The downside of living in a nice forest, albeit a rather misty and dark one: if you wanted to train, you had to clear spaces. Not only did this disrupt the local ecosystem, but it was a lot of work.
On the other hand, the Ravensky ‘estate’ covered a good 40 square miles, so there were already a few spots where clearing trees to make fields was more akin to cutting off a bruised part of a fruit then making an ugly mark on the natural space. The Dragon Girls thought they’d seen them all: Three already had training courses set on them, two more were open and empty, and two more could be ‘built on’ as needed.
But they weren’t going to any of those. And they’d been walking most of the day (camping gear has been brought), so wherever they were was potentially a good 20 miles away from the house, if not more: the family could set a very brisk pace if they didn’t have to drag others who weren’t used to such a speed along It was when they were on the verge of reaching the new place that the hairs on the back of Venny’s neck (or rather, the metaphorical ones) began to prickle. She smelled old ash.
The forest and its trees abruptly terminated into gray clay and gravel. This wasn’t a ‘bruise’, this was a full bore cauterization; the forest did resume, but it was barely visible, a rough rectangle of blasted ground and crumbly mess. The footsteps kicked up mild dust, like the ground refused to retain water.
“You might remember how we told you the Vitiate struck close to home. Well, this is where it happened. Considering what they were, this was what needed to clean up. Might be like this for decades, we really had to burn deep to make sure nothing remained. Still…has a little use.” Celeste said.
Patty sneezed, and then sneezed again, the dust being the cause before she felt at her jaw and nose. Vimmy spotted a brief surge of white energy, and after that the sneezing stopped. Some sort of filter.
“For now, I’m just showing you the location, Vimmy, Venny.” Christopher said. “Today is not your training day. Might still want to pay attention, though. Patricia?”
“Yessir.”
“If you’re wondering how you never saw this from above, it’s hidden. You’d have to know it was there to know where to see through the cover. We don’t want strangers finding this place. Or people who’d look for it.” Celeste said. It was a fair point: the two girls weren’t as constrained as their new adopted family in terms of movement. Sure, they could move incredibly fast on the ground, perform great acts of agility, and also great acts of verticality, but the two girls could outright fly at supersonic speeds and climb to the upper levels of the troposphere. Maybe they couldn’t have stumbled on it walking through the forest, but flying around its top was another possibility. “There’s power in old remains if you know certain things.”
Patty had discarded the gear she had been carrying and had activated a few minor Intricacies, armoring up her arms and putting shinguards in place. This was a first. It seemed like her father was going to put his youngest through the paces, something neither girl had seen happen. Patty had sparred with her mother a few times, but that had been in their own backyard. Along with the fact that her father had walked them all the way out here…
“Begin.” Christopher said.
Then his mechanical eye sparked, even as he twisted his wrist, and the shimmering wave of blue-black…smoke? Energy? Mist? Some strange mix of all three? Something else? It was more like light than a gas…but it exploded across the whole landscape. It came with force, the dusty ground promptly turned into a dust bowl, grit swiftly coating everything in numerous cannons of wind. While the girls’ altered forms kept them from choking, the sheer amount of grim in the air blinded even them, and they had to both switch vision modes and wipe at their (shielded) eyes to see what was happening.
Not like there was much to see. Celeste was standing next to them, her hair being whipped by the wind and force. Patricia was not holding her ground so well: she was staggering back, like she was both being punched and was fighting a massive headache. Celeste, oddly, had her attention directed at the dragon girls instead of Patty.
“You don’t feel that?” Despite the force, there wasn’t much noise; no howling in the wind, no sound from the ‘emittence’. The answer from both girls was “No.” “Interesting. This is a sort of mild psychic technique good for dealing with large amounts of weak foes. A sort of ‘put the weight in their hands and see if they can hold it up’. We call it The Glorious, because those who get seriously hit by it tend to fall to one’s knees and look like they’re exalting whoever is doing it. But you two aren’t affected at all. That could be useful.”
