Deluge tried to ignore the small brown burr that was stuck to her heels. How he’d managed to slip out with her without the grown ups catching wind she would never know. After catching scent of her mother near the alter down south she had raced home as quickly as she could. With little more than a knowing look, her mother, for once, had left well enough alone. The girl could hardly believe it.

But things were changing and her restless heart wouldn’t let her stay confined to the beach and the cavern for long, so under the cover of dawn, when her glow was the least conspicuous in the growing light, she had slipped out of the cavern and across the western border. There were bound to be other strange things happening, right? Most of the land looked like it should, but subtle changes kicked in at what she could only assume was the edge of the statues influence. There was a chill in the air that bit at the tip of her nose and everything seemed… well a little muted, a touch brown around the edges. That was probably why it took her so long to realise she had company.

"Speech"

Something funny was going on. He could tell from the way the grown ups were still on edge. He hadn’t been old enough to remember Eden or the pup that went missing with her, and usually, he was happy to follow mumma’s words and stay put but when he saw the big spot that was sometimes a bit mean to him sneaking out, well, he was big enough now for adventures too, right?

She hadn’t even realised he was there for quite a while, he was getting so good at sneakin’. But once she did realise, well there was no reason to hide anymore so he pranced up beside her. He was used to being towered over by his siblings, but she was even taller than they were, he supposed it could be a sign of things to come.

He didn’t bother asking her where they were going, because did it even matter? He was outside the borders! The grass went crunch crunch under his paws kinda like the sand on the beach… which he thought was odd. Wasn’t grass supposed to be soft and grassy? And he noticed if he huffed really hard (it was difficult keeping up with someone with such long legs) that sometimes, his breath would form a cloud in front of him. “‘S it like this all the time out here?” He asked the girl beside him, something in his tummy told him no, it wasn’t.

Deluge frowned when the burr spoke up, but then she supposed it wasn’t his fault he was still a baby really. "‘Snot." She answered simply, eyes turning towards the distance willow trees. "Should still be hot an’ green," she elaborated, "’Slike th’ world is dyin’." She noticed the way his heavy breaths left clouds in the air and she was reminded of when she was tiny, and the way the steam would billow from all their mouths after running. But her birthday was still at least a whole season and a bit away. "Di’ja notice how green it was b’for we got ‘ere? It was th’ same down near th’ statue across th’ lan’ bridge." She was telling him a secret that could get her in a lot of trouble, and she scowled at herself. "I don’ think we should stick aroun’ too long." The last thing she needed was to get the pirate kings kid killed by some spooky monster.

"Speech"

He didn’t expect her to answer him, maybe even tease him for being a dumb baby, but she actually gave him an answer, like he was someone that mattered. Maybe, it was just the plunder that made her mean and that was why she kept sneaking off? He blinked his big blue eyes as she went on, and squinted into the distance. A land bridge? And a statue?! He wanted to see them! “D’ya think we can find’em another one ‘ere?” His tail waved expectantly, if there was a weird statue nearby maybe he could climb on it and be even taller than she was?

Without waiting for an answer the boy bounded forward, his nose to the ground snuffling about in search of the illusive statue. What he found himself instead, was a nose full of blackberry thorns. The boy yelped and jumped back, since when did bushes bite anyway?!

Deluge rolled her eyes as the boy bounded forwards, sure she wouldn’t be against finding another statue but she wasn’t sure it was a safe place to take a tiny baby (maybe it was just his demure size that had her so concerned?) But she was ripped from her thoughts as his yelp broke the quiet atmosphere. The girl’s heart leapt into her throat, Fuck! Sparrow was going to kill her!

She raced forward, skidding to a halt, expecting that maybe a big snake had jumped out of the bush and bitten him on the nose, but did snakes even come out when it was this unseasonally cold? Golden eyes searched frantically for the culprit only to fall on a thorny bush of glossy ripe blackberries. Her head canted, all the other bushes she had come across so far still had green fruit, and she didn’t trust that she wasn’t confused and that these might actually be some sort of poisonous cousin she just wasn’t skilled enough to differentiate. "We should really head back an’ ge’ tha’ looked at," She motioned to his nose, there was nothing outwardly wrong with it, but she was no healer and was sure it’d start to throb before long. Carefully, she reached out to brake off a branch that carried some berries, she’d take it back to her mumma to look at and see if it was anything dangerous.

He was really looking sorry for himself, so she lowered her shoulder and mumbled around the stick in her mouth, its thorns digging uncomfortably into her lips. "Climb up if ya’wanna, prob’ly quicker this way." She’d make sure to dump him before they got close enough for anyone to see. "Jus’ don’yerdare breathe a word o’ it ter anyone!"

He was in shock for sure, his nose throbbing dully, his breaths were coming in short and sharp gasps and tears were stinging the backs of his eyes but he wasn’t gonna let himself cry in front of Deluge. She’d never stop teasing him if he did, and would probably never take him adventuring again, which was why he was so surprised with the speed at which she moved to check on him. She looked worried, and now he was getting worried that the bush that had bitten him was dangerous. That was until she bit it back and ripped off one of its bushy arms! Was such violence really needed? All it did was poke him for getting too close!

When she dropped her shoulder and offered him a piggy back he was leery at first, but she was right, they’d get home quicker if they weren’t pacing themselves to his short legs. As he held on for dear life and tried to ignore the mild itching her glowy fur left on the parts where his fur was thinnest, he focused on the changing landscape. She was right. The closer they got to home, the greener the earth got. Maybe next time, he’d use that to help him find a statue of his own.