Majir worked on carefully clipping and strapping his boots onto his legs as Voska spoke. Well it was clear now if it wasn't already that he wasn't going to get any civilized conversation out of the guard on the topic of plants. She'd spoken to him with almost nothing but disdain since the group had departed from the city. Majir also decided that she might have some sort of vendetta against the plant life around here, if the most recent display was any indication. He was no fool, he knew the statistics regarding the size and danger the fully-grown plants could pose to the unwary traveler. Yet her responses so far seemed to only indicate that she was some-what unreasonable, seeing as the only things he'd seen so far could probably be snapped in two with a good tug by something his size. If she'd posed that it would render a threat to future groups, and couldn't be left to live, then he'd accept their sacrifice. Yet he could only detect some level of hate from her voice and eyes when she slew everything in their path. Majir had already begun to question the guild's choice of guard in this case. It was possible that she would be of more use when faced up against something actually threatening, yet Majir had begun to doubt her usefulness. She could clearly swing that knife about with skill, but was she going to be any use for anything but that?
Majir's muzzle wrinkled with distaste at the suggestion of getting a dog. Smelly unclean things, who in their rightful mind would pick a dog when a man-eating plant was an option? Plants eating animals just seemed normal to him. He'd grown up with the tales of vicious plants surprising his hero's in the 'night'. The smallest twitch of a smile played about his lips as he remembered his favorite hero, Xerion the white feathered avian, being chased by a tribe of barbarians and only surviving through his quick-witted trap by luring them into the tendrils of a particularly large plant. Majir was particularly alert by the fact that Xerion had been betrayed by his assistant to the tribe. He hadn't heard of anything like that actually happening in a long time. But it paid to be careful, he was in the wilds now, not playing some game in the city whacking the other kids with sticks.
It seemed only natural that the lower species of animals were feasted upon by plants out here. The great burden of sentience on the many races of the world lifted them up from the common beasts. It was only this that gave them the rights to harness and study the plants. To come to an understanding over the plants would give them power over them. The fact that it seemed that Voska disagreed with him on this point, set Majir's mind into confusion. That type of fern was cute anyway. Majir finished putting his boots on and shouldered his pack as Voska began to head off again.
"Stay still until I come back with the light." Majir did a mental double-take as his guard took off with a measured stride over the uneaven ground. His mouth opened and shut as his brain tried to process what he ought to say to that before he finally decided on staying silent. His tail swished back and forth in slight agitation as the light quickly vanished, enveloping him into the wall of shadows.
Stay calm Majir, you saw with your own eyes that there was nothing around here that could hurt you. He took measured, steady breaths but his paw's tight grip on his pack's shoulder-straps betrayed his concern. Majir stood stock still for over a minute before his composure began to break. He'd never been in such a level of dark before, not to mention the dangers that he'd spent countless hours studying that lurked about in these kinds of areas. Let's just sit down for a bit and wait. Hadn't there been a rock over there? Majir's right paw released it's grip on the shoulder-strap and felt about in the dark. He considered using his light to catch a glimpse of his surroundings, but decided after remembering the detailed warnings degrading wasting light to refrain. Besides, it took concentration to get the thing running properly. In a blind panic it would work with no problems, but running it for any length of time in such a state would only burn through his reserves of magic in a matter of minutes.
Majir's paw made contact with a rough stone boulder which had been sheered from the wall at some point in the past. He sat up onto it, pulling his feet up and wrapping his tail around his midriff out of the way of any potential grabbing tendrils. The group had only given them one light, did they not expected them to split up? He wracked his brain for the correct protocol regarding spitting up when only one member had a stable light source. He couldn't get a fix on any particular rules, but then again section three of the rule-book for guild explorers had emphasized care and restraint when searching new areas. He decided that he ought to consider memorizing the entire novel, he hadn't before heading off simply because it had been far too immense for such a short space of time. But now he thought it was apparent that such information could prove invaluable if his guard ran off and left him to his own devices.
The first sign that Voska was returning came with the slight shadows cast from the lantern from around the bend. Majir's ears were pricked upwards as he strained to hear her light footsteps against the rubble-filled ground. His light was out, though not on at the time and he quickly tucked it back into the folds of the clothes. Majir let out a soft sigh that he hadn't quite realized he'd be holding as the guardwoman finally came back into view. One would be hard-pressed to call him panicked from the darkness, though he had most certainly been scared even if he would never admit it.
"S..So, anything worthwhile up ahead?" He asked tentatively to the slightly younger Marten.