Impurities (Solo)

[Talya]

Timestamp: Summer 2, 515 AV The day was still young, with the sun just beginning to poke out from behind the fluffed white fleece of several cumulus clouds. The sky otherwise clear, and a pale blue; the sun's rays a lighter flaxen shade as they stretched downward onto the world of Mizahar and filtered through the trees of the wildlands. Silhouetting the branches just as much as the leaves, which rustled softly in the day's weak breeze. Their shadows crawling over the gently rolling terrain over which the caravan tread, Talya moving with its masses. She walked silently, her feet a tad sore as the group eased into a small clearing, and set everything down. Stopping to take a break; to water the animals, as well as themselves, and to feed if their stomachs rumbled. Assigning tasks for each member of the traveling party was the last item of business, something that one of the other men in the unit did. Talya forgot his name, but in any case, the black haired, burly man assigned her the task of finding water for the animals and everyone else, as several had complained that their stocks were growing low- as they had ingested more than usual the past few days, as the weather had proven hotter and more humid than they had been used to. Talya nodded that she understood, and that she would complete this task, even adding that she would begin now while everyone was resting. The man grunted before walking away, leaving Talya to her mission. A task, she commenced with by simply walking through the group to the edge of their temporary camp, and then away into the wilderness. Into a thicket of branches, into a pile of underbrush, shrubs with thorns that scratched lightly at her bare skin, and tugged on her clothes, snagging now and again. Into the endless sea of trees, oaks mainly, and a smattering of evergreens, both of which towered over her head. She pushed aside low lying branches so they wouldn't smack her in the face, and wove deftly through the trees, just as she moved quickly through the bushes, in the hopes they would scratch her just a bit less. All the while; her skin seemed to absorb the heat of the sun, and her feet became increasingly sore, while she listened and looked, just in case she could make out the sound of a stream or moving brook a bit before she saw it. However, for the longest time, she heard nothing more than her own step. The sound of her heart beating, the sound of her breath being taken in, and then expunged over and over again, as ticks rolled into minutes, and then the majority of a bell. The sun continuing to rise higher and higher in the sky as the Ethaefal continued her search. Listening to the rustling of leaves in the breeze, the fading song of birds, and the chittering of a few squirrels playing up in the tree branches. But hearing nothing else until she neared the end of a full bell, when a plipping sound reached her ears, as though droplets were falling into a greater pool of water. She thought this sound emanated from some place up ahead of her, and continued on her way, pushing hastily past some trees until she came to the side of a still pool. Perhaps five feet in length, and another seven wide at its greatest point. The water clear, although there was mud underneath, and what she assumed to be the dew of a few leaves falling into its center, from the trees which hung overhead. She smiled, as she came to the side of the misshapen pool, and first, refilled her own waterskin, before cupping her hands and plunging them into the cool water. It felt refreshing even before she had done anything with it, but even more so when she splashed a little on her face and on her neck, and allowed it to drip unhindered down the length of the body before lifting a little to her lips. The Ethaefal sniffed it, but could smell nothing. No dung intermingling with the mud, no urine laced in the water, no herbal or other earthen scents which may have been tucked into the soil, contaminating it. It simply smelled like clean water, so, as the rest of this hand slipped through the space between her fingers and cupped palms, Talya watched and waited as it all fell away, before dipping her palms into the water, and letting it pool inside before lifting the drink to her lips and gulping it all down. She did this another three times before wiping her moist upper lip with the back of her hand, ensuring that all of her belongings had been gathered up, and heading back to the group. Again, she pushed past the underbrush, as her stomach ached dully, and the back of her throat developed a sort of slimy texture, which Talya chalked up to having had to much cool water to drink at to fast a pace for her body to handle. She did her best to ignore it, although it proved to be both cloying and annoying, and did her best to concentrate on moving in and out of the trees, and jumping down rocks, lest she take a wrong turn and find herself lost and separated from her traveling companions. Luckily for her, she arrived largely without incident, in about a third of the time it took her to find the water source. Talya was greeted by several people back at camp; many of which seemed to be done eating, and moving on to other tasks such as feeding the animals, or brushing them, if not idling. A man, who looked to be in his forties, with tan skin and blonde hair informed her that they had begun to get worried that she had been attacked as he had been out so long, and then asked if she had found the water. "Yes," Talya replied as she rubbed her temple, which had begun to ache dully. Her eyes feeling heavy enough to make her blink more often than usual. "Come, it's not far," she said, causing the man to follow, and a few others- another man similar in appearance to him, and two short women, one of which was leading a sorrel colored horse.

