Horribly Unprepared

[Faith Augustin]

22nd Ymiden, 718
A few breaks after this

That Faith was lost was not in doubt, and they both knew that. But she rather got the feeling that Padraig might be slightly unsure of exactly where they were too. That was fine, they knew where they were going, he'd got a map. With one of those, he was infallible, she was quite sure. But it had been a long walk and there was a long walk still ahead of them. Closing up the echo scroll, she looked at him with silver and ruby eyes which sought out his amber ones; her expression was mostly mirthful and a little exasperated. "Cyrus says that the house has burned down, the children are missing and Katie has left him for a younger man." She smiled, unable to be anything but amused. "He fully understands that we can return home in an instant," she might have mentioned it twenty times or more in the last few breaks as she wrote to him. "but there is no need for us to do so. All fingers and toes are accounted for and he, Katie and Luna are enjoying the quiet without us under their feet. He suggests we do the same." Faith looked around and then at the large and overgrown area they were coming up on.

"That looks a lot like a jungle. I thought we were going to Sweetwine Woods?" She shook her head and sighed. "Never mind. I give up. I am never going to know my way. Except home. I can always find my way home, thanks to Famula." She had a lantern which lit the way for her, Faith explained. But that wasn't where they were going right now. It had gone into the jungle hadn't it, she asked him rather accusingly. Pursed lips twitched, though and she could not maintain her teasing. "So, we're going into the jungle. We have no supplies, no sleeping bag. No food." She grinned at him and then, Faith stuck out her foot, waggling it. "But I am wearing sensible shoes. My hair is not in a ludicrous style nor are either of us in silks or satins. It is not pouring with rain and tonight when we sleep we will do so against a tree which does not have a knot in your back." There was no point to going home and coming back out better prepared, she said. That would be futile, a waste of time and anyway, someone might have beaten them to the discovery. Who, she didn't really know but there it was. "Besides," Faith said with a somewhat sassy expression. "I can build us a shelter of wood. Did you know I could do that?" Praise to Moseke for the truth of it, she thought.

Anyhow, taking his hand she smiled at Padraig. "Lets keep going, sleep under the stars and then, explore the jungle." That didn't sound too hard at all to Faith. "I have my spelunking kit, after all. And if we can kill a rabbit or two, I'll cook us up a treat over a campfire." She'd done a fair share of campfire cooking, when she was traveling to Krome with Alistair Venora. Tristan had sent her with him, as there was going to be a battle to rescue Elyna Burhan. Faith looked at Padraig and she grinned. "Did I ever tell you that Alistair told me that horses can speak common? I thought him dimwitted and so humoured him and talked to my horse. I even named it. Horse." Not the most imaginative of names, she had to admit. "But just to be clear, there is no one I would rather be lost in the jungle with than you." It was an adventure and really, she was sure that exploring the jungle was much like going for a stroll in the woods.

Surely?

[Padraig]

This was one of those things that physicists, in fact almost all scientists except for philosophers who were not scientists, liked to refer to as an absolute. If left to her own devices, and followed as such, Faith would have the two of them hopelessly lost for trials on end. But it was also undisputed fact, that there was no one that Padraig would rather be lost in the wilderness with, than her. The problem however was that once they'd entered the heavily forested areas of Scalvoris, he was no long able to rely on the position of the sun or on familiar landmarks. As an astrophysicist of course he was no stranger to a compass. But that only advised him of the general direction they ought to be going. The map was critical and much less complicated than a star chart.

They'd get there eventually, even if it was in a roundabout way. He also knew that there were hidden messages in the written one that Cyrus had sent to Faith. Padraig knew it as well as he knew his grandfather, and knew himself. They needed this time together, the two of them, and the old man was happy for them to have it, even if it came with risk of getting lost in the woods or eaten by bears. "He and Katie are probably laying bets on how fast I manage to get us lost," he quipped dryly. Cyrus had never let him forget the time he'd lost himself in the woods, way back when he was a kid and the strange dog had led him home, never to be seen again.

"Jungle yes, woods no," he confirmed, referring to where they were going. He'd rather the woods if he was honest. Sure, Sweetwine woods was also populated by dangerous things. But at least it wasn't so damned hot and humid. "We can't exactly be called handy, can we? So far as woodsmen...women or ranger types," Padraig teased. It wasn't a lab at the university after all, but they'd do alright. "With your sensible shoes, my compass, and your handy shelter building skills, I figure we'll do alright." Although he had fond memories of sleeping with his back up against a tree, Faith soggy and snoring against his chest and them buried beneath a pile of musty leaves. One of the best nights he'd ever spent.

