Chapter Text
“Nuvian, why are you going so fast?! Slow down!” a young Aravae called out, trying to hurry through the thick foliage after her brother.
“Why are you so slow?” He grinned, glancing over his shoulder. “All that book reading has slowed you down!”
“What?! I’ll get you for that!” Aravae clenched her fists and tried to speed up and close the distance between her and Nuvian.
“You’ve gotta catch me first!”
“Do I?” She giggled rather evilly and waited for her chance. Once there was a clear line from one to the other, she pointed at him, sending a small bolt of lightning. He yelped as it made contact with his skin, tingling up his skin and making his hair stick out. It was enough to make him pause and let Aravae catch up to him. She lightly swatted him on his arm as she panted, catching her breath. “I told you I’d get you.”
“Yeah, yeah, you got me.” Nuvian sighed heavily, slowing to a stop.
“We aren’t in any hurry, so why were you running?”
“Why not?” He shrugged. “I’m tired of being cooped up.”
“I can agree. You can’t sit still at all. You distract me when I’m trying to study.”
“Well, excuse me!”
She grinned teasingly. “It’s okay. I forgive you. Because I’m going to save your rear since I know what we’re looking for.”
“I know what we’re looking for - dragonthorn!”
“Do you remember what shape its leaves are?”
There was a stretch of silence as Nuvian hummed, looking down at the ground intently. He made a cry of victory as he stepped around tree roots and pointed. “This!”
Aravae raised her eyebrows and glided over to where her brother was. When she focused on what he was looking at, she shook her head with a smirk. “Nope,” she said in a sing-song tone. “That is poisonous. You may not want to touch that.”
Nuvian jerked back upright very quickly. He glanced back at his sister with narrowed eyes. “You’re just saying that.”
“No, I’m serious! Here, I think it’ll be more off this way.” Aravae turned back the way they’d come from and took the lead, her eyes peeled for the herb on the ground. Nuvian huffed, his lips flapping together, almost making a raspberry, and followed after her.
It wasn’t much farther that they had to go before Aravae made her own victorious noise, similar to Nuvian’s. “Here we go!”
Nuvian frowned at the plant, then sighed and mumbled, “I see the difference. You were right.”
She giggled and tugged the herb out of the ground, making sure to pull the roots up with it. As she tucked it away into the sack she had on her shoulder, she sang, “That’s right!”