NOW there was noise, as Patricia finally stomped one foot to keep her stance firm, and then the same kind of misty energy pulsing exploded from her, one side of her head lighting up like a torch, her black hair flaring white on that side and her eye on the side becoming a star as she manifested her own ‘Glorious’ which impacted against her father’s and drove it back. A bit, anyway. She was a tree with deep roots standing against a tornado.
“Going full bore with such a move, yes, that’s Christopher.” Celeste mused. “But that’s not why we came all the way out here to…”
Patricia’s protective/resistance abruptly collapsed, and she vanished in a fresh surge of dry, blinding dust.
“Hmmm.” Celeste said.
Patty erupted from the ground next to her father. She’d stopped fighting the ‘wave’ and literally gone under it, using the loose, powdery ground to rapid burrow like a mole and cross the distance, her leg lashing out.
Her father caught it. He DID have to look to do so, which was better than just blind-catching, but still.
“Still a little too prone to one-twos, Patricia. Strike as you emerge, don’t emerge AND strike.” He snapped his arm up, his daughter doing a flip and landing on her feet. “There’s…”
The ground under Patricia exploded in a small crater. The ground was VERY loose and sandy: Christopher had expected the young woman’s feet to sink in, throwing off her balance just a bit. Instead, she’d somehow done SOMETHING that had allowed her to treat the ground like it was solid, granting her an extra quarter second in reaction.
Her intertwined axe-handle strike met her father’s forearm. THIS time, however, he got pushed backwards. Her follow-up snap kick met his other hand, but THAT both knocked his hand away and pushed him backwards more, Patricia’s form vanishing in another blast of dusty ground.
“Huh. Becoming faster than me. That could be something of a problem. However…” Christopher thought out loud, doing a few rapid skips backwards…right into Patricia’s thrusting kick: she’d juked around him and smashed her foot into him full bore, finally striking true. He promptly switched directions in his unwanted travel, spinning and grabbing the ground, her hand ripping up the loose stone for a good twenty feet before he stopped. “Ow. Right in the however.”
Patricia’s form blurred in, now above her father.
The ground shattered as she smashed her leg down in an arc, her heel shattering a ten foot crater and sending cracks erupting across the ruined, scoured space, tearing up the dead landscape. Celeste, almost blithely, did a few small jumps to get back on solid ground. The young woman had missed, hitting only ground.
There was, however, no counter attack.
Patricia yanked her leg out, wiping at her eyes to push away some of the dust caking on her face, her gaze flicking around.
“You can probably find him with one of your vision modes. Give it a try.” Celeste said. She assumed that the girls would understand what she said without further explanation.
“Understood!” Venny acknowledged, the two of them nodding at the same time and snapping out of watching the blows very closely before doing just that. Their eyes shone a little like marbles as they both cycled into heat based tracking only to give it up a few moments later. Nothing had popped up; At least, not enough of anything to make a difference. Vimmy was the first to switch to a different sort of sight, trying to spot electrical signals but just as stymied. Even if Christopher was invisible she should’ve been able to see a sign, but…
Venny bumped her slightly with her hip. “You get it?”
“No, I’m not… Well, let me try-” She muttered, narrowing her eyes into slits and then flinching over. She’d seen something, but by the time it registered there was already nothing in that spot. Vimmy concentrated harder and sharpened her focus, the next brief flash of movement making her narrow in on the position before it too was gone. Venny had taken up the same tactic, focussing not so much on absolutes as actual movement within her vision. It wasn’t perfect, and she quickly learned she wasn’t going to be able to predict much, but it at least helped them follow along where Christopher had been, if not where he was going.
It took them more of an output than passive monitoring, but after they’d caught it it got a little easier; Even then it wasn’t perfect, but the two dragons were at least able to sight Christopher again for smaller moments in the area.
“Good work.” Celeste said.
Which was around when Patricia lifted her foot and stomped the ground.
Hundreds of ‘micro jets’ vented tiny pieces of stone into the air, a massive field of minor debris.
Several of them broke as Christopher, unable to dodge, ran into them, or rather through them. It was a faint trail, but it was enough. An immediate read of where he was going, and then a blazing intercept.
Christopher caught her fist, more dust exploding away from the negated impact.
