over, thumb rubbing over the pad of each finger making the lack of friction ridges more obvious. "When I was born this was the only place I had my markings. The rest came later."
Ceri extends a hand, then stops. "May I?" Assuming Nalo allows the touch, Ceri traces her finger over part of the metal lines. "So they grew in as you got older?"
Nalo pulls a little jerky from her bag and drops off the caravan roof behind the moving structure. "I don't see anyone nearby." She makes a low crooning sounds as she slowly approaches the shivering thing, slowly. She stops a bit out of reach, and continuing in the same calming tone, "But if it is a pet, then his family might be in the woods."
"The little thing is shivering," then more to the creature, "It's ok, we can get you some food. Water."
Back to the group, "They probably need some help for their pet to be this miserable." It is only a glance at the huddle of parents that keeps the 'or dead' from being said outloud.
"So I'm relatively certain that you aren't in league with our shadowy employer to make us responsible for starting a land war." She says this last with a deadpan made perfect by the exhaustion.
Jarris laughs, brushing his hair back and tying it into a ponytail. "Is that what you've thought this whole time? I admit, I probably would make a pretty good double agent." He shakes his head. "I would understand if you didn't believe me, but I genuinely think Zi has no taste for warmaking. I think he is pretty much only interested in gathering data, learning things, and collecting things. Although I guess that makes him a prime candidate for someone who might accidentally start a war."
He seems to think on it for the first time. "I think the balance of power won't be so easily swayed by one item stolen. But in case we do start a war, I'll be the first to take responsibility while you sneak out the back."
As Nalo approaches the brendil, it turns towards her and makes another sad "yawwww?". The little fuzzy creature looks like it's wearing a cloak of soft fur that drapes when it lifts its arms towards her.
It's a very docile little beast, and when you get close enough, you see that it does even have a little bracelet around one wrist with a tag on it.
It seems very interested in the jerky.
Tavene hops down from the wagon, and Ada brings it to a full stop.
"If you and the others want to look for an owner, I can stay here and watch the wagon. I'm sure Ada would prefer a few people to stay behind to make sure the larger group is safe." She offers, casting a look back towards the people now peering out of the windows at them, and up at Anson on the roof of the wagon.
"I'll stay here, too," Jarris says, "keep everyone entertained for a bit."
"If you're going to look for the little guy's family, I'm happy to join." Mathias says, climbing out of the wagon. He wanders over and has a whispered word with Ada.
Zoa, a woman with thick dark hair cascading over her shoulders, joins Mathias outside the wagon. She's nearly as tall he is, around 5'10 to his 6'2.
"I'm also happy to stretch my legs, get some fresh air. My troupe once spent three days trying to find the family of a stray pet a few years back. I'm no stranger to the work of easing a pet-parent's mind." Her voice is smoky and smooth, sounding like it wouldn't be out of place in a high class lounge in somewhere like Qi or Shallamas.
Miyuki, a much smaller woman who introduced herself early on the road, pops out of the wagon with a bright smile... and immediately drops the sword she was trying to sheath on her hip. She scurries to pick it up and recover gracefully. She runs over to the brendil, making cutesey noises at it, and it squeaks and moves to place Nalo between it and the small woman making strange noises.
"I'll stay here," Anson says from his perch.
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On the first night the group sets up camp outside the wagons, a tall woman with thick dark hair that falls in gentle curls approaches Sherine. She wears a blouse of crimson silk with matching pants that look completely inappropriate for traveling on a dusty road.
"Hello, lovely," she says, voice smooth and contralto. "I'm Zoa Ghazizaden. What brings you on this epic wagon ride east?"
A small woman with a bright and earnest smile approaches Tavene and Kilo on the first night the caravan makes camp. Her hair is raven black, straight as an arrow, and brushes gently against her shoulders. "You two look like people I've trained with!" She says, excitement evident in her voice. She's wearing totally new, and clearly untested, leather armor, and her sword looks like it might be one step up from a piece of wood used for training. "This is only the second time I've been in a wagon like this, and I'm really enjoying the trip so far. Where are you guys from? Where are you going?"
