The Dragon And The Pony 3 Shakirin-La -The Adventure of Fiery

“What is this place? I’ve never seen something like this before.” Calm Tempest wondered while brushing over the wall with her wing, causing loose flecks of masonry to come off and fall into the thin stream of water below her. “It’s completely covered in moss, but it doesn’t look like the underlying stones have been eroded.”

“Hard to tell. I can’t see anything distinctive that would narrow down who built this and when,” Rythil replied. “If we find any engravings or something with more individual style than tunnel walls, we might be able to tell.”

“If it wasn’t for the swampy water and the fact everything is more or less overgrown with moldy moss, this place would probably be pretty homey,” Fertile Desert said. “Nothing against a green home, the more plants the better, but please, no mold.”

“Nothing a bit of fire can’t cure,” Grounded Star started. “A few more bites of this anger-plant…”

“I said we’re not calling it anger-plant,” I threw in.

“... of this useful plant Fee-De found, and we could get rid of all the mold in no time.”

As you can see, we were able to make good use of the plant Fertile Desert found. A few of my kirins had eaten a bunch of those leaves before we entered the tunnel and were now shedding a good amount of light for the rest of us.

“I wonder why it doesn’t smell though,” Fertile Desert wondered aloud. “Normally mold reeks, however, all I’m smelling is nutmeg with a hint of earth beneath the scent of stone.”

“It’s also very quiet. No sign of the usual insects.” Rapt Glance added.

That brought a smile to Calm Tempest’s face, since she was among the members of my merriment who got stung the most often. “Whatever’s suppressing the smell must also be keeping the insects out. Sounds like something useful for the summer for sure. And for this swamp.”

“I would bet it’s a spell. If I lived in a swamp, I would surely develop a spell like this too,” Rapt Glance said. “Not that I’m all that into magic to begin with, but in an area like this, it seems indispensable.”

“It would be good if you kept your muzzle shut,” Dad growled back at us. “If anykirin is lurking around down here, we don’t want to alert them.”

“If they don’t already know that we’re coming,” Rythil whispered back.

“Why do you assume that?” I wondered.

“It’s just an idea. It’s entirely possible that there are other kirins living here, and given the last one targeted you specifically, it’s highly likely they know about this whole merriment thing. And since they’ve already captured Blizzard Silence, I doubt they wouldn’t have come to the conclusion that she isn’t the leader of your merriment.” He began stroking his whiskers. “So they would expect some kirin higher in rank to come looking for them.”

“Mhh, maybe, but only if they figured out that Bliz isn’t the leader. They could just not know.”

“If Fortuna wills it, luck will be on our side.”

I stopped in my tracks and faceclawed. “I should have asked you to bless Bliz and her team before I sent them over. Fotuna even made sure I knew what ability her priests possessed. She even told me I would have use of that wisdom later.”

“Wouldn’t that be against the rules you mentioned they’re following in this regard?”

I bit my lip and released a little ‘hmm’. “I’m not sure. I think directly intervening is not allowed, though, if you’re just doing something you do anyway as her priest, it might be okay? If it is against the rules though, she can just deny your request.”

“That kind of makes sense.”

“Remind me next time to ask you for a blessing for my merriment.”

“Will do.”

*

We continued our treck deeper into the tunnel until eventually the walls spread out to form a larger hall. How could I tell that it was large? The moment we entered, two braziers on the other end, besides a huge stone door, ignited themselves and gave off enough light to confirm the rooms size.

“Anyone else finding this disturbing?” Fertile Desert asked.

“I’ve seen stranger things already,” I replied while stepping into the hall behind Dad. My gaze wandered over the pale grey tiles covering the ground. Some of them were cracked, and here and there, a bit of moss was growing between them, but they were mostly still intact.

“At least this hall isn’t flooded, the water must drain away somehow,” Rythil commented. And indeed, the two small streams flowed into two small pools at either side of the hall. Just like at home, there must be a hole in the wall letting the water out.

“I wonder where this door leads,” Grounded Star piped up and hoovered a little higher. The light she was emitting allowed us to see the rest of the hall better, and see that besides the huge stone door and the hall we had just walked down, there were no other exits.

“I’m sure that this new guy could tell us if he was awake,” Calm Tempest replied. “Still no success in waking him up?”

