Welcome to Gaia! ::

He'd never met someone so eager to get to the ground as she was he realized, didn't she know how dangerous it was down there? He supposed maybe she did since she appeared to spend all of her time down there but still, there were all sorts of dangerous beasts tromping around down there, "Maybe, once we get a little closer to the border. The creatures seem to be happier hiding in the darker parts of the forest instead of skulking around the border where the trees are more sparse and it's a lot more bright." He explained, knowing exactly how they felt. When he was outside of Jauhar he stood out like a sore thumb no matter what time of day it was and what color his skin shifted to being. Either he was dark as night in the middle of the day or a bright silver at night. It worked out in Jauhar but not really anywhere else, save for maybe Zena at night since he blended in well with the snow.

Shaking his head he continued along, "I will take it slowly, alright? Better safe then sorry, I doubt that either of us are in the right condition or mood to be getting into any battles." She was exhausted and sick from the drink while he was exhausted with a bit of a headache. Given he was fairing better then her it would be him that needed to go into battle to protect her and he didn't know how well he'd do at it. Best that the tried to keep her up in the trees for as long as she would tolerate walking up here.

Chal glanced over at Keilana for a long moment before he gave her a smile, lifting his hand up to pat it against the one that was clinging on to him so tightly, "I promise that it will be fine." He said, sure that she would be alright, "If my little siblings can do it so can you." He said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone, leaving out the fact that the youngest of his sister was still using a sort of harness and leash to keep her from falling out of the branches while she was learning the skills needed to live up in the trees. That was more of a need to know sort of thing, mostly because he wasn't sure how she might react to the idea of those still learning getting such equipment for climbing while she didn't have the luxury of it.

With a little nod of his head he fell into silence as they continued along the branches, always seeming to pick the ones that were strong enough that they didn't even seem to bow under the combined weight of the two of them plus everything that they were carrying at the moment. He was pretty well certain that it was going to be alright, he was keeping a close eye on everything, pausing from time to time when he heard something big moving along below them, then continuing on when whatever or whoever it was had moved on, "It's not so bad once you get used to it." He said, sure that she might feel otherwise since she'd grown up in a far different place. He'd been through Tale twice and it was just not his sort of place, then again neither were Sauti or Zena. Jauhar was where he belonged he thought to himself as they walked.

Chal did his best not to laugh, almost certain that she would push him out of the tree for it, when she brought up the idea of an aldabuk being in a tree and it would seem that she was the deer in this analogy. He gave her a careful glance, not wanting for her to see his smile, before continuing along, "I can assure you that you are doing better so far then any aldabuk would." Though if that were a reassuring thing he had no idea but he was doing his best to perk her up a bit so that she would continue to make her way forward toward their goal which was Tale.

"If you look up you can actually tell we are starting to get closer." He told her, the massive, twisted branches of the trees were starting to let a bit of light in here and there, showing that they were as close together as they were toward the heart of Jauhar. Not that it was all that huge a change but the closer they got the more it became noticeable. It wouldn't take all that long before the two of them were at the border to Tale, he would let her go on her way, and they would most likely never see each other again. It was a shame but that was just how things went, it was nice to meet her though the context of it was a bit skewed. At least now he no longer disliked the Leaf Tribe as a whole, he just disliked one in particular.

He was dragged out of his thoughts when Kei was suddenly stumbling. He caught hold of her and pulled to closer to him as her hammer fell, wincing each time it hit something on the way down, "Ahh... that's... probably not a good thing." He said, dragging her down so that the two of them were squatted down on the branch so that they would be able to hide better from whatever might be drawn tot he sound of the falling weapon. So long as it was mere beasts instead of Alkidike it should be alright he thought to himself in a half hopeful manner.

He glanced over at Keilana a moment then peeked over the edge of the branch, taking in the mess that the hammer had made, one that would likely be spotted by anyone or anything intelligent that heard the sound. It would be able to follow the path up and find them he realized, knowing instantly they should probably move, "We will need to move." He murmured to her, "They will be able to follow the marks the hammer made back to our perch." The 'they' he was most worried about being the warrior women that skulked about these woods, always eager to attack a lone Shifter. The two of them wouldn't fair well against a hunting party, that he knew for certain.

When she mentioned sleeping on the forest floor just fine he turned to look at her again, starring at her for a long moment before sighing, "Sleeping is a lot quieter then your hammer hitting every branch of the tree on the way down, though it was only matter of time before something stumbled across us." They were lucky, so much so that just the mere fact alone that something didn't find them and eat them while they were sleeping there was enough to make him vow to never drink again while always giving up thanks to the spirits of Jauhar that had protected them, "This way." He said, creeping along away from the spot that they had been kneeling at, knowing that it was the furthest place from safe at the moment. He would move them closer to the base of the tree they were on, at least that way they could use it to hide behind were anyone or anything to show up.

She wanted to go after the hammer? Surely she must know that was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas, right? Even so she was determined to go and get it, to the point that she actually released her hold on his arm... though a moment later she was back to clinging onto him when it seemed she wasn't ready to stand on her own yet, "It's rather dangerous to go down there now... who knows what might have heard the sound of it falling." He told her, trying to lead her along but she really wasn't having it, was she? Instead she was making it harder to lead her along, becoming dead weight in his grasp in a move the twins had pulled on him many times in the past when he was trying to get them to behave, "You are reminding me of my sisters at the moment." He muttered to himself.

