To Lyger 0: They are quite cute together, aren't they?
Cresting the next green hill, Felix stopped at the top and stretched his arms to either side, twisting his waist and extending his legs to work out the tension from three hours on his feet – most of that hiking. Looking in all directions, the bright, verdant, rolling hills of Wales spread out in all directions around them. Less than a kilometer away, the green hills sloped downward to an abrupt stop, with a thin strip of beach separating the hills from the sparkling blue sea. Felix rolled his shoulders, trying to shift the weight of his pack to a more comfortable position; they had taken the train from London to Cardiff yesterday, and rather than rent a car for the trip, Dhuan had insisted on walking the hills – he had to "feel the country beneath his feet."
All Felix felt so far were a couple of hot spots on the soles of his feet.
Behind him, just below the top of the hill, Dhuan had paused momentarily, barely breathing heavily, and looked east and west, his brows furrowed in intense concentration. Nodding to himself, he leaned over to examine a cluster of oddly-shaped rocks just visible poking through the sod a meter or so from the top of the hill. Felix frowned, watching Dhuan curiously as he waited for him to finish. He sighed. Dhuan had stopped near the top of almost every hill they walked over, insisting on studying each one for a few minutes in the hope of finding the one specific hill for which he seemed to be searching – not that he had shared any of the distinguishing characteristics.
"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Felix asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. "I do have eyes, too, you know. If I knew what you were looking for…"
Dhuan frowned, his brows creased deeply, and shook his head. "[It should be close]," he insisted. "[I could swear I recognize it on this hilltop – perhaps even from these very stones]."
"Didn't you say that back in Cardiff?" Felix pointed out. "That bus stop with the strange marking etched into it?"
"[That was not the same]." Dhuan shook his head firmly. "[I do not know what I was smelling there, but it was not this]."
"Whatever you say," Felix muttered, pulling out a water bottle and taking a long drink before nudging his jacket. Barkk slowly drifted out of his pocket, stretched her arms, and accepted a capful of water, lapping it up eagerly. Watching Dhuan sniff the air, Felix frowned. It had been thousands of years at least since Dhuan was last here; could he really expect the countryside to look anything like the last time?
And yet, despite the soreness of his feet, Felix couldn't complain too much about the trip. He had been stuck in London almost constantly since their return from Angola; apart from a quick trip to Paris for meetings and a couple rounds of the other British outlets, he had spent the bulk of his time sitting behind a desk. And after six weeks of regular, strenuous activity in Angola, he had been starting to become antsy. And it had been years since he was last in Wales, on a trip with his parents long before Father had even started to sicken. They had hiked along some of these very same hills, stopped at the top of one and eaten a picnic lunch, even spent a couple hours just lying on the grass and watching the fishing vessels trawl the coastline. Mother had toured a fishing village around here, looking around for treasures while he and Father had dug around the base of one of the hills for artifacts from the ancient Welsh. They hadn't found anything, even the hint of something, despite spending almost two hours on the search. In the end, Mother had returned emptyhanded as well, and they had all gone back to the car for the ride back to London. And yet, despite that "failure," it had been one of the few trips they had taken as a family, one of his best memories.
The only way to make this Welsh trip better would be if Bri had come along.
"Ready, big guy?" asked Felix, raising an eyebrow at Dhuan, who frowned, folding his arms.
"[Everything is so different]," Dhuan complained, stopping at the top of the hill next to Felix and looking around in frustration. He sniffed the air, and his nostrils wrinkled. "[I thought I had found something, but no. Nothing even smells the same]."
Felix cocked his head in disbelief. "Wait, you mean you actually expect Wales to smell the same way it did ten thousand years ago?" he demanded. "So much of the world has changed since then… there's no way it would smell the same. Industrialization, changes in the fish population and fishing techniques, farming…"
Dhuan raised an eyebrow at him. "[That only shows how poorly-developed your senses are, Dog]," he pointed out. "[You need to smell with more than just your physical nose]."
"I've only got the one," Felix retorted, giving him a look.
"[And in this, it will deceive you]," Dhuan told him calmly. "[Do not use your physical nose]."
Quirking an eyebrow, Felix closed his eyes and sniffed. He could smell the grass around him, the clover covering the hillside, the flowers in the vale between their hill and the next one, even a hint of salt spray from the sea. "Okay… what should I be smelling?"
"[The scent of the old gods]," answered Dhuan, his voice taking on a low, rumbling tone that seemed to merge into the background noise had grown more distinct with Felix's eyes closed. "[The smell of Danu. The smell of life and magic]."
"I smell plants."
Dhuan scoffed. "[Living in London, your sensed have become dulled. And yet, you are surrounded by the scent of old magic every day! How can you miss it? I smell it on your friend Anne every time I see her]."
Felix snorted, quirking an eyebrow without opening his eyes. "You're smelling Anne," he deadpanned. "Better not tell her you're doing that."
"[She has been touched by Danu. The scent of old magic is strong around her]."
"I'm pretty sure that's her shampoo."
"[Bah]!" Dhuan spat.
"You can't be so hard on my kid!" Barkk huffed, a high-pitched growl in her voice. "He's had the miraculous for all of a year. These days, it sometimes takes my holders years to develop that magic-sense – if it happens at all!"
