While Helena was excited that she was finally going to Haven Guild, she really hoped they weren't going to walk. "Please tell me we aren't going to walk there?" she asked pleadingly. Everyone paused to stare at her.
"Do you know where Haven is? Have you ever left town?" Callum couldn't help but ask. Helena's face turned red and she immediately regretted opening her mouth. Ryan elbowed Callum walking past him and grabbed Helena's hand in his pulling her forward.
"Nope" he replied, popping the p. "But we're walking to our transportation. It's a bit of a walk but it'll take us real close to the guild. If we were to walk it'd probably take a couple months for us to reach. Have you been walking everywhere?" he asked, smiling down at her.
Helena felt less embarrassed and nodded her head. "I haven't left the state, I've been walking from town to town, trying to see if anyone knows about Haven Guild, but I guess you guys aren't popular on this side." she explained unconsciously squeezing Ryan's hand, he returned it, but she was too lost in thought to notice.
"Aren't you guys tired? You just finished fighting that golem and immediately left, no resting or anything." She almost wanted to add the fact they also didn't shower but that would be rude and they didn't stink either so she didn't mention it.
"Sorry, I should've explained the situation a bit. Since we're going straight back to the guild, we were just going to shower and rest when we got home. We were lodging in the previous state. The golem had activated something that teleported us into town but we know the way home from here." Irina who was now walking beside them again explained.
.
.
.
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"Um, aren't we taking the train?" Helena asked, noticing that they were heading in the opposite direction. Though, opposite was too specific considering she didn't really know where she was going. They were heading into the forest, away from town.
'OMG I'm heading into a forest with people I met today and didn't actually verify were from Haven. Talia would be so upset.' she thought to herself internally freaking out. If the situation calls for it, Helena can completely defend herself no issue, it's just the sheer stupidity of what she's done.
"Nah, popsicle over here gets motion sickness if we're on any form of transportation more than an hour and it's three hours back by train." Ryan explained avoiding Callum's hand that was heading in his direction, all while still clutching Helena's hand.
Helena nodded in understanding but couldn't help asking, "This might sound stupid, but you said we weren't walking back, but-?" she trailed off confused, might've sounded like a stupid question but she was just told they can't take any vehicles and they were walking in the forest.
"It's a valid question Helena, don't downplay yourself. There are magic teleporters located almost everywhere. The closest one here is in this forest, the walk is around fifteen to thirty minutes. We can sense them with our guild marks" Irina explained, leading the way through the forest.
Helena nodded and quietly followed along.
Callum groaned before speaking as if just remembering something, "Helena do you have any mana? The reason there's still regular transportation is because not everyone has enough mana to use the teleporters, some people even almost die from using it." His tone sounded slightly irritated and Helena had to hold back her flinch.
"Oh, yeah. I do."
Callum smirked and said nothing more, clearly thinking she was overestimating herself, even though he at times felt woozy after using it.
"Are you planning on joining the guild Helena?" Cere asked from on top Ryan's head. She nodded in response before speaking.
"Are you Ryan's pet? I noticed that you stick closer to him more than the others."
Cere nodded and the walking continued in silence until Ryan broke it. "What typa magic you got Lena?" he asked, peering over his shoulder in her direction, which was only just a half a step behind him as he still had her hand in his. "Ryan, you don't ask people that question, especially someone you just met." Irina huffed annoyed after hitting him across the back of his head.
"Um, Are you okay?" Helena asked concerned, Ryan seemed to be getting assaulted left and right. She really didn't care about answering the question, but she felt like answer would land Ryan in trouble.
"Yeah we're usually like that, just rough pla-"
"Housing"
"Yeah, we just rough house- a lot." Ryan replied with a bright grin. He, for the first time, ignored Callum's interjection and chose to continue the conversation.
"Um, so-"
"We're here." Irina announced motioning to the large hollow tree. It did stick out from the others, which was probably for the best.
The group stepped into the tree and Irina set the location; Helion, Magris.
A hand covered Helena's face as a bright light flashed, after the light passed she noticed the hand belonged to Ryan. "Forgot to tell ya you need to close your eyes before we teleport." He dropped his hand from her eyes and onto her shoulders.
"Were you saying something before we left?" Helena didn't think anyone had heard her. She nodded as they walked out of the tree, one similar to the one they had entered. "I was wondering if the guild was friendly-, uh-, that's a dumb question, nevermind."
"It's a valid question Helena, stop invalidating yourself, but we are members of the guild so we're inclined to believe so. Sorry if that was unhelpful." Irina apologized. Helena figured as much, hence the dumb question part.
"That's not necessary, you don't have to apologize, sorry." Helena apologized, her face turning red as she was now feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Just stop apologizing, we get it. Welcome to Helion, capital of Magris and home to the haven guild." Callum interrupted, obviously fed up with the back and forth. Helena felt like he had an issue with her, she contemplated asking about it but decided to drop it. The last thing she needs is getting into an argument with a guild member before she joins.
Ryan smirked, "Oh wouldn't Levi love to know how you're treating the young lady." he mocked. Helena watched as Callum froze, then shivered, "Sorry."
Ryan laughed, pulling Helena along as his arm was still around her shoulder, Cere who was on his head couldn't help but laugh, "Callum is still afraid of Levi." he teased.
"Do I wanna know who that is?" Helena laughed despite her nerves, she couldn't help it. Ryan just gave off this aura of happiness and smile. Helena looked behind to see Callum and Irina still trailing behind them.
"Oh! I've been wondering. Is there a reason you guys didnt- well, approach the golem more strategically?" They were fighting it for about fifteen minutes before Helena yelled out her strategy.
"If we're being honest, brute force usually works just fine." Ryan replied with a half shrug. She turned her head to see Irina and Callum agreeing.
…
As they passed through the town, she took notice of the buildings, signs and roads, it was a force of habit. Something her mentor had taught her when she was younger. The town was beautiful and had this springtime feel to it despite it being summer, she could've sworn she even saw a few petals floating around.
The entire time, Ryan kept his arm around her, preventing her from bumping too harshly into strangers, Helena found it endearing.
Before she realized it, they stood in front of two huge wooden doors. Ryan finally removed his hand from her shoulder, flinging the double doors open as if they weren't twice the size of regular doors and yelled.
"We're home!"