Soft rhythmic breathing filled the air as the tall dark green scaled Saurian vagabond woke, it was the sound of many sleeping bodies and not just those of the twin Centaurs using his large body as a mattress. His eyes saw all four children and their teen leader huddled under the blanket he knew to be the captain of this vessels, as for the woman in question she was idly looking to a horizon past where he lay, her eyes focused on something ephemeral and unobtainable. He knew the look well, he’d seen it on his greatest friend's face a number of times.

Thoughts of an indelible person who sought everything, wanted for nothing and obtained just as much, they dreamed grandiose so that their mind was always set to a long off day where they might achieve something impossible.

His friend had used the words;

[Seek the unobtainable, glory lies on the far shore of that distant glimmer called hope, a horizon where all is possible- if only you’d set your mind to it.]

‘Maybe if I’d been able to just reach out and…’ A somewhat defeated sigh escaped his lips ‘No, you wouldn’t stand for it, if I’d been able to reach out and touch it, then it was never something beyond my apparent means in the first place was it? That’s what you would say…’

His heart felt heavy as nostalgia was fueled by his travel companions' expression.

‘But I’m here aren’t I? Seeking something I don’t even know what is yet, on a journey for something greater than the nothing of my existence until now.’

A pit formed in his chest briefly as a thought flashed in his mind-

‘God I wish I could see your face again, even if just for a moment…’ a pang of guilt at what he’d left behind consumed him, then it disappeared as if washed away by something greater as his state returned to neutral.

“Are you awake now, Marduk?” The woman across the craft from him asked in a quiet tone as not to wake the sleeping.

“I am,” He responded in a similarly hushed tone. “Will we reach the Pass today?”

“No, there’s still another day of travel.”

“Okay.”

His thoughts drifted when a silence took over for their conversation, they tried to re-imagine the face of his friend, but had no such luck, every time he did it came up short of something, but he was unsure what.

“Those two are really attached to you.” Adalgard continued speaking after a brief pause breaking his thoughts.

“It’s weird.” He replied flatly.

“But not uncomfortable?” She queried with an interested sparkly in her eye, one he’d seen before in his past life many a time.

“No, it isn’t.” His deadpan reply made the woman smirk.

Something came to the forefront of his mind as he stared at her for a moment and he couldn’t help but voice it.

“What are you?” He asked in the politest way one could in Suran, which was to say in a blunt but not demanding fashion.

Taking it in stride and not even flinching the woman answered easily. “I am half Spriggan and half Aes Sidhe”

The terms went right over his head.

“Spriggans are woodland protectors and Aes Sidhe are… Human spirits?” She tried to explain but he focused on a particular word which had stayed the same between lives.

“Human?” He asked.

“Yes, the children are Human.” She motioned to the five of them.

“And what of these two?” He pointed to the twins lying against him.

“They are Centaurs.” Adalgard answered.

‘Another thing that didn’t change then’

A small silence settled between them as the lapping of river waves, creaking of the vessel and gentle breathing of the children.

“I would like to start learning your language.” Marduk stated earning the surprise of the woman, likely because he had broken the silence and not because the idea of it was surprising.

“Would you like to start now?” She asked and he nodded his head. “Let's work on introductions first then.”

Deciding to take up the common tongue so soon would be one of the greatest decision he’d make.

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By mid morning they had reached the area before the canyon started which Adalgard chose as the time to land the boat and take a break to eat as all their tagalongs were now awake and had grumbling stomachs- even if they themselves failed to be vocal about anything, still being shock of the day priors events.

“Alright, Marduk will be collecting food for you all so how about I help you wash up and change?” The half Spriggan said as she guided the children to a spot under the trees next to the boat.

Having already decided what he was going to do the lizardman took to the river and began hunting, while he did the woman started wrangling the kids to change their clothing and wash in the river so that they no longer had the muck and blood of the previous day on them. It was something that had originally gone ignored by the adults for the sake of leaving the village sooner, but now they were beginning to reek of rotting blood which was likely their parents’.

The twin Centaurs managed a small fuss about snakes and rivers before giving in and taking to the water under the watchful eye of the merchant sailor while the other children were more inclined to join after the teen Luka convinced them that their parents would want them clean for a new day and that the god Solas would keep them safe from any monster.

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From the Azul the Saurian man collected a large net of trout and another smaller fish he didn’t recognise, when he surfaced every five minutes to offload his catch to be killed he took the chance to see how the others were doing.

This originally caused a problem as he’d done it too silently incidentally frightening the youngest of the group and the Fawns as they thought he was an actual crocodile there to pull them under. After that time he made a large effort to be obvious and announce himself in the few broken words he could now barely pronounce in Auran.