Felix's eyes shot open in surprise to find the Kwami hovering next to his head, glaring at Dhuan with her paws on her hips. Dhuan bared his teeth in amusement, and Barkk harrumphed, turning away from him haughtily.
"[You have only held your miraculous for a year]?" Dhuan asked Felix, cocking his head to one side and examining him carefully.
Felix shrugged. "Just under a year," he admitted, shifting his head slightly, trying to resist the urge to reach for his miraculous.
Dhuan hummed. "[That can be long enough. In the great academy of the Miraculous Temple in Atlantis, the new miraculous holders learned to harness their powers almost as well in one year as your miraculous holders can in three or four]," he observed. "[Your Guardians seem to lack some of the training of millennia past]."
Felix frowned. "I can't speak for any of the other holders and Guardians, but I can tell you that Adrien and Marinette haven't exactly been operating under ideal conditions," he pointed out testily. "They had to learn everything on the fly, while trying to protect their miraculous from a man trying to steal them and trying to reclaim his miraculous from him."
"[True]," Dhuan mused, inclining his head.
"The Guardians have tried to keep the old training levels!" Barkk insisted defensively. "They just didn't have the time or the capability to emulate what was available in Atlantis. When the city was destroyed, so much was lost that has never been recovered. Even some miraculous have not been seen since then."
Dhuan frowned, his brows knit together. "That is… true]."
"Tell you what," Felix told him, his mouth set in a thin line. "You're so disappointed with the training we've received? Well, maybe you're the one who knows enough to help us figure this crap out. So how do I 'smell the magic'?"
"[If you would learn, you must do as I say. The first thing you do is to not use your physical senses]," Dhuan pointed out. "[Focus on your connection to the miraculous and allow that to extend your senses beyond the limits of your physical body]."
Felix groaned but closed his eyes again, concentrating on the collar around his neck. Still he could smell the land around him – the grass and clover and flowers. For a long moment, that was all he could smell, before something else invaded his nose, pushing all other concerns aside. He could feel something changing as He focused ono. "Hang on, I think I smell something…" He turned slowly. "Right over… there." He opened his eyes, facing Dhuan. "Bloody hell," he groaned, facepalming. "I'm pretty sure I was just smelling your 'musk'."
"It's a start," Barkk consoled him.
Dhuan chuckled, clapping Felix on the shoulder. "[Perhaps it will come]." Again he turned to look around them, a confused look on his face. "[I still do not understand it]," he insisted, spreading his arms out wide. "[Her outpost should be right here]."
"Why?"
"[It was only a kilometer from the shore, halfway up the coast]."
Felix facepalmed. "That's your information? The shoreline has changed so much – the water has risen like 30 feet at least. A kilometer from the shoreline back then is probably halfway to Ireland today!"
Dhuan hummed disappointedly, and his shoulders slumped.
Felix sighed and turned back toward the countryside surrounding them, taking in the rolling green hills and waiting for Dhuan to finish studying the hilltop. He was just about to lead the way down the hill when a trio of hikers coming over the next hill caught his eye, looking around curiously. Felix cocked his head in surprise, eyeing them carefully. "Haven't seen too many others out," he mused. Motion by his head caught his attention, and without turning to face her, he hissed at Barkk, "Hide!"
As the Kwami phased into Felix's jacket, Dhuan frowned, pausing next to Felix to study the approaching trio. "[Who are they]?"
"Probably just hikers like us," Felix told him with a shrug. "Though you probably shouldn't say anything while they can hear it – I don't want to have to explain my friend who speaks Proto-Celtic!" Dhuan nodded in agreement, and together they cautiously walked down the hill, picking their way past piles of discarded rocks that threatened to wrench an ankle if one were to step on them incorrectly. On reaching the valley floor below, Felix paused, turning in either direction to take in the scenery around them. He and Dhuan had just reached the middle of the valley when they met the other group, two men and a younger woman.
"Hello," one of the men greeted them with a wide grin. "Didn't expect to meet anyone else out this way!"
Felix chuckled. "Same – but it is a nice day for a walk in the country, don't you agree?"
"Definitely," agreed the woman, smiling brightly. "Though I think the lighting must be playing tricks on me – I could swear I saw something flying by your head while you were near the top of the hill!"
"What, you mean like a butterfly?" asked Felix, masking his nervousness with a laugh.
"No… it looked bigger than that."
Felix shrugged. "Maybe you were seeing things – might've been a fairy or something!"
The woman stifled a giggle. "That's just the thing to see out on these hills!"
"Best not to be starting any more rumors, though," the other man warned, laughing. "Don't want to cause another panic."
"Oh?" Felix cocked his head.
"Hadn't you heard?" the man asked, surprised. "Rumor has it that there was a mysterious bowman spotted down by Cardiff, only a couple weeks ago."
"Really." Felix scoffed.
"That's the rumor."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Someone saw a chip in a building that looked like an arrowhead, and I'm sure that's what started the rumors. It's nothing."
Felix hummed. "Still, best to be careful, eh?"
One of the men shrugged. "Never can hurt."
