They had traveled for many days and nights, stopping at the few villages dotting their path for supplies and sleep. They had crossed from the Sandawe Savanna to the Sahel Hightops and discovered a dark cavern with a mark on the entrance, indicating it was one of the many entrances into Yonuba. The residents of a nearby village had marked it as a way to keep stupid tourists from entering the dangerous undergrowth. Before he stepped any further, he turned to Jazrael realizing he would need to explain a few rules of Yonuba.

"Okay so there are some rules we need to follow when we go down there." Rhydian explained, "First, we can only take what we need. We only need one cinnamon stalk so that's all we should take. If we take too much the tribes will start trying to kill us and I'd rather not have a spear in my chest. The second rule is don't die. It's dangerous down there even without the sometimes stabby tribes so we have to be careful. Any questions?"

He was standing like he was some sort of teacher, even though he was just explaining a few basic rules. After listing the rules, he pulled an unlit torch from his backpack and blew a flame of fire to light it. Turning to Jazrael he gave her a nod before heading towards the cavern. Sounds of water dripping swirled around the cave and every move they made seemed to echo down the darkened tunnel. The tunnel led downwards, at first a flat path that slowly became steep the further they went in. The light from the entrance soon faded away as they explored the depths.

"I don't suppose you have any experience with caves, do you?" He asked with a slight nervous smile.

This was his first time exploring a big cave. He had experience with tiny little caves that woodland bears napped in but something like this was beyond his experience. Rhydian silently hoped Jazrael would have some experience to rely on. If not, they would have an interesting time learning together. Suddenly he stopped and held out his free arm to stop his friend from going any further. Above them was a large cavern opening that allowed glimspes of sun to fall on the jungle below. They stood on a cliff that decended into the undergrowth. Rhydian handed Jazrael his torch then pulled out a grappling hook and a bind of rope. He hooked the rope to the crappling hook then placed the hook in a safe place. He tossed the rope over the edge of the cliff then looked to Jazrael.

"Well, shall we decend into darkness?" He asked dramatically with a cheeky smirk.

While the journey had taken several days, Jazrael found it enjoyable. Traveling with Rhydian was pretty much stress free and the two of them seemed to be on the same page about life in general, at least the way she felt about it now. It seemed easy for them to make idle banter and small talk as they traveled, and that certainly helped pass the time.

Jazrael came to a stop as Rhydian did, and she focused her gaze on him as he began to speak to her. Not having spent much time in Onnen in comparison to Canelux or Parvpora, Jazrael was all ears as Rhydian set out some essential ground rules for their time in Sidhiel. Of course, what he said made complete sense. There would be no need for them to take anymore than what was required for his recipe. After all, she had no need for anything they could obtain there, so why risk it? However, she did let out a bit of a chuckle at his comment about not dying. After all, it was a little difficult for her to just die. She wasn’t immortal, of course, but wounds that would kill the average human wouldn’t exactly kill her. Sure, they would hurt, but they wouldn’t be deadly. ”Got it,” she said in acknowledgement of her understanding. ”I’m with you on that, can’t imagine that being shishkebabed by a bunch of natives would be all that pleasant,” she added with a lighthearted grin.

After the torch was lit, she followed very closely behind Rhydian in to the cavern. ”I wouldn’t say experience, really, but I have spent a lot of time in Inferos, so I would imagine a cave would be easy peasy,” she said, sounding a bit hesitant herself.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, and to help she shifted them to her all black demonic eyes. It wasn’t something she needed to hide from Rhydian any longer, and it would certainly be beneficial in the darkness of the cavern. The pair moved forward nearly soundlessly, but she came to a stop as Rhydian motioned for her too, taking in the sight before them. ”This is going to sound ridiculous, but I hate heights,” she said, her voice wavering somewhat.

