Something Strange is Happening in the South...

Fah'lin rises with the others and sets about casting prestidigitation several times to clean any dirt or grime from the previous day and night. "I can be ready to depart in a moment. But why must we leave the horses? They can be led into the magic if the tree is of sufficient size. That is if the spell works at all."

In the midst of the discussion about mode of transport, Rolana hears a voice within her mind requesting the status of the party and its mission. She quickly updates His Majesty's mages on the unexpected encounter with the bulette and the even more surprising discovery of the black crystal, its magic-suppressing qualities, and the results of Oma Salie's attunement to it. She also informs them that Ryestro and Tinwe are currently not with the party, their whereabouts unknown.

The voice asks her if they are preparing to investigate the strange pyramid that erupted from the ground outside of Fort Naleth, and how soon they can get underway. Rolana says that the party is still debating whether to go to Fort Naleth or directly to Southwatch, and also whether to travel by ground/flight or via plants. The voice instructs her to get the decisions now so that they can relay the destination plans to Ryestro and Tinwe, wherever they are.

To the party, she says, The King's magicians are requesting information about our plans and are standing by for an immediate response, so that they can contact our missing party members and tell them what we are going to do.

If we can take our mounts with us, then I think we should travel by plants. It's the fastest means of transport at our disposal. I also think we should go to Fort Naleth first before Southwatch, because the structure that came up from the ground is almost certainly related to this whole business, and investigating it is likely to yield more information. The more we know before heading to Southwatch, the better prepared we will be to deal with the situation there.

She waits expectantly for a consensus, prepared to relay it to the mages promptly.

"As it happens, you're in luck. I caught up to you by arborwalking, and I can bring us closer to Southwatch still," Pyrrha saunters towards Rolana, allowing herself to be the slightest bit smug. "If I remember correctly, there is a particularly proud oak in the centre of the city." She pauses for a moment, then resumes the same graceful and commandingly regal air she assumed at the palace, addressing the gathered champions around her. "I can take us there posthaste, or somewhere else entirely. If memory serves, a shy grove of elms reside atop a hill overlooking the city. Alternatively, I know a gruff, twisted old willow just outside Fort Naleth." She shifts her gaze over to Oma Salie, and dips her head slightly. "If this mysterious crystal continues to hamper our magical efforts, I may have to ask you to pass it to me, at least for the time it takes to transport us," she says softly, a glint of affection shining in her eye. She gives a clandestine gesture towards Rolana for her to come closer, and then whispers abashedly, "If it's not too much to ask, Spymaster, could you... omit my appearance here in any missives you send...?" For but a moment, her regal bearing is disarmed. She had come to trust the royal spymaster as a child, and found her easy to confide in.

Smiling at Pyrrha, Rolana whispers, Certainly, my dear. Your whereabouts are no one's business but your own.

Oma Salie, I think you should consider temporarily giving up your attunement to the crystal and allowing our friend here to attune to it. Then she can transport us to our destination without difficulty.

Slowly sipping the tea Aetoris gave her Oma starts to lose her bad mood a bit. She listens to Rolana and almost starts to comment on the problem with traveling through plants when Pyrrha talks first. She grits her teeth at the tone Pyrrha uses and takes another sip of her tea before answering, choosing the right words. She stands up and points a finger at Pyrrha, her bad mood clearly not gone away fully by the half cup of tea she had.
Now, you listen to me very carefully, child. You chose to rebel against your father's wishes and be one of us, you better start acting like one of us, instead of this royal Highness stuff you're giving. It's one or the other, you can't be both. You are not above us, if something you are the rookie. I have never traveled with you before, I don't know you at all, and you tell me to hand over the crystal like a mother tells her child to hand over its toy? You can start by showing some respect for the elderly!
She turns to the others and sighs. She is right though, if we decide to walk through a tree she has to be the one attuned to the crystal or I can't get through. So IF we do this I suggest we tell Ryestro and Tinwë to meet us here so we have time to get that sorted out. We should go to Fort Naleth and it makes sense to want to speed things up with what's happening. But on the other hand we did find one crystal so far, who knows how many more there could be on our way there that we might miss? This bulette was far away from our destination, a crystal put in his head. If we skip the travel we risk missing other creatures like this, leaving them to the innocent people around here to deal with and you saw how well that worked for that poor blacksmith.
The king ordered us to go to Celeria and travel by horse even though we could've gone straight into Southwatch, he's not in such a hurry to get us there. If we find another crystal we could start practicing penetrating the shields with our magic and that could be very useful. She holds out her hands as if weighing one against the other.
I will hand over the crystal if we go that way, but I truly think a pyramid rising from the ground is as alarming as losing all connection with a city. We went the slow and safe way then and got rewarded, why throw that chance away now?
With that she sits back down and picks up her cup of tea, inhaling its aroma before taking another sip. This is good tea Aetoris, but you learned from the best, so I shouldn't be surprised...

