The Harpy had led Edrea to the open dike the latter had seen when trying to flee the former's pursuit. The dike had been filled with a jumble of stones. What purpose they had perhaps once served is unclear. Now, the Harpy pauses, searching for the egg it mentioned.
"This is probably a bit of a cruel quesion," Edrea begins as the Harpy searches the pit for the egg. "However, I'm a bit confused here."
"How so?" the Harpy squawks.
"Now, please don't hit me. I'm curious, though. What... umm... gender are you, exactly?"
"Isn't it obvious?" the Harpy demands. "I am Ygatar, a male." Suddenly, he smacks himself on the head. "I am also a blatant fool. I forget that I had moved the egg so it would not be stolen by another creature until I found one I thought worthy."
"So... where is it?"
"I moved it to an alcove in one of the mountains around here."
"Which one, exactly?"
"Umm..."
"You can't remember?" Edrea nearly screams. However, she keeps as much of her cool as she possibly could.
Ygatar scratches his head. "No, I don't think I can."
Edrea suddenly mentally kicks herself for forgetting that Harpies, especially Stymphalian ones, were never noted for their intellegences. It usually takes a whole flock of them to discover what three times seven is. She sighs under her breath. "Well, can you describe it to me? The egg, I mean?"
"It's coloured like a rock," Ygatar manages. "And, umm.. it has green streaks all over it." He nods vehemently. "Yes, it looks like a rock with green streaks on it. Bright green. Almost radioactive looking."
"Ra-... Radioactive! What do you mean by 'almost' and 'radioactive!?' It either is or it isn't there is no 'almost' when it comes to radioactive!" She, as most other enhanced inhabitants of Elkomiir, has an acute fear of radioactivity. This has been blamed on many things, but Edrea fears it because it was the only power the unenhanced had over the enhanced in the War.
"You halflings mishear easily. Too easily. I said it looks radioactive. It wasn't but it looked that way. Now, why is that important?"
"I'll find it."
"Oh? And how do you propose you'll do that?"
"Easilly enough. Visualize the egg. I'll cast a spell to find it."
"Um... alright. I'll try."
Ygatar had stood for what had felt - and still feels - like hours to him. All this time, he is waiting for that arrogant mage-girl to announce that she has found the egg. He is trying very hard to keep his concentration on the egg, but it is not working too well. He is finding his concentration wandering. When the girl announces she has found the egg, he snaps out of a reverie. Why did he ever go out for a fly today?
As it turns out, Edrea finds the egg to be located in the mountain directly north of Chi O. Dragging Ygatar with her, she casts a flight spell and enters the alcove he suggests. Sighing for the abbundance of darkness, Edrea casts a light spell.
"Why is it that you hid it in a deep, dank cave?" she asks the Harpy.
She senses Ygatar is scratching his head, though she does not look at him to be certain exactly. "Um... I can't seem to recall that, either. It seemed like a good idea at the time," he admits.
Edrea rolls her eyes and follows the corridor. It winds all throughout the interior of the mountain, she is certain, for some reason. Water puddles line the floor of the system, and Edrea is fairly careful not to slip on them. Ygatar, however, is not so fortunate.
The Harpy had been walking beside Edrea, perhaps a bit behind her, too. He takes a wrong step, and he slides on to the ground. Screaming, he careens off down the hall. However, the wall disappears, and there is nothing to keep him safe. He falls off the edge of the hall.
Edrea rushes, carefully, to the edge of the new-found cliff. She sends her light down the chasm in search of Ygatar. Then, she finds him. He is lying on his back, both his wings bloody and broken. He will not be able to fly out of this mess. Then, Edrea sees that the blood is not from his wings, but from his head. He had cracked his head open on the stony outcropping. There is no way he is still alive.
A bit disenheartened, Edrea turns away from the grisly scene. She suppresses a shudder, calls back her light, and continues down the corridor. She had promised, after all, that she would care for the Haken. Ygatar's death would not keep her from keeping that promise, by the gods!
Sick of searching, for she feels like she has been at it forever, Edrea slumps down in the moistened chambers within the mountain. She sighs, wondering where she would hide an egg if she were a moron. She immediately withdraws that thought, meaning no disrespect for the dead.
Edrea rests for a moment or three before rising, stretching, and sighing again. She begins walking again, wondering where, if anywhere, she is going. As she walks, she hums; it is a sad attempt to keep her all-too-bored mind preoccupied.
Out of the middle of nowhere, she reaches a large chamber with many off-shooting corridors. Who made this stupid maze, anyways? In any event, Edrea chooses a completely random hall to follow, hoping it is the correct one.
This one, too, seems to stretch on forever. Then, suddenly, there is a lessening in the water that drips from the ceiling perpetually. The floor begins to slope upwards gently. Within a few more minutes, Edrea finds herself outside, shivering in the snowy wind of the mountain cap.
Then she spots it: the egg, as Ygatar described it. "That stupid Harpy!" she screams, kicking a nearby rock. "It was never outside to begin with!" Releasing a frustrated howl, Edrea stalks over and picks up the egg.
The egg feels warm enough, much like radiation was rumored to be. She dismisses these thoughts from her mind almost immediately. Why would anyone want to send her a radioactive egg? What good would it do. Besides, the warmth did not radiate from the greenish areas. Instead, it came more from the stonier part itself, where it had been out in the sun.
Laughing that she could have thought, even once, that the egg would be malignant, Edrea casts a flight spell. She gently descends the mountain, returning for the time being to Chi O. For now, she has forgotten about the delivery that is so pressing.
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