Jazrael took the torch from him and watched Rhydian ready the grappling hook and rope and decided being fearless would be better than being fearful, and volunteered to go down first. ”I can scout ahead,” she said, nodding as though to reassure herself. ”If you go down before me, I’ll find a way to back out of it,” she laughed out loud. She handed the torch back to him and looked over the edge of the cliff at the rope hanging down, feeling a bit of a tremble run down her spine.

A moment later she had steadied herself on the rope that descended below, and had begun her descent. After a minute or two, when she was a good portion of the way down, she called up to Rhydian as though she were making an attempt to lighten the situation for herself. ”I get the grappling hook and rope for me,” she said. ”But why do you need it? Couldn’t you just dragon yourself up and fly on down?” she said. It was almost a rhetorical question as she tried to distract herself from the descent. She chuckled, knowing full well that it was a stupid question and not really expecting a response.

Not too long later, she had reached the bottom without incident, other than the palms of her hands feeling a bit ragged from clutching the rope. ”Your turn!” she called up as loudly as she could, so he would be able to hear her. Rhydian was going to have to lead the way, as she had literally no idea where the ingredient they were looking for would be located, and it sounded like he had a little better idea of the environment than she did.

"That is a bit of a surprise, but hey at least you're are aware of it." He said, "I'd rather hang out with someone who is afraid of something than an idiot who fears nothing." 

He gave her a smile then watched to make sure she was getting down the rope safely. Rhydian didn't mind heights as much but he knew of other fears, so he was careful to make sure she didn't fall as she descended downwards into the cavern. She was around half-way down when she called up to him and asked why a dragon couldn't just fly up and down a cavern like this. There was enough room for him to fly, however….

"I like the exercise." He responded loudly, "It keeps my human arms and legs fit. One day I'll find a hole or a problem that I can't deal with in dragon form. So its good to keep my human form strong." 

He spoke the truth. Keeping himself physically fit in both forms was the wisest idea and he had the muscles to prove he was actively working on it. Eventually she made it to the bottom and called up to him. After hearing her, he grabbed the rope and began to climb his way down. He was extremely fast, practically gliding down to the bottom. Rhydian had found himself climbing many things so something as simple as a rope was a cakewalk in comparison. Eventually he made it to the bottom and gave her a grin, trying to steady his breath. It still was a workout, regardless of how fast he was. 

"Now the fun part." Rhydian said with a smirk. 

The undergrowth jungle was green and filled with life. Sounds of animals croaking and chirping and growling created an unseen symphony while the plants painted a portrait of beauty and secrecy. The air was humid and warm, almost suffocating. Yet Rhydian had this gleeful look on his face as he took in the beautiful sights around him. It was strange and magical in a way that was nothing but perfection. He looked at his traveling companion with joy. 

"Now this is one of the reasons I love my job so much. Just look at this place!" He said then paused for a moment. "Do you want to know how we'll find the cinnamon in all this plant life?" 

He leaned in and booped her nose then had a cheeky grin on his face. 

"We've got to use our noses." He explained. 

Jazrael found herself feeling mildly inadequate as she watched Rhydian descend without incident or fear. As a demon, she felt a bit ridiculous about her fear of heights, as even if she fell it would be unlikely to kill her, let alone hardly even injure her… but there was still that feeling there, the feeling of uncertainty. Either way, she was glad her feet were now on solid ground. She returned his grin when his feet had reached the ground as well. It made her feel just a little bit better that it at least seemed like he had to exert himself to climb down, and that it hadn’t just come naturally without any effort.

She let out a bit of a chuckle at his smirk as he told her the fun part came next. She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but from the bit that she had gotten to know him, she knew he looked at most things with a positive attitude so it didn’t surprise her. She looked around just as he did and had to admit that the undergrowth was a place of incredible beauty. She drew in a breath of the heavily perfumed air, her gaze drifting back to Rhydian before he started speaking to her again.

”It’s amazing though, isn’t it? That something this beautiful houses so many dangerous and unknown things… kind of how life works though, isn’t it?” she said, her gaze shifting back to their surroundings before she looked at him again, just in time for him to ask her a question.

