To Explore, to Soar

[Dawby]

Kalina took hold of the word "clues." Clues? Did that mean they were detectives? The little red opened her eyes very wide. They had to be. After all, they were asking an awful lot of questions, weren't they? Maybe she, Kalina, had been a suspect!

A detective was far more exciting than a explorer, independent or otherwise. Shivering with excitement, she wondered if maybe they'd let her help them in their investigation. What were they looking for? A bad guy? A murderer?! Woah, too scary. Maybe a missing heiress. A missing heiress with a fortune in jewels and a half brother who had mysteriously gone away around the same time.

"Do you think he has the jewels?" Kalina squeaked, letting her imagination get the better of her.

[sera]

Zefiryn blinked as though she had forgotten that Kalina was there, and Gisele sent her friend a bemused expression. Actually, only Zefiryn -could- answer that question; Gisele still hadn't met her compatriot's brother.

"Well. . . I guess he might," Zefiryn replied, tilting her head in wot must be a familiar gesture. "He didn't the last time I saw him, though, so perhaps not." Golden eyes narrowed slightly. "Why do you ask, Kalina? Have you seen him?"

[Dawby]

Leaping to her feet, her tail practically wagging with delight, Kalina exclaimed, "No, but I'll help you look for him!"

This was brilliant! she thought. An adventure! She was off to catch a jewel thief!

[sera]

"I don't think young Kalina knows who we're looking for," Gisele pointed out softly, smiling lightly at the young mix's evident excitement. She only hoped this trip was parent sanctioned; she'd heard some rumours of this Casimir herself and had no desire to get on the wrong side of his temper.

Zefiryn sombered suddenly, turning bright orbs to Kalina. "We're looking for my brother. He's white with grey wing-markings. Are you sure you haven't seen him anywhere?"

[Dawby]

"Uhm..." Kalina wracked her brain, just to make sure. A male with reverse Zefiryn coloring. Nope. She shook her head. "No."

"Uhm..." she said again, not sure how to go about asking this next. "...your brother is a jewel thief?"

[sera]

Zefiryn and Gisele blinked nearly in unison, then the blue Air turned to her friend with an expectant look. The grey hesitated a moment, two, then suddenly began to laugh. It started softly then grew slowly louder and louder. She didn't quite revert into guffaws, but she was obviously enjoying the idea to the absolute fullest she possibly could.

The Eastern gave a soft chuckle herself, then shook her head, bright green eyes flicking back to Kalina. "I am fairly certain that is a no, little one."

"A no?" Zefiryn gasped out. "That's a no way this side of the Northern Portal no! Aniol! A jewel thief!" She began to laugh again with vague references to clumsiness and silliness. "Ehhheeeh!" She shook her head and fixed Kalina with an indulgent look. "Wot would a Scholar do with jewels anyway?"

[Dawby]

"W-wear ..them?" she faltered, trying to answer the rhetorical question anyway. But she crumbled, flattening her ears back in embarrassment, her tail dropping.

She really hated getting herself into these situations, just as much as she hated being laughed at. She turned to slink away, mumbling an unintelligible excuse about leaving.

[sera]

Gisele shook her head in reprimand at her friend, but Zefiryn realized that her amusement had hailed just a bit too loudly and too long. "Hey, now, little one, don't work yourself up into a dither. As soon as you meet Aniol you'll understand my amusement. Now buck up!" That was little short of an order.

"I thought you wished to join us in our search?" Gisele asked quietly. "Has one of such prestigious heritage given up already?"

[Dawby]

Kalina brightened and half-turned. Yeah! She did have a prestigious heritage! She was the daughter of a warrior and a hunter; she was Kalina!

She turned to face the two gryverns fully now. "Yeah. That's right. I'm helping. We'll find ...um... Aniol. Yeah. The first thing to do is, ah, look for clues. Oh, and make a, make a timeline, yeah, or something like that, of when you last saw him."

Kalina was vastly pleased now. She beamed prettily at Gisele.

[sera]

Gisele smiled back at the mix, amused and pleased they'd have the strange creature with them at least a little longer.

"I last saw Aniol," Zefiryn murmured thoughtfully, obliviou to the interaction between the other two. "Well, I would say it's been at least 10 months. Maybe a little longer. I was out before Mozer opened the Portals to here and only recently found out Aniol had taken advantage of the move."

"And the only clue we have," Gisele put in for Kalina's benefit. "Is Sera's assurances that he visits here from his new home. It is most likely we will discover him here than anywhere else."

"Hence our need to keep moving," the leggy grey agreed lightly. "Speaking of which?" She gestured with her head towards the surrounding woods.

[Dawby]

"Which way? 'Cuz, I mean, I came from that - " Kalina jerked her muzzle " - way, and I didn't see him."

She was still trying to process all the new information. Aniol. Brother. Not jewel thief. Portals. Mozer. Sera. 10 months. Right. Got it. She danced her back legs in the dirt. These two - they seemed to like her! She was able to talk to them, too, mostly because they asked her questions, and answering questions was (mostly) easier than trying to start a conversation.

[sera]

"Then by all means," Zefiryn grinned in good humour. "We must go the other way!" It didn't really seem to matter to her which way they went as long as they were moving and actively searching. So the grey Air leapt forward with a playful kick of her hindlegs and led the way in the direction Kalina had originally been heading.

Gisele followed more sedately, though her strides were long and confident. She was obviously well-used to keeping up with her companion's longer legs. Zefiryn cavorted before them and the blue head glanced through a curtain of dark forelock at their new traveling companion. "Do you know anything of this Reality?" she asked Kalina kindly. Any information the youngster could provide would be more than they currently had.

[Dawby]

The younger female had to trot double-time to keep up with the full gryverns.

"This Reality?" she frowned a bit. "Not really. I know a lot of the others I live with now at the reservation come here to hang out, but that it's really big. Like, really big. No one knows how big. Hundreds could fit in here and no one would even see each other big."

She nearly tripped over a stone in the path. "Um, yeah. It's big. And no one has ever seen all of it."

[sera]

Zefiryn glanced back and the pair exchanged another glance at the ramifications of such information. They weren't on an emergency mission; it wasn't vital that they find Aniol. But wot if next time was? It was a sobering thought. She wondered if Mozer had reported to the Council just how large the Orchard was. The grey turned back forward, with the same ground-eating strides but the bounce had slipped away as she thought.

"That is important information," Gisele praised Kalina quietly. "Thank you for sharing with us."

"Let us know if you can think of anything else," Zefiryn called over her shoulder, ears forward as she listened about. "Anything at all."

[Dawby]

Kalina grinned happily. "Oh, yeah, sure! Um... we have another - what do you guys call yourselves again? oh, gryverns. Yeah, there's another gryvern living near where I do, really tall one with antlers, can't remember his name, yeah. Never really met him. He comes here, too, sometimes."

As she hurried along, she thought of a question of her own. "So, why are you looking for your brother, Zefiryn?"