RP:A happy hiking trip to Frostmaw

Background

This is part of the A Not So Jolly Hollow Holiday Vacation story arc.

Morning arrives, and with it preparations for the final leg of the trip to Frostmaw.

The Ice Castle

Cornelius is wandering the castle grounds, enshrouding cloak of shadow weave wrapped around him, when Mahri wakes again, having returned to watch duties upon Roelstra's departure. He stops semi-frequently by the wagon, taking a moment to send a handful of pebbles into a loose juggling loop. This lasts for maybe a minute before he resumes his chaotic patrolling pattern.

Mahri comes down the ice-carved steps but she doesn't look as though she's slept any. Aside from the braid she's undoing and finger combing, she looks much the same as the day before. And the day before that. Sounds from elsewhere in the castle drift down. Shishi and the kids getting ready for a day of travel though there's a notable whine in Arius and Leralynn's voice. "But, Daaaaaaad. Why do you have to leave?" A masculine murmur is heard beneath that followed by child-like acceptance. Of course, they are going on a trip with a dandy and a leprechaun. What could be better than that? Pausing in the middle of the risers, the wolf half-turns to meet the trio. Two of which have decidedly mischievous looks on their faces. A quiet moment of words exchanged and the vampire gives his children a tight hug with admonishments to be good. Yellow and Orange shuffle closer to Mahri and watch their father leave, passing Cornelius without bothering to glance at the shrouded figure. Taking the children by their hands and giving up untangling the mass of dark hair that falls down her back. "Cornelius!" she calls upon leaving the stairway and entering the hall. "We'll find him!" she gets assured as the Colours race out the door.

Cornelius hears the sound of his voice and the patter of children's feet. With a smile he swiftly finds a shadowy nook by a leafless tree, and sets himself against the trunk, his cloak shifting with the dark sun-bereft patches to warp his outline into but another section of tree-trunk-and-shadow. He is curious as to whether these unusual children had other talents he should be aware of.

Arius and Leralynn stop outside the door and crane their necks this way and that. Not seeing anything, they split up and look in the usual places. Under a rock, behind a spindly bush. Even under the wagon and between the horses' legs. It's Arius looking there and a knicker from an equine has the boy tugging the scarf that covers half his face to squint up at the animal, "Really? Purple mush? How'd it taste?" Whatever the horse said, Yellow laughs and glances towards the castle's facade. Probably close to where Cornelius is hiding. Leralynn comes flouncing back, her blonde hair bouncing and swinging in her agitation. "I can't find him anywhere." Belula swats the girl until Orange hands up a peanut. "I think I know where he is.." hedges Arius and glances sidelong at the lycan standing in the door way..leaning rather..and grinning at the two. Well, it's more than a grin. She's smiling and the action pushes her facial scar up and the corners of her eyes crinkle. "If you think you know, better at least say something." Unerringly, he points towards a nearby tree. "Well, they told me he went that way." Silver grey eyes slice that direction and narrow slightly, trying to pick out the chameleon edges of the dandy. "Hmm. I don't see him, Arius. Throw something. A rock maybe or see if there's apples in the wagon." Which the boy is only to eager to do. "A big rock?" Mahri snorts, "No. Medium should do." Somewhere in there is an inflection of amusement.

Beneath his hood, Cornelius rolls his eyes. It was not unusual, women seeking to cause him some kind of injury. It occurred, in fact, with astounding regularity. He subtly shifts himself, the fabric warping the shadows for a moment, as he ensures his face and skull are not in the path of any possible projectile assault. Fortuitous, really, as Arius has found a rock to be more convenient than trying to search through the neatly packed and tied- down supplies in the wagon. So the lad could speak with animals, eh? Cornelius makes a mental note to avoid introducing the lad to Percy. That could be dangerous.

