Day 32
I miss home. I want to go home. Yue wants to stay here. I want to stay with Yue. What do I do? Aw Iele looks happy. I'm happy she's happy. My Charge. I should go home. I miss my family. Yue doesn't want to leave. I want to stay with Yue. What do I do? Yue is better now. She's pretty. I want her to come with me. Why won't she come with me?
Kelpie lay sprawled out on the ground, gazing at nothing in particular. Iele was close by, honing her hunting skills on a lemming that chose the wrong time to poke its nose out of its hole. It had attempted to flee by ducking back inside only to tempt the little grey-brown mirror further. Now she was waiting for it, head down, tail in the air. Poised. Ready to pounce. A nose sniffed the air. A paw came down. It was gone before they connected. The cycle continued. Yue was a little further away, slumped lazily over a rock as she basked in the sunlight. It was still early morning as the sun hadn't risen far yet, making it the ideal time to relax without fear of burning and the fact that it was late in the year now meant longer nights which, in turn, meant longer periods of comfortable travel.
A good further week had passed since Yue had healed and was strong enough to move around without aid. Two weeks since Iele had hatched. During the time spent at the farm Apotequil had, begrudgingly, allowed Kelpie and Iele to stay in his lab on the condition that Kelpie didn't loaf about taking up so much space all the time. The demands had a hard time penetrating the waterborn's thick skull until Yue got angry at her, so she reluctantly left to help out with whatever needed helping. At least the simple things that made sense to her. This left Iele with Yue. For the most part the plagueborn ignored the hatchling, not wanting anything to do with it. The stupid egg almost got her killed. That thing was trouble. So Iele had entertained herself by tormenting the big blue coatl, clamping onto his tail whenever it came into reach - the feathers tickled - and he made the funniest noises when she did it. Various objects in the room went missing too. Pens, paper, tubes, broken machine parts, energy drinks, fish... What was edible was eaten and everything else got buried outside. It reminded Yue of an untrained dog, the thought somehow making her smile a little.
Conversely to her hunting skills her speech hadn't shown much promise. A few words slipped out here and there. Nonsense, half-garbled and broken. She preferred to squeak and growl. No one told her that speaking was good or encouraged it. Apotequil kept to himself, muttering largely under his breath so the furless dragon couldn't make out the words. Yue never spoke to her at all, always seeming to go quiet whenever she got close even when Kelpie was around. Kelpie was the only one she spoke to unless Zelda stopped by to check on her. It was good to finally escape at the first go-ahead.
This time though they'd been sensible - before leaving the lightning farm and at the behest of Apotequil's mate Amadia, who the male coatl had made no move to acknowledge since she'd arrived, gathered some supplies to take with them on their journey. Food, clean water, a sheet of fabric in case Yue's wounds reopened, a special lotion that was said to protect against the sun's rays and prevent burning, and a few other pieces that may or may not come in useful at some point. It had all been crammed into the yellowed satchel that Yue had carried her pearl in while she was still healing, now the pearlcatcher was happy and healthy enough to grip it in her paws again. A feeling she hadn't thought she'd miss so much. The pearl was slightly bigger now too, a fresh sheen glistening in the light.
For the past couple of days they'd travelled, headed north. Not for any reason beyond a direction. Even Yue didn't know quite what she wanted to do beyond live, guiding the trio from shadow to shadow whenever possible and hiding from the worst of the heat by slipping into overhangs, small depressions at the bases of cliffs or huddling behind giant rocks or by digging. Not so much the latter as it was hot and hard work, though between the three of them the load was more tolerable. Iele, being young and adaptable, was learning fast how to live in the wastes of the lightning realm, understanding when shelter was needed, moving slowly to avoid generating too much body heat (a massive feat considering her seemingly boundless energy), recognising which rodent holes were inhabited and knowing how long to dig after them without risking overheating. In fact of the three of them the young mirror may well be the most suited to the wasteland. This was good. As long as they worked hard and together they'd survive here for a long time.
Longer if Kelpie stopped blanking out like she had been ever since they left.
