Everlong

15

Walking through the gates and towards the tree line, Liruliniel eyed the surrounding area. She flicked her eyes to the princess beside her, she was looking around with wide eyes trying to take everything in. With gentle persuasion, Liruliniel had allowed the guards to let them out. She was expecting to be contradicted, but it didn't happen. It seemed with her new occupation came a new level of trust. But that unnerved Liruliniel slightly, what if she messed up? That trust would be for nothing, completely thrown away and honestly, she didn't want to the think about it.

Vanadessë quickly walked forwards from her side and looked around the high grown trees around them. They had walked a small distance, the palace was still in sight and they were nowhere near the mountains. They passed few clearings, these got minutely looked upon by the blonde, otherwise she seemed quite happy to just totter around. Sometimes she'd lean down and admire whatever plant life sprung up from tree roots, other times Vanadessë would just stand looking upwards at the branches above.

Liruliniel just watched her, silent and with a hand on the hilt of her sword as she kept her guard up. Honestly, with the way Vanadessë was acting it was like she hadn't ever walked amongst a forest before. But then, if her previous home was like Liruliniel's, then perhaps there wasn't much chance to go for simple walks like this? That seemed a shame to her, if she wasn't allowed to walk and dwell amongst the trees, Liruliniel didn't know what she'd do. Or how she'd act, it was just natural to be out here surrounded by all this nature. The air seemed fresher out here, in a small way. It was still stuffy, the natural humidity of so many trees just made it so. But, with a tilt of her head, Liruliniel was trying to sense anything more. The way she saw it, if she could figure more things out the better. Waiting for a letter was getting boring.

"What is this?" Vanadessë's voice piped up, Liruliniel hadn't even realised she had stopped. The princess had crouched down and was picking something up from the ground. She turned the whitish coloured thing in her hands, her face utterly confused with what she was looking at.

Liruliniel hesitantly moved to her side, she knelt down too. She eyed up the strings, the connecting webs with a frown and a falling feeling in her stomach. "That...this doesn't belong here." She looked around them, she narrowed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could.

"But what is it?" Vanadessë got pulled to a stand gently by Liruliniel. She kept a grip on her upper arm gently though as she continued to assess the surroundings. Vanadessë was clearly not liking being kept in the dark as she said Liruliniel's name impatiently, she even pulled her arm free as Liruliniel's eyes went skyward.

"It must've come on the wind." Liruliniel's voice was distant as she slid her eyes to the object in the princess's hands. Vanadessë just stared at her, she looked impatient. "It's an egg."

"An egg?"

"Surely you have had lessons about creatures which dwell in our lands? Some authors were particularly detailed when writing, others enigmatic and ominous. That is an egg, Vanadessë. But the creatures which perhaps came from it, aren't here." Liruliniel took it from her hands. It felt soft, cruelly soft in a way which was more of an insult considering. "Have you ever seen a spider, Vanadessë?" Liruliniel's tone was low as she slowly looked at the blonde in front of her. She slowly shook her head in response, Liruliniel swallowed thickly. "Nor have I. But in a lesson I had when I was a child, Lady Caladhiel's descriptions which she read from a battered looking book stayed with me. I had nightmares about these eight legged monstrous things crawling through my windows and wrapping me in webs." Liruliniel looked back the way they had come, she sharply looked back around though and looked at Vanadessë. "We need to return. I'm sorry this wasn't the walk I had planned. But this is something...bad."

"Do you get a feeling from it?" Liruliniel looked at her with an odd expression. Vanadessë sighed, "A sense? You clearly have some form of higher senses than me, and others here."