Strength - Raukan/Harlowe/Ema

“Hurry along, now,” Ema urged the two pullers trailing behind her. The Tyrian was carrying tools for the workers, freshly sharpened by the Brutes clan, with Raukan and Harlowe hauling a hefty carriage of food and supplies. The journey wasn’t easy in all the tunnels, but the Haedians had marked a path for surface-dwellers to follow when bringing supplies between the areas. Much obliged for Harlowe, who would get lost in such a maze of tunnels. Ema and Raukan seemed much more confident in their turns and directions, so the duve was happy to follow along and do his part pulling weight. 

The hustle and bustle of the Matriarch’s chamber was growing closer and closer, with picks and magic working away at her crystal encasing. Ema hadn’t done much of the heavy labour up until now, aside from healing or calmed the frightened pets of the Matriarch. Harlowe wondered how strong she truly was, under her pale robes and gentle demeanor. Would she swing like a beast or barely crack the rock? Or maybe she has some powerful magic that could take chunks from the tunnels at her will. 

“Focus, you’re pulling crooked.” Raukan snapped at Harlowe in the middle of his daydreaming, and the duve shook back to planet earth. Hastily apologizing, he focused on the tunnel ahead. 

Finally, the path came to an end, and the yawning chamber of the Matriarch was ahead. Bustling as ever, the colorful crystals were speckled with many hides of Reoseans digging away at it. Some new tunnels were made around the cavern to make way topside quicker than going all the way back through the clan territories. It was nice to get some fresh air down here, Harlowe would assume. He might have been imagining things, but it was almost like there was a breeze now. 

The cart full of supplies was left aside, and Raukan, Harlowe, and Ema descended the path to help move rubble from the diggers. Pebbles, rocks, and chunks were rolled aside from the workers, and needed to be sorted aside to avoid hazard in the work area. 

“Bring those sacks over here!” Zarod hollered to the freshly arrived Reoseans. Raukan and Harlowe picked up some sacks in their jaws before making their way down. Ema did not pick any up, but floated down beside them. 

“Good, now, any rubble needs to be brought from here,” she gestured to an area they were in, “to over there, to the back of the chamber. Tie them up good so that they can be hauled off and recycled for something else.” She instructed, muttering some things under her breath. “Don’t trip on nothing, you’ll sprain an ankle and I’ve seen enough of those today.” 

Ema held open two sacks with her wings, so that Raukan and Harlowe could fill them up with the crystal chips, pebbles, and rock chunks. Shoveling the earth was sore on the neck when you didn’t have arms to do it with, but Raukan pushed through with little complaints. Harlowe would groan and pause to stretch every now and again, but Zarod’s sharp eye would get him right back to working order.

“Scary, that one,” the duve muttered under his breath. Harlowe had been barked at by many, but there was an assertive demand about this one and her presence in the chamber. She was used to the job of intimidating others to work, he’d reckon.

“If you didn’t stop every two minutes to gripe about your sore back, she wouldn’t be.” Raukan grunted between digging. His shovel fell to the ground when the bag was finally full, and he could tie it off. With her larger stature, Ema pushed the bag aside, and sorted some larger chunks in order to be loaded up and carted away. Her robes were more inconvenient for the job, but she voiced no complaint or discomfort, not a peep to be heard. 

“Bring more bags over here!” The Haedian hollered out as another cart wheeled into the chamber. She seemed rather on top of recycling the crystal chipped away around the Matriarch, though for what, not one of the three knew. Something the Brutes, perhaps other clans, could use it for. What the consistent similarity they all had was, was a mystery.

The work area was beginning to clear after an hour of toiling away, and already more clutter was being made by the diggers. It all seemed so endless as Harlowe looked at it all. He’d not want to go near anything cave related for a long while after this, and the whole time he’d find pebbles and dust hidden in his long coat for sure. Raukan seemed as indifferent yet disgruntled depending on the moment, but it wasn’t the dust and grime as much as it was the amount of people.