She pranced at Zalen’s side, still surveying the land even as they trotted over the endlessly snowy terrain. Once she slipped on ice, and her legs splayed out every which way. Her claws scraped for purchase, but it was her closeness to Zalen that kept her from toppling to the ground and rescued a scrap of her dignity. She looked at Zalen, momentarily embarrassed, before laughing… might as well find the humor in it while she can.
It wasn’t long after that when she saw it… the scab that the scar led them to. Her breath caught in her throat and she jerked to a halt, golden eyes glaring at the shadowy buildings before them. They were worse than she imagined. Even the buildings that Cercatori d’Arte so foolishly embraced were better than this. They were broken, ugly, with archaic signs hanging unevenly from oxidized bolts. One particular building had an overhang that had long ago collapsed.
“This is… terrible…” She whimpered mournfully. “What do we do?” Her eyes turned to Zalen as he courageously began padding forth to inspect the dilapidated rest stop. Her ears flattened and she whimpered. “Don’t go over there,” she pleaded. This place was not at all like the places in Cercatori d’Arte, and because they marred her dream she liked it even less.
She watched him take a few steps before hurrying to catch up with him. They couldn’t stay away, she knew. They had to inspect, they had to truly look at this place before they could go any further, or come to any conclusions.
She trotted up to the first place, another building with an over hang that had mostly blown away. There was a building with two rusty pillars outside. She cautiously approached the pillars and sniffed apprehensively. Jostling a nozzle by accident, it fell from its hook and clattered to the ground, yanking on the decaying rubber hose attached. A pungent fluid burbled from the nose of the nozzle.
Titania yelped and leaped back, backpedaling until her rump bumped into Zalen’s side. Her ears flattened again and she growled at the pump, the smell coming from the tarnished fuel sickened her. “I don’t like this place,” she said. “Let’s look at another…”
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