They had picked the ruins for the location of the ceremony, and dragged Camil out to bear witness. "I think Brightheart would be perfectly happy to do this," she said, shaking her head as she watched Uxten and Ryf place their plants in the little cairn they'd constructed.
"An ascended noul?" Uxten asked, shaking her head. Brightheart was practically the face of the Lifebringers, too: definitely an inappropriate target for something so insignificant. Besides, she likely needed to heal. There had been dreadful things afoot lately, which had been another impetus for performing this ceremony.
"The only people who need to know are the ones who are important to us," Ryf agreed, in a rare show of verbosity.
Everything about this ceremony was about the things that were important to their bond. Camil had suggested that Uxten attend the resurrection ceremony in the first place, and it was the ruins where they'd learned what they could bring to each other. For Uxten, they'd dug out oak roots, and for Ryf, they'd chosen a little golden spray of poppies. Ryf had taken their little hands and wrapped the flowers around the roots carefully, so that the offering was intentional and, well, pretty.
Uxten held the tinder in their mouth for Ryf to light, and then tucked it into the cairn to await their vision.
--
It was dark. Uxten had thought, at first, that she'd not yet opened her eyes, but eventually they adjusted, and what she saw was...nothing. Darkness. Something smoky curling into her vision, except that it bore little scent and no heat. "Ryf?" she called.
"I'm right behind you," came the answer, though there was a hint of relief in it, like Ryf had just discovered that themself.
"Can you see?" Uxten asked, craning her neck for a hint of...something. Anything.
She couldn't quite tell where they were. From the darkness, she'd have assumed the bog, but the ground wasn't sinking beneath her hooves like it might there. And in the bog she expected trees, or at least their skeletons - stark silhouettes that would've cut through the smoke, at least for a moment.
"There isn't much of anything," Ryf said. "I think...we have two choices."
"Oh?"
Uxten had been planning on waiting. This was supposed to be an ordeal, right? They'd happen upon the subject of their quest eventually, or someone who needed help, or - well. Something.
"We can head forward," Ryf started. "Whatever this is - it can't be eternal. We'll hit a boundary eventually, or something to orient ourselves around. That'd let us make a more informed decision, and eventually navigate. Or we can..."
They paused, and Uxten heard the little breeze caused by the flapping of their wings. It brushed past her cheek and barreled into a cloud of smoke, where, briefly, the smoke dissipated.
"That smoke comes from somewhere," Ryf said, their voice growing in confidence. "If there's something we can do here, it must exist there. But a source of smoke is usually a source of danger, and not one that you can fight off." Fire, though Uxten felt no heat right now.
"Which would you choose?" Uxten asked, because Ryf was cleverer than her by far.
"I already think those are the best options," Ryf said reluctantly, and Uxten felt embarrassment wash over her body. It was not an entirely negative feeling, though: to leave the decision up to Uxten meant that she was trusted, and that Ryf thought her assessment of her own capabilities was sufficient for this task. And perhaps it was.
To gather more information before making a decision was rational. Perhaps Uxten would've chosen that before Ryf had come into her life. Walking forward into the unknown in the hopes that she could discover a clue, or a companion, or someone more suited to this trial than Uxten...it was perfectly fine. But Ryf could gather information far better than Uxten could, and heading toward the "known" quantity - even if all that was known about it was danger - seemed acceptable. Uxten trusted Ryf, too, after all: they knew how to hide themself, in this smoke, and they could extract information from the tiniest of clues. On Uxten's part, there was at least some magic, and a strong, sturdy body.
She headed toward the smoke in silence, and she didn't have to look to know Ryf was spreading their wings to move as silently as possible.
As they moved, the landscape changed. At first the ground had been hard, and then there was soil, and marsh, and gritty sand that worked its way into the hooves...but in the end, Uxten took one more step, and all she could see was light.
--
She and Ryf could already feel their bond sinking its roots into their souls when they came to. Ryf's delight mirrored Uxten's own, and the length of the journey they'd walked together suddenly seemed small. They smiled without looking at each other, and Uxten nodded to Camil, who doused the little fire they'd started without much fanfare.
This time, when Uxten bent her neck and prayed for the Grandfather Tree's Gift to run its course, Ryf perched on her withers and did the same. A gentle cloud of pollen blew away from them and into the Ruins' air, but they both knew they'd left their mark.
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