Purifying (Solo)

[Talya]

Timestamp: Summer 7, 515 AV It hadn't rained for several days now, which left the morning dew to dry up quickly. Its vapor to rise into the air; as invisible as its host, felt for a heartbeat before it became entirely intangible. The air growing stiff and oppressive, as parched as the soil the evaporated moisture sought to mirror. Dusty upon the surface, although the wilting grass and sad looking shrubberies often tried to keep it pinned down. Several roots snaking over it, diving over and under, making a complex framework both above and below the ground, which seemed to reach for each of the wary travelers within the caravan as they came to an abrupt halt as a wheel refused to roll through a stretch of land. The branches reaching for them as a momentary break was called, leaving everybody to sigh and sag into a more relaxed position brought on entirely by their exhaustion. The majority wiping their sweaty brows with the back of their hand as the sun's light continued to shine down upon them, filtering through the open spaces between the tree limbs and its adornments. The shadows of the leaves crawling across their features, leaving half of them in darkness and half in light. Half cool, half warm, as the grey rustled with the coming and the going of the wind. Talya found herself now seated upon a rock, which was tucked underneath the shadowed shelter of a tree. The air was cooler there, but only marginally so, as it was oppressive and uncomfortable all around, no matter what one did. Even so, the Ethaefal found that her throat ached dully, as it had reddened and grown dry during their travels. So, she decided to wet it with a drink, and reached into her bag for her waterskin. She rummaged around for it momentarily, as she nibbled on her lower lip, and finally managed to extricate it from the rest of her things. She pulled it out of her pack, shook it simply for the sake of doing so, and then opened up the skin, and lifted it to her lips. Tilting her head back as she lifted the container higher and higher into the air, so that it stood at more stark an angle, and the last few drops emptied into her mouth swiftly. They felt warm. Unsatisfying. But Talya craved the water all the same, and shook the waterskin out a few times just to be sure she had gotten everything. When she had, she closed it back up, and had a look around at the stopped group. A group, which didn't seem as though it would be moving again any time soon, as most were just as tired and sick of moving as the animals seemed to be. So, she decided to do something useful with her time, instead of sit idly and waste it, and somewhat reluctantly, eased herself onto her feet. She rubbed out the soreness in her back and legs with her hands, and stretched out her stiff muscles, before smiling at those who looked up at her to see what she was doing as she moved away from the masses and into the forest. Looking to do what and for what she did not know. For now, Talya was simply walking. Keeping her body busy, her mind clear. For that was what it was, as she found that in her movement, without having to pay enough attention to ensure that she didn't lose the person directly ahead of her, it became easier to keep it empty. Easier to simply enjoy the forest, and all of its many components, the things that surrounded and enveloped her, without consuming her in her entirety. As she pushed past a low hanging branch and made her way past, Talya found that it was easier to concentrate on how hard the soil felt beneath her feet. How her steps were nearly inaudible thuds and the dusty clouds she raised in her wake, near silent, although there was a faint brushing noise if she listened closely enough. She could hear a few squirrels running up the trees in the surrounding area, chittering to one another as their tiny nails scratched at the tree bark. She could hear birds chirping somewhere overhead, but never their shadows as they flew past, just as she could hear the leaves rustling in the wind. Their endless green expanse lying above a sea of brown; the trunks of row upon row of trees; the smell they carried, a mixture of mud and pine. Intermingling with that of the animals, a sort of nameless musk along with their bodily fluids- be it sweat or urine, and of course, a hint of dung. Smells and sounds, which felt strangely familiar to her, although she had spent so little time outside of Ravok, (more now during the course of her travels), but still. In any case, she found it all pleasant, although there were portions which should have been perceived at least as a tad repugnant. She found it all to be rather relaxing, and was pleased to have found some time to herself, away from the gathered throngs back at the caravan. And yet, she found it difficult to have left them with no particular task in mind; simply for the sake of things. So she decided to try and come up with a task for herself to do before she returned to them. Tal considered at first, the things that would be useful to the people of the caravan. Gathering firewood and kindling was the first thing she considered, but with leaves, twigs and branches being prevalent, (as they were all buried within a forest), she decided against it, as it was simply to easy. Something anyone could do anytime at all, and rather quickly if the need presented itself. Second, she thought of gathering some food, but that would likely take to long. Especially as she had no ranged weapons or experience with them, no traps, and minimal experience with plants, which meant that foraging wasn't a likely option either. Third, she thought of potential shelters, but most everyone had brought their own tent or the like, and well... they weren't exactly setting up camp just yet. Which left one more thing- water. Something everyone always needed, but now most of all since it had been getting hotter and hotter as the days progressed, and their stores lower and lower, to the point where many had begun rationing whatever it was they had left. So water it was then. Water was what she would do her best to find and bring back to the camp. At least for herself, if not for everyone. Well strike that... she could only carry what she could in her own waterskin, so maybe she would lead people back to the source if she found anything later. Were they not in a rush and had they the time. Yes, that was it. That was what she would do. So with renewed vigor, Talya continued on her journey not only to find her own peace, but some drinkable water as well.

