Ascending Legends

[BookWyrm]

"We have a similar meal in the South, only the bread is a little different. We mostly eat it if we are planning on traveling some. It keeps you filled up for a good while." Breakfast went by at a relaxed pace. It was honestly wonderful to not feel rushed and to be snuggled up with Arryn in their cozy borrowed home. After they had finished Dayn carefully took the tray back into the kitchen and cleaned up, his back giving him a little grief as he moved around. "I think I'd like to wrap my back today." He said when he found Arryn again. "Last thing I want is my shirt rubbing against it all day with the pack on."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn smiled and nodded. "Sure thing, mo chroi." She could see that becoming uncomfortable. She took his hand in hers, running her fingers over his palm and said, "I'm sorry about last night...." She wanted to get that out of the way now.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn laid his free hand against her cheek before rubbing it with his thumb. He smiled deeply as he looked into her eyes. "We will get through this, love." He pulled her into a warm hug, wrapping his arm around her as he leaned his head against hers. "I love you."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn smiled widely, a few tears in her eyes. "Thank you, mo chroi. I love you too." When she did pull away, she was still smiling, and she wiped off her tears before saying, "How about I get on wrapping your back up?"

 

[BookWyrm]

"Sounds good." Dayn smiled, leaning in and kissing her lips before walking back with her to the room, holding her hand the whole time. He helped sort through the pack and laid out her wraps and balms or whatever else she needed before sitting down on the bed with his back to her. "I'll pick up some game while we are on our way up there."

 

[Dragongal]

"I won't make the bandages too tight then, that way you can shift." Arryn gently rubbed the balm on his wounds, being especially careful around the two left from the hollow bolts. She wrapped his torso, being very careful not to make it too tight, nor too loose. Once she finished, she sat her things aside, and leaned forward, kissing the back of his neck and leaning forward to kiss the side of his neck, moving up to his jaw. "Better?"

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn laughed lightly, turning his head towards her as she kissed him. "Better." He leaned his head back to kiss her, first on the lips and then on her neck. "If I bent any further back I'd fall over." He leaned forward again and stood up before hugging her. For a few minutes he stood there holding her. Finally, though, he broke the silence with the most random question he could think of at the moment. "Have you ever eaten goat meat?"

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn looked at him for a second, then laughed. She'd been enjoying his attention, but this was plain odd - in a hilarious way. "Of course, I bought some with you quite recently, remember? Why would you ask something like that?"

 

[BookWyrm]

"Oh yeah." In honest truth Dayn had the habit of forgetting about meals at times. Well, not just meals. Sometimes he forgot about whole situations or events, only to have the memories come back when someone else brought them back up. It was frustrating at times, though at other times it was like reliving the events and made the experience that much better. He was still hugging her, though now that they were both laughing he found it hard to hold onto her. "There are a few goat herders that travel around my families fief. Well, for about a month they kept on losing goats. Not by predators killing them. I mean literally just goats disappearing with no evidence left. For the longest time we kept puzzling about it. So I sat out one night and watched over one of the herds. Well, it had been quiet one night when suddenly I hear a goat yelling, only it sounded like it was flying away. I ran out from my shelter and looked to see a jabberwocky flying away with it. I couldn't help but sit there and laugh. The jabberwocky was chattering away while the goat bleated and yelled, so I couldn't understand why the herder couldn't figure out why his goats were disappearing. When I went to talk with him I realized that the man was practically deaf, and the boy who helped him was mute."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn laughed, then put her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his chest. "What a strange story. I've never seen a jabberwocky, though. What're they like?"

 

[BookWyrm]

"They are the strangest looking thing you'll ever see. Long and lankey, almost skin and bones with big eyes and always chattering. They are usually shy though, except if you are a goat."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn laughed and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad I'm not a goat, then." She let go of Dayn and stood up, pulling on some clean clothing. "Shall we get going or no?"

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn smiled, laughing slightly. "I didn't get up out of bed for no reason. Of course! Let's go." Dayn hugged Arryn again and kissed her before walking her to the door. "After you my lady."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn smiled and said, "Of course, my knight." Once they were on the path she took his hand, leading him over the snowy sheet covering the path that she'd long ago memorized. Soon they were in the forest, half the trees without leaves and the other half were covered in white over their green spikes. She waited for him to get the hunt before continuing on. The path began to incline a bit, slowly getting steeper as they headed up the mountains. After a bit the trees started thinning out and the ground started becoming hard packed under the snow. Finally they turned a corner and stood on a ledge, and another ledge was a number of yards away. The other ledge was attached to a cave hollowed out in the rockface. One young griffin was laying half out of the cave, the snow around it cleared, seemingly by the sweeps of its wings, which were now folded against its back. The fur of his body was a burnt golden color and his wings were hues of gold, bronze, and brass. His eyes were closed and his head rested on folded paws as he dozed.


Arryn smiled up to Dayn, still holding his hand. She very quietly said, "Once it lightens up, they might do a few take-offs. Those are the best."