“No,” Rapt Glance shook his head. “He hit the ground quite hard, I don’t know when he’s going to wake up.”

“Well, we could give him a bite of the anger… I mean of the shrink plant,” Fertile Desert suggested.

“I said we’re not calling it shrink plant either!”

She just ducked and whimpered.

“This could be a trap,” Dad's sudden words drew my attention. He held the kirins behind him back with an outstretched wing. “Fluffy’s cousin wrote a lot about places like this.”

“You mean aunt Daring.”

Dad ruffled his snout and slightly growled. “This looks exactly like one of the places she describes in her books. Some old building in the middle of nowhere connected to a system of rooms, tunnels or similar, and every time there are deadly traps, monsters, or one of her enemies to try and kill her.”

“Maybe I should go first then, kind of runs in the family to survive such things.”

Dad’s growl was answer enough.

“Well, I can go first,” Rythil offered. “I should be protected by luck enough to not get us into trouble.”

“Or we can all simply fly over,” Grounded Star suggested from above. “If there’s a hidden trigger buried in the ground, we should avoid it if we can.”

“Or maybe, this is one of the cases where there are no traps at all?” Rapt Glance threw in. “Maybe this is just an old abandoned underground hall, and all the traps are long degraded, if there were any to begin with.”

“Possible, but unlikely,” I said. “Dad is right about aunt Daring’s books. This place looks exactly like it was taken from one of them.”

“Flying over it makes the most sense,” Dad decided. He lowered his wing. “Fortuna has great might, Rythil, you fly over first.”

“Alright with me,” Rythil said and started to float into the air. Slowly, he drifted towards the door while the rest of us followed him with our gaze. As he flew, he threw concerned glances at the ground below him as well as at the pillars next to the door, as if they could collapse if he just thought too much about it. He made it to the door without any incident though. Once there, he waved at us, signaling for us to follow.

Grounded Star was the first to follow his request. “Seems safe enough to me,” she said and flew over as well. However, unlike with Rythil, when she reached the middle of the hall, something did happen.

Behind us, the rumbling and scraping of stone over stone could be heard.

“Watch out,” one of my kirins yelled, pointing at the entrance. Some even tried to hurry back, but it was too late. With a loud crash, a stoneplate dropped into place and blocked our path back.

“So much for all the traps being long gone,” Rapt Glance said quietly.

“Seems we’re trapped in here now,” Fertile Desert added.

My gaze wandered over the plate. It was common stone, maybe a wingspan thick if I had to guess. “It isn’t much of an obstacle with Dad by our side. The worst it can do is slow us down.”

“May take me a few minutes to dig through it,” Dad nodded. “Better I do so now instead of later when we might be in a hurry.”

“Guys!” Rythils voice yelled from the other end of the hall. “This could be of interest!”

Glowing text, emitting a golden shine, had suddenly appeared on the huge stone door next to him.

“It appeared the moment the other exit was blocked! Unfortunately, I’m unable to read it.”

I exchanged a look with Dad. “Can you at least say which language it is?”

“I am not sure. I think they could be the symbols the kirins used back in the days, but I never learned to read them, so I am not sure if they really are the same or not.”

“If they are,” Dad said, “I can’t read them either. Maybe Fluffy could, she once had a vision gifted by Fortuna where she was able to speak that language, but not me.”

“Maybe I can read it then! In my dream of Shakirin-La, Fortuna gave me the ability to understand the language of the kirins from the past!” I nodded at the blocked path. “You carve us an exit, Dad, while I go see if I can read that message over there. Maybe it gives us a clue as to what is going on here.”

Dad took his time to look through the hall. “Alright, but be careful, and if something suspicious happens, you come back to me.”

I wanted to complain, but I couldn’t. Damn parental purring! It hadn’t worn off yet! “Okay,” was all I could say before I made my way over to Rythil, accompanied by most of my kirins. I only left two with Dad to watch out for threats while he was distracted with digging. Truth be told, Dad was possibly the most dangerous thing down here, though, it was my way of speaking up without speaking up.

I landed in front of the door and started to inspect the writing on it. Sadly, without any success. “I’m not able to read it either. I don’t know what these symbols stand for.”

“I can read them,” Roary proclaimed.

“That’s inconvenient,” Rythil laid a claw on his chin. “Maybe…”

“Shh! Roary thinks he can read it.” I focused on my advisors. “You can?”

