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NORTH CARAVAN TRAIL - LATE AFTERNOON
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Bracvar: The area North of Respite was far removed from the barren desert, sparse trees and tall grasses surrounding the road as the mountains close in on the narrowing valley. The caravan had been moving along at a very good pace for the last few days, though without much in the way of excitement either. Bracvar was leaning into the bar of his cart, more a gesture of boredom than exhaustion. Unlike Dorri and Yengrisk, he was stuck in his place at the back of the line, and the back of the empty cart ahead of him wasn't a particularly good conversationalist.
Yengrisk trudges along next to the cart Bracvar is pushing. The yak is no stranger to this sort of hike so seems to be having no difficulty keeping up. They wander upward a bit, approaching Bracvar curiously.
Bracvar huffs to himself, his tendrils puffing out away from his face for a moment before he notices the yak catching up beside him. He straightens up, grinning. "Oh there you are! I thought you'd be up with the other tag-alongs right now."
Yengrisk shakes their head a bit with a smile. "Nah, yak is fine right here, yes? Is crab fellow handling the cart well? Yak hopes it is not too much."
Bracvar shakes his head, chuckling. "No, this is a pretty light load, see?" He leans back, maintaining the cart's momentum with one arm pushing, though it was clearly harder to keep straight this way, so he went back to pushing it properly. "Of course, it keeps itself moving pretty well."
Yengrisk ahhs a bit, looking over the cart. "You are a strong one then, yes? Yak has not seen anyone like you before."
Bracvar shrugs a bit. "Must be all the swimming, my people are built for ocean life, so moving through air is a breeze." He chuckles a bit at his own pun, "But most of my people tend to stick to the water, it's comfortable. How about you? What brings you out to Bairnell's Foothold?"
Yengrisk grins. "Yak is looking for experts in magic! Or... anyone who knows magic, yes? Yak assumed there would be a research outpost or the like, but no luck finding one so far."
Bracvar tilts his head a bit. "Magic? Out this way? I suppose there could be someone, that sort of news doesn't usually catch my attention. "If I may ask, what do you need a mage for?"
Yengrisk rubs their shaggy chin a bit. "Yak wants to learn to bring magic back to yaks, yes? Yak knows a little magic, but does not understand why."
Bracvar looks a bit surprised. "You've got natural talent? Excellent! What sort did you get blessed with?"
Yengrisk takes a moment to focus. Their tongue peeks out between their lips a bit i nconcentration, the tips of their long, curved horns glow softly, causing their glasses to tilt upward on their horn mount, then settle back down into their normal position. "Yak can move objects a bit, yes? Nothing too large, but if yak focuses, can push and lift things."
Bracvar watches in wonder, grinning when the demonstration is complete. "Magnificent! You can do that much without a teacher? I'd like to see what your real potential is in that case."
Yengrisk smiles and stands a bit taller, a real look of pride in their stance. "Yak wants to know too! So yak has searched for other magic users to learn from, but magic is big secret, yes? Or else yak is just not looking in the right places."
Bracvar nods, looking ahead of himself to keep on track with the caravan. "That's true, even travelling merchants like me don't meet very many natural magic users that are up front with their talents, but you can bet every single one of them sticks in my memory like old scars. Of course, many of them like to move about to keep from being hounded by locals looking for magical solutions to all their problems."
Yengrisk ahs, thinking back to their own trip across the continents. "Maybe this is why yak is having such trouble finding them. Yak has been pestered to show off magic too, yes? But cannot do much of use with it yet."
Bracvar hums to himself for a moment, then looks to Yengrisk. "Don't let others get you down or deter you, though! Build that talent, I guarantee it will make you happy, how could it not?"
Yengrisk nodnods. "Yak will! Magic would be a great thing to bring back to the herd, yes?"
Bracvar chuckles, leaning a bit into the pushbar as they begin climbing a mild incline. "Excellent! Your determination is certainly inspiring, Yengrisk."