”I mean, I’m assuming you know what to look for, and that’s how we’ll find it?” she began to answer, but was cut short as Rhydian tapped her nose with his finger and gave her the answer. She let out a soft laugh at the act itself as well as the goofy look on his face, and tilted her head to one side, wrinkling her nose slightly at him.

”I guess that makes sense, can’t smell the cinnamon with our ears, now can we?” she said, her head still tilted to one side, laughter peppering her words. She drew in a sharp breath through her nose. ”Nope, nothing,” she joked with a laugh. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to sniff it out until they were much closer. ”Guess we didn’t luck out, wouldn’t it have been nice if it was just right here in the outskirts of the undergrowth? Then that whole fear of being shishkebabed by the locals would be completely irrelevant,” she said, pointing a finger at him jokingly.

”Well, what do you say? Maybe we should get a move on and find the cinnamon as quickly as pos-“ Her words were cut off as a rustling sound came from some of the large bush-like plants near them. She dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned close to Rhydian, closing the gap between them. ”What do you suppose that is?” she said evenly, her hand reaching to wrap instinctively about the hilt of her dagger in case it was something that they would need to fight. ”Don’t suppose the locals run a cinnamon delivery service…”

"If the locals ran a cinnamon service they would be the wealthiest people in Onnen." Rhydian insisted with an easy smile, "I suppose it was too optimistic to hope for cinnamon nearby." 

Suddenly a rustling sound came from a large bush-like plant near them. He snapped his head towards the plant and walked close to Jazrael in case they needed to fight. A small nose popped out from the bush before an entire panther cub jumped out and began playing with a stick on the ground. Rhydian's eyes grew with realization and he snatched Jazrael's hand. 

"It's a baby! Babies are never alone!" He exclaimed. 

The second he said that, a giant panther jumped out from the forage of the rainforest. Attempting to pull Jazrael with him, he sprinted away from the protective mother. He wanted to avoid a fight for two simple reasons. One, he couldn't use his fire magic in a forest. That was a recipe for disaster. Second, the panther was just a mother protecting her child. Rhydian would protect himself if necessary but he preferred avoiding a fight as much as possible. 

"Mothers will never go far from their children. We just need to keep going!" He explained quickly as they ran. 

He wished he could just transform into a dragon and scare the mother off, but a dragon didn't exactly fit in the thousands of tall trees. Rhydian had already been stuck before, he didn't want to repeat the incident. 

As the baby jaguar emerged from the bush, Jazrael let out a little bit of a chuckle. It was just a small creature, nothing threatening at all – in fact, it was even kind of cute! She almost moved forward to interact with the cub when Rhydian snatched her hand and pulled her away as the cub’s mother leaped out.

”Goes to show you just how much time I’ve not spent out in the wilds,” she said, her voice jarring as the pair ran away from the beast. She was trying to look over her shoulder to see if the panther was still chasing after them, but she couldn’t get a good enough look as Rhydian wrenched her along. She couldn’t get over how strong he was, that he was able to just pull her like that, but it made sense when she thought about it. She might be a demon, sure, and that came with some strength, but he was a dragon, after all, and that certainly leant something to his physical prowess even in his human form.

She finally pulled her hand from his after running a bit more, when she had been able to look over her shoulder and realized that the panther was no longer chasing them. Apparently, the mother had decided that they had gone far away enough from her baby, and no longer felt they were a threat. Jazrael was rather pleased by this, as she was generally not a fan of running whatsoever.

”Looks like we are in the clear,” she said, turning to face Rhydian, bending slightly at the waist with her hands coming to rest on the tops of her thighs as she breathed heavily, catching her breath after their sprint through the undergrowth. ”For future reference, I hate running,” she added with a laugh. ”Shall we continue on?” she said, though she wasn’t sure where they were.

