With the Rain (Solo)

[Talya]

Timestamp: Summer 26, 515 AV

Talya looked up at the sky. She found that there were only a few clouds left there from earlier in the morning. They were fluffy and white, and crawled across the pale blue sky at a languid pace, like a snail. The sun passed between them now and again, as it climbed higher near its zenith, which it seemed to be fast approaching. There wasn't a bird in sight- big or small, the sky was barren, in much the same way as the top of the trees she moved under were empty. They were covered in lush green leaves of course, which rustled softly within the wind, but besides that there was nothing. There would be more than enough time to forage for berries she thought, before she set up her camp for the night, and awaited the coming of the stars. Thus, with a thin smile upon her lips, she continued onward through the forest. She stepped over roots, and pressed her hands against the bark of the trees now and again, just to see how dry they were- but they all felt the same. The wood coarse and gnarled, perhaps even a little brittle, in the sense that it felt strong, although not so much so that she could not break it away with her fingers if she wanted to.

Her feet moved over stone as much as they moved over grass and patches of hard packed, unadorned soil. The ground she found was toughest there and hardest upon her soles, but she made no complaint as she made her way through, keeping her ears perked for the sound of running water. A sort of stream, or perhaps even a small river, which she thought could feed the plant life around it more than an area without. She thought it important as plants needed water to survive, so if there was more of it in a certain area, she thought that there was likely a chance that more plants bearing fruit and berries would be around there too. But she could be wrong in this, as she didn't know much about plants, although she knew that their having too much water could drown them in much the opposite way that too little could dry them out, so that they shriveled up and died. She found that because she couldn't hear the movement of water right now, she walked largely aimlessly, although she kept her eyes trained upon the trees as much as she did the ground, and often moved in areas where she noticed more small leafy plants upon the forest floor, or more moss growing on a certain side of the tree, as she thought that meant there was more moisture in the air, and in the ground.

Talya didn't consider how it may have had something to do with the run-off in rainwater, (as the ground was gradually sloping downward), feeding things more in this area than others. To her, it didn't matter, she simply liked what she was seeing, and didn't quite know where she was headed right now, and simply did whatever she could to make sure that she was continually walking on, somewhere. She found that when she traversed in this way, weaving through the trees from the east to the west, and then a bit to the north before cycling back again, that she felt as though she missed far less, as she moved through greater stretches of the land. But she also felt like she wasn't progressing very much, and was moving much more slowly than she could, but there was little she felt, that she could actually do about this, and thus, simply continued on her way. Eventually, she thought she could hear water- but it wasn't a flow as it moved over the ground, over soil and over stone, instead, it was the faint dripping of water falling from some place higher and onto the ground. She did her best to follow it all the same- for perhaps enough of it had fallen that it had gathered into a small pool, and that would be enough to feed the plants. But no matter how well she followed it and drew near, and looked around, she could not find it.

[Talya]

With a heavy sigh, Talya finally abandoned her search for the mysterious source of dripping water, and moved on ahead, farther away from the source of the sound. She walked down the length of a hill, heavily laden with branches and leaves- detritus, which appeared as though it had broken off in a storm, as the ends of each branch was a shattered mass of wood. Little chips and shards lying fallen against the earth all around them. She stepped through the mass lightly, and made her way through, she kept her eyes peeled, and within about another hour of searching, she finally came across a large stretch of land filled with both trees, and bushes, which somehow still managed to thrive although they rested almost directly beneath them, in their network of roots. She thought as she saw this, that they would have killed each other off as they fought for the same land and resources, but this didn't seem to be the case, and with a small shrug, moved over to the bush nearest her. It was covered in thorns and little white flowers, with four petals. This she knew, could not feed her, so she moved onto the next bush, and the one to the right of that, but they were all the same.

