[Moofius]

"I'm doing fruit salad for myself," Moofius said with a yawn before stretching, "Uh! I'm way to tired to cook. I couldn't sleep a wink. Whatever was out there was being very obvious and Led, you're loud when you guard." To which the gallizar clicked, whistled and hissed out her reasons; sadly Moofius couldn't understand her so she just went about outside the camp, gathering fruit for herself.
"Led. Hunt for breakfast." Moofius added absently, dismissing the gallizar who quickly trotted off into the Tengel, the foliage so thick that her bright, vibrant colours were soon lost to the greenery.

"So, Slithian," the girl started, her words slightly garbled by the crunchy fruit in her mouth, "I'm thinking that those things around camp were moonling. Completely terrified and weakened by any light source. They can hide in shadows so they don't much like the light. That's why they went around the camp unseen, the fire kept them away. Once we go into the library it will be very dark, so we have to be ready to create light at... well, at anytime, really."
She spoke as she went about gathering her breakfast, eating as she went until she got... the hiccups.
"Aw! No! I don't-" hic "need this-" hic "right now!"

[Moofius]

"Nothing works for me but peanut butter or a long wait," Moofius said, still hiccuping, "But I'll try," getting up (still a hiccup fest) as she moved towards the river. She dipped her hands into her river, drinking it. Cold and pure. Gawd she loved the Tengel. Of all the places she'd been to, of all the things she'd seen the Tengel was her favorite. The raw, untamed beauty, it's mysteries. It was a lot like home in some ways...
She'd gone quiet, watching the river, head bowed as she thought, hands in the river as her fingers wiggled. She missed her dad...
Meanwhile her hiccups were gone.

Hssss...
The sound got even distant Moofius' attention, her ears swiveling back so they faced the camp.
"Led?"
A few panicky chirps and angry hisses seemed to confirm this before the mostly black and red mass crashed through the foliage.
"Led, what was... Led?" Moofius had been about to chew out the gallizar for worrying her, and pulling Moofius from her reveries when she saw the gallizar crouch low and turn her long, strong neck back to one leg which seemed the be bleeding. Leds tongue ran over the wounds which looked like small bite and claw marks. These marks seemed to be on both of her legs.
"Led, will you be alright?" The mount clicked and chirped, sounding annoyed.

Well, so much for relaxing. The cow anthro ran one hand through her thick, wavy hair.
"Alright... It wasn't a rodent or anything. Led is trained for war, even a swarm of rodents wouldn't get her that bad..."

[Moofius]

"Moonlings" Moofius confirmed, looking a bit grim. Attacking in the day time? They must be closer then she'd originally assumed. Led clicked and hissed, bobbing her head as if to confirm the assumption. Of course they could get no clear details of the attack from the mount.

"Slithian we should- !? What the hell are you doing?!" Moofius had turned to face him, now tipping her head waaay back to look up into the tree, one hand covering her eyes to save her from the sun. Okay, so he'd never left home and probably had never fought but... well this was ridiculous.

"First of all, they hide in shadow. What makes shade? Trees! Get down before the moonling get you! Just stay in the light, okay?" Moofius said, frowning up at him. led walked over to Moofius, walking around the girl before squatting and clicking up at Slithian mockingly.
"How pathetic" was the gallizars basic message. EThough Led had been temporarily surprised by the unexpected attack she was already good to go.

One quick smack to the shoulder and Moofius walked away from the gallizar, gathering up her things before walking back and climbing up.
"The library will be further into the Tengel, Slithian. There will be a lot of places for the moonling to hide. Just be on your toes. If we keep close we should be okay." She said this more to reassure him. Of course if he was a useless fighter she wouldn't waste her energy defending a baby. That wasn't the deal.

[Moofius]

"Kay" was the quick reply. She could have extended it but it'd look something like.
"What are ten Slithian combined, anyway? Like, three newborns?"

Now you understand why she didn't say more, right? Led had already made her own, similar comment in her head, laughing it up as Moofius jabbed her heels into the beasts sides to get this show on the road.

The sun rose, making the day unbearably hot, but they couldn't travel at night, not safely, not anymore. So they were stuck with traveling in the say, avoiding shade. If it wasn't Moonling it was the sun. Led didn't mind too too much, but upon request traveled in the shallower edges of the Tengel river. Moofius let her legs drag in the water as they traveled, taking in some feeling of relief from the sharp, wet sting of the cold water running over her ankles (hooves didn't get much out of this, after all).

"So... You haven't had any training in fighting? What about orientation? Map reading? Anything? Or did you just hang about in piles of treasure?"
The question came out of, literally, no where. Moofius was just checking to see where those tall spires had gone, if they were close and then she'd started... talking.
Led had been too intent on not slipping and falling into the river to be bothering Slithian, she was being a good girl.

[Moofius]

The silence felt endless as Moofius thought and thought hard. It was tough; THIS was tough. What she suppose to do with him? He was big, imposing but... Useless. You might as well remove his fangs, so domesticated and pampered he was.

And she'd been so terrified of him at the beginning... The very beginning, anyway. But even just that short period of time... It was embarrassing. Poor guy, he seemed to just be realising just how not-useful he was.
"Well... I can't teach you how to fight... But you're big enough to take care of yourself against a few moonling I'd bet." she smiled and laughed, "I'd teach you if I could but you can't use a sword, you have no arms. I can't teach you fancy foot work, you have no feet. So in that I can't teach you much. You'd need to learn from a more experienced carpet fang. I don't even own any carpetfangs, I've never seen one fight."

