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9:48 Dragon - Eluviesta / Cloudreach
Two lefts and a right led them down a part of the catacombs Neve had never seen before. Everyone stepped carefully, quiet and purposeful in each of their movements as they rushed to safety.
"You sure this is the right way?" muttered Neve.
"No," replied Ayda, leading the way, the sunstone orb at the end of her staff glowing amber to light the path.
Neve could have pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out an exasperated exhale. "Ayda."
"It's fine."
It wasn't fine for long. A handful of Venatori cultists turned the corner and spotted them, the cult's hunt finally coming to an end. Neve nearly stepped into action but decided to fall back to protect the five slaves they had just intercepted and liberated from a small trade ring. Ayda, on the other hand, turned into an instant firestorm.
As one cultist ran at her, Ayda kicked the bottom of her staff to send the end arcing upwards into his chin. Triggering the mechanism, a blade set inside the staff shot out with enough power to pierce upwards through the man's skull. Pulling her staff back, she stepped to follow the flow of her right arm, twirling in a circle with precision as the blade sliced the throat of another cultist.
The blade retracted as Ayda sent a fireball blasting into the next cultist. Her grip slid down the staff, and she swung it with wild accuracy. Multiple heads were bashed in with fierce swings. Ayda kicked one man off balance, then blasted him with fire. There was something to admire about Ayda's mixed use of hand-to-hand combat and magic, and whatever the admiration was, Neve felt herself hooked. It was effortless. Smooth. Strong. One could assume Ayda could spend all day doing this without breaking a sweat.
After the Venatori were handled, Ayda readjusted her robes, brushed loose hairs from her face, and turned to Neve and the small group. "We should be safe to continue."
Staring in silence, they all took in Ayda, surrounded by seven dead cultists. They had just witnessed the whirlwind of a fight, and there she stood as if nothing had happened. Not even a heavy breath or a deep inhale to calm her breathing. Ayda wasn't even grinning at her accomplishment; she simply stood with a casual, straight-lipped stare.
"We don't have time to waste. Come on." She lit the sunstone and turned to take lead once again.
Neve ushered the group forward and encouraged everyone to keep going. She caught up to Ayda. "Where did you go to school?"
"I started at the Circle in Carastes."
"Your family could afford that? For both of you?"
"No, but they sent us there anyway. I just finished paying their debt for it two years ago." Ayda looked over at Neve. "It was the Circle in Ventus after that. And when I got to Minrathous, I stopped going to the Circle and went to a private school."
"Hm. Which one?"
"The School of Maevaris Tilani."
Neve stifled her laugh. "Well, it's impressive. The fighting and the magic." For the first time, she saw a genuine smile on Ayda. It wasn't a smug grin or smirk, but something of actual joy born of a simple but genuine compliment.
"Thanks. I, uh, worked really hard." Ayda cleared her throat, the smile now gone as she focused on the job once more.
Hot… and cold. Fire and ice. All these little pieces of information she kept pulling from Ayda had to connect somehow, but something was still missing. A central event that would bring everything back together on the mental pinboard she had started in her head. Carastes. Ventus. Minrathous. The who and where were answered, but now what about the how and why?