Thus, Talya walked past them, and did her best to survey the bushes that were behind them. She found that some of them looked as though they bore honeysuckle, and another few bore fruit. The rest were nothing more than thorns and leaves. Talya naturally directed her attention to those bushes that bore fruit. She noticed that there were several different types, as several different colored and sized flowers and berries adorned each of the bushes in question. Some had little, pale yellow flowers and cream colored ones throughout, with bright red berries, that looked as though they were made up of tiny spheres, to make a sort of thimble shaped thing. These were raspberries she recognized. Some had no flowers, and circular berries with little flowery crowns on their head. The berries ranged from a bright red, to a pale green lighter than limes, to a bright blue. These were blueberries, but the majority of them weren't ripe yet and ready for harvest. The last grouping that bore fruit, had no flowers as well, or at least, not any that she could see as she sifted through them. Their fruits were a bit larger than raspberries, and held a similar shape, but they were darker in color, and not hollow in the middle as raspberries were when plucked from a bush. They were blackberries.

Talya remembered blackberries from the few times she had had them back in Ravok. They were tart, or sweet, or sometimes even sour, and she didn't like them much because of that- because she never knew what she was getting before she plopped one into her mouth and started to chew. At least blueberries, she felt, had the decency to taste more uniform, or like nothing at all. She liked them more because of this, and she loved raspberries, as they were always sweet and broke apart nicely in your mouth. So, she pushed herself back through the bushes, ignoring the vines that scratched against her clothing as she made her way over, and used her eyes to study the prevalence of the berries within different sectors of the nearest bush. When she felt as though she knew where most of them were, she held back a branch with her left hand, and then started to pull the berries delicately off the bush with her right hand, so as not to break them. Despite her best efforts, several burst in her hands, and all her fingers were left with was a lot of sticky red juice, and a few raspberry beads, which she licked hungrily off her fingers, although it did little to sate her hunger, or her lust for the fruit.

But no matter, there was always more. Although now, shadows were crawling across the land and it was getting harder and harder for Tal to see. She tried to work faster, but found now, that she could hear rain. She looked up- and found that the sky had darkened and filled with rain clouds, and then a steady pour was coming down. As she didn't know when it would end, she would have to cut her foraging short, as she didn't want to get really wet and cold and sick, and find herself a shelter.

[Talya]

A little disappointed that she didn't have time to harvest more fruit to eat, and furthermore, that she was getting wet and wouldn't likely have the time to finish constructing her tent, or an easy time putting it together before she was completely soaked through if she went this route, she moved away from the bushes and back into the forest proper. She walked through the trees, weaving through their expanse without truly taking note of where it was she was going. She kept her eyes peeled for a few things- a clearing to build her tent, or a place where she could simply take refuge for awhile- into the night if the rain lasted a long time. She couldn't be sure, she wasn't good with feeling that sort of thing within the air. But she couldn't just pick any sort of place, she knew, if she didn't find a place large enough to set up her tent. There were several things to consider when picking out a place to set up one's camp, even if they were in a hurry, and the situation was less than ideal. (Much as it was right now for the Ethaefal, whose clothes were beginning to get heavy as they grew to be all the more laden with rain, and cling to her skin).

First, and perhaps most importantly, the shelter she found, if she could not use her tent for one reason or another, obviously had to be large enough to contain her. It would have to situated at such an angle, where the rain and the wind, (if a lot managed to break through the treeline), couldn't get into her. In addition, it should be a place that would serve as some protection from animals as well. There also had to be a way out, if not a few ways out of the shelter, just in case something bad were to happen- say, she overlooked the presence of an animal that could do her some harm, and she had to get away in a hurry. Ideally, it had to be fairly far away from things that could fall on it, and hurt her as well- say an area filled with boulders at the top of a hill, that could roll down and squish her. Alternatively, if it were near something potentially hazardous such as that- or even something simpler like trees, the shelter had to be able to withstand the potential that they may fall in a storm, and the like. She felt like the best option for this, was to find a cave, or a defile within a rocky outcropping. A hollowed out tree could work too- but these weren't often naturally occurring, and she had neither the time or the tools to empty one out.

