"Nin, can we tal-" Liada starts to go and I raise a claw at her.

"It will have to wait, as you probably heard we're going to be landing soon." I explain but she doesn't quite get it.

"It's impo-"

"Enough, later." I interrupt forcibly, leaving her behind to stew in whatever concerns she has right now. Hearing the ramp open up, I head out to the back and mind the howls trying to suck the room clear of loose items. Staring out to the world, I frown at the lack of anything in sight and Inerish comes to join me.

I blink and look to her.

"So, why exactly is the ramp open? We don't have anything to make the drop safe and we're still over the mountains." I point out and my expression straightens once I see her smirk. Ah, I see, this is what she was planning. The magic in her hand goes off and I am blasted out into the sky, flailing without sense and a calm mind.

Having gone through something much worse as of late, I just straighten myself out and note a nearby peak. Throwing an arm back, my magic spears into the rock and I switch to reeling myself in. Want to put this downward momentum into something that can actually keep me in the air. With a whine leaving my lips, I tuck my legs in and narrowly avoid the other mountain a dozen metres away.

The sky shifts to being in front and I let go of my spell, flipping through the air and catching the wind in my cloak. I sigh from on up here, this chance to try and fly not being a good time to do so. Angling my body a little, I help my improvised parachute better handle the wind and then drop the final safe distance.

A little puff of white.

"Hm, snow-belt." I remark, noting the layer of clouds only a hop down away from my position. Spotting the airship still in the sky, I look away to the path I will have to take to get there and get to flexing my body. Cramps avoided, I leap out into the air and throw out a pair of grips to keep me moving through the typical valleys of the land. The airship starts to come in to land on a plateau.

Not wanting to climb, I tighten my magic and build up tension, my feet hitting dirt while I aim. Quickly, I look in my head and think of numbers for no real reason and let go. The mountain face zooms on by and I flip once again when the landing site comes into view. Striking the ground feet first, I sprint, run, jog and walk to a stop and look back the way I came with a huffing chest.

"Huh, that's pretty decent, managed to land without making a mess of the earth this time." I remark, seeing the lack of craters and still falling rock or what already came back down to shatter itself smaller. The others disembark with their stuff and smaller engines on the airship take it back into the air where it seems to quickly find itself at home circling the sky.

"Enjoy yourself?" Inerish asks as I arrive to join with the others. Walking up closer to her specifically, I jab at one of her tits and let her recoil with a wide 'o' for a smile. She gently snorts out her amusement, emptying her lungs enough to need to take a deep breath.

"Shit." I call her under my breath before I go over to the other three to see what it is they have. Some communicators, a bit of easily put-on armour and what seems to be a crate of explosives. Am I not strong enough to break the entrance way if that is Inerish's intention? Or will my magic be more likely to set the weapon off compared to a good old fireball?

It hurts to think about.

"Alright, you, Ravineer, you'll take that crate of explosives. The rest of you, grab a communicator and let us get going." Inerish explains, setting Baltanthan off into a state of ceaseless muttering. I shake my head and take the bombs instead, getting some kind of eye for the trouble while Inerish flashes a little smile. Whatever this box's contents are for specifically, I can keep them safe better.

"So, which way are we headed?" Seigunfrei asks, our landing spot not exactly the best place to forge a path. Frankly, I agree with him a lot, we do not even know our way around here and we're not going to have a path down this mountain. Divine luck will hopefully give us some natural steps, otherwise my arms will be full of bodies.

"Down the mountain... That way." Inerish and I roll my eyes, patting Baltanthan along while Liada slowly shuffles closer. She takes a few steps ahead and glances back towards me, her hands shuffling about. She seems to scratch the rough area one of those sudden itches are.

"Can... Can I talk to you now?" she asks and I stop so she will as well. The other three notice but keep on going which I am thankful for. Especially when it comes to Inerish, hopefully now, it will be enough games with her. I need to find a shrine and pray that is the case, gods bless me so.

"It's not the best time but you clearly have been wanting to get this off your chest. Though, why not when we were both on the airship and not needing to go anywhere will be a bit of a mystery to me." I say, my hindsight catching my remark for what it is. I have a point, though... She could've talked when I was lounging in that chair.

"I just want to know if there's anything I can do to be... Well, noticed more." she says and I sigh as there's only one way this will end.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Right now, nothing. Inerish is running this job so any jealousy you have needs to keep shut." I explain and I can hear the shift from nervous instability to glare.

"Jealousy!?" she repeats loudly and I start to walk again.

"Not now Liada." I tell her with a strained voice, not really sure how I can find my way out of this one. I clung onto an airship and sorted out being thrown out of that same airship. Yet, somehow, I cannot for the life of me understand what I need to do here.

"I-I'm not jealous!" she snaps and I withhold the urge to nod in disagreement. Gods be kind to me, I have no idea what I am doing.

"Then what is it, Liada? You wanted to come along, I have gotten you to come along. You know full well that this is Inerish's operation, you know full well that we need to turn to her for details. You're just a baker in a suit of armour, you're not going to be any more helpful here than what your talisman can provide." I ask, pointing out various things and she takes a step back, going quiet and looking away. This unbecoming timidity makes me shake my head and I do my best to put my claws on my hips even with the box still in one's grip.

