World Tree MUSH

    A week and a half ago, Saturday. It is... relatively early in the day when Yumi Tachibana and a certain summoner return to Zora's Domain; and it is probably easy to tell at a glance what sort of return it is. Yumi looks exhausted; moreover, she looks like she's still got something weighing heavily on her mind. Perhaps moreso than ever. She's not one to wear that concerned, distant look often; and she's also not terribly good at hiding her feelings, most of the time. But even that is mixed with occasional glances of concern at her companion - this most recent disaster was much rougher for the younger one, after all.

    And Rydia... Rydia looks like death literally warmed over. The last Summoner of Mist is ghostly pale, eyes sunken in, with heavy bags beneath them. She's wrapped tightly in the folds of her wolfos-skin cloak as she hunkers down in her chocobo's saddle. In spite of all her grumbled utterances of being fine, it's clear the girl is very much Not Okay in the least as her hands tremble where she holds onto the reins.
    How could she be okay agter dealing with Ifrit?

For her part the princess has been busy dealing with getting Zora's Domain as close to up and running as it can go; most of her time's been taken up either discussing matters with their leadership, and helping try to shore up the Domain's stability after a very rough transition.

Today she's on her way down the mountain, because she saw with her spyglass a certain party of two trudging back up the slope. Now she's headed down to meet them, racing breakneck down the slope astride her war horse. Giant hooves the size of dinner plates fly out; the massive animal grunts when he takes the turns a little sharp, but on the whole he's very sure-footed despite the slick stone.

Hopefully seeing something that big won't freak out Chocobo.

"Rydia! Yumi Tachibana!" Zelda sits the horse bareback and barefoot in a light summer dress, as though she'd run for the stables first thing. She's waving one arm as the two barrel downslope; the other clutches a fistful of mane.

    "Zelda!" Yumi calls out, lifting up a hand to wave to the princess as she descends. After a beat, she adds, "It's alright, we're not..." A pause. "...we're not physically hurt." Which probably says all it needs to right then and there. "There was a pretty big fight, but they had healers after." The redhead gives a little shake of her head. "I'm just tired, more than anything. Have something to talk about. But..."

    Here she glances Rydia's way again, then adds, "...well, it was a great big, angry god of fire."

    Chocobo is a study beast himself, and not one to show fear in the face of danger. ... But even Zelda's monstrous, volatile, horse puts him on edge, feathers ruffling when the princess comes barrelling down the slope to meet them. To his credit, the stalwart avian steed does not show fear in the face of that beast.
    Rydia on the other hand, looks ready to fall out of the saddle. No amount of healing could help with the sheer amount of energy she expended-- it's a look that will definitely be familiar to the princess. The haggard-looking near death exhaustion that roots its way into the child's bones.
    She Summoned an Eidolon again.
    "Ifrit. They called Ifrit. They succeeded." She says, wobbling and foggy-heeaded from the sheer stress.

"Yumi Tachibana." Zelda glances over her shoulder at Yumi, even while she's attempting to deal with Rydia. "I will speak with you at length, but later. You should both rest, first, before offering any accounts."

Zelda eyes both figures, taking in the details of their appearance as she does. She reins up short as the horse dances in place to stop, one flat hoof scraping at the rocks. A few are swept over the cliff's edge. They clatter all the way down.

Sliding off the horse's back, Zelda pads over to gently reach up and offer her hand for Chocobo to sniff, and once the bird doesn't look like he's going to mind, she reaches up for Rydia. "Come on. Down," Zelda calls, gesturing for Rydia to let go. "You're exhausted. You can ride up with me. I expect Chocobo could use the break, too."

Her horse is well-trained. He just follows her. Without threat of violence. Mostly.

    Yumi is right there beside Zelda, doing her best to help Rydia down off the chocobo. But while she's doing so, she's talking. "It's not the fight I want to talk about. It's something we can discuss on the way. I..." A pause again, and she looks a little guilty. "I was going to keep quiet about it entirely. But it's something that could affect you. Both of you," she adds, regarding Rydia as well. "...So I ought to tell you both."

    By now Rydia's avian mount has been long enough acquainted with Zelda to be trusting of the princess; sniffing at her hand is almost a formality between the two before he allows a VERY fussy Rydia to be eased off the saddle.
    "I'm. Fine. I can keep riding. It's. Okay."
    It is very much not okay in the least though as she pauses, tired green eyes shifting towards Yumi when she says she has something important to discuss.
    Rydia can remain conscious long enough to hear it out most likely as she's fussily herded into Lynel's saddle.

