To start with the group followed the river to the west, towards Water territory. Not much was said between them beyond Kelpie encouraging Iele's vocabulary to grow with some help from Raijin. Yue didn't much like the imperial bugging the hatchling for some reason. Something about the bigger dragon rubbed her the wrong way. Yet, why did she care? The incident would remain fresh in her mind for a long time and the blame would be put on the mirror during such. It was however, oddly, satisfying to hear the young one forming proper words and even short sentences. If only they didn't always include food, being hungry or wanting to eat. Despite that annoyance the chatter did serve to remind that their food supplies were finite - between a ravenous mirror hatchling, a half-grown imperial and an adult guardian their meat supplies were dwindling fast. Thankfully meat was plentiful in the forest next to which they walked, underfoot, in the air, in the water. It was simply a matter of catching it and enough of it to sustain them all. Yue counted her blessings for being the only one who could only eat plants and thus held the privilege of hoarding them for herself. Raijin did manage to prove himself useful here. With his lightning-fast speed and broad wings he was able to chase down and even outrun the prey, succeeding in felling a pair of rambra and grabbing several jackalopes. Even now the imperial was picking his teeth with a curved horn as they walked.
A day of travelling saw them finally reach the border, where Lightning became Water. What none of them had expected was the massive drop. Yue and Kelpie stared forlornly over the edge as the river threw itself off in an impressive waterfall, spraying foam which, in the sunlight, formed small rainbows in the sky, mesmerising Iele.
"So why'd we stop?" Raijin piped up, looking to the girls with one fluffy eyebrow raised.
Yue glared back. "Why do you think?" She unfurled her crystal-shelled wings and pointed at Kelpie's damaged one. "Unless you can carry us down there?"
Raijin studied the pair dubiously. "You, Yue, I could totally manage. Iele too. At the same time even, easy. Kelpie though, she's a different story." A completely different story. The imperial valued his strength as much as his speed but knew his limits. And a guardian almost twice his size and three times his weight was beyond his limit.
"So... how do we get down?" the jade dragon in question asked, pushing herself away from the dangerous drop and grabbing a mirror too curious for her own good. Iele in turn letting out an indignant squeak. She only wanted a better look at the sky-colours.
"We don't." Yue replied bluntly, turning tail and beginning to set off back the direction they'd come. Of course it wouldn't be that easy would it? How on Sornieth had Kelpie managed to get here?
Raijin lifted his horned head at the pearlcatcher's departure. "H-hey wait a minute, where are you going?"
"The other way."
"Yeah I can see that!" he snorted. "Why?"
"Why do you think?" The second time she'd said that in less than five minutes. He hated when she said that.
"Well, why don't we climb down?"
Yue paused, swinging her head around to fix the male with a narrow glare. "Do you see any way down that isn't vertical?"
Raijin started to protest but something made him look down again. No immediate, safe way. Insisting on being right he leapt off the edge, flaring his wings to catch the breeze and swinging around to survey the cliff they'd arrived at. It would've been so much easier if they could all just fly. The guardian he understood now, having managed to squeeze the story, begrudgingly, from Yue. Wow it sounded like it would suck to have your wing permanently broken like that. He'd broken a wing once when a trick went wrong. Didn't take long to heal thankfully. Must've been his incredible stamina and will to get the heck away from the healers that did it. But Yue... He swung around again to check the other side. Yue's wings were like his, shiny and slightly thicker than usual. It didn't bother him, so why did it bother her so much? Yeah it made him heavier than average but it only let him build up his wing muscles that much better. He considered telling her to just practice more. Then imagined that look. That damn look that seemed to make everything and everyone around her wither. Except Kelpie, who seemed oblivious to it half the time. Damn there really isn't a way down that doesn't involve sliding down on their claws is there? Defeated Rajin returned to where he'd left the girls. Except they were gone.
"Oh for the love of-!" He took off again, following the river back eastwards since that was where Yue had been going. ...Why did he think of Yue so much and not the group of girls as a whole? Any other male would've considered themselves the luckiest dragon to have landed three girls!
They stopped for a rest at the base of a mountain aiding the river in separating Lightning from Light, once again grateful for the shorter days and for being on the edge of the wastes where it was cooler. Kelpie had sworn she'd seen a large, bat-like creature flitting between the trees on the opposite bank, only for it to have long since disappeared when the others looked. "Kelpie," Yue had said to her not unkindly but clearly frustrated, "you've been out of the water for a long time. Your brain's frying. Go take a swim." So she'd slipped into the water a short ways from where it dribbled out of a thin crack in the mountain. It was cool and wet, just as she liked it. And the current wasn't too strong here. She lay there a moment, floating despite her girth. Iele? She looked around, grinning widely upon spotting a grey shape bobbing around nearby.
