Scamall: [quickly pulls her hand from Spéir's after they travel a distance away from Nova, turning away from him and crossing her arms… but moreso doing the latter for comfort]

Spéir: [hesitantly looks back to her, fae-ears low and his face twisted in pain]

Spéir: (voice thick) "Scamall…"

Scamall: [sucks in a sharp, shaky breath as her hair storms and she struggles not to cry... or snap]

Spéir: [half-sighs, half-growls, putting his head in his hand]

Spéir: (grumbles) "this is your fault, for trusting—"

Scamall: [eye twitches—]

Scamall: [swiftly flips on her heel, turning to pierce Spéir with a glare]

Scamall: (snaps) "no, you know what this was!? YOUR fault, for being so AGGRESSIVE! They only reached for that ambrosia because you scared them!"

Spéir: [flexes his jaw, face twitching, as he stews on his own response—]

Essence: [flares behind them as Nova and Kilrey fight… and Nova is clearly on the losing side, her essence dying away quickly]

Scamall: [twists in place to violently jab a finger in their direction]

Scamall: (voice hard and raised) "they were brave enough to sacrifice thems—"

Spéir: [snarling, throws his hands up and interrupts) "they took responsibility for their own mistake!"

Scamall: (voice sharp and shrill) "what!?"

Scamall: [steps forward, snarling and with gales of wind speeding around them—]

Spéir: [funny! Does the exact same thing!]

Spéir: [crossing his arms, continues stubbornly) "Imagine what you'd ha—"

Both: [freeze]

Both: [shocked, look over their shoulders in Nova's direction again]

Both: [… can feel all too well that Nova shattered Kilrey's will.]

Both: [jaws drop almost in sync—]

Scamall: [turns to face the direction Nova's in again, mindlessly taking a few steps—]

Spéir: [grabs her hand, stopping her]

Spéir: (incredulously) "Scamall!?"

Scamall: [snarling again, flips on her heel to pierce him with a murderous glare]

Scamall: (harshly) "that fae not only tried to sacrifice themself for us, but they overpowered a Goddamned archfaerie WITH A FRACTION OF HIS ESSENCE!"

Scamall: [yanks her hand from his, snarling still, before finishing) "if you're REALLY so uptight that you don't want ANYTHING to do with them, then MAYBE I don't want anything to do with YOU!"

Spéir: [mouth falls open, eyes wide and turning shiny… but stunned silent]

Scamall: [huffs, brushing him off and flipping on her heel to hurry after Nova… who was probably giving Kilrey instructions, judging by how he was still there]

Scamall: [… though she had no idea what Nova could be ordering him to do.]

Scamall: [but pushes that thought from her mind, chewing her lip and scanning the woods around them]

Blizzard: [slowly dying out]

[“The Quaking” is what the residents of Talamhdé called the random bouts of frenzied electricity in the air, earthquakes, and sudden natural disasters that'd randomly strike the planes. Although few had reason to even suspect it, Scamall and Spéir were among the few to know it only happened when God was enraged]

[Thankfully, the Quaking was quickly dying down, leaving the ever-shifting Faewilde forest ominously silent and still.]

Scamall: (to herself, incredulously) … there's no way that's related to them, right…? The storm's just passed… and… the Quaking never really lasts that long…

Kilrey: [far in the distance, starts heading back off to his town]

Scamall: [distracted from her previous thought; can't help a weak smile or keep the proud tears from swelling in her eyes]

Scamall: fae, I may not know who you are… but I'm proud of you. And I'm going to help you.

Spéir: [finally chases after her, though he's dead silent as he trails behind her, shoulders slumped and his hands awkwardly in his pockets]

Scamall: [ignores him, reconsidering everything she knew about him… even though she'd known him for almost the entire time she'd been alive]

Scamall: (finishing her thought) … no matter what he thinks.