“Good. I did allow you the freedom to do that, though.” His head jerked to the side as he dodged another punch. “Keep practicing that micro-delay, it’s getting-” Dodge, dodge. “Very effect-” Dodge. The girls could tell that Christopher’s dodging was much due to the fact he’d taught his daughter how to fight and she was still too young to have done more than the most basic reforms into her own style. He’d had to do more blocks when he’d done a lighter spar with the visiting Julia. “Tive.”
Christopher promptly threw the handful of dust he’d gathered while dodging into his daughter’s…
Open, blocking hand, as she immediately spun and went for a wheel kick after stopping the attempted blind.
She missed, her right arm’s wrist grabbed and twisted behind her.
“And time. VERY good. But you’re still too eager, Patricia. That big kick? Too much. Too strong a tell. If you’d gone for a basic jab, you probably would have caught me. You’re too raw to be clever. Not against something of my caliber. And indulging in it with less talented, well…I know the appeal. Just remember it’s junk food. That goes for you two as well.”
“Yessir.” Patty said.
“You did do much better than the last time you didn’t utilize your Bones status though. I expected results to have slowed to a trickle by now. That was the case with some I’ve taught. Now, how did you know I was going for a pocket sand strike?”
“Your eyes twitch behind you, dad.”
“...getting sloppy in my old age.” Christopher withdrew one of his E-Hand ‘cleaning charms’ and placed it on himself. “Patty, could you go set up camp? I have something else I want to do while I’m here.”
“On it.” Patricia seized her gear back up and bounded off.
“No training for you two, today anyway, but as you can see, this place is akin to a desert. Nothing but coarseness. I want to put your filters through the paces. See what’s needed to jam up and clog up those wings and jets. While in a safe, controlled environment. See if we can make sure that if you ever end up in a place like this, you won’t get smacked upside the head. Now, did I see that wrong, Celeste, or did they wholly ignore the Glorious?”
“They did.”
“...well girls, you’re two of a kind. No one else on our world can IGNORE such a thing. They still FEEL it, even if it’s just a poke. Maybe you didn’t actually develop this talent yourselves, but you have it, and I acknowledge it. In the future, we’ll see if we can’t make something more of it. First though, I want to test your flight setups and how well they respond to dry powdery dust in large amounts.”
And one more challenge, albeit that night.
Eating tree bark.
Well, it wasn’t like the girls were forced to eat it. But having been shown the exact make of tree and how to extract it, they, like any good guests, felt compelled to eat it.
Eager to please as ever and thinking over the match to remember it better, when Vimmy and Venny had finished collecting some of the bark it had been almost instantaneous; They didn’t care for it. Venny had an easier time thanks to her metal teeth, but ultimately it was pretty bad tasting to her and something she had to force herself to finish after the first bite. Vimmy had quietly busied herself in the same way, not quite gagging but determinedly crunching through the pieces she’d claimed. Their eyes met in silent commiseration and agreement as Venny worked the grimace off her face and pressed on.
“It, uh… Huh. I guess this is what trees would taste like, right?” She considered, peering at another piece close up before popping it into her mouth. Venny shrugged, the two of them doing what they could to minimize their reactions. Nobody else had a problem with the bark, and they certainly weren’t going to try and make an exception for themselves… Vimmy made a sound in the back of her throat before she coughed, leaning back and biting into another piece.
“Girls, what are you doing?” Christopher said.
…eating the bark?
“...Celeste, you bit into a piece as you came back, didn’t you?”
“...ohhhhhh.” Celeste said.
“THAT is a personal taste thing. You CAN eat it raw, but as you already have discovered, most don’t. Patricia gathered some in advance. You’re supposed to roast it over fire and put honey on it. Give me those. Patricia, get them some water.” Oh. THAT had been what Christopher and Patty had been eating without issue. How much of a change WAS it?
As it turned out, the roasted, honeyed bark pieces were WORLDS better. It was kind of like eating a crispy waffle that way. Their mother was just a weirdo who liked to chew on the raw stuff and forgot the girls didn’t know that.