He was finished collecting food now however or at least he hoped he was, he wasn’t any good at foraging plants for edibles no matter how many times his tribesman had attempted to teach him, many of the plants appeared too alike for him to discern them.

Emerging from the Azul dripping with water he marched onto the bank and began beheading the fish with his obsidian lined dagger, preferably he would have used them for soup or eaten them in another way but none of his charges looked particularly thrilled when Adalgard suggested it, though as he understood it the woman herself didn’t need to eat meat much if at all. She did however create a large fire pit that she laid several stones over to use as hotplates to cook the fish he deboned on, he made quick practised work of this, though he might have left the bones out if not for the fact he was worried the children would choke on them.

It was midday when they were all sitting around the crackling embers of what fire remained heating the rocks, Marduk was still happily downing his obscene amount of food required to upkeep his hulking form while the others had finished their fill and had moved onto whatever fruits or vegetables Adalgard had scrounge up after she realised he wouldn’t be doing as much.

“So there is an entire village of lizardfolk like him and more?” One of the still unnamed Centaur twins asked.

“Yes, they live deeper in the Basin around Mt. Duranki, they often have to fight gigantic hydra and enormous snakes that can snap entire homes in half.” The dark haired woman answered with a deal more embellishment than he might have used.

They didn’t fight Hydra, they ran and hid from Hydra lest they be slaughtered by them. Though he did wonder about the Amazonian Queen he’d met, it was so weird that he honestly wasn’t sure if it even happened.

“Woah!” The blonde fawn exclaimed with bright eyes while her sister idly enjoyed the shade of the trees.

He wondered what their names were, he also wondered if the girls initial lack of ability to speak clear Auran was just shell shock as the moment they appeared to feel safe they’d began speaking clearly and concisely. He also wondered how old they were, they seemed somewhat young with how they acted but he was unsure and wouldn’t make any assumptions for now.

“I have seen few other races who are as strong and unnaturally fearless as the Lizardfolk are, they are also fiercely loyal to each other whether they liked another or not.” The Spriggan continued sounding as though she admired his people.

“Really? How so?” The idly twin laying under the tree asked, perking her head up and casting a glance between the older woman and the focus of their conversation.

“They have a code that I’m not sure translates very well, but in short: Everyone comes from the same ancestors and everyone is in this together so why hate one another when they will all go to the same place… or that is how I understand it, its very hard to explain which as little of their language I can speak.” A sigh escaped her lips as she idly stroked the heads of the two boys sleeping with their heads on her lap.

“So they have no war or infighting?” The blonde sister sitting closest to Marduk asked.

“No, they still have tribes who view it as their right to war for the glory of their gods.” Adal answered immediately, shaking her head.

While he could understand what was being said he wasn’t sure how to feel about being left out of a conversation about his people, no matter how much he hated the way he could barely feel anything because of the lizard wiring it didn’t meant he hadn’t grown to find a sense of pride in his new identity as a Saurian.

“What are you speaking about?” He asked as curiously as he could.

It took almost a minute before she replied and he wasn’t sure if it was her remembering how to say her answer in Suran or not.

“They asked about your tribe.” She eventually answered.

“I want to tell them as well, but I can’t.” The Saurian breathed out something akin to a sigh, the language gap continuing to hurt him.

He hoped he could learn Auran fast.

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The next day the boat was almost halfway through the large canyon of Ochre’s Pass, the pass was the smallest point of the Azul as it carved a path between two large mountains that made up the large ring that formed the greater crater that the Basin was within. The pass was barely two hundred metres across and only two metres deep.

The Pass itself was only five or so kilometres long meaning they would spend very little time travelling it, but it was also the second most dangerous part of the journey for Marduk so far.

As the pass was guarded by a Stone Dragon and her Kobold underlings, he had learned of them when he was a hatchling being told that there was no way out of the Basin because of them, but that conflicted with the idea that there were merchants and those who had slowly began moving into the Basin such as the village they had come across.

All he really knew of the Stone dragon was their brutal treatment of the Kobolds and their name, it wasn’t much but the Ahkula were far too removed from the Pass to have more than rumours.

Ochre being the name of the Stone dragon, hence the name of the Canyon.

“When will we reach Ochre?” He asked in a deadpan voice despite his pounding heart and terror filled mind.

He was absolutely petrified of the idea that they would come face to face with the boogeyman of the Saurian peoples, his only saving grace was that he physically couldn’t outwardly show his fear and that none present could read the emotions of his people.

“Shortly.” Adal answered briefly before turning her attention back to navigating the waters as there were many boulders across the river that made traversing it difficult.