She drops down next to them and focuses her full attention on their responses.
Mathias does a round of the caravan the first night they all make camp, asking the travelers if they need anything or are generally as comfortable as they can be. He spends a few extra minutes with the families, checking on the kids. He glances at Nalo several times in his circuit, but leaves visiting her for last.
"I'll be honest, I have about a hundred questions for you. But first I'll ask… how are you feeling?" His honey colored eyes show a clear concern. "It can be hard to squeeze a nap in while the wagon is moving and full of kids."
"If we run into something we can't handle, I'll make sure to scream real loud so you know to move on then." She says up to Anson, then, "Can you toss me the red pouch and my whip?"
A pause, "And the quiver of arrows." Quieter, "Because jumping off with just a bow is super useful."
It's a very docile little beast, and when you get close enough, you see that it does even have a little bracelet around one wrist with a tag on it.
It seems very interested in the jerky.
Not being a monster, Nalo gives the hungry thing the food. While it is distracted by the meal she checks the nametag.
She runs over to the brendil, making cutesey noises at it, and it squeaks and moves to place Nalo between it and the small woman making strange noises.
"Animals go for lower pitched noises." Nalo suggests. "Kilo can teach you, he was practically a wild thing when Grandpa died."
"Ah, f@!# it."
"I'd like to apolozgize to you in private so that I don't make more of an idiot of myself than I've already done."
Panamax offers up the container. "I don't know how it works," he says, helpfully, "only that it seems to."
Ceri takes the container gently from his hands. She brings it up close to her face, sniffs at it, then puts it to her ear like a sea shell.
"I'm not..." her eyes go wide for a second. "Oh."
"I see."
"Mhmm." She nods in response, then hands the container back to Panamax. "That's really neat! It communicates with words as well as images. It showed me some weird rainbow land. It reminded me of something I saw after I ate some weird mushrooms in an abandoned church."
Nalo slides into a space near Ceri, between the woman and the children. Quietly, "I'm pretty sure between the eight of us, we can jury rig some decent earplugs." With a sympathetic smile, even as she seems half ready to fall asleep.
"If we can't, we aren't worth the price we paid Ada." She says with a chuckle. "I definitely don't hate kids or anything," she says, lowering her voice further, "I just feel like the longer I'm awake, the further the invisible ice pick seems to sink into my ear. I wonder if we're catching up on those days we missed down there."
"It's been a weird, long day." She says, gaze floating over the other people around them. "Energetic predators. Strange machines. Strange people." She doesn't elaborate on the last comment. "I'd say we should get drunk and howl at the moon, but there are kids around, and it's too cloudy outside. I have no idea if there are even moons out tonight." She smiles a little. "And it probably wouldn't hurt to take a night off from mind altering chemicals. Maybe." She gives him side eye that suggests she would 100% be willing to change her mind if he offered something.
The brendil takes the jerky gently, then gnaws on it and makes happy little cooing noises. The tag reads Oota, but nothing else. It looks up to Nalo with adoration in its giant, dark eyes.
"Animals go for lower pitched noises." Nalo suggests. "Kilo can teach you, he was practically a wild thing when Grandpa died."
The woman mouths a silent "oooh", then crouches down in front of Nalo to peer at the brendil. "Heeeey little guy," she drops her voice down as low as she can, which makes her cough a little. She holds her hand out and stops moving. The brendil leans around Nalo's leg to sniff at it, then makes a little 'coo' noise that could almost be a question.
The woman stands back up. "I've never seen anything like it before! It's adorable." She brushes the dust off her knees. "I mean, this is only my second long trip, so I haven't seen much of anything before." She gestures to the wagon, the road, the town in the distance. "All new!"
"I could do with a stretch of the legs," Panamax says. "I will go to look for people that may need assistance."
"...and to see new things..."
"That's really neat! It communicates with words as well as images. It showed me some weird rainbow land. It reminded me of something I saw after I ate some weird mushrooms in an abandoned church."
Panamax nods, eyes shining. "It is a really neat way to communicate, even if talking in pictures loses context and gets mixed weirdly when it tries to understand. I'm hoping to help it understand some context as it accompanies us through the world."
