leave comments or I will cry myself to sleep. this isn't a threat, it's a promise
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Trixtin lifted her boot from the clinging sand, frowning as it stuck to the sole like thick mud.
"Keep moving, your majesty." David urged her, pausing at her side. "The quicker we go, the less likely we are to get stuck."
"Oh. Delightful." Trixtin tugged her other boot free and kept going, grimacing at the way the sand sucked at her boots with every step. "Is that... a significant concern?"
"If all else fails, we can simply fly until we've left the valley." Phillip told her. "I wouldn't be alarmed."
"I'm not," Trixtin assured him. "I just don't relish the thought of doing the rest of this trek barefoot."
The queen and her escort had traveled in a straight line away from the warped forest where they had been attacked, and had eventually come across what David called a 'Soulsand Valley'. Trixtin was familiar with them, of course, but she had never been in one herself. It was shocking how cold it was here, compared to the rest of the Nether. Trixtin was glad to have brought along a thin cloak just in case.
While Phillip and David seemed comfortable with the drop in temperature, poor Meryl was struggling, her bare arms hugged tightly to her chest. Her sleeveless robes were built more for mobility than low temperatures. David had offered her his fur-lined cloak, but she had declined, saying that she would prefer to keep her wings free in case of emergency.
Trixtin exhaled softly. The young lady (technically she was older than Trixtin, but, comparatively...) had been visibly agitated since their encounter with the hoglins in the forest. Trixtin was fairly certain that it was due to her separation from Y/N, Phillip had told her that the pair were quite close. That aside, they were currently lost in the Nether, near where they suspected the man who had once killed Meryl and turned her into one of his puppets was lurking. She certainly had reason enough to be anxious.
The party crested at the top of one of the dunes, and David sighed at the sight of more sand, stretching out as far as the eye could see.
"We probably should've gone around the desert," He admitted. "It's not exactly the friendliest place to live."
"We can always go back," Phillip pointed out. David grunted.
"No use backtracking now."
"You seem very familiar with the Nether," Meryl said, her tone slightly exasperated. "Why don't you know the way back to the capitol?"
"Just because I'm from the Nether doesn't mean I know all of it." David defended himself. "I come from the east of the castle, and we left to the west. I don't have any idea where we are now."
"Clearly," Meryl muttered.
"Keep your chin up, Meryl." Trixtin tried to encourage her. "I'm sure we'll run across something of use eventually." Meryl shivered, tucking her arms tighter against her chest.
"I hope so." She murmured.
**
"So you were just- created, right?" Alex asked as she unrolled her bedroll. "Not born?"
"That's right." Y/N sat cross-legged on her own bedroll, a packet of rations resting in her lap.
"How- well, how old were you when you were created?" Alex paused. "I mean, well, physically."
"I understand," Y/N assured her. "Valkyries are created at approximately the developmental level of a five-year-old human. It may seem that it would be wiser to just create us as adults, so that we could immediately be trained to fight, but I've been told that Notch made that decision in order to give us time to grow and develop our personalities."
"Hmm." Alex sank down on her bedroll, digging through her knapsack for food of her own. "I suppose that makes sense. At what age do you stop getting older?"
"Twenty." Y/N told her. "So, we stop at about the physical age of a twenty-five year old human."
"So we are about the same age." Alex deduced. Y/N smiled at her.
"We are."
The trio's path out of the forest had taken them back into the wastes, where they spent several hours traveling without incident. None of them had any means by which to tell the time, so they just walked until they were too tired to go any further.
They had made their camp in the first decent shelter they could find, a small hollow within a rocky pillar that gave them partial cover from potential enemies. Herobrine currently sat near the exit, his back to them as he watched the plateau outside.
Y/N took a bite of her dried fruit, absently watching the outside through one of the gaps in the wall. Their method of searching for the queen was hardly foolproof, but they had little other option. Currently, all they were doing was walking away from the forest and avoiding obviously hazardous terrain, with Y/N occasionally flying about to scan the area for any sign of them. It was possible that they had gone in entirely the wrong direction... perhaps the queen had made it home already. They had no way to tell.
"Do valkyries marry?" Alex's innocent question nearly made Y/N choke on her food.
"I-" Y/N coughed, turning back to Alex to find a concerned look on the girl's face. "Y-yes... we do. Obviously not for... reproductive purposes, like other races do, but, yes."
"Oh." Alex mused over this for a few moments. "I only ask because your commander seems very fond of my queen."
"Oh, indeed he is." Y/N broke into a grin. "He thinks he's a lot more subtle about it than he actually is."
"Oh. Wait, are they..." Alex linked her fingers together, tilting her head quizzically. "...courting?"
"I don't know that they officially call it that, but Commander Zenith visits her at least once a week, so..." Y/N shrugged. "And they appear to be on a first-name basis."
"Hmm." Alex arched a brow as she bit into her piece of bread, and Y/N glanced over at Herobrine again. He had gone back to giving her the silent treatment after their encounter with the enderman.
"Herobrine, you should eat." She called over, trying to ignore how odd it felt to say his name so casually like this.
"I will." He replied without turning around. "You two sleep, I will take first watch."
"I'll take first watch." Y/N countered. "Otherwise you may not wake me up." That made him turn, his blank eyes meeting hers over his shoulder.
"Even if I did not, you need the rest more than I do."
"You still cannot keep going without sleep indefinitely." Y/N pointed out. "I traveled with you for weeks, I should know. You're no good to us dead on your feet."
