[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220416/07bb7fe0937c4f981a024d2a8b9366c1.png[/img]
[sub][color=8E939E]✧     Location: Snakeburrow Woods     ✧     Purse: 12 copper     ✧      [@Scribne of Thoth] [@Trainerblue192] [@Hero] [@McMolly]    ✧[/color][/sub][/center]
Fortunately, the night passed without incident. Kyreth managed to get through his candle practice without setting the forest on fire, and seemed to be improving besides. He was still more timid with the flame than he knew he should be, but Lord Mystralath spoke true - improvement came fast. Once focus overcame fear, Kyreth could already feel his control growing smoother, even if only by degrees. 

But aether training was exhausting, even on such a small scale, and so Kyreth was grateful to be excused from night watches, even if their reasons for excluding him were probably less than pure. Sleep was sleep, even if interrupted more than once by the unfamiliar sounds of six other bodies plus a horse, and when day finally broke again and he saw the grogginess on everyone else’s faces, Kyreth counted himself lucky to get as much as he had. 

The rain still threatened, but the next half day was calm enough that Kyreth could sneak a moment here and there to scope out the ambient aether. As promised, the forest was rife with changing environments, currents that twisted and melted into one another, sometimes thick enough to touch, and sometimes barely there. The idle strumming of Lilann’s lyre made for a nice backdrop to his scouting, but Kyreth didn’t miss the noted lack of song. He was concerned to hear Lilann go quiet, although he couldn’t really justify why. Despite how close they’d quickly grown, he really hadn’t known her any longer than anyone else; for all he knew, it was just tiring to sing two days in a row, especially on whatever precious little sleep she managed to sneak between watches. But even as he chided himself for jumping to conclusions, Kyreth wasn’t entirely convinced. Lilann looked a little too distracted for it to just be fatigue. 

He might have asked if a sudden, much more significant concern didn’t arise to distract him, too. Without warning, Kyreth felt a storm whip up around them, whirling both inside and out; his hands shook, the ground shook with them, and the wind whipped up such a frenzy Kyreth couldn’t believe his cloak was still around his shoulders. The maelstrom stopped him in his tracks, overwhelming his senses; he quickly fell behind the caravan, feet rooted to the ground and knuckles white around his rucksack, clinging on for dear life until the storm at last subsided. 

It took Kyreth a moment to catch his breath, another to wonder why no one else seemed bothered, and one more for him to realize that it was the [i]aether[/i] stirring mad, not the earth and sky themselves. For a second, he wondered if he’d gone crazy, and breathed deep, checking the aether himself to confirm. Sure enough, he wasn’t dreaming; while the storm was gone, the aftershocks were still there, the aether around them still churning restlessly like the sea after a gale. In a real storm, the immediate danger was past, but the waves could still grind him on the rocks if he wasn’t careful; Kyreth chose to assume the same here. 

When he finally came back to his senses, he had to sprint to catch back up with the caravan, panting more from the aetheric disturbance than the run. But when he did catch up, he found the caravan halted, and the company staring suspiciously at something ahead in the road. 

[color=AA4A44]“That is [i]not[/i] a wolf.”[/color]

Ceolfric’s warning was so in sync with Kyreth’s first impression of the roadblock that for a second, he thought the brigand was in his head again. Was that what caused that huge disturbance, then? With all that ruckus, Kyreth would have expected the Rancor itself to fly out of the woods, not some injured dog. A trick?

His hands were still trembling when he put one on Lilann’s shoulder, partly to stop her from approaching the thing if she had a mind to, but mostly to steady himself. A wave of dizziness washed over him, his body still trying to keep up as it adjusted from “way too much aether” to what felt like not nearly enough. He didn’t have the mind or the knowledge to make much sense of what he felt and what laid before them now, but that didn’t mean nobody else did. 

[color=8E939E]“Be careful, something is wrong,”[/color] he murmured to Lilann, gesturing for her to stay close to the caravan. He didn’t know what the threat was, but surely it would be safer with the group than out on the fringes. 

[color=8E939E]“Be careful!”[/color] Kyreth repeated, this time calling out so the whole group could hear him. He approached the front of the caravan, coming up next to the wagon near Ceolfric and Ermes, although he kept a little further away. 

[color=8E939E]“I don’t know what it means, but right before that thing appeared, the aether around here went [i]crazy,[/i]”[/color] he explained breathlessly, mostly to Ceolfric. [color=8E939E]“It’s calmer now, but… I don’t know, I can only imagine whatever caused that must have been pretty significant.”[/color]

Even as he spoke, he kept his head on a swivel, pulling his knife from his belt if only to occupy his hands. His fingers tingled forebodingly, which only set him more on edge; they were in a precarious enough position as it was, the last thing they needed now was one of his little [i]mishaps.[/i]