"..." she fails to say anything even though her head starts to move like she wants to.

I give her a moment, knowing what the rush of emotions can do and how hurtful it is for someone to walk away. I've dealt with a lot of people turning their backs on me over the years, sometimes it's managed to be patched up. But, it's a rough affair, the exceptions stick with you, burned bridges you may never cross again. Whatever is bothering Liada is like Inerish has said, she's a powder keg waiting to blow and I brought her next to the match.

"I just... I want you to notice me more... You came to me after defeating Smiling Jhurack and told me you wanted to try and make a relationship work but I can't seem to... You're either obsessed with a dead girl... A DEAD GIRL! Or... Or you're going off to do something with that annoying thing!" she explains, shattering herself down into a sobbing state that's bordering on eruptive rage. I sigh.

Sighing again, I drop the box and pull her in for a hug as it is all I can really do right now. Now's not the time but if I don't do something then this will only get worse. I keep telling her things and I keep demanding a lot out of her when it comes to my behaviour. I know that, gods I know that.

"Liada... Shhhhh. You need to calm down and put these thoughts away for the moment. When we're done with this mission, we'll talk, ok?" I tell her, offering at least something. Maybe, maybe I can keep to this promise as it's nothing hard or complex, it's just a simple thing she won't let me forget. She starts to push out of the hug with tight fists and I glance to the other three as they wait at the edge of the mountain.

Liada barges past with what could only be a sneer, "Iderim-Ovi's spite upon you... Nin."

"I don't think I've done enough to earn his spite..." I joke quietly, thinking back to when I freed the god. I shake my head and shrug, getting the box back into my claw and rushing to the mountain edge.

"I do love landing on mountains." Inerish remarks, pointing my eyes in the direction of what seems to be a fortified camp. Putting some magic into my eyes, the details become clearer and I note what is coming in and out of this place. Lots of large crates and shipping containers even, fairly well-filled out teams of couriers and other kinds of workers. The armour is certainly not made in Thrurstradtur, it's too cogless, the little red plumes are a nice touch, however.

The pauldrons are weirdly bubbly looking, though.

I spot a flag, further in the camp, close to the entrance of whatever mine it is they're working. A black triangle with a hollow core, some kind of shape that reminds me of an umbrella pole but without the shade. White background, a slight bit of red on the points. It doesn't mean anything to me but, maybe to Inerish?

"This seems to belong to people who are part of a group with a hollow, black triangle with red points. White background." I explain to her and she nods slowly.

"Remember what I said about how our borders work? It's one of those independent mountain-states and it sounds a whole lot like Hohhkelurn. They're nothing special but they certainly seem interested in testing their luck." Inerish explains, her features so proud in displaying their lack of impress.

"So, if this is another country's troops, what do we do?" Seigunfrei begs to ask as he tests the first few steps down the mountain.

"Simple, we kill them for violating not only our border agreements but for digging around in explicit no-go areas. Places like these are marked out for a reason, we cannot risk the problems these ancient devices bring." Inerish explains, shocking the two boys who probably have never had to take another life before. If Liada has any resentment remaining towards humans, she'll probably take it out on these Hohhkelurnites.

Hohhkettles?

"Talk about extreme..." Baltanthan mutters, his thoughts probably turning to his old home. If someone like the leader of his home town tried anything like this, he'd either end up dead or the town would be reduced to rubble.

"I will not have some Ancient Jherikra weapon potentially primed on my borders. Not with the Union consuming our northern check against them." Inerish hisses and she starts to skip down the mountainside. Shrugging, Seigunfrei follows after her and I look to the other two.

"Come on, get under them." I say, curling my arms to better accommodate the duo and both resist. Baltanthan is likely out of pride and Liada because of her grudge right now. I groan out through a good breath and snatch the pair up, commencing the hop down as cautiously as I can. We land at the bottom without a hitch and I drop the pair, the feminine more violently eager to put the distance between us.

"So, what's Hohhkelurn like?" Seigunfrei asks Inerish, his arms up behind his head and I move closer to them so I can distract myself with their conversation. I couldn't care less but it's better than being dragged into more of Liada's problems while we're on this mission. And, well, I've never known Baltanthan to be a good source of conversation. The last time I journeyed with him for a while he was largely just eager to get to Suhurlodst.

He did help with the hunting, though, so I have to give him credit there. Even with how it was me doing the killing and carcass dragging. Gods I have gotten used to blood. To think even a slight, heavily bleeding cut on the head once made me wince and now I can put a cavity in someone's chest or rend animals apart.

"Admittedly a nice place, it's one of the few mountains I know of in this land that is volcanic. At the very least, somewhat. It's what the red on their banners stands for, thermal vents. Reminds me of home somewhat though incredibly tuned down as, well. Errakur is the hottest place in the world without daylight and clear skies." she explains and I feign my interest while Seigunfrei keeps the conversation going with various spawning questions.