Chatter

It took a little while until Morrigan came out of the hut and carried a package of things.

Looking at it one could see equipment for building a tent and various other practical things that would come to be useful to survive in the wild. She even included a traveling cloak.

And if Nero had to guess other stuff that was of more womanly concern. Women still were women, no matter the time. That didn't change. Even if how thorny the stalk of a rose seems to be.

One just had to look at some of the flasks dangling around her baggage. Most of it was probably for alchemy, sure.

Well, like mother, like daughter. Her herbalist knowledge will surely come in handy.

Not that she would need all that in the city, though. He had a laboratory inside the castle he planned to let her use if she felt doing research.

But all in all, she just prepared for a long journey in general. It clearly showed that her priorities lay in a clear pragmatic realist way.

Nero had to smile slightly at that. He carried some things on himself as well but most of it is taken care of by the storage space inside his ring. That being said, he mostly meant the Lyrium and other magical useful ingredients.

Why bother to waste space with the mundane? In a sense, it also explained why such storage rings are such treasure trophies in all those fantasy worlds.

The space itself was not infinite but could very easily carry about an average western room of space? Okay, maybe? If he had to quantify it, it would be about 70m³. So about a larger standard freight container?

Well, the whole equipment and material he carried around in middle earth had to go somewhere, right? You won't believe how often he had to use it to get material from one place to another.

Magical appearing buildings and restructuring of conquered bases? Hell, the game made it look so freaking easy. It all took months and years! And a hell of lot of resources to boot!

If he had let his minions do the work and transport it, it would have taken a lot longer than that...

That is also why the projects in this world also came to be so quick as well. But only the most trustworthy knew about this. To be exact, only his right hand.

Anyway, it is one of the much more useful abilities of this ring that Nero was glad about.

Currently, though, he is still carrying most survival necessities inside a small duffle-like bag made out of robust leather at his waist that is strapped over his shoulder and was hidden behind his cloak.

It didn't really hinder his movements much.

Things like his bow were kept inside the ring if anyone wondered how he had one when he attacked that one wolf last night.

"Looks like you are ready." - Nero commented now and stood up.

"I'm ready." She nodded to him in response.

"Then I wish you farewell, mother." Her gaze wandered over to Flemeth that took a quick glance over to them as well.

But when she went back to her brewing and her attention stopped being on the two, there seemed to be a slight frown appearing on Morrigan's face.

Nero saw that and sighed inwardly. A child scorned and bereft of a parental soft show of affection will always seek that what one didn't get.

He had to think about his little sister for a short moment when he saw Morrigan like that. It couldn't be that he was also as strict as Flemeth, right?

Shaking away that thought he started to walk away and Morrigan followed suit after seeing him start to leave.

"Remember this being a debt, child." Flemeth suddenly said something and Nero stopped and looked back.

He took her words more seriously than other people's words. Well, how can you not be affected by the knowledge that lets you subconsciously give her more weight to certain individuals?

"..." Nero was quiet for a short moment and thought about his answer. "If possible, I will repay it. But that will all depend on the demand."

All debts will be paid, but not each of them has the same weight as the other, and therefore stupidly trying to fix each and every one of them is clearly in vain.

But debts that involve blood feuds are another matter entirely. He will see in time what exactly this woman will do.

Not waiting any longer he left together with his new companion.

It also didn't take long until Morrigan started a conversation. Not that her piercing gaze was enough to unnerve even the calmest of person.

Nero almost felt like she was going to drill through his body with that powerful gaze underneath her hood.

"So, how exactly is it that you know my mother?", asked Morrigan.

"Already getting impatient with the silence of walking?" Nero chuckled. "Who does not know about your mother?"

Morrigan scoffed. "Legends do not exactly put much effort in portraying the truth. I do not believe someone like you would come here just in hope to find an old witch of the wilds."

"Someone like me?" Nero even started laughing softly now before continuing. "But I did exactly that. There is really not much to it." It's not like that he is going to tell her that he was actually there because he wanted to find something out about Mythal.

He could already feel it the moment he mentioned Fen'harel after all.

Flemeth knew that Nero had information about her true identity. And that was something really not many would ever come to know. Yet she didn't do anything and even let him take one of her daughters.

Actually, was it considered that his ulterior motive was to get this eye candy? Not that he was actually sure enough that he would gain Morrigan's affection. For that, they may very well be too different of individuals.

But he sure as hell can see why most would sail this ship to the very end, even if it meant committing murder and engaging in cultic rituals.

Anyway, he was drifting off and by the looks, Morrigan was frowning when he had vaguely answered back without giving a certain answer to her inquiry.

"Someone that is clearly knowledgeable enough to walk into these parts of the woods to find her is not exactly someone that would go there by chance..."

"Now that is a different approach to your question. Yes, I came to visit her because I wanted to find out about something. So my main goal was information. And with her age, it is likely she had what I sought."

Now Morrigan was the one chuckling lightly. Her mood seemed to have improved a little. "That is an interesting way to put it. But now I ended up being your arcane mentor?"

Nero was a little bit tempted to tease her when he heard her laughter. "Maybe your mother found some good prospect for you and took the chance? But I wonder what she is really up to?"

Morrigan at first was thinking about his words and smiled. "Ah, I see now. And you said yes, without even having seen me before?"

Nero chuckled at that. "Enough with the small talk. I think we are far done with walking." He skipped that obvious trap of a question that would lead to a rather tricky situation. Then he whistled a certain tune and looked up.

Morrigan seemed to be a little bit disappointed that he had ignored her last question but that soon was put aside when she looked intrigued at his action.

What made her shocked was the appearance of a beautiful light blue colored Griffon landing at their spot after it came flying over them in the sky.

It looked around at first, then went to Nero and nuzzled with him. The full and lush dark blue mane nearly swallowed the man that softly patted the head of the creature.

Then it looked over at Morrigan and cried a soft sound with its black-tipped blue beak.

"This here is Luna. Luna, this is Morrigan." Nero explained and the griffon cried again to acknowledge his introduction.

"That is a griffon..." Morrigan was still looking at this creature and could not suppress her curiosity.

Nero smiled and then mounted on Luna's back and stretched out his hand.

"Here, let me lend you a hand."

"Wait, we are going to fly?", asked Morrigan back.

"Of course. You may not know. But I am a pretty busy person and this will lessen our traveling time."

Morrigan took his hand and sat in front of Nero.

"Hold on tight." Nero held Morrigan with one hand at her waist and the other at the saddle.

With a strong jump after Luna spread her wings, they were straight in the air in no time. Beneath them, the forest became smaller and smaller

At ground level, an elderly woman looked into the sky, humming a certain tune of a song.