Just some safe Spelunking[Nayru]

[Remus]

The blue haired priest found a quiet sense of serene, now that he took it in. Each foot-step quietly carrying him further along side the umber haired dragoness, whom he called friend, and into the unknown. Perhaps..not fully unknown, given that Nayru had a vague idea as to what to expect. Then again, they had almost fallen unexpectedly to their deaths..so part of it was still veiled in mystery wasn't it? Not exactly the fun surprise he'd have enjoyed, such as a "You forgot you've got a bag of money lying around!" surprise. No...that was a horrible example..could he really consider that a nice surprise when he never used it? Actually..it could. He could use that money to get Amelia and Owain new clothes. Better ones. Something nice perhaps. Yes, a bag of money would've been a good example. As opposed to a surprise like "Oh..you've forgotten that you left a lethal monstrously large snake in your bedroom and it ate your cat."

That kind of surprise was what the falling had been like. Minus the death of a cat. Which was also horrible. He examined his palm, the free one, at-least, while he walked along side Nayru. The quiet "Clack" of his staff's tip hitting the ground with alternating motions all the while; inquisitive eyes taking in each trace and line of detail upon his skin. He quietly, and briefly tapped into his magics. Not the essence of light though, that could be used to harm others. He drew upon the magic of his staff. Intertwining ethereal essence and reality to imbue his flesh with a powerful protective barrier that conformed to an almost entirely invisible outer layer. Such a feat had once exhausted him greatly. Shielding just one person, even one as thin as Donovan, or blocking a single attack like the burning lethal intent of Michael taken form within the flames of his blade, leaving him entirely fatigued. Here he was however, weaving just as powerful a shield around his entire person within moments, wordlessly and with out the slightest strain.

He felt stronger internally as well. More confident. Even braver. His willpower had always been almost unfaltering when others were involved, but in instances of his own safety he now felt mightier. Just as his gaze noticed the solid, unshivering solidity from his own half-curled digits, he could feel his will to preserve and act existing with just as much cohesion. When had he grown so...strong? It was almost prideful to acknowledge, but he couldn't deny his progress as a healer, and practitioner of magic. With this, had come a growth internally. He was bolder. More confident. He didn't question his capabilities as much. He simply..tried and strove for success.

He gazed at Nayru, his moment of introspection fading while he flashed a sheepish grin and gestured to his staff mid step. His tone, though slightly shaky as he fully roused from his internal speculations, but bright as ever.

"I never imagined I'd be able to do this..you know. Ah..and I don't mean walking side by side with a dragon in an new land. Though..I never imagined that either. Er..saving people. I'd always hoped. Always tried..but never felt confident enough. I'd been one of the slowest in the church classes to mend wounds entirely. One of the quickest to tire. Perhaps my tenacity to try being the only area I excelled..and all that ever did was frustrate me. When we first met, the act of healing my wounds almost killed me as effectively as the wounds themselves. Yet now..I can shield myself, and others. I can heal wounds of many around me at once. I'm able to call upon holy magic in great quantities to strike from afar..or lesser ones to strike at closer range. It's...mind boggling. Then to see well..what your capable of. It makes me wonder just how powerful other entities out there could be. Your so strong, and fast..hah..and you have more magical energy than I think any human could ever have. That er..um..lightning roar thing you did well..I've never seen a human do that. I don't think I ever will."

His smile widened as he chuckled before gazing to the path ahead of the two. She was but one dragon. Were they all that strong? Or was Nayru enhanced through hundreds of years of rigorous training thanks to her flourishing career as a tree planter.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Blissfully unaware of Remus's train of thought and barely cognizant of what he was doing with his magic, Nayru just assumed he was doing a bit of healing, sorta smelling its aftereffects but not gifted with any particular affinity or sensing ability towards Light or healing magic in general. It made sense though, he was probably a bit scratched up after the fall, but guys were super defensive when you pointed that stuff out so she'd long since learned to ignore it as much as possible.

She was in a pretty good mood though, for reasons all her own. It had been a long time since she'd really had anyone to share adventures with. Elly was more of a walking disaster, and while she absolutely treasured her adventures with Veigue, it seemed like a lot of what they did was less 'adventure' and more 'dealing with everything horrible in their respective backstories.' Which she wasn't against by any means, for obvious reasons - it was directly thanks to Veigue, and almost solely him, that she had finally managed to find something akin to happiness, and she would be grateful to him for that forever. He was also the first real friend she'd had in a LONG time. But it WAS true that they tended to end up half dead after most of their adventures.