Tinwë arrives just in time to hear Oma's tongue-lashing. She winces at the flower on Pyrrha's face, but sidles up next to her cousin and puts an arm around her. "Easy, cousin. You haven't spent as much time around people like these. Traveling companions have to be able to trust each other and get along."

Tinwë's own brow furrows as she remembers traveling with Ryestro. That enigmatic 'mystery is my allure' sociopathic - whatever. Now is not the time.

She gestures to the surrounding champions. "We are all equals here, Pyrrha. You'll get used to it, and you'll find you like it, I promise."

Tinwë steps away from the young druid and turns to the group. "From what I heard just now, this crystal is dangerous - not only because of its nature, but also because of how much we don't know about it. We must assume our enemies - whoever they are - have complete understanding of its uses and are currently using it against us to the best of their ability. We do not even know how many steps behind we are in this game, and that terrifies me." Her voice is somber. "We need to get caught up as quickly as we can. I say we move forward with all speed."

Discreetly, while breaking camp and taking care of the horses, Kuz passes beside Pyrrha and puts an hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry Liavavle Princeukuk, being new in group sometime difficult. Kuz know, but learn trust them, and them trust you after. Only need time. I trust you, you like your mother." Kuz makes a friendly, if somewhat scary, smile and goes back to his tasks.

When Oma breaks away from her dressing down of the princess and comments on his tea, he smiles at her. Come here Oma, it's time for one of those "army talks" again. he says, resting his hand between her shoulders like he's done countless times over the last century or two. When they are a few feet off from everyone else, he kneels down, so they are closer to face-to-face.

You weren't - aren't - wrong about what you said, nor how you said it. There isn't a soul in this group I'd trust my life to over you. Not for all the time we've spent together. I need you to trust me right now. The crystal, you've mentioned somewhat of its powers. How it prevents you from being affected by magics that aren't your own. We do need to get to Fort Naleth quickly. Yes, the king okayed us to use horses for the week long trip, I was there for the decision. But your crystal changes that. With that kind of power, we need to get to that fort so the mages there can help us study its effects. I know you don't like it, but if I have to, I will stop making tea for you. For right now, break the connection to the crystal. Give it to Pyrrha, at least long enough to get us through this weird plantwalking thing she wants us to do. Once we're through, I personally swear you will get the crystal back. Remember the time we fought the werebears that were stopping you from collecting the honeywelt? You didn't like having to part with that walking stick of yours then, but a few minutes later, we had a dead werebear and enough honeywelt to open a roadside stand selling honeytonics. Please, Oma Salie, if you've ever trusted me, trust me now? You should be the one to tell Pyrrha the deal with the crystal and how it only lasts as long as it takes to get us all to Fort Naleth for this time. If we have to plantwalk again, we'll likely have to do the same nonsense for a while, unless you have some way to attune to my teleportation hat and we can do some finagling that way. But let's not pluck that flower til it blooms, yeah? He finishes softly, squeezing her shoulder while searching her eyes for any dissent.

Provided Oma at least gives some acknowledgement, Aety will stand and guide them back to the group, letting Oma talk.

