"Oh, good," breathed Noora with a sigh of genuine relief. She didn't really want to take her chances with any of the caves around here. Sure, taking some dragon bits back to Thanatos would make the church very happy indeed, but actually getting them off the dragon first would be quite an ordeal. She didn't feel like going through another one of those today.
Picking her shovel from the ground and slipping her own smaller pack back on, she followed Ikki up the stairs, picking her way carefully up the narrow, crumbling steps. Her feet weren't made for climbing. Concentrating as she was on not slipping, the woman's question took her by surprise and she paused as she considered it. People generally didn't trust her when they knew she was one of the necromancer people, and proud as she was of her heritage, she tried not to admit it. Still, she also didn't like to outright lie, especially to someone who'd been so nice to her. "I'm from north east of here," she replied diplomatically, turning the subject around with a bright smile. "And you?"
As they reached the top of the stairs, a strong gust blew toward them and Noora found herself moving between it and Ikki, using her mass to stop the wind from possibly toppling the smaller woman. The force of the particles against her skin stung a little, but it wasn't long before they reached their shelter. Just in time, too, as she felt the grit in the air scrubbing at even the tough scales of her tail when she pulled it behind the wall. Soft human skin would have taken some real damage. "I don't like it," she announced, cleaning dust out of an ear with her pinky finger. "Storms should be wet."