Actually... that went for Remus, too, now that she thought about it. Maybe she just had a penchant for getting into trouble...? Nah, that was crazy talk. Anyways, point was, she hadn't really had anyone to just straight up adventure with since... Nayru's mood flagged a bit as she made the mistake of actually answering that question to herself. Just another part of herself she'd left in Arcadia, ditched as thoroughly and as cruelly as she'd left her own adoptive mother behind. But they had just been kids... well, teens at the time. Even if Nayru hadn't forgotten, it would only make sense for the other girl to have done so, and in truth Nayru hoped she had. She deserved to be happy, at least, even if Nayru herself didn't.

It seemed Remus shared some of her thoughts on the more general subject of adventuring together, though, which left a bit of a warm and fuzzy feeling in Nayru's heart. Then he went south with it in his usual self-effacing way and she had to resist the urge to slap some sense into him, but Remus was gonna Remus regardless of what she said or did, she'd given up on that fight long ago. "I think... you were always gonna get there, Remus. You're one of the most determined people I've ever known, and the most determined to help people for sure." Veigue was just as strong as a person, but in his own way; he'd had to turn so much of that strength inwards to keep from breaking apart from the sheer deluge of garbage his life had thrown at him that he hadn't had the luxury of really having hopes and dreams for a while there. In some ways they were all broken, though, trying to keep themselves together in a world that didn't particularly give a damn about any of them.

"I'll never be able to heal wounds like you can, or use anything fancier than my own body to shield people. That's not really something you can compare straight across." Her hand moved to her throat at the thought of her makeshift breath attack. Good idea on paper - less so in practice. "-And you're probably better at the ranged magic thing, too. Human body isn't built to channel that amount of elemental essence like that, and it messes with my throat real bad afterwards." Yeah, ending a fight hoarse and miserable wasn't really her idea of a good time. Nayru had managed to pull off a better version when protecting Veigue against the chimera, once, but truthfully she'd kinda given up on trying to work breath attacks into her normal arsenal. It was powerful, but she had very bad compatibility with the technique without the sheer durability of her dragon form to take the punishment.

"Though..." The dragon trailed off, trying to collect her thoughts in the wake of a moment of - not realization, exactly, but recollection of realization perhaps? "That's sorta the truth of the world, isn't it? No matter how much of a badass you think you are, there's always someone better at it than you, or better than you at something else. If just being strong was all that mattered, dragons would still rule Elibe and healers wouldn't exist. There's all different kinds of strength, not just martial, or even magical. In a way, a king or emperor or pope have far more power to influence Elibe than both of us combined, even if either of us could take 'em on in single combat."

...She wasn't really intending to tell Remus about it, but a long time ago she'd thought that strength WAS what mattered - that the boss of an organization was always the strongest, most badass mother lover of them all. But that had been a long time ago, and Nayru had learned since then that sometimes power was more of a curse than a blessing, and that it came in all kinds of flavors and definitions. It was very possible that Veigue and Remus and Richter and Elly and Clair would all end up recorded in history instead of her because they had the strength, the courage, to fight - without being blessed by the gifts that were her birthright. Because, even though they weren't super strong or fast or whatever, they had the kind of heart she didn't, the ability to go out and DO stuff and maybe change the world in the process.

But - her childhood dreams of being a hero had died a long time ago. Maybe it was right she was more the support in the background than the gilded, gleaming hero at the front of the parade. She had never really tried 'just living,' but it didn't sound that bad. The dragon glanced at Remus seriously before continuing. "Rather than focusing on what you can't do, Remus, I think you'd be better off focusing on what you can."

[Remus]

Healing was a potent magic in its own right. Often, rarer than the other types as well given that most disliked taking the path of a "selfless" magic. It was easy for Remus to forget this, given his familiarity with Healing magic. Ironically, despite him being an unwavering optimist in almost every aspect of life when others were concerned, his confidence and foresight into the usefulness of his own magic was quite lacking. Unless he were to take time to sit down and logically assess his talents, he'd often instinctively gauge his feeble skills in holy magic as more useful in combat to his extremely proficient talents with defensive and supportive spells. The blue haired priest briefly dwelled on this in silence.

