Muddy River — [P] Where are you?

"Unnngghhhhh" she groaned as her consciousness came to. The first thing she realized was how badly her body hurt. The second thing she realized was that there was soil and clay beneath her, and not the wood hull of her boat. But the storm. Then that meant... "No. No no no no no" Reed groaned as she pushed herself up into a sit. She checked her legs over. Both of them seemed to work. She twisted around. Nothing was sticking out of her body. She stared down at the reflection of the shallow waters, murky and brown. Yep, she could still see from the one uncovered eye. With her health assessed and her deciding that she was, in fact, alive and in one piece, she turned her attention from herself to the area around her. Where was he?

"Balthaz-" Reed started to shout for him, but she fell short as she erupted into a coughing fit, sea water sputtering up from her stomach and lungs. She shook her head, making funny faces at the foul taste that lingered, then shouted again. "Balthazar! Balthazar can you hear me? Where are you?!" She waited for a response. Waited longer. She waited, calling out with shouts, and waited again there on the murky beach shore. No answer came in all the time she waited. 

It was her stomach and knowing that he wouldn't want her to suffer for him that made her push into action. She glanced around the beach and found only two planks and a corner of a torn sail as evidence that she hadn't somehow poofed into an other dimension all together. It was both saddening and reassuring, finding the scraps of the SS Tallulah. It meant that she hadn't somehow been transported away from him. There was a chance she could find him again! It also meant that if she did find him, it might not be in the condition she wanted. She knew she was lucky to be alive. The ship had perished. What had happened to Balthazar? 

"I hate the water!" she suddenly shouted as she turned towards the beach. She pulled her cutlass from it's sheath on her side and splashed through the shallows, slashing violently at the water. Naturally, it did not react to her attacks outside of being splashed and thrown by her force. It was water, after all. "I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you so much! Why do you take everything from me?" She slashed violently again, again and again, until she panted and fell into a sit, her cutlass dropped into the water beside her. "He's not gone. You're not allowed to take anyone else from me, including him. So there. Now it can't happen. Now I'll find him and we'll be happy together again and I'll finally have some family back for once in my life before you took them all away." Reed stuck her tongue out at the water to emphasize her point. "There's nothin' you can even do about it. Because you're water and I'm Reed Blackpaw! You hear that? My name is REED BLACKPAW, OF THE BLACKPAW FAMILY. We are a strong and noble bloodline of fearless warriors! I'm not afraid OF YOU WATER!" 

Reed snorted, finishing her point in her argument, then picked up her cutlass and sheathed it back on her side. If she was going to find Balthazar, then she needed to fill her grumbling stomach. But first, she needed a piece of the SS Tallulah. So, she snagged the corner of the sail and sloppily tucked it between her body and her harness straps. She'd have to get a proper way to store it made up some time. Maybe Balthazar could help her with it. 

Eager to avoid overheating, Quinnat had picked his way from the brink of the ravine to its damp floor early in the day. It was a journey the guard made frequently and one which might have been monotonous if he hadn’t challenged himself to find various routes from the heart of Verdantis’ domain to the Muddy River. It was a cradle of life down there, a testament to Ohr’s talents, and the Sentry relished the opportunity to meet visitors to the fertile grounds. The web of waterways and the generous stretches of mud could impede and disorient - and there was nothing like someone to shepherd you to dry ground when sludge oozed between your toes.

That was what Quinnat - part guard, part welcome wagon - believed, anyway.

In an effort to remain fresh-faced for any would-be acquaintances, the feathered wolf had applied streaks of mud below his eyes, on the tips and bases of his ears, across his brow and the bridge of his muzzle. The mud he sported on his paws was applied less deliberately as he trotted alongside one of the river’s wider forks. This trail would lead Quinnat to the Muddy River’s mouth and the stretch of beach Verdantis held. In his experience the ocean delivered allsorts to their shores, offerings to Ohr himself; now, Ohr’s taste in offerings seemed questionable at times but the scent of a wolf was a more interesting find than most.

Quinnat didn’t need to rely on scent alone to locate the stranger. The end of her tirade carried well enough that he was able to figure out her position and approach laterally, offering a bob of his head and a swish of his feathered tail.

“‘Scuse me, Warrior Blackpaw - but there’s worse things to be afraid of than large bodies of water.” The mud caked onto the male’s brow cracked a little, threatening to expose the concern in his frown. “I'm Quin." His muzzle jerked, indicating the narrowing of the shore into the ravine. "There's some puddles further inland that have serious attitude problems if a fearless warrior would be open to a humble sentry escorting her?" The offer wasn't entirely selfless - they were close enough to Verdantis' claim that Quin felt duty-bound to keep an eye on the unfamiliar wolf.