They'd explore the jungle then, he said. What dangers could they not face down, so long as she had her spelunking kit with her? The trail was narrow and a tangle of vines here and there made walking without tripping a real trick. And the jungle was coming alive with bird calls and mysterious things that slithered through the undergrowth. Padraig was keeping an eye out for those things when Faith mentioned horses. He frowned curiously, wondering what brought that about? "Would they not learn to recognize whatever language was spoken most to them?" he asked. And just how many words of each given language could an animal learn to recognize and understand, he wondered aloud. It wasn't exactly physics, but it was a curious question.

So, agreed that if they were to be lost, better lost together, on they went, and in spite of the sun having risen, it was growing darker due to the jungle's growth closing in on them. He said nothing for a while, but simply enjoyed being out with her. Silence with Faith, was much more appealing than the silence achieved in his office at work, when he locked the door and put a do no disturb sign on the outside knob. "Look here?" he said, stopping so suddenly that it risked her colliding with him in surprise. Running a fingertip along the surface of a damp leaf, he turned and showed Faith the rainbow hued residue. "I think we're heading in the right direction."

[Faith Augustin]

Faith looked at him and smiled, apparently seriously. "I am quite sure that we are not lost. We are, in fact, exactly where I want to be. Right here." Her hand slipped into his and her expression softened. "Together." There was no doubt in Faith's mind that Cyrus thought they should stay out here together and have this time. They needed it, she knew that, but equally, she thought, they could have had some time together somewhere with room service. Looking up at him, she felt a rush of emotion and she reached up to stroke his cheek. "Last time, you confused me so much. When those men were drawing lots for me and you wouldn't let them have me. I felt so cared for, but I knew I shouldn't feel that." With a crooked smile she spoke a very genuine truth for her. "From the moment I met you, I got progressively worse as a slave." From drinking tea he'd made her the first time they met to being grateful to him for protecting her, from the regular rebellion of bringing him food to falling in love with him, she said, each thing was a step away from what a good, dutiful slave should be and do. "I do not have words for how grateful for you I am. For us."

After a pause where she looked at the skyline, considering the horizon and what it meant, how it was always just over there and apparently, that meant the world was round, Faith was quiet for a while. Content to just be in the moment there with him, walking together - apparently to the jungle not the woods. But her meandering thoughts led to her telling him about Horse, and he considered it with all the care that she knew he would, if she thought about it. How many words? "Seven, plus or minus three depending on the horse," she replied, apparently seriously. Her gaze was on the ground, though, making sure that they weren't either one of them about to fall or get tangled up in the vines and weeds and weirdness which was on the jungle floor.

Lost, they undoubtedly were and Faith let out a slight "Oof," as she collided with him. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" She looked at the leaf and smiled in delight, nodding her head as they examined it. "It's a strange residue, isn't it? Let's have that leaf, shall we?" Rummaging in her bag, it suddenly occurred to her that it might be considered odd that she had sample boxes and vials, but nothing to eat. Odd for others, perhaps, but this was them. So, onwards they went and the residue became more apparent.

Of course, the deeper into the jungle they got, the more and more difficult it was to travel. Faith was swatting flies and other insects off herself almost constantly; they seemed to be attracted to her for some reason and she kept suddenly slapping herself or waving her arms in front of her face. Then there were the many tiny welts and stings from the plant life. The heat (which was less of a bother to them because of his clothing and her ability with her blood) and the humidity. But more and more frequently, they were finding bits of residue. "Look," Faith said and demonstrated as she spoke. "It's like the rainbow sand. You can't separate out the individual colours." No matter how small the piece, it had all the colours in it. Frowning in concentration, Faith had to wonder how that could be.

Slapping away at the mosquito-like-thing which buzzed around them, Faith frowned and looked at Padraig with a calm expression. She was just about to say something when there was a loud crack underneath his foot and the pair of them were suddenly caught up in a large net which lifted them high into the air. Dangling there, far too far for them to comfortably fall if they managed to cut themselves out, they were also, of course, tangled up together. Untangling herself from him as they hung, suspended, Faith looked at him and sighed. "I fear that perhaps not even my spelunking kit is going to solve this one." Not least of course, because her bag which she'd been reaching to get at just that moment, was on the ground. Not where they were.