"I'm not tired."
"We've been walking for hours, and that was following a hoglin attack." Y/N told him irritably. "You may be immortal, but you still need to rest-"
"Y/N." He cut her off sharply. "Go to sleep." She met his glare with her own for a long moment, trying to communicate her ire with her eyes, before she finally turned away.
"Fine." She said. Satisfied, Herobrine turned back to the exit. Y/N finished her meal in silence, not missing the several strange looks that Alex shot between the two of them. Finally, Y/N lay down, made herself as comfortable as possible on the rocky ground, then shut her eyes.
**
"What happened between you and him?" Alex's question had Herobrine tuning in on the conversation behind him, though he tried not to show it. There was a small pause before Y/N responded.
"What makes you ask that?"
"Just... the way you two talk to each other." Alex kept her voice low, likely assuming that he couldn't hear her. "There's obviously something." Y/N was quiet for a long moment.
"I'd rather not talk about it." She finally said.
"Oh." Alex fell silent. Herobrine wondered if Y/N kept quiet out of integrity, or because she knew that he could hear them.
Despite their argument the previous night, Herobrine had, eventually, woken Y/N up so that he could sleep. He had given her strict orders to wake him as soon as Alex woke - every second they dallied was another that the queen was in danger. She had obliged, and waking up to E/N's face before him had been the most pleasant awakening that he'd had in a long time.
They set out again after a small meal, trying to conserve what food and water they had. Their path led over a large, desolate stretch of the wastes, where they had yet to come across any life other than a few mushrooms. It was understandable enough, Herobrine supposed. Piglins tended not to stray far from their homes and communities, and he was glad to have not seen any hoglins.
Alex and Y/N were handling this situation very well, all things considered. While Y/N was, of course, an immortal warrior who had seen centuries of battle, Alex was a young mapmaker. Perhaps she didn't quite understand the ramifications of the threat against them... granted, it was difficult for anyone to have the same firsthand experience that he and Y/N did, since they barely made it out of Sirben's clutches alive.
Their path brought them to the edge of a steep hill, one that led down into a narrow valley. Herobrine paused at the crest, considering it for a moment, then turned to look back at his companions.
"This is very steep, be careful."
"Should we be going down at all?" Y/N asked, and there was a note of challenge in her voice. "Would the queen really choose this path?"
"It's safer than it looks." Herobrine looked down the cliffside again. "The walls give substantial cover from unfriendly eyes."
"Fair enough, I suppose." Y/N followed his gaze to the bottom, shifting her wings thoughtfully. "I'll meet you at the bottom. Alex, would you like a lift?"
"I've got it," Alex said cheerfully. "I scale cliffs like this all the time. Normally with a line," She added as an afterthought. "But, as cliffs go, this one isn't too bad."
"Very well." Y/N nodded. "Be careful." With that, she took off, making her way carefully into the narrow ravine.
As she landed, Herobrine and Alex began to pick their way down the hillside. Herobrine remained just behind the human girl, within reach to grab her in case she lost her footing. She was right, though, the hill was quite manageable, and they made their way down without incident.
...right up until the last eight feet, at which point Alex tried to jump the remaining distance and her foot slipped.
"Alex!!" Y/N exclaimed, darting forward in alarm as Alex crashed to the ground with a grunt. Concerned, Herobrine teleported the rest of the way down, just in time for Alex to wave off Y/N's worried hands.
"I'm alright, I'm fine." She assured them, pushing herself up with one arm. "Just a bit winded. Ah." She cupped her elbow, and Herobrine spied red soaking through the sleeve of her green shirt.
"You're bleeding." Y/N pointed out at the same time. Alex tugged up her sleeve, revealing a small gash just above her elbow.
"It's nothing," She tried, but Y/N was already unbuckling her knapsack to dig through it.
"I'm certain that the queen said she brought potions..." She muttered. As she searched, Herobrine drew his dagger and used it to cut off a small piece of his cloak, pouring a bit of fresh water on it and taking Alex by the wrist to clean the reddish nether-dust from around her wound.
"Ow." Alex muttered, but let him work, averting her eyes and focusing on the far wall instead.
"Oh." Y/N said a moment later. Herobrine glanced up at her, and she went on. "The queen has all the potions... and bandages too, and I believe a golden apple or two. We have food, water, and bedding, but no healing supplies."
"Ah." Herobrine considered this as he held the wet scrap of fabric against Alex's gash. At least the queen was well-stocked in case of injury, but it would certainly be preferable if they had the means to heal themselves should one of them be greatly injured.
"I have potion brewing supplies." Alex told them. "But, no point in stopping to brew a potion for this."
"You're right." Herobrine pulled back the cloth, pleased to find that the gash had already stopped bleeding. "But I'm glad to hear that. Perhaps at our next stop we can brew some potions for emergencies."
"Sure." Alex agreed.
"Here." Y/N tore a long strip off of the blanket that she had been using as a pillow, wrapping it several times around Alex's arm and securing the end in place. Alex flexed her elbow experimentally.
"Thanks."
"Are you injured anywhere else?" Herobrine asked as he stood. Alex dragged herself up beside him.
"I'll probably have a bruise or two," She reported as she dusted herself off. "But I'm alright. Probably shouldn't have jumped, huh?" She added sheepishly.
"Perhaps not." Herobrine agreed. "But, no lasting harm done. Come on." Turning away, he walked past the two women, leading the way further into the ravine.
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E/N = endearing nickname