“This does lose some of its nutrients, so if you’re in the wild and starving, I WOULD eat it raw, but I think if that’s the case, you won’t care about taste or texture.”
—
There were other, worse trials. Well, worse was a relative term.
Still, being out in below zero weather, snow blowing around them, once again in the forest that lay miles from the Ravensky main estate, was not something that most would call a vacation. The seasons on Earth and Weav didn’t mirror each other: December on their world was early fall. The dust training had happened ‘late fall’ for them. It was now ‘mid-winter’, and quite intense, with plenty of fallen snow and driving cold gales.
You’d think Celeste would avoid this weather like the plague. Hadn’t she been akin to an old woman suffering deep chills in her bones from Whalestrand weather? Yes…and no. That was the side effect of her sealing her body to maintain certain aspects of it.. Unsealed, she handled cold MUCH better, and since she felt this was an experience that needed to be passed on, unsealed she was. Being on Weav and having direct Stream access rather than the ‘tangled route’ accessing it anywhere else helped as well.
So of course, in the nasty weather, back out into the woods they’d gone. Just Celeste and the girls this time.
“Now…the best way to survive conditions like THIS…is find some sort of cave or at least, some place out of the direct weather. So. Let’s see how well you do. We’re near the crags that border one end of our lands, I KNOW there’s numerous caves there, so try and find us some shelter. Return immediately, both of you, if your readings start dropping into the caution area. I know I didn’t teach you how to do this in winter and blowing snow…but we’ll see how well you can adapt what I did teach you. I’ll be right here. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” The woman settled into the groove of a semi-fallen tree, planting two flares for the girls to find their way back.
Even with what they had going for them, enhancements and otherwise, it was awfully cold to the pair. Although little temperature gauges on the corners of their vision reported it, they didn’t need to know it was about 5 degrees Fahrenheit when they could feel the chill settling on them in the winter landscape. Vimmy briefly shook her head to get snow off her hair as Venny nodded. “Understood. No time like the present! Come on, Vimmy.”
They only looked back the once, despite knowing Celeste could take care of herself; After that they pushed on, Vimmy keeping her wingblades closed and against her back and Venny purposefully not activating her Radiance. For the same reason Vimmy had left her drones back at the house, they knew it was about doing something without all the extra edges they could bring to bear, like they might have had to when it really mattered.
“...Remember when it snowed like this back in Tennessee?” Venny eventually asked, after they’d silently walked for a little while and the wind had died down some to keep from snatching her words. Her timing was off, as she was halfway through her sentence when another blast of frozen air did it anyway.
“Huh?” Vimmy asked, Venny having to repeat it over the wind. “Oh, yeah. Then it froze right after, people were stuck in their driveways because their cars were sealed shut. You think it’s because we’re in this part of Weav?” She asked, taking a look around at all the white on the ground and in the air.
“Hard to say, isn’t it? There’s probably tropics somewhere else. I kinda like it.” Venny admitted, staring up at the grey skies. “What’s that saying, tough times make strong people or something like that? Come on, walk right behind me so you’re not in the wind. It doesn’t bother me that much.”
“You big liar.” Vimmy snickered, before doing just that. Venny turned to her as they tromped onward, briefly measuring some of the trees with her eyes and heading for lower ground. “We’re not going to be able to screw around much at all out here- let’s see about a cave or at least a windbreak before our tails ice over.”
The sounds of their footsteps competed with their quiet breathing as they trudged, both occasionally pointing something out to the other but mostly keeping their mouths closed to conserve body heat. The quiet wasn’t oppressivem but it was present in the snow pressing on them, the two dragons hunting the terrain for the features they’d been trained to look for and look over. Vimmy once again shook her head and then ran her hands over her horns as Venny narrowed her eyes and then pointed at a small groove running through the snowy surface. Not needing sound to communicate between them, Vimmy nodded so she’d see as they approached and Venny knelt to move snow aside.
“...It’s a spring, but it’s dry. No, wait, there’s a little water still running. Not a big surprise… Come on, we follow this thing and there’s probably a cave around here. It had to come from someplace.” She decided, Vimmy pausing and then looking the other way. “Don’t you think there’s one downstream instead?”
