--- Kat ---
Kat was shooting across the darkening night sky. Even leaving more or less as soon as the ssage had co through, just before lunch, she still hadn't quite reached the do in the centre of the forest. On the one hand, Kat understood that it had taken the others multiple days of trekking through the forest… on the other hand Kat could tell she was moving at a blisteringly fast pace.
With Rank 4 speed and a simple straight line to move Kat was covering massive amounts of distance every few seconds.
*I don't think I properly considered how large this forest is. Like, I get it we were 'walking' but even then, we were moving at an easy clip for Rank 2's. We weren't taking a casual stroll at a mortal's pace… and I guess there just aren't many landmarks. At least, none that I can pick out from up here. The mist obscures basically everything.*
[It probably doesn't help that we're used to distances back ho. We know how far away everything is because we have maps with solid numbers on them. Here? It's just 'head vaguely in that direction for a day or two and you'll get there eventually. It makes it really hard to tell, especially when you account for how much your max speed has fluctuated over the last year]
*I guess you're right. Everything still ok back at the base? No random attacks since I left?*
[It's all been fine Kat. Nothing has bothered at all. I even set up a few basic shadow traps, not damaging ones, ones that are basically just there for detection and yet still nothing. I'm keeping on guard because I know you'd worry otherwise but nothing has attacked while you've been away. I wonder if it's because I have my mana spread out 'looking' for stuff?]
*It's possible? I don't really know.*
[Well you'd think in a world with mana at least so monsters would develop a sensitivity to that sort of thing. I'm sure I could co up with a way to hide my actions if I really wanted to… but right now that wouldn't be useful at all. If they're staying away because of it, that ans I'd just be making more work for myself. Of course we weren't constantly attacked before so maybe it's just luck.]
*Who knows?*
Kat felt herself calm down now she had further confirmation Lily was fine. It was ridiculous really. She could feel Lily constantly through the link and it hadn't so much as fluttered while she'd been flying towards the etup point. Lily was calm, if a little tired from keeping watch for so long without a proper break. Nothing approaching true fatigue.
Lily was quite capable of staying up for days at a ti now if she really wanted to. She didn't, and sleep was quickly becoming a way to just enjoy ti passing, but for cases like this? Lily would happily forgo it to ensure Kat didn't need to be worried. Lily might be confident in Kat's defensive construction but Kat clearly wasn't.
The pair continued chatting, partly to pass the ti and keep from being board and partly to keep each other reassured for the duration of the journey. Eventually though? Kat made it to the edge of the dense mist that encapsulated the compound. g was rather obvious as she'd taken out a giant spotlight from her storage ring and was pointing it directly upwards.
It had only been turned on for ten minutes or so and Kat wasn't sure if that was great timing or if g was just lucky.
Landing in front of g was easy, and Kat snapped her wings shut to take in the scene. g was relaxing on a chair with the drake piece on the ground on one side with the spotlight on the other. "Good evening g," said Kat.
"I can't say it's good but I suppose I can say it is an evening. Welco Kat. Hopefully once we've dealt with this you can help manage the people inside and I can find so more ti to hang out with Lil Sis. Please attempt to lift both myself and this crystal," said g as she packed everything up into her storage ring before sitting back down on the crystal.
Kat did as asked and easily lifted them both… but when it ca ti to fly there was a problem. Kat found that she could fly, barely. Getting off the ground wasn't impossible but her speed was horrendous. "Why is it like this? Just based on how fast I can travel I should be capable of lifting more right? I can feel my wings burning but they aren't working overly hard… am I missing sothing?"
g nodded, "Yes you are. I suppose it's sothing you wouldn't know because you didn't go to a Hub school but certain innate magics don't quite operate the way you'd think they should biologically. You're wings speed and carrying capacity are completed divorced from many other forms of logic.
In fact, even though you could theoretically jump and glide at a good speed… you'll find that if you attempted sothing like that you'd be slowed down anyway,"
"Urgh that's not what I wanted to hear. So what's the plan then?" asked Kat.
"Get ready to move quickly," said g, who waited a few monts for Kat's nod and then crushed the drake piece she was sitting on. This dropped her down into Kat's outstretched arms and let chunks of crystal fall. Kat shot off and was able to avoid crashing into so trees due to knowing ahead of ti.
Continuing the angle upwards Kat eventually asked, "Ok what's going on?"
"Well you can't carry that much weight… but what about a good deal less? What I did was break the crystal in such a way that it will try to pull itself together at roughly the sa pace as you can fly. It's a touch faster, so we'll need to repeat the process a few tis, but essentially? It's reforming behind us and will chase us all by itself.
This way you can fly at close to top speed despite 'carrying' everything," answered g.
"That… that really shouldn't be how this works," grumbled Kat.
g just shrugged, "Eh it works,"
"Was there a chance that it didn't?" asked Kat.
g nodded, "Yup there was indeed. Nothing catastrophic of course. If you were seriously injured it would an spending less ti around Hunter. The two main bits of worry would be the crystals not reforming at all, or reforming much too fast. Another minor worry would be that your flight chanism counts the entire crystal as being 'carried' for so reason.
I didn't think it likely but it's still possible,"
"And how did you manage to calculate sothing like that?" asked Kat with narrowed eyes.
"Testing of course! Do you think I was just sitting around waiting for you all day? I spent a good chunk of the evening while Lil Sis was sleeping testing out how fast I could move while keeping the pieces connected. It did an I couldn't watch Lil Sis sleep but that's not nearly as interesting as when she's awake so it is an acceptable loss for returning swiftly," answered g.
"You do realise that sounds a touch creepy don't you?" asked Kat.
g shrugged, "Yeah but you don't really care about that do you?"
*Well… no. I do the sa with Lily and she does the sa with . I could probably argue it's different because Lily and I are dating but I seriously doubt g cares. Better for my sanity to just accept it and move on I suppose. Hmm… do I have any other questions I want to ask g while she's a captive audience?
I DO sort of want to know why she's so obsessed with Hunter… but I get the feeling she's got plenty of answers that would be 'true' without being THE truth. Is it worth going after them though?*
[I an… might as well? We've got ti and if g causes too many problems you can just threaten to drop her. It'll delay your return to … but unlike g and Hunter we have a ntal connection so we can afford the delay. Besides, I'm sure g would love the chance to talk about Hunter.
We might not get the answers we really want but it should put g in a better mood and… honestly that's what we want isn't it? g not ssing with people too much?]
*Ok yes, that's a much better reason then just curiosity. If g is enjoying herself speaking about Hunter then it ans she won't be trying to find another avenues of enjoynt. I shuddering to think of what she might try while sitting in my arms. Sure she wouldn't push too far because of the threat of being dropped… but I can still see her ssing around if she was bored.
Especially because she knows I can put up with a good deal. Yeah safest just to ask her questions.*
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