Auryon leaned backwards, staring at the sky and flopping far enough so that she was fully laying down on her horse. It was hardly proper riding posture, but after the days in a row they'd already spent riding, she honestly couldn't care less.
Jack had left them not long after the cave excursion, and once he'd departed, Auryon and James started making their way to the Western Isles because James had a friend or something down there. She wasn't sure, exactly, because she hadn't been paying attention and Apophis hadn't, either, but in the end it didn't really matter. They'd always be going somewhere and it's not like she knew James' world well enough to care where "somewhere" was.
The sun hung high overhead in a cloudless sky. It looked as though it should've been eighty degrees--the sort of weather one would have some indecent swimming in--but despite its appearance, it was actually quite cold this far north in the letter-place. Letteran? Lettera? Letterin? Something like that.
At least it kept Apophis quiet.
"Can't you at least try to conserve some body heat?"
An unamused silence met her and she smirked as she clasped her fingers behind her head. It was wonderful how horses tended to follow each other and were self-steering. She hardly had to do anything but stay on and let it follow James unless hell broke loose.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James glanced back at Auryon, raising a brow at her comment. He sat in front of her in the grass, working on picking berries off a branch he ripped off a bush. Half the berries were inedible. He just had to look through them.
Elliot inched a little closer to him, munching on grass by his leg. James pet the side of Elliot's face and scratched under his chin.
"As always," she replied, grunting a little as she pulled herself back into a sitting position and leaned to the side until she was eye-level with him. "What're those?"
"Berries."
"I didn't ask you, Captain Obvious," she grumbled as her horse shifted its weight. She let out a yelp at the unexpected movement and grabbed its withers to keep herself from falling from her awkward position, squeezing her legs to keep her place and causing the beast to sidle to the side in agitation. She quickly scrambled back to a sitting position that was a bit more practical for the situation even as the beast steadied out again.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Fine, thanks, so long as I don't die from this creature," she replied. "And obviously they're berries. Do they have a name? Or do you just have generic 'berries' here? What about strawberries, blueberries, berries-that-murder-you, literally anything more specific than 'berries'?"
She wasn't sure why she bothered with such idle chit-chat, and if she was honest with herself, she probably didn't want to. Such questions usually led to painful conclusions that she'd rather avoid, even if it was through a wholly pointless discussion about berries.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James looked down at the berries he was collecting in the palm of his hand.
"Well, they're wild blessberries, if that holds any significance for you. They're edible and won't kill you, unless for some reason, you're allergic, I guess."
As he said so, he plucked the last of the worthy berries from the branch and tossed the branch to the ground. He slowed Elliot's pace so that he was riding beside Auryon and offered out his hand.
Uh, Lisa, the whole reason we have elected officials is so we don't have to think all the time. Just like that rainforest scare a few years back: our officials saw there was a problem and they fixed it, didn't they? — Homer Simpson
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