Not a word is spoken between the two of them.

Leni-Aura walks quietly beside Xalmann, unwilling to bring up either the underground ooze market, the following piggyback ride up the ladder, or any of the ridiculous events that had thus occurred…

Ideally, she would like to bid Xalmann farewell and forget about this whole thing, but she just… she can’t because they’re both going back to the same place! It’s getting frustrating at this point; but she takes a breath to center herself. Nimbus, at least, has decided to take residence with her again— which is nice, because honestly she does get a bit jealous when he wanders off.

She focuses on occupying the drake in favour of interacting with the lizard man.

Everything is so weird that she hadn’t even remembered to say thank you after she got off his back.

This whole trip is a nightmare; she breathes a sigh, jingling the fabric of her cloak at Nimbus while the drake snaps playfully at the torn edges. He trills and purrs contently, tail wagging while he reaches out with a clawed hand to bat at her playfully. She considers, briefly, trying to speak to Xalmann… maybe she could ask about that thing he did down in the ooze market?

She flicks her tail thoughtfully, hazel eyes turning towards the lizard man.

“Xal—”

^“HELP!”

She breaks off, interrupted by a cry that’s… distant, but close enough to hear; her face darkens a shade, interrupted as she was. So she pretends like she had said nothing at all. “... Did you hear something?” She slows to a pause, ears lifting in the general direction of the cry.

Xalmann looked to Leni as he though she had begun to say something, but suddenly heard some distant voice calling out. He was glad there was something to break the awkward silence of the walk after such an odd occurrence, but he was also slightly frustrated. Now what? He thought to himself.

He just nodded in response to Leni-Aura and began to try and listen for the voices as well. It was a bit difficult to tell which way the voices were coming from because they echoed off of the trees of the swamp and were partially drowned out by the buzzing of insects and croaking of frogs, but he believed the voices were coming from their right and ahead of them. He began to make his way in that direction, pulling his axe from his waist and using it to clear a trail through some denser foliage.

As they walked through the marsh, the voices slowly grew louder until they were recognizable as three distinct voices shouting out, calling for help. Whoever these people were, they seemed quite desperate to be drawing so much attention to themselves in the Marsh Flats. This was a dangerous place with dangerous creatures to be wary of. Either they were desperate, or maybe they were just idiots.

Soon enough, three figures came into view. Within a slim, muddy clearing running through the trees of the marshes, three people were crammed together atop a fallen log. One of the figures atop the log spotted Xalmann as he approached.

"Look, it's a Lizardfolk! I knew calling for help was a bad idea, the Lizardfolk tribes around here are all raiders!" they whispered angrily to the other two, but their whispering wasn't very quiet. Xalmann easily heard them even with the distance that was still between them.

Xalmann looked on at the group blankly. That was a pretty impolite thing to say, but not wrong. Still, it would have been smarter of them to at least try to act friendly towards someone who could possibly save them from... whatever it was they needed saving from. 

He continued walking forward, but quickly stopped and jumped back. The muddy ground had begun to sizzle and burn his feet like acid. He held his tail to the side to block Leni from stepping in the acidic mud as well and wiped his foot off on some grass.

Well, that explains what they need saving from.

She looks up to Xalmann for validation until the lizard man nods; brows furrowed slightly, she perks her ears and tilts them towards the sound. She turns her head as Xalmann begins to make his way towards it; and with Nimbus curiously trilling on her shoulder, she follows after him.

Xalmann hacks and slashes his way through denser foliage, and Leni-Aura allows him to take the lead. The afternoon sun peers through branchless leaves and hanging moss from up above; which tells her that she’s spent the entire day, nearly, out in the swamp. She breathes a sigh as she listens to the crack of Xalmann’s axe against rogue branches, and thick vines. Frogs quiet as they pass; the hum of crickets fade; and slowly but surely, the voices grow louder and louder, until Leni-Aura steps out just behind Xalmann to witness the three figures crammed together on a log.

She furrows her brows slightly as they begin to argue amongst one another, offering Xalmann a glance paired with a cock of a brow.

It doesn’t mean much to her, actually.

Her own people were known to carry out raids when supplies were low; which simply came with the price of their self-imposed isolation in the Dragon’s Cradle. She furrows her brows slightly; thoughts of her warren come laced in sharp edges, cutting at her self-confidence; there’s a reason she’s stopped thinking about them since…

She closes her eyes; only opening them when she feels Xalmann’s tail brush against her to block her. “What?” she mumbles; but she hears the sizzling— and looks down to see his footprint, still bubbling at the edges. She drops her head, exasperated. “Bah, left and right… Why are there so many of them here?”

