Her wand. It wasn't the most precious thing to her, but it was certainly important at the moment.

She knew something was up when she couldn't find it. And no, Danika wasn't blaming that wand maker. Purification. Right. If she was correct, and her wand wanted to be the best at anything, then her wand probably wanted her to find it.

Did anyone actually know Danika wasn't one that enjoyed being blind?

And...now, she was practically blind, as if someone had cast 'Obscuro' at her. It was a good thing she'd had that duel, otherwise she'd be freaking out at the moment.

She wasn't scared, just uncomfortable. Sight was THE most precious thing, even more than her wand was, just because she could replace it.

The girl focused on the ground beneath her to guide her through darkness, it was a good thing she'd spent so much time outdoors (even if this was kind of considered indoors...caves, you know) she knew more things about it than anyone would know.

As you enter the cave, the last bit of light from the outside is extinguished as the entry squeezes closed behind you. Without your wand, you're pitched into darkness and no matter how you try to adjust your eyes, it is without use. There are no shapes, no shadows, nothing.

That is, until you notice a faint glow around what seems to be a twist in the cave. As you draw nearer, it illuminates the area around it, but if you look further past, it is again black. Light, and heat, radiate from the now visible bush, indeed, radiate from each seed.

A fireseed bush.

No!

The girl could barely breathe, because everything was just...too dark for too long. Her sight, she wanted it back! This was just an awful reminder of the past. Zitnik! What was it that Zitnik said? This is meant to challenge you in the worst possible ways...then why did he tell them to practice magic, when it was of little use now!

The nothingness. She hated it.

But then, she breathed in relief, when she noticed the faint glow. Danika walked rather fast towards the light, she needed to, but she was taken back by the source of light. A fireseed bush.

She eyed the bush curiously. There was a spell she knew, but she had no wand and no idea if the bush was there to point something out, or a clue, or it wasn't something relevant.

The girl could even take a seed with her if her wand was around, because then she'd have some light for the path ahead.

Aleksandra Nadezhda Miroslav did not misplace her wand. Her most important possession. The one thing that never left her persons. It just didn't happen.

She never had lost it before, and she certainly had not done so now.

The fact that it wasn't on her now made the woman feel extremely vulnerable. And irritated. They were going to pay if anything happened to her precious wand. And not in galleons either.

Hazel eyes fixed on the cave entrance, her hand twitched. She had to resist the strong urge to simply summon her wand out of the cave. Most likely that wouldn't work anyway. They were too smart to make the task that easy.

She would have to go in.

It was the only thing she could do if she wanted her wand back.

Scrutinizing the cave opening, she tried to see anything inside the cave. Sandra could see nothing. Making her way into the cave, her steps were slow and careful as her eyes continued to flick around, watching out for anything that could pop out at her.

To say that Vladimir was incredibly annoyed about the loss of his wand would be an understatement.

He was furious.

But the young man kept his temper in check and stood facing his entrance into the cave. Vlad took no notice of anything around him just yet. He was saving the sharpening of his wits for when he was inside the cave... he could tell from here just how dark it was. Once the boy felt his heart rate calm down and could no longer hear the blood pounding in his ears, he tentatively stepped into the cave and closed his eyes. It was so much easier to navigate in the dark with your eyes closed.

And then darkness fell completely, and Vladimir inched forwards. He would not rush into this. Not at all.

But he was not walking. Ohhhh no. Vlad was on his hands and knees, and as he moved along, the young man pat aaaaall around at the floor before moving along, trying to find something useful. Every now and then, he cracked one eye open.

ooc: awaiting clarification on something

A solitary fire seed bush could be either a source of comfort or consternation, depending on how much one hated the cold darkness and how easily frustrated one could get. The heat cuts that damp and the light spilled across the cave walls. But too far past, and the darkness swallowed the cave up, again, hiding who knows what challenges and dangers. Light is necessary, but how much and how to get it?

The bush continued to pulse light and heat, though only, now, from the seeds.

