forum Elemental kingdoms (STILL OPEN 2/4/24) Large group.3/?

Started April 01, 2022 by @CaseyJ group

tune

Her jaw set, Ginger picked up her pace. "Let's make the most of the day then." She hiked up the straps of her pack, marching determinedly forward. She employed the longness on her legs, stretching out as she strode on. "Not that snow's much better than rain." She glanced up again. "Still a bit soggy unless we're really far into the cold."

Ginger glanced over her shoulder, arcing one perfect brow. "Come on, it could start raining any minute." she whined. "Slowpokes…" But she knew impatience wouldn't really help. Still, she was anxious to get out from under those brooding clouds.

Ciana nearly giggled at the girl's impatience, quickly catching up. "You really don't like rain then, huh?" She asked, matching Ginger's walking speed. "May I ask why?"

"It's just yucky!" Ginger wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Muddy, soggy, depressing, can't walk anywhere outside cause you'll ruin your clothes…" She shuddered. "It doesn't rain much at home, but when it does it lasts for days, sometimes weeks. Just an endless downpour, sometimes lightning messes up stuff cause we get lots of electrical storms." She glanced at Ciana, a little sheepish at her outburst. "It's fine, I'll deal with it. Do you get lots of rain in your kingdom?"

Ciana thought about it. "I have no idea. Up until this last meeting, my parents almost never let me outside. They told me I wasn't strong enough yet. Spent almost every day training for hours in the dark, with only a few hours to rest in my room, when the sun shone through my window. My window was that kind of foggy glass though, I couldn't see much outside. They said it was for my protection. Probably not, I guess, since we draw most of our energy from the sun's light. If it rained a lot, most people would be asleep almost all the time."

Devon hummed at that, "at least you have light, my kingdom is- was deep inside a cave".

"… How does an entire kingdom fit inside a cave? I mean- I've never actually seen a cave, but descriptions and drawings in books make it seem like they're really small-" Ciana tilted her head, unable to imagine a cave system, just one cave.

Ginger wasn't surprised. "Ehh, we've got some cities and dwellings and stuff in caves, or like built into mountains – wait, 'was'?" Concern and horror colored her expression. "Did something happen to Dark Kingdom??"

Devon shook his head, his hand tightening around the staff he carried, "The elders of the Dark Kingdom are power hungry, have waited a hundred years for someone to be born with power… to take over every kingdom." He kept his eyes straightforward, with a determined expression, "The dark kingdom is the same as it always has been, I don't want to be one of them."

Elias wrapped his arms around the other two's shoulders. "Dev wants to rule a council, not a dictator/patriarchy thingy. Ive read about those. And the dark kingdom is like, this hallowed mountain, just a whole bunch of caves and tunnels. They dont even have lights in most tunnels."

Ciana looked even more confused at this. "Multiple caves together? Tunnels?" She got some din light, trying to make a diagram, changing colors and brightness of several pieces, before giving up. "I believe you, I just have no idea how that works.." Ciana said. She allowed the light to dissipate, glancing up at the sky, checking the clouds.

Ginger nodded, acknowledging Elias's and Devon's statements. She shrugged off Eli's arm over her shoulder, trying to ignore the familiar tingle of faint static electricity that always about him. "Anyone know what time it is?" she asked after several minutes of staring into space while the others chatted. The walking was starting to tire her; they'd been at it for several hours and she'd never been much one to walk for hours, preferring instead to ride on a giant stone lizard golem or small dragon if she could. Her stomach ached with hunger, too.

Ciana shook her head. "With all these clouds, I can't see the sun or approximate the time."

Devon looked around, "late afternoon, evening maybe". He wasn't much for conversations and so far they had talked more than he would have liked, however in another hour or so, he knew they would reach the point where it would be to cold to travel at night, so they'd have to stop soon. He sighed, "we will continue until the outskirt villiage of the ice kingdom, its on the edge of the territory, where visitors go, as most cant survive the cold near the center of the kingdom. We can rest there, and continue tomorrow."

Ciana nodded. "That sounds fine to me."

Ginger, growing weary of marching, just nodded. It was already getting chillier, not only because they were getting more north – they couldn't achieve serious climate differences in just one day of travel – but it was Autumn anyway, the evenings getting colder, and quicker. She wasn't much one for cold.

Devon nodded, and they kept going until they reached the village he had mentioned, he led them towards an inn and walked them inside.

Ciana followed Devon inside, whispering to ginger. "Do you think you need it yet? Or wait for tomorrow?"

It took a second for her to realize what Ciana meant. Pausing just outside the door, Ginger nodded. "We are entering civilization, after all." She took a breath, wondering if she would feel anything once the illusion took effect.

Ciana nodded, paused, and pulled ginger to the side of the building, where nobody could see them. She closed her eyes, focusing, and a very faint glow appeared around ginger. Ciana let out a breath, then nodded. "Alright, all done. As a reminder, it won't hold while I'm asleep, and I might need more sleep tonight than I usually do. But we can figure that out once we've got a room." Ciana said, before heading back inside.

Elias went to the counter and got them two rooms, one for him and Devon, and one for the other two. He came back with the keys, handing one to Ciana, "Here, one for you two, one for us two" he smiled.

Ciana nodded and grabbed the key, smiling tiredly back at Elias. Then she turned to Ginger. "Shall we?"

A slight tingly feeling and a faint haze of light at the edges of her vision were to only signs Ginger could detect of the illusion Ciana had placed. "Thanks." she whispered. Lifting a hand to her eyes, she could only see a little hazy glow softly suffusing her fingers and winding around her palm.
A grin quirked her mouth as Elias handed Ciana the key. "Now you two boys better behave!" she grouched in a mock-authoritative voice. She slipped inside the inn, nodding to the guy at the counter as she passed him on her way down the hall, looking for the number on the keychain to her and Ciana's room.