It felt like a problem beyond his own mentality. Why did he assume that the power to inflict injury determined strength or usefulness? They were not synonymous. His gaze drifted over to the ground they strode towards, while he gauged his probing thoughts. Was it a problem with society as a whole, or perhaps simply the environment in which he grew? His parents never taught him such thinking, and though the church spoke as if it was known thus, he was wise enough(If he could call himself wise in any true regard) to put their teachings into severe examination before believing any. If it wasn't from parental guiding..nor teachings he'd been brought into...

That only left a final natural course, and his thoughts ensnared it as if the only possible answer to a riddle that plagued him, yet answer had evaded him. It had to be instinctive. The priests stomach knotted at the implication that he, despite his best efforts to remain selfless, was as easily susceptible to the corruptible draw of power. No, he did not bask in it or attempt to, and he did not covet it for his own gain..but he did covet it didn't he? His attempts to grow in might so that he could better defend his orphans..and his friends. That was still a path to seeking power. Justified or not, it was.

This troubled him. He couldn't speak it allowed though. Not yet. Once he'd collected his thoughts better and processes this. It was difficult, like attempting to eat far too much food in a single bite. He simply could not entirely process the vast magnitude upon which his mind grasped. His hesitant tone reflected the deep thoughtful state he now mentally resided in while gazing back at Nayru.

"You are right. It is something I should, and perhaps too often fail to, remember. Though..it does bring to me a curiosity. How I wonder..did Elimine..or Athos..or Bramimond achieve such vast power that their bodies could contain it..yet they perform such feats. I do not know what disturbs me more honestly..the sense of zeal I feel when I imagine a means to obtain that capacity of magic, or the knowledge that it's happened before and could realistically happen again. Hmm..I wonder..and..I apologize for bringing it up as a no doubt sore topic given who he was..but do you believe your lightning would be stronger than Athos's magic? I guess I'm simply searching for..realism within the myth. Such fabled feats that harbor great disbelief..and I fear most of our legends are likely just that. Where as you've been alive and encountered entities which lived far longer than any human realistically could."

He shifted for a moment before continuing, her words not lost on him by any means and this time prompting a more positive and genuine gaze.

"Ah..Nayru..Thank you. You know..that's something I do need to focus more on. I'm not sure if you realize just how much, but you've done something I don't think I could. Beyond well..spewing lightning and punching through walls. The children look up to me, this I know, but they've never had a genuine hero. An inspirational figure in me at best maybe..but your a genuine figure of hope to them. Amelia hides it well..but she's no stranger to despair. Owain's too quiet to express it, but it's present in him too. So many times I've tried to give them hope and often I think they put on strong facades entirely for my own sake. However you've saved them. Not just literally, which you have..but given them something special. They know there are people out there now beyond me, who are willing to "save the day" as it were. Like a hero, but more. Heroic figures are often idle fancy, or found in literature. They've seen you though. They've seen someone with great power, do the right thing, multiple times. I think it's more comforting to them even than it is me. As someone who has seen them struggle, and try, and suffer, I just want you to know that it makes a world of difference. You, made a world of difference. "

He chuckled sheepishly before shifting his palm into the back of his neck and diverting his gaze forwards. He knew it was probably mental padding of the ego she didn't care to hear, or the such, but it was a thought he needed to express. The number of times Amelia had tried to punch a pillow through a wall just as Nayru had with the would-be-captors, was countless. The number of times the children had laughed at reiterations of their exploits(within private conversations) just as much so. He also had a sneaking suspicion, that if he'd never told her, Nayru would've never acknowledged it.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"The Scouring Heroes..." Nayru had only heard stories of their power, never even seen any but Athos and certainly not seen what Athos was truly capable of, but there was nary a human or dragon alive who hadn't at least heard of them. Bramimond, the god of darkness; Elimine, the goddess of light; Athos, the god of fire. Not true gods - mere men and women - and yet they had been elevated to something far greater in the wake of their deeds. Elimine herself WAS seen as nearly a god, something beyond simple sainthood, with an entire religion that worshiped her - and now engaged in preparation for a war of aggression against all Elibe.

Honestly, she wasn't sure if that was ironic or fitting.

