Aether Beasts

When Misty arrived back from cleaning herself, I'd redressed and was feeling much better. I hadn't realized just how much I'd needed something like that, though it was unfortunate that she hadn't let me do the same for her, though she was right in that neither of us wanted to be caught by Misty.

"Ermm, Zirani, I'm clean," Misty said in a meek voice.

"Good, you can relax if you want," Zirani replied. "We're going to wait a bit longer before we wake Sandra. It's risky but if we wake her now, then she might flag too soon and we'll just be forced to stop again."

"Have you been checking the area?" I asked.

"Of course, there isn't anything nearby, and from what I could tell it seemed like the four we killed were the quickest they had, though that's just an educated guess."

At the mention of the four hunters, Misty's face fell, but before she could talk, Zirani walked over and placed a comforting hand on the girl, leaning in to whisper something.

The blonde nodded and took a deep breath, calming herself.

I raised an eyebrow, but all I got from Zirani was a shake of her head. I shrugged. As much as I wanted to know if Zirani thought I didn't need to or thought it was better if I learned later then I would trust her judgment. After all, she'd never steered me wrong before.

"Do you mind telling me where the stream is?" I asked. "I wouldn't mind getting clean myself."

A sniff at my armpits informed me that I stank of sweat, and I didn't need to examine myself to know I was dirty. The robes I had on were self-cleaning, but I wasn't.

Zirani told me where to go, and after a promise to her that I wouldn't exert myself or try any techniques I headed towards the stream. I heard Misty's voice as I walked away from them, and I was almost tempted to move back and listen in, but Zirani would know so that wasn't a possibility.

The stream that she had talked about wasn't too large or small and led down into a little brook. It wasn't too deep, but deep enough that I could clean myself fairly easily. I quickly undressed and set my clothes off to the side, keeping my ring on. If I remembered correctly then I had a towel in there I could use to dry myself.

The water was cold and sent a shock through me when I stepped in, but it was just what I needed as I felt some of my tiredness and drowsiness fade. It didn't take long to clean myself, and I wasn't eager to stay in the cold water so I was out in under ten minutes, summoning a towel to dry myself off before I put my clothes back on.

I didn't immediately head back to Zirani, instead just sitting down and taking a moment to relax in peace and quiet. The forest was silent for the most part, only the occasional rustle disturbing the peace as the wind blew across the trees and greenery. Times like this made it hard to believe we were on the run from a sect that was out to kill us, but it was true, and if we didn't get to safety then we wouldn't survive long.

Worry moved across our bond along with what I thought was the equivalent of a questioning look. I sent back a feeling of reassurance as I got to my feet and headed back towards the others.

"How was it?"

"Refreshing," I replied. "Is she still not awake?"

Zirani shook her head. "If she doesn't wake in the next ten minutes, I'll have to wake her. Rest is good and all, but I want to be moving before it gets too dark."

"How far away are we?"

"From what Sandra told me before she passed out, we're about three days and a half away, but that's at a fast walk. When she wakes we're going to increase our pace."

"Zirani?" Misty's voice was soft and hesitant. "When are you going to do that… thing you said?"

"When we rest for the night," Zirani replied. "I'm probably going to have to carve it on your back."

To my surprise, Misty didn't look scared or shocked. "Anything. I d-don't w-want to d-die when we reach the camp." ƒ𝒓e𝐞we𝚋𝙣ｏ𝚟𝚎𝘭.co𝙢

She stuttered on a few words and I marveled at the difference between who she was now, and the beast she'd been. It's like they were two entirely different people.

"Is it time to go," a voice butted into the conversation and we all looked to see Sandra slowly getting to her feet. "I feel like shit."

"Not surprising," Zirani said. "You broke an arm and exhausted your body and aether."

"Yeah, at least I didn't die though, thanks to miss bitey over here."

Misty winced and Zirani shot Sandra a warning look.

"Miss bitey is the only reason you're alive. She may have almost killed you before, but now she's saved all of our lives so I think things are even, don't you?"

Sandra lowered her head with a sigh. "Yeah, I'm sorry blondly. I'm just a bit cranky because of everything that's happened."

"It's ok," Misty replied. "I know I'm a—"

"Not a monster," Zirani said, cutting Misty off.

Misty looked like she wanted to argue but lowered her head and nodded.

Despite the clear back and forth, that was going on, I just ignored it as I was still tired and just didn't have it in me to ask what was going on or get involved. Plus it looked like Zirani had it under control.

"Should we go?" I asked.

"Yes," Zirani said, turning to Sandra. "If you would kindly lead the way."

As we resumed our trek to safety. I couldn't help but think of what could possibly happen next.. I hoped there were no more problems but who knew if our streak of bad luck was done.