Mahri had been watching the shadows the whole time and the moment they 'moved' she calls out, "Hold it, boyo. I see him now." Sauntering out of the doorway, Mahri makes her way to the wagon in a waft of rose scent. "Oli, oli oxen free..or whatever the hell we used to say. Come out, come out wherever you are. Even if you have been spotted, Cornelius. She has her back to the fop since it's through crates she rummages, pulling out seemingly random things and dropping them to the ground. Starting with blankets. Lots of blankets. Enough for the four of them and then some. Easily kept food-stuffs. And a pile of what looks to be cloth edged in fur. Which is what it is. Cloaks and the like. "We ride from here. The wagon won't make it up the mountain. With that mush, the horses will." Arius and Leralynn are busily rummaging through the growing supply pile. Maybe to see if Mahri dropped any gold among the mess. She hadn't. Much to their disappointment. "So, we need to take just what we need and pack it as tightly as we can."

It is the ransacking of his neatly-packed wagon which causes Cornelius to rise to his feet in a flutter of shadows and rustling cloth "Dash it all, you could have said something last night before I repacked the wagon! Also, you said the wagon would make it all the way to Frostmaw last time I asked." Looking somewhat peeved, he pulls out the trunk containing his own equipment and retrieves some strangely-shaped bits of metal from his sleeve. With the deft finesse that comes from a known lock and plenty of experience the picks go in with a twist. After a moment of fiddly manipulation there is the expected but still satisfying click. Cornelius starts to rummage through the trunk. He stares at his cuirass, thinks of his ribs, and curses under his breath. Still, carrying the damn thing was going to be even more inconvenient. He sets it and his gorget aside, to don later. He pulls out spare clothing and a couple of satchels containing an assortment of bits and pieces. There is the clink of metal and the occasional glimpse of what appears to be an apocathary's equipment. After a while he has his things neatly stored in packs and ready to be loaded onto his horse.

Mahri is doing her best not to laugh. Damn but there's just something about getting the usually calm Cornelius riled. It tickled her funny bone. "I lied. I do that a lot." Which was, ironically enough, a lie. "Actually, the way is steeper than I thought. The axles won't hold up. So, we can pack the horses with as much sh..stuff," she amends when a small throat clears itself," as we can and walk it, or we can take as little as possible and ride double." They did only have two horses.

Cornelius mutters under his breath "Deuced lack of proper preparation and planning." At normal volume he states "Riding double in this terrain and weather would be tantamount to suicide, old bean." His tone swiftly morphs to that of 'fun uncle Corny' as he directs the rest of his statement to the children "I hope the both of you are up for a grand little hike in an excitingly adventurous mountain! Think of the stories you will get to tell after!" He removes his current shirt and swiftly pulls on a sturdier cotton garment before starting to put on his cuirass.

Mahri heard that under-the-breath mutter and smirks before replying with, "Didn't I tell you? I don't come this way often and I didn't have time to scout out the trail first." Eying the draft horses with some disbelief about their ability to carry one adult and one child each plus a few added items is clear. Any objections she has to walking is quickly overridden by the excited chatter coming from the twins. They couldn't wait to start walking. "First things first." From the pile of cloth and fur, she tosses a cloak and hood to each tow-headed child along with mittens and warmer boots. "Put these on. It's gonna get cold." So motherly, worrying about their comfort. Or perhaps it's simply because their father had the best chance of being the one to finally kill her if anything happened to his darlings. Mahri dons the same outfit and pulls the hood up over ebony hair still hanging loose and snarled down her back. The white served a dual purpose. First, it reflected sunlight rather well and from inside the hood that meant she was less likely to be snow blinded. Secondly..it blended into the landscape well and Gods forbid there were Giants left around who remembered her second foray into the frozen wastes. A foray that almost ended with her and Leoxander both dead. Shoving those not so cheery thoughts from her head, the wolf smiles at the Colours. "Lets get packed." And they did. Blankets were rolled tightly, food stuffed into satchels along with flasks of water and a couple of Cornelius' favourite brandy. She wasn't a damn good bartender for nothing. "Ready or did I forget something?"