[Talya]

Rather inconveniently, Talya wasn't so sure what you looked for when you were on water's trail. She didn't suppose it left tracks the way animals did, or little presents behind. She knew it didn't carry a scent either, and for the most part, made no sound, unless it was falling, or moving over something. There were also no tell tale signs for it, at least not the way there were for animals, she felt. Nothing it left behind- like leftovers from a meal, or a few fine furry hairs. No dung. No urine, and again, no tracks. There was only moisture locked into the soil, or running over rock. Sometimes, if it fed into something, perhaps the earth would be less parched, more damp; muddy. But that was not always the case, so Talya felt that she would have little hope unless she got really lucky; perhaps even heard something off in the distance. A sort of invisible trail for her to follow. But all the same, Talya wanted to try. She felt the need to, as this was her self-assigned task, and it was important to her. So, she kept on moving away from the rest of the group, without really giving much thought to where she was going. Without really looking any farther than to see that she didn't run into anything on her voyage as she entered a walk bordering on a trance. Her vision dulling, although her sense of hearing had become all the more keen. Talya walked and walked for several minutes. Listening; both to her body, and the things outside of it. She heard a bird chirp a few times, before the sound faded. She heard her own footsteps growing louder and louder, as though she were taking less and less care about being quiet. She could hear her heart beating, and her breath going in and out of her chest. She could hear her pack bumping lightly into her back, the space between her shoulder blades. She could hear something scratching on a tree; and then each of the sounds beginning to blend into one another, so that they formed a strange harmony. A conglomeration of natural sounds. Tal found this relaxing, and allowed herself to ease into this state for several minutes as she continued her journey, and then finally, she felt something cold and wet against her right ankle, and over her foot. It was strange to her, for at first the moisture was warm, but as she pulled herself back out of her more distant, contemplative place she realized that whatever it was had grown cold as it began to seep through the leather of her boots, and into the cotton of her attire. Assuming it had not splashed onto bare skin. Talya looked down, and found that she had walked into a puddle, no more than a foot wide all around. A misshapen circle of water, which she supposed had once been larger, and shrunk over the past few days since the last rain fall. Talya pulled her foot out of the water and took a step back to survey the puddle. The water within it seemed dark and murky, but she supposed it could be cleaned up a bit, and then, consumed after it had been boiled. So, she eased herself into a kneeling position by its side and looked down as her body sank a bit into the soil. It was a bit damper around the perimeter, but she didn't mind; it didn't matter if she got herself dirty as she needed to wash her clothes, and perhaps buy a new pair when she got to Zeltiva anyway. This dress looking a little ragged of late. Anyway, the Ethaefal set her bag down beside her, and pulled out her waterskin, in early preparation for the fluid's ending location. She then opened it up and set it in her lap, before scooping up some water in her right hand. What she brought up she realized, was mainly mud. She thought the water had run deeper, but she didn't think she had, as she had touched the bottom of the puddle after plunging them less than an inch. Disappointed, she watched as the water ran through the spaces between her fingers leaving only the mud in its wake. Tal dumped this out by tilting her hand. It fell back into the puddle with an angry sounding plop and a small splash. She sighed, as she realized this was likely going to be more trouble than it was worth, but she needed the water, so she plunged her hand in again, and pulled some out and looked at it. She realized she would need to filter it somehow before she funneled it into the skin, lest she should contaminate the entire thing and make it impossible to clean and use the container again. So, she thought briefly about what she had brought with her, but realized there was no useful filtration device in her pack. Dismayed, the Ethaefal let the water and mud fall as she forced herself to think a little harder, until she came up with a possible solution. At which point, Tal lifted the skirt of her dress away from her sweat-dampened skin. When she had, she grabbed a small piece at the center, and drew it down, while her right hand rested at the top, keeping everything from falling to far. In the end, when she removed her left hand, it looked as though she had made a long, oblong glass shape with her dress. She then replaced her left hand with the right, retrieved her waterskin, and held it between her legs with her knees, with the bottom of the structure she had produced in her dress resting against the lip. When she was done, Tal scooped up some more muddy water with her right hand, and poured it down the fabric funnel. By pinching her right thumb and pointer finger together, on either end of the fabric, and drawing them down, as though she were a farmer milking a cow's udder, Tal began to push the water through, so that it moved through the bottom of the fabric. Nicely filtered; with no mud. It dripped slowly, only one at a time, but it was water, and she gathered at least a few from this first handful. The rest seemed to be mud gathered at the bottom of her dress, but this Talya ignored as she repeated the process, successfully gathering a few more drops.

