World Tree MUSH

    Travel has not been easy on Rydia. Summoning Eidolons takes much out of the child, as evidenced by her ghostly pale pallor, sunken eyes, and sluggishness. But she promised she would ride with Zelda to Zora's domain, and now here she is on the road.
    Camp has been set up for the time being, allowing for some downtime and rest, and the girl has been doing her very best to not do much of anything during these times except to keel over and get some shuteye. But right now, Rydia is awake, emerging from her tent to tend to her chocobo a bit and maybe get something to snack on afterwards.

Speaking of something to snack, Temulin had gone hunting, and has recently returned with two large boars, one of which she's currently rotating above a fire, it looks like it's almost ready to eat. She glances over to Rydia when she sees the summoner come out of the tent. "Hey." She greets, "You holding up alright?"

    "I'm alive." Rydia replies sluggishly. Wearing her Wolfos-hide cloak tightly around herself, the girl ambles over to her nearby birdhorse to check on her loyal avian steed. Pausing just long enough to rub at her eyes, the scent of roasting boar hits her like a truck and causes the girl to properly turn and regard the Au Ra dark knight.
    "Thanks by the way." She says. "For keeping an eye on me when..."
    When everything was a literal hell, she means, but remains unsaid.

"It's no problem." Temulin answers, "Protecting people is what dark knights do, at least where I'm from." She prods the boar a bit and decides it's done, and so she takes it off the fire and cuts it open, putting a large chunk of the meat on some bread. "Want some?" She offers, "I believe I owe you an explanation. Or at least, as much of one as I have."

    Does she want some? Rydia is silent for a beat before her stomach answers for her, replying with a snarl. She edges closer; though jade eyes warily regard the fire being used to cook said boar, hunger wins out over her largely rational fear of flames.
    She sits down; though not too close to the cookfire.
    "I'm listening."

The dark knight snuffs out the flame, recognizing that look, before handing Rydia a slice of bread with a chunk of meat. "So, this may sound strange." Temulin begins, taking a bite from her meal and swallowing it down. "But sometimes, I can get visions, echoes of the past. I don't know why, or how, and I can neither stop them nor encourage them. Best I can do is learn how to recognize what they are." She explains, "When I approached you, I saw something. I think we both know what I saw, so we don't need to dwell on it if you don't want to."

    In Rydia's experience, Dark Knights tend to be very reliable and protective people. So she doesn't overly dwell too much on Temulin saying that's just what Dark Knights do, where she's from. It seems to be what they do where Rydia is from as well.
    he tension washes away from the girl's body almost instantly as the fire is put out, she starts lowly whittling away at the boar sandwich handed her way as she listens.
    "So you saw, then." She murmurs. "Now you know why fire bothers me so much."

Temulin nods, "Yeah." She answers, calmly. She takes another bite from her sandwich. "You were very brave to help out there. You helped a lot of people." She offers with a smile, "I don't know if I could've been that brave, so be proud of yourself, ok?"

    "I don't even know what I was thinking." Rydia admits sullenly. There's a beat of silence as the girl hugs her knees to her chest with a small huff. She knew what she was walking into, that day, though. Being told to be proud of herself is something she finds... Difficult. "Mn. I managed to call Shiva, but a dark part of me wonders how things would have gone if she chose not to come."

"We all have our doubts." Temulin answers seriously, leaning back. "Sometimes, I doubt I'm even suited to being a dark knight. I have a destiny you know, but I'm running from it." She takes another bite, finishing up her own boar sandwich. "If you hadn't managed to call Shiva, I would have protected you, and we would've figured something out. But, I don't think you would've been unable to, and worrying about what-ifs like that does no-one any good."

    Rydia is silent for a moment, using her boar sandwich as an excuse to keep quiet for a few beats more, chewing and swallowing slowly. "You would have, I don't doubt it." She admits, before pursing her lips. "They uh... Only come when I'm..."
    When Rydia is in the deepest pits of emotional distress.
    ut once again she trails off, shaking her head slowly. Those people lost everything. But at least they had escaped with their lives, and she takes a small solace in that. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. What's done is done, and worrying about the past won't help me very much. We managed to pull through."

"If you're still worried about them." Temulin offers, leaning back more and looking up at the sky, "When we have some time free, we could help rebuild their village, or help them resettle somewhere else if they don't want to. They're alive, they can rebuild."

    Jade eyes slide closed for a beat and Rydia nods. "I'd like that." She muses. To Either idea, really. A soft sigh and she rubs at her eyes. "Rebuilding is going to take time. And we probably won't have any until we deal with Zant, but. I'd like to help them, yeah."

"When we've dealt with Zant, we'll go that, then. That's a promise, ok?" Temulin smiles, red-ringed eyes carefully looking at Rydia. "Get some rest, okay? There's a long road ahead of us, and you've spent a lot of energy. Eating is good, and I'll be here to talk if you want to, but you look exhausted."

    A promise it is. And Rydia's head bobs in a nod. "I'm going to hold you to that." she says.
    But now? Now she's smiling. Just at little bit at least.
    A few more bites is all it takes for the girl to scarf up the last of her sandwich before she slowly picks herself up, eyeing her tent. "Yeah... I'm going to pass back out, I think."