A voice startled Reed as she adjusted the piece of sail between herself and her harness straps. It kept trying to bunch up when she started to move around, and that was uncomfortable. She whirled around in a circle, spinning as she looked for the creature that accompanied the voice. There stood a wolf beautiful in coloration with bright feathers adorning his nape, appendages, and tail. Reed immediately thought of Pip, and her heart ached for her familiar. He was a similar blue. "Oh I uh-' she started, but then shut her muzzle quickly as he introduced himself to her. Then, as if he was a quest giver in a grand story, he declared a problem, and suggested that she be the solution. It was hard for her to stifle her sudden excitement at the prospect of having a job over worrying and worrying about Balthazar and Pip. 

"I would be honored to vanquish such wretched beings" She drew her Cutlass once more, gripping it firmly between her jaws, then lowered her head in a bow to the strange feathered wolf. "Show me where these puddles with attitude problems dare reside." Quin may have been joking about the severity of said puddles, but Reed was not. She took the threat as it were and meant it with her whole heart when she said she would vanquish them... somehow. 

She righted her head and dropped her cutlass from her jaws, and yet the weapon did not fall to the ground. Instead, it floated around to her side, the blade kept pointed away from Quin. When she stepped forward, the blade moved along beside her, floating hilt first. She shook her dreads, her beads and gold gems tinkling as they clashed against one another. Her thick, masculine built body fluffed as she shook sand and sea-water from her pelt, then resettled after a moment. She was still wet from washing ashore, but living the pirate life, she was more than used to it. "Hey, have you by chance seen a really big wolf around here? Huge bat-like wings. Black bodied with gray and red markings. Some scaling on his face. Oh! And he has a really amazing blade at the end of his tail! We were sailing together and a storm came and smashed up the SS. Tallulah - that's what this thing here is, a piece of it's sail - and I haven't heard or seen him at all since I woke up earlier." 

Noting the speed at which the Blackpaw had turned to see him approaching, Quinnat took a half-step back, seeking tCo alleviate some pressure by averting his gaze and keeping the sweeps of his tail low and loose. She’d been fiddling with a scrap of something, securing it into the straps which encircled her. Curious, but he could assume that the small item had sentimental value.

The Noble was glad his offer to show the Warrior further inland was well-received. He bobbed his head and bounced up on his toes, his ears swivelling at the tinkling sounds of finely shaped metal meeting metal. It was a bright, pleasant sound to Quin’s ear. He eyed the moving cutlass with more interest than fear, glancing over his shoulder; inland, where Verdantis sat and Mercedes presided. A sprinkle of water hit his neck and, with a grin, he returned his gaze to Reed.

Quin’s tail and paws stilled, his eyes cast into shadow by a frown, as he learned of her missing companion. “I haven’t seen anyone matching that description.” He looked out toward the ocean, nostrils twitching. “I’ll keep my eyes open for him. I patrol the nearby Verdantis borders most days; I’ll know if he shows up.” Quin’s chin jutted forward and he nodded sharply, hoping his pledge to keep an eye out for the bat-winged behemoth would reassure Reed.

“Now.” The feathered wolf shifted his forepaws and dipped into a deep bow, tail feathers fluttering. “I believe we have some puddles to slay?” Quin straightened and moved off, his gait brisk and bouncy, but after a few paces he halted, brow furrowing, before announcing, “We should fuel up first." Curious eyes flicked back to Reed. "When did you last eat?”

The frown on his face gave Reed the answer to her question before the words left his muzzle. She hadn't seen Balthazar in the area. Well, that wasn't really a bad thing. If she knew him well (which she did), he would likely be hidden somewhere dark and quiet, somewhere hard to be seen. The offer to keep an eye out for him brought a toothy smile to her face. "I appreciate that, sailor". She left the questions about who or what a 'Verdantis' was for a later part of the conversation. 

When he bowed to her, Reed tilted her head at him. She was not accustom to being bowed to as a pirate and she wasn't sure how to react. So, she just continued to smile at him, noticing the way his tail feathers fluttered as he did so. Then with a fluid motion, he turned to step away and lead her along. It gave her another opportunity to look Quinn over without the risk of getting caught doing so (or so she thought). He was larger than her, and from the looks of how his fur rippled around his muscles, quite the athlete at that. She again thought of Pip when she looked at him. Where was her cheerful companion at? 

