Somewhere on the Surface...

Her cart was becoming heavy and burdensome for the horse pulling it—its breathing was becoming labored, it wanted more breaks, and the wheels of the cart themselves protested the weight with squeaky cries. She tapped the animal, tutting and hushing as it came to a stop, and moved around the covered cart to peer inside. Hm. Maybe she'd have to get rid of some of this stuff. She tapped her walking stick with curled fingers, leaning into the cart and jostling some of the things about. She frowned. She didn't want to get rid of any of it, that was the point of collecting it! Well, and some of it was important stuff she used all the time...

"Ezra," came a man's voice, and she popped her head around the corner of the cart to see him—dark skin, black hair. The mysterious companion she somehow tolerated enough to travel with. "Just get rid of some of it."

She narrowed her eyes. In turn, he rolled his eyes back at her. Despite the load, it didn't stop her from adding more shit to the back of the cart. Her head disappeared from view again, and with a large, exaggerated sigh, the man came stomping around the side of the cart to stand beside her. He did not lean in to view the junk. Instead, he simply stood there, watching. After a while, he reached for the closest item and dragged it into the road.

It was a long banner tapestry, made of thick red cloth and expensive gold thread; the gold was woven through the banner as filigree decoration, surrounding a large crest of a sword and shield.

"This. Toss it. Why do you want this?" he asked, holding it up as high as it could to display most of its length.

"I like it," was her simple answer, and he shook his head to disagree. "Are you not Verinen? Do you not want to keep such a prized possession, Feringar?" Her hazel eyes bore into his green ones, judging more from his answer than he might have expected.

"It's worthless to us," he argued, dropping it into the dirt and reaching in for something more. This time, it was a helmet. He didn't even say anything about it. Feringar held the item up for Ezra to see, and as soon as she opened her mouth to say something, he tossed it beside the banner. "No," he cut in, and gestured to the cart. "Ezra, this stuff is worthless. You have a hoarding problem, you white-haired hag—" he stopped short, and they both stared wide-eyed at each other for different reasons.

"I'm sorry—"

"That's it! Feringar, you genius!" she said with a snap of her fingers, leaning the stick against the cart and patting the cart excitedly. Her eyes bounced from one item to the other as she nodded and mumbled to herself, making gestures with her hands as if weighing the pros and cons of the idea brewing in the cauldron of her mind. Feringar shifted uncomfortably as he watched her.

"I'm going to take the horse for water," he said after a while, leaving her to her thoughts. After unhooking the horse from the cart, he checked on her one more time. "We'll be right back," he told her, though he was unsure if she was even listening. Feringar departed with the horse, leading it down the gentle slope to the river that was hopefully far enough away to avoid whatever consequences might come from whatever the witch was going to try and do. She was powerful, he knew that—but witches... He shuddered.

As the horse drank, he cautiously watched from the river as Ezra created small, bright explosions, before finally she made a sound between yelling and laughter. She disappeared around the cart before reappearing, as if searching for him, before she spotted him. She held up an item and waved—he squinted, but he could not see what it was. Even though the horse had finished drinking now, he was hesitant to make his way back up to the road and see what kind of magic she'd wrought. It wasn't often. She was secret about it, hid it, and maybe that made him all the more nervous when he did witness it.

He was slow to reattach the horse to the cart, biding his time, pretending like he was very busy. Too busy, even. But eventually, Ezra came skittering around the cart with a small jewelry box held in her palms. She had a very sheepish look that felt like impeding doom to Feringar.

"Yesss, yes, Feringar, what a good idea," she said, but he wasn't sure if it was a compliment. Ezra peeled open the top of the jewelry box and Feringar took a step back; but when nothing came out, he leaned forward to look inside. It swirled with colors and clouds. Yep, some kind of witchy magic. He retreated, and took an extra step back. This did not seem to phase her. Instead, she clicked her nails against the metal and smiled up at him with a smug, proud look. "We can put the things we do not want in here—well, we want them, just not in the cart," she said, as if it were easy to understand, and then turned around to gesture at the items in the dirt: the banner and the helmet.

She picked up the helmet and made a motion as if she were going to place it into the jewelry box. As Feringar was about to ask her how that might fit into such a space, the helmet got sucked into the portal within the box and disappeared. His eyes popped wide open, blinked several times, and stared at her for an explanation.

"It goes to my home in the valley," she said triumphantly, shuffling to the banner. He followed only enough to see her around the edge of the cart. She placed the jewelry box on the ground and lifted the banner, slowly lowering it into the portal until it was completely gone. She turned to him with another proud grin.

"You're sure?" he asked, because he absolutely wasn't. Not that he doubted her abilities—he had come seeking her for a reason—but still. It seemed like too perfect of a solution.

"Yes, yes, I know where I live," she snapped, leaning into the cart for more items. Hmm... there was nothing she wanted to immediately get rid of though. Not yet. Her eyes looked back to her companion. "Over time, you can put things in the box, but do not disclose to me which items. I will say no." She paused to think, wanting to add more, but then shook her head. "Just not the stuff we use a lot," she said, gesturing to a pile that contained things like herbs and cooking ware.

Feringar did not like having that responsibility, but he would do as she asked.

Somewhere in Gemini...

Tucked into a crystal alcove near the waterfall was an empty space. Usually. A few lessers had claimed it as an unofficial camp. It was small and cozy, perfectly cooled by the distant spray of water. They were relaxing together, grooming, chattering as critters do, when suddenly a bright light flashed across the facets of their crystal home. A portal had opened—small, about a foot in diameter—within the gemstone wall, flickering at first, coming and going, until finally it seemed stable. The lessers had started, some cried out, and others fled. A few of them remained to see what the thing was, with one brave mouse reaching up to sniff it—but a helmet came hurdling through, clonking it right in the face before sliding across the ground with a clang.

Now all the lessers fled, with the mouse coming to just moments later only to be assaulted by a heavy cloth item that blinded it and trapped it. It squealed for help, found an exit, and dashed off.

The two items lay quiet, abandoned... and not where Ezra had intended for them to be.

The Mysterious Portal is now open! Your characters may visit this space to see if there are any items available to be claimed by Request GM.

The banner and helmet are for Gortys to claim first (in a new thread), as this is their Winner's Choice: a portal connected to the surface that spits out random junk! Enjoy!