His expression sobers. "How are you feeling after all that business in the underground building?"
"I am healing physically," Panamax says, looking briefly directly into Jarris' eyes. "Thanks to you. I am worried about the ... thing which you and I did not participate in. But expect that sleep will help. I have a new friend. I saw a lot of neat things and some boring things. How are you doing after all of that?"
"It is a really neat way to communicate, even if talking in pictures loses context and gets mixed weirdly when it tries to understand. I'm hoping to help it understand some context as it accompanies us through the world."
Ceri's eyes light up. "Huh. It's..." she pauses for a moment, squinting as she looks at the container. "I wonder what the distance is."
She walks a few feet away, squinting unnecessarily again. Then walks a few more. Then returns. "So it looks like it has a range at which it can think at you. Which makes sense, otherwise it probably would have tried to reach out to anyone listening outside of the building."
A pause. "Do you think you'd try returning it home? Or freeing it?" She asks, voice lowered slightly.
"I am healing physically," Panamax says, looking briefly directly into Jarris' eyes. "Thanks to you. I am worried about the ... thing which you and I did not participate in. But expect that sleep will help. I have a new friend. I saw a lot of neat things and some boring things. How are you doing after all of that?"
"Sleep helps with quite a bit." He agrees, brushing his hair back into a tail. He looks around the wagon for a moment before answering Panamax's question.
"I'm glad you're safe." He admits. "There's always something thrilling about exploring what others have left behind. In the best cases, there's a good story to follow it. But sometimes... sometimes people don't come back to tell their stories." He smiles, but it's heavy. "The experience of being in another dimension, or reality... it was fascinating. Frightening, but fascinating. I wasn't sure I'd ever come back, and knew if I stayed there, I'd go mad far before I went hungry. So, I am very glad to be seated in a wagon, surrounded by good company."
The smile lightens. "It did smell like lemons to me, though. Which was the most pleasant part of being wherever I was."
"That won't work. One look at you and they will assume your pretty face means you have no brains and start looking for the mastermind behind it."
Jarris nods sagely. "That's true. It's how I've gotten away with so much up to this point."
"If we run into something we can't handle, I'll make sure to scream real loud so you know to move on then." She says up to Anson, then, "Can you toss me the red pouch and my whip?"
A pause, "And the quiver of arrows." Quieter, "Because jumping off with just a bow is super useful."
Anson tosses the requested items off the roof to Nalo. "Good luck."
The little brendil eventually clings to Nalo's leg, becoming a very warm presence around her ankle and calf.
"Gods. It's so cute I could die." Miyuki says, covering her eyes with her hands as she follows behind.
The forest offers very little in the way of obvious trails, but the brendil does seem to get more excited as they venture to the north. Thick, old trees rise up around the group, and the scent of old growth is heavy in the air.
"I think I see something up ahead..." Mathias says, looking first ahead of them, and then up into the trees. Which block out most of the natural light at this point, even though the group hasn't traveled very far into the woods.
And indeed, just a few minutes pass before you all step into a clearing that rings an old cabin. Moss grows thick on the roof, and a trail of smoke rises slowly from the chimney. Beautiful hedge sculptures peek out from the other side of the cabin, and thick flowers grow in every window box.
She points out one of the thicker lines that mirrors the cephalic vein. "This one developed right as my ability to charge artifacts did." She motions to the tracery of metal, harder to see, which covers more space, "And those developed as my control of charges artifacts did."
Even in the dark, the darkening of her cheeks is obvious, "So when you brought Ceri back and had inside jokes after only a few hours." She swallows, "I got jealous."
"Which I have no right to be, because" she starts to talk with her hands, "we don't have anything that could be considered more than a professional..." a sigh.
"So then I started watching you like a creepy stalker... And twisting myself up even more when I saw you worry about her and..." Nalo runs out of steam.
It doesn't take five minutes before the kids are playing in and outside of the wagon. Ceri escapes for the relative peace of the roof, while Jarris stays inside to do his best to follow through on his suggestion of entertaining those who have stayed behind. Tavene leans against the outside of the wagon where she can see as much as possible in and outside of it.