Besides, a hollowed tree was likely to provide less room than a cave, or a rocky defile, which in turn, would make her less comfortable. And furthermore, it was more likely, she felt than the other avenues she had to explore, to have only one way out, which would suck if she was faced with a pack of wolves, or Leth forbid, an angry bear or something. Talya shuddered as she kept on walking, more from the thoughts than the chill of the rain against her skin. She also had to be mindful, she knew- of things other than animals that could reside within some of these areas. Plants like poison ivy or sumac, for example. She also had to avoid areas too close to lakes, (which shouldn't be a problem, as she didn't think she was near any right now), as the water level could swell or rise in a storm, and ruin the shelter of wherever she had set up camp. Alternatively, if it wasn't set up the right way, and a rock face, or a hollowed tree opened up in the wrong direction, both rain and wind could get in, and the area could flood. Much in the same way as a shelter based at the bottom of a hill, and she couldn't have that. At least not right now, as she had no intention of dying in her sleep, as she had run out of air and drowned.

Talya needed to find something that worked with her surroundings- something that blended in, and was large enough for her, but not large enough for everything else, and safe for an extended stay, if the need arose. But what could she find now in this mess of rocky hills, and forest?

[Talya]

Tal knew it wasn't likely to be a hollowed out tree, and she would be more likely to come across a rocky cleft, or a cave than anything else. So, she decided she would try to find the rockier portions of the forest, as both of those things were more likely to be there than anywhere else. She continued her steady pace through the rain for several minutes, trying to feel the ground with her soles all the way. She tried to discern the difference between the ground that sank beneath her weight, and took on the impression of her foot, and ground that wasn't as saturated for one reason or another- because it was rockier, or there were more trees to cover it, for example. She then tried to discern the difference between these two occurrences with a cursory glance around at her location before continuing onward- wandering aimlessly if the ground was becoming more saturated, or didn't look as though it were drier because of a rocky presence. In the cases where she seemed to be moving through a rockier area, Tal would continue on in the same direction, thinking that like would lead to like, and a stony ground would lead to a bed of more stone.

In some ways, the Ethaefal was right in her thinking, and in others, she most certainly was not. But she wouldn't know as much, really, as she took the next forty-five minutes or so, to locate a rocky outcropping that ran up the length of a small hill. Luckily, the hill had rocks on all sides, so she took a minute to walk up to the top of them, where there was virtually no cover from the trees, and only a few scattered plants growing with the crags of the rocks, from what she could see. She then looked up at the sky from the top of the little hill, and let the water fall against the side of her face. She noticed the droplets were falling at a slant, and they were moving to the east, so she would be better off if she found something on the western face of the hill, if she could. The south and the northern side of the hill would do as well, but likely wouldn't provide as much cover, she felt, with this in mind, Talya moved over to the east, (which she surmised by how the rain fell more than anything else). She walked down the hill, carefully taking the rocks at a slow pace, and digging her heels into the stone to brace herself, so she wouldn't be as likely to slip on their water-slicked surface.

Talya glanced at the rock faces as she moved. There were grey slabs that had been worn smooth from the rain and perhaps, even the snow and the hail. They rested against the ground, and provided a smooth surface like a bed. Others had dips and rises within them, and were angled in much the same way, and others jut out from the side of the hill, like a barricade or a spear. As she surveyed the area, she realized as she got all the more wet and began to shiver a little, that the stones were so closely packed, that there were no openings by which she could find shelter. So she moved over to the northern face and looked around, and found something that looked promising. Beneath a protrusion of flat rock, was a little inlet, surround slightly on both side by more rock. Inside was a space a couple of feet long, perhaps six in all, into the earth. The stone up above her head was high too, perhaps six feet in all. She shrugged, and guessed that it would do, especially because she didn't intend on getting any more wet. So she walked over to it, and looked inside, and realized that the stone to either side of the stone slab protrusion were damp, and that a little water trickled down into the shelter she had found. But it wasn't much, and she didn't think it would be enough to cause problems, so she went inside and dropped her things- beginning to settle in for the duration of the rain fall.