With Yumi's help, Zelda manages to both ease Rydia out of the saddle and get her pushed up onto Lynel, climbing back up to pull Rydia into her lap. There's no saddle to support her with, nor even a bridle, but that doesn't seem to be a setback to the princess.

She does stop to eye Rydia, though. It is the look of No, You Are Not Fine, and it may come with a bit of Hylian eyeroll.

"Yumi Tachibana. Can you see that Chocobo makes it up? Thank you." She'll take the return trip a bit slower than she had come down. "As to you..."

Yumi is eyed; it's that unsettling look where it's hard to tell whether it's the young woman displaying some of that frighteningly ancient wisdom, or whether it's just her somber presence making her seem so.

"Well?" She gestures, as she keeps Rydia held in place with one hand. Her touch is gentle, but firm; the princess is not soft, and she'd have enough strength to hold Rydia even if the Summoner had tried to dive from Lynel's back. So, basically, she's not getting away! Not this time. "Out with it, Yumi Tachibana. I cannot prepare Zora's Domain for a threat I do not know."

    For a moment, there is a silent stare. The look that crosses Yumi's face as she regards Rydia is a mix of deep worry and frustration; finally, something akin to sternness settles across her face, but the voice that comes out is more akin to concern. "A half-blind cactuar could see you're not fine, Rydia. When you're an inch shy of passing out and you look like you've seen a whole army of ghosts, trying to tell us you're 'fine' just hurts us to hear. We're worried about you. We don't want you to fall apart. Sometimes it's okay to be hurt and exhausted and let people pamper you for a while. For their sake as much as for yours. Please?"

    It might well be the most hypocritical thing she's ever said. Shh.

    It's also pretty ill-timed, but for once Yumi can't really hold herself back; it's calmly delivered, but it's something that's been bothering her for almost as long as she's known the young summoner. She bites her lip, trying to think of anything more she can add, but nothing comes - so she just turns to take the chocobo's reins, and look up at the trail ahead. As they start, and Zelda prods, the senshi starts talking, though she keeps her eyes on the road. It makes things a little easier.

    "There's... there's no threat. At least I don't think there's a threat. It's something that might cause trouble for us, though. I'm..." It takes her a second to decide how to forge ahead. "...I think I found out what the price is. The price of my powers. I've always kind of known there was a price, but it finally caught up to me. It... I think it messes with my emotions. Because of how it works."

    Much as she might try to squirm or worm her way freem Rydia just doesn't have the strength to overpower Zelda, and thusly gives up pretty easily once she's in the saddle. Though she does list from time to time in one direction or the other, that's more from sheery exhaustion than any attempt to prize herself from the princess' grasp.
    Though no matter how exhausted Rydia may be, the girl is still feisty. Too tired for words, she flashes her teeth at Yumi, a sharp-toothed little scowl that speaks more than any words could for her.
    'Pamper me and you die'.
    But it fades as the sheer wall of tired hits her and she settles in for the ride, eyes half-lidded.
    "Mnh...? Your emotions?" She does blearily venture once Yumi's admission sinks in.

The princess may seem unconcerned, but there is worry behind her eyes. The ramifications of the Primal Ifrit on the loose are troubling not just for the emotional impact on her friends, but the potential threat such an entity could levy against Hyrule.

The kingdom is still burning, and that's without throwing supernatural fireballs into the mix.

For her part, Zelda skims right over Rydia's protests; the serenity of someone Above That Nonsense. She has an uncanny knack for playing aloofness to the hilt when it suits her. Must be the royal blood.

For now Zelda simply sits her horse, both hands now wrapping around to hold Rydia in place. It wouldn't do to have Rydia list right off the back of the horse. Zelda is stronger than she looks. That arm is there to gently correct Rydia's centre of gravity every time she leans too far. At about the same time Rydia gives up being feisty, one hand rises to smooth Rydia's hair back.

She's silent in the wake of Yumi's halting words, at first, eyes half-lidded. Her regard is deceptively sleepy, but in spite of her relaxed expression and lidded eyes, Zelda is already mulling over the explanation. The cold, detached, scholarly part of her mind governed by the Triforce of Wisdom is intrigued by the information; an intricate puzzle to solve.

"Hm."