"...I don't know," she answered simply and honestly. It wasn't false humility or dejected inferiority, but simple truth. Nayru struggled to even compare herself to powers she DID know - she dimly understood that she possessed abilities that at least some dragons didn't, but the lack of real... competition or simply friends to truly test and compare her abilities against made it difficult to tell exactly where she stood comparatively. She didn't think many dragons were very good at fighting in human form, she knew THAT much at least, but her relative inexperience with dragon form and complete inexperience with other dragons using theirs, aside from Aerious strafing those ruins in Ilia anyways, was - well, nonexistent.

"It's... difficult to gauge my abilities given the circumstances, and only side I've seen of Athos was the peaceful one. I doubt I could match him in this form. Perhaps... well, hopefully we'll never find out." Nayru wasn't suicidal enough to want to recreate the Scouring, Hero versus dragon - though she had to admit she was kinda curious how it would go at this point. There was no greater test of one's abilities than to fight an opponent of that caliber, after all, and there would be very, very few alternatives alive in Elibe today that could even dream of offering that great of a battle, she suspected. But being the strongest wasn't her concern - only being strong enough - and she had no particular grudge against Athos. "I hold nothing against the Archsage. It is thanks to him that I draw breath, and I was not alive for the events of the Scouring. They are stories, nothing more, of a world gone mad; an eternal warning against a conflict that we must avoid allowing to ever happening again. What he did then, he believed was right, as he has always done."

...Perhaps it was strange for a dragon to defend one of the Eight Heroes, and perhaps it was even stranger still given that Nayru could not truly say she knew Athos. She had spoken to him in passing at absolute most, admired from afar, but what did he have in common with a gobshite child at the time? So in some ways, perhaps it was hypocrisy and foolhardiness of the greatest caliber to claim to know what he thought.

But - he had helped protect Arcadia for countless years. It would be no exaggeration to call him directly responsible for the continued existence of dragons. Whatever he had done in the past, however many dragons he had slain, he was not an enemy to dragons now. And, Nayru thought, at least part of it was probably atonement, or at least an attempt to make things right. If he had ever truly hated dragons, he would not have been so happy to live among them when peace finally came. Perhaps it was naive, but Nayru believed that he was simply a scholar who had never cared for war in the first place, only taking up weapons when he thought it was necessary. Perhaps he was far worse of a man than she liked to think him - but it didn't hurt anything to hope, did it?

She couldn't think of anything to say to Remus's remaining speech, so Nayru just continued leading the way through the brush, steadily growing more embarrassed as he continued. That river couldn't be too far away, maybe if she started running now she could drown herself before he caught up? Yes, it was important to make sure she was dead BEFORE he could start healing. Very critical in fact. Start with the neck, or find a way to fall on both kama simultaneously in different places while drowning, and tying rocks to herself to be sure she'd sink...

But, well, it did warm the cockles of her heart a bit, even if she wasn't sure if that was the warmth of affection or the infernal fire of her embarrassment literally consuming her body from the inside out. It was a strange feeling of right and wrong - or perhaps more of wanting to feel right but recognizing how wrong it was. She was no hero. She was a villain, if anything, a monster from children's storybooks, the kind of sad creature that was inevitably slain by the hero before he rode off into the sunset. She played at being a hero nowadays, pretending her past had never happened, but her hands were stained with the blood of the innocent.

So she couldn't thank Remus, and she couldn't accept what he said. Not at face value. Nayru didn't think it was unreasonable to act that way either; she wasn't just moping around being a wuss about accidentally kicking someone in the shins a while ago. She was, well, a monster, both figuratively and literally. She could never atone for what she had done in her own weakness. It was simple pragmatism: Nayru didn't think she could forgive someone who had done that either.

-But it didn't mean she couldn't try to make up for it anyways. Even if she could never actually tip the scales, she could at least lessen the burden on Elibe that she was. So... in that way, she... could almost take what he said for what it was. Knowing that she had made a difference, even if it was nothing compared to her sins, still made her feel like it wasn't all a total waste. Even if it was only a tiny step towards making up for the countless children she had preemptively kept from ever existing, the innocents she had slain, she had a lot of time to make up for it. Maybe forever, if she was lucky.