She'd seen a bigger snake fight, though. She knew a few things, maybe more then she should but she wasn't going to try and explain how she knew all this, she wouldn't explain about her family.
"As for that other stuff I'm no good at reading maps or anything like that, either. I'm okay for marked paths and stuff but I wouldn't be able to figure out my location without... somebody who knew what they were talking about."
She smiled, "I have a friend back at the pen, Grid, she's AMAZING with maps. Maybe you can meet her and she can try to teach you? But I mean you've already learned to make a pretty sturdy shelter for a person, right? That's good. And you can swim which is REALLY handy. That's a good start for your first time out and about. Of course if I ever meet this master-guy of yours I will verbally abuse him for being useless, hahaha-Oh!"

Moofius stopped in her 'Awrh poor Slithian don't feel bad' speech (she was glad for the distraction I mean, really, she was no good at this) Led shifting around to get a good grip on the river rocks.
"And... I think we're right across from it. Slithian, would you mind taking to the trees and see if you can see the library? If I am correct in my guess we should be right next to it. Just cut through the Tengel and we should be there, hopefully. We might have over shot it a bit. If so, whoops."

[Moofius]

(( Years? Seeing as it's too late to ask I'll ask tomorrow. =3; Then my post may need editing. XD: ))

Moofius withheld a sad sigh. Obviously her pep talk hadn't worked out as well as she would have liked. Ah well there was only so much she could do. Moofius was far from social and it seemed even Led realized this, looking up at her master with a "wow you suck" kinda' look.
"Shut up Led."

Led clicked up almost mocklingly before trudging out of the Tengel waters. Here the land just suddenly dropped into the water so Led had to climb up a bit, Moofius clinging to her for dear life. Ha, instant karma for making fun of her, Led. The reptile looked pretty unhappy (and slightly strangled from Moofius grip) by the time she was out of the river. By that time Slithian had returned from his scouting.
The carpetfang seemed still rather upbeat and proud which meant no moonling attacks. They really were more nocturnal.

"Alright. We'll head diagnoally through the forest until we're more in line with the library and then go straight towards it from there. Good job, Slithian."
The girl tossed that in just so the snake creature knew he was, in fact, doing a good job. You was kinda' cute when his mind wasn't completely focused on obtaining her pocket change through methods fair or foul.

[Moofius]

She turned her attention towards him, already her gait (or rather Led's) had slowed to something a little more cautious. She knew full well what she was getting into but knew that if when she was new to the Tengel it scared her a lot.
"Well there's still light out, which plays in our favour. Either we go through the Tengel in the lights that's left or we go through the Tengel in the dark." her tone was matter-of-fact but not quite mean or exasperated.

Led clicked and whistled softly towards Slithian which could only be translated as, "chicken!" which earned the gallizar a quick kick to the shin.
"Hiss!"
"Behave! We're on our toes, Led! We still have shadows to contend with." Moofius reminded the over glorified mount who huffed but grudgingly obeyed.

The dark leafy ferns, trees, and other mess of plants about them shivered and moved as unseen creatures moved about. Besides the sound of leaves moving and the less then pleasant sound of chittering laughter and hissing the Tengel was silent. Where were the pollies chirping high above? The sound of gyrraptor chirping and calling to each other? Where were the natural background noises? Even the mighty Tengel rivers thunder was dimmed to nothing but a whisper, barely heard above those strange, almost alien voices.

"I'd say we're pretty close,"
The silence was broken quite suddenly, making Led jump and bit and look about the group nervously (had Slithian seen that? Please no.). It was clear that Moofius wasn't quite as comfortable now as when they'd been by the river. Her ears were constantly moving, swivelling to catch a lose, perhaps dangerous, noise. Her sword wasn't out... but her hand was wrapped tightly about the hilt and she also had a... What was that? It looked light a... lighter? Bic, to be exact.

(( PRODUCT PLACEMENT! Who else makes lighters anyway?))

The lighter was at the ready to be lit and seemed full (which could actually be said because it was a white bic. Either Moofius was lucky or she knew how to pick her bic).
"On yer toes... Er, well you know what I mean, Slithian." Moofius laughed but it was a bit tight as she lead the group forward.

[Moofius]

Moofius frowned. Yah yah, worry about me. Well, Led too and anyway the silence (or the silence accompanied by the laughter and angry hisses of moonling) was unsettling.

Eons seemed to pass before Moofius saw, through the foliage, a dark, hulking shape. It wasn't trees, no it was something big and solid, jutting from the ground. Considering the Tengel was, for the most part, flat this thing stood out rather dramatically.
"That's it..." Moofius breathed as she jutted her chin towards the solid darkness.
"That's where they live, too, right? So don't bolt for it. ... They'll make a stand very soon." Moofius whispered. Two things happened just as she said this. In the first moment after her tight words the sun finally disapeared, casting the night in darkness. The second thing that happened was a a cloud of darkness decended on the group that easily rivaled the darkness of the Tengel after the sun set.
I word that was much less acceptable then "poop" left Moofius and she flicked on the lighter. The flickering light was terribly pathetic compared to the suffocating darkness around them.

Led hissed and crouched down to let Moofius off as she blindly attacked the darkness.
"It's a bad time to ask but, do you have any sort of fire element, Slithian?" Moofius asked, already trying to cut down creatures she couldn't see.

(( And seven pages in we find our first battle! WHOO-HOO! 8D XD;; ))