Chapter Text
"It actually leads to the Zones of Peril and it's not a crystal cave but a crystal labyrinth, they're vastly different." Aanya immediately reached for her bow at the sudden voice. "N'than?" She glanced at Ezran and noticed he looked hopeful.
She focused back on N'than and looked him over. He wore a white top that reached his midthighs with a light brown belt that had a few pouches on it and leaves resting around its neckline, it had light red-clay colored marks that outlined the edges near the bottom and seemed to curl around his chest. He wore dark brown pants that reached his knees and seemed to puff out as a matching ligh red-clay colored fabric held the edges against him. And instead of shoes he had leaves covering part of the top half of his feet.
"You look kind of like a deer." Ellis' words caused Aanya to notice the light marks on his arms and legs, along with the freckles on his face. His ears even looked like deer ears, just more downturned and his horns looked like antlers, just with more floura on it. Which matched his hair since he had small flowers scattered throughout it. "Thank you?" N'than tilted his head as his hands rested on his hips.
"Were you also looking for us?" Aanya let her hands fall from her bow as she folded her hands over her stomach. "Nope! I was just passing by and heard my name, besides I never got any letter about Ezran and his new friends showing up." Aanya gave a small hum and looked at Ezran.
He just offered a nervous smile. "Yeah, must've forgotten." Aanya rolled her eyes, he was acting like Callum around Rayla. "But uhm can you help us with something? Like before?" N'than hummed before nodding with a smile.
"Sure, what do you need?" Ezran walked towards the other man, leaving her and Ellis behind to talk to N'than. Aanya just sighed and turned to Ellis.
"He's like Callum." Ellis shrugged. "Yeah but it's cute, kind of like a puppy." Aanya let out a small laugh before turning back to Ezran and N'than.
Ezran was taller- around the same height as Runaan- and N'than seemed to be around Amaya's height while standing next to him. The only difference being the fact that Ezran was a bit more muscular than Runaan and N'than was more lithe- similar to a deer. "We should probably remind Ezran why we're here." She was also just getting sick of watching Ezran act similar to a lovesick puppy.
Ellis just snorted at her words before bouncing over to the other two with Aanya following. "So do we know where we're going?" Ezran just smiled. "Yeah but it's late so we should rest, it's a long walk." Aanya raised a brow before looking at Ellis.
Ellis seemed amused as she gave a weak shrug. "We can set up camp here." Aanya stared at Ellis for a moment longer before turning to look at their surroundings.
It was a small clearing, they'd end up sleeping close together. Was that Ellis' intention? That made her face heat up as she looked at Ellis again. Ellis was working alongside N'than to get their makeshift camp all set. "Why so red? Nervous about cuddling with your crush?" Aanya weakly elbowed Ezran while he just laughed.
"I wish I never interrupted your awkward conversation with N'than." Ezran pouted at her before crossing his arms. "It wasn't awkward." She rolled her eyes before letting out an unconvinced hum.
"Of course, the King of Katolis is never awkward." Ezran huffed as she walked over to help Ellis and N'than to the best of her abilities. "You're a bully."
.
Aanya sat against a tree while watching Ezran attempt to start a fire. "Does he know how do start a fire? He's been at it for a while." Aanya let out a small hum before turning to Ellis. Her face heating up once more when she realized their noses were touching. "I…I'm not sure." Aanya internally cringed at the way her voice cracked but Ellis didn't seem to mind, just smiling at her.
"So he's just trying to impress his crush?" Aanya willed her face to cool down as she looked at Ezran again. He was failing to start a fire as N'than was bent over his shoulder slightly with his hands on his knees. He didn't seem impressed by Ezran's attempts, honestly it looked like he just felt bad for the king. "I assume so, do you know how to start a fire?" Ellis just hummed.
"Yeah but it takes a bit, it's difficult." Aanya smiled while Ellis sat next to her. "It is." She didn't truly think so but she also never set a fire out in the woods.
But that wasn't the point, not when Ellis was so close to her. Aanya couldn't resist looking the other girl over. Ellis had her hair tied back into a long braid with a red ribbon wrapped around it. She wore a light gray, sleeveless top with a wolf-fur colored belt wrapped around her midsection, and slightly baggy black pants that were tucked into dark brown boots, she also wore a fur hat. All in all, Ellis looked beautiful.
"You can use crystals to start a fire?" Aanya blinked at the question and turned back to where N'than and Ezran were. The fire was finally lit and N'than was putting something away while Ezran moved away from the flames. "Only fire rubies, they contain sun magic and with the right spell you can have a fire like that." N'than snapped for emphasis as he stood properly.
"Really? I always thought they sort of just…exploded." N'than shook his head as he found a place to sit. "Nope! You can use them for any spells that a mage could do, you just need to know it." Aanya let out a small hum as she stared at the fire.
It took a bit to get the right runes to use the rubies in her arrows because they were seemingly unpredictable, but apparently it just took a regular old primal spell to get them to cooperate. "Why do you think they only exploded?" Aanya grabbed one of her arrows and held it up. "In Duren we have a cave full of fire rubies and we couldn't find any real use of them until our mages found the right runes that allowed us to use them as exploding arrows." N'than let out a small hum as she put them away.
"It's really impressive during fights." Aanya rolled her eyes at Ezran's words. "Wouldn't it be dangerous though? What if your ally is close to the person you shot?" Ellis made a good point.
"I haven't thought of that actually." The arrows were rarely used because Aanya never wanted to have Duren involved in any wars so that wasn't a risk she gave any thought to. "I believe the arrows were only used against Aaravos so the risk didn't really exist." The elf was massive so it'd be hard for any allies to be hit.
"Who's Aaravos?" Aanya's gaze immediately went to N'than. She searched his face for any signs of joking and found none. "Aaravos, the fallen star? He…he was the entire reason why we met seven years ago?" N'than gave a small shrug.
"Doesn't ring a bell, besides didn't we meet because you wanted an audience with Rex Igneous?" Aanya let out a small sigh before tuning out Ezran's explanation of who Aaravos was.
She didn't want to hear the entire story for the second time, the first time was good enough for her. So she leaned her head against the tree as she relaxed. Maybe she could go to bed, there wasn't much else to do before N'than leads them to where the mushpals were.