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Author's Note: Onwards onwards onwards to chapter two. I suppose at this point I should explain that I intend to do a chapter per day of travel, which means days when nothing much happens are going to be far shorter than days where stuff happens?

I'm having a hard time showing not telling, I need to lean back and let the story come more naturally. This one is significantly shorter haha.

Ozymandias.

Alfred stretched, yawning and trying to ignore the crick in his neck: it had been awhile since he'd last had to travel anywhere. Not since they needed him to dig through an old bit of lineage in Dyton. It hadn't even been a particularly special bit of bloodwork - just a bit of old Seikie as opposed to Selkie. Alfred had disliked sleeping rough just as much then. Just as well it wasn't a high enough altitude that he had to worry about the cold too.

Dozily he rolled to see Arthur still at the edge of the forest, cloak coiled about him, and green eyes a little dimmer: "You were supposed to wake me for my watch." Alfred pulled his gloves back on, and stood up to scuff the ash where the fire had devoured itself.

Arthur was clearly tired, since he took awhile to collect himself enough to reply. "It's alright," he yawned a bright flash of teeth. "I couldn't sleep anyway."

"Not enough forest for you then?" Alfred gathered up his stuff, shoving it in his pack. "I'll carry your bag for you if you like."

"It's really no trouble."

"No, it's no trouble for me to carry it," Alfred smiled with as much friendliness as he could. "I have strength enhancement bloodlines."

Arthur sprang lightly to his feet, balancing on his toes, whiskers quivering slightly. "I'd honestly prefer to keep my bag with me - what if I need something."

"Suit yourself, I guess?" Alfred finished scuffing out the fire. "What did you want to eat?"

"I ate last night," Arthur shrugged. "You only had acorns, and you can't live off those; you'll give yourself stomach ache."

"Stamina enhancements." Alfred explained, already approaching the forest and eying it up with a bite of his lip.

"How many of these enhancements do you have?" Arthur snapped. "Immortality? Flight? The ability to bend physics to your whim?"

"You are so sleeping tomorrow night." Alfred rolled his eyes. "Strength, stamina, reaction, healing and intelligence enhancers."

"Intelligence? Could have fooled me." Arthur strode boldly into the forest and Alfred followed cautiously at his heels. Twisting to watch for every strange noise and movement.

"I'll have you know-" Alfred started heatedly, but cut off: he didn't need to prove his credentials to a grouchy, sleep-deprived weirdling. He knew he deserved to be at the conference both for his training, potential and yes, both of those benefited rather heavily from the improvement to his processing speed. He knew that and Arthur was being judgmental.

"Well?" Arthur glanced back at Alfred, sounding interested underneath the huffy tone. It occurred to Alfred that they had been getting along quite well the day before. After calling each other names that was. Not to mention, getting along had mostly been in debate, but nevertheless it had been getting along.

"I don't need to say anything." Alfred replied sniffily. "You're being catty."

"Hm." Arthur looked straight ahead and fell quiet.

"I learnt to use my ether in Muir mostly." Arthur's voice was clear, and full of thought, as though he had been weighing up for the last hour exactly how to begin this conversation.

"Huh?" Alfred answered, almost tripping over a tree root for the fifth time.

"You wanted to know where I learnt to 'magic'," Arthur looked awkwardly back at Alfred. "I learnt in Muir. Although I moved around a lot."

"Oh yeah?" Alfred looked curiously at the Wiccan's back.

"Yeah," Arthur looked up as he walked, still avoiding his rabbit hole, jackalope burrow and gnarled tree root even without looking. Not to mention he was dead quiet. Alfred was almost jealous. Although it did remove the monotony of walking at the slower pace - after all, if the path had been easier he would have been yards ahead of the Wiccan. "Best to learnt various ether forms from different people, although I liked Muir best."

"There's mostly Wiccan there I've heard."

"You've heard right then."

"Come to think, we don't have any Wiccan except you in our expedition." Alfred hopped next to Arthur and promptly knocked his face into a bit of undergrowth. Arthur pulled the next part back carefully until Alfred had walked past, the tiniest grin on his face. "Aren't you going to be lonely?" Alfred continued as he picked bits of leaf from his hair.

"The Aelves are sure to be reasonable company, and we will be collecting some others of my kind at Shen."

"Shen's on the other continent."

"You know your geography," Arthur said with a clear would-you-like-a-sweet-for-being-so-smart tone. "How clever."

"Don't start on that again," Alfred glowered, feeling more than a little hurt. "I may not know a thing about magic, but I could tell you things that'd surprise you."

"Like what?"