After a moment more she once more let go of him, sitting down on the branch, and seemed to be debating her next move. He watched her as she tried to find her next branch, scooting along in a manner that was far too tentative, "You won't get anywhere like that. You need to show some trust in the trees." He told her, looking down at the branch under them and merely hopped down onto it before he held a hand out to her, "Come on. We will try to sneak over to where it fell and get a look at whatever it is that was drawn by the sound, then figure out what we want to do from there, alright?" One could easily tell that going after the hammer was the absolute last thing that he wanted to do, in fact he wanted to go in the opposite way that the hammer had fallen, but the stubborn Leaf Tribeswoman wasn't having that, was she? Once more he found himself wondering if all of the women in that tribe were so hardheaded but it was a question he didn't ask, not wanting to get kicked in the face given he was at the perfect level for it right now.

Chal gave the slightest roll of his eyes when she said she didn't trust the trees at all, something he didn't understand in the least after growing up in them but he supposed it was probably different for a ground dweller like her. He watched as she set about flailing her way down from the branch she was sitting on, down to the one he was on, and was once more clinging to him for support. Maybe... it was impossible to teach a Leaf Tribe member to climb he found himself thinking, at least one who was already so set in her ways. It was a shame because it really was fun to go jumping around through the branches and if you fell there was always another one right under you to catch hold of. It didn't seem like a lesson she would accept though.

"Eh Worry wort... better to be a bit cautious then rush forward and find myself surrounded by a hungry beast or a vengeful Alkidike." He told her, giving a sigh as she seemed ready to just go running on ahead into danger when she didn't even have her weapon with her. Sure, it was down there, but other things could be as well, "Fine, we won't creep along but we aren't going to rush in either." He said, hoping that she would at least agree to that much of a compromise since it was both of their safety on the line here. Who knew what horrible thing might be down there just wanting for the owner of the hammer to appear after all? For all they knew it could have landed right in the middle of something's nest! Not that she seemed worried at all, telling him to loosen up a bit.

Sighing he said, "You know 'loosening up a bit' is what got me to drink that horrible stuff you offered me and you see where that landed us." He told her as they started to climb down in a cautious manner, one that was slow enough that Keilana could handle it without falling out of the tree after her hammer which would be the worst way for her to go about finding it.

Forget their troubles for a time? Well, he supposed that was right but there was so much that could have happened while they were drunk on that horrible tasting brew that she had shared with him. Surely she must know that?! Of course that didn't seem to be what she was worried about, instead asking in a tone that said he was in trouble if he regretted it, "I don't know... I certain regret how we about it." He said, not really remembering everything about what the two of them had done didn't make him regret how they went about it. Then again were they not drinking it would never have happened given he had feelings for someone else, "It's complicated." He muttered, glad for the moment that she didn't have her hammer just in case she didn't like the answer that he gave.

As the two of them got closer to where the hammer should have landed, a place he really didn't want to be, he glanced around, almost certain that there was going to be something horrible waiting down here for them... and when he spotted it a rather colorful curse, the sort he'd learned from his father, escaped from his lips. Catching hold of Keilana he pulled her behind the trunk of the tree, peeking out at the one that was inspecting the hammer, glancing up into the tree, and then back to inspecting the hammer, "Seems that our luck has run out." He muttered, he supposed that the most they could hope for was not having been eaten while on the forest floor, Jauhar was done catering to them after that.

Turning to look at her he seemed to be debating what to do next before he glanced over at her, "So... do we want to wait it out or are you ready to go deal with your idiot brother?" He asked of her, knowing full well that if he went out there he would be tempting to shield bash the guy in his arrogant face...

Chalcedony was a little on the surprised side when she seemed to be so eager all of a sudden to abandon her hammer when she'd been ready to go to war for it a moment ago. He supposed that meant that she wasn't quite ready to be meeting with her brother? He gave a little nod of his head, "Alright, if you are sure..." He figured he could try to find the spot that the hammer fell later, right? Unless of course the archer took it with him. Either way she would end up getting it back so it wasn't as though she had to worry about never getting the weapon back. It just might take a little longer then she wanted was all. Of course it would seem as though her plan to escape wasn't one that was going to come to fruition, instead she finally managed to knock herself out of the tree...

He tried to catch hold of her, grabbing at her as she fell, fumbled to keep hold of her, then watched as she fell a short distance only to land on the ground not far from her hammer and her brother. He blinked a couple times, seemed to be deciding on what it was that he should do, then sighed, and mouth the words 'I'm sorry' and ducked back into the shadows. As much as he wanted to help her he really didn't think that he could. If he went down there now it meant facing off with that archer p***k and he didn't want to do that. It would look suspicious to have Kei falling out of a tree and him following after, as though he were attacking her or something even though it was as far from the truth as possible. Better that he didn't risk a fight with the archer because he knew that it would only drag up the same feelings as the last fist fight they had only this time around they might be more brutal since Keilana had also been dragged into it. It was best that he didn't interfere from here but it didn't mean that he was going to run off, he kept to his perch, wanting to make sure that she was alright from her tumble before he hurried off.