Completed Looks Like Meat's Back On The Menu!

Dianaimh flashed her own teeth in defiance but was content to stay snuggled into the furs until feeling returned to her extremities. The giantess seemed deaf to both of them until Esmeralda repeated her question. She turned to look down at the mage, her face impassive. "North" she said, remaining silent until Esmeralda's expectant stare prodded her to speak more.

"Close" she said before qualifying her answer "For me". Her gaze took in the shivering Dian and the stubborn little blonde "Far for you". The pace had been punishing on the two mages, for Ragna it had been a stroll. She scooped up a handful of snow and used it to clean some blood off the head of the maul. "You move slow".
 
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The giant showed intriguing subtlety as she raised an eyebrow at Esmeralda's question. Far is far? Humans spoke in riddles at times, twisting words like snakes. "Far" she said. Esmeralda felt she had waited long enough for an answer when the giant finally elaborated. Their concept of time and distance seemed to be frustrating the two mages.

"I walk ten steps many many times to get there" she told the human "You...". The giant looked skyward as she puzzled out the problem as if seeking divine inspiration. "You walk ten steps many many many many-" she cut off to look at her fingers before grunting in affirmation "Many times".
 
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Esmeralda snorted. "Noted." She rubbed at her face, her exhaustion seeping back into the slump of her shoulders as she considered their situation.

They just... needed to get back to camp. There, they would have protection and supplies. They could recover. Which is all she wanted to do in that moment. Recover.

"Ragna..." she repeated, some of that exhaustion in her tone. "Could you... carry us back?"

There was dignity in surviving. However it was.
 
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The hill giant almost smiled at the question. "Of course" she said, shrugging her shoulders as if it was an easy thing to do. She seemed nonplussed by it whereas Esmeralda seemed almost embarrassed by the request. All the mages wanted were rest and supplies.

Dianaimh squeaked as Ragna sat up and went on her knees. She strapped the chest to her side and then stowed her maul. The sorceress struggled a little as she was scooped up like a dog or cat. She quietened down after a warning squeeze from the giant. Ragna cradled Dian to her with one arm, the other extended to Esmeralda, "Come here little one" she said, giving her hand a little wave.
 
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Esmeralda hesitated, then stood up with a groan. All her injuries burned now, the rockfall having nabbed her in more places than she recalled. She approached Ragna cautiously, but was silent as she was scooped up and adjusted into the woman's warm arms.

She laid there a bit tense for a moment, excepting the circumstances only after the woman stood up and started out on those ten steps by ten steps. The rocking of those steps and the giant's red hair were the last things she was aware of before she drifted out. And for two days, she would not be able to be woken. And if left be, she'd sleep for a proper four, her body physically healing before their gaze as the time passed.
 
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Dianaimh had gradually grown accustomed to the giant's strides. Ragna kept to a steady pace to avoid discomfiting them too much. Like Esmeralda she'd drifted off, the motion rocking her to sleep and the giant's warmth comforting despite the stench of the furs and armour.

Ragna got them there in a couple of hours steady marching, doing it in well less than half the time it would have taken the humans. Dianaimh felt weak as a kitten while the giantess hauled in deadwood and stoked up a fire for the two freezing mages. Their old camp seemed relatively untouched beyond where wild animals had torn at their supplies.

Esmeralda slept unceasingly. She'd briefly come round on the second day but barely stayed alert for water and food before going back to her slumber. The bruised, bloodied, and broken mage seemed to bloom with health as time went by. Dianaimh recovered her strength too though her free time was occupied with attempting to decipher the runes and charms on the chest.

Their titanic guardian continued as ever, stoic and only speaking when she felt necessary. Rather prudently Dianaimh had decided to extend her employment until she could get them within a mile or two of civilisation. The hill giant had proven her worth and she'd make sure she was richly compensated.

Esmeralda would wake to a clothed Dianaimh this time, in one of her spare travelling gowns. The fire still smouldered, it had burnt nearly constantly since their arrival. The witch looked tired, the bruises from their misadventures still stood out and even with sleep, there were lines by her eyes.

