The Water's Edge (Ribitta/Closed)

Unfortunately for the two of them, all he brought was extra wood for the fires. He unceremoniously dropped the small stack between the two set fire pits with a clatter, for the two of them to work with. "I think there's a couple more Babas lying around, so watch where you step," he warned the two of them. "I'm going to go see if there's anything around here to eat. Don't wander off."

"We'll be careful," Ayls told him as he turned to leave, taking his sword from its sheathe on his back. "You stay safe too, Rua."

He waved his free hand briefly to acknowledge the bartender without saying anything before disappearing back into the forest. She wasn't sure how he'd be hunting without a bow and arrow, but she knew he'd been out in the wilderness for a long time already on his own, so he certainly had his own ways of hunting.

Orup's mustaches sagged a bit with disappointment, but he scurried over to the fire-making materials that Rua had brought back with him. Come to think of it, would the boy be able to hunt anything at all? The time Orup had hired the lad for an excursion outside of the caves they had brought food with them, and a sword was hardly a weapon to go hunting with. Rabbits were quick little critters after all... He sighed as he shuffled through the wood that had been brought back.

They were quickly accumulating enough to last them well through the night for both fires, which pleased Orup greatly. The only concern now was the food. Thankfully Orup now had someone he could freely voice his concerns to! "Do you think he's going to bring back anything substantial with just a sword? The boy knows how to use it, certainly, but it doesn't seem like the best weapon for hunting. Perhaps we should get the fires ready and go up stream a bit? There might be a larger water source with some fish." And more, of course. Orup wouldn't deny he wanted a look at the kinds of things he could find next to large water sources.

The stream didn't look big enough to support fish to Ayls, causing her to frown as she looked at it. "I'm sure he'll bring something back. I've never heard of him using anything other than his sword," Ayls said, looking back at her new employer, "But he's always been able to survive on his own so far, so he must have a way of hunting, right?"

The many weeks and months he'd spent alone and coming back alive had to be proof enough. He wasn't exactly forthcoming with people from the caverns, let alone any other traveler or refuge out in the wilderness. In fact, Ayls had a sinking feeling that at times, Rua ate better than most of the people in the caverns when he was out on his own.

Orup frowned at their situation, forcing himself to nod in agreement with Ayls. It seemed only natural that the boy would return with food. Every man and woman who lived in Southern Hyrule lived because they had learned, one way or the other, to survive in varying conditions. A man such as Rua could only be credited with the more stringy type of survival. The heavier man glanced at his belly with a hint of discomfort. Would the boy be able to bring back enough food for all of them? He felt restless just waiting here for him to return.

Sure, he could set up the beginnings of his tests and begun to separate one thing from the other, but long term they wouldn't be staying here, would they? There was plenty to be seen here, but certainly there was more to be seen by a larger water source! Rua had prompted them to stay in place, but it could be hours before he returned, couldn't it? It wasn't like he was picking fruit or something. Catching live game took as long as it needed to. If he could just go get a few samples from another place, why, then he could begin to compare them with their current location...

Yes, yes that would work. The fires were mostly ready anyway, and they wouldn't want to start them until dinner time properly came about. Taking a few steps away from the beginnings of their camp, Orup glanced up the stream, wondering where it went. Turning away for a moment toward the bartender, he made his decision, "Well, no use just sitting here, don't you think? Why don't we go exploring for a bit? If we follow the water there's no chance we get lost! I'd like to look at the differences between locations." She was to be his assistant after all, wasn't she? A second pair of hands and a second set of eyes was always good when doing a bit of exploring, and Orup didn't normally figure Rua the type to help with that.

She nodded to the alchemist and stood up, brushing scraps of wood off her hands on her pants. "So long as we don't go too far," Ayls said to him as she stepped up to Orup. "We shouldn't give Rua a reason to be mad at us."

Gods knew he'd be furious if he had to hunt them down in the forest with whatever's lurking in here--Scrubs and wolfos and who knew what else. The woman ran a hand through her hair, brushing a lock of it over her ear as she looked up the creek. The trees in that direction were sparse enough so they could still be seen by Rua, who they could see was at the edge of their visible range. She knew he could see them from here, even if it didn't look like he was paying too much attention to them.

"Were you thinking of bringing some of the plants back with us?" she asked, looking back at Orup.

