The nearest stable was at least thirty to forty minutes away. The sun had quickly risen to the sky and was beating down on them like nothing else. They made it to the stable without any problems. It was small and the area around it was significantly hotter, but that was mostly attributed to the fact that there was a giant volcano not too far away. Because of the size of the stable, they didn't have too many horses. So the stable could only lend them four, meaning someone would have to ride with somebody else.
Sora got on his horse and idly glanced back. "Avarice, ride with your brother."
Avarice and Sin scowled at each other. "NO!" They yelled in unison.
"If I'm gonna ride with someone, I'd rather it be with some babe, not my little brother!" Sin lamented.
Avarice all but gagged at his brother's cheesiness. "I am not spending this entire trip having to ride with him. I'll die!"
"Stop complaining. We don't exactly have all the time in the world to get this done you know." Sora reminded.
"Sora is right! How about you give it a try for now at least." Tekina tried to reason as she mounted her own horse.
"Fine." They both huffed.
Sin reluctantly pulled Avarice onto his horse and Avarice begrudgingly situated himself in front of his brother. Once everyone was settled on their horses, they took off.
Tekina was having the time of her life. There was so much to learn and so much to discover that she couldn't contain herself. She looked like a love-struck schoolgirl every time they came across a new plant or historical landmark. Nikiro leisurely followed them, enjoying the serene scenery. Sora was heading the group and would occasionally glance back to make sure Sin didn't throw his brother at the horse's feet to be trampled on. Much to his dismay, not even an hour had passed before they started fighting again.
"You look like a little girl from back here." Sin laughed.
Avarice elbowed him in the stomach. "Shut up asshole. You're just jealous I've got the kind of physical appeal you could never have."
"Hah?" Sin pulled back on the horse's reins and pushed avarice slightly.
"Excuse you but I'm gorgeous and I don't even need to look like a woman to do it. Lets be real, the only reason everyone thinks you're some sweet angel is because of how you look."
Avarice twisted his body and promptly planted his fist on Sin's face. Sin was stunned for a moment before he snapped back to reality with a menacing glare. Avarice just scoffed.
"Only vain people like you would think that's all there is to it."
Sin punched him back, causing Avarice to fall off the horse. Avarice quickly grabbed hold of Sin's ankle and yanked him off the horse as well. Sin growled like a rabid animal as Avarice got on top of him and started swinging.
"YOU PUNCH LIKE A LITTLE KID!" Sin hollered as he swung back.
"IF I PUNCH LIKE A LITTLE KID, WHAT DOES THAT MAKE YOU?" Screamed Avarice.
Sora felt his eye twitch as he forced himself to keep hold of the horse's reins so he wouldn't get off and beat both of their asses. The two of them continued to roll around on the ground causing Nikiro to have to swerve so he wouldn't kill them. Luckily, Tekina was the only one spared from the noise as she was a little further away looking at some berries.
"ALRIGHT! SHUT UP YOU SHITTY BRATS!" Ordered Sora.
Avarice and Sin scrambled to their feet.
"If you two are going to keep fighting like children, then one of you ride with someone else."
Sin put his arms around his horse and pouted. "I'm not doing it! This horse and I have bonded! You can't ask me to ride with someone else! Look at his face! He doesn't want me to go! Besides Avarice is so tiny, he wouldn't be able to handle such a long ride! So he should ride with someone else. I'll be fine on my own" He said, petting the horse.
Sora sighed. "Avarice, you want to ride with me?"
"What! No! Don't forget, I'm the one who holds the title for champion in horseback riding in all of our country! I can more than handle myself."
Sora brought a hand to his head and massaged his temples. "Okay Sin, Avarice you remember what I taught you when you were little? Water wrestling?"
Sin and Avarice looked at each other. "Yeah?...what does that have to do with right now?"
Sora pointed ahead of them. "Look, we made it to the wetlands. Have a go at it and whoever wins gets to ride by themselves, the looser has to ride with someone."
Sin, always eager for a challenge, was the first to fling off his shirt and jump into the water.
"Allllright! Lets go baby brother!"
Avarice rolled his eyes and got in the water. The only reason he didn't oppose it was because he felt like had the advantage in the water, what with him being a water nymph and Sin, not.
Sora got off his horse and stood in between them. "Alright you know the rules, you have one minute to immobilize the other person, get them out of the ring or get them to surrender."
Sora waved his hand and the water rippled into a large circle formed around the boys, marking the boundaries of the ring.
"Ready...begin!"
Despite Avarice's size, he was quite athletic but he knew that in a battle of brute strength, he was no match for Sin. So when he was picked up and slammed into the water as soon as Sora yelled begin, he wasn't surprised. Avarice managed to slip out of Sin's grasp and get back on his feet. When Sin did the same, Avarice froze the ground beneath Sin and used his magic to make a sliver of water snake around Sin's foot. Before Sin could shake it off Avarice pulled back the water that wrapped around his leg, causing Sin to fall backwards and towards the edge of the ring.
Sin huffed angrily and pushed himself up, but instead of standing up, he just knelt down and letting his hand touch the ground. Avarice raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was doing. His curiosity disappeared when he felt something burn. He leaped up and began to try and pull his feet from the water, but was still too stubborn to leave the ring. Sin snickered. He was heating the water around them. He thought his plan was genius. What he didn't expect however was that Avarice would stumble right into him, effectively pushing him past the threshold by a hair.
"Looks like Avarice gets to ride by himself." Sora stated as he got back onto his horse.
Sin glared at Avarice, who had face planted into him. Avarice excitedly got up and went back to their horse, or rather, his horse now. Nikiro helped Sin out of the water just as Sora called back to them.
"Hurry up boys! We've gotta make up for lost time!"