The Tranquil Prompt 2

After many hours of speaking with the overly curious Tranquil clan members the exhausted surface dwelling trio of Aouli, Isa, and Aerwyna were finally given a moment of reprieve. With a loud groan the akhal puller flopped onto the ground and covered his eyes with one of his paws. The female runners shared his sentiment but had a little more self control than to openly display such emotion. Isa gently prodded the large puller's shoulder, “Come on Aouli you can’t just sleep in the middle of the road like this. Let's try to find an actual place to rest.” In response the blue puller merely rolled dramatically on his back and fake wailed, “No, go on without me.” before going limp. Aerwyna rolled her eyes but appreciated his attempt to lighten their mood after the day they had. The two runners exchanged a look, silently wondering what they should do when a cheery voice called out to them from above.

The runners both looked up and saw a new haedian perched on a ledge not too high above them. They were illuminated by the various purple crystals that sprouted from the rocky cave floor giving them a noticeable purple glow. “Heyy~ up here!” They waved to the surface dwellers enthusiastically before quickly and nimbly clambering down to meet the newcomers. “You three must be the ones who brought Amoure in! Thank you for helping her.” the new haedian thank the trio once more, only further driving in the guilt that was gnawing at them. Isa shook her head sadly, “We didn’t do anything deserving of thanks.” she tried to graciously deny their insistence but that only seemed to make the haedian more interested in them. The haedian smiled broadly before they circled the trio and stood beside Aouli. “I like you guys.” they declared. “Come on, follow me!” 

With that declaration the haedian quickly started to walk down a path that led deeper into the chasm. Aerwyna tried to call out to them to wait but the haedian merely gestured with their long tail to follow again. The surface dwelling trio glanced at each other before Aouli shrugged and started to follow. Isa and Aerwyna still didn’t feel right about this but didn’t want to get separated from their companion so they also followed. The haedian led them deep into the chasm, it was incredibly dark down here but the deeper they went the more the crystals around them sprouted from the walls. The crystal coverage got so dense that it seemed like everything around them was made of crystal, the ledge they were walking on seemed to be carved from the crystal face., giving the path the appearance of being inside a crystal. None of the surface trio had been spelunking before and they had never heard stories of caves like this so they all marveled at the magnificent sights around them.

The haedian led them down, and down, deeper and deeper into the chasm. The trio walked along the ledge for so long that they all started to be freaked out at how deep the chasm was. As they walked the deep purple crystals around them slowly shifted color once more. The crystals changed from deep royal purple to a rich burgundy and as they continued even deeper still the crystals lightened and brightened even more until they were surrounded by light pinkish burgundy crystals as far as the eye could see. The crystals down here were so bright that it almost hurt the surface dweller trios eyes after being so used to the dark for so long. Now that they could actually see, the trio could finally see the bottom of the chasm far below. From their vantage point they could see other haedians walking and mingling with each other. The area they were viewing appeared to be a market street of some kind but the vayrons couldn’t help but think it looked a bit like a pink glowing river where the dark blobs of the haedians walking around were the fish swimming downstream.

The ledge they were walking down finally merged with the chasm floor and the vayrons barely managed to follow the haedian as they were very distracted by the various bizarre wares and trinkets that were for sale at the various stalls around them. Gorgeous cloth that appeared to be woven from some sort of cloth, intricately carved crystals that had been molded to use as kitchen ware, and someone was even selling enchanted stone slates. Isa and Aerwyna were extremely interested in the stone slate stall, they really wanted to examine the writing on the slates and find out what kind of stories the haedians liked to read but their guide didn’t stop to let them browse. When Aouli asked if they could pause for a second the haedian denied that request, they seemed dead-set on leading them somewhere specific before the surface dwellers could enjoy the local sights at their own leisure. “It’s just up ahead, promise!” the haedian called back over their shoulder as they continued into a larger section of open chasm.

As the trio entered the open chasm they couldn’t help but gasp aloud at the magnificent sight before them. The haedian they were following had turned around and was smiling broadly at the amazed vayrons as they exclaimed, “Welcome to the main square!” Behind the haedian was a massive spire of crystal with smaller towers sprouting up from the floor around it. The light it gave off provided an excellent ambient light and combined with the light of the many veins of crystal that nearly blanketed the chams floor it was almost as bright as the surface. The sound of excited chatter echoed slightly around them as nearly a hundred haedians mingled at the various stalls, cave holes that doubled as store fronts, and various opening sitting areas filled with huge oversized bean bag chairs and piles of gorgeously patterned cloth. Draped across the chasm overhead were bands of ornate cloth and glass or crystal lamps dangled from barely visible wires giving the illusion of floating lights. The surface trio couldn’t help but compare the local culture to that of the desert dwellers of Thedale.

