Knight Quests: Assistance (MOX-994)

“Come, Troia- it’s a bit too quiet around here- let’s play tag! I bet you can’t catch me!” Pantalaimon play bowed and grinned, eagerly wagging their winged tail in Troia’s direction. Pantalaimon’s two Ophistles, Hermes and Mercury, flicked their tongues out at her as if to invite her too.

“Don’t try my patience,” Troia said, flatly, and lowered her ears as if to pin them down- but it was typical for her to be flat. “I won’t play around while on duty.”

Troia had been stationed at the Selune Woods for her training as a Royal Knight to patrol the area for any signs of trouble there. Pantalaimon offered to accompany her; or, more accurately, insisted that they come along uninvited and went anyway despite Troia’s protests for them to stay back home. Almost every time they wenr along uninvited, they loved to bring their two Ophistles; Hermes and Mercury, they claimed, brought them good luck in some form wherever they went, even if it was disguised in ways no xyn could predict; and they were nice to have for the healing properties that their crystals possessed. Troia always thought they only wanted to cause more trouble with them.

“Don’t be a spoilsport!” Pantalaimon stuck out their tongue, and their Ophistles mirrored their expression with a flick of their tongues too. “We’ll just have a bit of fun for a minute or so. That never hurt anybody… right? And with that being said-” Pan strutted up to Troia and, before she could react, playfully bumped their nose into the nose of her mask halo. Their golden faerie halo flitted up to her and flicked the eyes of her mask with the tip of its its wings, leaving behind a few shimmers of faerie dust in her vision before zipping back to Pantalaimon’s side.

Pantalaimon giggled. “Tag! You’re it!” And with that they immediately sprinted off into the forest of the Selune Woods, using their wind magic to accelerate their speed so that they became a speck between the trees in mere moments. They left behind a trail of golden faerie dust and Ophistle glitter that shimmered in their wake, sparkling brilliantly in the moonlight before fading to nothingness.

Troia stood there, completely dumbfounded. “...PANTALAIMON!” She snarled. But Pantalaimon had long gone, no longer a green dot between the trees. She felt her fur bristle ever so slightly- anger was one of those very few emotions she was able to somewhat show, though it was still hindered by her tendency to suppress any emotions she wanted to feel.

Moons and the Queens help me, Troia thought to herself, dully. Now she’d have to find Pantalaimon before they got themself into trouble; they never seemed to learn from their mistakes…

—

Pantalaimon arrived at a clearing of the forest, slowing their wind magic and gallop to a trot, then stopped, panting heavily to catch their breath. Their faerie halo landed on their shoulder, drooping slightly too as if it also shared Pantalaimon’s exhaustion. Mercury peered over Pantalaimon’s head and raised itself high on its belly to survey the area, and Hermes slithered over to the end of Pantalaimon’s ringed tail, wrapping itself between the metallic spikes and stretching its body out to survey the area too.

But something stirred from the underbrush of the trees- and Pantalaimon heard a low growl. Pantalaimon’s faerie darted into the feathers of their chest and both of their Ophistles immediately froze, almost falling off Pantalaimon. They nearly leapt out of their own fur in fright and shrieked as loud as they possibly could. “HELP ME!!!” 

Pantalaimon’s wind magic, fueled by their panic, carried their voice as far as it could throughout the woods. Troia had to hear it if she was anywhere within the vicinity of the forest; and theoretically, anything else living in the woods could, too…

—

“HELP ME!!!”

Troia’s ears swiveled towards the direction of the sound. It was undoubtedly Pantalaimon. They had gotten themself into trouble… Again…

There was no time to waste. Troia’s golden horns sparked with dark magic and in seconds, her form dissipated into nothingness- only when dappled moonlight struck her mask and horns did they glint ever so slightly in the dark. Nothing could hear or see her form as she sprinted away into the woods to find where Pantalaimon had gone.

After what seemed like an eternity she was able to find them: they had scrambled up the lowest branch of a tree that they had backed into, and they were snarling and barking at the creature that was just beginning to emerge from the bushes. The foliage and branches surrounding them were much too dense for Pantalaimon to fly off into, and they had temporarily exhausted themself far too much from their wind magic to use it again as a weapon. 

