[Trade] A Perfomance

The environment of the Atlantean dome was hostile to fliers, the plants grew too close, the air was heavy and lacked a current. Every flap of the wings was strenuous and it felt like the air was fighting against your wings, not catching and lifting you the way it did above ground. It had gotten to the point where Graupel and Vanta were hopping from tree to tree to avoid having to strain themselves in this hostile environment.

"Do you think we're nearly there?" Vanta asked, twitchy with anticipation.

"It'll be hard to miss them, stone knights," Graupel responded in a measured tone. She was taking her time across the branches, knowing her clumsy nature would lead to a nasty fall if she wasn't careful. She could tell Vanta was eager to meet the stone knights, but she didn't think rushing directly towards them was a good idea. She wasn't the only one, it seemed, as beneath them an Anteo was pacing the dirt path back and forth. Graupel pointed her out to Vanta and the other Tape rolled his eyes but nodded. 

"Hello there?" She called down to the Anteo, whose head shot up to find the source of the voice. She visibly relaxed at the sight of small fliers and beckoned them down closer. Vanta looked to Graupel, a rare display of restraint from him but she had already jumped from the tree and was gliding down to the ground.

"Surface dwellers, like myself," the piebald Anteo said in greeting, "Perhaps we can work together on this."

"On what?" Vanta asked, tilting his head at the terrestrial creature. 

"The stone knights lie up ahead, like a living wall blocking the path further into the jungle," the Anteo explained, "I've seen others win them over through acts of bravery or entertainment, I've been brainstorming my own method for a while now." Graupel hummed and thought to herself for a moment, was there an angle the three of them could work here?

"We could help each other out," she said thoughtfully, "How's your rhythm?"

The answer to that question was apparently 'passable' and the group were now pulling a hollowed log along with them. The Anteo, Fearn, was strong but the Tapes didn't feel right about leaving the work to her when it was their idea. There were two branches protruding from the log with enough surface area for the Tapes to grab on and they used these to pull the log. Fearn followed from behind, pushing the log with her powerful shoulders. With such a large load to bring with them, it was no surprise that the stone knights were ready for them, bristling with caution. 

"Halt!" a green, pink-headed crested knight called nervously. She was bumped from behind by another one of the knights and she cleared her throat to try again. "Who goes there? State your business or face our clubs!" Her threat still didn't land, but the trio stopped anyway, not wanting to get them any more riled up.

"Well met," Fearn called from a distance, "We're visitors from the surface, we come in peace."

"What's with the log?" the green Euoplo asked, not addressing the previous greeting. Fearn seemed to rankle at the rudeness but she kept her composure.

"An instrument, we would like to perform for you, in exchange for safe passage," she replied. The stone knights turned to talk amongst themselves, muttering loud enough to be overheard. The trio could hear lines of 'told you this would get out of hand' and 'what's one more group of outsiders?' and 'let's just hear them out'. Eventually their conflagration broke and the pink crested Euoplo spoke again.

"You have our attention."

"May we approach?" Graupel asked, feeling Vanta getting restless beside her. The knights nodded and they pushed the hollow log further up so it lay on its side close to where the Euoplos were standing. Fearn sat down behind the log, resting her paws on top of it and looking expectantly at the two Tapes. Vanta looked at Graupel, perking up when she finally gave him the cue to start. 

Vanta was known for many things, his hotheaded nature, his daredevil ways, but his hidden talent of singing was known to very few. When he shut his eyes and opened his beak, a series of pleasant chords streamed out into the clearing, filling their part of the jungle with song. After his opening trills, Fearn began to accompany him with a steady rhythm on her makeshift drumset. She moved her paws up and down the length of the log to evoke different sounds from the wood. She had honed this skill from her years of caring for youngsters, finding music to be a common ground with many of them, especially percussion instruments that could be played by even the tiniest of little hands. She bobbed her head side to side in time with both her drumming and the rise and fall of Vanta's voice. With the introduction done, a second voice joined their little band, Graupel beginning to whistle out a higher harmony to her singing partner's tones. She would never have espoused herself as a great singer, but performing in a group made her shake the worries for a while and let go, simply trying to fit in between the hollow wooden beats and the rich tones of Tapejara song. The music faded gradually, leaving Vanta to sing a final run before all three of them took some semblance of a bow in front of their captivated crowd. 

The Euoplos cheered and slapped their clubs on the ground as a form of applause, the pink crested one hurrying forward with a smile on her face.

"That was fantastic, thank you!" she gushed, "Such a wonderful song!"

"That's very kind of you, thank you," Graupel said diplomatically, not sure why they were raving this much about it. 

"What was it that you wanted? To see the court, right?" the Euoplo asked. The trio exchanged a short glance. The court? They hadn't mentioned anything about a court but they silently agreed to play along.

"That's right!" Vanta chirped, "Could you take us there? Or show us a safe way to go?" 

"Of course, I'll take you," the green Euoplo said cheerfully, leaning in to say in a lower tone, "I'm just glad to get out of guard formation, you guys are doing me a favour here." She leaned back to return to her comrades and Graupel sighed in relief. 

"Thank you both," Fearn said quietly, not wanting to be overheard by the knights still, "I'm not sure I would've come up with this idea on my own."

"You're very welcome, my genius is always for rent," Vanta said smugly. Graupel gave a deadpan look of exhaustion to the Anteo who covered her mouth to avoid revealing her grin.