"'Ow long we gonna wait here, then?" A reedy voice pipes up from inside the wagon.
"I told Mathias I'd like to move again before nightfall. I don't relish the idea of losing a day on account of a lost critter. Don't relish the idea of losing travelers, either." Ada responds, a bit of annoyance creeping into her voice.
"Don't touch it!" The reedy voice yells. The two children remaining in the wagon shriek and jump outside of it, and all four chase each other in the grass near the wagon. Tavene's attention falls to them as they play.
"Hey now, they're just kids playing, is all." Jarris soothes the man.
"Sounds like Jarris is babysitting more than kids in there," Ceri comments, rolling her eyes. "I guess I would have been surprised if we didn't pick up a weirdo or two."
Nalo skirts the edge of the clearing, looking for (and following if there is one) a path to the door. Failing that, she still heads to the door, but she is careful of her footing, making sure to not step on anything that looks breakable or fragile. Or flowers. Or mushrooms. Because this feels much too much like a witch's den.
If she gets so far, she politely knocks on the door.
"Do you think you'd try returning it home? Or freeing it?"
Panamax nods. "If it wanted to go home. If we could figure out how to send it there. I wonder if blindly freeing it would be the same as killing it. Doesn't energy just disappear sometimes?" He shakes his head. "I don't understand how any of that works."
"I wasn't sure I'd ever come back, and knew if I stayed there, I'd go mad far before I went hungry. So, I am very glad to be seated in a wagon, surrounded by good company."
"I will drink to that," Panamax says, toasting with an imaginary glass.
Panamax wanders around outside the wagon as shelters are being set up, primarily stretching his legs and staying out of people's way.
I am going to sleep later tonight. That's not going to freak you out, is it? I may dream while I sleep. Are you familiar with this? Sudden thought. How frequently do you need to eat?
Panamax makes a point of visiting people soon after tents/shelters/etc are set up.
Panamax starts with Ceri. "Hello," he says. "I have a question for you. When I healed you before, I felt structures within your skin. And I wanted to know -- as a healer, is there anything unusual about your body that I should be aware of? My healing is done by skin contact. Are there places apart from the usual that you would prefer I did not touch if exposed?"
Panamax visits Tavene's not-fancy-but-efficient shelter next. "Tavene, I have a question for you, and one I probably should have asked before healing you. As a healer, is there anything unusual about your body that I should be aware of? And since my healing is done by skin contact, are there places -- apart from the obvious -- that you would prefer I did not touch if exposed?"
Panamax takes a moment and runs his fingers through his hair before he pokes his head inside Jarris' ridiculously luxurious tent. "Jarris, do you have a minute? Or perhaps more?"
Observation:
"Interesting." She pulls her hand back. "Did they hurt when they grew in?"
She starts aimlessly rubbing at her left wrist, hidden by a sleeve, as she chats.
"Well what kind of excuse is that?" She says amicably. She leans back and looks back up at the mostly starless night. "When I was little, I used to fear nights like this, where I couldn't see the sky." She's quiet for a few moments, listening to the fires crackle, listening to the gentle breeze and the murmur of voices around them.
"I don't actually have thugs, by the way. I figure I should stop stringing you along." She tilts her head to the side to look at him. "I know. Disappointing."
Panamax nods. "If it wanted to go home. If we could figure out how to send it there. I wonder if blindly freeing it would be the same as killing it. Doesn't energy just disappear sometimes?" He shakes his head. "I don't understand how any of that works."
"Well that makes two of us!" She looks around. "It probably makes all of us, actually. Energy does just disappear sometimes. Maybe it would disperse... or maybe it would slither into someone's ear and control them. Probably safer to keep it in its little home for the time being. Until it wants to go back to its rainbow, at least."
Your light will be gone?
Esha's voice doesn't sound fearful, exactly, but it does sound concerned.
What if you don't come back?
A pause.
What are dreams?
Another pause, an image of a sea of different colored eyes, removed from their sockets, as a creature made of light cavorts through them.
