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It's quiet. Romy holds her bow out, an arrow knocked in place. It's pointed through a small opening in the shrubbery, one large enough for her to pay attention to the clearing on the other side. She watches for the moment that Nori leads the trogs patrolling the area into her line of sight so she can shoot and very purposely miss.
The trogs have been patrolling an area of Zinnia far away from their hiding spot, and much further away from the Queen Unicorn. Nori had come up with the brilliant plan to make it seem as if the remaining fairies and mermaids had something to protect there. Get them, and in turn, Malucia, to think that they're on the right path. When, in reality, they're not.
It's a good plan, Romy has decided.
But it's tiring just sitting here .
And too quiet...
She readjusts herself and her bow so her arm doesn't get any more uncomfortable than it already is.
"Run!" Nori shouts from somewhere from the right of her, on the other side of the bushes.
"What?!" Romy startles, fumbling with her bow and arrow. This was not the plan, why does she need to run? She turns to where Nori's voice came from, standing up. Something must have gone wrong.
Nori explodes through the bushes, a wide grin on her face as she sprints past Romy.
"Nori!" She shouts, slinging both her bow and her quiver over her shoulder. She breaks out in a run after her, but she manages to stumble over her own two feet almost immediately.
And falls flat on her face.
She pushes herself up and Nori is at her side, grinning. There's a faux serious edge to her voice as she says, "They're after us."
Romy looks back, and a trog is pushing through the bushes, obviously confused. It catches sight of them, and begins to chase after.
The thing is, the trogs are not the... Best... At the chase.
At least, they aren't when Nori is involved.
"Come on," Nori says, but Romy can hear a hint of a laugh behind her serious tone.
Romy nods, grabbing her hand for support.
And they're off again.
The trogs are fast. Or, well, they used to be. Upon beginning to work for the royal family, most of them had begun to walk on two legs and leave behind their days of roaming Zinnia on all fours, chasing around anyone who dared come close to their territory. They used to be quite terrifying.
Even though they're gangly and awkward, some of them still have that immense speed, which Romy is certainly hoping that this one does not.
As Nori pulls her around a tree, Romy can hear the trog move to all fours, and the sudden, awkward chase has suddenly changed gears.
He's one of the fast ones.
"You ready?" Nori mumbles, holding onto Romy's arm, "The moment he runs past, we run back the way we came."
"What happened to the original plan?" Romy hisses and Nori only laughs.
"This is more fun."
"More fun?" Romy gasps out, and before Nori can reply, the trog skids by, noting that the two of them are behind the tree- She wants to say something about his sense of smell, but she's being pulled away again.
They run through the forest, ducking under low flowers and jumping over tree roots. Romy still isn't used to her legs, but with Nori grasping onto her hand and leading the way, she's confident. Any stumbles are forgotten about as Nori continues, attempting to lose the trog.
They loop around a tree, and, confident that the trog is confused enough not to see, Nori jumps on a platform, sending it flying into a treetop. They tumble into the leaves and Romy sits up.
"Is this a treehouse?" She gasps, and Nori sits up beside her.
"Made it a long time ago," Nori says, grinning, "Figured it'd come in useful." She stands up, moving to pull away some of the leaves in front of a makeshift window. "Look," She whispers, pointing down at the ground.
Romy gets up and looks down to where she is pointing, where the trog is back on two legs, confused as to where they could have gone. He circles the tree a few times, then moves to a flower, then promptly leaves the area, giving up.
"We win," Nori says, proudly. "Though, he gave up pretty quickly."
"I'm not doing this again, Nori," Romy sniffs, "I didn't appreciate being almost caught again."
"And? It's all in the name of protecting everyone else," Nori sits down and motions for her to sit down beside her. "And don't lie, you liked holding my hand like that."
Romy's face grows warm, "Okay, maybe, but you saw me fall down!"
"Practice makes perfect," Nori hums, placing her hand over Romy's on the floor of the treehouse.
"Nori!" She whines.
"Just imagine, one day, when Malucia is defeated and we're in charge of the trogs and we have our powers back," Nori holds out her arm in front of her as if she can paint the picture with just a wave of her hand. "When the Queen Unicorn is safe and everything is all back to normal."
"When I've got a tail and you've got wings?"
"We'll make it work," Nori shrugs, "We're making it work."
Her hand grips Romy's just a little bit tighter.