"Stay close, Iele." the proud guardian called.
"I will!" Iele called back, paddling around in circles a few times then hitting the surface as hard as she could with her paws, making the water splash everywhere. She giggled. Kelpie giggled.
The others? Yue had gone, she didn't see where. The strange imperial was sulking next to the river, scales gleaming in the sunlight. Yue must've told him off again. He always did that when she got upset at him. Iele. Ahead of her, splashing away. Kelpie grinned. Anyway she didn't know much about Raijin. They hadn't spoken much. He hadn't wanted to talk to her, not saying much when she spoke to him instead. He wanted to be with Yue more. It puzzled her. It wasn't the same as when it was only the two of them. They'd needed each other. Aw how adorable, Iele's blowing bubbles. No she'd seen this in her parents at home when they got mad at each other. Dad wanted to make up and tried a lot of things. Mum didn't want to know for a long time. Maybe if Rai brought Yue gifts? Mum liked gifts, enough of the right things made her happy with dad again. Iele don't splash me in the face please. Oh wait.
"Iele dear, not in the face." she grinned, shaking her head to rid the drips threatening to run into her eyes.
"Sowwy mum." Good girl. "Mum why won't Wyshin swim too?" Wyshin? Ah she was still getting used to some words.
"'Raijin'." Kelpie corrected gently, prompting a blue head to lift and turn in her direction, ears pointing forwards. She lifted a foreleg out of the water to wave at him, sending droplets flying everywhere. "Rai, come swim!"
The imperial lay his head on the ground again. "No thanks." he grunted, clearly not in the mood for fun.
The guardian tilted her head curiously at the imperial, Iele mimicking the motion. What was wrong with swimming? Swimming washes all worries away. Was that a fish? That is a big fish. Kelpie dived, eyeing the fish coming towards them, pressing herself as flat as she could against the bottom. Waterborns could hold their breath for a long time, guardians more so. Tidelord give me the skill... The fish came closer, oblivious. Above them Iele was looking down, watching. She tried to join, didn't like the water in her eyes and resurfaced. Kelpie mentally willed her to stay put. The fish got closer...
Swift as an eel she kicked off the riverbed, launching herself at her prey, maw open wide. It panicked, turning tail to swim away. Too slow, she clamped down. Caught it by the tail. She pulled it up, breeching the surface and showing off her catch with pride. Iele cheered and began chattering about how awesome her mother was. Rai had admit, that was impressive.
"Why don't you go join them then?" Raijin jumped, scrabbling against the ground to lift himself into a sitting position, eyes darting around for the source of the voice. Yue gave him a long stare when he finally settled down. "You acted like you were doing something questionable."
"I uh, I wasn't doing... How long have you been there?"
"I've been here a few minutes now." the perturbed pearlcatcher replied dryly. "For your information there's a cave not far from here full of interesting mushrooms. I went to study them."
Three pairs of eyes, all varying shades of blue, stared at her. "Mushrooms." Raijin finally remarked, tone indescribable. "You left us, with no warning, so you could look at some mushrooms."
The red eyes stared back, unwavering. "Yes. I did. And I would very much like to go inside to study more." When there was no move or word the pearlcatcher sighed. "There might be a way through into the Light lands. Now move."
There was no arguing, she was already gone and likely wouldn't come back for them again. So they followed. "Yeesh, what's eating her goat?" the imperial sneered, put-out by the brief conversation.
"Goat? I'd like to eat a goat right now. I didn't know Yue had a goat." Kelpie exclaimed gleefully, bounding forwards to keep up with her friend.
"Uh she doesn't actually-"
"I want goat too!" Iele chimed in, dashing along to keep up with her mother.
"...you cannot be serious right now." Raijin lifted a paw to cover his face, hopping slowly along behind the girls. "You just ate a massive fish anyway!" With a roll of the eyes he picked up speed to join them, watching the mirror's hindquarters disappearing into the rocky wall, swallowed by the darkness inside. A cry rang out before he could enter.
"It's so dark! I can't see! Mum, where are you?"