"Do you think we should try and get out?" Faith asked, apparently quite seriously. "We could cut a small hole in the side and then I could dangle you down and you drop, then I drop and you catch me?" She didn't think she'd be able to catch him if they did it the other way, his five foot four tiny wife said quite seriously, as though she was informing him of something which might be a shock to him. "Or, of course," she added and smiled. "We could hang around here a while?"

[Padraig]

It was a fair enough thing to say. So long as they were together, they'd never be lost. Padraig had only smiled at first and squeezed Faith's hand in response. Once a few trills had passed however, he could no longer resist putting it in scientific terms. "So, you're saying that the concept of location is not one of physical place, but a state of being?" Sounded awfully philosophical to him. But where Faith was concerned, Padraig could live with that.

"You were never meant to be a slave," he told her as they'd walked along, the forest around them growing thicker and the path narrower. "Nobody is. Nobody is meant to have lots drawn on them as if they're no different than a patch of land or an expensive vase." There was no way he'd have let those men in the woods that trial have hold of Faith. If he'd had to, he'd have died to prevent it.

But he was betting that pony at the least was much smarter than those seven, given or take a few, words. "I'd guess it's more like...two hundred or so," he considered, just before he stopped short. Grinning, he shook his head when she asked if he was alright. "You'd have to do better than that to bruise me up," he said, carefully collecting the leaf and dropping it into the box that she produced. For each of those vials and boxes Faith had stored in her sack, as an alchemist, it was likely that Padraig had a similar one.

"You know, I think next time I'm in my alchemy lab, I'm going to create the bug repellent to end all bug repellents," Padraig complained, slapping at a biting insect on his neck before waving a hand in front of his nose before the pests just swooped right back in. They were nothing but an irritant however, and not enough to dissuade him considering what they'd come in search of.

The residue, as Faith said, was very much like the sand in that even a drop the size of the head of a pen contained all the colors of the rainbow. "It's not like a drop of oil either that may have the appearance of being colored this way...but that's only an illusion and the way that oil reflects light. This, the color, is a part of the substance itself. And it's not oily either," he added as he rubbed a bit between his fingertips.

He could do a lot on the trail with what was in his sack. But not enough. Not without his lab, Padraig figured. "I think we're going to need to..." And then there he was, there they were, dangling high above the ground, pressed and twisted together and unquestionably caught. The real question was by who, and when might they happen along? Was it a hunter's trap for big game, who'd only caught them by mistake? Or something more dubious. Padraig didn't intend to wait around to find out.

"Yes," he uttered dryly when Faith asked if they should try getting out. His own sack was on the ground as well, but at leat he had his weapons and twisted himself around in order to get at his knife. "I'd rather not still be here when whoever it is that set this trap, comes to check on it," he added then while slicing a hole big enough for him, then her, to fit through.

So, him first, just as Faith said, and dropping to the ground turned out to be less of a trick than actually untangling himself from the net, and her in order to do it. But when he got there, Padraig paused just a few trills and listened, thinking he heard the sound of far off voices being carried on the breeze. "Maybe birds or some animal or maybe people. I can't tell," he said and raised his hands, encouraging Faith to drop to the ground. "I'd rather not hang around to find out."

[Faith Augustin]

So much of their life was them, tangled up together Faith considered, as they hung there in a net, suspended off the ground high above the soft earth of the Scaltoth Jungle. With a little bit of oofing and a few muttered apologies from them both as elbows and knees dug into each other, he got himself untangled and then cut through the net.

Faith was more than happy - insistent even - to help him clamber down. However, in doing so, she made the mistake of looking down. It wasn't that far down in the great scheme of things, but Faith was terrified of heights and always had been. The climbing down a mountain while the wind whipped around her really hadn't helped and was just one of the reasons that Alexander had been a very tricky individual as far as Faith was concerned. So, Padraig got down and he held his hands out to her, but she was a little bit white-knuckled as she clutched on to the net. She didn't say anything, she didn't need to. He felt what she felt through their shared connections and he knew her feelings anyhow.

"I don't know if I can," she said, genuinely. Looking at his eyes, though, she knew that she could and would. Neither of them wanted to be here if the people who made the trap came looking and so she sighed, slightly. "This is most unreasonable of you. What if you don't catch me?" He would catch her, she knew that, but still. "Or I drop at an odd angle?" She was clutching at straws, she knew. "I am afraid and therefore I am going to close my eyes." This was what she did, but only once she had positioned herself appropriately and then she made sure that he was where he said he was and then, finally, she dropped.