“That doesn’t mean I know what the words mean,” Roary explained. “I know these symbols, I can speak them out, but the meaning behind them? A mystery."

“Then do tell me, maybe I know.”

And so he did. And it was indeed the language of Shakirin-La! My godmother had only granted me the ability to understand that language, not to read it. Why Roary was able to read it though, that was a mystery to solve later.

Slowly, I spoke out what Roary told me.

“Der Eingang zur Unterwelt ist für alle gleich, ob arm, ob reich, ob jung oder alt, es macht keinen Unterschied.'' Früher oder später enden alle Reisen vor meinem Tor, und meine Geduld ist unendlich…

Doch noch ist dein Werk im Land der Lebenden nicht getan, Sterbliche. Kehre um, und ich bin sicher, wir werden uns wiedersehen.”

“I’m not familiar with this language, Fiery. Would you be so kind as to translate it to the common language?” Rythil asked.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, kind of habit to use old draconic for ancient texts. Let me translate it for you…”

“The entrance to the underworld is for all the same; rich, poor, old, young, it matters naught. For sooner or later, all journeys find their end before me, and my patience is eternal…

However, your work in the realm of the living has not yet concluded, mortal. Turn around, and I am sure we will meet again…”

“That sounds welcoming,” he replied and took a step back, watching the door and the structure it was leading into. “If I am not mistaken, this would be a temple of Hades then. God of the underworld.”

“God of the Underworld?”

“Yes, Hades is the God of the Underworld.”

“Like in ‘The Underworld?’”

“The land of the dead, yes.”

“I really hope Bliz isn’t in there then. I don’t want to go into the underworld to get her back!”

Rythil took another step back. “You would need to be very good with music oras strong as Herakles to get her back then.”

I gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“From what I’ve heard, Hades has only allowed a mortal to take something out of his realm twice. First one was Oarhays, who played the lyre so well that even Hades was put in a good mood, allowing him to try to rescue his beloved Equidike. The second one would be Herakles, who fought with him and, after he won, borrowed his dog, Zerberus.”

“Zerberus”? Isn’t that the three headed dog that guards Tartarus?”

“Maybe that's an offspring of his?”

“Herakles went in there and borrowed a huge three headed dog, one that is able to guard all the monsters in Tartarus?”

“Well, that is partly correct. This is a temple of Hades, not the underworld propper. Herakles went into the underworld to borrow the dog.”

I shook my head in astonishment. “What kind of guy is he?”

“He is a god now. He fulfilled twelve tasks to prove his worth to the gods, and as reward, was turned into one himself.”

I stared at Rythil.

“What?”

“He is a god now. A real god?”

“Yes.”

“So the only two creatures to ever go in there and get someone back are a musician and a god.”

“Not in there, into the underworld, huge difference. Still, if they are in there, I think we would have to deal with the landlord to get them back. And Herakles wasn’t a god back then. He became one after he fulfilled his tasks.”

"That's reassuring.”

“That’s all interesting, and a little bit frightening, but what are we going to do?” Grounded Star asked. “Do we turn around or do we open that door and rescue Blizzard Silence and Heat Wave?”

“We will try to rescue them!” I decided. “Question is, if we really need to go in there to do so? If possible, I really would like to avoid going in there. Also, if we have to go in there, how would we do so without angering the landlord? We can’t simply crack the door open like with the exit.” I threw a look back at Dad, still able to hear the sound of breaking stone as he worked on it.

“A way in would be to die first,” a new, deep, even voice arose next to me.

I jumped into the air out of shock and hissed loudly. Standing where the voice had come from like he had grown out of the ground was a huge kirin-stallion! With his black coat and mane made of blue flames, he sure looked frightening! Instantly, my kirins placed themselves between him and me, with their fur on edge and their wings spread. He had startled us all! And on top of that, a second later, when Dad noticed what had happened, he also added a loud roar to the situation while flying over, coming to protect me with my final two kirins in tow.

“It’s not a good idea to hiss at him,” Rythil whispered urgently while pulling me back by the mane.

“Who are you?” I demanded to know while shaking my mane free.

“I am ‘The Landlord’ as you called it. This is my temple, mortal.”