[Talya]

As soon as Talya had rid herself of the weight of her pack, she took off her dress. Now that it was water-logged, it had become heavy and clung to her skin, serving only to chill her to the bones. She trembled as she took it off, and set it in a corner of the little rocky cave structure. She would have to wring it out tomorrow if it hadn't dried enough. Hopefully, by then it would have stopped raining, and the water would cool her as she moved back through the forest in Zeltiva. The only problem was that now, she still felt the cold. It lingered in her bones, and from time to time, a little wind would filter into the shelter from the outside. She had to change that, so she unrolled the canvas from her tent, and wrapped it around herself like a toga. From there, she looked around the little space again, and noticed some rocks in the corner. She picked them up, and set them at the front of the cave, one on top of the other, to help block some of the wind. It didn't do much, and some wind still got in through the little spaces between them, but it did something, she felt and left them as she dry washed her hands.

For the next order of business, Talya would have to add to her level of warmth. She could do this in a number of ways she knew- she could drink something hot like a tea. But she didn't have anything to make that, and soon abandoned the idea. She could eat something, as that warmed the body too, but she was out of rations for the time being. Thirdly, she could build a fire. Luckily for her, she had picked up some supplies earlier in the morning, before she had begun her search for berries, and set them in her pack. The only problem was, all she had gathered was kindling, so she would have a rather small fire. Something, she felt, she could make using the same principals she would have employed if she made a larger fire. The fact that she was within the rocks, she thought, would help, as rocks couldn't burn, so the fire couldn't spread. She would just have to be careful choosing a sight for the small fire, as if she made it too close to the lip of the cavernous rock structure, it may be doused by the rain, or blown out by the wind. She sighed, such was the difficulty as life, she knew, as she pulled out the few sticks and twigs she had gathered. It wasn't much, just a few handfuls. But it would have to do, as everything else would be wet by now, and not good enough for use in this endeavor.

Talya set all of the sticks beside her, and pulled four off the pile. She would use a simple device to form the frame for the fire, she decided. She lay one stick against the stone, in a flatter area, which was sheltered by the protrusion of rock above her head. Then, she lay another stick over this, so that their points went in each of the four cardinal directions. Then she added two more sticks between these- so that each direction was covered- north, south, east, west, northwest, northeast, southeast, and southwest. There were a few gaps between them, so she added a few more layers of sticks, so that the overall image was that of a sun, when she finished. Then, she broke the rest of her kindling into smaller pieces, and set it at the center of the pile, raising it higher. She hoped it would do as she dry washed her hands, and reached for her flint and steel, which had been tucked into her bag. In her right hand, she held the steel, in the left the flint. She held it tightly, over the rise in the sun. She angled its point downward, so it ran into the smaller pieces of kindling. Then she raised her right hand and brought it down repeatedly on the flint. They clicked together as she drew it against its length. Letting it slide down again and again to the end, before she started the process all over. Within ten minutes, she had made a few sparks, but none took, and then within another ten, she made a spark that caught, and embers took to the kindling.

[Talya]

Talya put her flint and steel back upon her bag, and then watched as not even a finger length of smoke rose into the air from the embers. It was a faint grey, which seemed to blend into the atmosphere, Talya felt, as she bent down and blew on the fire ever so lightly to fan the flame. Careful not to blow too hard that it went out, as she didn't think she had enough for even another small fire. She watched as the flames grew licking the kindling and growing. Reaching higher, up to the ceiling, as time progressed, and she backed away, and rubbed her hands and held them over the fire to warm them. Gradually, both heat and more feeling returned to them, and she sat back, with her spine against the far wall, and relaxed. Watching the rain fall from the sky in the outside world, and listening to the sound it made upon the rock. A faint plipping, among other such sounds, which she found more than pleasing to her two ears- comforting, in a strange way she couldn't so much as begin to put her finger on. So much so, that she began to nod off, as the rain lulled her to sleep, for a much deserved, and needed rest.

