Balaravi

@AtticaIonia, @dartist

The two Ridgebacks assigned to the stockade mission glance over the other with disappointed, and perhaps disgusted, sneers resting against their lips. One was an avid explorer while the other was of important birth. Neither thought to highly of the other.

Before protest could be uttered, Lady Night sent them both on their way. A portal opened under their feet and suddenly they were tumbling down to Sornieth. Balaravi opened his wings just in time to catch himself and slow his decent, but Rubymoon ended up tangled in some of her cloths. She wouldn’t be able to stop her fall herself, so she did the only thing she could. She grabbed Balaravi’s tail. It slowed her fall, but it also caused the adventure to spin out of control, sending them both careening towards the stockades below.

The two Ridgebacks land face first in a snow bank right outside of the stockade. Thankfully, they were none the worse for wear. Unfortunately, their uncoordinated entrance into the area just blew any chance they might have for a stealthy mission. Balaravi leveled angry eyes on his counterpart, but before he could utter his first complaint, Rubymoon had him yanked back down in the snow and covered by her large scarf. Naturally, Balaravi went to question, but Rubymoon hushed him. Just in time too, because a few of the Stockade guards came alarmingly close to where they were.

“I thought I saw something,” a Tundra guard asked. His partner, a rather sour looking Guardian, shook her head at him. “You see shadows all the time,” she complained. “Come on, the post is open.” The Guardian left, taking the Tundra with her. Once they were out of range the duo eased themselves free of the snow and scarf. Balaravi thrust a finger towards the wall and Rubymoon nodded agreeance, before following her partner to a safe spot at the wall.

Once at the wall the two looked over their area, searching for anything that might lead them to their missing present. There would be no leads in the perpetually white world they dropped into, because fresh snowfall had wiped away anything they could have used to find their target. Rubymoon gave her eyes a wide roll and almost let loose of an annoyed sigh. She contained the frustration, thankfully. Because if she had not those two guards that narrowly caught them a moment ago would have heard them.

“Did you see what they brought in earlier?” the Tundra asked. “You mean that large present?” the Guardian grunted through her words. “Yeah,” she continued, “they were talking about it falling from the sky.”

“Really?” the Tundra asked. His partner grunted at him. “Foolishness if you ask me, a waste of time. It was just a present some fool lost on their way through the glacier. They have it in the warden’s office for now.”

It was Balaravi’s turn to roll his eyes. He was fighting back a moan when Rubymoon tapped his shoulder. He turned and found her with her hands up and shoulders shrugged. He nodded as he sat back against the wall. Rubymoon would tap him again. This time she pointed towards the portal locket she wore around her neck. Balaravi cringed. Returning home without the present wouldn’t earn either of them any points. He shook his head.

Rubymoon huffed at her partner, though he paid no heed to her slight irritation with him. She was just about to leave him when he sat up straight, a smile curling from one side of his maw to the other. He turned eyes full of elation towards her and tapped a single claw against his temple. Rubymoon studied the other Ridgeback for a moment, her skepticism coming through in her pinched brow and narrow eyes. They didn’t have much to lose right now, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to hear his idea. She rolled her hand for him to continue.

Balaravi pointed to himself and with two fingers made the motion of walking, which he indicated would be around the wall. Naturally, Rubymoon pinched her face at him and after a moment of getting nothing but a smile she shrugged. Balaravi nodded his head, set a hand on her shoulder, then shoved her with enough force for her to fly backwards and out in the open.

“Did you see that!?” the Guardian asked. Her partner grunted and both went charging after Rubymoon. As she had before she sunk into the snow and cloaked herself with her scarf. She wasn’t found, thankfully, and the distraction she inadvertently created allowed Balaravi to sneak inside. Though, now she huddled in the cold snow, silently cursing her partner.

Balaravi, meanwhile, eased quickly and quietly into the stockade. At first he was worried he’d have to actually go inside the stockade, but discovered that the warden’s office was right outside. Sticking to the shadows he eased himself past the guards and to the door. Thankfully, the warden wasn’t in his office and the door was easy to pick. In and out, he thought as he entered the office.

The present he discovered resting on the desk. He rushed to it, yanking it up in his paws. Once in hand he jerked around with the attention of getting out as quickly as he could, but he met with a start that stopped him in his tracks. There behind him stood a rather livid Rubymoon, covered in soft snow, arms over her chest and a sneer so heated he could feel his face melting.

With all of the frustration in the world she tossed her arm out towards the wall. Balaravi shrugged and lifted the present. His argument didn’t work against his irate partner however, and she snorted at him. Her frustration caused him to roll his eyes and on the down roll he noticed something at the door. When he focused on it entirely, he realized that the warden had returned to his office and was standing there, watching them. He pointed a finger towards him, causing Rubymoon to jerk around and discover the warden herself.

“Who are you?” the warden, a fairly large Imperial, asked. His big white eyes turning from them to the present Balaravi held. “What are you doing with that?!” he hissed. The duo cringed and Balaravi extended a finger towards Rubymoon, while Rubymoon lifted a finger towards Balaravi. When the two noticed this displacement of blame they proceeded to slap at each other. This… didn’t help anything.

“Put it ba-- Right about the time the Imperial started to charge, a portal opened up between them. From the other side Lady Night popped out in front of the warden. “Oh!” she exclaimed after running into him. “Oh, please do excuse me. You do not see to be who I’m here for,” she said gently. The warden looked Night over, then them, then turned back to Night. “I assume these two are yours, Zephyrine?” Lady Night looked to where he was pointing and found them. “Yes indeed, thank you Hazal. I’ll just take these two from your paws then—

“I thought you would be fetching the present,” the warden said. His voice was a bit wounded. Lady Night cringed as she was shoving Balaravi and Rubymoon into the portal. Once safely at home they melted. They could no longer hear the conversation between the Lady and the warden, but whatever was said managed to perk the warden’s mood up. The Lady waved farewell before she entered the portal and closed it. “Well then, that was a trial, wasn’t it?” She gingerly removed the package from Balaravi and sat it on the ground. “Okay, you got it, so now you open it,” she giggled. “It’s addressed to both of you. Well go on. See what’s inside.”