The Eternal Sanctum (Holy Knight Headquarters)

[Apollymi]

Healer, Scout, Animal Whisperer. All of these were things that Anais considered herself. She was also a bard and a fairly reasonable sword-wielder, and now... a fairly proficient alchemist. How Charles described her, was how he would have in terms of a children's card game. In truth, the term staple was one which was apart of his earlier words enough that Martha understood what a compliment it was coming from him. "I see. I'm glad she ended up hanging out with someone like you then," Martha added. Anais from even just a few moments of conversation seemed to be quiet and unknowing of the true depths of her own abilities. Given this, she could have easily been taken advantage of in the wrong kind of situation. As far as Martha was concerned Charles was probably one of the best people for her to end up hanging out with of the people she knew...

"Griffins are kind of unruly at best... and I thought Pegasus liked to go solo, like unicorns," Anais murmured. She'd never tried riding anything draconic at all either so she figured the horse creatures were likely to be best, but as a scout she presented all options as openly as possible. 'We could ride a dragon, wanna find a hot one and try?~' Sinais was suddenly rather talkative again and this time beyond the lionman of their earlier discourse encouraging her to ride a dragon, with a tone and cadence that implied a very specific kind of riding. Finger tapping had returned and Yume remained watching with something of a devious smirk on her face. How very interesting. Luckily Ailen decided to speak which was enough to distract the elafia drawing her attention to her mentor.

He spoke of a species similar to a pegasus which would be drawn by the void influence present here. Anais and Yume had both noticed something, but neither found anything negative with what they felt. "Sou ka, I thought I felt something familiar, so we going to investigate the dark horses?" Yume asked, Anais could only look in the direction of their query and Sakura did as well. The abilities being shown by this group at large were rather interesting and she'd remained quiet to take it all in. She found their abilities interesting at least, but more so than that, Charles had become very interesting. Initially she'd been a bit worried about his mind, but it seemed his thoughts were more suited to things she didn't have expertise in, so she'd falling into her older habits, observing his thought patterns directly while being rather reserved.

[Bloodedge]

"That makes two of us," was Charlemagne's simple response to Martha. With that, his thoughts moved forward to the acquisition of some unknown pegasus-like creature. Ailen's words were quite helpful in identifying the target he thought best for their approach. "Are they dangerous?" Charlemagne asked, causing the elf to shake his head. "Not at all. Though it would certainly defend itself as any creature would, a Thestral is peaceful in nature. They only receive a terrible reputation for two reasons: they are creatures of demonic origin, and they can only be seen by those who have witnessed death. Most mortals view them as bad omens, but they are wonderful creatures," Ailen insisted.

Thestrals seemed like a suitable option for their departure. It seemed most of the group had eyes already set on the horizon, so Charlemagne wouldn't be holding them up at all. Yume was the one to question the finality of their decision; she'd get an answer posthaste. "I say we go for it! We run up, we find these thestrals, and we go..." Charlemagne paused for a moment, opening his senses once more to the Holy Grail trace. Once he'd done that, he pointed southeast. "That way! It doesn't feel too ridiculously far from here, so it shouldn't be much of a flight. Lead the way, Annie!"

[Apollymi]

Martha was a pretty understanding individual. She'd seen the kindness of Anais even yesterday when she'd offered to heal Siegfried without prompting and when she'd gone along to do so regardless. She seemed like the type of person who wasn't quite finished yet and who could use someone looking out for her, and as such Charles was one of the best people for her to meet. Soon after that, Ailen's brain was being exhausted a bit, as questions were asked of him concerning their next major endeavor which was taming something he'd called a Thestral. According to Ailen they'd defend themselves against danger, but weren't inherently dangerous they were simply misunderstood. They could apparently only be seen by those who'd witnessed death, and beyond that were demonic in nature and as such the people of this world didn't appreciate them very much. "Sou ka," Anais murmured seeming to be storing and processing the information processed by her mentor, she might have a few questions later that needed clarifying.