Nova: [collapses and passes out… but all the siblings can really tell is that he isn't moving]

Spéir: [silent for a while as they walk, but finally, awkwardly speaks up, his voice soft) "I just… want to make sure you're safe, Scamall…"

Scamall: [bites her tongue to keep from snapping at him, just continuing through the forest]

[The forest is made up of wobbly, ever-moving trees; hanging branches and swathes of moss; and an endless amount of gnarled roots that all shifted to try to get in their way and block their passage]

[As a land suffused with raw magic, Talamhdé was constantly shifting and changing. It almost seemed to be conscious, and purposely maneuvered itself to make travelling through it annoying… if not outright dangerous.]

Siblings: [had been travelling through various planes of Talamhdé for years, learning to navigate its ever-changing ways and live off of its power, but…]

[The forest is being especially difficult right now.]

Spéir: [uncharacteristically quiet and unhelpful behind Scamall as—]

[the trees creeeaaaaaaakkkkk noisily as they, their branches, and the roots all shift, blocking the siblings' passage toward Nova]

Scamall: [growls under her breath, face twisted into a snarl]

Spéir: [still just watching her silently from behind]

Scamall: [may not be looking with her eyes, but can see well enough with the air and her aura—]

Spéir: [frowning slightly. Has one arm crossed, its hand cupped under the other's elbow, and his other hand curled around his cheek as he watches her]

Scamall: [fae-ears low and hair storming in anger, bites her tongue to keep from snapping—]

Scamall: (wants to scream) YOU'RE BEING THIS STUBBORN ABOUT THEM!? YOU WON'T EVEN FREAKING HELP ME!?

Scamall: [—at the same time, dissolved into air to try to push herself through the gaps between the branches, but—]

Scamall: [slams into an invisible wall formed by the very same Faewilde magic that moved the trees to begin with]

Scamall: [gasps in pain and from surprise, reforming in the air as she flies back from the barrier—]

Spéir: [carefully catches her from behind, one hand around her shoulder and the other at the small of her back]

Scamall: [stunned from the impacts—]

Spéir: [peers down at her, his face unreadable, before quickly looking back up at the barrier and helping Scamall stand]

Scamall: [clenches her jaw, ears low and tears forming in her eyes from anger, but—]

Spéir: (voice light, impassive) "it stops at the treetops. We can fly above it."

Scamall:

Scamall: [hesitates, shocked. Hadn't actually thought he was paying enough attention to try to help… much less actually be willing to.]

Spéir: [as she takes too long to respond, looks at her over his shoulder with his fae-ears twitching up curiously. An eyebrow quirked, offers his hand and asks, deadpan) "ready?"

Scamall: [swallows, looking away as her ears droop in shame]

Scamall: [just lets out a slow, heavy sigh as she takes his hand]

Scamall: (tiredly) "yeah."

Spéir: [nods, looking toward the sky as he swells his essence around them—]

Scamall: [relaxes her magic around her body, lightening it and preparing—]

Siblings: [with a joint gust of wind, push themselves into the air, soaring above the treetops. Except… quickly slow down before they can hit the skybox, coming to a stop in midair]

Spéir: [not looking at Scamall, easily peers through the darkness and at the array of trees between them and Nova]

Spéir: [taking charge as always; evenly speaks above the wind) "we can probably fly past any barriers while we're up here. If anything comes after us, I'll take care of it, okay?"

Spéir: [with that, turns to meet her eyes, face focused]

Spéir: [always made the plans between them, working through the various puzzles laid out by the Faewildes… and archfaeries trying to block their paths.]

Scamall: [can't help the tears in her eyes or her small, weak smile]

Scamall: [cupping Spéir's hand in-between hers, gratefully) "thank you, Spéir."

Spéir:

Spéir: [face twists slightly—a flash of guilt showing—but quickly just nods curtly as he looks away]

Spéir: (voice subtly thick) "let's just go, yeah?"

Scamall: (softly, knowing he could hear her just fine through the wind) "yeah."