"You're awake" she said, turning to look at the blonde as she sat up. "It's been four days".
 
Esmeralda sat up, entirely alert and clear-headed as she looked around. Her body had healed to mere aches. The rawness in her soul had healed over, her well of magic filled and overflowing once again. Sleep always did her wonders.

She looked around with understanding, not taken aback by the time that had passed, where she was, or the state of the woman before her. She ran a hand through her snarled hair and took a deep breath, shrugging off the blankets.

"Sounds about right," was her only greeting, standing up and looking down her her shredded clothing. She frowned, then glanced around.

"My pack?"
 
"It's over there" Dianaimh said, putting to the corner of the ruined building. Their shelter were half fallen walls and a crumbling roof but at least it kept the wind and rain off. She seemed a bit disgruntled that the other mage didn't seem to have forgiven her. She could take solace in the fact the blonde still looked dishevelled whereas Dianaimh had been able to wash, put on new clothes, and magically unsnarl any tangles or split ends. "I haven't touched it" she told her, before any accusation could be made.
 
"There's nothing to touch," Esmeralda shrugged, swiping it out and emptying it out to reveal a second set of clothing and a metal tin that clinked with glass when she placed it to the side. That was it.

She turned her back to the woman and briskly stripped, revealing her thin frame with its many scars, and the flickering glimpse of black ink of her wrist.

She slipped into her new clothes then attacked her rats nest of curls with her fingers, turning back around. "Do we head back, then?" She asked unceremoniously.
 
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Dianaimh blinked at the meagre state of Esmeralda's belongings though she wasn't one to talk with the patched and tattered state of her own finery. Her eyes flickered to her back when the blonde stripped without ceremony, braving the cold. Skinnier than the sorceress, she bore a lot of scars for one so young.

She had the grace to wince as she watched her tear at her hair with her fingers. "We are ready to leave when you are. Ragna has packed what spoils we found. She will escort us within sight of the nearest settlement but from there we need to hire a mule or something to carry our wears-oh here let me!"

Flustered by the sight of her tearing at her hair, Dian leaned in and made a gesture with her hand. A wave of heat passed through her hair before it fell, free of the tangles and snarls. The witch tsked at her, "It's a simple cantrip. You never learnt it?" she made it sound like a crime.
 
Esmeralda blinked, slowly dropping her hand. "... Of all the skills you possess, all the things you might be capable of doing, why is it you dedicated yourself to hair detangling?" She admonished, sounding like a disapproving mentor.

She tsked back, kicking her scraps of clothing off to the side and slipping her tin back into her now emptied pack. She rolled her shoulders and fetched the weapons removed from her back as she slept. A bow. It's quiver. A half sword and several daggers were all spared from her back while she had slumbered. She slipped them into their places, the daggers going into her boots and bra line.
 
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Dianaimh frowned, "I like to look good? Not like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards?". She let her hand drop and nodded, "There, you look somewhat better. Your face could do with a wash though" it was if she'd forgotten they were out in the foothills of the Spine.

She rolled her eyes as Esmeralda began secreting various weapons about her person, "Are those really necessary? You're a mage, not a knight". Esmeralda wasn't particularly physically imposing either but she'd seen her move with unnatural speed and use her magic to lend her strength.

She rose, pulling her skirts with her. "Well it's good to have you on your feet again, we can hit the road then. I won't be sorry to see the back of this place".
 
"Well as you've seen-- you can't always depend on magic. Something I'm surprised you haven't learned from yet. You could do with a knife or two on you."

She righted herself and shook it all out, relieved for how strong and whole she felt again. She briskly braided her hair into a long braid and tied it off, glancing at her. "Alright then. Let's go. Want a warm bed," she grumbled, taking off.
 
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"And you could do with learning to pick your words better" Dianaimh shot back, groaning as she hefted her own pack. Thank the gods they still had the hill giant to lug the rest of the gear. "You'll get it. I'll just her to take the rest. Ragna!".
 
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