Cornelius finishes putting on cuirass and gorget. He removes from his trunk its last remaining contents, a grappling hook and rope, coiling it from shoulder to hip like a sash, grapple resting semi-comfortably above his right hip. Finally he throws his cloak around his shoulders and starts loading up the two horses, adding some dwarven rations and cured sausages to the inventory of packed foods. "I do hope you actually know where we are going, M'dear. It'd be deucedly inconvenient otherwise." He smiles at the children "Well then! Let's be off on our jolly little jaunt up the mountain, eh children?" He makes a mental note as to where that brandy is stored. Chances were he'd be bloody well needing it at some point, given his run of poor fortune thus far.

Mahri grinned at that when she grasped the reign of one horse and the hand of Leralynn. Arius was too big to be coddled in his opinion and chose instead to walk between the horses. Besides, he could have a better conversation with them that way. "I'll sniff it out." Probably literally since she had no idea where Leo and his mate could be. "I can make fires to keep us warm!" volunteers Orange. To which Mahri glances down with a lofted brow, "Can you now? That'll come in handy." Of course, Mahri's indulging the girl's need to be of use in some way. "Off we go then. Be careful. It might get slippery."

Hiking up and through the Xalious Mountains

Cornelius chuckles, and the procession-sans-wagon is soon on its way again. The sun didn't make much of an impact on the temperature. While the sun didn't do much to warm, it did bring another bonus as it reflected and refracted in dazzling fashion from the walls of the ice palace: a myriad of little rainbow flares appearing where the light hit the crystalline structure in just the right way. As they make their careful way up the mountain he chatters at the children "I say, did you know I met a giant this morning? A large cad with bad fashion sense and a worse hunger. He was three times as tall as me, wot. Three times! And snacking on a bird twice the size of these horses."

Mahri :: Arius and Leralynn stare in wide-eyed wonder at the dandy. "Gwah! No way!" "A giant would have scooped you up and eaten you, Mister Von Pon..Von Pen. Mister Cornelius!" Arius is suitably impressed and Leralynn tugs on Mahri's hand to get her attention. Leaning down without missing a stride she listens to the stage-whisper that tickles her ear, "I think all boys, grown up or not, like to tell stories. Daddy does all the time. Especially when he wants us to go to sleep." With her own chuckle, Mahri squeezes the smaller hand in her own, "I believe you are right. But at least it's entertaining." Yellow is busy chattering away, asking questions. "Did he try to smash you? Did you run away? Is he dead? Was the bird alive when he was eating it? I would have pecked his eyes out if I was the bird."

Cornelius grins. While he didn't hear the whisper, he could gauge its general meaning. "I speak no words but truth, my dear ones. In fact, I do believe at one point the oversized fella was thinking of me as dessert, dontya know?" He chuckles at the stream of questions, deftly answering each one in turn, even as he is carefully judging the terrain in front of him. Damn winter climates, they just were not his cup of tea "He did make an attempt at splattering me across the ground, it is true. Chappie had this big old club, made from a tree trunk with its branches torn off - much like we'd remove leaves and stems from a branch to make a walking stick. Sod must have thought I wanted a part of his bird - which was in fact dead prior to ingestion. And I must say, you would make a fine bird indeed, young princeling." He carefully avoids the topic of whether the giant is alive or dead by finishing off with "The chap seemed so busy with his meal that he didn't say much, so I wandered off back to the castle. A lovely early morning stroll." Cornelius was no judge of mountains or winters, but this steep incline coming up looked troublesome, with a slight sheen of ice patched over parts of the rock. He turns to catch Mahri's eyes then flicks his eyes in the direction of the upcoming section of path. "Now, who can give me their very best 'careful mountain goat' impression?"

Mahri too has started to watch her step, holding Orange's hand firmly in her own. The horses blow steaming breaths from their nostrils as they plod on. Two voices shout, "I can!" and they do, picking their way carefully. Arius, being between the relative comforting warmth of the equines uses the halter of one to keep his balance. Leralynn has Mahri to hold on to and Mahri, of course, tightens her grip on the reigns of the horse she leads when a foot threatens to slip.