Now that the haedian had successfully led them to the central hub of the Tranquil and given them the dramatic reveal they had always wanted, they guided the vayrons around the hub and explained the local oddities they came across. While Aouli was mainly only interested in the stuff because it looked bizarre and pretty, the two female runners were intrigued by the different culture of the haedians. They admired their ingenuity and the skill they had developed in handling such unwieldy materials. As they explored the trio asked what inspired the haedians choices in lounging furniture, since it was so similar to the kinds of cushions the vayrons had seen in thedale. The haedian wasn’t really sure what Thedale was but was more than happy to explain that they didn’t really have large supplies of soft materials so they filled sacks with tiny rounded stones. When the vayrons tried to use the large cushions they found them a little hard but the cool sensation of the stone under the cloth was pleasant as well. 

After a while of enjoying the lounging area and trying a few local treats from the adjoining street food stall the haedian decided to show them one of the areas most hoped not to enter. The haedian led them to a large multistory series of ledges on the opposite side of the hub near the back entrance of the chasm. The series of ledges were open to the area and had been carved into the cliff face in an alternating fashion. The vayrons could see that each ledge seemed to have different items, tools, boxes, and even beds on them. The haedian explained, “And this-” they paused to wave at the ‘building’ ahead of them. “Is the hospital!” As they approached the vayrons were amazed to watch as various haedians leaped, glided, and climbed between the various levels of the hospital. On the bottom most level that was flush with the floor there were rows upon rows of beds made out of plain cushions and plain cloth. The middle levels seemed to hold supplies and various tools crafted from crystal, stone, and even metal, and they couldn’t see what was on the upper levels due to the angle.

As they watched one of the haedians leaping between levels brought some herbs down to an injured haedian who was resting in one of the beds. After getting the injured haedian to eat the herbs the healer haedian produced a large chunk of crystal from one of the bags on its side. In fascination the surface dwelling trio watched as the healer focused on the crystal and imbued it with magic. The pink crystal glowed brightly, magic swirling across its surface and seemed to amplify the magic. Once the crystal had stored a certain amount of magic, the healer directed the magic from the crystal to the resting haedians injury. The resting haedian let out a loud sigh of relief as the crystal rapidly healed their wound. All three of the surface dwellers were astonished by what they had just witnessed. Their guiding haedian smiled proudly at their reaction and said, “Pretty cool right?” Before they could say anything else the three vayrons blasted them with questions.

From being the ones that were harassed with questions to being the ones doing the harassing all three of the surface dwellers asked question after question on how their healing magic worked and what the crystal was and did. The guide haedian had expected them to be curious but even they were taken aback by the rapid fire volley of questions that were being hurled at them. As they stuttered and tried to sputter out a response to the endless questions, the healer haedian they had just witnessed noticed them and approached out of curiosity. When the healer realized what they were asking the healer was more than happy to step in to satiate their curiosity. The healer invited the vayrons to tour the hospital and as they explored the haedian was more than happy to answer each of the vayrons burning questions. Even Aouli who normally wouldn’t be interested in the technically mumbo-jumbo that doctors or apothecaries liked to ramble about listened intently to the healer's explanations. 

But out of all the trio, Isa who was capable of using healing magic, was the most excited to learn. She was an excellent healer on her own but the idea of being able to amplify her healing magic was something she couldn’t pass up. When the healer haedian learned that she was a fellow healer they were more than happy to teach the filigree vayron how to use their crystals. Aouli and Aerwyna continued to explore the hospital and even helped out the other healers when asked while they waited for Isa to complete her lesson. They were all so enthralled in what they were doing that they almost didn’t notice the large group of haedians that came gliding down from the darkness above while carrying a familiar face on a stretcher. It was the haedian named Amoure that the trio had accidentally run into earlier. Upon seeing the injured haedian again they were all reminded of what the runners had accidentally caused and were once more racked by guilt. The many healer haedians on the multiple levels of the hospital leaped down and glided to the chasm floor to meet the new patient and quickly got to work assessing her injuries. 

Upon determining that the worst had already been mended before they transported her to them, the healers directed the haedians carrying the stretcher to set her down gently on one of the nearby beds. Once she was in position  the healers gathered around her and held a large chunk of the pink crystal above her. Realizing what they were doing Isa quickly stepped forward to join the circle of healers. Aouli and Aerwyna watched as the group poured their healing magic into the crystal, the crystal shown brightly, so bright that it hurt to look at. After a few seconds of charging the magic, the healer who had been teaching them before directed the magic down to Amoure just like they had done with the other injured haedian. The magic washed over the injured haedian and they could all see the wounds and bruises rapidly fade across her body. As Isa rejoiced at the haedians improvement they finally stirred from the magic induced sleep they had been stuck in. 

The pink haedian blinked her unfocused eyes a few times before focusing on Isa, Aerwyna, and Aouli. Just as the trio started to worry that the haedian would hold a grudge against them for what happened the haedian smiled softly and warmly. It was the kind of smile of pure gratitude and forgiveness, “Thank you.” she said in a voice so sweet all three of the vayrons hearts lurched. They had caused her so much pain and yet she thanked them for helping her… From that moment on all three of the vayrons silently came to the same decision. They would all do everything in their power to help her.