I am not hungry now
I will be hungry again after several cycles
Ceri is just wrapping up lighting another fire for a group of people when Panamax finds her.
"Such a polite healer! You can touch wherever you want as long as you buy me a drink first." She winks, then holds up a hand. "Sorry. I'm tired, and the more tired I get, the more crass I am."
She taps a finger to her lip, looking into the fire for a moment before returning her gaze. "I don't know that you want to hear the whole story," she says, by way of gently suggesting she isn't sure she wants to tell it yet, either, "but I have a lot of ah... machinery, under the skin."
She pulls back the sleeves on both arms. There is a port on the underside of her left wrist, and she traces her fingers along the back of her left hand. "Wires." She touches her abdomen, but doesn't lift her shirt to show it. "Various odds and ends." She touches the back of her neck. "Something here that I can't seem to remove. No idea what it does, either. Hopefully something good." She drops her hand.
"Have you healed anyone who was almost as much machine as human?"
Tavene brushes her hands off on her pants as she stands to greet Panamax. Her hair sticks up in several directions, and it's clear she hasn't looked in a mirror for a long while, as there's a smudge of dirt across her cheek and some leaves in her hair.
"Apart from the obvious, no. I don't think I would have any problem having you touch something to heal me. Maybe give me some warning before you do, though. If you snuck up on me and touched me, I might hit first and apologize after." She almost looks apologetic when she explains it. "And I guess uh... my Other doesn't need healing. So if she's looking a little ragged, don't worry about it." She seems unsure about her last comment.
When Panamax appears, Jarris is sitting at his little desk with a book in one hand, stirring a cup of something with the other. The tent is a comfortable temperature, and a small lantern casts a warm glow over everything inside. He looks up, grins, and stands.
"A whole minute? You spoil me. Tea?"
It takes her a moment to compose herself, "Kilo was raised by my grandpa. And when Pops was killed by a rampaging monster one full moon, Dad took him in. He's like a little brother." A shrug, "A little brother who got a lot taller after he left home." She thinks for a moment, winces, "I can see why you'd get that... not knowing the background. He picked up the whole overprotective smoothering thing from my eldest brother. Didn't help that the twins..."
She clears her voice, "Not together. Really really not together." A smile, "I do care about him, and in the brother ranking he beats out a number of my actual brothers. But I care about him like family, not in a.."
"No sparks."
Oota gladly perches itself on Nalo's shoulder, warm breath smelling faintly of grass and earth. It coos quietly to itself, sounding similar to a cat's purr.
Miyuki looks like she's on the verge of passing out from how excited she is about the interaction between Nalo and the little fuzzy animal.
Mathias accompanies Panamax to the window, and everyone takes Nalo's lead to be careful about crushing flowers or stepping on anything that looks fragile. Zoa stands behind Nalo like a body guard, silent and smelling like night blooming jasmine.
The cabin interior appears completely normal to anyone looking inside. There are a few personal odds and ends visible - little potted plants, paintings, homemade crafts.
When Nalo knocks on the door, it only takes a few moments before it opens to reveal a little old lady. She looks like the archetypal Grandma; a thick head of curly silver hair, little reading glasses, and a sweet smile.
"Oh! Oota!" She cries out, reaching her arms out for the little beast.
It squeaks, disengaging from Nalo's shoulder to reach its hands out towards the old woman. It crawls around to hug the woman's back like a backpack, nestling its face into her hair. An equally stereotypical Grandpa appears, looking the travelers over with a more cautious smile.
"She's usually locked up inside, but she's been restless in the warmer weather we've been having. Finding ways to sneak out when we open doors and windows." He explains, pulling his glasses off and sliding them on the top of a balding head. "Where did you find her?"
Nalo smiles at the Oota happiness at being returned, "Just out of the forest. She wanted to tempt a pack of roving youngins to adopt her, but their parent's cooler heads prevailed."
"Oota seemed a bit worse for wear and we were worried something had happened to her family." A gamine smile, "I'm very happy that isn't the case."
Her head cocks to the side, "How long ago did she go missing?"