Really. They haven't even taught her about her lightning powers yet? Or maybe they hadn't seen the wires hanging from the wall. Of course the Lightning flight had thought to set up a lighting system here. It might not have been on his own patrol route but even Raijin knew. He scratched rapidly against the rock with his claws until a spark flew, then placed that paw on a cable on the ground running inside the cave mouth. The static he generated activated the bulbs lining the walls, patches of shadow suddenly bursting into light to reveal the interior of the cave. He grinned triumphantly to himself, trying not to laugh at the cries of pain at the change from ahead. Followed by the sound of something shattering.
"What the-" Raijin dashed past the dazzled guardian and mirror to investigate, spotting an area of darkness that should have been lit up as well. In the gloom a shape hunched over a clump of glowing mushrooms. Broken glass lay on the ground around her. "Was that really necessary?" he demanded, putting two and two together and assuming the situation.
"Yes." Came the simple reply.
"Why?"
A pair of red eyes appeared in the murk to stare up at him. "Because this variety of fungus is bioluminescent."
"...So?"
"So I wanted to admire how it looks in the dark."
Raijin scoffed. "I thought you were from Plague, not Nature."
Yue whirled around to face the imperial face-on. "Meaning?" she hissed.
"Meaning," Raijin replied, undaunted. Or at least trying not to sound daunted, "Plague's about death and stuff. Plants is a Nature thing."
"Not necessarily." the pearlcatcher replied, clicking her tongue in annoyance. "Plague isn't just about death. It's about surviving what could've otherwise been death. Poisons, diseases, illnesses, grievous wounds, infection... this is what Plague is about. Survival."
"So why the mushrooms?"
"Because fungus can live in places other plant-life cannot. Most of it is toxic. It does one well to know what species are poisonous to them and what is edible." Her eyes narrowed. "In this case, me. Since I'm the only one here who can't eat anything that isn't plants." Yue turned her back to resume her examination of the mushroom cluster. Did the rock it was growing on just move? She poked one of the pink, shelf-like protrusions. Nothing happened. Her imagination then. That or Raijin had successfully sent her crazy.
Raijin pondered a moment. "Huh." He tapped a claw on his bearded chin. "That is kinda good info to know. So... is it?"
"Is it what?"
"Poisonous?"
"I don't know." the plagueborn ground out, clearly fed up with dealing with this. "That's why I'm studying it." They both fell silent. Occasionally Yue tapped the fungal growth experimentally. Once or twice spores floated out of the part she tapped. A small piece was ripped off and sniffed, light and careful at first, then deeply. Her tail and whiskers twitched, her head tilted. Behind her the crystalline imperial shifted, not sure what to do or say next. "Are you seriously still here?" Yue demanded, not looking up.
"I thought you wanted to get through to the Sunbeam Ruins."
"Well if this bores you that much why don't you take Kelpie and the runt outside yourself." It wasn't a question.
"Well maybe I will!" Raijin shouted, turning on his paw to find the other girls.
"Good!" Yue shouted back. Then the "rock" moved, making its way slowly towards deeper darkness. Fascinated, she followed.
"Here Iele." Kelpie cooed, gently laying a paw over the mirror's back and pulling her over so that she was underneath her. "Stay close."
"What happen?" Iele asked, half calling up to the giant that was her mother. "My eyes hurt."
"The lights came on honey." She'd been inside the caves and labs at the lightning farm long enough to understand the difference between electrical lights and the sun thank goodness.
"Then why can't I see? Light lets you see!"
Kelpie chuckled. "Because light is brighter when you've been in the dark." Where were Yue and the weird imperial? Nudging the hatchling in the right direction the jade guardian began to move on. There were voices somewhere ahead. Was it them? The question answered itself when Raijin came striding angrily towards her, grumbling to himself. "Raijin, hi!" she said when he came close.
"Waigin, hai!" Iele echoed, grinning toothily.
Raijin grunted in response, scowling about... something. "Come on, let's get out of here." he commanded, not stopping to look at them.
Kelpie cocked her head. "What about Yue?"
"Who cares? If she'd rather stick her nose in mushrooms all day then that's just fine!" the imperial drawled irritably, tossing his head and lashing his tail. Kelpie and Iele looked at each other then fell into step behind the male, the former ducking in the smaller areas and the latter pattering around, poking her nose into various holes and otherwise getting under the other two's feet.
Silence reigned as the three wound through the twisting tunnels of the cave system save for the humming of the bulbs hanging from wall and ceiling, the air getting cooler the further in they went. It was odd, from the outside it didn't look that far to get out on the other side of the river. The river even went in, or rather out, of the mountain and they hadn't found it yet. Something glistened in the darker areas where cables hadn't been installed. Several somethings. Small and round. Something bigger flitted in the shadows. Not like the bat-thing outside. Oh hey, that bulb wasn't working. More movement, along the floor. A snake?
