Packing up camp took an awkward turn when Varian decided he wanted to make himself useful and ended up getting underfoot... repeatedly.
Eugene found himself taking on the task of herding Varian to the least dangerous tasks, and then found himself surprised when even those managed to become hazardous to their general well being. Having been entrapped in tent canvas, tripped over their packs, and hopelessly tangled the horse's leads, Varian was put on supervising duty: a very important task where you sit and watch others complete the jobs needed to get back on the road.
Eugene did not let him near the fire.
It seemed that his clumsiness (or misfortune) had only increased since his memories had been lost. Or perhaps they had been set back to the original settings...
Either way, it tugged at Eugene's heartstrings to see Varian sit morosely, just watching.
"Hey, kid." Eugene plopped down next to him, taking the excuse to relax. It was only after he sat down that he realized he had nothing to talk about that wasn't strictly off limits. Oh boy.
Still, he tried. "So. The weather. Great for travelling. Perfect, even."
"Uh, yeah." Varian rubbed the back of his neck. Eugene thought it looked strange without his gloves, crisscrossing scars and what looked like burn marks painting the youngster's hands.
"Right." Eugene patted his own legs once sharply, as if he'd just made an important declaration.
The silence stretched as the women finished up last preparations, finally untangling the tack and getting the horses ready. They'd alternate riders and who would walk, to make the best of the situation. A carriage would have slowed them down and possibly prevented them from traversing parts of the kingdom.
"...sorry..."
Eugene looked over at Varian, who had finally spoken and was rubbing his own arm with one hand. It looked like he had gotten used to Ruddiger, who he had been reintroduced to after the little guy refused to leave his side in the chaos. The raccoon was curled around his neck, looking quite satisfied.
"I didn't mean to slow you guys down, or anything. I just wanted to help." Varian's crestfallen face hit somewhere deep in the rogue's chest.
"Hey, hey, you didn't- I mean, we have a pretty loose schedule anyway, so it's fine!" Eugene was not the best at comforting kids... teens, whatever. He was a rather small teen.
With some kind of glowy, strange power. That he maybe possibly didn't know about. Totally manageable. Yep.
"Okay," Rapunzel's voice broke through the clearing. "Time to head out!"
Her excitement did wonders for the mood, even Cass cracking a smile as Rapunzel took off, running through the grass along the side of the path. Black spikes pointed forward, towards the Koto Peaks, a long standing dream visitation spot of Rapunzel's. Hopefully, they'd have a chance to visit.
Once they were on the move, Varian's spirits lifted, and he easily kept pace with the group due to Rapunzel's constant stops to admire the view, the trees, the flowers. His wandering and mildly painful gait had both been alleviated when Rapunzel had given him a well-sized staff to steady himself with. It suited his height perfectly, fitting in his hand with ease.
Varian found himself picking up rocks and certain plants that he just knew were important, but when asked, found that he couldn't explain why. Even so, it kept his mind busy, drowning out the unsettling feeling that occurred every time he accidentally stepped on or moved too close to the odd black stones, making them glow a strange blue color.
The path became more rocky as they travelled, meadows and trees giving way to crags and cliffs. It looked like it would lead directly into the mountains themselves. Varian wondered how tough Rapunzel's feet had to be, and decided it must be as tough as her hair, which was constantly being used to pull rocks out of the way, create swinging paths across treacherous lands, and support makeshift solutions to other terrain difficulties.
Ruddiger had stayed close to him the entire way, not letting the boy out of his sight and only eating as the group stopped to eat.
It all felt unreal. Varian knew he was missing quite a bit of information, but even his subconscious was unable to match what he experienced with what he expected.
Varian found himself flinching away from grabbing hands, even those meant to guide him to a safer path. A choking sensation stole his voice whenever he inconvenienced the team, and it was happening more often than he thought was normal. Certainly more often than the others did.
Cass and Eugene would bicker at each other, but they never seemed to get in each other's way. The other three were built for adventure, even the horses contributing to the party more often than he did.
At least he had learned not to try and spice food with something strange found in the forest, or rig a stretcher to the horses without prompting to help lighten the load, or offer to line their shoes (those who wore them) with a soft mossy substance to help with soreness. It was his fault they weren't riding, anyway.
The moss itself may have worked, but after a few moments it became very clear that Eugene had an allergy. A fairly major skin allergy, which led to him being a constant horse rider, and leaving two horses to cycle between the three of them remaining. Varian offered to walk, despite the lingering soreness. He deserved it, he insisted.
"You don't." Rapunzel looked him in the eye and entreated otherwise. "We'll keep this as fair as possible. You were only trying to help, it wouldn't be right to punish you..."
"Even if you did almost poison us," Cass quipped, somewhat annoyed at having to find alternate provisions after the lunch issue. It hadn't been intentional and it wouldn't have been serious, but they didn't take chances. Pink spots only looked cute on certain people.
Varian couldn't help a small grin.
A yawning cavern opened before them, narrowing to a single file path that led deeper into the mountain itself.
"Let's stop to rest," Rapunzel suggested, leading her horse to a halt. "Who knows when we'll have an open space again."
"Thank you, Blondie." Eugene hopped down, stretching, but walking on tender feet. "I think I'm starting to get saddle sores."
Varian dismounted the small black mare with far less grace, barely catching himself on the saddle when his foot caught the side of the stirrup. "I'm okay!"
Ruddiger chittered worriedly at him, claws digging in slightly to keep his own balance.
"Hold up." Cass drew and raised her sword, eyeing the entrance to the caves.
After a few moments of silence, a cloaked figure emerged. The dark cloak had nearly blended in entirely with the gloom of the caves, and the figure moved in an odd fashion, only advancing on the tiles of black rocks that advanced to and stopped abruptly at the cave's entrance.
