Advent Noion

16

she cries from above her stampeding lomlom, "how the hell do you control these! ahhh!"

he calmy uses his reins, "good lizard! follow nisida!"

aufri cheers, "yaay! lomloms!"

they ride into the night, leaving behind lepfnanbol, pomfrey, the prestige of monster hunting, and everything else related to etla village.

-

he looks down to the stash before him, "...we really made off with all of this lak."

she leans back onto her lomlom, "a perfect escape from boredom! our life of crime begins now!"

aufri frowns, "i hope everyone in etla is okay."

she looks to aufri, concerned, "eh... hey, aufri, did we just kidnap you?"

he nods, "technically, i think we did."

aufri shakes his head, boasting, "i'll follow master anywhere!"

he laughs, "why? she treats you so badly."

aufri dismisses him, "that's because i'm not as great as master."

she smirks at aufri, "i'm great? haha... if you say so."

silence.

pulling his face away from the shash, he looks to the others, worried, "i just finished counting the lak, it's over five million..."

aufri begins counting his fingers, "one, two, three-"

she looks to him, "five... no way! we are really big time criminals now."

aufri frowns, looking to the others, "how do you count to five million?"

-

~crunch~

he shouts to the others, hanging to the side of his lomlom, "look! my lizard eats noion!"

she turns away, repulsed, "yuck! it's probably just hungry, maybe we should stop and let them rest?"

he stops his lomlom near a piece of timber, "good idea-"

she looks back to him, "eh! right now?"

he shouts, dragging the wood to his lomlom, "no, keep going! this is firewood!"

-

rope in hand, he hobbles his lomlom, "look, we must do this to keep our lizards from running away."

aufri imitates him, "...like this?"

he nods, "yes, good job."

she winces, "that looks painful."

he shakes his head, "only if they try and run off. now, we connect them all together like-"

aufri runs around, tethering them all, "done!"

he nods approvingly, "good... lizards are secure, so now we can prepare camp."

-

sitting near a small camefire established offlane, to avoid any trouble from passing travelers, they wait for supper.

she stares at him, "...jfion, you sure are smart."

he withdraws from the pot, grinning, "what? of course i am!"

she laughs, smiling, "ha, i'm just teasing you."

he continues stirring the pot, adding in spices.

she watches with envy, "but where did you learn all this?"

he sighs, "i told you, i came from molboa village-"

she nods, thinking back, "oh, yeah."

he looks to aufri, "this is stuff any villager knows, even aufri might."

she frowns, "i can't think of anything i'm good at..."

-

she watches a falling helix in the distant ceiling of the night.

she whispers to him beside her, "jfion... are you awake?"

silence.

she stares at the glowing lights stretched out endlessly above.

she closes her eyes, "the drills are getting larger..."

-

the next morning, before they depart, he warns her and aufri, "don't look or speak to any other travelers."

aufri whines, "whyy? are there badder guys than us?"

she grins, "who knows, one of them might be a werewolf..."

aufri throws down his hood, hiding himself, "ahh!"

-

several days later, in the early morning, they prepare for another day of travel.

he stops bundling his lomlom, glancing down the lane, "i think we're heading for midheaven."

she nods, pointing far away, "yeah, i realized. the drills are larger, see?"

aufri grins, excited, "midheaven! we're going to the midheaven?"

she laughs, "haha, the one and only..."

he leans against his lomlom, "how will we enter?"

silence.

he looks to aufri, "i was discharged... and aufri is... i think technically he's our captive-"

she groans, interrupting him, "ugh, being a criminal sucks."

he looks to her, "i think you're the only one who can enter for now."

-

after a week of detouring around the main entrance to midheaven, they arrive at a small side entrance. she proceeds on foot, while he and aufri remain at their hidden campsite.

-

the guard looks to her, suspicious, "...are you sure we haven't met before?"

she coughs, turning her head, "kah! ehh, you must be mistaken..."

the guard scrutinizes her, "hmmmm-"

the guard accepts her identification, "alright... and where are you coming from, miss nisida?"

she hesitates, "etl... i mean embiorka village?"

he rubs his chin, thinking back, "ohh! how was it?"

she looks to him, nervous, "eh... how was what?"

he nods with imagination, "embiorka! must have been nice."

she smirks, "right, right, it was... unique!"

he stares at her face once more, "hmm."

she avoids eye contact, turning her head.

he glances between paperwork on his desk and her indentification, "alright... everything looks to be in order. welcome back, miss nisida! enjoy your-"

she interrupts the guard, pushing through, sighing with relief, "whew! thanks, buddy!"

the guard backs away, "ahh! how impolite-"

the guard notices the wanted poster directly ahead and shouts, chasing after her, "hey! halt! you are not welcome herreee!"

aan