Kara and Lena have very different reactions to the chilling sound coming from outside the tent. Kara jumps up, kicking her sleeping bag away and dives for the zip of the tent whilst Lena stays dead still, afraid to even breathe.
Kara leaps out of the tent, meeting Alex outside. They are the only two who had the instinct to come right out and see what made the sound, preferring to face danger head-on.
Their eyes begin the search, scouring every inch of their surroundings for whatever could have possibly made that noise.
It happens again, the screeching roar is somehow further away. Kara lets her icy blue eyes wander skyward and that's when she sees it.
Not it…them.
Two flying creatures. One is black as the night, only visible because it is circling the other red bird in a dance made exactly for them.
Red isn't really the best way to describe the other flying creature. Its feathers are a mix of reds and oranges and yellows, all scattered in such a way that should the mighty beast be aiming downward it would resemble a flaming arrow.
"I can't believe it." Kara is in awe, she never could have dreamed of actually seeing the legend in the flesh. "Guys, get out here now!"
She startles the others enough that they clamber out of their respective tents. They see the two dragon-like creatures in the sky, moving around each other like planets circling a sun.
Esme looks a little nervous but Kara coaxes her to come over to her.
Kara lifts Esme up onto her shoulders when she is close enough. "The red one is Flamebird and the black one is Nightwing. They're a legend in Kryptonian history and their very existence has been debated for centuries." Her voice is clouded by awe.
"They're magnificent." Lena stands beside her, and the others surrounding them too. All of them crane their necks up, not able to look away from the truly incredible vision in the sky.
Watching the two legendary birds soar through the sky stirs emotions that they didn't even know they could feel. Esme asks a million questions and Kara answers each dutifully, to the best of her knowledge. The parallel of the information passing from aunt to niece doesn't go unnoticed.
Kara had disclosed to the team on many occasions how she was close to her aunt as a child, having been taught all about Krypton's history, legends and constellations by her own aunt and that she would love to have that kind of relationship with Esme.
Everyone keeps their eyes locked on the birds until they eventually swoop out of view over the canopy of the trees, except for Alex and Kelly. They were watching the heart-warming interactions of aunt and niece.
Esme is still perched on Kara's shoulders, her little hands holding onto Kara's head and her eyes alight with exhilaration. "I want to see them again Aunt Kara!"
Kara jiggles her shoulders, Jostling the little girl enough to make her giggle. "Me too, bud but they're super duper rare so it might not happen. It was really special wasn't it?"
"Yes!" Esme raises her little hand above her head, a grin etched onto her face.
Taking the cue of the Flamebird and Nightwing, Alex and Kelly direct everyone back to bed, after all, they truly are the moms of the group.
They are up bright and early the next day to keep on walking, finding it much easier now they aren't walking on sand or under the beating rays of the red sun.
The next few days go by with no more unexpected visitors or anything exciting really. They get up, walk until they estimate that they have reached their daily mileage goal then spend the rest of the day resting before they sleep and do it again.
The further they get, the denser the trees get until they are in all-out forests and today Kara has decided that based on her calculations of how far they've travelled they are in, they should start stringing their tents up into the trees at night, so they aren't on the ground. The clear increase of danger doesn't help anyone sleep at night.
They trudge on, Kara pointing things out to her team as they go that she finds interesting or dropping random facts on them to keep them entertained.
The only ones that actually appreciate it are Esme and Lena. Sometimes Alex listens in for a few minutes, but it scarcely happens, too focused on moving closer to their goal, one step at a time.
"We landed on the continent of Lurvan. We landed pretty far south so we are travelling up to get to where we need to go. If we had gone further down we would have reached the Morstil ocean."
Esme has fallen asleep, but they figured out on the second day that they could rig a sleeping bag between two backpacks to create a makeshift hammock to carry the little one and share the weight.
Kelly and Alex, were carrying their sleeping daughter this time, peeking between them every now and again to make sure she is alright but so far the trip has been like a vacation to her, and she has no issues sleeping with the gentle rocking resulting from them walking.
"So, if we are starting south, shouldn't we just head in a straight line northeast instead of heading north and then east?"
Kara pulls out her map, so she can explain her exact route to Lena in more detail. "It would be a lot easier if that were possible, but we would be cut off by the Jagged Mountains. The rocks there are sharp as knives, and I don't want to go home with more scars than necessary."
"Me neither, good choice." Lena nods emphatically, eyes wide at the description.
"We will actually have to go around The Fire Falls and much closer to the edge of the Scarlet Jungle than I ever want to be myself, let alone bring my family."
Lena peeks over her shoulder at the maps and the locations circled, showing where each of the landmarks are. "You make the forest sound better than the place that is literally called The Fire Falls."
The corners of Kara's lips fight to keep her face straight, wanting to express how serious and dangerous that part of the mission will be but failing because of Lena's teasing.