And, of course, he caught her. Faith was genuine in her terror of heights and so she held on to him for a few moments, just being in his arms before he put her feet down on the ground. "There now, see, you had nothing to worry about," she teased, lifting her hand to his cheek and smiling at him. "Let's find somewhere to camp, shall we?"

Swatting at the bugs which flew around them, Faith sighed and swatted and slapped. As they continued on and she stumbled over the roots of a tree, Faith suddenly stopped moving. Turning to look at him, she realised that the shared connection they had, the many of them in fact, that he was thinking and feeling the same way as her. And not saying anything for the same reasons she wasn't.

"We have magic shoes," Faith said softly, slipping her hands into his. "And at home we have a very, very large bath." Stepping closer to him, she looked up and smiled. "And food that we can eat whilst in bed and people who are looking after the children already. So whilst I think that maybe we needed that time, this time. Now that we are clear what we are going to do. Perhaps we could go home and work out any small details which still need consideration?" Her smile was wicked as she pointed out that this small and important attention to detail could start in the bath with a glass of cool ale and all evening.

If he was willing, Faith was more than happy to grab her bag, click her heels and get home.

[Padraig]

"You know, it's really not half bad up here," Padraig had uttered thoughtfully during a brief break from the struggle to fee themselves from the suspended net. Apart from the question of who, or what, had set the trap, and now that it had been sprung, the added concerns about what might happened when they or it arrived...Well. "A nice shady patch on the path," he added as he sliced through one bit of the net then another, "A cool breeze...A temporary reprieve from the biting gnats. I'm just saying," Padraig quipped as he finally slipped through and dropped to the ground. "It could be worse."

Of course she could, he said when Faith worried that she couldn't, and looked down at him with doubt in her eyes. He'd seen her take on any number of fantastic beasts and, "I've seen you take on a couple of Immortals too and live to tell about it. I'll catch you. I'll always be here to catch you," he promised. When she finally did drop into his arms, an oof escaped him that Padraig would rather it hadn't have. After all she was light as a feather. And still he stumbled back a step or two from the effort.

"See? Piece of cake," he said and put her down on her own two feet. Now that they were back on the ground, the biting insects had returned with a vengeance, and what had seemed like a lark in the woods earlier was beginning to feel like a fool's errand. And yes, there were those magic shoes, and the promise of a good soak in the tub back home. A real sit down meal, a soft bed..."Agreed," Padraig said, and he'd hardly needed to think overlong about it.

"I think that the residue we collected from the leaves is probably all we're going to find out here," he figured. "If it was genuinely comet made mostly of ice, and the residue as good as confirms that it was, the ice would have burned off and melted as it fell, and what solids remained would have broken up and scattered far and wide." If they'd made it to the ground at all considering the solids could have been just countless grains of sand. He could study the residue in his lab and probably learn as much as if they'd found chunks of the thing. And they didn't have to spend the night in the woods in order to do it. Some home, he agreed, and right quick.

[Tristan Venora]

Faith:

Knowledge:
Acrobatics: Untangling yourself from a net
Acrobatics: Jumping down from a trap
Fieldcraft: Good footwear is a real bonus.
Fieldcraft: Never underestimate the value of equipment
Fieldcraft: Jungles have bugs. Lots of bugs

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Renown: N/A
Magic XP: N/A

Points: 15

Padraig:

Knowledge:
Acrobatics: Untangling yourself from a net
Acrobatics: Jumping down from a trap
Detection: Spotting residue
Fieldcraft: Good footwear is a real bonus.
Fieldcraft: Never underestimate the value of equipment
Fieldcraft: Jungles have bugs. Lots of bugs
Strength: Catching a falling person


Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Renown: N/A
Magic XP: N/A

Points: 15

- - -

Comments: For a moment I was worried that Katie had indeed left Cyrus, but it was a joke, right?

It was a little strange for me to see Faith and Padraig in the jungle. They did well though!

The fact that Faith pointed out that she’s wearing sensible shoes amused me. I bet that that she’s glad that she doesn’t have to wear high heels all the time anymore!

I wonder who put the net there though. I half expected a couple of savages to show up and try to eat them!

It was nice of Padraig to catch her!

This was a nice, well written little adventure, and it was very easy to follow. Well done!

Enjoy your rewards!

Faith, you request Renown (accidentally, maybe?), but you already have 1.000, so you don't get any!

Please edit your review request to include the button below so that the other reviewers know that it's been taken care of!

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