Kit grinned and flushed a bit again. "Y-Yeah! I've learned about all the animals and plants and stuff. General rule is to not eat any plants you're unfamiliar with, because they might be poisonous. Or dangerous… some plants are magical and aggressive, and they can take down humans if they're dedicated enough."
"Oh… that would be quite dangerous indeed. Thank you, for telling me about those plants. It'll be really useful." Marin chuckled again, folding their hands behind their back and under their cloak.
"You're really good at this."
"Thanks!" Kit rubbed at his cheek with one small fist as though trying to rub off his blush. "I-I'm glad you think so. There are animals called Sounsei in the mountains as well. They're like… really angry flying rabbit cats, I guess. They're always hungry, too, so they try and steal food. They're not big enough to do any real damage to people, though, and they don't have any magic."
"They sound like quite the problem," Marin said as they thought. "It's a good thing you know about them, or they might have stolen all of my rations." The mage offered a small smile, chuckling weakly when he saw how Kit reacted to the blush on his face.
"Mhmm! They're easy enough to fight off, but they could probably still hurt me if I wasn't careful since I'm pretty small…" Kit laughed nervously. "But hopefully they don't bother us anyway. And we wouldn't have to worry about them at all if we don't decide to go through the mountains."
"Well, I think we won't go through the mountains then. But if we do end up going for some reasons, I'll help you fight them off." Marin moved their hand out, lightly putting it on Kit's shoulder.
"You're keeping me safe, the least I can offer is doing the same for you."
"Ah, t-thanks…" Kit fidgeted a bit when Marin touched him, smiling nervously. "I'll have to learn to be stronger at some point, though. My magic is way too weak right now for me to fight with, and I'm not physically strong enough to ward anything off."
"You'll get there, for sure," Marin assured. "You'll be a really good magic user someday, I can tell." The mage offered a small smile in turn, lowering their hand. Willow nodded, moving from Marin's hair to go over and stand on Kit's shoulder.
Kit nodded, keeping his smile up and gently touching Willow when she came to his shoulder. "Well, I hope you're right… my family is all really good at magic, so I wanna make sure I live up to that. I'm not sure what I wanna specialize in, though…"
"Well, as the saying goes, a jack of all trades, master of none, yet still better than a master of one." Willow leaned into Kit's touch, hugging his hand and nodding with encouragement.
"Don't tie yourself down, experiment. You'll find something you like, and it's good to have some work in all the rest you end up learning, too."
"Yeah, I guess so… I think I might like water magic, but I can't make any water yet." Kit looked down at his palms with a soft sigh. "I guess to be fair, I can't make much of anything yet, but I've never been able to make any water…"
"That sounds really good. Don't push too hard to learn it, the power will come to you when the time is right." Marin offered a gentle smile as they spoke.
Kit nodded a bit, humming softly to himself. "Yeah, I know… it's hard to be patient sometimes, though." He pouted for a moment as he led Marin along. "I just wanna be strong like my family, but I'm just a kid and I haven't learned as much about magic as they have. I dunno if I'm even compatible with water magic…"
"Well, we could work together. I don't have water magic, but I do-" Marin paused a moment, "Did, know someone who learned it. Your magic seems to have more of a light leaning, so it would make sense you'd be able to learn water."
"I guess so, yeah…" Kit looked down at his hands again with a contemplative hum. "I don't wanna be a healer, though. I mean, healing magic is nice and all, but if I'm a guide… it's best if I know how to do offensive magic. Like, I can try my best, but unfortunately there's not much I could do to protect us if we got attacked…"
"Well, light and water isn't always healing. Hell, I had a friend, she had fire magic just like me, and she was the best healer I'd ever met. And the water mage? Oh, he was deadly on the battlefield. I'm sure you'll be able to make a great fighter as you grow." Marin hummed a bit, lightly patting Kit's back.
"Yeah… or protect myself from the rain, at least." He laughed weakly and shuddered a bit. "It's going to storm again tonight. I can smell it in the air." He closed his eyes for a moment, still trying to fly forward at the same pace. "We'll need to find some place to stay."
Willow let out a soft sound at the mention of a storm, getting off of Kit's shoulder and rushing over to Marin, hiding in their hair. They put their hood up, gently patting Willow's head before turning to put their hand gently on Kit's back.
"I'm sure we'll be able to find something if we don't make it to the village in time. I trust your judgment." They offered their arm to Kit, seeing how even the mention of a storm affected them.
Kit nodded weakly and held onto Marin's hand again when it was offered to him, floating back down to the ground so he could walk by their side instead of flying. "Yeah… there's not a whole lot of big enough caves until we reach the village, so… it'll be best if we can get there in time. There are lots of inns and such we can stay at."
"That sounds good to me." Marin let their cloak fall over Kit's side again, holding their hand as they nodded.
"I'm sure we'll get there. How far away do you think we are?" They looked out to the area around them, gently letting their hands swing as the two walked together.
"Mm…" Kit looked around at his surroundings to gauge the distance. "Probably about another three miles. Maybe four. We should be able to make it if we keep up this pace, but it might start raining before we arrive.
"Okay, then. We'll be able to make it." Marin looked out, holding Kit's hand as they continued on. "And if it does start raining, my cloak will keep us from getting wet. It's waterproof." It had to be, to protect Willow.
"O-Okay…" After a while, it started raining, as Kit had predicted. He seemed very uneasy, knowing this was the beginnings of a storm, and picked up the pace a bit in hopes of beating the storm to the town. He tried to stay calm so he could be a good guide, but his heart was pounding hard in his chest, and it was getting hard for him to focus.
Marin let their cloak fall more around Kit. They could feel the child clamming up from the rain, and it wasn't long before they'd gently picked Kit up in their arms, hurrying along to the village. They went much faster now, stride long and quick as they went.
As they were arriving at the village, the storm began. Lightning crashed nearby and Kit wailed in distress, burying his face in Marin's shoulder. Calm down, calm down! Idiot, you need to guide them! They don't know where the inns are! He looked up, his eyes wide with terror as he tried to guide Marin to the nearest inn.