The Legend of the Labyrinth

[shisteer of nothing much]

Waiata studied the walls, reading the words and committing them to memory with practiced ease as she listened to the other beasts' conversation. She decided that, out of all of them, Dantin and Algirdas were the ones she could relate to the most. She had no interest in treasure and enjoyed being alone with her thoughts, and loved exploring.

Seeing some relevant instructions on the walls, Waiata addressed the group at large.
"We need to turn left, turn left." she told them before leading the way down a branching tunnel, grinning back at Pekepeke as she slowed to let her little sister catch up.
"What do you think of our new friends, new friends?"

[Ebantu the Kararehe]

Pekepeke gave a hop-skip to reach her sister and frowned. "I'm not entirely sure, really, really. Dan..Dantin seems very timid, timid. I don't think he likes company very much, very much. The one with long ears doesn't seem all too friendly either, either. He makes me a little nervous, actually, actually." She fell silent, thinking over her own words.

[shisteer of nothing much]

Waiata nodded, her own thoughts running along similar lines to her sister's as she put a protective wing around the younger bat.
"I know what you mean. I don't think he's a threat to us but he seems to be hiding something, and in doing so he comes off as slightly... abrupt, abrupt." Waiata paused, then added a small defense in the longeared one's favour. "Then again, he is in charge of keeping everyone safe in here and it's not an easy task. Leadership can be a very heavy burden, burden."
Waiata looked back, waiting for the land bound creatures to catch up.
"They're taking a while. I hope they followed us, followed us."

[Kade Rivok]

As the group caught up to the bats, Dantin became curious as to how the two sisters knew what what the symbols meant; the patterns seemed utterly foreign to him.  It likely had something to do with the fact that they called this place home, but if their writing was of a different language, why wasn't their speech?  The number of questions in his mind kept growing and he would have liked to talk to them about it, among other things, but couldn't find a good time to do so.  With the way they zipped about, he would have to call out to them to get them to come over, and there was no way he was going to do that.  He disliked attention, and doing such a thing would only draw it towards him.  He settled himself with walking at the back of the group, occasionally looking over his shoulder into the inky blackness.  He kept feeling like something was gazing upon him, but it was likely nothing.  He knew the mind could do strange things when on edge.

[shisteer of nothing much]

Waiata smiled at her little sister, her sharp ears picking up the sounds of the group approaching.
"Looks like we're on the move again. I'll just go back to make sure everybeast is here, is here. You can start now, if you want. I'll catch up, catch up."
Waiata let go of her perch and flew back down the tunnel, making a quick headcount of the explorers as she went. She stopped at Dantin, who was at the back of the line. The mouse seemed lost in his thoughts as he walked with a curious expression on his face.
Waiata flew behind him, content to let him have his thoughts and think over the runes she'd seen. This area of the labyrinth wasn't familiar to her and the messages on the walls weren't exactly friendly. It wasn't a problem to her so much. Most of the messages were cautioning 'ground crawlers' and she wasn't one of them. Strangely though, this fact didn't bring her much comfort. Her friends were certainly in danger and Waiata didn't like it any better than they seemed to.
"At least we're together, together."

[Kade Rivok]

Dantin had been aware of Waiata's presence behind him; though soft, her wing beats were a bit of a give away.  An internal debate had been raging about whether he should try and make conversation or not, when he heard her say something he couldn't quite make out.  He inadvertently slowed down his pace as he turned his head and looked to the friendly bat.

"I-I'm sorry, what was that?  My, uh... my mind was somewhere else."

[shisteer of nothing much]

Waiata shook her head to clear it and smiled at the mouse.
"Don't worry about it, about it; I was just talking to myself, myself. What do you think of the labyrinth, labyrinth? Do you find it slightly disconcerting or absolutely terrifying, terrifying?"

[Verdauga]

Chycer undid another puzzle door, and tested the ground beyond. Bracing himself,  he leaned his weight between his footpaw and the wall. Feeling the floor shift, he tested the middle of the corridor, finding it solid.
"Stick tah the middle, chaps!" He called back, and over the muted conversations of the party.

[Kade Rivok]

Dantin was about to reply to Waiata when Chycer called back.  Making sure to stay to the middle as the group moved forward, he said, "Ah, um... both, I suppose?  I've wandered forests, valleys, trails, meadows, and a few mountains, but I've always been under the open sky.  Being enclosed like this is... well, I don't much care for it honestly."

He shook his head, trying not to think about where he was or how far underground he might be, but then realized that what he'd just said made it sound like he was talking poorly of Waiata's home.  He continued hastily, "Not that there's anything, uh... anything wrong with this place, of course.  It just doesn't... doesn't suit me, I suppose."

He looked over at the bat, trying to tell whether he'd upset her or not, as he continued.  "So... how did your folks end up here?  Where they also born here?"

[MathLuk]

Algirdas wanted to question Chycer's decision. The hare had been wrong before. But this was his group, and others trusted his wisdom.

"The middle. Good." Algirdas wanted to blot our Chycer from his mind for the rest of his life, but survival was clearly more important.

[shisteer of nothing much]

Waiata smiled at Dantin's apologetic rephrase, shrugging the matter off as unimportant.
"Don't worry, I understand that not everybeast is comfortable underground, underground. There's a reason I didn't ask if you found it relaxing, relaxing. My family have been in the labyrinth for many generations and probably know it better than anybeast, anybeast. The story is that an old dragon accidentally destroyed my great, great, great grandfather's cave and, when he found himself face to face with more than a hundred indignant bats, he apologised and directed us to this place, saying that it would provide a comfortable home for us, which it did, it did. Back at the settlement we've even got gardens growing, growing. It's surprising what can be grown down here, down here."
Waiata flew under a low hanging rock and grinned.
"This place looks a lot less developed than the rest of the labyrinth, labyrinth. Keep an eye out for various different tools and such, and such."

[Verdauga]

OOC: Well, okay. Let's just... toss a dragon in the mix.

BIC:
    Chycer tested the floor again and paced forward before moving off to the side. The bat and the mouse were on speaking terms, at least. He hadn't heard a peep fron his own two employees. At least Algirdas wasn't being troublesome.

[Booklover]

The shrew had been listening to the conversation between the two creatures. It wasn't in her nature to be talkative and friendly, but at least it might provide a distraction from the sameness of the dark, and the grey walls, torchlight casting weird shadows over them. "Fascinating tale, but nothing more. Never seen a dragon and never plan to either."

[shisteer of nothing much]

Waiata gave the shrew a smile, mentally searching for her name, then remembering that nobeast knew what it was, if she had one.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how much truth there is in the tale, the tale. If it was true, it was ages ago so chances are good the dragon isn't even alive anymore, anymore. It would be pretty cool if it was, it was."
Waiata grinned at the thought, turning to the wall in such a way that it would echo and be amplified.
"Who goes there, goes there? This is my territory and I have not given you permission to enter onto it, onto it!"

[Sebias of Redwall]

"That's a fascinating tale to be sure." Brink remarked. He had been silently following along with the group, watching and listening as his companions conversed. Life as a mercenary had taught him that everybeast was always out to get something. A creature would have to choose his friends wisely in a place like this.
"Ow!"
The hedgehog mumbled an oath as his foot suddenly banged into an object. He hopped around on one leg for a moment then glanced down.
"What... what is that?"