Welcome to Gaia! ::

His first escort mission. Lautaro had been bouncing with nerves ever since the sun started to flicker through the trees at dawn. Honestly, probably even before that all things considered since he hadn’t slept much the night prior either. But he had managed to saddle up Zephyrus, the ranger navigating the forest from his kinfa since that was his speciality. He knew how to fly through the twisting limbs of the ancient trees that stretched all the way through the upper levels of the forest. It was a perfect advantage over any bandits that might be lurking in the shadows beneath, his lilac gaze narrowed in concentration as he kept an eye on things below. Thankfully though it seemed that their forest venture was fairly calm and before he knew it the caravan was out of the forest and approaching the plains. A sigh of relief immediately left his lips as he gently nudged Zephyrus to float downwards, the kinfa gently landing on a larger tree limb near Anahita. “It looked fine to me. Am I going to jinx things by saying anything about today?”

[Lautaro 1]

“Or wait!” Lautaro held out a hand towards Anahita. “Would you rather fly that way?” Zephyrus shifted beneath him but the ranger reassured the kinfa with a gentle pat. “Zephyrus can handle the pair of us.” He was a larger kinfa with plenty of energy for a short flight with two earthlings, after all. So why make Ana walk when she could just fly with them? “Unless there’s something else you need to take care of before joining the caravan?”

[Lautaro 2]

“Yeah.” Lautaro smiled as he kept his hand out to help Anahita over and onto Zephyrus. “I’ll give you extra treats later if you behave.” He whispered to the kinfa as Anahita made her way towards them. Lautaro shifted forward a bit so that Anahita could get onto the kinfa behind him, the sudden realization of how close she would be making his cheeks warm. Perhaps he could have thought this offer over a bit more first. I’m really not good at thinking things through. But here they were and he would have to just commit to it now.

[Lautaro 3]

Yep, he definitely should have realized that this would happen. Lautaro closed his eyes for a moment as Anahita wrapped her arms around his waist so that he could settle his racing heart. Center yourself. He could do this. She had gotten him involved in his first ever escort mission and he was a full fledged ranger now. There was no reason for him to act like some sort of shy love-struck teen here. And it wasn’t as if he could just jump from Zephyrus and run away anyways, so it was what it was. “Ready.” He managed as he nudged Zephyrus forward, the kinfa raising his wings and lunging forward. They dove towards the ground before Zephyrus caught himself, the kinfa suddenly twisting and rising higher until they were above the trees. “Well that was fun.” Lautaro chuckled as they soared through the sky, his familiar having fun with the air currents as they circled around the open plains.

[Lautaro 4]

“Of course.” Lautaro dared to flash a grin towards Anahita as they continued onwards. “Scouting is fine by me! Just let me know if you see anything to investigate and we can land.” Lautaro raised a hand to gesture towards the rangers who had stayed with the caravan below, hoping that they understood his message about going forward so that they didn’t worry. His gaze narrowed as he scanned the landscape below, his flying goggles helping to keep out any of the stinging sensation from the rising winds. Already the caravan was a dot in the background as they continued soaring through the sky, the pair of them keeping an eye out for anything suspicious on the road ahead. Thankfully the plains were open which made it a lot easier to keep an eye out on things unlike the dense forest that they lived in, and so far nothing seemed amiss. Well save for the sudden storm clouds that appeared above them. “Keep close, it looks like we’re getting rain all of a sudden!” And true to cue there was suddenly a flurry of fat rain drops to pelt them, Lautaro gritting his teeth as he urged Zephyrus to try to find a place to land. There were very few trees, but some nearby cliffs looked promising enough for them to take a break until the rainstorm passed. “We’re diving soon, hold on tight!”

[Lautaro 5]

“Those winds probably pushed us a league or so off course.” Admitted Lautaro as he followed Anahita’s lead and dismounted from his kinfa. “It won’t take long to catch back up, but we should wait out this storm first.” Though if Anahita had never seen these particular cliffs before then was it safe to blindly take shelter here? “Maybe we should look around a bit before settling in.”

[Latuaro 6]

“Let’s check it out then.” Lautaro gently rubbed his kinfa’s neck. “Stay here and rest up, buddy.” He whispered before pulling out a supply pack from the saddlebags. Something about this seemed off putting and he wanted to be prepared just in case. So with his own bow strapped to his back, a fresh quiver of arrows at his hip and hunting knives strapped into place the ranger started forward. “Do you think we attract storms though? If so, we might have to stop meeting like this.” He added as he walked past Anahita, trying to lighten the mood slightly as he took the lead.

[Lautaro 7]