Eight Intertwined

44 - Illumination

The continuation of the group's journey brought them to the edge of the Frostlands where the blankets of snow gave way to endless stretches of plains. Green hills gently rolled in tandem with one another, creating a picturesque horizon that Tressa decided to commit to memory to the best of her ability. She had a pen in one hand and her journal in the other, jotting down all the details of the journey that she could remember. She didn't have a way of reading the minds of the other members of the party, but Tressa was sure that she had managed to get a fine enough grasp on the situations at hand to write everything she had to. 

It had been about an hour and a half since they left Stillsnow behind, and Alfyn had taken to leading the group with the map in hand. Tressa glanced up to see that Alfyn was confidently in front of the rest of the group, though Tressa could tell he was watching the map much more closely than he should have been. She couldn't help chuckling to herself; it seemed as if the apothecary's sense of direction was lacking. He was fully aware of this truth too, and he wasn't bothering to push back against what he knew to be the truth. 

Tressa jotted down a few extra details about the landscape before drawing out a small sketch of it. When she was satisfied with her admittedly pathetic artistic interpretation of the horizon, she nodded to herself and tucked both her pen and journal back into their home within her bag. She pressed her hands against the straps of the bag a moment later, letting out a grin as she continued to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other the way all great adventurers did. 

The members of the party had been rather quiet since setting out from Stillsnow, Tressa had noticed. Primrose still had a lot on her mind, and Ophilia appeared to fall into much the same category. Therion had been acting off ever since he retrieved money for them from the mansion of Rufus, and while nobody had said anything about it, Tressa knew that they were all grateful. It wasn't as if Rufus was around to spend the gold anymore, and if they were able to put it to good use, then so be it. Therion had left behind more than enough for the people of Stillsnow to work toward the town's restoration as well. Alfyn had told Tressa as much during their breakfast meeting, and Tressa had been left to smile to herself at the thought that perhaps Therion wasn't as prickly as he appeared to be on the surface. 

Olberic and H'aanit were just as quiet as always, the latter followed by both Linde and Hägen. They had been great help over the course of the last battle, and Tressa had to admit that she was glad both animals had decided to join them on the quest. Granted, Linde and Hägen went wherever H'aanit did, but Tressa was still happy they were there. It didn't hurt that they were cute, cuddly animals who she could pet whenever she grew stressed. 

Cyrus had one hand pressed against his chin, making it clear as could be that he was lost in thought. Alfyn slowed down when he peeked over his shoulder at the other members of the group, his footsteps falling into pace with Cyrus. "Leaf for your thought?" Alfyn questioned with a light smile on his face. Everything about him was personable and friendly, the perfect way to make anyone open up to him. 

Cyrus perked up upon being addressed and glanced in Alfyn's direction. After a moment, he allowed his hand to fall to his side. "I was wondering about the shrine of Aelfric we encountered before entering Stillsnow," he began. "I have heard tales of the other gods possessing similar shrines, and I was hoping that perhaps we would run into one of them sooner or later."

"That does sound like it would help us out, huh?" Alfyn agreed with a light nod. "I know that the power Aelfric gave us has already proven to be a big help. If we can get the other gods on our side, then that would only make things easier for us in the long run."

"You two are awfully casual about the idea of getting a god to help us with defeating the enemies we're going to encounter on our respective journeys," Tressa remarked as she sped up before falling into pace with the two men. "I didn't believe that we were going to be able to actually get a blessing from the gods until we were there in the shrine."