Cornelius is the picture of vigilance, his gaze flicking across the road ahead, up to the rocks above, and back again. For all the entertainment value of making it sound like a tall story, his meeting with the wild-man giant as far south as northern Xalious had put him on edge somewhat, and his scouting was also designed to try and pre-empt any potential ambush from a creature three times his size and with a strength to engage in long-range assault. It seemed his 'strongly worded letter' to mother nature vis-a-vis winters and oversized obstacles would need to be arranged, and soon at that. At the moment, at least, the path through the mountains, while narrow, is still relatively easy to navigate. With luck it would remain that way. "Out of curiosity, M'dear, what kind of distance are we looking at here?"

Mahri huffs a breath but not because she's winded. "If I knew that, I could have just gone wherever they are and we wouldn't be here together like this, would we?" The smile she throws his way, if he even sees it, isn't really much of a smile. It's more a peeling back of lips from teeth.

Trouble in the mountains: the first chronicle of Deathgoat the Destroyer

Cornelius whispers to Arius "Why, I do believe Aunty Mahri is cranky. I think we'd better play the 'vigilant guards' game, and keep a watch out for pirates and giants - otherwise we may have wolves snapping at our heels" He throws a mischievous wink back in Mahri's direction and returns his attention to the path ahead. Yes, the path ahead, a welcoming Mahri-glare- free zone. It is, in fact, rather a dull sight, devoid of anything save rocks and a lone mountain goat. The goat looks at Cornelius. Cornelius looks at the goat. The goat snorts out a malevolent (and somewhat peculiar) 'Gnuuuu' sound. Arius tugs at the dandy's sleeve "Uhh, Mister Cornelius, I don't think the goat likes us very much. He just said some very bad words"

Mahri snorts but she can't help shaking her head in amusement. Amusement that quickly fades with Arius' translation of Goatese. Drawing herself, the horse and Leralynn to a stop, she gently urges the girl behind her. "I'll have to agree Cornelius. He doesn't seem to like you at all." Laughter held at bay, gives her words a slight lilt to them. "I wanna see! And Mahri's not our aunt, Mister Cornelius. She's a friend." Corrects Leralynn in a slightly superior and haughty tone.

Cornelius chuckles at Mahri's words "Must be envy, old bean. I get it all the time, wot" He briefly turns to Leralynn with a look of mock surprise "She's not? But the resemblance is uncanny!" He turns back to the goat, which just so happens to be blocking the path. There's a fair amount of width at this juncture, but even so, advancing through an angry goat would still be troublesome.

The goat is not happy, and makes its intentions clear. Among its kind it is the meanest, hairiest, gruffest buck of them all. Even the largest domesticated billy goat had nothing on him. He didn't need cause for aggression, no sir. All he needed was something to headbutt until the world was a happy place again. And these baaastards on his path were as good a candidate as any. Arius, in the meanwhile, has puzzled out the latest cavalcade of evil bleating "Uhh. He, umm, has challenged us? I can't really pronounce his name, mister Cornelius, but I think it means 'Deathgoat the Destroyer'" The aforementioned is, at present moment, pawing the ground, breath steaming from his angry goatish nostrils.

Mahri has to bite her lip hard and hides it by checking that the halter is secure on her charge. The horse not the girl. When she's able, the wolf says, "You're the best candidate, Cornelius. Of us all I think your head is the hardest." Leralynn giggles at that and quickly covers her mouth to stifle it.

Deathgoat the Destroyer seems to have come to a similar conclusion to Mahri. Maybe it was the smell of roses that pissed him off. Maybe it was the way the sun shone off the biped's shiny breastplate in a singularly irritating fashion. Deathgoat only knew the baaastard was about to experience the true meaning of pain. With a final snorted comment Deathgoat launches himself at the dandy, a woolly avalanche of horn and hoof.

