The atmosphere that Nikai had felt the day before had returned, he was convinced something was different, but couldn't put his finger on it. Having Isis back from her journey made it even more strained, if possible. If things did change, she was too reclusive in her own world to really notice it – by noon she had gotten up from her restless slumber and slumped towards the fireplace in the middle of their camping site. The rocks had was carefully arranged to circle the wood and tiny patterns had formed in the earth where embers had jumped out of the fire. She sat down next to it for some warmth - she was shivering, partly from cold, partly from sleep and energy deprivation. She felt burnt out like the fire beside her. She just wanted to stare into it. Forget. Not think. She sat for a few more minutes, the figure etched out by sunlight streaming through the tantrisberry forest canopy. She got up, looked for Nikai and finally found him where he was fiddling with the toy car he had found the day before.
She walked up to him. "I'm going into the forest, don't come and look for me....I'll come back when I want." Nikai did not turn around to watch her as she trudged off in the direction of the bridge. A few minutes later, Skyra pitched up with a bunch of trumpet fruit flowers in her arms, apparently for no particular reason. He stood up from where he was sitting and dusted off his hands, then looked at Skyra with interest. She sighed, sounding bothered. "Where is she off to?" Nikai shook his head. "Going to sort herself out I hope – she's acting strangely again." Skyra blew a stray white hair out of her face and rolled her eyes skyward. "When was she not like this?" Her reply surprised Nikai again – he was almost sure that he had heard some annoyed undertone in her voice. Before he could ask her what was going on, she had waltzed away, seemingly happy with just being here.
As dusk settled in, the forest seemed to come to life – everywhere there were fireflies and other tiny insects flitting from one leaf to another. The campfire was burning as usual, a flaming centrepiece to the silence that hung between the two norns. A while into roasting ants, Skyra got up and walked towards the tantris tree. Standing on her tiptoes, she plucked a Tantrisberry from its stem, the juicy fruit denting where her fingers pressed. She carefully took a stone, cut a little circle off the top of the fruit, and squeezed it a little. She looked down into it – the inside of the fruit was becoming more of a liquid pulp. Then she walked over to Nikai and held it out to him. "Our Elder norn said that Tantrisberries were supposed to have chemicals in them that make you sleep better. Drink this – you deserve a good night sleep after everything you had to go through with Isis." She smiled sweetly and convincingly. Nikai shook his head and frowned lightly. "Skyra, as far as I know, Tantrisfruit don't make you sleep better, in fact..."
Just then, Skyra bent down and straddled herself on top of Nikai. With her free hand she traced patterns in his hair, playing for time. She cocked her head sideways and spoke softly : "Oh come on, you know you want to...Look, I'll take a bite first." With that she gently took a bite, her teeth puncturing the bumpy red skin of the fruit. The bite was slow and seductive – she knew he was looking at her every move. When she pulled away her mouth was wet with red juice.
Nikai was almost hypnotized with her, the way she moved, the fruit she held. Without saying anything, he took the fruit and ate it - Skyra stood up and resumed her position at the opposite end of the fire. She tried not to smile too openly. Of course Tantrisberries didn't make you sleep better....it was an aphrodisiac.
The night grew on and morning came – the sun shy behind the big leaves of the forest. Like a few nights earlier, Skyra was lying against Nikai again. Now he really had a chance to look at her – she looked so young, innocent even. Even though she grew up with a bunch of Scorpios, her face was virtually unscarred, which was more than he could say for Isis. She had a blemish, an imperfection actually, just above her left eye. He looked down at Skyra, and his hand moved to her face . The movement of air woke Skyra up and she blinked sleepily until the norn opposite her came into focus. She smiled and went back to sleep.
In the lab the angst was gone but the atmosphere still subdued. Atriscemy had woken up, his whole body stiff from sleeping in the chair the whole night. He looked down at the pile of papers , suddenly remembering what he came back for. He got up slowly, stretched a bit, then started to rummage through the papers to look for the blueprints. Finally he found them and started off to the Physical Build section.
There he found Dunnefisk sleeping in a chair, half of his body dangling off sideways. Atriscemy touched his shoulder and he instantly woke up, looking decidedly disorientated. Under his eyes were dark circles, evidence of a restless night. He stood up slowly and rubbed his head with a wrist. "What time is it?" "Atriscemy looked at his sympathetically. "Almost noon. How are you feeling?" Dunnefisk managed a half-hearted, lopsided grin. "Like I look." Atriscemy edged onto the counter next to them and held the papers in front of him. "I think I have your solution. D'you remember those blueprints from way back that Morphex drew?" Dunnefisk nodded vaguely. "I don't recall the creature genus though, it couldn't have been all that great if I don't even remember that." Atriscemy spread the papers in front of Dunnefisk on the white surface. "Meet Ettinus Benignus. The small and scraggly-looking saviour of our lab." Dunnefisk sifted through the papers and shook his head and then looked up at his colleague.