"Kelp?" Yue called over to the lounging guardian. No response. "Kelpie I know you're awake. Your eyes are open." Still no response. Yue sighed, slipping off of her rock and prodded the larger dragon in the side of the head. Kelpie grunted but otherwise didn't budge. "Okay really Kelpie you've been doing this since we left the plant. What's wrong?" The first time this happened the single-horned dragon had panicked, thinking the bigger dragon had taken ill or something had happened to Iele. Except nothing was wrong. At all. With anyone. Kelpie simply zoned out despondently for ages at a time. Progress was made painfully slow because of her and she refused to explain why she did it. Kelpie remained silent, staring at nothing. An aggravated Yue turned away and ground her already flat teeth. That was it. The last straw. Kelpie had wanted to be friends and had almost proven herself to be worth considering her a friend until now. Without a word the pearlcatcher began her three-legged lope to the north without the big green guardian.
Iele had given up waiting for the lemming to come out of its hole and started digging at the entrance. Aunt Yuu started to move away alone cause the the mirror to stop, give the hole a snort, then scrabbled against the hardened ground as she launched into a sprint to catch up. Only to dig her claws in and turn back. Why wasn't mother coming with them? She frowned, looking between the departing grey dragon and the big green mound that she considered her mother. Who did she go with? Neither had said anything. She squeaked in an attempt to ask what to do, still not yet grasping the concept of words. When no instruction came the tiny mirror planted her backside on the ground, head tilted as Yuu kept going and mum kept laying. Then she got bored and climbed up on mum, biting at the frills, the wings, the tail in an effort to make her move. It
usually worked.
A pair of shadows flitted over them, doubling back on themselves and each other periodically. Kelpie's eyes drifted to the sky as a pair of skydancers lived up to their callings, spiralling and pirouetting and diving and gliding with so much grace. They didn't even do it on purpose, it was how they were. Iele stop chewing my horn. Did she actually say it? She thought she said it. Guess not. The skydancers dipped close to the cliff they'd been sheltering under that night, inspecting the various cracks and holes in its face before moving on, twisting and soaring. Kelpie missed flying. What were they doing? No really Iele that's annoying me now. Still no sound. She was sure she was talking though. Oh well. Ah they were looking for somewhere to stay too? There were two of them, one with yellowish wings the other pink and both were white. So pretty, their thin wings looked almost like butterfly wings. That was silly, butterflies are insects. Dragons aren't insects. Looking for a new home maybe? ...home.
"I want to go home."
Yue paused to flick a long ear back to catch the hushed words, barely audible both because it was quiet and a fair distance separated them now. Twisting her long, patterned neck the pearlcatcher regarded the guardian with puzzlement. ""Home"?" She echoed, wondering if what she'd heard was correct. Kelpie still didn't move. Were her eyes shinier than usual? ...oh. "Why didn't you say so to begin with?"
Kelpie rolled back onto her feet, remaining seated on the hard, cracked earth. "You mean we can go there?" she chirped hopefully, looking up at her friend with big, deep blue eyes.
A small sigh, then a nod of confirmation. "I was starting to get used to life in the desert." the pearlcatcher mused idly, more to herself than Kelpie. "I think exploring somewhere a bit more hospitable might not be a bad idea is all. Come on, grab the hatchling and let's go."
The guardian unfurled her legs and leapt forward with glee. Which faded promptly. "Her name is Iele." she corrected, miffed that her companion refused to see her Charge as her adopted daughter.
"That thing's egg almost got me killed. Or did you forget that?" Yue rounded on the bigger waterborn, placing a paw on her still-bound chest for emphasis. Granted that was only there to stop the last fragments of crystal from catching on anything but it still landed the point.
Kelpie's frills sagged. "It wasn't her fault..." she retorted defensively but not harshly. It was partly true after all.
Planting her foot back on the ground Yue sniffed at the remark, not saying anything more about it. No point. "Let's go." She repeated, turning to resume their northward march."
"We go? We go?" piped a tiny voice, the slate-coloured owner weaving in and out of the guardian's legs. Not the first time she'd spoken but possibly the first time it was anything coherent. Even it was a broken imitation of what her mother had said when it was time to leave the really loud place. Kelpie gazed down adoringly at the little one, previous hurt washed away by pride at the mirror's progress. Then both of them fell into step behind Yue to continue their journey.
They hadn't gotten far - truthfully they could have gotten further by this point but Iele would not leave that salamander alone and since Kelpie encouraged the little mirror to hunt it Yue had to finally kill it with a blast of air so they could move on - when a large shape, long and thin, flew overhead. The cherub-patterned pearlcatcher glanced up to see what it was, arching a brow to see a young imperial crossing the skies from the direction they were headed. Not too much of a surprise, simply unexpected. Redirecting her attention to the road ahead Yue was made to pause as the same shape came back over. Craning her neck she watched as the antlered dragon coiled around on itself and descended towards them. Great, now what had they done? It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume Iele, here she looked back at the mirror in question who was still busy playing with that damn lizard, had broken a wire or something when they weren't watching. The laughter shared by the small, lightningborn and her guardian died down, coming to a halt as the green-winged blue imperial came in to land.