Yengrisk tilts their head to the side a little in thought. "Does crab friend have a herd?"
Bracvar considers the question. "Do you mean a family, or a community?"
Yengrisk ums, taking a moment to parse the question. "Yes?"
Bracvar pauses, then laughs a deep guffaw. "Well, alright then! Let's see... I had a mother and father of course, but they're long gone now. Had two brothers and two sisters... Now one sister. Then there is my lady who gave me three beautiful children..." He gets quieter and less cheerful as he lists his family, trailing off for a long moment before he glances at Yengrisk and coughs to break his own silence. "Enough about them, tell me about your herd!"
Yengrisk follows along as Bracvar talks about his relations, then brightens a bit when their turn comes up. "There are many yaks in Yew Grove, yes? Where would yak even start to describe?" Yengrisk starts listing off quite the variety of fellow yaks, never quite specifying their relation exactly, but classifying them more in terms of relative age.
Bracvar nods along, his mood improving as they go. "Wow, that's an incredible group you have! You must miss them during your travels, hm?"
Yengrisk nodnods, this shake enough to dislodge their glasses again. They take a moment to put them back into place. "Yak does, yes! But all yaks must go out into the world to find something to bring back and learn from it, to make all yaks better."
Bracvar: "Ah, a truly noble tradition! Haven't heard anything like that before, but the benefits are obvious. And now I understand, you're not learning magic for selfish reasons or to exploit others, you're taking on such a huge task to benefit your entire herd." He nods, a warm smile hidden behind his tendrils, but peeking through from the corners of his eyes. "Honestly, I admire you quite a lot."
Yengrisk blushes, though as ever it's hard to recognize through their thick coat. "Thank you, crab friend! Yak just wants to do right."
Bracvar relaxes as the hill crests, leaning away from the bar. He grins at Yengrisk, stomping the ground a couple times. "Not to change the subject, but that marks the highest point of our trip, as well as the midpoint. We're halfway there and it's mostly downhill!"
Yengrisk oohs, looking out over the route ahead of them. "So it sounds like the hardest part is done, yes?"
Bracvar tips his head side to side, humming indecisively. "Well... The easiest walking, sure, and there will be far more shade in the forests beyond the mountain pass, but at the same time the forests aren't exactly tame. Of course, nobody is transporting any especially ripe smelling food, so maybe the wild beasties will leave us be, but bandits prefer shinier trinkets..."
Yengrisk frowns a bit. "Yak hopes we don't have to face bandits. Fighting is not Yengrisk's strongest talent, yes?"
Bracvar chuckles. "Nor mine, as you might have seen." He turns on an angle, displaying the back of his protective half-shell carapace. The 'skin' of it is riddled with damage, most of which is natural, but among the crowd of coral tears and predator scarring, many straight, narrow lines checker the strong armor.
Yengrisk looks ahead to the other carts and the guard that have come along. "Maybe we'll get there with no problems. That would be nice, yes?"
Bracvar nods, returning to pushing the cart along. "Hopefully, I've asked that one of them joins us at the rear for that part of the journey, anyways. Should probably remind them of that when we stop for the night."
Yengrisk nods a bit. "The guards know what they're doing, yes. Yak is optimistic."
Bracvar: "Hopefully, anyways. I haven't seen Brunilda, which is concerning. Either my eye is still far gone, or she's not joined the caravan after all. A little disappointing that Nesseth couldn't accompany us, too. His first time guarding a caravan to Respite was tagging along with my fish cart." He smiles as he begins telling the story of meeting Nesseth, painting the lizard in a heroic light, though some details of the trip may be embellished after all these years...
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OUTSIDE MINNOW - EARLY EVENING
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Annika slips out of the window to her room, she had said she was tired, and was going to sleep early and set up a little bulge in the blankets. She then slipped out the back window... awkwardly due to her broken arm, but she was an athletic fox naturally, so it was only minor stumbling as she jumped down. That done, she head out into the streets. She had somewhere important to be.