But right at the moment she was needed. She'd be leading the charge towards the creatures and so she took up a casual pace towards them. Her own senses were also open so she could avoid scaring the creatures if possible. Technically they weren't too far off from the Sanctum itself. But it was still a bit of a walk for those who were unused to the sort of activity it would have been. Up a plateau towards an area that overlooked a rather large opening right at the edge of a tree line. They were quite skinny but they had black leathery wings like bats while having the general shape and demeanor of horses. They grazed, and frolicked with unusual abandon. All along, Anais herself had been making no noise upon her approach and would be the first to step out to greet them to keep them from panicking if necessary. But... something strange would be happening with that notion. Small heard of the creatures would be turning to face the elafia and bowing in subservience. "That's unexpected," she said softly.

[Bloodedge]

And so, the group was guided toward a herd of demonic, flying horses. Ailen seemed easily capable of casually following the elafia. Charlemagne was in the same proverbial boat, and Astolfo... well, Astolfo was still lazily slumped over a horse, letting it carry him along. Yuuya, the least known of the leading group, also appeared to have no issues making the trek. Along the way, it was Ailen who seemed the most distracted. Everything in this upper layer of the world was quite fascinating. Both flora and fauna were of extraordinary quality everywhere he looked.

In due time, Anais stepped out ahead of the others to meet with the thestrals. In doing so however, she was met by the subservience of an entire herd. Charlemagne was almost certain she hadn't done anything intentionally, but there was obviously little to no point in waiting around now. He stepped up behind the elafia, treading softly and slowly. Once he reached the lass, he spoke just as softly as he'd been walking. "Did you... by chance, get another ability I don't know about? Or am I racist for wondering if it's a related species type of thing?" he wondered aloud.

[Apollymi]

Martha was another who walked along as if unperturbed by the distance or nature of things. At the same time, Yume seemed not to be doing much walking at all, after a certain number of steps the halo above her head seemed to be glowing, keeping her in a tractor beam of sorts which had her floating gently along absently poking Astolfo's nose one in a while as he was slumped over his horse. Meanwhile, Sakura was taking in the sights, in a manner rather similar to her elf father, though admittedly with much less enthusiasm. 'I wonder if I could have borrowed Wu-papa's cloud?' she wondered curiously.

Eventually though, they would find themselves before a herd of thestrals. The bowing to Anais was something she'd not expected. There had been no magical assertion, no skills use or anything like that. They'd simply decided to bow to her, as odd as she found it. At the approach of Charles they seemed to stand a bit straighter, but as there was no showing of fear from Anais there they seemed content to wait for her approach. Charles's words to the elafia were comical at best, but a bit of sarcasm seemed capable of escaping her in the moment. "I've been able to upgrade a few of my skills, but I haven't gotten anything new, at least not for this... and you're definitely racist~" Anais said casually. "Definitely racist, she's not a demon horse," mentioned Yume who'd approached as well, it would seem that bowing was back on the menu which would garner her a look as well. "Hm, I'm demon stuff... I am wearing one of their gods as a dress.. so it makes a bit of sense. Petting a demon horse now~" she mused as she approached more than willing to walk up to one and after a tentative approach while one remained with its head down she gave it a gentle pat rubbing its neck gently. "Hm, in that case it's probably has to do with the spirit then," Anais hypothesized. 'Hell yes it was me! Bow before me!~' Sinais was quite an interesting person inside her head. And it would be Yume who looked towards her and raised a brow. "Yes, the deer spirit." Yume's words held a certain amount of sarcasm. "I guess that takes care of the ride thing. But do we ignore how ridiculous this is?" Martha asked legitimately.