"...I'm not much of a hero, Remus," she stated slowly, unable to face his eyes. "But I'm... glad that I was able to help a little. They deserve better than the Elibe of today, than... something like me, though, and it'll take people like you to really change the world." That was the crux of it, wasn't it? In the end, Nayru was the product of a broken, diseased world - someone who had tried and failed to rise above its chains, whose weakness had cost countless people everything, and taken much of herself in the process. The best she could do was make it a little bit less horrible, one piece at a time. It would take men and women like Remus - those who were capable of rising above - to really change the world, to lead it into something better than it was today. To forge a REAL peace rather than the temporary ceasefires and false peaces of the day. If she was lucky, she might get to see it, but it wasn't the kind of place that someone like her deserved to be. She could only do her best to help them get there, then fade into history.

[Remus]

Wait...Wait wait wait wait wait...what!?!

Remus stopped mid step for a moment. His gaze locking onto Nayru as absolute shock and disbelief overtook him. He made no effort to even hide it, and his widened eyes emphasized it all. Surely, he'd misheard her. Athos was still alive? Athos. The very ancient Scouring hero Athos. Guy who had been around a thousand years ago. That Athos. The blue haired priest quizzically looked towards Nayru before speaking in as calm and composed a voice as he could, like any who broached a topic that beggared belief. Honestly, if he hadn't heard it directly from Nayru's lips, and if it hadn't been Nayru who was saying it...he'd have dismissed it instantly. He was open to believing new things..but this..

"Nayru..did...you say Athos is..? I..what? Athos is still alive? You've seen him? You..met him? Isn't that horribly dangerous? I mean..he..killed dragons and ah..um..your..well..a dragon. Athos is alive!?"

Someone had scratched the Remus Record, because it was repeating and skipping around. His gaze leveled to her, but before he could gauge her further..he felt something. Detected it, perhaps it was best to say. It had dawned on him, sadly second to the monumental news she revealed. He knew Nayru at-least slightly well. When she spoke, she often looked to him. That she was speaking in such a tone. Such a way. Looking away. He knew that well. To a degree, it was familiar to him. Shame. Something he felt almost every single time an ally had gotten wounded. Though his shame was from a previously constant inability to fight, thus forcing him to sit in the background and watch others suffer injury. He had a sneaking suspicion that hers was rooted in something entirely different, but it still bothered him, and instantly took priority over the notion of Athos being alive. Now, not only had Remus stopped walking, but he turned to face Nayru entirely, feet quietly crunching upon the dirt laden path while dry tiny clumps of it broke beneath his shoes.

His gaze had been purged, all notions of surprise from the Athos revelation, or misunderstanding wiped away. He was now looking somewhat less like usual upbeat Remus, but still as warm and smiling and open as ever; perhaps toting a bit more confidence and even a modicum of pride. He spoke with squared shoulders and set jaw.

"Nayru. You are a Hero. I've seen you save children. Your a dragon. A Dragon saving human children. And..well..excuse me for a moment but..you thinking the world doesn't need someone like you..?"

Something was about to happen, that to that moment in his life, had never happened. There was a slight fire in the priests chest. His smile had faded somewhat, now looking fairly serious beyond his usual tender softness and he felt almost fierce within. Like some sort of slumbering beast within him had opened an eye in interest, or had been challenged. He couldn't quite explain it. The only thing he could think of, was the times his Uncle had gotten into arguments with his father over religious zeal; the later often preaching fervor for the Prophet opposing to his Uncles view of people simply being decent as an example set by Elimine. In-fact, he was almost positive he was stealing his Uncle's coined phrase for distaste while the priest spoke assertively.

"Piss on that."

Before he could further analyze what he'd just said, he pressed onwards. He almost felt..protective? It was weird. Nayru's brief verbal belittlement of herself roused a defensive side of him, as if he was trying to protect Nayru from..well..Nayru.

"Your exactly what the world needs. I remember what you said in Ilia. People that are idealistic like me and try their hardest should be more prominent. Your absolutely right. However, the world needs people like you. Individuals that do what they feel they should, because they feel they should. Nayru, you may have lived longer than I, but I can confidently say that I have not met a single person in all the world anywhere near yourself in any aspect. Your part of the reason that the better Elibe you speak of, is possible for them."