Orup nodded thoughtfully at her, causing him to check and make sure he had the right materials for gathering things. Naturally he had plenty, having likely brought far more than he would ever need, but he was simply too excited about this to do anything else. Granted, things had been fairly slow so far, but he was sure there was something that could be found in here that would make the entire trip worthwhile. Tightening his belt, though hardly more than a hair, the man grinned broadly, already feeling like they were to be going out on another great expedition, even if you could probably see back to the camp from where they'd be. But still!

Taking the first step to their small venture, he casually turned to the side to address her. Thankfully, unlike Rua she could actually be talked with. Certainly things could be smoother, but it was better than chatting with a stone wall. "So tell me, Miss Larawn. Were you always a bartender? My memory isn't so great when you go back more than a few years," the plump man said with a small self-deprecating chuckle.

Ayls glanced upwards at the question, considering it--it'd been a long time, after all, and she'd barely entered adulthood when she'd finally settled into the job within the caverns. "Not always," she finally said, glancing back down at Orup as they walked. "I helped my father in the tavern at night when I was a girl, up until the war came about."

Everything had come to an end then, of course. Kakariko prepared to be attacked, but was overrun in the end. It was a few years before they found the caverns and settled down with other survivors. She shook off the memories. "I think I was barely old enough to start the bar back in the caves when I did. I think the only reason the mayor let me was because I was the only one who knew how to brew," she told him. Her father hadn't survived the attack, just like her mother, and Rua's family. "I was better at it than I was at mother's needlework."

A seamstress, was it? That seemed vaguely familiar to Orup, though he couldn't be sure. It would make sense why a woman would drop that profession once coming to the caves if they could. While Ganon's hordes certainly hadn't discriminated between man and woman, the Hylians had made special effort to save the women and children, whenever possible. The number of surviving seamstresses versus the number of surviving bartenders would be quite the distinction. Dark mess the whole thing was, though. No one really liked to talk about it.

Orup nodded amiably, though he decided he'd try to changing the topic's direction a little bit. "Doesn't sound like the most appreciated job though, unfortunately; bartending, I mean. Have you ever thought of doing something besides it? Purely hypothetical, of course. Times are tough for everyone." Glancing back toward the camp, Orup made sure that they were still in sight of it. Satisfied, the man tucked his thumbs into his belt and maintained a good-natured smile at all times.

"Mmm. It can be at times," Ayls confirmed, thinking back to some of the occasional complaints she'd received about her brew. "I suppose I can't really blame them. It's hard making decent ale in the caves."

What grains that they could grow without attracting the attentions of Ganon's wandering forces in Southern Hyrule were saved solely for food, and more often than not, it was saved for the children still growing in the caves. Most of the time, Ayls had little to no grains to malt for ale, and was forced to use an old goron recipe that utilized lichen. It worked, after a sort, but she and everyone else could tell that the recipe was pathetic compared to real ale. But it was all they had. Every once in a while, when she could afford the trade, she was able to make something truly decent, and make quite a sale, but most of the time? Well, as rude as it was for that one customer to ask, it often tasted like they were drinking dirt.

"I've thought about picking up mother's textiles, but there's not a whole lot of demand for that in the caves," she continued, answering Orup's question. Most people could repair the rips made in their clothing. "Unless something changes, or a miracle happens, I think I'm pretty much stuck behind the bar."

Orup's expression softened at her comment and he shook his head good-naturedly. She was a survivor, a Southern Hylian true to the bone indeed. "Ahh, you miss my point, Miss Larawn. What I mean is, if weren't stuck with your skillsets or your situations or even if you weren't in the caves at all, what would you be doing? You're young, I'm sure there's at least something that you find yourself daydreaming about." Orup smiled at the woman, trying to show that he meant no harm by the question but only to lift her spirits with it.

They were walking at a slow pace, but already the camp was beginning to fall out of sight. By following the water it ensured that the sightlines were clear as they could but, but even then it was still turning away. No matter though, they were still certainly safe, and Orup intended go just a little bit further still. Only a little bit, of course.

Ayls smiled a bit at the compliment, but she certainly was leaving the prime of her youth. "I haven't really considered it, to be honest," she admitted to Orup with a slight shake of her head. "I'm just getting by day by day." A lot of people were; most of them frequented her bar. In a way, she was envious of Rua--he had a goal, however impossible it seemed, and he spent nearly every day pursuing it. "Regardless of what I do... it'd be nice to get out of those stuffy caverns."

This trip had been refreshing, at least. "What about you, Orup?" she asked. "You certainly seem fired up these past few weeks."

