Broken Glass - Taekook

73

In the silence that fills the cavern as the long shadow of the Stasida slowly disappears, a rhythmic dripping sound establishes itself. It echoes against the walls with a crystalline reverberation that never truly fades. Aphelia's glow shifts from a deep purple to a gentle white, one reflected in the translucent crystals around us. The rock I'm sitting on suddenly feels uncomfortably sharp, and I shift a little, trying to find a comfortable spot.

The movement doesn't go unnoticed, though, and I catch my friends glancing over at me. I cough awkwardly, running a hand through my hair. "So...what now? Should we seek out the Great Waterfall?" I ask, and Namjoon frowns, shaking his head.
"I don't think so. I got the sense that we were meant to stumble upon it when we're supposed to," he responds uncertainly, pulling his notebook out and flipping through the pages. "The Stasida said that the Great Waterfall moves around and is hard to trace. Actively searching it out would be a waste of time. So maybe it's meant to be a lesson in patience and knowing when the opportune moment is?"

Jimin nods, his wings fluttering slightly. "I agree. There's something about this place that feels like it'll show you what you need to see when you're ready. So we will find this waterfall, at some point, but not until the golden river decides it's time. Which makes planning out our time here difficult, but we don't have much of a choice. We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds, I guess."

Taehyung starts messing with the small pieces of rope that hold his medicine bag together, tying and retying it in increasingly complex knots. After a minute of silence, he speaks up. "This would be the perfect time to boost our strength, explore our abilities, and strategise on how to get rid of the king if we can. We'll need to prepare in advance, so we have to be ready for anything. We can't do much if we have no plan for what to do if things don't go exactly as we expect them to."

Hoseok nods in agreement, then looks over the equipment we're currently carrying. His dart between all of us, seemingly scanning us for something he can't see, and then he brightens up out of nowhere. "I think I can make us all better armour. We need the best gear possible, or we're not gonna survive later on. Right now, we have basically nothing." He gestures around at all of us, and I look down at my cloak.
"That's true," Yoongi murmurs, glancing around at all of us. "We literally have no protection at the moment, and we definitely need it." Hoseok nods.

"Even reinforced leather or basic plate metal would make life a lot easier for us, but I think we can go further than that. We definitely have the time, now that we've decided to settle down here for the next few months. At the very least, we need some proper, functional shields, maybe imbued with some protective enchantments. That'll help us stay a lot safer."
"And a lot more alive," Taehyung points out, a little dryly.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't make ourselves safer, but we'll need the resources to make all that stuff and a way to carry it all. I don't think the horse can shoulder literally all of that. And even if she could, I wouldn't want to shove all of that onto her. It feels unfair," Jimin pipes up, glancing around at the rest of us. Yoongi nods in agreement.
"That makes sense. I can work on fixing our bags and helping figure out storage solutions," he offers, pulling out his own small leatherbound notebook from his pack. "I was already going to fix everyone's bedrolls, but I can look at expanding and mending everyone's packs, too."

"We could even make our storage more efficient," Jin suggests, looking over the entire group. "I'm sure we're not using our individual talents and specialities to their full advantage at the moment, but we need to."
"Definitely," Yoongi agrees, smiling at his partner. "I'll draw up some sort of plan for that." He looks over to Namjoon. "I'll need your notes on how everyone can best enhance themselves. It'll help me figure out how to allocate things, if you're okay with that?" The mage nods, flipping through the pages of his notebook.

"Sure. I think we also need to use this time to get stronger and gather supplies, so maybe Jin and I can work on finding the resources you guys need to make the stuff you need to make? Tae probably needs to replenish some parts of his medicine bag, and maybe even add a few more different types of things for different ailments. We can be the resource team, and you guys can work on crafting things with those resources. And when you don't need me, I can work with you on the strategy stuff, and theorise a little more on the specifics of that."