There were deep blue whorls of color - of magic - that swirled their way up Guitian's flank now, proclaiming him an adept - an aqua adept, something new and admirable - to anyone who looked. He was no longer just another in the rank and file of strangers in the Homewood.
It was very alien, even more so than seeing all of those nouls gathered together in the first place. It was a relief, then, to know that Homewood's explorers had found someplace new, and that Wanderlust was rewarding those who made the trek out there for themselves. Could this be Guitian's chance to get away for a while?
That made it sound like he was eager to leave the Homewood. That was far from the truth; he liked it well enough there. But he was happy enough with just Dilahi and his family, and when he discussed the prospect with his new bondmate, he was greeted with enthusiasm. Scuttle scales rarely migrated so far on their own stubby little legs, apparently.
Dilahi took care of most of their preparations, and Guitian acted as a guide through the Barrens. Of course, he hadn't exactly been this way before, but that didn't mean this was precisely difficult for him. He remembered, at least, the gully where the river might have been, and he and Dilahi followed that to its natural conclusion.
There really was a dam out here, Guitian thought. There was something strange about it - it didn't seem like it was quite correct that there was absolutely nothing on the dam's other side. It was wet enough, though, with bits of dry yellow grass.
"These should be edible," Guitian said, ducking down to nudge a few of the stalks. "Though...perhaps we should introduce it to our diets gradually."
"You took the words from my mouth," Dilahi answered, moving quickly down Guitian's shoulder to sniff-test the grass themself. "Let's - Wanderlust mentioned strange fruit, right?"
"That's what interests me," Guitian confirmed, though he had to give the lake brimming with water a second look. "Well, that and the...water."
It was clearer than the water in the bog, more friendly, and something about the way it gleamed made Guitian want to enter. He knew, somehow, that he could do it, too, though his companion might possibly drown, which seemed quite an unpleasant prospect.
That seemed like an exploration to make some other time, though. Dilahi ascended swiftly back onto Guitian's shoulder, and they ventured into the hills.
The slope was familiar, but the location wasn't at all. It wasn't like the bog that Guitian had been frequenting lately, weighed down by poisoned water. The water here seemed...fine, actually, though none of these trees seemed to get much of it. Perhaps the lake didn't go far enough underground, or the trees' roots didn't. It was cooler here, too, and Guitian felt as though he could breathe. There still wasn't much visibility, and part of that was the multitude of trees - present also in the Homewood, though less naked than here - and part of that was something in the air, which made everything far from Guitian seem fuzzy and undefined. There were entire areas, too, where the trees were just a collection of stumps, easily visible once they'd ascended to the peak of one hill and looked down to survey their surroundings. They were strangely, artificially naked, but there was probably no point in Guitian himself heading over there. He had no power over trees, and he was just one noul.
What had the Others meant to do, when they'd come through here? What was the point in taking all of these things without pause? The sky seemed bleak and grey above him.
He and Dilahi descended into a valley with no further answers. From here, he could look back and see that the hills were crowned with a thick fog, explaining the fuzzy distance of the landscape. "Should we go deeper?" Guitian asked, whispering because he didn't quite know what might be hiding here.
"...higher," Dilahi answered. Wanderlust hadn't mentioned where exactly the grove of fruit might be found, and they could both understand that, now that they were here. How could you keep track of where you'd gone in a place like this? And, besides, the place was new - how could they form points of reference, or common names for things?
It was best to start the search from the top, so that they could assign directions around that. Or, perhaps, from the lake, and the river that snaked out from it - but it seemed reasonable enough to assume that the grove didn't exist along the shore.
It helped that it was a little easier to narrow down where to go, from a vantage point. No, of course, it was still difficult to see: but the fields of shorn trees were quite obvious, and they could pick out clusters more easily. Of course, it was tiring scaling the slopes so often, but the workout was, for once, familiar.
They made their exploration methodical. It was easier to do so here than elsewhere: most of the foliage was "dead" in that it wasn't thriving, but it was still alive. There was water enough for that much, even if the dam seemed supernaturally effective at preventing leaks out of the lake. And the mists made it easy to stay a while without getting thirsty. It was an ideal landscape for this sort of exploration.
Still, despite their best efforts - neither of the pair could quite remember how they chanced upon the strange, silvery grove. Dilahi had been taking notes, marking off regions they'd explored from the comfort of Guitian's back. But when it came into view at last, they remembered where they hadn't tread far more easily than they remembered the path they'd taken.
"Let's head back to the Homewood," Guitian decided, after taking just a few of the fruits. "I...we could stay here indefinitely, but..."
That wasn't their purpose, right now. Maybe after pooling their information, Homewood's residents would know better. For now, though, there was nothing to be said.
Reply
