【 ドレッドノートのマーチ 】

[Light]

The spikes of brown wave back and forth as he rapidly nodded his head in excitement, "T-that's right, far away and able to do what we want. S-see more islands, a-and make friends..." his lips curl into a smile, and his paced picked up with a small bounce to his step, "A cartographer; that's what I wanna be wh-when I'm n-not... as wimpy..." Citrus eyes looked back to her, "W-why did you... become a mage?" the runaway asked her softly.

[pipintan]

She had been smiling up to the point of him asking her the question. Her face tightened, though she didn't look mad, just hesitant - this had been a recurring feeling when he asked anything about her. "Well, since my parents were minstrels, they not only could play instruments and entertain people, they could also do some magic. However it was limited, since they had not be trained to be a mage. They had always astounded me with their little tricks. So... I wanted to learn how to do what they could do and maybe even more."

[Light]

"Y-you should be able to, at Caitsiv. T-there mus-must be a lot of m-mages," Natsuyuki hid his chin back down in his cloak, his eyes darting back forward. He shuffled to the side, his eyes spotting the guards posted on either side of the bridge. He grunted tiredly, and stepped behind a larger man with grayed skin and large ears. "I can only remember a few words though, so I don't think I'd be real good at it... y-you seem to be am-amazing at it, though."

[pipintan]

She blushed at his words, glancing away. "Bah, what I did was basic stuff," she replied, eyeing the guards, "that's nothing compared to what the rest of my Guildmates can do." Celeria gave a small shrug, grimacing a bit, "I haven't really been focusing on the physical part of wind magic, mainly I've been practicing healing and support.

[Light]

"It doesn't seem simple," he protested softly, "if it is, I can only imagine what everyone else can do." his fingers itch to poke at the small bag carrying his magic stone, and he seems reassured that it was there as they get closer to the start of the bridge. "You can heal with wind though? I-I always thought that was just water," he laughs softly behind his hand, "G-goes to show what I know,"

[pipintan]

She gave him a small smile, before replying, "As did I, though fortunately Jeb said while he was traversing the islands, he came upon a leopard clan who had mastered the wind magic. It's a long lost branch of wind magic, though apparently the clan had kept this fading branch alive by keeping it in their clan." She paused and tilted her head to the side, musing to herself. "Though it is odd why they would teach an outsider their magic..."
Celeria gave a cheerful shrug, pushing that thought away. "But what about you, what can you do? I mean, you do have a Magic Stone, don'tcha?"

[Light]

"A leopard clan; it would make sense that they would use wind magic," he said while listening to her. "M-maybe we can go visit," Natsuyuki proposed while rubbing the side of his nose nervously, "It would be awesome, right? To learn from them personally. If they let someone know about one of the branches, maybe they'd share another. They must have had a good reason, or something, you know? We can ask nicely," he dipped his head to her question.

"U-uh yeah, it's real small though. I-I can... well, I mean, it's pretty good to store stuff with, and make light." He glanced over the side of the bridge at the cloudy cover that cut off sight ten miles down. "I use it to read at night,"

[pipintan]

Celeria gave a small nod to him, smiling slightly. It was easy talking to Natsuyuki, surprisingly, though he did seem to have a faint heart and or no confidence in himself... That would need to be fixed.

She made a noise in the back of her throat, like a small groan. "Great, so neither of us know a damaging spell," she sighed, pressing her hands to her face, looking defeated. If that was the case, then how long could they survive outside of Alitia? Celeria rolled her shoulders, thinking quietly; if they were indeed only able to heal one another and light up a path, shouldn't one of them learn a new spell? But that could take months upon years; it really depended on how much the person could control their magic and how far they had studied.

[Light]

Natsuyuki winced a bit; when she said it out loud... it made him understand that things weren't too hot on their side. He started to gnaw on his nails again, his shoulders hunched up. "I-I'm sorry," he squeaked out, "B-but... yeah... I-I d-don't know... anything like that... If I... h-he wo-would have kn-known, i-if I tried to l-learn something like that,"

He slowed his pace a bit, once they were a good ways away from the guards. "I-I never got to wat-watch anyone u-using magic, really,"

[pipintan]

Celeria glanced behind them, also making sure that no guards were around, before she pulled back her hood, her ears springing up once more. This part of the island was quieter, as it was far away from the castle, where everyone was congregating. She was silent for a moment, tilting her head from side to side, listening for anything. When she was satisfied, she let out a sigh, looking exhausted. Returning to what he had said, she grabbed what energy she had left to put a hand on his shoulder - this day had been way too long for her; it seemed like years ago that she had received the Magic Stone from Jeb -, to try and quiet his worries. "Well now that you and I are running away, I'm sure you'll get to see a lot of magic," Celeria said wearily. "But for now, we might want to try and find a place to sleep, though we might want to wait until we get off this island."

