Lissa hated the rain. Especially heavy rain. It didn’t help that she had chosen the wrong raincoat. The small river of water running down the front of her face due to the dipping of her hood was irritating. “How are you holding up?” She asked while patting Meriweather’s neck, her hand producing small splashes of water. Meriweather neighed, dipping her head down toward the muddy road and back up in quiet exasperation. Lissa understood the message well enough, “I hate being dirty and wet!” Sighing, Lissa turned her eyes to the sky, the thick rain clouds blocking most of the light from the sun.

She saw no breaks in the clouds that stretched to the peaks of the mountains in the distance. “So how long do you think we should keep going before finding shelter?” she called over the din of horse hooves and rain. Lissa didn’t notice Darvick sidle up to her until he spoke, “I don’t know, ask Almios the time, and whatever time it is two hours from now.” The man didn’t appear fazed by the rain running down his face in the slightest. She shook her head after a moment of thought. Darvick raised an eyebrow causing his hood to move slightly and a cascade of water to fall down his face.

As it fell closer to his mouth he drank from the stream and Lissa shook her head with fondness. “What? It’s clean water. Though I think we should keep going for a bit longer than that.” Darvick waited for a reply and just saw Lissa stare at him wordlessly, sighing he pushed forward towards Almios and Garza who were leading. The clouds had seemed so far away when they left Fortwin yesterday. The clouds had pounced on them this morning, with only light rain at first which only increased the farther west they went. They had already passed a few groups who were hunkering down until this passed.

Those with tarped carts huddling in them, while some enterprising ones had found shelter in small copses of trees and had fires going. Lissa looked back down the road trying to recall exactly when she had seen the last good spot to shelter in. She bit her lip and couldn’t recall, “Blasted rain making the day melt together.” Off to her left some distance away she saw a lightning strike blinding her momentarily, the clap of thunder so loud it caused her ears to ring for a moment. Meriweather neighed in protest as the sound roared away from them.

“Wooooo!” Lissa heard Mera and Mela shout while looking in that direction. Out of all of them, they loved the rain, they didn’t even have their raincoats on letting the water soak them through. Their horses likewise basked in the rain and mess cheering with their riders. “Glad you are all enjoying the weather!” Lissa heard Saida shout from behind her. Lissa turned to look at Saida, and she felt the water that had begun to pool in her hood slide down her back. She shivered and saw Saida who looked angry, she knew it wasn’t at the twins but the weather.

Lissa couldn’t see Saida’s face with the hood drawn down so much. She also couldn’t fathom how Saida saw either, the hood covered everything but her mouth it seemed. Mera and Mela both blew raspberries at Saida who in return stuck her tongue out to them both. Lissa took a deep breath and turned back forwards, she wanted to go back to keep Saida company. But when it rained she always wanted either to be far out front of them or trail behind. She had always said it was for extra safety, but Lissa suspected it was something else. The one time she asked Saida about it she didn’t get a straight answer out of her.

Lissa knew better than to keep digging and hadn’t asked since then. Lissa looked at Darvick who was still talking to Almios, and now Micah who had crept up with them. “You want to keep going for a few more hours?” Lissa questioned after leaning down to Meriweather’s ear. Meriweather neighed and rolled her head in response, “I know you want to be dry, but I don’t think this rain is going to let up anytime soon.” Another neigh and head roll, “You will be fine, you have been through worse.” Meriweather turned to look at Lissa, “Yes, I am counting when we first met.”

Meriweather’s eye roll and little whiny made Lissa laugh. Another thunderclap passed over them, Meriweather made a noise in protest. “Yeah I know, worst comes to worst we make a barrier,” Lissa rubs Meriweather’s neck while Darvick comes back to her. “Well considering how this doesn’t seem to be letting up it probably wouldn’t hurt to settle in for a bit,” Darvick says while taking a sip from a flask he took from a hidden pocket.

He held it out for Lissa who took it and sipped, it was sweet and mellow. She gave it back to him, “Did you have to do any convincing?” Darvick chuckled, “Nope. Micah did it all,” he nodded towards Micah’s back, “It is also getting close to dark anyway according to Almios.” He looked to the sky before speaking again, “It’s just the blasted rain we have to worry about.” Darvick turned his gaze back to Lissa. “Unless you happen to have everything needed to put up a barrier right away we are gonna be waterlogged when we are done.”

“Ahem!” Lissa and Darvick turned to look at the twins who had made the noise. Mera held roughly a dozen sheets of vellum each one had runes covering it with only one spot on each blank. “We made these a while ago,” Mela said standing proudly on her saddle. Darvick squinted looking at the sheets, while Lissa looked to Mera and Mela. “Did you really have those made already? We could have used those to rest and keep dry until this rain ended,” Lissa said, it had taken her just a moment to realize the rune-work was for making a barrier.

Mera and Mela looked sheepishly at the ground while smiling. “That is impressive, I have to say. Well done Mera and Mela,” Darvick’s comment made their smiles widen. “Someone appreciates our work at least,” they both blew him a kiss. Lissa rolled her eyes, “I appreciate your work but you could have said something sooner, you know.” Mera and Mela both nodded, “We know, but at the same time we didn’t know how long this rain would last.” Mela pointed to the sheets, “We made these to last an entire day if needed.”