"Like you're related to the Aelf named Miaddin," Alfred said with cheery confidence. "Your rosettes are in the distribution for it, and your hair has the undercolour particular to that line. I'm no expert on Aelvish blood and could probably tell you more about your Folk ancestry, but honestly that rosette distribution is hella' distinctive; I've been staring at it since I saw you."

Arthur was now bright red, and adjusted the throat of his cloak. "Could you not?"

"I'm right though, aren't I?"

"Yes, Miaddin and I do share blood." Arthur admitted. "How do you remember- intelligence enhancements."

"Helps for sure," Alfred agreed. "Look, can you not keep implying I'm an idiot."

"You act like one."

"How would you know?" Alfred snorted. "You don't know me."

"I'm right though," Arthur tossed a downright mischievous smirk along with Alfred's words. "Aren't I?"

Alfred paused, watching the glint of Arthur's sharp teeth and pale charcoal of his rosettes in the patchwork sunlight in the forest, and then laughed, an ear to ear grin brightening on his face. "Sure, sure," He agreed between laughs. "Glad to see you haven't got your fur in a twist anymore."

"Oh shut up." Arthur laughed back and let go of a tree branch just in time to thwack Alfred in the face, and then darted off laughing at the squawk Alfred gave.

"So, let me get this straight," Alfred counted off on his fingers. "You were born in Alfreton," He counted another finger. "Learnt Sei.. Seit... Seth..."

"Seithr."

"Seithr in Muir, Seidr from a Selkie as you travelled to Shen to work on Leithr, and then learnt..."

"Extensive forms."

"Extensive forms in Morae for a year." Alfred counted another finger off, and was lost for words.

"How can you possibly remember a short record of Aelf rosette inheritance you read for your exams, two years ago mind, but not what I just said?" Arthur asked in awe.

"Don't judge me!" Alfred scowled meanly.

"Fine, fine," Arthur sighed patiently. "I learnt Extensive forms in Morae for a year, basic chemistry in Hao, and further developed my knowledge of internal pattern transfer within the brain at Hao, before moving to Lamiae to study the meninges of Folk in more detail as part of my comparative research."

"I got it."

"You really don't." Arthur smiled anyway.

"I do too," Alfred huffed. "And now you're travelling to Mao to give a presentation on the differences between Wiccan, Aelf, Folk and Selkie etheric transfer. Which is a big deal."

"Right."

"If it's a big deal, how come I haven't heard of you?"

"Really, how many Wicca etherists have you heard of, let alone neuroetherists." Arthur shrugged.

"I haven't even heard of your research on meninges." Alfred complained. "It would be fascinating to look at where Aelf or Folk lines have influenced the Wiccan brain."

Arthur considered the question thoughtfully. "I imagine I can obtain some of my statistics for you at Highgate. My College does have a front there..."

"Oh yeah, you're part of the," Alfred screwed up his face in thought. "Sino-Muir College of Interetheritics?"

"That's the one."

"I'd appreciate looking at your work, thanks." Alfred tripped over a root and was sent sprawling for a few moments, before quickly snagging a tree branch and rebalancing himself. "Ugh," Alfred cursed. "This forest wants to kill me."

"It just thinks you're clumsy." Arthur shrugged mildly.

"No, it definitely is out for blood."

"Right, sure."

It was almost dusk by the time they were coming by Easingwold, and getting Arthur to leave the forest was a challenge all of its own. Alfred felt almost like he was trying to coax a particularly difficult animal into letting him help it and when Arthur downright snarled in frustration as he paced back and forth and finally jumped out from the trees - it felt even more like it.

"How did you even get into Bernadette?" Alfred asked in wonder as he and Arthur made extremely slow, reluctant pace towards Easingwold.

"I had to. We don't have to stay in Easingwold."

"It's safer."

"For you, maybe." Arthur flashed his teeth nervously. "I'm a weirdling, as it were."

"Easingwold has good relations, stop complaining already," Alfred snorted. "You're being way too nervous."

Arthur hissed at Alfred but otherwise, tentatively made his way into the town. He did however leave it to Alfred to arrange for their room that night - the townsperson looking at Arthur altogether rather queerly. The nervousness Alfred had seen in Bernadette seemed to be at its highest level, and it was with some relief they settled into their room that night.

Arthur promptly hopped on the bed, kicked the sheets into a nest like shape, and circling on the spot a few times, settled down, peering out of his make-shift den to look at Alfred. Alfred shook his head in surprise, and murmured to himself, "All that nervous catblood..." Arthur glanced a glare at Alfred over the top of the sheets, and Alfred rolled his back. "Night night then-" He narrowed his eyes. "You wake up mean don't you?" Alfred brushed at the lamp, the bioluminescent insects inside dulling at the contact.

"All that cat-blood..." Arthur answered coolly, stretching ever so slightly as the room was slowly bathed in darkness.

May your quills be ever sharp.