[Bloodedge]

If Charlemagne was certain of one thing in recent times, it was that oddities would continue occurring. Anais received the subservience of creatures none of them had mentioned encountering before, he was apparently being racist again, and Yume received a similar reaction to Anais upon her approach. Whatever the reason for these events, Charlemagne had plenty of reason to sigh. "Of course I'm being racist. Again," he huffed. While Yume went ahead to pet one of the thestrals, Charlemagne stood back and contemplated the immediate future. For flying creatures, they didn't seem like they would possess enough stamina and coordination to carry multiple people who were not of the Rider class. On the other hand, they couldn't gamble on griffon-taming or wyvern-subduing for all eight of them. This remained the best course of action.

Ah, but they did have two Riders along with them. With those two leading the charge, perhaps their flight could be organized well enough? "Asta, Martha, do either of you think it's possible to corral these things for a cross-island trip?" he wondered. Luckily, there was no need for their answer. Ever the wise elf, Ailen knew the potential difficulties of riding eight thestrals across long distances. While behind the others, it seemed he had somehow produced a carriage large enough to fit eight-to-ten adults. "Sharp mind. No need to worry. You're right in assuming a coordinated trip would prove difficult, but it is easily solved by keeping all of the thestrals grouped like this," he said, drawing attention to the large, wooden construct behind him. There appeared to be small branches and leaves sprouting from the carriage, as if it had just been literally grown. Alas, Charlemagne, Astolfo and Yuuya didn't see a thing until Ailen spoke. "If we had half as many taking the trip, it would be no issue. With this number however, I would say at least four drawing a carriage would be ideal unless there are many stops to be made along the way," the elf added. Charlemagne had enough of questioning the ridiculous, but Yuuya was baffled by the carriage's sudden appearance. "Sugoi! Did he already have that? It looks like it was just built, but there aren't trees missing or anything. I keep seeing so many new things in this world!"

[Apollymi]

Charles gave a huff, which was about what Anais had come to expect. It made her smile just a little to see him a bit more in a regular mood from what he had been the two days prior to this. Sakura also took note of the playful discontent and wondered if it was more normal. There was also his question of racism, which she didn't understand but figured that was along thing she just didn't have context for, yet. Meanwhile, Anais took to questioning Yume gently. "Why did you say deer like that?" she asked while also petting one of the creatures. "No reason, you can see them right? You think Kei-chan would like them?" she asked about the creatures. "Yeah, demonic horse is definitely right up her alley," Anais confrmed.

In the meantime Charles brain was still working. He was thinking through the coordinated movement necessary to see eight people get to a new place. He asked their resident riders about corralling multiple creatures, and Martha began giving it some thought... only to have her thunder stolen by the elf that had been along with them the entire time. "Eh?" that was the only thing she could say. Though Martha had been in this world much longer than Yuuya, she also didn't expect the appearance of a carriage out of nowhere. "It's really nice, Shishou," Anais said taking notice of the box. It would seem about four would be needed and she had begun picking them for the expedition. She didn't choose the bigger adults nor the smaller juveniles but instead the ones within the middle who looked like they were apt for adventure. And in the end with a bit of her mana applied she had four following her towards the carriage. "Hm, you guys think these four will work. I thought they had the best general size and fitness requirements," she offered to Astolfo and Martha. "Are we really just skipping past the Cinderella carriage?" she asked, of the world at large. She was used to combat proficiency and a bit of extravagance when one encountered the Egyptians, but this was getting out of hand quickly even for her.

[Bloodedge]

With a carriage at the ready, Ailen seemed prepared to move at any given moment. This upper world was so interesting that he thought it worthwhile to investigate more areas. Even if he remained at the Eternal Sanctum for a while longer, he'd only be observing for ages to come. Such was the life of a scholar in new environments. Luckily for him, Anais was quick to collect a group of thestrals that all seemed suitable to the journey ahead. Astolfo seemed a bit whiney for reasons not yet made clear, but... in typical Astolfo fashion, he'd make his gripes clear soon enough. "Will they get us to the beach episode? All that talk about spring break reminded me of the beach episode!" he groaned.