He folded his arms over his chest, staff tucked between them and propping into his right shoulder as the Priest examined her once more before he exhaled quietly. His heart had quickened, his blood felt like it was rushing within his veins and he felt slightly fired up. It was..weird. New. Either way though, the priest shifted before he tilted his head. Then, he realized the one crucial error in his attempt to bolster her spirits. He'd sworn. Cursed, before a friend! This was a horrible habit! If he spoken openly as such around the children, they'd have a terrible role model! He..couldn't. He'd no idea what'd come over him, but he'd have to do a far better job keeping it under wraps.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

A hero...?

Truthfully Nayru had no answer for Remus's speech. Part of her wanted to argue it, to educate him on just how much of a plague on Elibe she had been. Part of her wanted to revel in the praise of being called what she had once dreamed of most. Part of her wanted to sink into the ground and never emerge again. No one side could win; the mixed urges and conflicted feelings combined into a lovely lump of lead in her stomach, a dryness in her throat that swallowing did nothing to coat in soothing saliva. She had never dealt very well with being praised even before the crippling self-doubt and worth issues, and, well, they hadn't really made things any better.

But - it wasn't quite as simple as what Remus said, she thought. He wasn't entirely wrong, though even through her self-flagellating stupidity Nayru could see that. But the subject of needing brought a contrary thought to mind, one couched in the realities of the Scouring. Elibe had a lot of beauty to it, plenty of stuff worth fighting for... but also a lot of ugliness to it as well. Bandits, tyrants, wars, human weakness, draconic arrogance. No one race was to blame for what the world was today; they ALL were. "...Thank you, Remus." It came out quietly, not much louder than a whisper in truth, but audibly enough given the mere background noise of their surroundings. And she meant it, from the bottom of her heart. Even if she did have a tendency to sink into the pits of depression, Nayru had accepted months ago that she could not stay there - that her role in Elibe was to DO something to make up for what she had been, not just to feel sorry for herself.

"But... you're wrong about one thing. I'm not the hero Elibe needs right now. I think you are - you have the ability to change things from the inside, to turn Eliminism into what you believe it is rather than the weapon that the prophet uses it as. If you can actually hold true to your ideals as you rise... you may be able to lead people into a new future. Not through strength at arms or sheer power, but by becoming an ideal. Embodying the change you believe in. I can't punch people into becoming good. I can't solve human-dragon relations by being strong. If you really set your mind to it, dedicated yourself body and soul to that dream, I think you could."

Nayru snorted grimly, almost derisively. "Me? I'm just the hero Elibe deserves."

[Remus]

His response was as swift as it was genuine. Once more, he was grateful that he spoke from his heart. Such an unrestrained and open mentality allowed him not to worry over what he might say, because it was all genuine. Every word entirely heartfelt. The Priest had started striding forwards again. The quiet wooden "thwaps" of his staff hitting the ground with each step, no longer gazing backwards but looking ahead. Their conversation had not only distracted him from their previous disasters, but allowed him further anticipation of the adventures to come. Remus was always optimistic, so to say that it filled him with optimism was to fill an ocean with a bucket of water. However it reinforced this optimism. Enhanced it's validity and justification internally. The priests tone wielded this mindset into his words with a setting akin to absolution.

"Say we agreed on that entirely. That I could change the course of Elibe, and history. That I could help shape the future for the rest of time. I think your over-looking something. This monumental faith you've placed upon me, would all be for naught if it weren't for you multiple times now. In-fact..tell me Nayru. If I truly could be a Hero to help guide all of Elibe. What does that make you, for saving such a Hero?"

The gentle chuckle that thrummed within his chest assisted in painting the perfect image of the priest as he was, ultimately, and likely would be his entire life. He was caring. Warm. He wanted to simply bring the most joy he could, to the largest number of people. However, there was a boldness slightly traced within his poise and tone. One not there before. Truly, Nayru had altered his development more than once. That she could save him in this regard, where he no doubt would have let his meek personality rob him of the many opportunities before him, was a true blessing.

He would hear no more of this downplaying of Nayru's. She shortchanged herself every time she placed he himself on a pedestal but left her own feats behind.

