Arc 716, 26th Trial of Ashan
Alex pulled the reins of the horse, and the beast immediately reacted, slowing down and stopping. Its flanks heaved, and Alex could feel its heart racing. She slid off the side, and promptly fell over. She tried to stand, but her legs still refused to obey her commands. She was thankful, for once, that she was Yludih. Were she someone with actual skin, the inside of her thighs would be broken open and oozing blood and pus. Thankfully, her crystals were a little tougher, though she had noticed some minor spiderweb cracks several trials ago. She made a mental note to check on how they were doing as she finally managed to stand upright. She leaned over and began to stretch, her legs still warm and loose. After she finished, she stood led the horse off the road onto the small grassy knoll she had seen. She hobbled the horse-I still need to name him! and walked over to Kydrel. They had been getting along okay, in Alex's mind, but the birdman was hard to read. I honestly can't tell what he thinks of me.
She dropped her pack in the centre of the clearing, and went about setting up her tent. She figured that by now Kydrel had probably gathered enough wood to start the fire, so she went about starting that too. She had bluffed her way through starting them in the beginning, too embarrassed to admit that she hadn't the faintest idea of how it worked. Thankfully, Kydrel didn't appear to be much of a woodsman either.
Early in Cylus the nights had been long and dark, but they had managed to find inns for almost every night. Alex had busied herself with cleaning the pots, washing the floors, or serving whenever she could. It helped offset their cost of staying there, and allowed them a warm hearth at night, and more often than not a full belly.
A day after leaving the army, she had begun to realize how long of a trek she had just signed up for. A growing sense of dread had burrowed its way into her stomach, though Kydrel had yet to comment on the fact that they were already thirty trials in, and not even halfway. She hoped he continued to remain silent- she didn't want to deal with it yet. She managed to cut down on the travel time by purchasing a horse with her meager funds, and the trained horse had performed incredibly well. She had been told that the horse was excellent at long distance travel- that the Cirollo breed was designed for just this purpose- and surprisingly the salesman hadn't been lying.
She brought herself back to the present, stoking the fire with small kindling and decided that she would continue her questioning of Kydrel. She had realized early on that waiting for the sullen man to start a conversation was a waste of time. He appeared to be totally at peace with silence, but this was the first Avriel she had encountered. It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.
"So, Kydrel. You finally gonna tell me the story of how you got kicked out of Athart?" She had been probing towards this question for a week now, and figured it was time to go for it.
"I mean, it's obvious you don't fit in here, and pretty much all Avriel choose to live in Athart, if they can. So why not you? What'd you do?"