As you enter the cave, the last bit of light from the outside is extinguished as the entry squeezes closed behind you. Without your wand, you're pitched into darkness and no matter how you try to adjust your eyes, it is without use. There are no shapes, no shadows, nothing.

That is, until you notice a faint glow around what seems to be a twist in the cave. As you draw nearer, it illuminates the area around it, but if you look further past, it is again black. Light, and heat, radiate from the now visible bush, indeed, radiate from each seed.

A fireseed bush.

On one of Vlad opened eye stints, he caught sight of a definite glow light. Vlad got up from his hands and knees and crept closer, squinting and not wanting to get used to the light.

Once he had stood before the fireseed bush (he recognised it from books mainly) the young man scowled, and had there been anyone around, they'd have run in fright. It was scary looking in the creepy light.

The boy thought about kicking the bush, but instead checked the floor for anything to help, and felt at the ground with his feet where it was dark, before he rushed into anything.

"Hmmm..."

As one might expect, small rocks could be found along the floor of the cave, easy to stumble on without something to light your way, but small enough that if you were lucky, you may just have stepped right over.

Only able to located a few rocks, Vladimir frowned and scooped a few up anyway, reaching as far out as he could to gather in anything from outside the light, and being glad he had such such long arms. Vlad experimentally gathered some of the smaller rocks, stood back a fair amount, and threw the rocks hard at the bush, aiming to see if there were any branches he could knock off.

Standing a few inches from the entrance of the cave, with his left hand resting on his empty wrist holster, the only thing that was running through Nikolai Ognian's mind was 'how?'. How did someone manage to retrieve his wand without his knowing? It was a question that would, most likely, never be answered, and that was mainly why he kept thinking about it.

He was not angry over this, no. He was more than capable of tackling this task magic-less. Besides, he would be reunited with his wand eventually.

Shifting his weight, he stared inside the cave for a few moments. It was dark and..dark. He was sure there were other adjectives to describe it, but from his spot outside, he knew none. The only way to find more would be to enter.

Removing his hand from his empty holster, he stretched out until it made contact with the cold wall. Using the wall as a guide, he slowly and very carefully moved his feet finally entering the cave.

Dark and dark.

CRACK! A rock connected with a branch, splintering it, but not knocking it off. Several fire seeds, however, did drop to the ground and cool, still giving off faint light.

CRACK! This time, a different branch.

One rock pinged off the cave wall and skittered across the floor. When the rock assault was done, there were a few nearly severed branches, which had all dimmed and cooled a bit, but all still needing a pull. The rest of the bush pulsed with heat. Careful now if you reach in. It's hot!

As you enter the cave, the last bit of light from the outside is extinguished as the entry squeezes closed behind you. Without your wand, you're pitched into darkness and no matter how you try to adjust your eyes, it is without use. There are no shapes, no shadows, nothing.

That is, until you notice a faint glow around what seems to be a twist in the cave. As you draw nearer, it illuminates the area around it, but if you look further past, it is again black. Light, and heat, radiate from the now visible bush, indeed, radiate from each seed.

A fireseed bush.

Vlad positively beamed, still probably a scary sight again. He hadn't actually been expecting the rocks to work. Still, it had, and for this he was glad. The young man noted that a few branches could do with only a tug now, and he'd be alright. Still, he gathered up the seeds on the floor which hand fallen, making sure his uniform sleeve covered his hand. When they were all grouped together, the seeds made a pretty okay ball of light, but he might need these later. Could possibly use them to make a trail... so he wanted a branch of them.

Shaking his arm so his blood-red sleeve, which looked a muddy mahogony colour in the light, covered his hand, Vlad reached into the bush, holding his face back from the amazing wave of heat, and made sure that he didn't, from his own actions, touch any branches. Vlad chose the biggest broken branch he could, which was nice and cool compared to the rest of the bush having been partially severed, and gave it a neat tug, keeping his arm straight so if he pulled too hard and fell back, his arm wouldn't hit the hot branches.

