The Sea of Sand [completed]

[Bethsyliss]

Slightly disappointed at Ronin's answer, Syliss pouted. She would certainly have enjoyed the prolonged contact from crossing the desert on Ronin's back. She suspected he lied about the fact that it would actually delay them, but didn't say anything about it, in hopes that she was wrong. "Fine, if you think it'sss better that way" she agreed, trying to seem as cool about it as she possibly could. "I forgot to sssay. We're going to Ahnatep. That's dead eassst." Then she remembered he had been a slave and was probably quite ignorant; determined to correct that minor flaw in his upbringing and help him rise to a more dignified status, she added: "East is where the sun risesss," and pointed in the direction of the great body that bathed the land with warmth and light. Trying to recall what little notions of local geography that she had learned, she muttered a series of brief calculations. "I hugged the coassst for a bit more than a week and I started moving inland three daysss ago. That meansss I'm a little more than a third of the dissstance along the way. It ssshould have taken me sssix more days until the city. I know I can move four times fassster than a man on foot at the ssspeed I've been going, but a man needs to ssstop and rest a lot more than I do, so that adds about a week to the total." She concentrated hard. "Four timesss six days and one week..." Her eyes flared open. "That'sss only a little more than a month," she declared, looking at Ronin. She sighed. This was going to be a long trip. Bethsyliss, as all snakes, hated the chilly nights out in the desert. She had not planned to have to bear more than three weeks' worth of them, and now, on top of the fifteen days or so she had been out on the endless sands, she was going to have to withstand a couple more days over thirty. "I seemed to have lossst track of the days," she said in a comical tone to relieve herself of the burden the prospect of traveling that much more time caused. "Forty-fourth? Fourty-fifth? Sssomething like that?" She counted her fingers. "That meansss we'll get there some time between the seventy-fifth and the eightieth day of Winter. At leassst we'll have a shelter for the end of the year. All right, let's set out. Pack your things. We have a long way to go." She took a final, longing glance at Ronin before he got dressed, and started shifting into snake form. A couple of seconds into the transformation, she interrupted the process, remembering something she had forgotten. "By the way," she said, almost as an afterthought. "I'm Syliss." Then she turned into a snake and started to slither her long journey under the watchful guidance of the rising sun, followed by her new companion. She heard him whisper her name, but was not sure whether it was the actual voice of Ronin or her imagination deforming the sound of the wind. *end*

[Colombina]

The XP Wand Is Waved! Thanks for you patience! I appreciate that you were willing to be "catchable" in this thread. It sounds odd, but let me explain, haha. I like when players work together and are willing to give and take instead of just trying to show one another up. Here you were willing to be surprised, caught and threatened etc. It makes for a more interesting read. Let me know if you feel I missed anything worthy of xp or lore Ronin's Loot 2 XP Wilderness Survival (Desert) 2 XP Observation 1 XP Running 1 XP Wrestling 1 XP Cooking Lore of Dhani Forms Lore of Eyktol Topography