Suddenly Quinn halted in front of her. She was caught off guard, too busy thinking of Pip and Balthazar and why everyone kept getting lost and how she should do something to fix that. So, she stumbled when he paused and suddenly announced that they should fuel up, nearly bumping into him. "Uh, uh..." she stammered, trying to think back to when she had last eaten. "Maybe.. uh. Well, I remember the last thing I ate was some suuuupper delicious snapper. That was from the sea market we found along the way. So... hmm. Maybe like... four or five days ago?" 

Quinn, though he held a rank over the nearby borders, wasn’t overly concerned that his bow wasn’t mirrored; Reed’s smile endured. The feathered wolf didn’t feel she was being insincere, either - that was impressive, given the shipwrecking trauma prior to her arrival here and the absence of her companions. She seemed to be handling things remarkably well, including the ad hoc introduction to the Verdantis sentry. Quinnat had gotten ahead of himself, a habit he needed to quell - and he always intended to, after the next new face arrived.

With his mind already on how he might’ve slipped up, when the pirate nearly collided with him, Quinn automatically shot her an apologetic look, his ears lowering for a moment. He gave a gentle bob of his head to acknowledge her response to his rather abrupt change of plan. “Hmm, well, I can’t get you snapper - unless you really piss someone off.” Unashamed merriment glinted in his pale eyes at the cringe worthy joke. “But I know a cache or two upriver.”

He lifted one paw as if to set off but -

“Oh! I should probably explain where we are and where we’re going, shouldn’t I?” Quinn turned in a near perfect pirouette, feathers ruffling as if jostling for space against his fur before flaring out in a shimmering display of blue and green. “This waterway here - this is the Muddy River - which lives up to its name; watch where you step and you’ll be alright. A bit further inland and we’ll be in the Kingdom of Verdantis - that’s my home. You should be fine to stick with me for a little while if you don’t cause trouble - puddles excluded, obviously, since they started it.” His grin flashed again. “You can take off after a meal if you want, or you can stick around if leadership agrees. I, personally, can vouch for your waterslaying skills.”

With that, Quinnat angled his head towards the heart of Verdantis, his paws shifting against the soft ground. "Oh - and you can tell me to hush at any point if this is all too much information right now, I won't be offended." Quinn took a prancing sidestep. "Shall we?"

Reed giggled at the joke and how he took the word snapper and twisted into a different meaning. Even better, he mentioned that he knew of a cache nearby, which caused her stomach to rumble. When he started to step forward, Reed followed step with him only to quickly step backwards as he spun around as a last second thought caught him. When his feathers splayed, her eyes glittered as she let out a soft "Oohhh" He clearly kept his feathers well manicured. She was no expert, since she had no wings of her own, but she'd taken care of Pip since he was a hatchling and saw both the best and worst of what having feathers could look like. 

As Quinnat explained where she was, she tried to mark it to her memory. She appreciated how straight to the point the name was for the river. She also now had a better idea of what Verdantis was - a Kingdom. She immediately shied away from the idea of stepping into a kingdom. She was a pirate after all, and had done her fair share of pillaging. Quinnat seemed so cheerful and inviting, though. Maybe as long as she stayed by him she would be ok? Unlikely. 

Quinnat must have been a mind reader, for as soon as she started to try and figure out how to politely decline his offer, he did it for her. She smiled back at his Grin and tossed her head to resettle her dreads. They had began falling down in front of her face. "Ya got yerself a deal, sailor. Not much more that a rogue swashbuckler can hope for, really. A meal, a place to lay my head, and the promise that in the morning I can continue on my adventures? No, not much more to ask for 'cept maybe some drink to go with it if ya know what I mean." The idea of sticking around sounded nice, but she had friends to find. Maybe after that, she could consider something more serious to settle down in when she wasn't out on the seas. 

"No no, I'm a bit of a yapper myself, really. Sometimes it gets lonely on the water, so ya start learnin' how to talk to the waves an' the birds an' the winds an' the creaks of the wood" Quinnat took a step forward and Reed stepped along to match his, nodding a yes at his 'Shall we?'. "Sometimes I like to work on my stories an' tales when I'm out on the water. It's quite inspiring! Crazy the stuff that you see out there, too. Are you much of a traveler, Quinnat?" 

The feathery sentry was of the mindset that every new face was a potential new friend - but he never knew quite how his cheery curiosity would be taken by strangers. Reed seemed an easygoing sort herself, thankfully, giggling at Quinn’s distinctly Dad-ish joke and taking his mis-steps in good humour. “Excellent!” Quinn chirped when the puddle pillager agreed to stop for a meal. His grin split into a chuckle when she mentioned having a drink to go with it: “Can’t guarantee it’ll be up to a seafarer’s standards but there’s berry wine around…”

Reed’s voice was pleasant. To Quinnat, most voices were pleasant - or at least welcome, because there was nothing worse than an awkward silence. He listened closely as they moved into the fringes of the forest and glanced over with a look of intense interest when she spoke of her stories. Then Reed posed a question: was Quinn much of a traveller?