"Hey! Are you guys headed to the Sunbeam Ruins by any chance?" he asked cheerily as he alighted in front of them with something of a flourish. The trio of girls stared at him.
"Uhh not particularly?" Yue responded slowly, unsure of what to make of the dragon before them. Not just because of his question; he appeared to have been suffering the same effect herself and Flora had - crystallized. And yet he was able to move and fly freely. She narrowed her eyes in a manner of both suspicion and mild jealousy.
"It's just that," the lanky imperial resumed with an odd edge to his words - was he hiding something? "you were headed north and there's kind of a forest that was set on fire that way and I kinda maybe promised that I'd help them out but I forgot all my water pals had left a few days ago and hey you're a water dragon aren't you?" he babbled until spotting that Kelpie's eyes were the deep-blue that signified the more aquatic flight. "Would you mind sorta maybe helping me out with this?" he shot her a hopeful sharp-toothed grin.
Yue and Kelpie remained wordless, the former staring in slack-jawed disbelief as the latter slowly attempted to process what had been said. A lazy gust of wind looped past, taking with it a small amount of loose sand and dust kicked up by Iele as she padded towards the bigger dragon. He was shiny like aunt Yuu's wings were but Yuu couldn't move her wings too well. She also hated Iele getting close to her so Iele never figured out why they were so shiny. They kind of looked like the shiny stones the big blue feathery dragon had in his den. Were they covered in stones? Or or or! Were they actually stone? She had to test this, slinking forwards on her belly with the intent to bite.
It was the imperial who broke the silence. "Okay seriously I reeeeeaaally really need you to help me." he pleaded, shifting his weight from paw to paw anxiously. To Iele's annoyance this took her target out of reach each time she attempted to clamp down, in the end giving up with a grumble and plonking herself down next to her mother to resume her game with the lizard. "I did promise to help but I can't on my own but I also really need to get back to the research lab so I can hand over my report. Not got much time here."
"I don't get why we should help you." the grey pearlcatcher countered. "I mean you're the idiot here who got himself into-"
"I think we should help!" Kelpie blurted, bounding forwards a little. "Don't you think it'd be nice to help someone Yue?"
Yue raised a claw to interject, ultimately biting back the words about to spill out. It would be good to get the centaur on side, particularly seeing they needed to go that way to get to the Sea of a Thousand Currents. Yet... "How do you plan to do that?"
That shut her up. The guardian deflated, no real answer coming to mind. "I thought maybe you'd know." she admitted lamely.
"We'll figure it out when we get there." the male cut in, unfurling his wings with the intent to fly back. "Come on! Let's go!" When neither stretched out their own wings and instead began to walk again he scowled. "Not like that!" he cried, waving his long wings to demonstrate. "Fly! It'll be so much faster."
Yue and Kelpie exchanged glances. Sorry to burst your impatient bubble," the plagueborn replied tiredly, "but my wings are sort of crystallised and my
friend," the word was ground out, not the one she would normally have used but calling her anything else might have been found questionable, "busted one of hers. Also we have a two-week-old hatchling who doesn't know how to fly. Walking it is." As if on cue Kelpie extended her damaged wing to reveal the mechanism attached to it and Iele scampered out from under her mother to stare up at the long, blue-green dragon with big, light-blue eyes.
The teal imperial gawked at them as if such a thing had never occurred before. Of all the dragons he had to meet he had to find probably the only three in the Shifting Expanse who couldn't fly. At least those who weren't snappers, no offence to those guys. "You... can't fly." he echoed. "You can't... that's... ugh!" he turned and paced back and forth a few times as if the motion would fix everything. When it didn't he turned back to the females. "Okay fine, we'll run instead. Now let's move!" With that he began running rather ungainly compared to the grace of his flight but still pretty impressive speed-wise before any objections could be made. Yue and Kelpie looked at each other again, shrugged and followed.
"That's... a lot of fire." Yue commented dryly as the scorched forest came into view, the blaze still burning strong further back. She shot Raijin a piercing glare. "Now what?"