Nimbus squeaks happily on her shoulders, while the men continue to whisper loudly and rudely amongst one another. Leni-Aura breathes a sigh, placing her hands on her hips. “AEKA!” ^(HEY!) she barks; one of the men jumps at her voice, saved narrowly by one of the others. “Shut up! Do you or do you not want help? If you must argue about it, we can just leave. Let the bog have you.”

Their whispering hushes up for a moment, and they share nervous glances, before looking back at the two.

“No, no— we do want help.”

Xalmann just crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at the three strangers in annoyance. Saving these people wasn't his problem, even if the Rabbitaur he had been travelling with did want to save them. He was just trying to get back to Lloyd, why did he have to save some idiots who got themselves trapped on a log in the middle of acidic sludge? Honestly, he didn't even know how they had managed to get into such a predicament. Or where this acid had come from. In all his years growing up in the marshes, he had never come across something like this before.

Then he heard Leni's exasperated complaint about something. So many what? Was she talking about oozes? He didn't see any oozes around, but this acidic sludge... Was it caused by oozes? He looked at the three on the log and called out to them.

"Who are you? What is this?" he asked pointing to the still sizzling sludge in front of him.

"We're just researchers, trying to learn about oozes! This stuff is the trail of the elder ooze we were following. Can you help us out of here? Please?" the researchers called back to the Lizardman before looking to Leni-Aura and pleading with her to save them. It seemed they were more hopeful that the Rabbitaur would assist them than the Lizardfolk.

Xalmann scowled. So it was another ooze at fault. Just how many of these things would he have to deal with today?

Ugh, so it WAS oozes! What else would make this awful, sizzling mess?

The fact that she even thought about it first is proof that she has seen too many of them today. “Why are you in the middle of it?” she calls back as they start to plead with her. “Pff, ooze researchers— men of knowledge would not get themselves stranded in the middle of an ooze trail!”

“N-no, really, we are! We just…” one of them hesitates and gets elbowed sharply by another, who continues the conversation. “We needed samples, and the most pure samples outside of the ooze itself is towards the middle of its trail, so… we thought we’d be able to get in and get out, but…”

“But you couldn’t?” Leni-Aura narrows her eyes from across the acid field.

“Obviously not! The slime kept spreading until it was too wide for us to get across by the time we were done!”

"And then George dropped them in the damn ooze."

"I didn't mean to!"

Seriously? One of them is named George?

She sighs as a clamoring kicks up again, closing her eyes with furrowed brows; really, they should just leave these idiots here to stew in a mess they’ve made themselves, but… like a never-ending plague, she feels the wind against her skin. She opens her eyes, sighing as it passes between her and Xalmann, soft and sweet— a simple message that she understands, but kind of wishes she didn’t.

Damn it, Avasha.

“Fine, shut up!” The three researchers stop clamoring for a moment, hopeful. “We’ll get you out, just shut up about it. Noisy!” She huffs; a thump resounds from a frustrated clap of her hind paws against the solid ground; before she looks at Xalmann— displeased with the situation. “Do you have any ideas— rope or something?”

Xalmann glared down at Leni-Aura. Now he was being dragged into this by her. Even if they were ooze researchers, he had no reason to help these people, but she was now offering his services to them. He thought about simply turning and leaving, but glanced at the baby drake that was on her shoulder. Nimbus stared up at Xalmann. The baby drake clearly was expecting the Lizardman to help out as well. His soft spot for the small creature was tugged on and his arms dropped to his sides in defeat.

He closed his eyes and sighed for a moment before looking at Leni and shaking his head. He didn't have any rope on him. He looked around for something he could do. The log was surrounded on all sides by the acidic mud and was nearly centered in it. It was definitely too far to jump. He spotted a tree outside of the area of the sludge that looked fairly weak. Maybe they could knock it down to form a bridge for the stranded researchers.

Though, that might take quite a while. He did have an axe, but it was designed for chopping flesh, not chopping trees. He looked at the acidic mud. When he had stepped in it, it honestly hadn't been that bad. He could probably just walk through it, but it might eat through his scales eventually. And the researchers had said the best samples of the stuff were at the center of the trail. Maybe the sludge there was more acidic than near the edges.

Though, he had an inkling of a terrible idea that he really would prefer not to have to use.

Leni-Aura narrows her eyes up at Xalmann, waiting quietly for him to say anything; she can feel her temper tapering at the edges, already worn out by far too many events of the day. She has a low tolerance for dealing with strange people— but between being able to escape from the lizard man, and taking all these detours, it really is starting to scrape at her edges.