Talya awoke not long after, although she wasn't sure how long it had been. The sky was still dark and it was still raining, and altogether impossible to discern. But she thought she had heard something, and the sound had made her brow furrow. She thought she had heard a faint growling, and her ears perked against the sound. For slowly, it grew louder as her heart began to beat faster and faster, and her body continued to tense. Her muscles growing rigid. Unsure as to whether or not she was in danger, she decided to become more alert and ready, and rose to her feet. It was then that a water-drenched red fox entered the little cavern. Its body dripping moisture, its lips edging upward, as it snarled and bared its teeth. Its yellow eyes glowed and Talya gasped as she dropped the canvas of her tent. She felt she couldn't fight with it, for one, and she was taken by surprise, secondly, and as such, she lost her grip on it, (which was mainly down with pinching it with her arms), and it fell to the floor at the back of the cave. The fox made no real move, but its bushy tail swished back and forth. Talya watched it, as her hand fell onto the hilt of her dagger, which was still strapped to her thigh.

The fox crouched down. Perhaps it had noticed. It looked ready to spring, so Talya closed her fingers over the hilt, and then started to slip it out of the sheath. That seemed to be the last straw, as the fox sprang at her. Holding its legs out as it moved toward her. Talya finished unsheathing her blade, and brought it up, to meet with the fox's chin. But she miscalculated and wound up missing as she stepped aside, causing the fox to jump into the space where she had just been. It snarled at her, and rose up on its hind legs. Slashing its paws left and right with her. With the flat of her blade, she knocked its stubby little arms aside. Water splattered within the cave, as Talya crouched, so that she would be more comfortable as she fought. She pulled her right arm out to the side, so that it seemed a miniature wing, beginning to spread itself out, as the confines of the cave forced her to hold it at an awkward angle. The fox had fallen back on all four of its limbs, and was continuing to bear its teeth at her. Then it jumped forward, and tried to bite her middle. As it did so, she stepped a little to the side, around the fox, and against the side of the fire. She punched outward with the blade, and tried to rake it against the fox's side. But she moved it to high- as she was much taller than the beast, and struck at nothing more than air as they both turned to face each other again.

[Talya]

Talya would have to hold and direct her dagger a little lower if she wanted to strike the fox. She had to keep in mind that it was short in stature, and that the cave was very small overall. That it was angry she had chosen its cave to take her rest, and likely would fight more defensively, (maybe), than aggressively, to ensure that it was the victor and got its precious cavern back from her. It lunged at her again, and she held her blade out to the side, as she moved to the left, to see if it would meet with the side of her blade. It did not, she missed again, which to her was depressing, as there was so little room to miss. So, this time, she crouched even lower, and crept toward the fox. She guided her blade from left to right- slashing wildly at it, hoping something would ram into its wolf-like face. But nothing did- it kept backing up, until there was no space left, only a cold, hard stone wall. At this, Talya smirked, as it swiped at her, and she batted its arms aside with the flat of her blade. Knocking them to the left and away, then to the right and away, before it could set its limbs back down.