"Mum, I'm hungry." Iele's shrill voice warbled and echoed down the tunnel they were entering.
"Not now Iele." Kelpie replied, quieter than intended as she focused on the fluffy tail ahead of them. Raijin hadn't done or said anything. Just kept walking. Were they going the right way?
Iele groaned loudly. "But I'm hungryyyy." Too loud. Something wasn't right.
"I saw a snake." Rai's deeper voice called from ahead at last. "Why don't you catch that and shut up?"
Kelpie growled. How dare he talk to her like that! Iele was already snuffling around though, poking at holes again and checking in cracks. They split up briefly around a stalagmite growing out of the floor, reaching up to meet a stalactite hanging above it. One day they could meet and become one pillar, like many others they'd weaved around on their journey. Wait, that one looked familiar. Iele giggled from somewhere to one side, where the tunnel split into an alcove. She was patting at something thin and pointed. It twitched. She patted it again. It slipped out of sight. She growled and followed it, revealing the alcove to be bigger than first thought, the space leading behind the wall they'd been following.
"Iele, don't wander off." Kelpie warned, shooting Raijin's back a dirty look. Don't tell my daughter what to do like that. The guardian lumbered into the alcove to make sure the little mirror was doing okay hunting the snake. Something glinted. Something long. And sharp. Something else flashed a little higher. A fanged smile. Oh. That wasn't a snake.
As he ran he noticed up ahead that the light was dimming. Far too soon for his magic to have worn off, surely? Indeed it wasn't a case of the power running out but rather the lack of anything to power. Glass littered the floor. Someone, or something, had smashed them recently. And this time it wasn't a grumpy charcoal pearlcatcher studying fungus.
"Hello?" Raijin tried to call, the word getting stuck in his throat and falling out as a whisper. He felt like he was being watched. Cautiously he entered the alcove the girls had been investigating earlier. At least he thought they had been. Last he'd heard was Kelpie telling Iele not to wander off. He sniffed deeply, trying to pick up a scent. Not something he normally relied on. As expected nothing obvious came to him, not helped that the place stunk of wet dragon and fish brought in from Kelpie and Iele's playing in the river. Dang this hole in the wall was bigger than he thought it was. To his right came a whimper. He turned his head, something small cowering in the darkness.
"Iele?" he called softly, so not to startle her.
"W-Wraishin?" came the wobbly reply. Was she crying? He padded over, glass shards cracking and grinding underfoot. What the heck had gone on behind him while he was fuming to himself? The dark shape that was presumably Iele moved away, though not far. Peering into the gloom the teal imperial could just make out a larger shape. Much, much larger. Kelpie?
"Hey. Kelp? That you?" No reply. Iele's breath caught, making her hiccup.
"Mummy?"
Think, think! Ugh where was a lightborn when you needed one? Savagely he began dragging his claws over the cave wall, faster, faster. Something broke free, ruining the pattern. He grabbed it and threw it away with a clatter, tried again. Trying to build static. Sparks flew from his claws, briefly lighting the small area it fell. Close. He worked a little longer, running his claws over his antlers too. Focused the energy. Electricity began to arc between the tines, forming a temporary, weak light source. Yup, that dark mound was indeed Kelpie. Why was she so still?
"K-Kelpie, you didn't eat any mushrooms did you?" Why was he joking at a time like this? Yue's warnings were fresh in his mind, perhaps that was why.
Iele shook her finned head vigorously. "No 'shrooms. Only snakes. Big snakes. With big claws."
Big snakes with big claws? ...Could it be? Raijin sniffed again, closer to the fallen guardian now that he knew where she was. The electricity was wearing out, losing light. Was that blood? And something else. They needed to get her out of there yesterday. "Stand back kiddo." he warned Iele, letting the last of the electricity dissipate as he began nosing at Kelpie's side. Trying to force himself under. Damn was she heavy. "You try to find a way out. I'll... I'll follow." No really, she was heavy. "Now!" he added, louder when the mirror didn't move. It didn't feel good, the tyke was scared out of her wits. The little grey dragon nodded slowly, racing ahead. Raijin made to follow, catching a paw on the rock that had come loose from his actions. He kicked it. It skidded out into the light, a nugget of iron left behind. Wait...
Hauling himself and the unconscious Kelpie along Raijin reached out to pick up the nugget. There was something tied to it. No time to read it now else he'd break his back under the guardian's weight. Did he mention she was heavy?