"The Sun Drop~!" The cloaked figure crowed in excitement. "And the Shard, oh what a lucky day this is! Now if you'll just come quietly, no one has to get hurt."
"Not happening," Cass advanced with her sword, easily forcing the figure back to previous rock outcroppings, but two more appeared from the shadows of the cave entrance, having heard the first one's exclamation, and then two more from the surrounding rocky cliffs, for fun.
The new people did not share the first's proclivity for sticking with the dark stone path.
"Bring them, bring them," The first figure ordered, dancing back from Cass's reach. "The others will be most pleased!"
Queen Arianna watched the Captain of the Guard set out with an entire battalion of troops, to guard the empty Old Corona from a single boy.
She shook her head, saddened. This sort of overreaction was just what she had feared when her husband had set his eyes on recapturing Varian. He was already questioning everyone from the kitchen staff who prepared prisoner meals to the guards who had failed in their duty. Reprimands and demands were in no short supply.
Repressing her sighs, the Queen did her best to be a rational pillar for others to find reassurance in. There were still the matters of relocating Old Coronan citizens into safe homes closer to and inside of Corona, and of preparing a funeral for their leader that showed reverence and respect that the man had earned in the years of service he had given to the kingdom. This all appeared to be brushed aside in the wake of a potential threat in the shape of a fifteen year old boy, who hadn't shown his face in days, no demands or announcements in sight.
It was as if he had vanished.
Or perhaps, he had left Corona entirely.
If that was the case, this was entirely useless, and even more unnecessarily heavy-handed. Protocol dictated the release of a warning for the neighboring kingdoms for particularly dangerous subjects, but Varian's assortment of crimes were very much Corona focused, and wouldn't gain attention or traction elsewhere.
Particularly not in Ingvarr, Queen Arianna mused to herself. If he truly wished to disappear, that would be the smartest place to choose, in her opinion.
At this point, she somewhat hoped that he could find a life away from Corona. Returning would be more dangerous than it was worth.
Varian backed up as the dark clothed figures advanced. Cass was holding her own against the first one in a dangerous dance of blades.
Fishing around in the packs, Varian grabbed a purple vial and lobbed it at two of the advancing figures, hoping for the best. Where the vial exploded, a dark purple mass held them in place, causing them to fall from their own momentum. It was too bad there seemed to be only the one purple vial...
Eugene and Rapunzel made a powerful duo, easily dispatching the two assailants that had headed their way. Even with Eugene's mild impairment, they worked wonders as a team. However, it seemed that the attackers did not share their qualms against attempting lethal attacks.
It was going well until another batch of attackers arrived, as if summoned from some unheard signal.
"Um, guys?" Varian tried to catch the attention of the others, as they had actual weapons, whereas he had a stick and whatever he could find in the packs.
A shadow passed over, and a woman with a large dark sword appeared, quickly fending off the advancing cloaked figures. Her white hair was piled up in a pseudo-braid at the top of her head, half of her face was painted in red, and her swordsmanship was incredible.
When the first figure noticed her, they nearly took a blow from Cass as they stumbled. To another unseen command, all but the two glued to the ground retreated quickly into the caves. The glued duo managed to rip up parts of the ground and stumble away, purple clinging to them and keeping their feet from separating very far. The group let them go, focusing on the new arrival.
Cass panted, out of breath, and rounded on the new woman, sword still drawn. "Who are you?"
"Oh?" The woman spoke lightly, casually, as if she had encountered the group on an unexpected walk through the park. "I'm Adira, and you all are following the black rocks to your destination."
"How do you know that?" Rapunzel asked cautiously, still strung out from the earlier fighting.
"Because, I am a guide who has been waiting for you. And this, I believe, belongs to you as well."
Adira passed over a small, rolled piece of paper. Unspooling it, Rapunzel revealed the image of a cloaked figure, not unlike the ones who had just attacked them.
"Is that," Rapunzel reached into her small pouch, pulling out a piece of parchment. "A piece of the scroll?"
The two pieces matched in the corner, some runes lining up properly. Something in Varian's mind nudged him when he saw it. The unfamiliar lettering almost made some kind of sense, poetically, before they returned to nonsense. He shook his head to clear it.
"And there's another waiting for you in the Depths." Adira pointed towards the very caves the cloaked figures had disappeared to. "I can lead you to the entrance, but I will only be helping when you truly need it."
"Would being attacked by those people count as needing help?" Varian asked, looking up at her. They could use a guard if people like that were after them.
"Naturally, son of Quirin," Adira smiled down at him.
"Huh?" Varian's look of confusion was quickly mirrored in Adira's face.
She looked to Rapunzel. "Is he not-?"
"He is, yes, but uh, maybe we don't bring that up?" Rapunzel's anxiety showed clearly on her face. "He lost his memories, so we're trying to let them come back... naturally."
"Oh. Okay." Adira smiled again. "Quirin is your father, and you can call me Aunt Adira. Or just Adira. Whatever."
Eugene and Cass face-palmed, while Rapunzel looked on with a strained smile.
"O...kay?" Varian would not be doing any of that, but at least it didn't seem like he had known her. At the mention of his father, however, he felt a strange, desperate pain in his chest, and only breathing through it seemed to help.
"Everyone okay? Yes? Onwards!" Adira prompted the group. "This is like, the worst place to set up camp, perfect for enemy ambush. There's a much better place a bit further into the caves. I know, I've been."
"If you say so," Rapunzel's strained smile softened a bit, relief coloring her expression. Eugene pouted slightly about having to get back on the horse, but otherwise, the group easily moved on.
Meanwhile, Varian hung back slightly, trying to discern where the pain had come from, and how he could make it go away.
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