[Talya]

There was so much mud now gathered at the bottom of the funnel, that Talya had to pour it out beside the puddle and remake the funnel before she could continue. Once she had remade the dress funnel, Talya retrieved more water from the puddle, and poured it in. She then squeezed the water down and out, getting a few droplets into the waterskin, after having missed the first few when her arm twitched, and the bottom of the dress jerked, causing her to spill them down the side and onto her leg. She did not allow herself to lose hope however, or be swayed from the completion of her task, and continued to filter water this way until most of the puddle was gone, and her fingers began to hurt. At which point, she wiped her muddy right hand on her dress, sealed the waterskin, put it away, got up, gathered her things and put them in their rightful places, before shaking out her dress once last time, wiping the sweat of her brow with the back of her hand and heading back to camp. Talya made her way back, arriving within a few minutes, to find that everyone had settled. There was to be further delay as animals pulling carts and the like were swapped out, and everyone had a bite to eat and something to drink. Deciding then that she would have the time she needed to boil the water she had gathered into the skin, (about a quarter of the container, perhaps a bit less), she set out to find those who had made fires, and someone with a pot she could borrow in order to put the water in. It didn't take her long to find a fire; as even within the light of day, the blaze stood out amongst the trees, as did the pillars of grey smoke, and the scent they carried. She found that the fire she chose was largely unoccupied, (or at least the space around it was), and that she could use it as no one was cooking, although someone was boiling water in a kettle for tea. She asked this person, a tall man of about fifty years with salt and pepper hair if she could borrow if after to boil her drinking water and he obliged just as long as she wiped it down. She agreed, and as a thank you, decided to give him half the water she had left when she was done. To this, the man readily agreed as his stores of water were getting low. So Tal nodded, took a seat beside him, and awaited her turn. When the man was done making his tea, Tal pulled the pot off the fire with the aid of a stick the man had found for his own use so as not to burn herself on the hot metal, and poured the water she had gathered from her waterskin into its basin. She then pushed the pot onto the fire with the stick and waited several minutes until it began to steam. Rolling bubbles dancing from the base of the iron pot to the surface. It was at this point Talya nudged the pot off with the stick, waited a several more minutes until the pot cooled, and then partitioned the liquid into two equal parts- half into her own waterskin, and half into the man who had lent his pot. Tal then wiped the pot clean with a rag he offered, and then gave the pot and his waterskin back to the respectful owner. The man thanked her as she smiled and nodded, and headed off, back to her own quiet corner of the camp, where she finally allowed herself a sip of water. Tepid water, that still tasted of the earth. But at least it was water. Hard earned, amazingly satisfying water, all the same.

[Elias Caldera]

Behold, Your Just Reward!

Talya

Experience and Lore :

Skills

• Observation +2
• Wilderness Survival +2
• Planning +1
• Negotiation +1

Lores

• The Serenity of Nature
• Listening to the Wilds
• Wilderness Survival: Creating a Filter
• Wilderness Survival: Purifying Water

Miscellaneous :

Injuries

• None

Loot and Expenses

• None

Comments :

Ah nature. Never been there myself but I hear its nice... Anyhoo, back to the dark, dank depths of the internet for me.

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