Eventually, he shakes his head.

She sighs, deflating. She flattens her ears as she looks across the way at the trapped researchers. Nimbus trills, wagging his tail with absolutely no understanding of the situation. “I can get over there easy enough, but I can’t carry them.” she remarks, resting her head against her open palm. “Should just let them stew in their own mess, honestly… This is stupid...”

She closes her eyes, shoulders dropping as she sighs; she opens her eyes again, considering their environment— or doing her best to. They have trouble dissolving metal, right? Like at the weird ooze market? She has armour… no, she will not sacrifice her armour to this ooze. Disgusting. Absolutely not.

Could they use rocks to make some kind of stepping stone?

Maybe; but she doesn’t see many rocks of considerable size in this area, and she’d rather not go out of their way any further than they already have... She breathes a sigh, looking up over their heads. “...How sturdy do you think the vines are? We could braid them together for strength. Nimbus could fly one over to them and they could just swing across. Or we make a bridge. Latch it to a trunk.”

She looks across the way at the researchers; she judges them, loudly.

“...Although, they do look like they have weak arms.”

One of them gives her a mildly offended look.

He agreed that this was stupid and that these people might as well suffer for their own stupidity. Maybe the best decision would just be to leave. It would certainly save him some trouble. He turned away from the researchers for a moment and looked over his shoulder when one of them called out to him.

"Wait, we have valuable research notes that need to be preserved! This research could save lives, increase food production, and change the world! _...maybe. Just, please help us out of here so we can bring it back to Lloyd!"

Ah, damnit. Lloyd again. So, these buffoons know that weirdo. If they somehow do manage to survive this, it would be troublesome for him if they told Lloyd about him refusing to save them and their maybe world changing research notes.

Xalmann considered each of Leni's ideas, but knew the vines here weren't very strong. If one of the researchers tried to swing across a rope woven from them, they'd most likely end up falling straight into the acid. And chopping a tree down to make a bridge would quickly blunt his battle axe and take too long. The edges of the log that researchers were stranded on were slowly being eaten away by the acidic sludge beneath.

Xalmann let out his most exasperated sigh yet and looked at Leni.

"I have an idea. I need the drake." he said, holding out a hand. "I will not harm him."

Wait, they know Lloyd?

Leni-Aura’s ears tilt back with the realization that they really can’t leave the researchers now, even if they were definitely getting what they deserved for walking into the middle of an ooze trail… and the wind blows again, ruffling her fur, reminding her that someone else is telling her to do this…

Yes, yes, she gets it!

“Does Lloyd know everyone in this Marsh?” she murmurs to herself, then looks haplessly at Xalmann. He requests the drake. Her eyes narrow, hazel gaze hardening slightly. “... What do you need Nimbus for?” she asks, her voice suggesting skepticism and hesitance despite Xalmann’s explanation that he doesn’t plan to harm the drake. “He’s smaller than the both of us. I don’t want to risk him falling into that stuff. He gets… wiggly.”

Nimbus, on the other hand, takes Xalmann’s outstretched hand as an invitation.

An invitation which he will, in fact, happily try to take.

Leni-Aura feels Nimbus shifting, reaching out for Xalmann’s outstretched hand with one of his clawed wings. Slowly. Like he's trying to avoid her attention while he boards the forbidden branch. Her gaze snaps to the drake as he crawls forwards, touching Xalmann’s hand to hop across to him— but she halts him by picking him up around the waist.

Nimbus squeaks; she gently lifts him from her shoulders and holds him in front of her. The drake chirps and trills, looking up at Xalmann with a small peep. She looks mildly concerned while she looks at Xalmann. “What is your idea, exactly?”

Xalmann understand her concern and hesitance to hand the baby drake over to the Lizardman warrior, but he is still a bit frustrated. He'd not good at speaking and trying to explain his plan will take a lot of speaking. He retracted his outstretched arm and sat down on a nearby rock. He began to unwrap the bandages around his feet while thinking about the words to try and explain his plan to the Rabbitaur.

"I will... walk through the mud. And carry the researchers across. I can heal. But I must..." he paused as he tried to think of the right words. "tire someone else." he said, hoping that made sense. He sighed and his frustration mixed with a hint of embarrassment as he spoke. "My common language is not good." he muttered.

With the bandages removed from his feet so that they wouldn't be dissolved by the acid, he stood and looked to Leni, stretching his arm out toward her again.