 

[BookWyrm]

"This is amazing!" Dayn leaned forward as he crouched down to get a better look over the area. "I can see why you spent so much time up here, it is so beautiful. And the griffins..I've never seen them so peaceful before."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn smiled at his enthusiasm. "I used to sneak up here all the time right after Da died." The young griffin opened its eyes and raised its head to look at them, squawking quietly at them before spreading his wings to catch the sun and laying his head down again. A larger pure white Griffin walked out of the cave and nudged the young one lightly, getting a quiet crooning sound in return. The white one looked at them with golden eyes, seemingly a but more concerned at their arrival than the young one. "If anything happens, do exactly as I say...."

 

[BookWyrm]

"No worries there love." Dayn slowly pulled his pack off and retrieved the game from his hunt earlier. He had been lucky enough to catch three squirrels, a couple of martins, and a grouse. "They are so amazing. The owlgriff was something else, but true griffins are unbelievable." Dayn stood next to Arryn as the waited to see what the griffins were going to do next.

 

[Dragongal]

The white one tipped it's head to the side at them and squawked, before spreading it's enormous wingspan and easily jumping the gap between the ledges, standing before them, it's body about the size of an average horse, it's beak razor sharp. The young one squawked at the older one again, but didn't move. The white griffin looked at them closely. Arryn looked to the ground and kept her head down, saying, "Copy me and give him the game. I've never seen them do this before..." As in, they could be in trouble kind of never seen them do this.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn lowered his eyes, though he kept the griffin carefully in sight just encase, before tossing one of the martins just a few feet from the griffin. Dayn kept himself between Arryn and the griffin, knowing that if something happened he might be able to hold it off long enough for Arryn to get to safety. "You don't think it smells me, do you?", he whispered as he glanced over to Arryn.

 

[Dragongal]

"Dunno." The griffin glanced at the martin, then ignored it. He walked up to Dayn, sniffed him for a moment, then turned and walked right past him, up to Arryn. It sniffed her for a moment, then backed up a bit, put one taloned paw forward, and lowered itself into a bow, similar to how Dayn did when shifted. Arryn raised her head a bit, then looked at Dayn, then back to the griffin, before straightening up. "This is entirely new."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn stiffened, holding his breath when the griffin walked up and sniffed of him. I am fixing to get the whoopin' of my life. Then, suddenly, it walks past him and begins to sniff of Arryn. Now Dayn was concerned. He turned ever so carefully to watch the griffin, only to see it do something he had never expected before. It bowed to her. Dayn stared, his eyes almost the size of saucers as he tried to figure out what was happening. He looked to Arryn and bowed slightly, trying to imply to her to return the bow. He had always heard that griffins were very prideful, and to not return a bow could mean pissing it off.

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn looked from Dayn to the griffin and bowed slightly in return. The griffin raised itself back up , then walked forward and nudged her gently with its beak. Arryn laughed a bit, then put her hand on its head, making it croon softly as she smoothed its feathers. It looked over to Dayn and walked over to him, sniffing him again before gently butting against him with its head in a playful manner. The young griffin squawked, seemingly jealous of the older griffin's attention, and leaped the ledge, pushing the older one aside a bit so it could walk up to Arryn. It bowed, then went right into nudging her to receive petting also. Arryn looked to Dayn with a huge smile.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn returned the smile in earnest, though he wasn't sure what was going on either. He reached out and rubbed the griffin's head, laughing slightly as it butted and played with him. Just a minute or two ago he thought that he was about to be attacked by this thing, and here it was playing with them like had been raised by them. "Arryn, do you know what is going on?" Obviously she was probably in the same boat that he was in, but it didn't hurt to ask.

 

[Dragongal]

"Not in the slightest!" Arryn laughed. An older griffin, her feathers a bit dimmer in color, but larger than either one, walked out of the cave and squawked loudly, making the other two griffins turn around, laying their ears flat on their heads. The young one leaped back to the other ledge, receiving a slight glare from the large female, before the female jumped onto Dayn and Arryn's edge with ease. The white griffin kept its head down. The female looked at it, then at the humans in her midst. She looked at each of them separately before bowing. Arryn returned the bow, after which the griffin rose and walked over to Dayn, sniffing him all over before deciding he was alright. She walked over to Arryn and gently nuzzled against her, and Arryn suddenly realized she recognized this griffin in particular. It was the mother that had chased away Matthias and Theodas - but left her alone. She'd spent a long time after Alistair's death watching this griffin, occasionally bringing some fresh meat for her when she'd just had cubs. "Hello old friend."

 

[BookWyrm]

It didn't matter that the others had just been playing with them, this new griffin walking up to him and sniffing him carefully still made Dayn nervous. He stood as still as possible as she checked him over. But when she walked away he sighed with some relief. His attention perked up when Arryn greeted the griffin though. "You know this griffin?" Dayn walked over to stand beside Arryn, slowly and carefully of course. He wrapped his arm around her waist as he looked at the beautiful creature. "They are truly amazing aren't they." He reached into his pack again and pulled out the second martin, holding out carefully the see what the griffin would do.