Aero suspected some trouble; with what was going on, he expected something to jump out of the fucking trees. Especially as they started traveling to the city. Aero didn't know its name; he hadn't cared to listen for it.
A few creatures jumped out of the woods, but that wasn't unusual for a party of this size. It made them feel threatened, causing them to attack or run; given the number of armed people, they didn't struggle to drive them off. Aero would feel better about it if they weren't trying to confine him to the cart. If it wasn't for his teammates, he would hurt someone very soon. The helper was distracting him with some training exercises for his mind. mostly wowrking ion is langue. He learned many expressive words.
He knew his teammates who were learning the language at least understood the tone of his words; they were learning expressive words as well. " Having this many swears is kind of overkill."
"Actually, it's more to do with the fact that a lot of swears carry some religious or historical significance, so a lot got added over the years." Aero already translated the swears from his home into the language. Simply because he wanted to cuss people out. Currently, there was a large number of people he wanted to use those words against. He held back, for now.
Beyond the occasional creature attack, the trip was quite dull; the most exciting thing was when Aero used his improving light manipulation to make some works of art; though it was mostly for training, he quite liked the crowd that gathered. It gave him a sense of pride in his work.
'Got to remember to ignore any opinion they might have about my work.' he wasn't falling into that trap. Besides, though, he saw a lot of room for improvement he liked was he was making. Like the small planet he made. It was twice the size of his head. White and black clouds over a mostly blue and brown world. Very different from what his planet probably looked like from space.
'I wonder when I'll get to see that?' Aero wondered to himself as he played with motes of light, gathering them into threads that vaguely looked like constellations. Not that his constellations actually looked like anything. Next to him, Talli was meditating, Idit. Was practicing with her element. Everyone was trying to make use of the time they now had. Enjoying the peace, knowing they wouldn't have much when they arrived.
Pausing in his light weaving, Aero sat up. Focusing, he turned the light into pure heat. Using it to warm himself a bit before expending the energy to warm up the entire cart, someone groaned in appreciation. Aero focused back on a management exercise the helper had for him.
It was based around medicine management; it also served Aero to recognize different medical labels. Learn how things had to be stored, what needed the cold, what needed heat. What needed to be alive? What would need to be killed more than once. "I'm sorry, what?" The advanced medicine was baffling him, even as he used trial and error to figure out the answer. He paused when he developed a headache from turning Pride energy into heat.
With a groan, he stopped resting his eyes and head until the tension disappeared from behind his eyes. More importantly, he was starting to understand the requirements for medicine stored in a moist area. He got a failure for an item he was sure was correct. "What!?" Shooting up into a seated position, he glared at the screen, going over it again. He found the connectors were right for the storage area, but still his choice was wrong. "How?"
'The container is the wrong type,' the helper informed him, causing Aero to pause and look: a cloth bag. ' I missed that.' Lying back down, he got back to work. Little traps like that continued to show up. Trying to throw him off guard as he worked. If he didn't pay attention, he would fall for him.
But when he took his time and looked, he didn't assume everything was ready to store upon arrival. He got through it. "Why would you make it out of something so flammable if it's supposed to be stored somewhere so hot. The next course of action was to get something to eat before falling asleep. When the sun rose, Aero decided to take on a different kind of management practice.
He went about every day or so while they continued to move. Passing through miles of forest, it all just seemed to blur together. The only real change was the small things you had to stop and take notice of, even the cycle of day and night. If it weren't for the training he could do, he might succumb to forest madness.
The forest was playing tricks on him; he had that happen once or twice. One time, it was a poisonous bug. he got the bug, but he had been lost in the forest for a long while after that. Turning away from the ever-present green, he focused on the energy he could feel from his teammates. " They've grown a lot." Was it fast or slow? Aero had no idea. But they were growing, and that was something to be proud of.
Yawning, he thought about taking a nap before quickly deciding otherwise. "Mm, I should get my staff looked at. I hope those fuckers didn't leave my bed in the field." That would be an incredibly shitting thing to do after chasing him down the way they did, as some kind of government-led force that might bring his bed. Aero suspected he might have to go back for it himself.
"Definitely going to have to get it cleaned," grumbling with some violent thought, Aero turned over, pulling at his clothing. Even though it was in its loose state, he found it rather uncomfortable. Maybe because he'd been wearing it for several days, or maybe because he could only wash it in small rivers.
'I left way too much of my stuff behind,' he hoped he didn't have to replace it all. ' A lot of that stuff was custom-made.' Lamenting the possible loss of his stuff, Aero listened to the whispers of the group that was escorting his team; people could not talk. As he listened to them, he understood they were getting closer. One of the scouts found and returned from their destination, preparing for their arrival.
"Great," at least he'd be able to take a full bath. The problem was how exactly they were going to treat him; oh, he expected little violence from their side. But Aero was aware of his own bad habits. More specifically, how he'd be treated while imprisoned. How would the trial go? The proud part of Aero steamed at the idea of being treated like glass. He wasn't fully responsible for his actions; he was blameless.
Some people have treated him like that, but another part of him understood. He couldn't be imprisoned long-term. Not only was this entire situation a shame, some political move he didn't fully understand, but there was also the matter of his duty. He couldn't fulfill the duty as the lord of pride in a cell. Maybe he was supposed to, at some point, be able to reach across the universe.