As Troia was still invisible, Pantalaimon and their assailant didn’t notice her. “Stay back!” Pan growled, and bared their fangs. “My bite is waaayyy worse than my bark!” 

 Troia knew that was a bluff- Pantalaimon loved to lie and bluff… sometimes, it felt as if that was the only thing they were ever really good for. She almost could have rolled her eyes behind her mask, but now was not the time.

Pantalaimon assumed a play bow-like stance, and raised their tail in a threatening manner; as if on cue, Hermes and Mercury immediately slithered to the end of their tail and stopped just before, winding the both of themselves up like a braid. It was Pantalaimon’s  “Cadeuceus” stance to intimidate their foes and scare them off: slowly, they shook the end of their ringed tail, and rang it like a bell. Their Ophistles flicked their tongues and showered the immediate area with glitter. The ringing sound and dazzling light alone was usually sufficient enough to scare off opponents before they considered attacking them. 

But the creature in the bush did not flee, unfazed by Pantalaimon’s act.

Troia leapt out into the clearing and dispelled her invisibility, arching her back, bristling her fur  and hissing at the still-hidden creatures in her own threat display- she could not afford to attack something she couldn’t quite see yet. The long feathers that grew from her forearms stood up straight and the eye markings on them gleamed in the moonlight- she swayed the stinger on the end of her tail and the sharpness of her golden claws, too, gleamed in the light. Most lesser creatures never thought to challenge her, frightened seeing a moxyn with such threatening features.

The creature, still undeterred, slowly emerged from the bushes. It was a wild Timberwulf, limping from an injured paw. It looked up at Pantalaimon and Troia, and, completely unaffected by her threatening posture, tucked its tail between its legs and whimpered. It clearly was in no state to be a threat to either of them.

Pan, seeing the Timberwulf’s state, took pity on it and relaxed. “Aww,” they said,” and slowly climbed down the tree to approach it. Mercury and Hermes laxed their postures, unwinding themselves from each other to slither over to Pantalaimon’s neck and back.

“It’s hurt. Poor thing! All it wanted was some help.” Pantalaimon wagged their tail as a friendly gesture towards the Timberwulf, and their golden faerie halo emerged from their chest feathers to playfully flit around it too. The Timberwulf could only wag its tail limply in response, ears drooping. Hermes and Mercury flew over to the Timberwulf, and gently showered it with their own glitter to help relieve it’s pain.

Troia stared blankly at Pantalaimon, disgruntled that they had panicked for nothing. But she had no time to talk about it now.

“Here,” she said, “I’ll help it.” Cautiously, she approached the Timberwulf, and sniffed it’s paw. Something foreign was lodged in it; it was a poisonous thorn. No wonder the Timberwulf didn’t react to her threatening posture- it was too sick to. 

Gently, she sat down, took its paw into one of her own, and deftly plucked out the thorn with the talons of her free arm, discarding it as she did so. Pantalaimon pursed their lips and released a puff of cool air to calm the sore area. The Timberwulf yipped in pain but did nothing to react otherwise; Troia gently let it’s paw go. Pantalaimon’s ophistles beat their wings to shower it in more of their magical glitter. The Timberwulf sneezed, and a few of it’s leaves drifted down to the forest floor. They were withered a dry brown.

Pan grinned. “Thanks Troia! Let’s take it back with us to Moonreach,” said Pantalaimon. “It can’t survive on it’s own like this. We can get a healer’s help for it there! And I can help care for it in the meantime until it’s ready to go back home here in Selune.” 

Pantalaimon had a special way with animals that not many other xyns seemed to possess. But it was easy to see why: they were naturally charismatic and wondrous to look at, after all; even Troia, reserved and withdrawn as she was, was eventually drawn into them. Troia silently flicked her ears in agreement, and Pan grinned, kneeling the front half of their body down so that the Timberwulf could climb up on their back. As irritating as Pantalaimon was at times, she was glad that just this once they took the time to accompany her, in the end. Assisting the weak was, deep down, what she valued most.

“Alright. Then let’s go.” Troia silently flicked her tail to Pantalaimon, and the both of them made their way out of the forest towards Moonreach.