Ammonite

A large spotted Mirror stands in the center of a small, wings splayed wide to her sides. Though as large as some of her companions below, the segmented, transparent wings are far too small to carry her. She barks, "Credence, where is the rest of your patrol? You were supposed to be ready at sun's peak!" They continue to squabble before the rest of his team arrives and she sends them off with an annoyed flick of her tail. The rest of the crowd is dismissed with their orders and she spots you. Her head raises, light green eyes regarding you distantly.

Prompt:

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It seemed Temerity was happy to not have to be told twice.

The desert-colored Mirror happily rushed ahead, scrambling up the side of one crumbling wall and taking a look at the sight before them.

In Ammonite's opinion, they had no business being in the Hewn City. She had made a point of pulling all of their patrols from this area ever since the Emporer had started wandering the area. There were still some dragons from the Order that braved this area for their own reasons, but it didn't feel necessary to her to send anyone inside unless there was something there they wanted. It was easy enough to keep a distant eye on the inner goings-on with the scouts.

Well. Until one went missing.

Ammonite felt sure that it wasn't their job to take on a rescue mission, but Temerity was never happier than when faced with a challenge, and it seemed the hostile terrain and inhabitants of the Hewn city fit that description perfectly. It was stupid, but in the end, there was little Ammonite could do to dissuade her, and she certainly wouldn't let her volunteer to go alone. Fair? No, not in the least, but they'd gone far enough that their Captains and General would not accept a lack of results. A job better fit for one of their scouts? She certainly thought so.

A fog bank had moved in sometime in the last hour, cutting down their visibility, but that was of little concern to their heat-sensitive eyes. If anything, it made seeing anything living even easier. Too bad an Emporer could hardly be considered living.

"Let's... just keep this quick, alright? This place gives me the creeps. Our scouts are smart, they wouldn't stay in the city if they didn't have to. And if they did, they'd look for shelter with high vantage points."

Temerity wasn't listening (when was she ever, really), already striding deeper into the fog. She made no effort to keep her voice low, but the oppressive haze around them did a lot to muffle their voices. Thank the deities, or else Ammonite was sure they'd have been discovered by now. "We'd be able to cover more ground if you picked up the pace, you know!"

"And run into more roving packs of... whatever those were?" She glanced back towards the direction of their last encounter, but the remnants of their scuffle had long been swallowed up by the fog. "No thank you."

The buildings abruptly ended, a scar carved into the ground where the Emporer must have come through. Temerity took a running leap and even still needed to use her wings to clear it. Ammonite had no choice but to walk, sliding carefully down the mudbank. She'd need a bath later, she was sure of it.

"It doesn't befit a Tempest Order warrior to be a scaredy-cat, y'know." Temerity teased from the opposite bank, playing with a few bits of rubble as she waited for her.

"I am NOT a scaredy-cat. I'm cautious."

"Mmmmhm. Okay. If you say so. Sounds like a fraidy-cat to me. Shaking like a leaf. A jittery mess."

"Temerity --" Ammonite had stopped, eyeing something before her in the ground.

"--a blood-running-cold kind of --"

"Temerity, I --"

"-- cold sweat, goosepimpled, fear of the deities put into 'em kind of --"

"Temerity!"

Her fellow clanmate finally looked down to see what all the fuss was about, the playful teasing nature of her expression fading as she saw what Ammonite had stopped for.

Ammonite held up what remained of a tattered bag, the maps scattered and pressed into the mud and muck that surrounded her. It was one of their clan's, only recently destroyed. "That can't be more than ten minutes old. They must have just come through here..."

"Already on it, sister. I've got their scent. Pick up the pace, we might already be too late!"