'But I don't know how to do that; I can barely reach outside my range of vision.' At least his sensing has gotten better; telling part objects took some work, but he could do it. Plus, he was starting to get a sense of nature's pride. What that was? he didn't know, but that's what he was calling it!
'Well, if I get arrested, I'm going to have to expand it there if I want to continue my duty if I fail to win over the court, or fight my way out of the situation.' zalts and Zaltess, I don't want to spend months tracking through the forest and trying to find a way to cross the great forest ocean.
Well, the option of walking it was there, but that was a kind of crazy Aero didn't want to think about. His pride in his skill wouldn't blind him to the absolute danger that place was. Making it out with no grievous injuries would be impressive. Last time someone managed that, she had been recruited from around the world. Mostly to teach cause she lost her leg in one of the battles she had been a part of.
They settled into a camp, the final time before they would reach the settlement. "So, should we talk about our plan again?" tzilla asked, as they settled around the fire. Aero made it dance in a small action of practice. "Even Aero is nervous about this." The fire flared as Aero turned to look at idit. "Who's nervous?"
"So, our plan?" tzilla cut in. "Well, besides doing our best to get this case dropped and avoid arrest," Inia raised her hand, "help keep Aero's short-fused fuse from going off and getting us in worse trouble."
"That's a good plan." Aero would be madder if it wasn't true. This entire situation has long gotten on his nerves; they settled the matter with the person they were accused of harming, but someone else made it a bigger problem.
Worse, they were in a country where the general attitude toward his attitude and life path wasn't well received. He knew at one moment someone was definitely going to say something. He wasn't going to respond well; he hoped he would be able to keep to just cursing them out.
"Well, if that all doesn't work, we should aim for getting kicked out of the country," Idit suggested. " Even getting banned is something we could work with." She received a round of agreement with that statement. "Even if we don't get kicked out, I think we should head out."
"Are you sure?" Tzillia asked, "You usslay arn't the one to suggest running," Aero scuffed." run, no but we have more important things to prepare for. Besides, I've had enough of another land and want ot go home."
"Oh, by the zaltess me to," several of them immediately agreed before they turned in for the night. The next morning, the camp departed early, heading directly into town. Meeting them at the entrance was a number of guards. 'Well, that's just great!' Aero thought as he and his team were separated.
The girls were taken in one direction; he was taken in another. Aero pondered the possible reasoning behind a two-legged, scaled, bird-like creature. Clicking his teeth at one possibility. Then he laughed a little, 'If they think the girls are a bad influence on me, then they are truly in for a surprise.'
For the moment, he kept his face calm, taking in information about his surroundings, like the path they were taking. The many people that passed by were looking at him. There was whispering, but what they were saying he couldn't make out completely. 'They're not surprised to see me, 'that was probably a warning sign of some kind. 'Someone has planned out quite a bit, haven't they. Biting his lip, Aero chewed on his lip.
Before long, they brought him to a prison, a lot nicer and larger than he was bent to before. 'Though it's never been more than a day,' he hissed, as someone tried to help him down from the beast. Hopping down on his own, he started walking toward the building. Are you going to stand there or take me to my cell?"
That got them moving; none of them tried to scold him for his tone. But it was like blowing feathers at a wall. Aero's will was hard, and her words too soft, speaking of soft. Aero expected stone walls and metal bars. The cell looked like the room of an inn. They even had his bed. "Hey, yo, what the stories is this?!" Instead of answering him, they closed the door. A thick wooden door that only opened from the outside. It was heavily bolted; Aero would be hard-pressed to break it open.' I'd have to dance for a while to break it open.'
Sighing, he walked over to the dresser. "All my clothing... I'm not sure. I'm not too sure how I feel about this." Looking at the clothing items, he continued to explore the room, noting everything that could be nailed down. "Guess I'm not throwing that at anyone any time soon. The bathroom is nice, at least."
Checking over the room, once more he decided to take a bath. Cleaning, trying to relax so he could maintain his patience for the next while. The bath was really nice; he would have preferred soap without scent. That attracted creatures, especially these nice floral scents. 'I'll have to remember that when I leave,' he went through the soaps. Finding one that smelt the least, which turned out to be this light herbal citrus soap.
Still, the stronger his only option was to not fully wash. 'Should I consider asking for something else?' That idea was immediately squashed. He couldn't really trust these people; he barely trusted the state of this cell, despite him understanding why it was set up the way it was. ' A pretty cage is still a cage'; the question was if the cage was strong.
After cleaning and putting on the outfit he found the most comfortable, he found that his preferred clothing was cleaned. or found,' yeah I'm probably going to have to modify this is i'm struck waering this.' cause he didd'nt want to fight in this. 'i'll make it owrk i fi have to but.' he laid down on his bed, sinking into the famialer materials realxing in a way he hasn't been able to in a few days.
"Guh!" jerking awake, he blinked. "Oh." Huffing, he relaxed into the bed. Feeling himself drift off again, he stood up long enough for himself to look at the sky. 'Well, it's late,' guess they were starting tonight.
He didn't go to sleep immediately. Instead, he stretched and exercised his power and body. He checked on the beast that tried to stab him. Nothing unusual as he added to its chains,