Welcome to Gaia! ::

As the shadow patch wrapped around him he sighed as the dimness was welcome and he was able to open his eyes some.
He knew it had to be from the woman as he sensed magic from her that was almost like his. His eyes were still puffy and swollen, but that would go away in time.

Cris slid off the horse and leaned against it, stroking its mane as he let the others talk.

Baulken huffed and puffed as he stood up straighter and puffed his chest out like a bird trying to seem bigger than it was.
"Ha! You may think you can dance around me, but you will get tired soon enough. We dwarves are sturdy and will not give up!"
Hearing at who taught her, he shrugged.
"Yes, but I served in Lareth's army and he trained many of us himself!"

Blade gave a soft laugh at the dwarf, "But who beats Lareth?" she asked him simply then checked on the Drow, frowning when she noticed that he'd gotten off of the horse, "Getting to the castle would be easier by horse... I'm sure we've got one sent over by Lareth that would hold even the Dwarf," she deliberately looked Baulken's form over slowly as if assessing his size, "At least, I hope so..." she teased him on purpose, unable to help herself.

She looked at Anube finally, "Wait here with them. I'll get the horses since Trouble there says the Dwarf made an a** out of himself with the stablemaster..." she told him simply, hesitated just a second, gave him a kiss on the cheek, then took off running.

It didn't take her long to return with three other regular horses and one that looked like the linebacker of horses. But what was more shocking was that they were simply following her without her holding the reins. She motioned to the very muscled, slightly shorter, heavily boned horse with the red eyes and a blue merle coat, "This is the Stud. He won't take another name, so don't even bother trying. Lareth sent him over in case we had a dwarf with the need to travel from the village to the castle or vice-verse," she explained then watched as the horse simply walked over to Baulken, grabbed the collar of his shirt in strong teeth, tossed him up, then moved under him, getting him seated in the saddle without a problem.

She motioned to one that was almost entirely a solid dunn color but for a patch of white around one eye, "This is Patch. He's agreed to ferry you Yamille. He prefers the ladies anyway," she said wryly, knowing she'd appreciate the humor of that one. That left two.

One followed her over to the Drow, dark eyes keen to see Cris, "Cris, this is Shade. He was bread by Aeriolous' people and sent here if any should make a visit. I think you'll understand when you touch him," she said softly and motioned for Shade to take Trouble's place, the transfer made easily. But when Cris' hands touched Shade's side, shadows trailed from the horse's heels, moved with every action of his tail, and even blew from his nose as he reached around to nuzzle Cris' arm. With that particular steed, though, Cris' healing would start almost instantly, the breed created specifically by the Drow to carry the Drow in all situations, day or night.

Blade motioned the last horse over to Anube, "I thought you'd be fine with Trouble there, lover. I'll take Killer," she told him simply and winked at him, "I'm the only one on the island that can ride him and survive it," she added as the huge blood-red stallion nosed at her back roughly, causing her to turn and whack him with a fist right between the eyes. After that, he settled down just fine.

"So, everyone ready to head to the castle now?" she asked needlessly, knowing full well that there couldn't be an excuse to avoid heading that way at this point.

Blade flashed him a grin and a wink as she got on Killer's back, the horse turning his head to nuzzle her leg a bit. As Anube got on Trouble, though, he behaved for about ten steps. Then he made a twisting hop to keep his rider on his toes and moved on as if nothing had happened.

The others started to follow her lead, Patch telling Yamille that he loved all kinds of ladies. Both under him and on his back. He was just happy as long as they spread their legs for him.

Blade just shook her head and simply lead everyone on to the castle without another word...

After a day full of work Callisto's pack was lighter and her coin purse heavier. Remembering how difficult it was to start out on this first above-water location without their currency, she wanted to make sure it wouldn't be a problem next time. She'd gone back to their room at the inn for a bit to make some minor repairs and patch the hole in the wall. It was drying but still needed to be painted. To be sure no one from the inn came into their room she put one of those little signs on the door knob outside. She knew that the room had a map of the island in the dresser, but decided to just find her own way to the caverns. She waited for a bit at the entrance for Leon to show up, but it wasn't long until her curiosity sent her inside.

Her vision was much better than that of a human's in the darkness and so she only relied on her eyes to navigate the tunnels. She could also faintly smell that Leon had gone this way, so she kept going until she found the main chamber. She closed her eyes to let them adjust to the brightness of the room. It took a few minutes and after she could see the main details of the place. The clear, sparkling walls and huge fire. Her boyfriend shrouded in that blue glow and seemingly fighting the air. She squinted at him a bit before putting her sunglasses on and moving closer. She stopped, seeing how preoccupied he was, and set her pack down near the wall. She waited for a bit to see if he'd take a break as she didn't wish to break his focus. She sat down next to her pack and, resting her chin in an open palm, settled for watching him practice until he took a break.

