Explorer of Edregon

After spending a lovely evening with Lumel, followed by an equally lovely night, Vin and his lifemate set out the next morning for the meriders’ forest. Despite his intentions to use Dream Walk to reach out to their friends and let them know they were ready to pick up where they’d left off with finishing up the third ring, Vin had admittedly gotten a tad distracted and ended up falling asleep without actually casting the spell. Rather than wait an entire day to contact them via their dreams, he decided it would make more sense to just round them up in person.

“I’m excited to finally meet the meriders!” Lumel said, holding onto Vin’s back as the two of them traveled through the Underside. “From what you’ve told me about their society, it sounds so interesting! People who are forced from their own biology to be happy at almost all times? How does that even work?”

“Not to mention, you know, being giant spider-people,” Vin drawled, surprised at the fact that Lumel had yet to visit Pendet and meet the meriders in person. While she’d naturally spoken to Tiffany back in Terra at least a handful of times, he hadn’t realized she’d yet to meet Kark or any of the others. “The happiness thing gets a little old fast. In my opinion, it’s their town hanging a good couple of stories off the forest floor in their giant web that’s more interesting. That and their vibration magic.”

It didn’t take long for the two of them to reach the corridor that would lead them to the dungeon in the meriders’ fragment, and with a quick Mass Dimensional Shift, they were able to easily bypass one of the more dangerous dungeons Vin had ever encountered. Even Alka had recommended nobody try running through that dungeon without most of the team present, as it was filled with incredibly fast monsters that attacked in large groups.

“I know the forest is freaky, but the main path isn’t nearly as bad,” Vin said, letting Lumel down and taking her hand as he led her down the main path. While the majority of the Aernae Forest was cast in shadow and filled with sounds of growling and scurrying, the meriders went to great lengths to ensure the main paths in and out of their forest were well-maintained. Webs lined the sides to make sure monsters didn’t assault any wayward travelers, and Vin could feel the mana pulsing through them as their movement was broadcasted to the resident greeter.

“Vin!” Kark called out, the smiling merider popping out of the forest a good ways down the path before racing toward them. Lumel flinched at the incredible speed, but before she could even say anything, the merider was up in their face. “It has been some time! Are you here to collect your non-injured friend who refuses to leave?”

“That was my intention,” Vin chuckled, only just then remembering that the meriders were pretty big sticklers on that point. If people were hurt or interested in undergoing a merger and becoming one of the eight-foot-tall spider people, they were welcome to stay. If they were neither of those two things, the meriders tried politely but firmly requesting they leave.

By the sounds of things, Shia had worn out her welcome.

“I am very happy to hear that!” Kark admitted, rubbing his front two spider legs together as he smiled. “While she has primarily been staying within the forest, I feel obligated to keep tabs on her to ensure she does not become harmed. I am quite behind on maintaining all six of the paths leading in and out of the forest.”

“Six?” Vin repeated, giving the merider a curious look. “I thought you said there were only two or three?”

“That was before we came to Edregon,” Kark explained, his smile wider than ever. “Now that we are surrounded by six distinct fragments, it only makes sense that we have six paths welcoming our new neighbors into Pendet!”

“Kark… I don’t think you need to bother with so many paths,” Vin admitted, picturing the fragments adjacent to the meriders’ in his head. While two of them were still unknown to him, the other four were documented on his map. “The sky fragment, the crystalline desert, and the giant lake are all places you’re not going to get any guests from. And you already had a path leading to the infernals to the south-east.”

“On the contrary! While the world of clouds and the one of crystals have borne no guests, we have already established decent relations with those within the vast waters to the south-west!”

“What?” Lumel asked, speaking up for the first time as her face paled. She looked simultaneously excited and nervous as she stared up at the large merider. “You’ve met other pulmons?”

“Indeed! We have had seven visits in total since our arrival on Edregon!” Kark said, turning his smile on Vin. “I do recall informing you that we’d briefly met one of these people during our first meeting.”

“You did!” Vin said, snapping as it all came back to him. “But that was ages ago! I barely even knew Lumel at that point. You never brought the encounter up again!”

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“You do not stop by often, and it seemed irrelevant,” Kark shrugged. “But yes, we have spoken with those who dwell in the water. They never stay for long, but we have established some simple trade. Merider silk for dishes of fish. Everyone is happy!”

“But why would your people come up and start trading with the meriders as opposed to Terra or the other adjacent fragments?” Vin asked, turning toward Lumel. “This forest is so dense and dark it’s hard to navigate through.”