"Iele?" he called. "Which way?" He strained his deer-like ears as hard as he was able, hoping to pick up her voice. Nothing at first. He groaned, heaving the waterborn along out of the alcove. Into the light. Thank Bossman, he thought. It was so close yet he'd been in the dark too long. At least it had felt that way. He started along the track he had been taking before turning around, listening for any sign of the hatchling. A squeak, a cry, a call, stones falling, something to tell him where she was. "Iele!" he tried again. This time above the rushing water he barely made out a faint "Over here!". Hang on, water? By the Stormcatcher he'd found the right passage.
Time passed painfully slowly. Literally in the painful department. Twice the imperial had to stop, letting Kelpie slide off his back and laying down, breathing hard. His back and shoulders ached something awful. There was no way he was leaving her in here though. No way. So he kept slipping under her ripple-patterned body, kept dragging her along. Kept following Iele's voice as she vocally mapped out the caves to him. The river was behind them now. He had stopped there to let Kelpie lay in the water, hoping that her element would revitalise her. No joy there clearly.
"Near'y there!" the mirror called from far ahead. Good. Not much further. Yes, that was fresh air he could feel on his face. Spurred on by the proximity of the exit the imperial made one huge effort, dragging them both towards, through, beyond the hole in the mountain. Gasping for breath and aching all over now he let Kelpie slip off one last time. It was evening, still some natural light to check her in. With Iele sat a short way away at his behest Raijin began to inspect Kelpie's smooth hide for injuries. Nothing, nothing, nothing... he carefully rolled her over. Nothing, nothing... freaking huge gash in her side. And it looked nasty. That is to say the gash itself was a clean cut, done professionally. What was nasty was the festering skin around it.
Poison. And not the fungal variety. Kelpie was dying.
As she worked Raijin sat by the edge of the river, appearing to be staring into it. Iele huddled next to him, peeking out from under a jade wing at her unmoving mother. He had offered to help Yue with the ointment she was attempting to recreate, only to be contused in the face for it. Not a "no thanks". Not a "go away". A freaking contuse blast. In the face. So he slunk away to give her space, taking Iele with him so she wouldn't be a bother either.
"You plan to sulk there for the rest of the day?" His whiskers twitched. He didn't look up to regard the pearlcatcher. "Do I need to blast you again?" Yue demanded, forcing herself into his view. He still didn't look up, intent on what lay at his claws. Yue frowned then looked down herself, about to try to figure out what was so amazing about the river at this point. Except it wasn't the river he was looking at. His wing moved as Iele shifted beneath it, slipping around to stare up at the grey-ish pearlcatcher with four damp blue eyes. "What is this?"
Raijin picked up the piece of parchment that had been tied to the nugget and handed to her. "Someone wanted her dead." he summarised as she scanned the words.
"But why?" she asked no one in particular, letting the strip fall to the grass. "What did she ever do to be... targeted like this?"
He shook his head sadly. "I should be the one asking you that, you know her better. But since you don't know either..." He finally lifted his gaze to catch hers, glanced over at the unconcious guardian, then back again. "Will she...?"
"I don't know." she replied honestly. Too honestly. "I did what I could. I don't even know if it'll have any effect on the serthis venom. All we can do is wait."
Raijin let his gaze drop to Iele, who had flopped sadly on the ground. Poor thing was beyond crying now, shedding enough tears for all three of them until there were none left. He nuzzled her. She looked up at him, weakly nuzzled back then lay her head on her paws. Yue was staring out at nothing now. It was too quiet dammit. "Plague's all about survival, right?"
She snorted. "So you are capable of listening." She turned to him. "What about it?"
"Then Kelp should survive. Because she has you."
"It doesn't work that way."
"You never know."
She snorted again, falling silent and gazing into space once more. He wished he knew what was going through her mind. Minutes slipped by, flowing along with the river's current. No one spoke. Raijin yawned and stretched, unfurling his wing to let it touch Yue...
"Don't even think about it."
Damn, so close.
---
I got heads on the coin toss and...
FFFFFFFFFFFFF- Too close Kelpie, too freaking close. The random number generator had picked Kelpie, Iele and Raijin as the team which made me nervous, expecting Rai to be the one to come close to dying since I have to take them through the venue suiting the highest level dragon. Instead Kelpie was the one to get a crit to the face. Pretty sure I used up 20-odd potions over all though. Big thanks to Falcon for her potion donation
Raijin is now level 8.
I also took a little time to spruce up the first two posts. Do let me know if you like the new layout 
See your mail on Varethyn for me being silly 