Cornelius was almost about to make a witty retort to Mahri, when the opportunity is lost thanks to the damned goat. Even worse, Arius has chosen to hide -behind- the dandy at this critical juncture. To avoid the goat was to have Arius suffer his fate instead. As he lengthens his stance and throws himself into a deep lunge he calls out "Press yourselves to the side of the cliff face! Get the horses and children out of the ooooph!!!!" His sentence is cut off with a loud clash of horn on steel. Cornelius had decided the only part of him capable of withstanding the doom embodied in an angry goat was his cuirass - but even with his own forward momentum he is knocked backwards. Arius, bless the lad, was already following his instructions, so was not collected by a goat-propelled Cornelius. The dandy lets himself fall into a backwards roll, slamming his legs against the ground to arrest his momentum - a painfully effective manoeuvre. The goat shakes his head, recovering from the clash, then looks at Cornelius. Cornelius looks at the goat. "Dash it all, could this get any worse?"

It could get worse. Of course. Mahri, Arius and Leralynn along with now uneasily shifting horses have pressed themselves against the cliff-face. The wolf winces at the sound of clashing and both children gasp aloud in excitement. "We wanna see mister Cornelius head butt the goat!" says Arius. "You don't think that goat belongs to Miss Jolie's son do you?" queries Leralynn. "Wasn't his name Butthead," chirps Arius again, distracted momentarily by his sister's question. Mahri ignores the comments and watches Cornelius and the goat..Deathgoat the Destroyer that is. Not the extra five, ten..maybe twenty or so who've decided to come see what all the hoopla was about on their mountain.

Deathgoat the Destroyer snorts out the most obscenely vitriolic bleating a human may have ever heard a goat utter. The rose-scented baaastard was a tough rock to shatter. Arius, distracted from answering his sister by the goat's invective, widens his eyes and covers his mouth with one hand "I don't think I'm meant to be listening to that kind of language, Mahri". Deathgoat, in the meanwhile, was sizing up his opponent when a faint bleating alerted him to the presence of his flock. Okay, now it wasn't just fun. Now it was business. And there ain't a mountain goat who could beat him in the business of dealing out a hefty order of broken bones. As the biped repositions himself so as not to get hurled off the mountainside in the next round of hostilities, Deathgoat paws the ground in clear signal to his flock that the headbutting shop was open for business, and business was good. He launches himself again, a woolly hell-spawned meteor come to split the earth, and whatever baaastard happened to be in his way.

Cornelius rolls his eyes. Never mind he was risking life and limb here in the face of an implacable goatish enemy - the children wanted to see headbutts. Why was he not surprised. Following Mahri's gaze he sees the flock of mountain goats. He knew he shouldn't have opened his damn mouth. They Who Watch loved to cast irony into his life with distressing regularity. With a sigh he shifts into a brisk side roll before coming to his feet. This time he has a bit more warning - but as he goes to draw his sabre Leralynn calls out "Don't you hurt that goat Cornelius! I won't forgive you!". Cornelius recognises that pouting tone, although he'd not heard it these 300 years past. Some things are second nature and so, with a sigh, Cornelius accepts the inevitable. Having run out of time again, he hurls himself into another lunge, causing cuirass to clash brutally against cracked ribs, eliciting a slight gasp of pain. However, at the moment of impact he grabs one horn with his right hand, and hurls his left arm in a backwards elbow to develop the torque required to spin him in the direction of the cliff-face. Planting one leg against it, using the goat's horns as leverage, he pushes himself into position to plant a downward elbow on the goat's nose. He mutters to himself "Don't hurt the goat Cornelius. Don't hurt the goat. What about me, eh? Where's the chorus of 'Don't hurt Cornelius?'" He glares at the goat, who glares right back. Perhaps, in another time, another life, they could have been friends.

Mahri is sympathetic. She really is. In fact, Mahri can almost feel the pain in her own ribs when the goat makes impact again. "Sssh," she admonishes Leralynn and Arius is told, "Cover your ears and don't repeat what you heard. I don't think your father would believe it came from a goat." Mahri watches. Almost fascinated aside from the phantom pains in her ribs which she rubs at with a free hand. The other is busy keeping hold of the reigns on each horse.