Suddenly, a shiver ran down my spine as I still felt a chill grip my body. Not only had I not expected Hades to show up, but hissing at the god of the underworld sounded more than a bit questionable. On top of that, his voice had an undercurrent of finality to it that implied every word spoken was an irrefutable truth.

I quickly stopped hissing and ordered my kirins to fall back.

Sadly, I couldn’t do the same with Dad, as he landed between us and roared straight into Hades face.

“Dad! That’s not a good idea! That’s Hades! One of the Gods!”

Luckily, that prevented Dad from attacking him, but still, he was on high alert, with his wings spread and his wing spikes raised threateningly.

“You are lucky, Warming Breeze, hatchling of Perle Des Hohen Berges and Fast Slasher, that you are part of the great game. I do not intend on ruining the fun for my fellow gods and goddesses by inviting you into my halls here and now.”

That did take Dad off guard. He threw a quick look to my merriment, back to Hades, and then back at my kirins. It was clear that it was not to his liking that the god had spilled his true name to everyone. Though, with him being a god, there was not much Dad could do about it.

“Tell me, what brings you here, Fiery, daughter of Warming Breeze and Danger Do,” Hades now addressed me. “Your time has not yet come.”

Unsure, I still tried to shake off the shiver that constantly tried to run down my spine whenever Hades directed his attention to me. “I was looking for my friend, Blizzard Sillence, and a member of my merriment, Heat Wave. I suspected them to be down here.”

I heard how Dad more or less successfully suppressed a growl. He knew this was a god, and he hadn’t the whiff of a chance to fend him off, still, he wanted to protect me from him.

“These two haven’t died yet, why do you suspect them to be in my realm?”

A huge stone fell from my heart. So they were still alive! If I wasn’t facing Hades, I would have shouted in joy!

“I wasn’t aware your temple would be down here,” I said. “They both went missing in the swamps at the surface. I thought whoever had captured them would be hiding down here.”

“No mortal would dare hide in this place. However,” Hades walked, or better levitated as his hooves never touched the ground, next to me, “if finding your lost souls is what you desire, I can make you an offer.”

Now Dad growled. Hades was way too close to me in his opinion.

Ignoring him, Hades went on. “If you can pass my Temple, you shall find what you are looking for on the other side.”

I took a step away from him. “On the other side? No thanks! I don’t want to die!”

Hades looked confused for a moment, then his expression changed to understanding. “I speak of literally the other side. There is another exit at the other end of my temple.” He lifted a hoof and the stone door glided upwards into the wall. Instantly, my merriment and I stepped backwards. Clouds of fog poured out over the floor as whispers could be heard coming out from the dark, deeper down in the temple. My imagination told me they were the voices of the dead, even though I had no proof for that. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t dare even think about going in there.

“A simple task,” Hades explained. “Make your way through it, and you shall find your missing souls. For Fortuna’s godchild it should be easy.” His gaze wandered to my merriment. “For the others though, it would be quite dangerous.”

“You can’t go in there!” Rapt Glance exclaimed, stepping between me and the door. I could see as he kept his gaze on the temple that his fur was on edge and his mane stiff. “It is dangerous!”

“He is right,” Rythil added. “The temples of Hades are not meant for mortals to roam around in. You don’t even know the rules needed to survive in there.”

“And I will not allow it,” Dad said, stepping in front of me. “We need to find a different way. There has to be a way behind the temple without crossing through it.”

Before I could bring to bear the strength to speak up to Dad, as well as my merriment, Damn parental purring, Hades said, “Yes, there is another way. You do not have the time to search the swamps for it though. It could take you days or even weeks to find it. Weeks you do not have. You must also be aware that the inhabitants may try to hinder you as well.”

“We may find them in less than an hour if we are lucky,” Dad replied. “And the inhabitants should be more afraid of us then we of them.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. Being Fortunas godchild may keep your daughter alive, but it will not help her in tasks connected to arriving at Shakirin-La the quickest. Searching the swamps is an obstacle that is a part of her quest, so her luck will be of no help here.”

“She will not enter your temple!” Dad growled.

Despite how intimidating Hades' place was, the fact that Dad was forbiding me from entering was nearly enough for me to want to go inside!