A slight smile lingered upon her lips from when she'd been watching him practice. She noted the kiss on the cheek curiously, finding the contact to be foreign but adorable in a sense. She looked at him and considered for a moment asking him about his technique. She recalled what he'd told her about it and wondered when he'd start showing signs of those health issues he'd mentioned. She decided against it and instead offered him a smile. "I don't mind. The way you move when you fight is beautiful."

She held out her flask in an unspoken offer. It was a simple one, made of common materials and inside was only water. "I did better than I thought I would today. What do you think about exploring the rest of the island for a couple days? Sleeping under the stars?" She hadn't forgotten why they'd agreed to meet up here in the first place but still found the idea to be enticing.

Callisto watched him get lost in thought, numerous questions popping up that she wanted to ask him. He seemed to be seriously thinking about his technique on his own though and she didn't want to break his focus by speaking to him. She was surprised to see him disengage his technique and, unsure, accepted his offer and teaching as things proceeded. She was a bit embarrassed by the close proximity and it was distracting. It took constantly reminding herself that this was training in order to remain serious. She shoved more playful thoughts and comments she could make to the back of her mind. Once she'd finally achieved the stance he wanted it took her a minute to focus on the present. She looked down at herself, noting what she was supposed to stand like.

What did it mean for a kick to be connected? Connected to what and what did he mean by weight? She looked up at him, ready to ask these things, and forgot those question when she saw the smile on his face. She couldn't help but smile back at him. "Right. What were we do--? Oh! Right! Training!" She was embarrassed that she'd forgotten so easily despite having tried to be serious for a while. This was one of those times she'd wished she'd thought about what she was going to say before actually saying it. "S-so, stand like this! Got it! H-how do you remember--? I mean, what's the next step?" She forced a cheerful smile, hoping that this lesson would continue and that she hadn't insulted him by getting distracted. She'd started to ask how he remembered to take this stance every time, but thought twice about it since it seemed he'd already given her the answer.

Callisto, pleasantly surprised by his lack of reaction to her becoming distracted so easily and quickly, tried once more to understand what he was trying to teach her. Her eyes followed his movements as he performed the kick. It hadn't taken long for her to learn how to walk with legs. She was perfectly comfortable with running and jumping. As she watched his leg extend and then be pulled back towards his body she became a little lost in thought. "It's high.." She muttered to herself, unintentionally staring at his leg as she pondered just how she'd be able to do that. It didn't look impossible but it wouldn't be the first time she'd failed at something. Momentum... She repeated to herself and tossed off her cloak. She then shifted to return to the stance he'd shown her.

She raised her leg a little as a sort of practice for kicking at that height. She wobbled a bit but managed to avoid falling. She recalled the way he'd moved when they'd fought each other yesterday. And the attitude he'd had during. For obvious reasons she couldn't spar with him underwater. Hunting on land was definitely different. She felt like her way of fighting wasn't as smooth as his was, but wanted to prove that she could adapt. She wanted to impress him with this first kick he was showing her. So, she quickly reassumed the starting stance and then went right into performing the move. She put too much effort behind the kick and the momentum of it unbalanced her. She fell onto her knee with her kicking leg stretched out in front of herself. The long skirt of her dress, which had bellowed out to the front with her kick, was puffed out to the fullest around her.

She quickly pushed herself back up and started over again. She wobbled a bit unsteadily but this time didn't fall forward. She brought her leg back in fairly quickly, but needed to plant it on the ground halfway through the motion to avoid falling over. She was annoyed that she was having trouble staying balanced on one leg. Even more so because she knew that he knew and what she'd intended was to be an impressive student. "Actually doing that is so different compared to watching you do it. You're really good at it." She commented, though irritated she was still honestly impressed by the long-term dedication it took to be able to do such moves. Without hesitation she reassumed the starting stance and began to attempt the move again. She was determined to do it well enough to compete with him. However, she wasn't really thinking ahead as to how much practice it would take for a novice to compete on the same level as a master.

She stopped what she was doing when he mentioned moving through water and looked over at him in surprise. Mention of it rang an alarm bell in her mind but he wasn't acting strangely. Did he suspect her? If he found out, she didn't want to kill him. It wasn't just her secret and she had seen him doing just what he'd described. So it was just a coincidence. Oh, how she hoped it was just a coincidence. She returned to the stance and gradually started to attempt it again. "Really? You don't look like the kind of guy who likes to swim." She was half-joking to cover up her reason for being surprised by his statement. As she implemented his suggestion, she found it a bit easier to keep her balance as she kicked. It took several more attempts before she was able to restrain her energy to the point that she could perform something of a snap kick while standing in one place.

She looked over at him again, a smile on her face as she was pleased to finally be able to do a snap kick. Least she thought it was good enough. "How'd I do, teach?" She was ready to demonstrate that she could do it with either leg while maintaining her balance and not putting too much force behind it.