Orup blinked as the question turned around against him quite suddenly. What would he do? He had... not thought about that in the context of himself for many, many years. Not since Tessle's death, really. After that, ideas of ambitions and advancement had seemed so beyond him, and he had never made it out of the apathy, really. Of course, he asked people this question all the time; it was a good bit for conversation and all. Most of the time, though, they knew enough to understand that he was just a proper, well-to-do alchemist who was quite content with where he was in life. It was a nice thing to be known for.

Only, Ayls' observation was quite keen, even though it might seem obvious.

He didn't have an easy, scripted answer for something like this. Most questions were that of formality and therefore easily dodged, or people might ask him about something work-related, and he could give them an answer that was just a little too technical so the conversation could move away. He supposed he could avoid this question too, but it had got him thinking now. What exactly did he want? He certainly seemed to be pursuing something now.

With a good-natured laugh, the man recovered his wits by stroking his mustaches. He was getting quite fond of that. "What would I do? I'm not sure, really. Sure, I've been getting out a bit more lately, but I can't say I really know why." What would he even ask for, given the offer? Would he go all the way back to his old, old life? No. He couldn't go back to Kakariko either; it'd always felt so lifeless even before Ganon's invasion. "I certainly do enjoy what I do though, I suppose. Always have. Perhaps I'd... Well..." Orup lost himself in his thoughts.

A moment passed, though, and his found himself sharply brought back as his foot made a splash. The stream had taken a sudden turn, and he'd practically walked into the thing. Shaking his head, he looked down, forgetting that the camp was likely out of sight now. Something was moving around in the small stream, and he moved in for a closer look.

"Tadpoles!" he exclaimed, as if it were the most exciting thing in the world.

"Eh? Tadpoles?"

What an odd thing to exclaim about.

The distraction was successful on Orup's part, though--Ayls stepped up beside him and leaned down, putting her hands on her knees to observe the creatures swimming fitfully in the quieter part of the stream. Sure enough, there were quite a few tadpoles inhabiting the water. She wrote Orup's excitement over it as being involved in some alchemical secret she wasn't yet privy to.

"They look a little large for tadpoles," she observed. Sure, tadpoles would grow limbs and become frogs as they grew larger, but these things didn't look like they were doing that. They were nearly twice the size of a garden variety tadpole, without any obvious changes to them. "Are they useful to you?" asked the bartender as she glanced at Orup, her question referring to his trade.

Ayls' comment took Orup away from an intense study of the small aquatic creatures. Useful to him? "They are now!" he said with excitement, clumsily handing her a few glass bottles that he'd brought with him. "You're right, I've never seen any this big. And what are they doing so far downstream? See if you can't catch a few, would you?" Armed with a bottle or two of his own, Orup got down onto his knees and tugged his sleeves further up his elbows, clearing them from the water. Uncorking a bottle, the man plunged it into the water, the tadpoles scattering a moment later with swiftness he had not quite expected.

"Slippery little ones, aren't they?" he muttered under his breath, contorting his face in concentration and trying at it again. Despite being a bit big, that certainly didn't cost them any speed. What would he even do with tadpoles? He felt like a child in a candy shop, told he could pick out anything. The idea of focusing on anything seemed all but impossible with so many possibilities. The best thing he could do was to get caught up in something and hope it was fruitful at this point. Hopefully Ayls would have more luck than he at catching the little buggers, though.

Ayls had little better luck than Orup in trying to scoop up the creatures. This was more of a boy's thing, trying to get tadpoles and frogs. Taking one of the bottles provided, she knelt down by the water's edge and slowly dipped the bottle into it, away from the tadpoles, letting it fill with liquid. She shivered as the cold water flowed over her bare hand. The bartender tried sliding it gently through the cloud of tadpoles, but they swarmed around the glass and her hand, avoiding the bottle's lip. Ayls frowned and muttered under her breath, trying again.

It took a little bit, but soon she had a grand total of three of the unusually large tadpoles swimming about fitfully within the bottle as she pulled it up out of the water and corked it. She brought it up to eye level, to get a better look at them. "I wonder how big they'll be if they become frogs," she wondered aloud.

Orup, having no luck of his own in catching the little buggers, relieved Ayls of one of the bottles, examining it as well. All three of the tadpoles were about the same size, but now that he had them directly in front of him he could see it all more clearly. These things were huge! So big they barely fit into the bottle, actually. While Orup expected to see varying species in a place like this, the fact was that these creatures, as tadpoles, were bigger than a lot of fully grown frogs already. Looking closer, though, something brought him a hint of a frown, creasing his brow with worry.