She took a moment to contemplate the direction in which they had run after encountering the panther and turned around to take a few steps away from Rhydian. She froze, after a moment, and called out to him in a weak voice.

”Um, Rhydian?” she said, frozen in place. ”What do I do?” she asked, staring straight ahead with wide eyes. There was a very, very angry looking viper on the ground in front of her, having poised to strike. Its hood was flared out and its tongue was flitting back and forth in its mouth with a hiss, clearly thinking Jazrael was not a threat.

Jazrael, on the other hand, certainly thought the viper was a threat. She knew that most likely due to her demonic state the venom wouldn’t kill her, but she also knew that it certainly wouldn’t feel good. One wrong move from her and the snake would strike. She only hoped that Rhydian would have some way of dispatching it or distracting it so that she could get rid of it.

He came to a halt when her hand pulled away from his then looked back to see that the panther had stopped chasing them. While catching his breath, he realized he ran far longer than was necessary and his face grew slightly red from embarrassment. Estimating distance and how far to run was a lot harder when he always seemed to speed through everything. When he looked at Jazrael, he noticed how hard she was breathing and realized that he would have to remember to slow down whenever he ran with her.

“Noted. Next time I’ll just have to carry you.” He joked.

The tall trees looked the same wherever he faced and a part of him wished they had a map, though the place was far too dangerous for any mapmaker to even try to make sense of it all. When Jazrael called his name, he looked towards her and spotted the snake. Lowering himself to the ground, he motioned for her to stay perfectly still. The snake didn’t seem to be interested in her so their best bet was to make it interested in something else. He opened his mouth and a bright orange flame flew out. Flames flew from his fingertips and surrounded his body. The snake snapped its head towards Rhydian and seemed mesmerized by him, watching every step and every moment. Even if Jazrael made a large noise or moved, the snake wouldn't stop staring at the flames. Once the snake was dealt with, the fire returned to Rhydian and vanished.

"I'm really glad that worked. I would have looked like an idiot if it didn't." He admitted, "My dad used to tell me about how snake tamers used fire as a way to hypnotize snakes. At the very least it got the creature's attention."

Rhydian gaze for a moment at the ground then suddenly leapt towards something with excitement. He snatched up a part of red cinnamon and held out towards Jazrael like a kid who had just found a new toy. The cinnamon was the shade of crimson red and curled into itself like a scroll. The smell was the strongest scent of cinnamon one could ever find and the stalks from the plants surrounding them were far taller than the average cinnamon length. 

"We did it! We found some!" He exclaimed. 

”Thanks for that,” Jazrael replied after Rhydian had taken care of the snake. The display of flame and his entrancement of the snake were impressive as it was, but would have probably been even more impressive if he hadn’t been doing it to keep a snake from attacking her. ”I think it would take more than that to make you look like an idiot, but you think what you want,” she said with a little laugh, clear relief in her voice.

She watched as Rhydian seemed to realize that he saw something important, looking at the cinnamon stalk as he held it out to her. She grinned at the joy and excitement on his face. ”Guess we ran far enough from the panther after all,” she said playfully, leaning forward and inhaling the scent of the cinnamon deeply, her eyes closing at how wonderful it smelled. She straightened back up. ”That seemed much easier to find than it should have been,” she added, though she did not sound disappointed. Finding something much more quickly than you thought you would was never a bad thing! ”But, nevertheless, we found it, well, you found it! Or did the panther find it…?” she added with a little joke on the end.

”Either way, we found what we came for, and you said don’t take more than we need… what do you say we cut our losses – since we didn’t really have any – and head back to civilization? I could use a drink, we could celebrate a successful venture together,” she added with a half smile. When Rhydian agreed with her, it turned into a full smile and she clapped him on the shoulder. ”No one died, no one got attacked by ostriches, and we only had to run away from one animal and I almost got bit by a snake. What a day,” she said with a laugh as they began to make their way out of the undergrowth, back toward civilization in search of that drink she had mentioned.