Darvick and Lissa looked at each other when Mela finished. “So you mean we could have stayed dry and warm this entire time?” Darvick asked while Lissa brought her fingers to her mouth and whistled to bring everyone to halt. “Yes, but we don’t know how long this storm will last, so we wanted to wait,” Mera interjected while everyone slowly closed ranks. Saida though stayed at least five meters away from everyone and brought her hood lower. “Alright so, if you haven’t already seen Mera and Mela have already prepared barrier runes that we can use to shelter from the storm. Do we stop here or wait to find trees?” Lissa asked, hoping to get a consensus.

Garza and Almios sighed loudly and looked down exasperated. Micah meanwhile went closer to inspect the runework, Saida stifled a laugh. “I mean we could continue a bit and watch for trees, I mean not having to set up tents on wet ground is great. Plus I would love to use my hammock,” Garza spoke up first while Almios nodded presumably in agreement. Lissa saw Micah pursing his lips while looking at the vellum, “I agree with Garza.” Lissa sighed with relief, while Mera and Mela simply shrugged, “We don’t care either way.” Darvick snorted, “That is only because you don’t care that you are soaking wet.” The twins shrugged. Lissa turned to look at Saida who still hadn’t answered.

“I think we should camp now, the sooner we do it the better. I don’t even know how long we have been going for today honestly,” Saida finally remarked, biting her lip immediately after. Before Lissa could say anything she heard a loud clap come from Garza which startled her slightly. “Well that settles it then, the majority want to find trees to stay in so we wait until we go until we find trees. Almios and I will go ahead and see if we can find any!” Almios barely had time to register Garza’s words before Garza took off down the road.

“Gods damn it, Garza!” Almios shouted angrily while prompting Gusto to follow Garza at speed down the road. “Well then, since those fools are going off ahead we should probably follow them,” Darvick remarked as a bolt of lightning struck about a dozen meters in front of Garza causing Alsra to rear back in surprise at the violent noise and flash of light. The rest of them looked at each other, silently for a moment. “At a safe distance of course.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After what felt like hours they had finally found a rather thick grouping of trees. Setting up the barrier had taken only a fraction of the time to set up thanks to the already prepared vellum Mera and Mela had made. While they had continued to this point Lissa had asked them a few questions about the runes and why a few spots on each piece were blank. They had said it was so few variables could be added into the barrier, height, thickness, what things could pass through it, and finally how opaque it was from the outside.

Lissa smiled, she had gotten over her initial disappointment about Mera and Mela not sharing this revelation sooner. Lissa looked up at the water hitting the barrier and running down it. It would be nice to have the sound of the rain when they slept. Meriweather nudged Lissa, “Sorry girl, I got distracted.” Meriweather whinnied in contentment as Lissa continued to brush the mud off her. It was soothing in a way, the rhythm of brushing combined with the steady pounding of the rain.

“Yes!” Lissa heard Micah shout from behind her, turning her head she saw that he had finally gotten a fire started. “Took long enough,” Saida said from the shadows of a nearby tree. She was still getting out of her waterlogged clothes. The others had already done so, either right out in the open like Mera and Mela, who sometimes didn’t even appear to have the concept of modesty at times. Or behind a quickly hung up bedroll acting as a curtain. Lissa had taken that approach and she was glad of it since Mera and Mela had quickly been scolded by Darvick about modesty and that sometimes people didn’t need to see that.

Lissa chuckled to herself, “You know I think they do things like that on purpose.” Meriweather rolled her eyes at Lissa’s whispered words and adjusted herself for a better brushing position. “I am almost done, patience is a virtue or so they say,” Lissa chided while continuing the rhythmic motions down Meriweather’s flank. A loud hiss and cry made Lissa whirl around just as she reached Meriweather’s belly. She found Micah covering his face as the hissing continued.

“Micah! I thought you had dry wood in the fire.” Micah looked back at Lissa incredulously. “I did! I took this from one of my covered saddlebags,” He pointed towards Tyta who gazed at him for a moment before eating more grass. “Then why is it hissing?” Lissa asked, pointing the brush at him and then to the fire. “I don’t know Lis, but listen it stopped now,” Lissa took his advice and listened to the silence. “Strange,” She remarked while closing to the fire and inspecting the logs. None of them had water boiling out.

“I am sorry I doubted you Micah, but that was still strange,” Micah shrugged as she stood and returned to brushing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Almios and Garza doing their ritual of competition before resting. Darvick appeared to be officiated and was wordlessly counting as they did sit-ups. “Boys,” She whispered to herself and Meriweather nodded in agreement.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mera giggled as she put her focus back into her belt with her free hand. Pulling herself back onto one of the branches overlooking the fire she turned to Mela. “As you can see it was a success, and served as a suitable distraction.” She quietly murmured to Mela who was only somewhat paying attention to her and had a serious look on her face. “Yes, it should but I need you to look at this,” Mela said while pointing to the smoke collecting above them. Mera looked at the collecting smoke, “What? If it weren't going through the barrier well enough we would be coughing ya know.” Mera remarked smiling, “I am not worried about that, look at the barrier though through the smoke.”