He opted to follow her in mostly quiet thought however, when they began to near the river. He was still present, but simply...reflective.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Ok, she wasn't a huge fan of all the damn branches and stuff. Nayru supposed she should be grateful that nothing else had gone splendidly wrong after the cliff incident, but wending their way through the medium tree cover was grating on her nerves a bit nonetheless. And really, this WAS her fault - she'd tried to chart a safe-ish path avoiding obvious trouble spots and areas that she had worried were potentially problematic. So Nayru couldn't really blame anyone else, or even the island, for it. At least she had been able to hear the river ahead for a bit now and they were definitely drawing closer.

The dragon didn't really have a ready response to Remus's claim, but he didn't seem to be too interested in pushing the subject. As if he had already won. It almost annoyed her enough to argue the point on principle, but Nayru wasn't THAT dumb... just close. So she shut her gabber and let him have the moment. She didn't say that it would be atonement for what she had done. She didn't say that it might not even make her even. She didn't say that someone else could have done the same, she had just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Even if they were all true. In the end, it was a matter of perspective, a battle simply not worth fighting. And they weren't here to be depressed anyways, but for adventure!

The tree cover and foliage thinned out abruptly as they reached the river unmolested, revealing the grand and terrifying sight of... hmm, yeah, that was definitely a Mauthe Doog's balls as the great and terrible creature... lay on its backs, legs in the air, tongue lolling out of its mouth to one side, either comatose or suntanning. She was fairly sure it was the second because that definitely looked like drool.

"Iiiii'm not sure how to respond to that," Nayru blithely stated to no one in particular, except for Remus, who actually did count as someone. While normally she'd be a bit more worried about running into a monster, her first glimpse of the great beast had reminded her far too much of a really dumb oversized puppy to actually see it as a serious threat, and it either hadn't noticed them at all or didn't really seem to care. She opened her mouth to say something and shut it again, pleasantly surprised to realize that she actually had literally no experience with this situation - it was actually kind of exciting to do new stuff once in a while, and, well, Vinland was apparently a land of opportunity. And dogs exposing themselves. She could have done without that part. Nayru had always assumed most monsters just sprung up from dark magic or something, so the idea of them breeding was sort of... well, disconcerting and yet oddly grounding all at once. Or maybe Vinland was just weird. She didn't usually make a habit of checking out monster genitalia so she was definitely out of her depth on that question. "So... how do ya feel about detours, Remus?"

[Remus]

It was a small victory. It was one he'd take though! Nayru always had so many faces to her, and Remus was sure he'd not seen them all. However he'd seen enough to know that the face when she smiled genuinely was his favorite. Though the horribly cruel jokester brought an odd comfort to him almost as much so. This moment in which she conceded to decline his insistence, he only hoped that she would take it to heart. That she was left at an overall loss for words, he did not take negatively. The priest found her company enjoyable even in silence.

The brush that was smothered beneath their feet made little noise, and upon their approach further to their destination, he could earnestly claim he'd have never expected the roadblock which came up next. Remus had little experience with these large monstrous hounds. Well..this one was large and monstrous. The Elibean relative of it's, his, type was far smaller and smelled fouler. There seemed to be no decaying flesh either. The warm beams of sunlight coming down in the clearing upon the dog gave clarity to it in its entirety that he wasn't sure he needed to see. The doog soaked up the rays of heat and light, and Nayru quietly gauged how much he would be interested in a detour. Remus however wasn't so sure as to how they could best handle this instance. The beast was clearly not a mindless monster. At-least as it was now.

That didn't mean it wouldn't be hostile over all. His trust of large beasts wasn't quite his greatest aspect, given all the negative encounters. The priest was about to speak up, when a sudden rumbling and thundering of hooves drew his attention. The loud clomping of hoof-beats and the crashing of underbrush caused him to tilt his head while he looked to the side. Between tree's and bushes in the distance, a group of monstrous figures came into view. Four in total. Large builds, muscled biceps that could literally dwarf Remus, rested atop powerfully built torsos which led down not into humanoid figures but the body of a horse. Their ashen skin of a darkened hue stained every part of their human traits; their horse bodies shrouded by crimson fur. Each one toted a weapon, larger than Remus as well. In-fact, he'd never seen great axes nearly as large as the ones these monsters carried. Remus was awestruck while he looked on, before he looked over to Nayru with wide, slightly fearstricken eyes.

"I like detours. I like them alot. Better than any other pathing. Er..is that what your implying? A detour?"