"It is. The Fire Falls are basically just waterfalls that are fire instead of water. As long as you don't go for a dip then you'll be fine, but The Scarlet Jungle is full of deadly creatures to the point that barely any of them have been identified because nobody came back from research trips, even if they were only going in a few miles. We will be staying about sixty miles out from the edge. Unfortunately, the forest has spread significantly over time and continues to do so, there is only so much Kryptonians could do when it comes to a dangerous forest you can't enter."
Lena's brain gulps down the information, storing it in her brain for later use. She is going to ask Kara a million follow-up questions later once she has thought on it all more. "How does a forest spread?"
"Excellent question. I asked my aunt the same question once and all she would tell me is that the plants moved outward, and the animals followed."
"Fascinating." Lena murmurs.
Kara watches her carefully, gauging whether or not she is genuinely interested or if she is just being the amazing person she is and pretending for her sake.
She finds nothing but unadulterated intrigue in her expression, her mind clearly racing as she tries to figure out which question to ask next, and which answer she is more desperate for.
"Why is it called the Scarlet Forest?"
Kara smiles widely, Lena always asks the simple questions first, building her information base up from the ground. Thorough and systematic. "That's simple, all of the plant life is scarlet."
"All of it? Like, not even one other plant is a different colour?" Her eyes are wide, enthralled with the knowledge.
"From what we know, yes. Although we're not sure about further in for obvious reasons." Kara gesticulates as she speaks from the excitement of finally having someone to talk to about this stuff. "I've actually only ever seen pictures of a few of the plants and there are only a few available that are close-ups."
They carry on marching their way through the woods, Kara and Lena at the back and The Olsen-Danvers at the front with Nia in the middle, having stolen Esme's Mp3 Player and listening to an audiobook of James and The Giant Peach.
Lena shakes her head at Nia, who is completely enthralled by the audiobook, not really paying attention to where she is going.
"I swear bringing her was a bad idea, we basically have another kid with us."
Kara giggles. "At least this one is old enough to sleep in her own tent."
Lena joins in laughing as Alex calls from the front. "Hey guys, look how cool that plant is! It looks like a kind of palm tree."
They take a glance over to where Alex is looking, and their breath gets caught in their throats. This isn't just any ordinary plant, its colour is deeply unsettling.
Bright scarlet.
"That's not right. That shouldn't be here!" Kara's voice raises in pitch and volume. "We're nowhere near The Scarlet Jungle, hell we're not even close to The Fire Falls yet. We're like a thousand miles away."
Kelly looks confused. "I'm guessing that that's not supposed to be there. How bad is this for us then?"
Kara looks dead into her eyes. "It could be nothing. We could be fine or that could be the worst thing to happen on this mission."
Alex cheques on her still sleeping daughter, "That certainly doesn't fill me with hope."
"What should we do? Should we just keep on going?" Lena is clearly battling with her inner scientist, every atom of her being is urging her to get closer. To find out everything that she possibly can about this exotic plant. She longed to discover everything that she can about this plant, to learn what is never been learned before and to document it for millenniums to come.
Nia seems to be snapped out of her obliviousness, she is now aware of what everyone else is staring at. With the earbuds in her ears, she can't hear the others trying to tell her not to get too close. she saunters over to it casually unaware of the danger. "That looks so cool, is it like your cool fungus? can we eat it, and it will taste super good?"
She slips the earbuds out of her ears so she can listen to Kara's response. "Definitely not, don't touch it. I don't know what it will do."
"How bad can it be it's just a red palm tree?" she reaches her arm out grasping one of the leaves with her full hand without hesitation, trying to prove a point.
It slices her palm open like a hot knife through butter. She makes a pained shriek as the blood flows easily through her now clenched fist and down her wrist.
"Oh crap!" Nia hugs her arm to her chest, bending over as though she can hide from the pain.
Lena's reaction is immediate, her momma bear mode has been activated. She tugs Nia away from the dangerous plant and is digging through her bag for her medical kit within seconds.
Alex joins her, reviewing the injury closely. It doesn't look good. "The cut is jagged but luckily it isn't too deep so I don't think there will be any nerve damage, once we have the bleeding stopped I'll have you follow some directions so I can see the full extent of the injury, just to be sure."
Nia nods along, tears now falling down her cheeks. "I know cuts are meant to hurt but this burns really badly."
Alex and Lena's heads shoot up from their work tending to the cut to stare at each other in alarm. "It's burning?"
Nia nods her head, very sure of her answer. "It feels like my hand is on fire."
Kelly is now holding Esme's hand, the little girl having been woken by the commotion. She leans into Kara, who is standing still watching and feeling useless. "How do we stop the burning? What do you know about the plant?"
"I don't know anything about it, it's from The Scarlet Jungle which is over a thousand miles away. I don't know what it is or how it got here but it shouldn't be. There isn't anywhere we can get information on it." Kara so badly wants to comfort Nia but doesn't want to get into Alex and Lena's way as they tend to her.
Kelly sighs. "Do you at least know of any other plants with similar qualities that could have an effect similar to this one, so we have something to go off of?"