Mera raised an eyebrow and looked at the barrier, all she could muster was a squeak of delight. The smoke as it passed through the barrier sparked and changed colors, going from it’s normal black grey to a bright blue. She turned to her sister and her expression had changed to a large smile, “Thought it was something serious didn’t you?” Mera nodded giggling, “Yep ya got me there.” She lightly punched her sister while standing up to stretch. “Want to go spy on Saida?” Mera casually asked a mischievous light in her eyes. “Yes, I do!” Mela shouted, drawing everyone’s gaze to the trees for a moment.

Once they saw it was only both of the twins they quickly went back to what they were doing. They both giggled, “Sorry, we haven’t spied on her in a while and I got excited.” Mela responded after a moment in a more conspiratory tone. Mera joined her, “I know and I figured now is as good a time as any.”

Mera then pulled another one of the noisemakers from a hidden pocket. It was roughly the size of her palm and made of vellum stretched around a hollow body of wood, runes crisscrossed it entirely. “Want to try a different sound other than a hiss?” Mela asked while Mera pulled out her Focus, “Of course, do you want a loud snap or a pop?” Mela looked thoughtfully at it before deciding. “A pop would be nice to scare someone with.” Mera nodded and hummed while touching her focus to the appropriate runes.

She was glad that she was finally able to test out these creations. She thought fondly of when they were able to test things out in the compound. Since the transition of Volamire was near and the Emissary compound was directly underneath the city all experiments had been put on hold. That had been nearly six months ago, just after they had finished the final prototypes for these. Once the runes were touched Mera poured a tiny bit of Aether into them to activate them. The noisemaker glowed dimly for a moment and faded just as quickly.

“There we go, should be set to pop as soon as it hits the ground.” Mera put her Focus away and carefully put away the noisemaker. Before Mera could ask Mela to lead her, she was already preparing to leap to a nearby branch. Mera smiled and watched the leap carefully, she looked at the clothing and made sure the enchantments on it activated in the right order. The leap carried Mela across a three-meter gap in the branches quickly and she landed unsteadily for a moment.

The branch Mera stood on shook for a moment while the one Mela now stood on groaned slightly at the sudden load. Once Mela had her footing she turned to watch Mera now. Mera waited until the branch returned to a resting position and took a deep breath. Tensing her legs she quickly sprang across the gap and landed with one foot precariously off the branch. Mela quickly caught her. “Gotcha, how did the enchantments look?” She asked while making sure Mera was steady.

“They looked good, and mine?” Mera replied while she crouched lower to steady herself on the branch. “Good, I really want to show up Garza in his armor while we are just in our clothes,” Mela whispered, walking towards the trunk of the tree.

“The look on his face would be priceless,” Mera giggled picturing everyone’s slack-jawed expressions “Though I don’t think anyone would approve since only our armor is supposed to be enhanced like this.” Mela snorted, “Do you really think they would care?” Mera thought for a moment pushing a smaller branch out of her way, “No I think after that all of them would ask us to do the same to their clothes.” Mela snapped her fingers while gripping a branch as a handhold to get onto the branches of a different tree. It snapped in her grip. Mera saw that all of the enchantments had activated at that moment.

“Though not until after we make sure everything is good, I would hate to have one of them crush something in their hands by accident,” Mera said with a sigh. Mela looked sheepishly at her for a moment and shoved the broken branch aside. They sat for a moment while Mera inspected her sister’s arm. “Anything?” Mela asked after a moment. Mera shook her head, “No, everything looks good, strange that happened though.”

Mela shrugged, “Could be the barrier or even the ambient Aether from the storm messing with this.” Mera nodded her head in agreement and they pressed on silently they were close to Saida now and needed the element of surprise. Mela held her hand up to stop Mera as she heard mumbling from ahead. They couldn’t pick out what was said, but they knew it was Saida as she always grumbled out loud when changing from rain. They slowed their pace to a crawl, slowly moving from branch to branch and careful not to snap anymore.

Mela turned her head and wordlessly bade Mera go ahead. Mera looked down and saw Lira below them nibbling on grass and the small impromptu curtain as well. Smiling she crept forward on her hands and knees and as she crested above the curtain she saw Saida fully dressed. Mera frowned, she had wanted to scare her while she was still putting on fresh clothes. She thought this would be a good compromise though since she had her full attention on a mirror that was held at just the right angle to block Mera from seeing her face.

Mera turned to look at Mela and gave her a thumbs up and smile. She pulled the primed noisemaker from the pocket and held it out underneath her. She aimed, a meter behind and to the left of Saida.

As she flicked the noisemaker away Mera held her breath. It impacted the ground and promptly exploded, in a loud bang, not a pop as intended. It not only made Saida jump and turn towards the source of the noise but Lira neighed in shock and galloped away. Mera went to push herself just up off her belly and felt the branch snap under her. “Fuck!” was all Mera was able to shout as she fell to the ground.