Despite all the horrors that might be lurking in there, I was convinced it was my best option. Hades may be right about our chances at finding Bliz and Heat Wave quickly if we try to find a different way, as well as his assessment that Fortunas blessing should protect me from whatever he had in store. The only other creature that may be able to do it was Rythil, and I could see how his legs were shaking a bit already, along with the fur along his spine being raised. Given the uneasy feeling I had in my scales, I couldn’t blame him.

“Dad, I can do it.” I straightened up, calmed my nerves, and moved next to him, ignoring the whispers in the air. “He is right, it may cost us a lot of time if we search the swamps, and who knows what’ll happens to Bliz and Heat Wave in the meantime. Fortuna will protect me, don’t worry.”

“No! It is dangerous!” Dad quickly wrapped a wing around me and pressed me close to him. “I will not allow it!”

“Would you prefer somekirin else to go?” I said while raising my claws to create a little space for myself. “Or some luckdragon else?”

“Any creature but you!”

“Dad, nothing will happen to me! I will be fine!”

“No!”

“I… I can go,” Rythil offered suddenly with a shaking voice. “I can go,” he bowed before Hades, “ if you allow it, Hades, god of the underworld.”

“You may try, priest Rythil, son of Sankaril and Mekiri. But be aware, your service as Fortunas priest will not protect you if you fail.”

“I see.” Rythil bowed down again, before he turned to me. “I see it as my duty to protect you as well, so I will go in your place and bring back your friends.”

Truth be told, Rythil may know a lot more about the gods than me, and may be best suited to go instead of me, but no way would I let him take the risk for me!

“You will not go in there alone! How am I supposed to explain this to Fortuna, huh? You worry about what she’ll tell you if you let me get hurt, what do you think she would have to say if I let one of her priests get put in harm's way while staying on the sidelines safe and sound? We go together!”

“I said no!” Dad growled. “You will stay here!”

No, I wouldn’t do that. I just had to come up with a plan to prevent Dad from stopping me. And it was already forming in my head.

“Rythil, what are the rules in the temple of Hades that one should know of?” I intentionally ignored Dad and shifted the attention away from me as best as I could.

“Uhm, one should neither eat nor drink something while in there. It is not as bad as in the underworld itself where you can’t leave anymore if you do, but it would be very hard to leave the temple if you do partake of anything in it. Hades,” he paused a moment to look at the god before he continued, “Hades may also offer you treasures of the underworld, but if you take them, you also wouldn’t be able to leave anymore. That or you get hunted by the ghosts of the underworld for the rest of your short life.”

While Rythil explained all this, Hades simply stood there with an expression like all of this was none of his business. However, this explanation did what it was meant to do, it shifted a tiny bit of Dad’s attention. Unnoticed by him, I gesticulated to my merriment what I wanted them to do. It was not easy with Dad being so close and with all of them afraid of Hades, but I think I managed to get the idea of what I wanted across.

“Even more reason to not let you go!” Dad judged.

I sighed. “Maybe you are right Dad, it is very dangerous.”

“Yes, it is,” he snorted.

“Okay, it may be best if Rythil goes then. But we should make sure he’s equipped for that.” I struggled a bit under Dad’s wing. “Let go of me! We need to pick out what he should take with him.”

Hesitantly, Dad lifted his wing.

“Fertile Dessert, Rythil should take some of your herbs with him.” I walked over and made a requesting gesture with my claw. “Let us see how much you have.” When Fertile Dessert took the bag from her neck and opened it, we both looked inside in order to be ear to ear. “On my signal, you and the others jump at my dad,” I whispered while roaming in the bag. “Don’t fight him though, you just need to distract him. I don’t want him to hurt one of you.”

“No, not that one,” she said aloud. “That one causes your scales to itch.” She lowered her tone and made sure her lips couldn’t be seen from Dad’s position. “If you are planning on going in there, we will not be able to delay your dad’s reaction by more than half a second. When it comes to you, he is very persistent in his duty to protect you.”

“I know,” I picked some leaves of the anger-plant, pony feathers, now I was starting to call it that too, out of the bag and clawed them over to Rythil who quickly moved over after recieving a requesting gesture. “This should be helpful,” I proclaimed loudly.

“But thi…”

I poked him in the belly and gave him a look.

“Ye..es, that seems helpful indeed,” he said instead.

“We do this together,” I whispered. “On my signal, my merriment will distract my dad while we both run into the temple. Don’t stop till we are far inside,” I emphasized heavily. “If Dad reaches us, we will not get a second chance.”