Kara's head tilts as she thinks as if she is reading from an invisible textbook. "Nothing similar but there is certain vegetation known for its healing properties. There are fields of a soothing moss that were grown specifically for burning symptoms after people kept getting injured visiting The Fire Falls."
"We are still weeks out from reaching The Fire Falls, Kara. We don't know how much longer the symptoms will last." The stress is clear in Kelly's voice as she keeps Esme faced over her shoulder, away from Nia.
Kara pulls out her map and a pencil. She begins her calculations quickly, the paper perched on the top of a fallen tree trunk. She draws along the map, estimating their location before circling another place on the map, Kelly criticizing her every move. "Would twenty-three miles be any better?"
"Twenty-three? That's it?"
"Give or take."
Kelly looks back up at Nia. "We can do that. Where is this field then?"
Kara steps closer to the group, making sure that they can all hear her. "It's not a field. There are science guild accommodations all over Krypton and there is one approximately twenty-three miles away. They're always fully stocked and have a much wider array of medical supplies than we do."
Nia shakes her head rapidly. "It hurts so bad! That could take hours."
Kara kneels in front of Nia, taking her now bandaged hand in hers, and cradling it with the utmost care. "I know that this is going to be really hard, and I know you're in a lot of pain, but this is what's best. We need to go somewhere these two can take a proper look at your hand. We don't know what other symptoms might pop up."
Nia whimpers a little but stands up from where she was sitting with her back against a tree. "O-ok. The quicker we get there, the quicker it stops hurting, right?"
Kara smiles at her reassuringly, "right."
They gather their things quickly, Kara tossing Nia's bag over her shoulder, as well as her own. Not listening to Nia's garbled resistance.
"We will be going slightly off course, but it doesn't matter." Kara leads the way, talking over her shoulder. "The science guild built research accommodations everywhere, but the ones out here rarely get used since they are so far out of the way, and it takes pretty much the same amount of time to travel from one of the cities instead of travelling from here."
Lena catches up to her, Nia right behind her. "Why did they build them then?"
Nia listens in closely, needing something to take her mind off of her skin searing.
"When the accommodations were built, pods were still a work in progress and so barely anyone had them so if they wanted to get around they had to do it the long way."
"By walking?" Nia asks.
"Nope, by War Kite." Kara turns and grins impishly at the woman behind her. "It's like a big-massive, winged dragon bird. My Uncle Jor-El had one, it's called a H'Raka."
Nia gasps, "That's really cool."
"He took me flying once as a kid and I remember wishing to be able to do it every day. I guess the universe had a convoluted way of granting that wish."
Nia grumbles as she accidentally jostles her hand pushing her way through some thick foliage. "Well, you got the flying part but you're still missing out on the awesome dragon bird part."
Kara and Lena huff out matching laughs. "I guess you're right."
Kara makes an abrupt stop as she spots another scarlet plant up ahead. "We will give that a wide birth, huh?"
Lena nods, her eyebrows scrunched. "Good idea."
They make their way around the side of it, being sure to be nowhere near in reaching distance of it. "I guess it wasn't just a one-off." Alex chimes in.
"It would have been much easier to explain if it was." Lena eyes the plant from a distance.
"Come on, you. If you spend any more time staring at it, you will want to take samples and we only need one person with a messed up hand." Kara drags Lena away by the strap of her bag playfully.
Lena groans, falling into step with Kara. "Sometimes I wish that you didn't know me so well."
Kara bumps her shoulder against Lena's. "No, you don't."
Lena crosses her arms in protest but her smiling face betrays her true feelings.
Nia harrumphs as she passes them. "Stop flirting when I'm in pain."
They chuckle, a little embarrassed but mostly just amused. "Is the pain dulling at all?" Lena questions.
Nia looks down at her bandaged hand, thinking over the question. It still hurts pretty bad but it seems to be a little bit more tolerable now than it was earlier. "It still hurts a lot, but I don't think it is quite as bad as it was earlier."
Kara squeezes Nia's shoulder reassuringly. "I'm glad it's getting better. You're the second baby of the group and we don't like it when you get hurt."
She chokes out a laugh, the others joining in quickly.
Alex lifts Esme out of Kelly's arms and onto her shoulders. They aren't willing to have Esme on the ground with the scarlet plants dotted about. They have spotted a couple more in the distance as they walk and aren't at all happy about it because it also means that they can't walk past dark for fear of accidentally running into one.
"Just think Nia, you're practically Esme's big sister." Kelly laughs.
Nia finds that the banter assists in keeping the pain at bay, the distraction is certainly welcome. "It is like having four moms."
Lena places her hand on her chest. "I can truly say, hand on heart, that you are my favourite child."
Kara cackles at Lena's antics. "Come on you weirdos, let's pick up the pace. The accommodations will have showers too."
The mention of showers inspires them all to quicken their already fast pace.
Nia breathes heavily as she speed-walks. "We'll be there in no time."