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As your gaze sweeps over the brand-new discovery laid out beneath your feet, you feel the ache in your muscles subside, giving way to the adrenaline rush of a new challenge. You do so love untouched dig sites!
“Tavros! Get over here, I found a cavern!!!”
“Just wait, I'll be a second. I found something really cool!”
You turn to take a quick look at what has your moirail satisfied, only to stifle a laugh at the sight of big, buff Tavros cradling a vase in his arms and wings.
“Come on!! That's the third one today, can't you stop ogling the pottery?”
Tavros turns, rolling his eyes at you of course.
“Just because you, don't appreciate the fine art of pottery, doesn't mean I can't.”
His smile removes any sting the quip might have conveyed, crooked and toothy, always just so adorable your bloodpusher softens a bit.
“Of course, but you really want to see this cave! I bet it has plenty of new art to see~”
This catches your moirail's attention as your previous comments had not, and he carefully sets down the vase, absentmindedly waving over one of your trainee archeologists to carry it to a more stable location.
“A cave, really? I thought this area, was far too geologically stable...”
“Nope! It looks troll-made and everything~”
“Oh, cool!”
Tavros hovers next to you, staring down at your new discovery, completely oblivious to your smug satisfaction with his reaction to the, admittedly impressive, seadwellers' cave.
With a brief “May I?” as confirmation, Tavros scoops you up in his arms, flying both of you down into the cave for a brief, preliminary investigation. It is even more obvious that this was once the sole domain of a seadweller as it slowly becomes clear that there is no solid floor, only a pool of saltwater of varying depths. The walls show traces of ancient, faded designs done in elaborate paints under the beam of your bright white illumination stick, and you idly wish to have seen those paintings in their fresh, colorful state. Gradually, more features of the chamber are revealed. Carved underwater storage racks rest alongside what might once have been plush reclining surfaces, a small area off to the side was apparently once set aside for basic ablutions, and flat-topped multipurpose platforms scattered about in a seemingly intentional manner. It eventually becomes clear that this chamber was used by a seadweller to host and entertain their fellow seadwellers. All goes according to your typical routine in these circumstances, until you spot a metallic glint.
“Tavros, wait! What is that?!?”
“I'm, not sure...”
He flies closer, until both his and your feet are touching the water, but you still aren't close enough to identify the object.
“I'm going in!”
“Aradia, wait, don't!”
But you don't hear the end of his sentence, as you dive into the water after the mysterious metallic object, glinting at you, tantalizingly close. Just as you think you'll run out of air, you see it! A … sword? You grab it, and swiftly kick off the wall to surface.
“Ara–”
“Tavros, look! It's a sword! Not a gun or a spear, a sword! It even looks sea-forged! I've never seen one outside of private heirloom collections!”
You tread water with three limbs, frantically waving the sword above your head, absolutely thrilled by the nature of this artifact. Sea-forged swords were only made during a period of two centuries (practically no time to a coolblood) during the reign of the troll empress immediately before Feferi's predecessor. They were notoriously impractical for underwater use, but brutal on land due to having been, supposedly, tempered in the fires of deep-sea magma by the empress herself. You know that they are ridiculously valuable collector's pieces, especially because the techniques used to forge them have been lost to time.
“You must be kidding, it's sea-forged, really?”
“Nope! Right ripple patterns and variable coloration! Even the handle look period-accurate to Her Imperial Unification's reign!”
“Wow… We've really got something, this time. Great find Aradia! … Now please lower the sword, so I can pick you up again.”
“Oh, right! Heehee~ Sorry!”
You sheepishly lower the sword as you moirail carefully swoops down towards you, lifting you into his arms again. You sigh, scritching just between his hornbeds until he begins to purr softly, impatiently awaiting your exit from the chamber, when you will be able to study your find in proper moonlight.
“Finally, tent sweet tent!”
Tavros laughs softly as you collapse onto your shared pile of travel packs and archeological detritus, flopping about comically under his affectionate gaze. Your eyes meet, and in the way long-term moirails often do, you silently decide that tonight will be a relatively subdued piling session. Both of you are far too tired from exploring, and you think your arm might fall off if you had to do too much shooshpapping tonight! At an accord, Tavros joins you on the pile, tucking himself into your side with practiced familiarity and keeping his wings loosely folded at his back.
“What will we do with the sword, Aradia? No doubt some wriggler violetblood, will come along, wanting to claim it under right of inheritance, which is technically valid, in this case.”
“But wouldn't we have first priority here? I'm pretty sure the historianattuners have been ruling in favor of historical research over ancient inheritance law lately.”
“I'm just not, sure. It seems it might go, either way. That scares me.”
You softly pap Tavros' cheek, your eyes softening as you meet his, comforting without the vagueries of what-if for a moment.
“Shoooosh~ Don't worry silly!”
He still looks unconvinced, and anxious too, so you sigh and pull your trump card.
“Oh, Tavros. Don't you remember who my matesprit is?”
“Um, it was that yellowblood, Sollux?”
“Yes, Tavros. And who exactly is Sollux?”
“...The Informant?”
You sigh, rolling your eyes for good measure. Your moirail can just be so dense sometimes!
“Tavros, he's Feferi's moirail! You know, Feferi? The empress?”
“Oh, yeah…”
Now he's blushing, how cute!!
“Don't worry, I've got it covered. Feferi is a quadrant-corner, she always owes me!”
“...Aradia, you scare me sometimes.”
“But you love it~”
“I know.”
You both smile, a perfect moment of contentment as you relax into the day's beginning, awaiting the coming of another day of discoveries.