Magical Mystical Fox Hunt

[MadEmperor]

He huffed, his own arms crossed. "I never said I was afraid. I rode on Kah fine... eventually."

He paused and sighed, "Fine... What's your plan here?"

[DragonSong]

Hana "hmm"ed and looked up again, calculating. "Those branches there, see? They form that sort of three-way dip about nine feet up; if we can settle ourselves in there, we'll be high enough not to have to worry about any night critters, but with enough space that we're not at risk of falling out in the middle of the night."

She spoke with the authority of someone who had slept in trees before--and maybe had fallen out. Glancing around again, she spotted a lower branch on the next tree over and strode over to it, jumping to grab it and start hauling herself up.

"Oof. Don't suppose you could gimme a boost here?"

[MadEmperor]

"Sure thing." Thrax walked over and boosted her up. His arms were tired, but he still had the strength to make it seem easy.

He watched her climb with a growing worry about his ability to get up there. Following her, he made it to a second branch, which snapped under his weight and sent him crashing to the ground with a startled yip. "How... How am I supposed to climb like that? Gnoll claws aren't made for climbing trees!"

[DragonSong]

"Here." Hana climbed down a branch and stretched her hand down to him. "I'll help you up--and we'll make sure we're using branches thick enough to hold you."

She wiggled her fingers at him and smiled crookedly. "I promise I'm stronger than I look."

[MadEmperor]

The bard climbed back to his feet and brushed the jungle detritus out of his fur. "You'd better be."

Reaching up, he clasped her wrist and let her help him up the tree. "Don't you dare drop me."

[DragonSong]

"I won't."

With a small grunt of effort, Hana managed to help him up onto the branch below her, then climbed to the next and repeated the process until they had reached the fork of three branches.

Hana collapsed into the dip, panting lightly but grinning. "See? Told you I wouldn't drop you."

[MadEmperor]

Thrax collapsed in next to her with a grunt, very deliberately not looking down even once. This was somehow worse than his trip up the infamous Stairway to Cleven. But thinking about that certainly didn't help, so he directed his mind elsewhere.

"Have you... thought about what you're going to say if we find them?"

[DragonSong]

Hana groaned and scooted to the side so he had a little more room in the dip of the tree; there was only so much she could do, Thrax was not a small person. They were just gonna have to accept the tight squeeze.

"I don't know," she muttered. "What am I supposed to say? Hi, I'm the last surviving daughter of that gal you kicked out for loving a human! This is my gnoll bard friend with his storm-calling ax! I know I'm the embodiment of everything you're apparently terrified of, but I was wondering if someone might be willing to tell me some silly baby stories about my mom?"

She huffed and pressed the heel of her hand against her eyes. "I'm sure that'll go over great."

[MadEmperor]

"Just don't go in angry." He took on a sober tone full of regret. "We both know the dark places that can lead and the mistakes it can lead to—mistakes that can never be put right."

"You could... practice on me?" he offered.

[DragonSong]

Hana grumbled a bit, folding her arms over her chest. "Practice how?" she muttered, looking supremely uncomfortable. "I mean—I don't know anything about these people, really. I don't want to be angry—I don't think I am angry, but...I feel like I should be?"

She groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Fuck all kinds of duck."

[MadEmperor]

"Start with that. Not the duck thing, the not knowing anything part." Thrax shrugged. "Changing that is why you're doing this, right? And to find out if the rest are like your aunt."

"If I found out the Poisonclaw chief that killed my family was my uncle, I'd be conflicted too," he admitted.

[DragonSong]

"Yeah." She sighed and curved down a little more into their hollow. Then she groaned again and shifted to turn her face into his shoulder, grumbling again.

"I only know my mother's name," she muttered. "But...maybe someone will recognize it? I dunno..."

[MadEmperor]

"Your mother's people live a long time, right?" he asked, trying to maneuver into a comfortable position. "I'm sure they remember more than her name."

He yawned. "We should get some sleep while we can. I don't want to be in this tree any longer than I have to."

[DragonSong]

She chuckled a bit and nodded, scooching to the side a bit so he had room to properly settle himself, then cuddling back in and resting her head against his chest once he had.

"Alright, sleep is a good plan," she murmured. "We should get moving early in the morning..." She was already drifting, her ears flicking lightly back and forth as she settled.

[MadEmperor]

"Goodnight." He closed his eyes and quickly drifted off.


Thrax's axe hacked through some low-hanging vines as the pair proceeded further into the jungle. He leaned on Stormsong for a moment to catch his breath. "Please, please tell me that thing's glowing now," he begged with a huff.

[DragonSong]

"No...luck..." Hana panted, holding up the vial—which she had tied to a rudimentary leather cord around her neck—and squinting at it. It swung back and forth, then drifted forward, which was at least reassurance that they were heading in the right direction. But...

She frowned. "It's weird though," she muttered, "I could've sworn it was pointing us more westward last night. It's like the location it's pointing to is...moving."

[MadEmperor]

"No, not the location, the person." Thrax groaned. "Uuugh! We're not headed to a village; we're chasing down a moving target."

"This is going to take forever unless we get lucky," he complained.

[DragonSong]

"Aw, fuck, you're right." She groaned and dropped the vial back into her shirt. "Shit. Guess my closest relative isn't the type to sit at the hearth. Which would have been helpful."

Sighing, she looked in the direction they'd been pointed. "I guess we just...keep moving and hope for the best?"

She took two steps, then stopped and suddenly turned back to him. "No." She shook her head. "No, I can't—this is too much. I'm sorry, I never should have dragged you into this. It's not worth all this trouble to find people who didn't even want me to exist."

[MadEmperor]

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy, easy. It's okay. You spent three weeks hunting me down; I can spare a few days in the jungle. It's the least I can do to pay you back for saving me from that demon."

As he spoke, his eyes drifted down to where the vial rested under her shirt. Was that a spot of sunlight coming through the canopy, or was it glowing? He wasn't sure.

[DragonSong]

Hana shook her head desolately. "That was different—you're my friend, of course I went after you. These people are just..."

Her eyes drifted down as his did—she had been about to make a joke about where he was looking—but she suddenly paused. "Whoa."

She drew the vial back out and held it up. It was faint, but...

"Is it glowing? It's definitely glowing, right?"