1st Summer 517 AV
It was a strange set of circumstances that pulled the two women together on that first day of the season of Summer. The day had gone normally on Karin's part, following the usual routine of foraging for food, maintaining her abode and the usual, menial tasks that kept her occupied. She had gone for a swim, like she always did, and had emerged with dripping hair, completely naked apart from plain underwear covering her lower half now that it was getting warmer and warmer. She dried herself off in the hot sunshine until a squall of sudden rain got her wet again, so she simply decided to walk along the humid border between tropical forest and the salty beach.
She was dressed incredibly simply, haven grown so accustomed to being alone so often. Even when she had lived in a city, she had never been one for fanciful cloth or decoration, and so the bare, hard pads of her feet trod carefully across the twig-littered ground, and brown, lace-up trousers clad her legs and a white shirt billowed freely over her thin, lithe form. She stood out against the dark backdrop of the jungle, but was small in comparison to the trees that towered above and into the canopy.
The Svefra had walked and walked for a while, until Syna's rays hit their zenith and began to fade down the sky again. It was peaceful to let her feet tread the earth without caring where she ended up. Some nights, she kipped on the beach if it looked like it would be a fair night. The settlement was so quiet that she figured it would be doubtful anyone would steal anything from her poorly built hut. So she often felt comfortable to leave it. Although in many ways, she was proud of the small abode, because it was a physical representation of her struggle to find a foothold in this distant, far-removed from civilisation settlement.
Even so, the day had been interspersed with bursts of short, sharp rains, and so she didn't quite trust that the weather would stay clement enough for her to sleep comfortably that night. Instead, she began to head back. It was as she was walking back that she found herself looking deeper into the jungle. It was a mysterious place, filled with more wildlife and greenery than you could shake a stick at. Some of that greenery was more bizarre than others. She had seen huge ferns, snaking vines, and peculiarly coloured leaves... but the curved, yellow fruits hanging from one tree drew her eye in particular.
For a start, she had never seen such a colour. It was an absurd-looking thing too, curved like a smile or a scimitar or a rainbow. Karin had to see if they were edible, but the fruit wasn't exactly easy to get to. She stood beneath the tree, looking up with doubt laden across her features. Could she do it? Would it even be worth it? A few moment's hesitation, and then she suddenly decided.
A few moments later and the young woman was looking for places to scale the tree to reach the fruit. She was lucky in that although the tree did not have any low-lying branches, there were neighbouring stalwarts that stood nearby to provide the initial ascent. She rolled up her sleeves, and began to haul herself into the tree. It was tough-going as she used her muscles in a different way to what she was used to, but she made slow progress. Further up, although the canopy was still some way above her, the atmosphere was very different. She could see the world in miniature, the tiny beetles using a nook as a home, the flickering birds pecking nectar from blooming, lilac flowers scented like soap.
And the yellow fruits were so close now, positioned tantalisingly near at the end of a long bough from the tree she was scaling. She began to edge herself along, shuffling her torso vertically as she clung tightly with her legs and pulled herself forwards with her hands. The branch swayed alarmingly as she progressed, and she almost slipped. Then, as she was almost at the end... the branch creaked, and she let out a short yell of alarm as she started to tip sideways, only just catching hold of the branch with both hands as she now swung underneath.
"HELP!"
Word count: 734
It was a strange set of circumstances that pulled the two women together on that first day of the season of Summer. The day had gone normally on Karin's part, following the usual routine of foraging for food, maintaining her abode and the usual, menial tasks that kept her occupied. She had gone for a swim, like she always did, and had emerged with dripping hair, completely naked apart from plain underwear covering her lower half now that it was getting warmer and warmer. She dried herself off in the hot sunshine until a squall of sudden rain got her wet again, so she simply decided to walk along the humid border between tropical forest and the salty beach.
She was dressed incredibly simply, haven grown so accustomed to being alone so often. Even when she had lived in a city, she had never been one for fanciful cloth or decoration, and so the bare, hard pads of her feet trod carefully across the twig-littered ground, and brown, lace-up trousers clad her legs and a white shirt billowed freely over her thin, lithe form. She stood out against the dark backdrop of the jungle, but was small in comparison to the trees that towered above and into the canopy.
The Svefra had walked and walked for a while, until Syna's rays hit their zenith and began to fade down the sky again. It was peaceful to let her feet tread the earth without caring where she ended up. Some nights, she kipped on the beach if it looked like it would be a fair night. The settlement was so quiet that she figured it would be doubtful anyone would steal anything from her poorly built hut. So she often felt comfortable to leave it. Although in many ways, she was proud of the small abode, because it was a physical representation of her struggle to find a foothold in this distant, far-removed from civilisation settlement.
Even so, the day had been interspersed with bursts of short, sharp rains, and so she didn't quite trust that the weather would stay clement enough for her to sleep comfortably that night. Instead, she began to head back. It was as she was walking back that she found herself looking deeper into the jungle. It was a mysterious place, filled with more wildlife and greenery than you could shake a stick at. Some of that greenery was more bizarre than others. She had seen huge ferns, snaking vines, and peculiarly coloured leaves... but the curved, yellow fruits hanging from one tree drew her eye in particular.
For a start, she had never seen such a colour. It was an absurd-looking thing too, curved like a smile or a scimitar or a rainbow. Karin had to see if they were edible, but the fruit wasn't exactly easy to get to. She stood beneath the tree, looking up with doubt laden across her features. Could she do it? Would it even be worth it? A few moment's hesitation, and then she suddenly decided.
A few moments later and the young woman was looking for places to scale the tree to reach the fruit. She was lucky in that although the tree did not have any low-lying branches, there were neighbouring stalwarts that stood nearby to provide the initial ascent. She rolled up her sleeves, and began to haul herself into the tree. It was tough-going as she used her muscles in a different way to what she was used to, but she made slow progress. Further up, although the canopy was still some way above her, the atmosphere was very different. She could see the world in miniature, the tiny beetles using a nook as a home, the flickering birds pecking nectar from blooming, lilac flowers scented like soap.
And the yellow fruits were so close now, positioned tantalisingly near at the end of a long bough from the tree she was scaling. She began to edge herself along, shuffling her torso vertically as she clung tightly with her legs and pulled herself forwards with her hands. The branch swayed alarmingly as she progressed, and she almost slipped. Then, as she was almost at the end... the branch creaked, and she let out a short yell of alarm as she started to tip sideways, only just catching hold of the branch with both hands as she now swung underneath.
"HELP!"
Word count: 734