The imperial withered with a nervous grin. "I, ah, kinda hoped we'd have thought of something by now." He cleared his throat as he tried to regain some composure. "I figured Kelpie would be able to use some water magic or something to help put it out."
"Don't give her ideas..." the pearlcatcher muttered to the lone male. Too late, Kelpie perked up at hearing her name.
"I can help! I know some magic!" she beamed triumphantly. "Mum and dad taught me before I left home."
"Perfect!" Raijin declared, motioning them to move in. "Then all you need to do is use that magic on the fire and we'll be done in no time."
The jade-scaled guardian bounced on the tips of her paws a moment then skipped happily after their new friend. Use your magic on the fire. Easy. Oh, wait. "Uhhh oops." she said, stopping suddenly.
Raijin looked over his shoulder at her. "What is it?"
He was met with a sheepish grin, the deep-blue eyes averted. "I need to be near water for it to work."
Scale met scale as the lightningborn brought a paw to his long face. "There's always gotta be something with you guys. First you can't fly, now you need water. What next? Need glitter to sleep?" A bit weird of a remark perhaps, though given the other limits it could well have made sense.
"No, glitter makes me sneeze." Yue clarified. "And sneezing keeps me awake. Come on you've got to admit that it makes perfect sense to be near water to use water magic."
"But lightning-born dragons can make electricity!" the imperial argued, a lance of electricity running up his antlers and fluffing his mane with static to prove the point. "And I heard that a plague-born's breath kills anything it comes in contact with."
Note to self, don't let her breathe on me.
"I guess it depends who's using it." the pearlcatcher replied with an odd sweetness to her tone. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned the plague breath thing.
Defeated the teal imperial motioned for them to follow. "Fine fine, there's a river on the other side of the forest. You can use that."
"What's your name?"
He whirled around, surprised by the question. Had he not told them? No, there hadn't been any reason to. He'd expected this to be quick: find a water dragon, have them put out the fire, everyone was happy and went their separate ways, the end. It was taking longer than he'd initially hoped though and it would be rude not to answer. "Raijin." He replied, a hint of pride in the word.
"Raijin, nice! I'm Kelpie." the guardian responded. "And this is Iele. She's my Charge. Say "hi" Iele." She reached down to nudge the mirror with her snout.
"Ai!" Iele squeaked with a toothy grin, dropping the salamander on the ground then reaching to pick it up again. "Ai!" she repeated, muffled by the reptile.
"Cute." Raijin commented with a smile. "And you...?" he said to Yue.
"Yue."
The imperial blinked. "I already said my name is-"
"My name is Yue!" the pearlcatcher almost shouted. That joke was old the first time she understood that it was a joke back at the Scarred Wasteland. "Y-U-E. Yue."
"Jeez fine." Raijin replied with mock-annoyance. He thought it was a good joke personally.
"And what's with the way you said it anyhow?"
"What do you mean?"
"What's so special about your name to make you sound so proud about it?"
"Well..." Raijin drawled, purposefully drawing out the word much to the real annoyance of the pearlcatcher. ""Raijin" is the name whatever creatures came before dragon and beastclan called Stormcatcher. Something about God of Lightning anyway. That can only mean Bossman. Therefore I'm named after Bossman in the language of that ancient creature. Pretty neat right?"
"...Just show us where the river is." Came the unimpressed reply.
It was a surprise to Yue to see her larger companion actually proving to be useful apart from keeping the slate monster away from her. Her red eyes widened in awe as Kelpie managed to draw the water out of the river, forming it into a wavering orb and then tossing it at a fire-smothered tree. The result of the opposing elements was an explosion of steam and a load hissing sound, followed by a light cracking all accompanied by the dripping of liquid. When the off-white cloud dispersed it revealed the blackened husk of the tree, cracks in the bark belaying the orange heat still trapped inside. Steam continued to rise as water dribbled out of the ragged holes, running over the hot wooden skin. Iele squeaked with fright, ducking behind her adoptive mother's thick green legs from where she peered out cautiously.
"That. Was. Awesome!" Raijin whooped jubilantly. Then he pointed towards another tree. "Let's do that again. Keep it up!"
Spurred on by her accomplishment Kelpie guided more water into the air, forming a much bigger ball this time. Iele liked that part, jumping out of hiding to revel in the droplets falling from the ball, letting them fall on her like rain and catching some in her mouth until it was tossed into the fire. The same effect from before only amplified followed, a gout of steam rose thickly into the skies amidst the black smoke, hissing and popping. Something cracked loudly, a branch falling perhaps. That's when Yue's ears shot up, eyes widening again not in awe but realisation of what was happening. This couldn't continue. Not only was it slow, it was damaging what was left of the forest under the force of the water being thrown at it. She turned to speak only to be drowned out by Raijin's encouragement and cheers.
