Andrus' gods have long abandoned them. Legend says they sleep in the belly of the royal palace, protected by walls of thorns and forest, untouchable; forever asleep.
Few have been able to penetrate the natural fortress, and those that have, never returned. Countless warriors, male and female, land critter and sky toucher, all have supposedly died in that maze of foliage, in search of answers.
Except one.
Otrin Pelletier, the man who made a deal with a deity, and Andrus' forgotten savior.
Otrin -
"BIRB!"
The lynx yelped, the history book in her hands falling to the ground, about six meters below. The thick leather-wrapped book bounced on the moss bed, before settling in a bunch of Andrunian weeds, which consciously wrapped around the possession.
Birb frowned, shifting from her originally relaxed position in the crook of a Briosia tree's branches. She rose to a somewhat-crouched pose, digging the soles of her boots into the golden-fawn bark to avoid falling. Her attempts proved futile, as a smaller winged lynx launched full speed onto the end of the branch, essentially bouncing her sister out of the tree.
The winged lynx let out a short scream, before being cut off by landing in a moss bed. Like her book, she bounced, rolled, and settled face-first into a patch of Clinging Weeds. Birb sighed, before raising her head, half-closing her eyes as the weeds grasped for her face.
"Covey," she mumbled, pushing herself up with a sigh, "good afternoon." She reached out, taking her book from the writhing plants and sitting back on her heels, brushing off leaves and grass. She breathed a small sigh of relief at seeing that the book was alright.
Her tween sister giggled and jumped down, landing on a rock. "We were looking for you everywhere! Altair figured you would be reading!" the girl exclaimed, rocking back and forth on her heels. Birb looked up at her with a mildly irritated gaze, then sighed and gave a weak smile.
"Wanna go play with me and Kotori and Eerin?" Covey continued.
"That depends, where are you going?" responded her sister, rising to her feet. She tucked her book under her arm, ignoring the weeds that climbed up her legs, grabbing at her hands and chain on her belt.
"The Upside-Down Lake. We're going to go see Tori!"
Birb blinked, before shaking her head. "Ask Altair. I can't go for a week."
"Why?"
"Long story short, I got into some trouble with Tori. Just take Altair. We don't really have anything to worry about, so as long as you're home before the sun disappears, you're good." She gave an awkward thumbs-up.
Covey's eyes lit up, and she hopped off the rock, flapping her wings so she hovered a bit above the ground. "Alrighty! I love you!" she chirped, before flying up through the treetops, yelling a, "See you later!"
Birb blinked, waving a bit as she watched the silhouette of her sister disappear from view. "See ya..."
A few seconds passed, before she pulled out her book again, flipping to the page she was on before being rudely interrupted.
"So," she thought, "Pelletier made it in and out of the fortress. But he died a few days after returning, supposedly of poisoning." She looked up at the sea of clouds before her.
"Well. This was hundreds of years ago, right? And now that we have advanced medicine...if I were to get poisoned, hypothetically, I could take care of it easily," she mumbled. "So if I were to visit the palace..."
