Scorched Campaign

4: Golden Sands

.^^ Iris/Fire-Breaker ^^

— Cassidy —

I examined the girl in front of me for a moment, before I hummed, and held out a hand. "Cassidy Skøll. You're Iris, then?" I asked, speaking the language of the land fluidly.

She blinked, and then grinned, grasping my forearm. "You speak our tongue! That's good! Grandmother will like you more if you speak our tongue." She nodded seriously, and then looked behind us. "Where's your stuff? I figured if you were riding in style on the AirShip, making me come all the way to the Caldera, you'd have some baggage at least! Don't tell me it got stolen!?!" She laughed.

"No, we're carrying all we need." I nodded, then pulled my plate-male boots off, burying my toes in the sand experimentally. "Ahh... very nice. Warm, too, which is unexpected."

Sandy laughed. "The sand is burning hot, my dear, if it's warm to you, a creature immune to fire, there's an issue."

"I disagree... no problems here." I sighed, laying down in the shade of one of the trees, and groaning in satisfaction at finally, after a month and a half, not feeling like I was floating, because of the Crystals on the ship.

Sandy shook her head at me. "You're adorable, but don't get in the Picker's way." She pointed at an older man who was climbing the tree with amazing swiftness, taking down bundles of berries, which I recognized as the berries that Tommy had bought for several hundred noble silvers.

I got out of his way, as he was coming down, and bowed my head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interfere."

He chuckled, and leapt nimbly from one tree to the next, not touching the ground with his bare feet.

"Impressive." I nodded, and shook myself off, following my happy tourist ass after the two local gals as they walked swiftly through the caldera, to the lake in the middle. I noticed several small archways, and blinked. "No way... you guys have an underground water system? Awesome." I grinned.

Sandy laughed. "Yes, my dear, how else did you think we got around without touching the sand?"

"... Magic?" I shrugged.

She paused. "Okay... fair point."

I nodded and stepped into the little dingy that they had both boarded, then dipped a hand in the water. Immediately, the warm water boiled, and I controlled my body heat, chuckling. "I mean, I knew I was hot, but damn!" I laughed.

Sandy shook her head. "This is going to be terrifying."

"Oh please, you'll be fine, parents love me! I'm a soldier, a Lady-Knight, a blacksmith, and many more trades besides! Not to mention, have you met me? I'm irresistibly adorable!" I protested jokingly.

Iris grinned. "She's funny. But you should hold on." She warned me, before the ship slipped into one of the archways, making me duck reflexively. Then the boat tilted slowly, and I grinned at the adrenaline rush that gripped me as I realized we had to go down to reach the rest of the tunnels.

The fall was short, however, a pathetic and gentle dip five feet down into a small pool with several different exits. It was dark for a moment, but then my skin naturally illuminated the tunnels around us. Iris chose one, and rowed into it, then put away the oars again.

I thought, for a moment, 'that's it?', before we slowly slid through another of the exits, and there was another gentle tilt... and suddenly we were whipping down a long, curving slide of water, which I immediately realized was curling around the volcano itself.