Deathgoat the Destroyer was not expecting the elbow to his nose. Mainly because other goats don't have elbows. Or hands with which to grab onto each other's horns and jump about acrobatically. But Deathgoat is made of sterner stuff than other goats - while the pain causes his evil goatish eyes to water, he likewise shifts his body to face the cliff wall, and proceeds to ram forwards, smashing the dandy against the rocks in a clash and thump of rock, metal, horns and flesh. There is a chorus of appreciative bleatings from the cliff top. Deathgoat'd be getting his choice of doe tonight.

Cornelius was not having a good time. This whole damned trip had been one disaster after another, and he was bloody tired of it. He is fortunate that there was less than a metre between him and the wall, so the impact was largely absorbed by his cuirass, even if his ribs are screaming bloody murder at him. Pinned against the wall, with a child's injunction against lethal force binding him, he proceeds to do the only thing he can do - he rains a flurry of elbow strikes down against the back of the goat's neck targeting the robust vertebrae in the hopes of convincing the goat to step back out of the way of his blows. He is rewarded after a full half minute of self-inflicted elbow bruising punishment when Deathgoat eases up on the pressure, if only in preparation for another headbutt. In sheer frustration, Cornelius drops into another lunge, this time delivering the old 'Gualon Kiss' to the goat's nose, smashing his skull against the soft, sensitive tissue before rising up to grapple the goat. He has Deathgoat by the horns, now, and a mad look in his eyes. "You blasted mongrel thing, I will -end- you!" Leralynn, of course, is quick to remind him "You'd better not! I'll kick you in the shins and never ever ever EVER forgive you!"

Mahri can be sympathetic to both plights. Unfortunately, roast goat sounded good too. Letting out a sigh, she looks from Cornelius to Leralynn then closes her eyes and starts a serious of murmured prayers or chants. It's hard to tell with the way her lips barely move. It started first with the fall of a few loose stones. A low rumble in the ground that, if not carefully controlled could start an avalanche. Which the wolf is doing her best not to do. Start an avalanche. With the distraction of two children, one begging Cornelius not to hurt the goat, the other insisting it's Butthead, Mahri grits her teeth and keeps up the smooth flow of archaic syllables. The twenty or so goats lining the ridge scatter under the threat of an earthquake in a mountain. Mahri certainly hopes Cornelius gets the idea and lets the big male go. What with the panic setting into the goat's slit eyes and the horses nearly screaming in fear with the whites of their eyes showing and foam gathering in withers. Maybe shaking up the ground wasn't such a good idea...

Deathgoat the Destroyer does not get panicked. Deathgoat the Destroyer just gets more angry. Besides, this is the widest section of cliff-side path, and therefore the safest place for a goat to be, bipedal baaastards aside. Still, that last headbutt hurt almost as much as the first elbow thrown at him, and with the sound of his flock fleeing, he had no reason to hang about and get bruised. With a surge of goatish muscle he rams Cornelius against the rocks again, and, when the dandy's grip loosens from the pain in his ribs, snorts out another stream of offensive bleats. Deathgoat then proceeds to make his leisurely way back up the mountain path, deftly avoiding those rocks which were starting to fall, taking a moment to derisively widdle against a rock under the safety of an overhang. He finally trots off to find and gather his flock before they got themselves well and truly lost. He had a rendezvous planned with a particularly frisky doe, after all.

Cornelius grits his teeth as the ground starts to shake "Mahri, M'dear, could you kindly - not- bring the mountain down on us over a single damned goat?" He is then slammed against the wall again, and finds himself unable to maintain a firm enough grip as the goat shakes its head to throw off his grapple. As the goat leaves, Arius pipes up "It's a shame you lost, mister Cornelius, but at least you got to headbutt the goat!" Cornelius sighs and slumps against the wall. Let there be an avalanche. He didn't care anymore. His illustrious history of consecutive victories in battles and duels had been broken. By a deuced goat. It just wasn't fair.