"That's 'Astolfo' for 'they're fine,'" said Charlemagne. He wasn't even bothered by the sudden carriage, but Martha apparently was ─ while Yuuya was merely astounded. Talk of a Cinderella carriage was very on the nose, Charlemagne thought. "If I'm being honest, that's the least crazy thing I've seen this week. It only gets weirder if you think about it too much," he assured. With that, he was en route to the carriage. Despite his lax behavior about it, Charlemagne would be the one most immediately affected by its interior. The front possessed space enough for two, as one might expect when two Riders were present. Inside, however, there were two seats right behind the drivers' location, and... two seats on either side of a throne at the other end. That throne seemed fit for two. Of course it was. Seeing the lad's strange expression, Ailen spoke again while urging him into the carriage. "In elf society, transportation follows the arrangement of our councils. I've adjusted that view of hierarchy based on the structure of Munetsuchi by adding a throne fit for two. Go on. I think setting up the thestrals will be easily handled without you, so perhaps we should start moving."

[Apollymi]

And there it was. Everything with Astolfo came back to the 'beach episode'. He had whiny type statements to share about the potential for these thestrals to lead to that eventuality. Anais could only shake her head. She cuold fully tell at this point that the lad was related to her friend, she also had a strange fixation on very specific subjects from time to time. Ones which would come up literal months after the fact with the same enthusiasm. Charles, even went so far as to explain that the lad thought the creatures fine for their purpose. "It's okay. I understood that one, I now fully realize how much he's like his sister," Anais muttered as she gave a final gentle pat to the creature.

It would seem beyond that, Martha wasn't ready for the sheer number of outrageous incidents she was likely to encounter being attached to Charles and his group for any amount of time. The lad claimed that the elf making a carriage out of nothing wasn't even the most ridiculous thing he'd seen all week. "I am morbidly curious but I also don't think I want to know. Like I don't get how you're handling all this... I have no idea how I am going to handle all of this..." Martha clarified. Sakura looked at the woman confused. She was a teacher but she didn't want to know this thing? Was this another human emotional thing? She supposed she'd continue observing. Just the same she looked into the carriage and smiled at the interior. "Arigatou gouzaimasu, Otou-chan," she said willing to enter with Charles after he received his explanation. She had no problem taking the seat that was meant for her, leaving enough space for Charles to join her. Yume went and flopped down seeming to have some understanding of the hierarchy already she took a window seat opposite the other pair. And Martha for her point in this understood her job as a rider and took one of the front seats assuming that Astolfo would take the other. She cast a simple magic that would let her harness the thestrals and ready them all for departure. Anais went to join her mentor and would enter the carriage with him whenever he was ready to do so. And then they'd all be ready to go.

[Bloodedge]

"... Somebody decided to make two of them?" Charlemagne wondered aloud accidentally. He didn't know Astolfo had a sibling in either world, and he couldn't imagine someone making the conscious decision to birth a second person like that. Knowing they were similar in a noteworthy manner only solidified that train of thought. Astolfo didn't seem to mind the form of conversation being had about him; he was far too busy lamenting his lack of a true, scandalous beach experience. In fact, he was dragging his feet upon actually sliding off that horse. At least he still had the horse. It wouldn't have been naturally capable of accompanying them, but as a Rider, Astolfo was able to link it to himself via temporary summoning contract. Once he managed that, the pink-haired lad took a seat next to Martha.

Charlemagne just had to deal with some things at this point. He was obviously meant to share a seat with Sakura. They both understood as much, with Sakura thanking her father for the construct while taking that middle seat herself. Charlemagne didn't even bother arguing before joining the lass on the throne. He would be joined soon enough by Ailen, who took the empty seat at Sakura's side. Yuuya, feeling as if he belonged the least among this group, took the open seat on the carriage's less-crowded side. All the while, Astolfo was joining Martha with some magical reins of his own. "Blehh! Astolfo Taxi activate!" he exclaimed, albeit somewhat lazily.