The four Maelduins were, like the doog, larger than their cousins across the great sea. These ones looked like they could occupy a two floor house hollowed into one floor and find it almost comfortable. They spoke a tongue of odd languages, but even if he could've mentally translated their strange words into common tongue..he would've had to hear it in bursts. Their hoofs scraping against the ground and the slight snoring of the doog broke up these things. Ultimately. it took all his fortitude not to literally hide behind Nayru. He wasn't as fearless as her, especially in these situations.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"The thought had crossed my mind." Ok, yeah, maybe there was a LITTLE sarcasm in her quiet and even tone, but she could hardly be blamed for it, Nayru was pretty well convinced. She was more used to, for lack of a better word, dehumanizing monsters into mindless killing machines - all that she had ever experienced or heard of with them - so seeing one act quite like a normal animal was thoroughly disconcerting. It wasn't that her frame of reference was wrong, Nayru was fairly certain of that - Elibe's monsters were exactly what the name implied. But the thought that it was possible this island was different in even more ways than she had believed rose in her mind unbidden. Was it even possible? Monsters were... monsters. Unlike humans, stereotyping - typecasting - them was simply a matter of pragmatic fact, not bias or bigotry. They were savage, heartless, soulless - not quite mindless, they could be eerily canny, but not actually intelligent.

So being faced with evidence of the contrary, having to reassess what she knew, was a little... strange. Disconcerting even. But the stupid thing DID look like an overgrown puppy and Nayru still wasn't sure how to react to that. She wasn't sure how to react to the giant horsemen either, they looked vaguely like the Tarvos (or Maelduin - she wasn't sure which was which) of legend, but the dragon had never seen one before.

She bit her lip, not entirely sure how to handle the situation. If they HAD to fight, she thought it was likely that she could match them transformed - but without knowing anything about them Nayru was loath to attack unprovoked, and perhaps more importantly, she didn't want to set the whole jungle aflame in the wake of her actions. Not flipping out and killing people every time she transformed was a definite step up, but the uncontrollable thunderstorm thing... wasn't. Not as big of a deal in rural Bern with no one within a dozen miles - slightly bigger problem in a forest with a bunch of wood. Jungle? Off the top of her head she actually wasn't sure which this qualified for.

...And... while she didn't like to think about it, Nayru didn't know if she could protect Remus alone if a large fight did break out. He had grown immensely over time, but this was unknown territory and he was already a little roughed up from their previous adventures. No, it would be wiser to avoid trouble, even she of all people could see that much.

"Yeah, let's, uh, give these guys a wide berth," Nayru spoke quietly, above a whisper but low enough that sound wouldn't travel far. At least assuming the other guys didn't have super hearing or the ability to sense dragons from 300 miles away or anything. "It'll be a bit more work, but if we can go a thousand feet or so and then try the river again it might work out better."

[Remus]

Nayru was right. Obviously. Remus was ultimately only good for shielding and healing. His magic was no where near the caliber he felt it would have to be against these foes. Perhaps Purge could harm them to some degree, but it still took so long to channel and the range of it was awkward. It became almost impossible within a closer proximity, and given the choice of weapons the monsters had, that looked to be the proximity they'd relish in. Ontop of this, the slumbering doog was likely not one that'd remain in such. So if it were to awaken violently...

Yes. Combat was not desirable.

As such, he was content to follow her. His robes would've rustled, so despite his pride being damaged slightly by him feeling like a far too delicate individual by lifting his robes to ensure they didn't drag, the priest carefully and cautiously made his leave with Nayru. He didn't mind his robe getting dirty or torn, albeit. Often, he had to extract a fresh set of them, because he was prone to well...ripping them. Or tripping over them. Or getting stabbed. Actually, if he recalled, most of his robes he'd had to dispose of were damaged from his own bloodstains and stabbings tearing the fabric. Was this really something a Priest should've worried about? The sheer number of life threatening stabs and slash wounds tearing his robes? Should a priest have had to worry about so many injuries?

Now feeling like a magnet for every sharp weapon known to human kind, and probably dragon kind, and monster kind, the priest felt a relief when the fiends were out of sight. In this case, literally out of sight and out of mind. He was just greatful nothing had come of it. Now they had just to reach the river without dying. Or imploding. Which was like dying, but he imagined far worse and much louder. Or...was dying just loud?

(Proceed brief time-skip. Off-screen stuff. Intermission. Snacks.)

{End thread}