Day 1 - Beginnings
Saul saw no need to advertise the fact that he was scared. He'd admit it, of course, if someone asked. Good leaders, effective leaders, were honest with their teams. Saul's crests twitched up just the slightest bit. Leadership was a service position, as he knew. He hadn't asked any of this merry band of misfits if they wanted to come with him. Instead, they'd heard about his intentions to leave, and had chosen to come along with him.
The young mirror knew he could handle the responsibility, but there was always that little bit of doubt lingering at the back of his mind. Saul leaned into it, digging a bit more. He was young. Inexperienced. He'd had secondhand experience, but very little leadership on his own. He was going to make mistakes. He just hoped they wouldn't cripple his team when they happened.
Saul liked to think he was self-aware and mature.
He looked over his shoulder at the team that had chosen to follow him into the dusty heat of the Shifting Expanse. They all had their own reasons for striking out with him on his treasure hunt. The treasure was in the Viridian Labyrinth, but Saul was taking a deliberately circuitous route to get there. It was part treasure hunt, part sightseeing tour, and part thumbing his nose at his old man.
Saul expected a long, hard road, but he hoped to earn Ajax's respect by the end of it. He wasn't worried about his mother; Ashes already knew that Saul was a better choice for leadership than his
disgrace of a sister, but Ajax seemed to want to wait it out. Apparently Ajax had gained a lot of maturity traveling, and wanted to "give Autumn a chance" to prove herself. Saul snorted, his lip curling in a snarl at the thought. He knew his sister. She was a lazy good-for-nothing, and yet somehow, his father still treated them equally. Despite Saul's drive and resolve. Saul never liked magic. Maybe that had something to do with it.
"Penny for your thoughts, four-eyes?" rumbled a brightly-colored Imperial walking next to him. Saul jumped a little; he'd let his thoughts wander a bit too far. He looked up at her small, sad smile and wondered what scars this journey would put on her lovely face.
Saul understood Gift's reasoning for being here much better than the other two. She'd never really had a place in the clan, and hoped that traveling might give her a skillset to make her stand out. It made perfect sense to Saul. He gave her a toothy grin. "Angst and self-pity. Nothing to worry about." She was the only one in the clan that'd ever felt comfortable teasing him, and for that, Saul counted her as a friend. Most dragons were careful around the clan leaders' son, but Gift treated him like a dragon.
"Well, do not dwell upon it so. You will upset yourself for no good reason," she pointed out. Saul just shrugged and kept walking.
"You guys doing okay back there?" he yelled over his shoulder. A chorus of "Yes!" came back from the two fluffier members of the party. Saul knew that traveling in the heat could be brutal on tundras. He'd had them shave down before setting out, although he knew their fur would come back in time.
Lorn seemed well-adjusted about the whole thing, merrily prancing and singing as she always did. Saul figured they'd pick up at least one Windie on this trip, and Lorn was a very very good Windie to have on your side; she was an alchemist, after all, and her cauldron familiar meant that she'd always have the means to brew up something spectacular. Saul didn't understand how someone who seemed so airheaded could prove to be such a brilliant alchemist, but he wasn't going to look a gift centaur in the mouth.
The other tundra, however... well, he'd broken three sets of trimmers trying to get him shaved down, and once he was shaved, he seemed to shrink into himself. He wouldn't let them shave off his mane-- fair enough, considering a male tundra's mane was as much a symbol of his masculinity as a ridgeback's long nose. "L-let me have a little dignity," he'd stammered. The shave seemed to highlight certain... oddities in his anatomy. He had thick, ropy legs and a long, sloping forehead. Long fangs and a short tail, and short, stumpy wings that barely got him off the ground. He'd thrown a guise over himself to hide his odd build from prying eyes. By tundra standards, Samaeth was incredibly hard to look at.
They spent most of the day in relative silence. When they stopped for the night, it was still fairly early. Saul didn't want to tax anyone too hard their first day traveling. Besides, there was an oasis he knew roughly 20 miles outside Clan territory. It'd be a good place to rest up and drink their fill for the long road ahead. Evening saw a few other groups of travelers camped out by the oasis, but nobody bothered each other, and the whole atmosphere was relatively peaceful. Saul lit a fire and Lorn's familiar happily parked itself on top of it.
Lorn hummed some tune or other while she threw some scavenged supplies into the pot, her tail merrily twitching while she watched the ingredients reduce down. She dreamed of brewing up a child someday. There had to be some way to brew up an egg, and she wanted to do it. The pot simmered down and she collected her ingredients. Someday. Someday she would brew herself up a child. She didn't know what she'd do with one, but she knew she wanted one, in the same way a hatchling wanted a new game.
Samaeth, meanwhile, wrote in his diary. Saul walked up behind him, which gave the tundra a fright. He blinked and shut the diary, a blush creeping up his cheeks. "H-how much d-did you read?" he asked, haltingly, his voice just above a whisper.
Saul shrugged. "I was looking at the pictures and how neat your writing is. You're a good artist. I liked the star chart."
The tundra snorted. "Y-you're sure y-you d-didn't..."
"It'd take me over an hour to fight through one page, Sam, and even then I'd only get half of it. That's one of the reasons I'm so glad you signed on." Saul thumped Samaeth's back. The tundra smiled a little bit, despite himself.
Saul sat up by the fire, settling in to take the first watch. It paid to be careful out here.