“By no means as well travelled as I’m sure you are,” he chuckled. “My travels have mostly been without a choice, unfortunately - doesn’t taste the same as true freedom.” He willed himself not to think of his siblings at that moment. It would do nothing to help either of them and while it seemed Reed was plucky enough to cope, Quinn thought the loss of her own companions might still be too raw to bring up his own painfully absent family.

Before his thoughts could swerve down that very bumpy path, he indicated uphill with his muzzle. “Cache should be just up here...” Sauntering up the incline with his feathers gently undulating, he paused at the base of a tree with a broken bough. He moved in the direction the broken limb was pointing and soon was half hidden, his head inspecting the space between some sizeable rocks. “A-ha!” His voice was triumphant. Quinn backed out of the natural hiding place. His grin had never faltered, only altered: now it was clamped around a plump muskrat carcass. Picking his paws up in a proud trot towards Reed, the Noble deposited it at her feet.

“Like I said, it’s not snapper. It’s more.. gnawer.” He ducked his head, cringing at his second awkward joke of this encounter. “Hey - would you mind telling one of your stories? Sometimes it’s nice to escape reality for a moment.”

Berry Wine! Wine wasn't something that Reed chased after when she found herself ashore, but she wouldn't turn the drink down either. It wasn't no rum, but drink was drink! When Qunnat answered her question, Reed's smile faltered briefly and she looked at him with curiosity. What did he mean his travels had been mostly without a choice? There was only one time that Reed could think of where she had traveled against her own will. It was the time when she had awaken at the bottom of a ship wreck after having fought in that awful war. She had hardly been a year old at that time. 

Reed opened her mouth to inquire further but before she had come to that decision, Quinn was pointing up an incline. Reed followed along behind him and paused as he started to poke around a tree with a broken limb. What could he be hunting in such a way? This didn't look like some storage house or market stall, either. When he revealed his prize with an A-ha! Reed lifted her head, both startled and surprised at what she saw. Did he just catch a muskrat just like that? He must be the most incredible hunter to ever exist! As he trotted towards her with the prize between his jaws, Reed started at him with astonishment, jaw open and all. 

"Wow!" she exclaimed as he further closed the distance between them and dropped the meal at her paws. Her head slowly looked down at the meal, then back up at Quinnat. "More like amazing! You're spectacular! I didn't even see it run! What did you do? Did you hypnotize it? Freeze it in place with some sort of magic? How did you even know it was there!" He inquired about her telling him one of her stories and her head nodded aggressively to him multiple times, her dreads flopping each way with the movement. "Of course! After witnessing such an amazing display of hunting skills, it's only right that I pay my debt with a story! Now lets see... which one should I tell..." A paw came up to Reed's chin as she thought to herself. "Hmmmmmmmm" Her lips pursed (well, did the equivalent as closely as what a wolf could do to purse their lips) as she continued to flip through the thousands of experiences she had stored up in her head. "Ok ok ok, I've got three of 'em in mind. I've got the story of the Kraken, I've got the story of The Ice Tear, and I've got the story of Ghost I can tell ya. You pick which one you want, ok?" 

With his head buried in the recess between the rocks, Quinnat didn’t notice Reed’s expression until she spoke. His eyes widened at the rush of praise and questions from the pirate when he fetched the carcass over to her. His tail wagged and a grin swept over his muzzle as he realised they had crossed wires. Oh, he could have some fun with this - if he chose to.

“Well, I am a spectacular hunter,” he claimed, puffing out his chest and standing tall, his head held high. He looked sidelong at Reed for a moment, as if debating how much to divulge about his hunting skills. In reality, the muskrat had been caught in a trap hours earlier and stashed behind the rocks - it was lucky it hadn’t been found by other predators. The truth of the matter was that he could feed himself and provide some for Verdantis as a whole - and he guessed Reed didn’t need to know more than that - but he felt a prickle of guilt when he considered stringing out the misunderstanding. She had just arrived, after all.

“Actually, I trapped and stashed this one earlier - we’re lucky nothing found it in the meantime, really. It’s not a delicacy but it should be good for an energy boost.”

Quinnat’s expression when Reed offered up not one but three stories could’ve matched up to her excitement when he’d brought out the hidden meal. Hopefully these stories had less anticlimactic endings. “Hm!” He seated himself to consider his options but his tail’s wagging was ceaseless.

“The Kraken,” he chirped after a few moments, further lowering himself until he was laying on his front with his paws crossed. “Go for it - I’m all ears.”