It's a soft sound, more suitable to observations on the local weather than deep problems from a close friend.

She's not aloof, so her distraction is probably very real as she thinks it through.

"In what way do you think, Yumi Tachibana...?"

    "My emotions," Yumi confirms. She pauses for a second, once again putting her thoughts in order and deciding how best to explain. "Sometimes, when I push myself hard during a fight, I come out of it feeling kind of a lingering... something. I can't describe it. Like a tension, or a faint unwellness, but not physical. Like something in the back of my mind, I guess. My gut instinct always told me that was normal, that can happen. It seems to fade over time. And I've gotten used to it."

    A little bit of an admission, there. She's felt it fairly frequently, and just never said anything. "...but while me and the others were talking with Temulin, the subject came around to Ifrit's tempered thralls, and... I don't know. It felt like something erupted, or gave way. The idea of having to kill those people, I didn't like it, but all of a sudden it was just... it was the most awful thing I could think of and I broke down crying. I was a wreck. And afterwards... afterwards that feeling was gone."

    Smoothing Rydia's hair is... A feat to say the least. That wild green tumble just goes everywhere, especially with the girl teetering. But Zelda puts a stop to the wobbling at least, for now, before the girl just plain out leans back against the princess, eyes half-drooped from weariness.
    "You. Broke down crying?" She eventually murmurs, partially incredulous, partially half-dead. "Huh. Never would've seen that coming, I guess." She mutters, bringing a hand up to rub at her forehead. "Then again, having to kill the tempered thralls is pretty terrible."

The further they go, the more Zelda's mouth twists as though something were bothering her. There isn't enough information to settle on an answer or a solution, though, and so she keeps her own counsel; silent. Oh, she's thinking about it, though. She's very definitely thinking about it.

"Catharsis, or a condition fulfilled..." Zelda eventually sighs and shakes her head. "I lack information. The best I can offer is to promise to investigate this matter; to that end, if you think of anything else, please inform me. For the time being, unfortunately, my hands are tied with matters here."

She tilts her head, glancing up to the mist-cooled mountain looming over them. "Prince Ralis is trying, he really is, but he was utterly unprepared to take the throne." A snort. "A feeling I know well."

"As to the tempered..." She shakes her head. "I do not know of anything of its like in Hyrule... and that's for the best, most likely."

    Yumi shakes her head once again. "I'm not the kind to break down. Not over something like that. I hate the idea of having to do it, but if it's the only option..." A soft grimace. "...I'm the kind of person who does what she has to. I don't like to cheat and I don't like to run away, but if taking a life is needed, I'll do it. It was like something took that one little 'I hate it, but...' and blew it up until it was all I could feel. And then it was just... gone."

    She glances up at Zelda finally, and says, "Don't bother, I have someone I can ask about it. Elizabeth Asatsuki." The other magical girl, the one who gave her some answers, and promised another being would along to offer more. "I'll press her for details this time. I won't let her evade the question. I'm pretty sure she knows." Those eyes go back down to the road, and Yumi adds, "...but it makes sense. I fuel my magic with emotion. Hope, pride, a desire to protect, my love for all my friends... that's how it works. So it makes a twisted kind of sense, I guess. That it'll affect my emotions, I mean."

    "It sounds a bit out of character for you, yeah." Rydia murmurs to Yumi, head nodding from fatigue. YUMI TACHIBANA, of all people, does not seem the type to suddenly break out into tears over having to shed blood. But then again this new insight into the reason why is... Interesting to say the least.
    "You dont have to worry about the tempered." She says to Zelda after a beat though. "We... Managed to kill Ifrit." But at what cost? A high one, evidenced from how exhausted the Summoner is.

"No, Yumi Tachibana, you are not." Zelda's agreement is given softly, as she concentrates on keeping Rydia stable on the horse in front of her. It helps that Lynel is such a freakishly large animal. His back is comfortably broad. To Yumi's assurance, she shrugs. "Do what you feel is best. That is all I can advise, in this situation."

"In the meantime, perhaps it would be best if you can monitor your own emotions more closely. At least until you have a better idea of what's really going on," Zelda adds, though she tilts her head to glance down at Rydia. There are questions in light of the Summoner's words, but she holds her tongue, for the moment. Now is not the time for an interrogation.

Zelda sighs, quietly. "Well, for the time being, we will stay in Zora's Domain. We will be as safe as we can be, there. Rest and recuperate. That is all we can do for now."