Danika decided to sit for a moment, almost in front of the bush but close enough to the cave's wall so she'll be able to touch the wall and perhaps find out a way to get something from the wall that would allow her to get some light out of the bush.

Her hand didn't extend to the ground, only the wall, but her eyes did.

The branch seemed reluctant to sever completely from the bush, but with that tug, it broke free. It was cooler, now, though whether that was in part due to the fabric between the boy and his branch or it no longer being attached, was unclear. The seeds dimmed a bit, but still cast off significant light. How many were there, all together?

The way before you is lit at least a bit by your fireseeds, and as you walk, you'll see a fork in the cave. To the right, a cacophony of sound echoes off the walls, its source yet unseen. The dischord crescendos and speeds before disappearing from notice. It then begins again. To the left, a partial cave-in and silence. If you linger too near the left, however, a foul smell reaches your nostrils. It is pungent: the kind of smell that sticks in your head.

Choose your way carefully. There is no telling whether you can retrace your steps.

As the girl watched the bush, it dimmed slightly in the cool cave. The floor was damp loose dirt, mostly, with only a few pebbles. The wall was ragged, but not sharp, and cold to the touch.

Looking from left to right, Vladimir grimaced. He knew that with smells you were more likely to know what you were going into, but the left fork appeared to be partially caved in, and Vlad didn't like the look of that. PLUS, he hated bad smells. But, at least where it was partially caved in, it could mean it wasn't likely to happen again, but with the noisy one, if it got too loud that side could cave in. Either way, he'd manage to go back around again surely.

Holding his branch carefully up high, Vlad proceeded to take the right passage, ready to hear a loud booming of a cave-in or something. Just in case, he dropped a solitary fireseed from the bunch in his hand.

Her eyes flicked back towards the entrance when hearing a noise that turned out to be the entrance squeezing close. In a few quick steps, her hand was pressed against the cave wall as the last bit of light was cast away.

The darkness may have bothered others, but the dark haired woman remained unphased by it. Darkness was something she was more than used to.

But what.....noticing a faint glow, she carefully walked deeper into the cave. Her hand still on the cave wall moving around slightly, searching for something that she could possibly use while in the cave.

Letting her eyes adjust to the new light source she quickly identified the plant. Fireseed bush. She could use that light for when she got deeper into the cave, but how to retrieve some of the plant without being burned.

Hm. Her eyes searched the ground around the plant and cave walls for something.

There was nothing she could do with the wall, besides getting close to it if she got too warm, though she highly doubted there could be such a feeling in this cave.

For a moment there she wondered how Sandra would deal without her wand. And her thoughts carried on towards Zitnik. He would be expecting others to win, not Danika. Maybe that's what did it. She shouldn't be thinking much, but acting on her famous impulses.

Her eyes landed on the pebbles. It they'd been big enough, then she'd be able to create some fire with it and a piece of fabric, but they were tiny things. Tiny enough to let her grab a seed? Probably not.

The girl took one. Zitnik's approval in her head, because she had to win this and prove him wrong. Aiming at one specific part of the bush the girl released one pebble. And then another one at the same part. She only needed something she could carry along.

Now that you've dropped one of your precious fireseeds, how many of the almond sized seeds do you have left?

As you continue, the source of the sound eventually makes itself apparent. Honking daffodils. Noisy, to be sure, but harmless. Unless, of course, you value your eardrums.

As you proceed further through the tunnel, you come across an area that is, for the most part, quite sparse. There are a few patches of grass scattered here and there, but nothing is thickly, grown, or settled. Then suddenly, the surroundings change, and although the area is very dark and it’s difficult to see, a few creepers and tendrils can clearly be seen. As you walk a little closer, you can see that there aren’t just a few creepers and tendrils, but there are many, and all are blocking every single way around the plant that lies before you. There’s no other way out than to figure out what you’ve come across and to find the solution to getting past it.


Loosely packed dirt was all that was visible in the dim light, the walls smooth. A breeze blew up from the tunnel - a creepy thing in what appeared to be an enclosed cave - and jostled the bush, part of it dimming.