[Light]

He pushed up one side of the goggles to rub at his eyes, the orange globes lined with a pale red circle. "Y-yeah... I-I'll try a-and learn so-something, ju-just in case," He glanced back over his shoulder, the only thing in the distance now the tops of the buildings. No longer could he see the castle; not unless he had the eyes of a bird or another race with good eyesight. "A p-place to sleep sounds good. I-it w-was hard getting out of there," he turned his head back away from looking behind, having calmed down by the weight of her hand on his shoulder, "I-I ho-hope there'll be r-room in o-one of the inns," he fretted, his forehead creasing in thought.

[pipintan]

She slipped her hand off of his shoulder almost as soon as he seemed to calm down. "I'm sure there will be... I doubt that we'll attract too much attention, we just need to make sure you keep those goggles on," Celeria said, tapping her chin with her finger in thought. "We only need to stay one night and then we'll keep moving - that should actually be a thing for us: at the most, we should stay at an inn for two days. That way we can save gold and supplies... Speaking of supplies, we'll need to get some, but..." She paused her rambling to rustle around in her skirt pocket, before bringing up a small bag of coins. Sighing, she took a couple out, counting them quickly. "I only have a hundred gold coins, that might last us about a week if we're seriously careful..."

[Light]

Natsuyuki nodded, and recovered his eye as soon as he was done scratching at the itch that had been bugging him. "Y-yeah, I-I can do that... The only p-people that m-might still be able t-to tell a-are th-the guardians," he pulled at his hair, and tried to smooth down the front again, "S-some of them have good smell. T-that's w-why I'm we-wearing this... i-it should... cover up my scent," He gave her a confused look, his head tilting to the side questioningly, "M-money? O-Oh yeah..." He pulled at the pouch on his waist, and mimicked her in counting what he had inside.

"I-I have... about fifty gold... f-from saving up w-what I p-picked up. W-we can sell m-my other cl-clothes too, t-those... should be worth so-something," he told her with a small smile. "W-we... just got to be careful... like you said."

[pipintan]

She looked surprised at his offer, though a large smile broke across her face. It really did seem like he wasn't planning on going back and offering to sell his clothes hardened that fact. Celeria was starting to grow fond of the boy. "We should hold onto your clothes and save them for another island; if we sell them here, it'll draw attention to us. However on another island, we can easily spin a tale." She paused, before blushing in embarrassment and rubbing the back of her neck. "Er...I mean, if you want to; I hate to take charge, especially since you're a prince, you rank higher than me."

[Light]

"I'll save t-them then, for t-then," He closed up the punch and tied it back onto his belt. Natsuyuki shook his head at her, his smile weakening at the mentioning of his rank. "I-I do-don't care, y-you know m-more than m-me at thi-this stuff. I-I'd get u-us cap-captured o-or something," he waved his hands in front of him, "s-so l-lead away, r-really," he sucked air into his lungs, and hopped a bit to see over the taller people. "A-almost there, I-I th-think I see t-the exit,"

[pipintan]

Celeria giggled at his antics, her ears bouncing; he seemed a lot younger when he did them. Finally, she nodded, still a little pink around her ears, though she was pleased. "Alright, well if that's the case, shall we head off? The more we wait, the more likely it is that they'll catch us." She glanced around, before throwing the hood of her cloak over her head, murmuring "Evanesco" under her breath again.

[Light]

Natsuyuki grabbed the insides of his cloak and pulled it closer around him. "Mhm," he agreed with Celeria, "I hope there'll be good food..." he mumbled to himself before setting off. He walked around a cart, and nodded his head to it's owner who was taking a break. A sort of meekness was ingrained in how he moved around; avoiding collisions and avoiding looking at anyone for too long. It helped make him less noticeable, and not cause a ruckus.

[pipintan]

Celeria followed after him, weaving between the few people who crowded the street, the vendors trying in vain to catch people's attention. She moved so effortlessly and soon it became a sort of sport for her; she tried fitting by tight spaces, seeming to shrink a little as she squeezed. After a while, she grew tired of her little game, having almost revealed her location from tripping somebody up accidentally and hurried to reach his side. "We almost there?" She breathed to him, her feet finally starting to ache.

[Light]

Natsuyuki hopped out of the way of a barreling pair of children, a girlish squeak having escaped his lips as he flailed his arms to right himself. "Y-yeah," he cast his eyes forward, "We made it," he breathed softly to her. He ducked his head just as they began to exit the bridge, the crowd flowing out like the mouth of a river in all directions.

"I think I see an inn, a bit down the way," he added while he tried to catch his breath, his cheeks pink with exhaustion.

[pipintan]

Celeria brightened up instantly, looking excited. As the crowds thin to almost a trickle of people here and there, she pulls back her cowl, shaking her hair and ears out. "It feels so nice out here!" She giggled, throwing her arms out and taking a deep breath, a huge smile on her face. "It smells different, even though we're nearby Alitia," she said, before another burst of giggles racked her body. She was still swimming that high of getting away from the to-be king without a hitch, it really seemed like nothing could go wrong!