Chapter Text
Tav holds her fingertips to a set of tracks in the ground, judging their depth and state of being. “Goblins, though they came by a while ago. Tracks are mostly dried out… they’re heading that way” she points further up the road.
Gale would be lieing if he said he was not impressed. “What else?” He asks, deliberately opening a can of worms.
“Well… theres four of them, and I think one has a limp... they’re normal size, except for one of them being a bit heavier than normal.” She looks up at him from where she kneels, unsure why he would ask, and if her answers are sufficient.
“Fascinating. How can you tell?”
She looks back to the dirt, unaware of the internal groan from her other companions. ”They’re deeper than the others, and this set has a slightly smaller foot. The big foot print is deeper, compensating for the weight-“
For a split second Gale doesn’t register a word she’s saying, just taking in her confidence and understanding of what she does. Sincerely, it’s nice to learn something new, so he fights to pay attention.
“Of course, if you count them all and do some math you get four goblins. Unless the big one is only ‘bigger’ because they’re carrying someone,”
When Karlach told Gale to talk to this ’hypothetical’ person he’d asked about, this is not what she meant. “Then let’s get a move on! I’m ready to crack some skulls!” She bounces from one foot to the other. She’s not the only one sick of waiting.
“I agree. Knowing about our enemy means nothing if we do not encounter them,” Laezel adds.
Tav flushes a bit. She’d gotten carried away… “Right! Right, let’s go.“ she gets up, dusting off her knees and adjusting her pack. She leads the way, unable to hide in the back of the group, being the tracker and all. There are stakes here, they aren’t out on a hunt for some wolves or bandits, this is life and death. She needs to pay attention.
In their current formation she doesn’t realize when Gale had begun walking next to her, only that he surprises her when he speaks.
“You’re incredible, you know that?”
She looks around, confirming that he is, indeed, talking to her. Still, to be sure, she points to herself “Me?”
“Yes,” He states like it’s obvious, because it is.
“What makes you say that?” While not one to question a compliment she would like to know the reason of the timing.
“A great many things, frankly. At present I’m referring to how much you were able to deduce from one source. You’re very clever.”
Clever? She’s been called many things, but not clever. “Oh, no, I just practiced a lot. I could teach you a few things, if you’d like.”
“I’d be delighted.”
They pause to let the other two in the group over take them. Tav turns to walk backwards, Gale following suit. She points to their own disturbance in the dirt “We’ll start with pace, since we gotta keep moving. If you look there’s consistent spacing. When someone runs the space is…” Her sentence trails, confused. One set seems to stretch further than normal “Did you run to walk with me?”
How the devil- he clears his throat, feeling caught “Yes, actually. But how did you know it was me specifically?”
“Well, hm… maybe we should start here instead.” she turns to walk normal again, Gale, of course, copying her. “Look at how Karlach walks. Her toes point out because of how she pushes off them. And Laezel keeps most of her weight on the balls of her feet, makes it easier to break into a sprint.” She points to how this affects the trail they leave behind. Sure enough, Karlach’s seem to make a staggered branching pattern, while only half of Laezel’s gait leaves an impression.
Both elect to not hear the conversation behind them.
“So when I look at yours-“ she pauses to let him walk further ahead. Except he doesn’t. “No, keep going,” she shoos at him.
“When you walk one foot kind of leans out, and the other is straight.” She was already aware of his odd foot pattern, what she wasn’t ready for was actually seeing it in motion. The slight sway he has to put into his hip, and the way it affects his sort of swagger. “You uh… you push off with your left, and course correct with your right.”
It feels weird suddenly being aware of how you walk. Like how it feels to randomly know you’re breathing. He shirks it off as she catches up.
“And if I’d never scene you, I’d know you’re probably tall because you’ve got big shoes,”
“Ha!” Karlach smacks her knee as they walk. Apparently she could hear their conversation.
“What? What did I say?” Last Tav checked she hadn’t been trying to be funny.
“That’s not the only thing you can tell from big shoes,” The grin is loud and clear in her voice.
She stands there, befuddled. There wasn’t much else you could glean from size alone. Sure it makes certain estimations easier to make but-
Oh.
Tav’s face blooms beet red “Oh, fuck off!” If she had a sandal to throw she would.
Karlach laughs harder. The fact it took this poor kid so long to put it together is astounding.
“If you all don’t pull yourselves together we will be found out before we can strike. Surely we want to keep an element of surprise.”
Sure enough, their little moment of humor is cut short by the sounds of shouting ahead. One by one they break off, positioning themselves to take initiative.