Plink! The pebbles bounced ineffectually off the branches, it taking several to dislodge one seed. The plant dimmed, again, losing brightness, but also heat. The pebbles used, unfortunately, fell down into the heart of the bush.

Three pebbles for one seed. That could take a while.

The seed on the ground cooled but continued to give a faint light.

Glancing down at his hand of seeds, Vlad's expression didn't change. As long as he wasn't stupid enough to drop them behind him as though they were common petals, he was safe.

And Vlad was smart; he knew not to go too crazy.

At first, Vlad was a little confused as to how there could be grass around him. Then it dawned on them that he was still outside, even if he was in a cave. He was glad that the sound turned out not to be anything too bad.

But... the plant. Vlad's first instinct was that the plant was devil's snare, and his eyes widened. Surely they wouldn't let them loose in the dark with this plant. But then again, it was the triwizard tournament... and it may not even be that.

So he had two ideas... Back at Durmstrang there had been an eccentric teacher who told them, wait for it, talking to plants sometimes worked. So... that first, since it was less extreme.

Feeling a total fool and talking in English, since that was the country he was in, Vlad said, "If there is a being present, or perhaps you, the plant can hear me, vould you please let me pass? Possibly in exchange for something?"

If this didn't work, he had another idea... after that... he was stumped.

'Inspiration is around you'. Wasn't that what her sister used to say? Perhaps she'd gotten it wrong, and inspiration was within you.

The seed on the ground wasn't precisely what she could be needing, was it?

The girl took off her Durmstrang belt, and twirled it around some branches, while trying to get the heat away from her skin. She needed a bit more light, did she not?

A breeze, that was unnatural. Her hazel eyes narrowed, attempting to see past the bush for another source of light. Breezes didn't just appear, it had to have come from somewhere. But she saw no other light sources.

Weird.

It didn't creep her out, but did worry her as to what lay ahead in the cave. Those thoughts, however, were not at the forefront of her mind. The partially dimming bush was.

Thinking quickly, she bent down and filled her hands with dirt. Maybe she could smother part of the fire and break off a branch.

Picking a limb on the bush that stuck out the furthest on the part that dimmed, she carefully but quickly patted the bottom half of it with the dirt, leaving the tip lit with the fire. Being careful not to get burned or caught on fire herself.

This would be so much easier with her wand.

The tendrils wriggled among themselves as the Champion spoke, but did not part. If one was observant, they might notice one tendril snaking out from the rest, about to wrap itself around the young man's foot.

Branches snapped as the belt went round and almond sized seeds fell to the ground, cooling, but still glowing. The belt itself was getting singed, but not burning up, as the bush had begun to cool.

How much will you take, before you continue on?

That the breeze hastened the cooling of that part of the bush certainly helped, as the dirt then provided enough protection that the branch was warm to the touch, but not burning. But, it was still attached.

The heat radiating from the almond sized seeds, however, was still uncomfortable, even if not as hot as before.

How could Vlad be observant in such circumstances as these? It was impossible. Instead, Vlad took an instant step forward towards where he wanted to go, but not too close. If plan B was about to work, then he didn't want to get too close.

Holding the branch in one hand, Vlad transferred the seeds to that same hand so he hand one hand free. He then took a large pinch of the seeds, enough that he still had a handful left, and lightly tossed them at the tendrils and creepers crossing his path. Then he stood ready to run forwards if the thing opened, hoping it would be enough.

She needed to hurry up, because once the faint glow vanishes, then she'd be left blind once more, and we already knew how she felt about that kind of darkness.

Oh. Zitnik will not be amused with what she did to part of the uniform. Great. Either way, Danika took the small part that wasn't burnt and tied it around her hand as she picked a some seeds and placed them on a branch that seemed to work for that particular reason, to hold some seeds, and get some light, whilst little light, it would allow her to see just a bit of the path ahead.

She stood up and walked away from the now-cooling bush. Branch in hand. Only a faint glow leading her way....where exactly?