Oma huffs, crossing her arms in front of her chest while Aetoris moves her away from the group. When he speaks to her she relaxes quickly, listening to her old friend, only almost interrupting him by mumbling you vile... when he mentions the tea. She frowns a bit at the werebear story, sighing heavily in the end.
She reminds me of Rozemarijn when she was young. Always pretending the world revolves around her. Gave Tijm a lot of headaches and sleepless nights, my poor boy. That damned girl always drove me crazy, commanding the others around, just assuming she'd get her way and screaming her head of if she didn't. I won't allow that Aety, she's not anyone's superior here. You know I love anyone with a strong mind, following their own dreams, but not like this! She sighs again and shakes her head with a chuckle. But you are probably right. Getting to Forth Naleth fast is the best way forward and only if I loan the crystal to that girl, so I will. Probably best to let those mages have a look at it too... Who knows they might've found some in the area and we can make our side even stronger. She takes the crystal from her backpack, feeling the weird connection intensify a bit the moment she touches it. She turns to walk over to Pyrrha to tell her she'll hand it over to her, temporarily, then chuckles again and looks up at Aetoris. Oh, and don't think I'll forget you offered your helmet!

Ok, Pyrrha, I'll need a minute to disconnect, then you can have it. When we arrive at Forth Naleth we should let the mages have a look at it so they also know what we're dealing with. Now, follow me, I need a quiet place to do this. She walks to one of the apple trees a bit away from the group and sits down. She stares at the crystal for a second before closing her eyes, pulling back the magic it took from her, feeling the part of her consciousness left in there flow back too. Once the last bit of the connection is gone she hands the crystal to Pyrrha and gets up, leaving her alone to attune without another word.

Pyrrha stands as still and upright as a post against Salie's verbal onslaught. Her eyes widen, and she seems genuinely more afeared of the gnome berating her than she did staring down the gigantic earth-shark the previous evening. In her head, a million memories assail her simultaneously: images of A'amun, the imposing druid who had first taught her to speak to the wild spirits. Over and over, he scolds her for endangering the circle, or herself, or somehow displeasing him. His silhouette seems to hover over Oma's as she chides her arrogance. She continues in still silence, no longer hearing the gnome's words as they wash over her, until she is thrust from her fear-dream by a familiar hand grasping her shoulder.

Tinwë's reassuring advice calms her a little, and she seems to breathe out for the first time in nearly a minute. Her head hangs, dejected. As the others continue to negotiate further, she detaches from the group, making herself small. She made a show of acquainting herself with Rolana's horse, wistfully stroking its snout. She resented that memories of the druids' chastisement still welled her eyes with tears and her heart with fear. It made her feel like a child. Her composure wasn't easily broken, and yet when such thoughts weaselled their way into her mind, they seemed to tear her up. She was angry with herself more than Salie, but it did not spread to her body - she simply looked forlorn.

Once again a hand grasps her shoulder - that is to say, almost the entire left half of her torso. It is less comforting than Tinwë's hand, but Pyrrha does not flinch. She looks Lajak in the eyes; two dark orbs like stones in rough-hewn rock. She gives a faint smile as he gives some consoling words, but her face lights up as he compares her to her own mother. The giant soon wanders away to some other task, but Pyrrha stands blushing, her eyes wide. Perhaps he had intended it as a simple compliment, but to her, it was all the affirmation she had ever needed.

She watches on as Oma severs her connection to the mysterious crystal. Less melancholy now, she still avoids eye contact with the gnome. As she takes the crystal from her hands, she nods along to her terse words. Taking the object to the same apple tree, she sits cross-legged at its base. She lays the crystal gently in a nook between two entangled roots. With one hand she touches the glassy surface, and with the other grasps the root. A direct interface with a friendly spirit always helped her attune. Over time, she feels her connection to her gloves fade. It was like painlessly losing a limb after having been attuned for so long. In the void left, she feels a twisted and knotted connected form with the crystal. The spirits seem to dislike it, but they no longer flee from it, she wonders, trying to glean anything further from the crystal that Oma's magic may have missed. After several hours, she stands up with the crystal in hand and returns to the group. "Have you decided where we are travelling?"