Eternal Beasts

Field Trip

Oddly Samantha wasn't upset when Jared and Nikeera returned to the room together nearly an hour later. Instead, she wore a warm, friendly smile.

"Hello, you two," she said as they stepped into the room, Nikeera's hands entangled with one of Jared's big ones. "Are we just about ready to go?"

"Just about," Nikeera said before turning to give Jared a quick kiss. She then took both of their shower kits and towels and put them in the closet.

"Any idea of what we're doing today, Jared?' the tuathan princess then turned back to the thoughtful Jared to ask.

"More training?" Samantha asked, already dressed to head outside into the rain.

"No, actually," Jared said. "I've rented a car today, and packed some supplies so we can take a bit of a trip."

"A trip?" Already in the clothes she had brought to the shower with her, Nikeera looked over her shoulder at him to ask as she began pulling on her hoodie. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I thought since you've already seen the ocean here, we'd go in the other direction today. To the mountains!"

"The mountains!" Samantha breathed, her eyes flying wide with excitement. "I love flying in the mountains!!"

After dressing for the weather, the three of them made their way towards the dorm's parking lot where Jared had arranged for a rental and a basket of food and drink to be waiting for them. The vehicle's key was in his mailbox, retrieved on the way out.

When they came around the corner, Nikeera hesitated, uncertainty on her face for a moment when she spotted the Land Rover that was sitting there.

"No, not like the ones that day," she murmured just loud enough for Jared to hear.

"No, not like those ones, Nik," he said, letting go of her hand to put an arm around her waist for a one-armed hug. "You have nothing to fear from this particular wheeled monster. We tell this one where to go ourselves!"

It took a few minutes for them to get their gear into the vehicle and get sorted. Her good mood from earlier still with her, Samantha generously let Nikeera take the front seat with Jared, sitting directly behind him so she could reach around the seat and touch him if she needed to. Then, after a quick safety demonstration on how to use the seatbelts, the airbags, the windows, and whatnot, with a smooth rumble of the engine starting, they were off.

First stop, of course, was a drive through for some take-out for breakfast. Then, after setting up the Land Rover's GPS, they began the hour and a half long drive up into one of the local national parks that were liberally scattered over this part of the Rocky Mountains. As they drove, Nikeera entertained them with stories of ancient Corlest, of the bright, colorful society of the Tuatha at the height of their power before the Second War of Balance. She even regaled them with beautiful songs from that time, her voice as pure as a mountain stream, golden and sweet as she sang the ancient ballads with enough emotion, they brought tears to Samantha's eyes and a sad smile to Jared's lips. Out of the three of them, only he had seen Ethaeron without the Tuatha Fáil's bright light illuminating the whole world.

Even so entertained, Jared found himself returning to Samantha's strangely friendly mood earlier despite the fact that he and Nikeera had just spent an hour in a hot shower together, doing all manner of things to each other. So curious was he, that he found himself asking her about it over the bond.

- You seem unusually happy, all things considered, Sam, - he sent.

- You mean, in the face of the fact that you and Nikeera spent an hour in a shower together this morning? - the griffon adroitly asked.