Nalo blinks a bit at the 'hundred questions', but smiles at the first one, "Much better." A shrug, "I have a much older brother who is a traditionalist, so he has a passel of kids. Not having been away from home long enough to loose the knack, I got a good hour."
"Not enough to really be myself, but out of the migraine with ice picks stage."
"We found her by the road over that way," Panamax says, pointing back toward the main road. Remembering to add, "ma'am."
The old man scratches the back of his head. "Maybe a day?"
At the same time, the old woman says: "Since yesterday afternoon."
"I spent yesterday evening out looking for the blasted thing, but isn't no way I'm going out in the woods at night to look for a brendil."
"Ash! She's not a 'blasted thing'. She's my Oota." The woman looks disgruntled, slips a wrinkled hand over the little paw on her shoulder, and faces the group. "I don't have much in the way of shins for a reward, but I do have some lemonade I made yesterday. Maybe some cookies?"
"Ah, training." He nods. "I'm an only child, so if someone so much as blinks too loudly nearby, I wake up. The coffee is basically life blood for me at this point."
"It sounded like you didn't realize three days had passed. Wild bender in Keford before heading east?" His grin is a little lopsided. Come to notice it, so is his nose, like it was broken a few times in the past and didn't quite heal straight.
"No shins necessary," Panamax says, "we just wanted to make sure there weren't people in trouble."
Panamax hesitates for a moment, but continues, "I'm a healer. If there's anything you would like me to look at before we're on our way, I would be delighted."
"No shins necessary," Panamax says, "we just wanted to make sure there weren't people in trouble."
Panamax hesitates for a moment, but continues, "I'm a healer. If there's anything you would like me to look at before we're on our way, I would be delighted."
Nalo nods in agreement to the first part of what Panamax says, "And kids plus cookies would equal a sugar high that would drive the rest of the group batty." Nalo adds after a moment of thought.
"If we can't, we aren't worth the price we paid Ada." She says with a chuckle. "I definitely don't hate kids or anything," she says, lowering her voice further, "I just feel like the longer I'm awake, the further the invisible ice pick seems to sink into my ear. I wonder if we're catching up on those days we missed down there."
Nalo's eyes, half lidded with sleep are sympathetic, "Not from a large family, huh?"
A yawn, "For me, the key was to roll the normal squabble into the background noise whenever the nephlings were visiting Dad."
A frown, "Downside of the method is that it takes real noise, like 'I've decided I can fly and jumped off the roof and broken something' noise to wake up. Which is not good when you're on the guard part of the caravan."
Nalo starts actively fighting the sleep that she probably could really use.
Panamax wanders around outside as shelters are being set up.
He looks for Anson in a quiet moment and
"I'm a healer. If there's anything you would like me to look at before we're on our way, I would be delighted."
The man, Ash, looks a little grumpier, but the woman looks overjoyed. "Well aren't you all just blessings! Ash here has knees that bother him most mornings, don't you, hon?"
"Maye, isn't no reason to get strangers involved more than they already are, what with bringing home Oota." He grumbles, but moves aside as Maye gestures for everyone to come inside.
Nalo nods in agreement to the first part of what Panamax says, "And kids plus cookies would equal a sugar high that would drive the rest of the group batty." Nalo adds after a moment of thought.
Zoa laughs at this. "You noticed a few of the other travelers weren't so keen on child-noise huh? Cookies certainly wouldn't help." Her smile is mischievous.
Ceri shares a sympathy yawn with Nalo.
"No, not from a large family." She smiles, but the smile is hollow.
A frown, "Downside of the method is that it takes real noise, like 'I've decided I can fly and jumped off the roof and broken something' noise to wake up. Which is not good when you're on the guard part of the caravan."
Ceri chuckles at that. "But good if you just need to get some sleep. Me, I feel like my sleep is all over the place. Usually depends on whether or not I've taken or plugged in anything that might keep me up. Some nights, I sleep like the dead. Other nights, can't sleep at all."
She looks around at the rest of the wagon. "You don't need to worry about guarding anything just yet, if you want to take a nap." Her voice is more gentle than normal. "I'll guard the guard. I'll probably last until we settle down for the night."