Aftermath and final approach to Frostmaw Tavern

Mahri immediately ceases the soft chanting that had cause the tremors and trembling. Not that the workings hadn't taken anything out of her. In fact, she slumps against an equine neck a moment. Arius and Leralynn are of course clinging to a wolf who's taking her time getting her own strength back while the dandy is revaluating his manliness and the state of ribs. "Lets just go already." For the first time, Mahri was regretting her idea to go look for Jolie and Leoxander. For once. She should have just let things be and not give in to that overprotective need that said she should go look for them. Pushing the horses back to the trail, Mahri walks over to Cornelius and stretches out a hand in an offer of assistance.

Cornelius for once accepts the assistance "You know, old bean, methinks I shall go join a war somewhere to relax after this. Maybe besiege a castle, or get myself besieged while -in- a castle. Possibly go find a dragon and call it an oversized lizard, you know, challenge it to a bout of fisticuffs, or something of the like." He coughs as he stands, a little wobbly on his feet. Reaching back behind his ear he gingerly presses at a sore area to feel a distressing wetness, and sure enough, as he brings his hand forward to evaluate the damage he sees his hand covered in blood "Well, dash it all, those rocks are sharp, wot" Thinking back on it, he wonders if the eternal enmity of Leralynn would have been worth avoiding all this additional grief. Then again, perhaps not. The sacrifices one had to make for children. "I do think I shall need some recovery time when we eventually reach Frostmaw, Mahri M'dear. I rather believe I feel less than tip-top."

Mahri smirks at the sarcastic wit thrown her way. And she'll stay close..just in case. She can't heal like she used to but at least Mahri can tend to a bit of bleeding scalp. "The Inn isn't far from here. Can you make it?" The children crowd around and try to get a look at the Captain with Leralynn staring up with big eyes, "Thank you for not killing the goat Mister Cornelius. And I'm sorry you got hurt." Hero-worship shines there, in those eyes. Arius grumbles and shuffles his feet against the ground.

Cornelius is also sorry he got hurt, but appearances must be kept. And so he smiles at Leralynn "It's all good, little princess. All in a day's work, wot." He sends a smile and a wink Arius' way "Now, might I suggest Arius m'lad, that the lesson learned here is that headbutting a goat is a -bad- idea. If I hear you get yourself a headache from challenging farmyard animals, I shall be very disappointed." Finally he turns to Mahri "Aye. The cold saps away some of the sting. I've had worse, sad to say. Well then, shall we make our merry way to that most meritorious of places: the Inn?"

Mahri nods and steps back from Cornelius. Now she has both sets of reigns in one hand, Leralynn's small hand in her free one and a weight of guilt settling on her shoulders. Not that she's done anything. Yet. She always manages to. It's in silence then that Mahri leads the way up the mountain and to the Tavern in Frostmaw.

Cornelius coughs slightly and retrieves one set of reigns "Really, old bean, it helps me stay upright". A lie, but an extremely plausible one. His ribs complain with every step, and as the adrenaline leaves his body his head starts to ache. The inn, he decides, had better damn well have facilities for a hot bath otherwise he'd be giving management a piece of his mind. He slowly withdraws into the cold, analytical mental state instilled during his training, where he can shut out the pain for at least a short while. Eventually, they start to see signs of life other than that of abominable goats.

Mahri is having pretty much the same thoughts without the added benefit, or curse, of being in pain. She doesn't notice the signs of life. Not until they get closer to the village. The sounds of activity has the lycan pulling Leralynn closer to her but Arius is off like a shot to explore and poke into just about everything. Mostly he's talking to animals. "Arius!" Mahri calls and jerks her head to the Tavern. "Let's go." Like most boys, he's both disappointed and intrigued. He's been in plenty of Taverns but not so many that had huge furniture and catered to giants. It's only a momentary lapse though and the boy comes back. Inside, with the horses taken care of and their mash seen to, Mahri finds a seat for the kids before going to the bar and ordering some warm drinks. Arius and Leralynn are busy looking around in awe.