Before Malak could offer some words of a different opinion and caution, Sosora had already slipped out of the door under the cover of darkness. A plan was starting to take form in her mind. She had several stops to make.
She snuck from shadow to shadow, evading detection before finally stepping outside the Bawin village. She glanced at the sky through the dense trees.
She would probably only have time to make one visit before dawn broke.
Sosora turned in one direction before tiptoing through the forest until she was far enough away from the Bawin tribe that she didn't need to worry about being discovered. She flew toward her destination.
There was a risk of the other tribes noticing her now that she wasn't flying in a territory of people who only looked at the sky, but it was a risk she had to take.
She had to take the shortest route if she wanted to make it back to her home in time.
Sosora cut through the forest, flying between trees and gliding just above the ground.
After a while, when she started getting close, she noticed something to the side and slowed down. She wasn't sure if she had heard something or just felt something watching her. She could have also just imagined it. But she trusted her instincts and pulled to a stop.
She hid her wings and looked around warily.
After a while, she started thinking that she had imagined it after all since nothing was happening. She turned around to continue onward. She froze.
Without her noticing, a short man with long and wiry arms had appeared right behind her. The dark fur sprouting from most of his body blended in with the darkness of the night and his clothes.
It was a member of the Gezercher tribe.
"I need to speak to you guys," Sosora said. She was used to the Gezerchers' way of surprising people by appearing from seemingly out of nowhere. It was a sign they liked someone. It was a good sign.
That thing she felt had probably been one of them making a noise or just flaring their presence for an instant to let her know that she had arrived at their territory.
The Gezercher man nodded.
"Monkey is waiting for you," he said simply before turning around and leading the way.
Sosora's eyes widened, and she almost lost her guide by a step. Fortunately, she caught herself and hurried to catch up before he disappeared into the darkness.
She wouldn't get another chance if she let him get away. It wasn't just that she had been almost too slow to follow him.
Throughout the entire walk to the Gezercher hideout, the guide continuously increased his pace and took twists and turns around trees and rocks.
If Sosora lost focus or took her eyes off her guide for a second, she would be stranded. She wouldn't get to talk to Monkey.
She couldn't miss that.
The Phoriae's activity was an opportunity to interact with and recruit a strong ally. But it was barely more than a far-fetched dream.
The conversation with Monkey, on the other hand, was almost a guarantee that she would get at least something she wanted.
She didn't know what the Gezercher had planned, but the fact that they had kept Nick's tentacle and the Roaring Boar's death secret meant that they had some common ground.
A conversation with Monkey, one of the Gezercher tribe's three Faces, was an opportunity to establish an alliance, seek a peaceful resolution to the current circumstances in Tiabe, and help Nick secure a foothold in the forest.
Eventually, the man led her to a small mountain, one of the few in Tiabe. She saw a flickering light from a cave a small distance up on the sheer mountain wall. It seemed almost impossible to climb it.
Fortunately, she belonged to perhaps the only tribe in the forest who didn't need to go through such an arduous process. She smiled and unfurled her wings.
"No wings," the guide said before stepping behind a tree and disappearing.
Sosora held her breath and clenched her fists. She let out her breath and replaced it with a deep one.
Punching someone, if she could find someone, was not going to help.
She put away her wings and looked at the cliff again.
It was tall, but it wasn't that tall. The cave was barely above the trees. It was completely doable.
She took a closer look at the wall as she walked up to it.
It would have been a lot more doable if there were any proper hand and footholds.
There were indentations and outcroppings here and there. There were even a few cracks she could jam her fingers and feet in.
But it was not made for someone to climb it.
She considered going back.
But she knew that passing this test would go a long way for her talks with Monkey. She had already passed the first test. If she passed this one as well, she would earn Monkey's favor and maybe even get everything she wanted to achieve.
She scanned the wall again and looked for a route that would take her to the top. After a while, she realized that it was too dark for her to see properly above a certain point. She would have to feel her way up.
She sighed and started climbing.
The first few footholds were pretty easy, despite what it looked like. And Sosora was a trained warrior of the Aer tribe. She had enough strength to pull and push herself up using what little leverage she could find.
But after she reached the halfway point, it became grueling. The holds she barely managed to find were far apart and slippery. She lost her footing twice and almost fell off the wall.
By the time she finally managed to reach the cave, her fingers and knuckles were scraped, blistered, and bloody. Her feet were only a little better because she was too bad at using them.
She pulled herself up over the ledge with a grunt and lay down on the cool stone floor with her legs hanging over the edge. Her chest rose and fell like a bellows as she caught her breath. Her muscles ached like she had just climbed a mountain.
She was not in the mood for a conversation.
"Invigorating, right?" A happy, furry face suddenly appeared in front of her face and asked cheerily.