“That’s actually almost certainly the reason,” Lumel admitted, peering off the side of the path. “Don’t forget, even with enchantments or passives to help, pulmons don’t do well out of the water. Heat, sunlight, temperature… They're all important factors for any Airwalker to consider. The dark, damp forest of this fragment is far more ideal compared to the other five fragments surrounding my world.” Turning back to Kark, Lumel gave him a nervous look. “…There aren’t any pulmons here now, are there?”

“Not at the moment! Though the last visit was a few weeks ago, which means I would expect the next one to be within a week or so!” Kark admitted, the merider’s single volume of loud not fluctuating in the slightest as he spoke.

“Vin…” Lumel said. Taking a deep breath, she looked at him, her eyes filling with determination. “If there’s a chance I might be able to get a message back to my mother, I want to take it. While I can’t return to my people due to my banishment, there are no rules against me happening to meet up with an Airwalker who is out exploring. I know you need to keep working your way through the third ring, but I need to stay here and wait for the Airwalker to show back up. Is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay,” Vin said, giving her a warm smile and taking her hand. Lumel’s grip trembled as she no doubt thought about potentially getting to speak with another of her kind again, and Vin’s heart went out to the poor mage. “I’d offer to stick around and wait with you… But I really do need to finish the map of the third ring before the festival. Are you going to be okay on your own?”

“I’ll manage,” she said, returning his smile.

“…You are neither injured, conducting a trade, nor contemplating a merger!” Kark pointed out. His smile hardened slightly as he looked between the two of them with his six black, beady eyes running down his face. “As such, I cannot permit you to stay within Pendet while you wait!”

“Shia must have a little basecamp set up in the forest somewhere. I can stay there,” Lumel decided. “Kark, can you show us where that is? We need to talk to her anyway.”

“...Of course! Just follow me!”

Kark took off at a far calmer pace as they left the path and entered the forest, and Vin glanced at Lumel while they pushed past dense foliage and followed the merider. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright doing this on your own? I know you looked up to your Airwalkers your whole life. I guess I’m just a little worried about you meeting your heroes.”

“I listened to them give their speeches in the palace,” Lumel said, her face still a mask of determination as she brushed some large leaves out of her way. “Even if I don’t personally know our Airwalkers, I will at least be able to recognize them. If anything, I’m a bit more nervous about the fact that I technically stole my amulet from the palace collection in order to survive up here on the surface. Not that I’d even entertain the thought of giving it back, seeing as I need it to live, but that might make the Airwalker less than eager to help carry along a message.”

“Just don’t do anything rash, okay?” he asked, hoping Lumel wasn’t about to get her heart crushed by her people a second time.

It didn’t take Kark long to lead them to Shia, and Vin laughed when he took in the Druid’s nook she’d carved out for herself. One of the trees had been magically coached to grow into something resembling a legitimate treehouse, keeping Shia safely off the ground and away from most of the threats of the forest. The treehouse was complete with a heavy wooden door, of which Vin knocked on after walking straight up the side of the tree with his magic boots.

“Vin!” Shia said, grinning as she opened the door to find him standing on the side of her wall. “I thought you were going to give me a dream visit!”

“I, uh… ended up getting distracted last night,” Vin muttered, clearing his throat as he glanced past her into the house. The interior was fairly sparse, filled with little more than basic furniture grown out of the tree itself. “Rather than wait another day, I figured this was easier. Are you ready to get back to it?”

“Distracted, eh?” Shia repeated, her grin widening as she glanced past him to Lumel waiting on the forest floor. “I bet.”

“Do you want to join me again or not?” Vin sighed, deciding not to engage her taunts. “Lumel is going to stay behind in the treehouse if that’s alright. Apparently her people have established trade relations with the meriders, and she wants to try and meet up with an Airwalker.”

“Really? Well, she’s welcome to it. This particular tree is quite friendly and open to helping strangers. Have you spoken to the others yet?”

“Not yet. I don’t actually know where they went off to,” Vin admitted.

“Scule and Reginald were planning to hit the lab and focus on their poisons. I think Alka mentioned taking her Slayers on an expedition somewhere for some ‘hands on’ learning. As if she doesn’t already beat the hell out of them on a regular basis,” Shia snorted. “That was a few days ago, though, so they might both be back in Terra. Did you bother to check before coming out here?”

“Not yet… You were the only one I knew the location of, so I thought I’d start here,” he admitted, realizing he probably should have taken the time to at least ask around for the others.

“Then I guess that makes the next steps simple enough,” Shia said, picking up her staff and gathering her few belongings she’d scattered around the treehouse. “Let’s run back to Terra and grab whoever wants to come with. Then we return to the moss fragment and finish up with the rest of the fragments in the third ring to ensure Spur doesn’t have an aneurism when you reveal an only partially completed map during the upcoming festival!”