Eight Intertwined

121 - Snow

It wasn't until the thick of the afternoon that the travelers finally awoke from their naps in the inn. H'aanit barely even realized that she had fallen asleep to begin with until she sat up and rubbed at her temple. Her headache from before had gone away, and she thanked Draefendi for being kind enough to ease her pain after the fight against Dreisang. H'aanit's muscles still groaned in protest as she pulled on her shoes and began to stroke Linde behind the ears, but she figured the knots would work themselves out when she started going about her regular business in town.

Linde purred and nuzzled her head against H'aanit's hand, and the huntress allowed herself to smile gently. She hadn't realized just how tense she felt until she gave herself the chance to decompress. It felt like a weight had been pressing down on her chest ever since Stonegard, but its weight had doubled after the tournament in Victors Hollow. The break wouldn't last for long, and H'aanit was confident that the gods would return her to her previous stressed state soon enough, but at least she had a few moments to breathe. She was willing to take that. 

"Are you ready?" 

H'aanit perked up at the sound of Primrose's voice. She had been so distracted with Linde that she hadn't even realized the dancer had woken up and was watching her carefully. There was something in Primrose's eyes that looked a lot like worry, but H'aanit refused to comment on it for the sake of both her comfort and Primrose's. "As ready as I can be," H'aanit replied simply. She was afraid of what she was going to find as much as she hated to admit it. She wanted to figure out how she could turn Z'aanta back to normal, but she didn't know what that would entail, and the suspense was agonizing already.

"It's okay to not know how to feel about all of this, you know," Primrose reminded her. "This is a lot for anyone to take in, and you don't need to pretend to be okay when you're not. The rest of us are happy to help you if you decide that's what you need."

H'aanit held back a comment about how Primrose didn't have much ground to stand on when it came to telling others to open up. Those in glass castles should not throw stones, and Primrose rarely ever talked about how her feelings influenced her actions despite her emotions being the primary motivator for her journey. H'aanit instead swallowed back her darkest anxieties and nodded. "I thanke thee," she murmured. It was hardly an actual response, but it was the best H'aanit could bring herself to offer in the moment, so it had to count for something. She would take it.

Primrose didn't seem entirely satisfied, but she chose to not pursue the subject any more than she already had. Instead, she sighed and pushed herself to her feet, stretching out her spine along the way. "I'll be feeling the bruises from the battle against Dreisang for a while," she remarked, happy to change the subject when she saw H'aanit didn't want to discuss her feelings either. "I can only hope we don't need to fight any other gods for quite a while. I could use the break."

"Only three gods remain... We simply need to waiten and seen where Cyrus' map leadeth us," H'aanit told her. Cyrus was bound to keep studying the map when he had the chance, though H'aanit had no idea how long it would take him to find something new. Beyond that, she had no idea where it would take them. After all, there was supposedly another magical location all the way out in Hornburg, and that would take a long time to get to. Hornburg had always been far from the rest of the continent, but ever since the kingdom's fall, the journey had felt even longer. No one wanted to go that far out, especially if Cyrus found it to be unnecessary. They would just need to be patient and see what he wound up finding.

"I'm sure he'll have a route figured out for us soon enough," Primrose nodded. "For now, I think a certain someone here is excited to head back outside." She gestured down to Linde where the snow leopard had risen to her feet. She was continuing to press her face against H'aanit's hand, though she was now flicking her tail back and forth with excitement in her eyes. It was always a treat for her to return to her homeland, and coming back again so soon after the previous visit was even better for her. How could she not be excited?