In this, Talya found a possible opening, and stepped forward. She raise her right hand to the side of her head- so that her fist was level with her ear. Then she brought it down in a clean sweep, which largely followed the length of her side. As the fox moved up on its hind legs and tried to swipe at her again, she slammed the point of her blade into its shoulder, and pushed it further, digging it in. When she extracted it a second later, the fox yelped, as she pulled some blood with it. The crimson fluid dripped from the dagger, as the beast crumbled, and to bring it out of its mercy, Talya knelt down, and slashed across its throat. She watched as it fell on its side, its chest rising and falling heavily before there was no more. She smiled, but it was an uneasy thing, she wasn't sure she had wanted to kill the fox, if she had had a choice, but the red thing had attacked her and she had to defend herself. She apologized to Leth in a short prayer for taking it, and then thought, that it would be more an insult to him and the other gods if she wasted it. She thought, perhaps someone would eat it for food, and that its pelt could prove useful, so she would rid the creature of it.

Talya had never really skinned anything before, and she wasn't certain exactly of what to do. So she would have to improvise. She felt like the legs could be a problem, as she didn't know how to cut them cleanly. So with her dagger, she slowly sawed them off, and tossed them out into the world. The metallic scent of blood lingering, as she thought about how she didn't know how to deal with the head either. She put her dagger down for a moment in her lap. She grimaced, as she picked the bloody carcass up, and twisted the head a little, breaking a few bones, separating it farther from the body by way of the neck. She put the fox back down and stifled the urge to vomit. From there, she retrieved her dagger, and sawed the head off slowly. Blood spurted onto her, but she ignored it, and made her way through the meat about twenty minutes later. By now, the fire was dying, and burning low. It was scarcely more than embers and a candle flame. Scarcely enough light by which to work, but it would have to do in this instance. So Talya grit her teeth, and told herself she would have to move faster if she wanted to get this done.

[Talya]

Talya picked up the fox head. She looked into the golden eyes a minute, and then, tossed the head aside, out and into the rain. She thought she could hear it rolling down the hill of stone, but that may have just been her imagination. She set back to work on skinning the animal. She rolled what was left onto the back of the red fox, and then made an incision in the center of the belly, from the base of where the neck had once been to the tail. From there, she guided the side of her blade under the opening, which was now welling with whatever blood appeared to be left. Then, she slid it across the side of the flesh, and began separating the fur from the body. As she cut more away, she held onto the fur with her free hand, keeping it taut so it would be easier to cut. She nibbled her lower lip as she worked, and made her way all the way around, finishing in the dark, a few seconds after the fire went out. When she was done, she wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hands, and then moved over to the side of her shelter, and washed her dagger in the rain before sheathing it, and then rinsing her hands off as well.

When this was done, she realized the cold, and by the light of the lightning that was beginning to flash, found her canvas for her tent, and wrapped it around herself again, before moving away from the sound of the rain to the back of the cave, and sitting down as far as she could from the carcass, as she didn't like being near it, and thought that it smelled a bit as well. She couldn't avoid the fur however, which she let her feet rest upon, to help them keep warm against the stone, which wasn't the warmest or most comfortable. She had done a bad job with it- she could feel it. The thin was lumpy. Matted with blood. It would ruin it. So she carried it over to the side of the cave, and held it under the rain, while she hid within. Some of the blood ran off with rainwater, she knew, but she doubt it was everything. Still she knew, it had helped and was better than nothing, so she settled and moved back into her previous position with her feet up upon it. She could still feel the lumps- bits of flesh she had cut too deeply into. She would have to have someone clean it properly for her when she returned to the city. A butcher, perhaps.

Talya sighed. It was her first time, so she couldn't blame herself for doing a bad job, she just wished she had done a better one, as she pulled the canvas of her tent more tightly around her, and breathed deeply in through her nose and out through her mouth as she watched both the lightning and the rain. Slowly drifting off into a dreamless sleep, perhaps an hour or two later, (as it was hard to do so with all the noise and the occasional flash of light). When she awoke, hours later, it would still be drizzling. She would be largely dry, and her dress still fairly wet. It would look lighter, and she would hold her dress over the edge and wring it out a little to help it along, before moving back to the confines of the depths of her shelter, and waiting out the rain before returning to the city with her prizes in tow. Holding the meat within the flesh, as though she hadn't butchered it at all.