“Yeah, but if it’s filled with water then it’s going to be colder. Maybe colder than out here, if there’s ice too. It’s no good if we get out of the wind and still end up chilled to our bones.” She pointed out, Vimmy considering that and then nodding her assent. She’d picked up the other reason Venny had wanted her to follow after her; It was easier for her to clear a path through the snow first and then let her follow in her footprints, and although neither acknowledged it they made good time as they pressed on.
“...We’re getting close to having to turn back. I don’t know about you, but I think my cheeks are just about chapped. I hope it’s somewhere around-” Venny started, eyes roving the landscape.
“There!” Vimmy burst out, pointing from behind her. Venny turned that way and then smiled, quickening her pace as they made their way to the back of a cave and then it’s front entrance, shoving drifts of snow out of her path. They hesitated at the opening before going far enough into the cave to make sure it was empty and it could comfortably fit the three of them, taking a few extra minutes to shake out their arms and clear the snow that had settled on them off and checking out the inside with their low light vision.
“...Our footprints are probably gone by now. Do you remember the way back?” Venny asked as they prepared to return, Vimmy giving her a smug look. “What, you don’t?”
“Of course I do! I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.” She said more indignantly than she actually felt, Vimmy giggling at her. “Suuuuuure. That’s what it was.”
“Maybe I’ll just leave you behind.”
“Wha- No, Venny! Wait for me!” She protested, it being Venny’s turn to laugh as she led the way back like she had the way forward. Even though they were shivering once they returned to the outside, it didn’t bother them enough to matter. They even managed to make it back to where Celeste had placed herself with little issue.
The flares did help, though. Once back at the cave, all three of them this time,Celeste gave them some more minor tests. Try and gather some fire material (yes, that meant leaving the cave, again, yuck). After that, start the fire without using special tools. The latter proved very vexing for the two, and after ten minutes, Celeste produced matches.
“Practice makes perfect, but you don’t want to harm yourselves doing it.” Ie, SHE had brought a survival kit. But acting like you had nothing in a bad situation let you practice, as said. As it turned out, she hadn’t just been sitting back and doing nothing while the two had cave hunted. She’d done some hunting herself, and brought down a few bird and squirrel-like animals.
“Now, skinning and gutting, I showed you some of that already, but what I’m going to try and show you now is maybe harder. This is how you use the organs to make a stew.” Something Julia had once shown Kaydence, albeit using fish in their case.
The issue in THAT had little to do with the actual tasks needed, and more to do with how to cook such a thing so that 1) It was edible, and 2) It didn’t provoke a rising gorge. If you had materials to add to such a dish, it was easier, but again, the point of the lesson was ‘how you might do it if you had a body and a fire and nothing else.’
Once again, neither girl cared for the end result, though they only had to eat two mouthfuls of the resulting slurry so they could see what the end result tasted like (and see if they felt the need to throw up). After that, Celeste added ground roots and spices, as well as cooked meat from the animals proper, to make something much more edible. The raw stew was akin to eating raw butter: it went so much better when added to, or on something. Again, the lesson was, ‘here’s something you could do if things are REALLY REALLY BAD’.
There were other lessons to come, over the course of a few days of roughing it. How to get water from snow without provoking hypothermia. How to improve on a cave’s shelter. How to build makeshift snowshoes. In some cases, Celeste was refreshing herself on the lessons as well: she had a small black book that she consulted to remember some of the smaller details. She could do this, but it was not her area of expertise. If the girls wanted further lessons from an absolute master survivalist, they’d do best to track down Ash’s son Cypress. Or in some cases, Bernard Maser/Rapanga, considering he was essentially a ‘druid’.
And said lessons were more spread out, among more relaxing things. There was fun to be had, roughing it in such conditions, if you had the right gear and knew what you were doing. And could, if need be, blow on a whistle and summon Leowolves to cheat you supplies and sweets.
When the girls mentioned having to be careful with their vanishing tracks, Celeste bemusedly recalled a short story she’d read quite a lot as a young girl. About a trip into deep, dark wintery woods that had ended a lot worse.
