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They're ahead of the circuiters, that much is certain. One the way out of Ehqaj, taking an unusual detour essentially across the top of Roaring Hollow, armed with a pair of good binoculars given to him by the Pyu Ivvi gym leader, Rhaptor watched them enter the city. He's been entirely quiet about what he's looking for, and none of the conversations she's witnessed him have with gym leaders - which up to that point were Tove Zipporah and Rose Kaiki as new additions to the list - have seen him talking about any of his observations.
So far, Rhaptor's prediction that the rest of the gym leaders would not treat him with scorn seems to hold true. Tove seemed delighted to see him without even so much as a hint of wariness, Rose kept a motherly air around them both, and Yarver Bakema, while in the first instant pattern-matching to something of a slave driver, explained his fondness for the boy in an entirely believable fashion. While she can't claim she's seen stranger dynamics, it had become obvious very quickly that it was consensual - and Yarver had eased up considerably after discerning her discomfort, nudging interactions into perfectly ordinary circles.
The oddness of it's essentially forgotten by the time they're hiking toward Kzye. The strange warning Rhaptor had given her about Keith Sirius meanwhile isn't. Since Rhaptor's not brought it up on his own again, evidently unconcerned about the location himself, the topic has yet to be revived. That said, a separate topic of conversation found an awkward end; she'd asked him why he goes by Rhaptor if Dakarai is his real name, and he had politely declined her any explanation.
The area that Kzye is nestled into appears to have more in common with Mars, if someone had stopped to photoshop some dusty shrubs into a photo of it. Thorn is fairly steep here, making travel even along marked paths testing - it seems like the only way roads go is uphill. Rhaptor seems quite comfortable with the incline, evidently far more used to this kind of travel than she is - and it's about two kilometres from the edge of Kzye that they pause and sit on the rocks to have the snacks Yarver had left them with and the entire rest of their water supply, mostly for Elena's benefit.
It doesn't help that it's late afternoon and the sun's heat is swimming across the ground. Most of the way here they've been accompanied with cool, string gusts of wind nudging at their backs and helping them along, but that seems to have died down.
“You don't sunburn easily, do you?” Rhaptor asks, his eyes narrowing as if he were tempted to squeeze them shut against the bright, bleached landscape. The heat is nothing Sarchus couldn't likely help them against with a RAIN DANCE or some more direct conjuration of humidity, but it's not really the problem. It only emphasises the problem, all of Elena's limbs aching - even parts of her she could've sworn weren't even involved in walking.
Following Rhaptor's remark, Iris hesitates for a moment, then flutters up to hover between the sun and Elena, casting his shadow onto her and watching her with concern.
A few weeks ago Elena had thought she was reasonably fit. She spent a lot of time hiking in the semi-wilderness and climbing trees and didn't mind spending a day walking. Doing the circuit was going to be much the same, wasn't it? The hiking would be a little brisker and with more purpose, there would be some more gear to carry, and she could expect it to be somewhat more mentally tiring as well, but overall she should be -good- at it, right?
Apparently not. And the key difference was hills. Mostly in the form of one giant volcano of one, which was rapidly teaching her that Njoty has very little in the way of UP. It turned out that 'up' was very exhausting and involved muscle groups she'd never paid much attention to before.
“I hope not,” Elena answered, taking off her floppy white hat to push a loose strand of hair behind her ear and out of her face. Thank you Tove so very much for gifting it to her, she was totally sending the Pyu Ivvi gymleader cupcakes when next in the area. She could put icing Zubats on top of it. “I never burn much at home, but… well. Trees. These shrubs don't count.”
A meow in her ear makes her startle as the pokemon on her shoulder stirs, and then she has a lap full of very warm kitten nosing at her water bottle. “Thirsty?” Elena asks the Onca with concern as she pours a little water into her hand for it. Theoretically after raising Sarchus from an egg she should have no issues with another tiny Blood-type. In practise she'd never raised a Fire-type (after all, it was more accurate to say Roman had raised her) and every breed of pokemon was different. She was eager to ask advice from Keith on how to handle this supposedly wild animal that had decided she belonged to belonged to it now.
✘ IN PROGRESS