"See there," he said, voicing his thoughts aloud, "how the underbelly is almost clear? It's because these things are freshly born, and I don't mean fresh as in 'they're babies.' No... these things couldn't have been hatched more than two days ago or so. Whatever bred these things, unless they have a very, very irregular growth pattern, must have been truly enormous! I don't suppose the thing that laid them could be nearby, huh..." The man's words trailed off, his tone marked with a touch of concern but with a larger hint of hopefulness.

Following the stream with his eyes, he noted that it came from a small waterfall off in the distance a little ways. Tall and narrow, it seemed to be originating from the top of a hill he couldn't really see. "Perhaps it came from over there?" he suggested, pointing in that direction.

Ayls shaded her eyes to see where Orup was pointing, unconsciously standing up on the toes of her boots to see better. Sure enough, there was something over there; a waterfall, looks like. She planted her feet on the ground again and lowered her hand. "It does look that way," she agreed, looking back at the alchemist.

Her gaze turned down to the tadpoles she'd collected, however. If they were that large only two days after hatching, then she wasn't sure if she wanted to see the size of their end result as frogs--if, of course, these things actually turned into frogs. And things that could get big in the wilds tended to be dangerous, to hear it from Rua. She looked back at the waterfall and again at Orup. "May hap we wait for Rua before we go further?" she suggested. "We don't know what's over there, and he'll be plenty mad if he gets back to the campsite and finds us gone."

Orup waved the the question away distractedly, eyes intent on the waterfall now. "Rua? Oh, I'm sure he'll be just fine. Besides, it's only a little way further, you know? We're not that far from the camp anywho." His eyes traced the hill, looking for a comfortable way to scale it. It really was quite steep, now that he was looking at it. Rubbing at his mustache again, the man began to patrol the edge of the hill, seeing if he could find a way up or at least get a better glance to the other side. Once again, he found himself lost in his own little world.

After a moment, though, he managed to pause and turn back to Ayls, "Well, tell you what. Why don't you go back to camp and tell him where we've gone? S'not far, and if I need anything I'll just holler, of course." The plump man offered her a beaming smile, doing his best to convince her all things would be well. Besides, what harm could it really be? Only a few minutes walk from the camp, and you could follow the water's edge all the way back there. No chance in getting lost at all!

Besides, finding out what had laid those tadpoles had suddenly become of the utmost importance to the alchemist.

Ayls looked torn at the suggestion. She knew that Rua would be furious with them for wandering too far without his protection, and knew they had no real way of understanding what dangers lurked in the forest to the same degree as the mercenary did. But as they could plainly see, this part of the forest was sparsely populated by flora, the amount of trees thinning remarkably compared to everyone else. So long as they stayed attentive, other creatures would be hard-pressed to sneak up on them.

Right?

The woman brushed some strands of hairs from her face and scratched herself behind the ear, considering Orup's suggestion. "Well, I suppose that'll work," she said, relenting--she'd try and signal Rua to find them. His hearing was good, she knew that much. "Just be careful, okay? Whatever spawned those things might not be friendly."

The large man chuckled at her, actually patting her on the shoulder briefly. "Oh don't worry about me, Miss Larawn. I'm always careful! Alchemy is a dangerous business, after all, and the wilderness outside of the caves certainly doesn't help." Turning away from her, the large man placed his foot in what looked like would be a good place to start up the steep hill, but the ground gave way immediately, so he retracted it. "Besides, I'm just going to take a quick look. I'm sure I'll be on my way back to the camp before you even find Rua!" he added, confidently. Orup wasn't too concerned about it anyway.

Letting her go her own way, the large man tried and failed at another foothold, this time almost tripping over himself as he skidded back down the hill. After a few more failed attempts, the man finally found something that could support his weight, and he carefully pulled himself up, step by step, until he crested the hill. Dusting some dirt off his treasures, the man grinned at his success, drawing himself to a standing position as he was finally able to look around.

It was quite the water source, all things considered. Southern Hyrule was no desert, but large bodies of water weren't the easiest thing to come by. While Orup could easily see to the other side, walking around the whole thing would still take some time. Maybe not quite a lake, the thing was a large pond at the very least. In moments, the man found himself lost in taking samples of the small green plants that grew around its banks.