Cinis sits exhausted by a barely crackling fire, small pops echo into the dark forest, the sound lost to the night. He watches the light and shadows dance across Fonlap’s gaunt, sickly face, the young elf’s eyes closed in trance. He sighs as he scans Fonlap’s tired, dirt-covered body. Sure, it was a tough crawl but sparky looks like he’s ready for the Ritual of Ash.
He winces as he reaches for his journal, sore and exhausted from their slog through the tunnels to reach the surface, when the faint smell of Udi flowers broke the campfire smoke.
“Dear Cinis, when did you start writing in a journal?” speaks Chessa’s soft voice, her foot steps barely making sound in the dry forest floor as she approaches the fire. Her arms are folded around her forest-coloured dress as if she were warming herself. “And why?”
“It’s not like I know when you’re going to visit,” Cinis grumbles as he needlessly pokes the campfire. “It’s been a few days.”
“Sulking is unbecoming of you, my dear fire cactus. It certainly won’t encourage me to visit more often. You should also know how I feel about the Asran ruins,” She says quietly as she moves to sit next to Fonlap, gently placing a hand on his head. Her tone shifts to one of concern. “Cinis, you haven’t been taking care of my sweet Fonfon.”
“Fonfon is alive, isn’t he? It’s not my fault that these sparklings want to pick up every knick knack they see. You never know what magic infests these things. Better to just keep to nature, simple wood and steel.” Cinis grips his axe haft as if for comfort, feeling the wood grain against his rough, beaten hands.
“What happened to the other one? You know they are both important to me. Start from where you left off in your journal and may I suggest not trying to write like an angry, old elf?” She giggles.
Cinis snatches the journal from his pack and tosses it in the fire, watching the reflection of the flames rising in her eyes as he does it. “There. Problem solved.”
Her eyes roll and she leans her head on Fonlap’s shoulder. “Tell me about what you found.”
“The tomb went deeper after the diseased fountain. We found the statue of Jazel Perang. No, we found Jazel Perang, encased in bronze. Fonfon has keen eyes for a Strawberry, you know? He spotted dangerous traps on our way down. Not bad.”
“I need not remind you to please not address him as such when he’s awake.”
Cinis nods. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It goes even deeper, the ichor all over the floor. We reach the tomb of the prince, Delias Asra. Garion opens all the sarcophagi, so curious to find anything. Fonfon then tells us that before we open the prince’s, that we must close our eyes and can’t look or be cursed. He can’t explain how he knows this but that he’ll search for a ring. He lied to me and said it was a Jezby ring. He told me the truth later.”
Chessa tsks. “Tricked by a Strawberry again, Cinis? Come now. I never had interest in baubles and the like. I would not have worn anything like that to my meetings with the Asrans.”
Cinis winces, closing his eyes. “Moving on. He gets what he needs, we turn away from the coffin and find the dead have risen. The ichor connecting all their bones. They fought like real men. We barely made it out but found that Jazel’s statue was gone along with all the bodies we found on the way. Oh, and the tomb was closed on us.”
Chessa raises a blonde eyebrow. “But you’re here now, please do tell.”
“Before we know it, Garion’s little talking stone reacts and he gets taken away by the Order against his will. Lucky him, at least he’s out. Oh, did you know Fonfon can use magic? He keeps doing this thing with a little magic hand.”
Chessa lifts her head from Fonlap’s shoulder and shakes her head. “Not when he was a little sproutling, or that I knew of. If he could, he was very good at hiding it.” She sounded concerned.
“Everyone has secrets. Anyway, long story short, I figure we can swim out through the ichor fountain and we do. I made sure Fonfon got out. We found ourselves in a tunnel system and pushed ourselves to crawl out. It took hours. At the end we were greeted by a sleeping bear which Fonfon woke with his clumsy feet.” He pauses and looks at her. “We both woke the bear with our clumsy feet. We were in no condition to fight, so we ran. Something happened to that bear though. It yelped and ran. Didn’t seem natural. I don’t have any reason as to why an angry grizzly would just give up chase.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re both here, safe and sound. What’s next? You’ll fix this ichor problem.” It wasn’t a question.
Cinis nods. “Of course. I won’t let these lands be taken away again, or at least die trying to stop it."
Chessa nods quietly. She begins to rise and brushes some black debris from her dress.
Cinis looks away. “Time to go? Places to be?”
She nods. “Until next we meet, my fire cactus.”
He does not answer and does not watch her fade into the darkness. He only turns back to Fonlap and the fire when the smell of Udi leaves the air as dawn begins to creep through the forest leaves.