"Awesome! Keep going! More!"
Yue tried again. Too late. As the words to stop left her muzzle the guardian somehow managed to redirect what seemed like half the river's flow into the forest. A giant wave arced over the four dragons, splashing down hard onto the trees. It rushed in amongst the foliage, uprooting what few plants had managed to survive or even thrive in the fire's wake. Weaker trees toppled, breaking from the impact or each other's weight as they fell upon themselves. Even the imperial had ceased in his exuberance at the sight as Kelpie continued to drown the landscape.
"Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no." He panicked, hopping from side to side as the same realisation struck him. If that wave continued, what was left of the centaur's camp would be flooded, washed away. And then he'd be in trouble. A shock of red made him snap his attention to the glowering pearlcatcher. No words were spoken, he simply leapt into the air where he flew in the direction he'd seen the spearman earlier. Yue in the meantime tackled Kelpie in attempt to make her stop her magic, explaining to her what would happen if she kept it up the way she was. The magic stopped and the water receded, drenching the trio as it passed over and returning to its rightful course.
"Idiot, idiot, IDIOT." Yue screeched from her perch on Kelpie's side, having managed to topple to startled guardian. "What were you
thinking?!"
"I was... helping..." Kelpie murmured meekly, not quite grasping what had gone wrong. The plague pearlcatcher simply made a disgusted sound, hopped down and slumped in the sodden grass, tail flicking irritably. She was helping, yet she'd done something wrong again. Kelpie lay in the puddle that was forming around her, resting her head on the ground as she thought hard. It didn't make sense. Tears threatened to leave her eyes. Iele was playing in the puddles, having fun. That made her feel better.
It was a fair while before Raijin returned, on foot this time and trailed by a brown-and-white centaur male carrying a spear made of copper. The horse-man's expression was unreadable, Rai's that of a child waiting to be scolded for being naughty. Yue rose to her feet, shaking moisture out of her furry mane and tail as she trotted over to join them. Kelpie remained motionless in her puddle, Iele having a whale of a time clambering on top of the guardian and slipping back down again. The repeated actions made the waterborn's scaly skin slick, perfect for sliding on. Neither looked at the approaching pair.
"These are the ones?" Tarl asked, voice as devoid of emotion as his painted face was. Raijin nodded weakly as the centaur gestured at the girls, then hung his head shamefully. The spearman nodded in response, the wet earth squelching under his hooves as he closed the gap between himself and the other dragons. He gave Yue a pointed look when she fell into step beside him, noting that she was trying her best to remain emotionally neutral. It wasn't working well, he could see the anger in her narrow red eyes. Kelpie did not stir when he approached her. Iele, distracted by the appearance of the strange creature, fell at an odd angle, landed noisily in the water and scurried under a big, red wing where she cowered in fright. This made the guardian tilt her head to regard the centaur. A trickle of liquid escaped her eye, rolling down her cheek where it joined the lines of water splashed over her face.
"I'm sorry." was all she whispered before rolling her head back onto the ground, watching the wisps of steam and smoke dancing in the air above them. Significantly less smoke this time, she noticed.
Silence filled the damp air for a time, no one sure of what to say. Yue twitched her whiskers, gazing off to watch the now-calm river as it flowed by. Raijin loitered at a distance, flicking his deer-like ears and generally not wanting to be there. Kelpie stayed laying on her side with Iele huddled under a wing, watching warily.
"My home is destroyed." Tarl finally spoke, soft but firm. Yue's eyes narrowed further. Raijin flinched. "First by fire caused by one of your kind. By dragons. Then again by water, brought upon us by you." Kelpie sniffed audibly, her large body trembling.
"I-it was my fault!" the imperial blurted, cantering over to join the group. "I told her to do it. I thought it would help with the fire. I didn't mean to... to wash everything away." He drooped, feeling a complete tool.
Tarl regarded the crystal-like blue dragon stonily. Then continued, "The blaze destroyed much of the forest. The flood prevented the rest from dying." All eyes went to him at that. His closed and he lowered his head. "Our camp is in ruins, this land unfit for a new one. However the water will soon drain and life will once again flourish. It will take much time but the wintermane will have a place here again the meantime, he cracked a wry grin, "it will make for good farmland."