Rythil gulped. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I hope so too. Fertile Dessert, tell the others, subtly. Rythil, grab what you think will be useful in there. You are the expert when it comes to the other gods.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? We may arrive at Shakirin-La later than you’d want, but we can avoid going into this temple. We can still find your friends by searching the swamps.”

“I am sure. I can’t afford to be late to Shakirin-La, and I definitely can’t afford to leave Bliz behind.” I shook my head when he wanted to add something. “Stop it, I made up my mind. With our luck, we should have no problem in there. You heard what Hades said.”

Without any further delay, Rythil was packed with anything my merriment thought he could need. Though, we weren't really equipped for such an endeavor in the first place. Some torches, a wooden spear, a rope and the like. We also considered taking our new friend with us, but since we didn’t know for sure what awaited us, we decided against it. Whatever he’d done, bringing him in and exposing him to the dangers of Hades temple didn’t seem fair.

“Good luck in there,” Dad said to Rythil, after Rythil had grabbed everything and stored it into his fur and on his back. With him thinking I was out of danger, Dad was far more friendly than usual.

“I hope Fortuna is watching my steps,” Rythil replied as he walked towards the doorway, wading through the layer of fog coming out from the opening.

“You are ready, mortal?” Hades hovered next to the stone door leading into his temple.

“Yes, I am,” Rythil said, stepping next to him, and, after one last look back at us, into the temple.

With another wave of his hoof, Hades started to close the door. I hadn’t expected that, but it worked perfectly for my plan. Slowly, so as to not drag Dad’s attention onto me, I moved closer to the door.

It was a quarter closed by now.

I increased my speed a bit.

Half closed.

Dad turned around to me.

I pretended to move towards him.

“Don’t worry too much, I am sure Fortuna will watch after him,” Dad said.

“Sure she will,” I replied and moved next to him. A little purr and my wing rubbing over the side of his belly kept him at ease. As at ease as he could be in the presence of Hades that is. I made my way past him, but instead of turning around to rub my other side against him, like a bornling that needed comfort from their parent, I moved torwards the door.

It was three fourths closed at this point. That was the moment Dad got suspicious. He turned to me and I could see in his gaze that he quickly put two and two together.

“Now!” I yelled and burst into a gallop. Without delay, Dad started his pursuit, roaring loudly. You may think that a dragon needs a second to build up speed, but not so with Dad. Grounded Star was the first to jump at him, but he was too quick! She had just grabbed his tail when she was thrown off of him. And she was one of the better ones at stopping Dad. Most of the others didn’t even get a hoof on him!

“Fiery!” he shouted. I could already hear him start to purr. I had no doubt that it was that evil parental kind of purr! I covered my ears with my claws and flew the last few meters. A quick glance backwards showed that Dad was already close to grabbing my tail! I pulled it back and increased the flapping of my wings.

It would be close!

And there was another problem! The door was closing too fast! The opening was already smaller than me while running!

There was no turning back now! I dropped to my stomach with my legs extended and slid over the ground, pushing forward with my wings. Without my ears covered though, Dad’s purr did its evil magic and my will started to falter.

I slowed down.

“Fiery, stay here!” Dad shouted, panicked.

The thought of stopping myself by scratching the ground with my claw came to mind. A bornling had to listen to its parent…

I was too slow. Without the will to give it my all, I wouldn’t make it.

In that moment, a burst of magic hit me, pushing me forward and over the threshold. I could feel my mane scratching the door, right before it closed with a loud ‘thud’.

“Are you okay?” Rythil ran towards me. He switched the torch he was holding to his other claw and leaned down, offering me his now free claw to get up. “That was close!”

A bit unsteady, I grabbed his claw and let him pull me up. “Yes, yes I am okay. I just need a second to shake off my Dad’s purring.” I shook myself like I had water in my fur and gave myself a slap on the cheek. “Come on!” I scolded myself. It was like waking up from a deep slumber, when your mind was still cloudy.

Rythil turned towards the door. “I can’t hear a single thing, but I am guessing your dad is throwing a tartarus of a tantrum on the other side.”

“He sure is,” I agreed. “And I will get a tartarus of a scolding later too. But for now, we need to find Bliz!”