"I will not harm him. He will not be... wiggly..." he said, getting the gist of what wiggly meant from his observations of the little drake over the time he and Leni had been travelling together. The drake certainly liked to squirm its way out of the Rabbitaur's grip, but he doubted they would be able to do that while his magic was in effect.

She has no idea what he’s doing.

Leni-Aura watches Xalmann sit down without a word of explanation and begin unwrapping the bandages around his feet. Eventually, he does start talking, but she’s not sure she fully understands what it is he’s trying to say; she still looks uncertain, even after he’s finished his explanation.

He can heal, but he needs to tire out someone else…? She looks up as he stands again, her gaze falling back to his outstretched arm as he asks for the drake. “...” She lowers her ears, looking down at Nimbus worriedly.

Nimbus looks back up at her, his mouth opening in a smile and a happy trill over her attentive gaze.

She cracks a weak smile in return; she would much rather let those researchers die a thousand times over than see anything happen to him. Her smile fades quickly; but she really can’t let them die a thousand times, and… their options are limited... and... ugh. She exhales in defeat, looking up at Xalmann a bit helplessly; slowly, she releases her hold on Nimbus, allowing the drake to wiggle himself up onto her arms and cross onto Xalmann’s.

The drake trills at him as he crawls up onto his arm.

“Be careful with him,” she huffs; her voice sounds too concerned, so she tilts her ears back. “If anything happens to him, we will have problems.”

Xalmann just nodded to Leni as Nimbus crawled onto him. He held the little drake in his arms delicately like a parent holding a baby and walked up to the edge of the acidic mud. He placed a hand on Nimbus and the little drake suddenly yawned and seemed very tired, as if their energy was being drawn from them.

The lizardman walked through the sludge while using his magic to heal. The acid burnt his feet painfully, but the scales regenerated as fast as they were eaten away, leaving him unharmed. Still, the experience was not one Xalmann would wish to experience again. It was like his feet were being constantly stabbed by hot needles from every direction. He walked as fast as he could while also being sure he wouldn't slip on the muck and fall into it with the baby drake in his arms.

Soon enough, he reached the researchers on the log in the middle of the acid trail. He climbed up onto the log and gently placed the sleeping drake on it, making sure they weren't going to slip off into the sludge. He looked at the researchers who were now huddled even closer together to make room for the Lizardman. After a moment, the extreme fatigue seemed to fade from the little drake and they rose up, a little confused, but otherwise unharmed.

Nimbus looked up at Xalmann crouching over him for a moment before spreading his wings and flying back over the sludge and into Leni's arms. With the drake back to safety, Xalmann stood up straight and looked at the researchers.

"Stay still." he said simply before grabbing one of them and throwing them over his shoulder into a fireman's carry, one hand on their back. He began to use the same spell again, tiring the surprised researcher on his shoulder and walking back to safety, trying to ignore the pain in his feet again.

---

Vampiric Touch

Leni-Aura kneads her paws anxiously against the ground as Nimbus crawls up onto Xalmann’s arm— eventually readjusted so that he’s happily snug and safely contained in the tall lizard man’s arms. Still, seeing the drake suddenly become drowsy makes her a bit nervous, and watching Xalmann start out into the sludge with Nimbus does not ease her nerves a single bit.

She takes a breath, fiddling with the hem of her cloak while she watches Xalmann move across the ooze relatively unharmed, all things considered. She can hear the ooze sizzling, crackling against his scales, and she does not envy him, although…

She does feel a bit guilty.

Xalmann makes it to the small pocket of researchers, and sits Nimbus down; and after a moment, the baby spreads his wings and flaps into the air. Leni-Aura feels a flutter of relief, opening her arms as Nimbus swoops back into them. “Good job.” she sighs, even though he hadn’t done anything, really. Nimbus still happily squeaks up at her.

She looks up as Xalmann returns, ears perking; he safely returns the researcher to their feet, and… he needs Nimbus again to get back across. She feels a little more confident about letting him go this time; and Nimbus is, for some reason, just as eager to be of assistance. He happily scuttles back into the lizard man’s arms for another trip across… and then another.

Nimbus flutters back onto her shoulders as Xalmann returns with the last researcher, stretching his wings, before bunkering down around her neck. He yawns, drowsy from all of the helping, and Leni-Aura scratches the purring drake beneath his chin while he dozes; she looks to Xalmann, stepping aside while the lizard man sets down the last researcher.

She nods appreciatively at him, but won't meet his eyes.

All three researchers are safe from their questionable decisions— and the trail of ooze behind them.