A dumbfounded Yue blinked a few times before speaking. "You mean... you're
happy about this?"
"Not happy exactly. We still have nowhere to live until the forest dries out. However the ash formed from the fire now soaked into the ground will make the earth more fertile, rich in nutrients good for growing crops and plants for animals to feed on. Many trees survived the blaze and the forest will soon regrow. It will take time but it'll be better when that time comes." The centaur extended a hand towards Yue, who stared at it a moment before taking it her paw and shaking. A gesture she wasn't accustomed to. Tarl turned and did the same for a relieved Raijin, waved farewell to the group and trotted back into the scorched forest.
"...So I did good?" Kelpie asked, fixing Yue with a hopeful look.
"You did
something." replied the bewildered pearlcatcher as she watched the centaur leave. "I'm not sure what exactly, but you did it. Oh and do us all a favour and don't use your water magic for a while, hm?"
A few moments later, after refilling on water at the river, the group were found following the bank eastward. It would've been a simple matter to swim across the water, however yue didn't trust the weight of her wings and outright refused to be carried by Kelpie or Raijin. So the next best option was to find somewhere to cross. None of them had said much since the incident, still lost for words at the event. Yue still wanted to question the imperial for his condition yet it didn't feel like the right time. Another question took its place.
"Didn't you say you had a report to hand in?"
Raijin baulked as if not expecting the question. "Did I say that?" He smiled at her. And it quickly faded under her scrutiny despite being half his size. "Ugh okay fine I did. I don't really need to go hand it over though, it wouldn't make a difference."
"Why not? After our time spent at the lightning farm I assumed all lightningborn to be diligent on their work."
"We are. For the most part. Or rather everyone is to the point where several dragons have the same job. I'm the fastest of those who do my route but it doesn't matter if I'm the one who hands in or not. Probably for the best. I'm usually going too fast to catch everything anyway, heh." A total lie of course. Not that there were many doing the same job, that was true. All data was good data when it came from multiple sources. It'd hurt a little not to have his report. A little. At least he hoped so and that no one would come after him to have him exalted.
Yue rolled her eyes at that. It didn't sound out of the ordinary however given how busy lightning dragons tended to be. That said. "So why are you still here?"
"You got me. Actually I don't know. Guess I wanted to see something that isn't sand, cactus, rock or machinery."
"Have you never been outside the Expanse?"
"A couple times maybe. Not long enough to really experience it. And that's what I want, an experience. Like Kelp over there flooding the forest. That was cool."
Just then, as if summoned by the very word, hoof-beats approached rapidly from behind causing the pair to turn around to investigate. Tarl cantered up, slowing to trot then to walk until he was level with them, breathing hard. "I'm glad I found you, dragons." Yue and Rai exchanged glances. "Do not fear, it is not to chastise you further about the forest. Here antlered one." He withdrew an object from a pouch at his flank, something none of them had noticed previously. Maybe he hadn't even had it? "This was left behind shortly before the fire broke out. I have reason to believe it belongs to the one who started it." Raijin reached out tentatively to take the object, round and metallic. Glove-like. Lightning-made? Maybe, though it didn't fit any breed of dragon he knew. Traces of arcane energy could be felt. Perhaps a child of the Arcanist.
"Thank you." Raijin spoke, then tilted his head. "Why give it to us though?"
A hint of amusement danced in Tarl's eyes. "I recall you mentioning that you wanted to find the cause of the fire yourself. This may help you with that."
"Oh right. I did." It had been meant as a means to throw the angry equine off when they first met. Now he apparently was being sent on a quest. "What of my- What of the other imperials that were terrorising you?"
"Gone." the spearman concluded. "They got bored of their game and flew away before your allies caused the flood."
Damn, wish those morons had gotten caught in it. "That's good. If they have any brains they won't come back."
"We hope the same, Raijin of the dragons. I wish you well in your search. Fare thee well." And with that, he was gone save for a rhythmic beating of hooves fading into the distance.
Raijin watched him go, then turned to Yue and over at the oblivious Kelpie currently leaving them behind, then back to Yue. "So... you kinda maybe wanna help me with this?"
Yue covered her eyes with a paw.
---
I may(be kinda sorta) have made up the part about the forest being more fertile with the ash and water thing. I did hear that somewhere in the world lands were rich and fertile after being showered with soot from a volcano so I tied it in a little. Likely incorrect but who cares this is Sornieth not Earth.