[Talya]

This time, traveling through the forest proved a more arduous trip, not only because Talya felt as though her senses were dulling, and she was beginning to see things as though through a fog if her eyes weren't severely narrowed, but because it was harder to maneuver with the horse in tow. For one, its steps were slow, and if the ground were too soft, it would get stuck. It was also wider and higher up than the companions, and would have to be led around particularly tightly grouped trees, or around rocks that it couldn't leap onto. It would have to have its head pushed down so it wouldn't hurt itself on low lying branches, and more often than not, it would refuse to go through thorn bushes, (especially if it couldn't take a bite of the leaves), and would stop to feed itself as soon as the travelers stopped for so much as a moment to catch their breath. So in the end, it wound up taking almost as long for the group to get there even though Talya had remembered where she was going despite her strange hazy like state, than it had for her to find the little brook in the first place. Upon finding the brook again, Talya watched as the others filled their waterskins, and a few spares they had taken, and the horse had its fill of water. She was clutching her stomach, as it hurt even more than when she had left the first time. The haze had never left her, and her temples throbbed a bit more fervently now, which made her a bit dizzy. So she sat herself down in a nest of roots from a nearby oak; a few which snaked over the earth, and allowed herself to fall against the tree's trunk. Her body to relax as it nestled into the crook of the tree, and she closed her eyes to rest; to tired to watch the others, for, as much as she knew, may need her help getting back to the caravan, in which case she would need to be well rested and not at all spacey. __________ There was a firm grip on her arm. A warm palm, big and fat, encompassing most of her width. The fingers digging lightly into her skin as the arm shook, rousing Talya from her uneasy slumber. Her eyes opened slowly, languidly, as they still felt heavy, and she still found the fog before them. "You ready to go?" the man who had spoken to her back at the camp asked. Talya nodded. "Good," he replied, "because we are ready too." Talya nodded again as she pushed off against the tree's roots, and eased her body onto its feet. It felt strangely heavy she found, unnatural. Her feet unsure of themselves, and the world itself spun, leading her to lose her footing. But, luckily, the man caught her in his arms, and said, "whoa there missy, you feelin' alright?" Tal shook her head. "No," she began as she placed her palm on her forehead. It felt a bit damp, as though she had been sweating. She did feel a bit hot anyway. "Not feeling so good." The man pulled her away a little and got a good look. "You don't look so good," he commented. "You're a bit green in the face." Tal nodded and said nothing as her eyes continued to open and shut. Open and shut. "What did you have today?" the man asked. Talya shrugged. "Some dried fruit. Some water." "From the brook?" he asked. Tal nodded. "This brook?" Tal nodded again. But to the others, it looked more like a flop, as though her head were a fish out of water. "Didn't you boil the water first?" he asked. Tal shook her head. "Smelled fine." Her eyes shut again, and took an even longer time to open. "Looked fine," she added softly, as her stomach performed a somersault. "You should always boil your drinking water," the man chastised, "it can still make you sick even if it looks and smells fine." The company nodded their agreement, even though the Ethaefal failed to notice. "And it seems it may have," the other man piped in as Tal's eyes shut again, and her stomach churned far more angrily than it had on the trip over. "Maybe we should let the horse bear her weight back to camp," the woman walking the creature said. The others nodded, and Talya was rather unceremoniously swung over the side of the saddle, and braced in place by one of the woman's hands, and then the man's who had carried her. The other woman led, and the group slowly made their way back to camp, where Talya promptly threw up as soon as she was taken off of the horse. At which point, it was pronounced with a certainty that she had taken ill because of the unboiled water she had consumed, and an elder was assigned to tend for her until she regained her health. An elder who promised to have her better within a few days at the latest, as the sickness hadn't "settled into her bones fully," and didn't seem all that bad. And perhaps it wasn't. And perhaps she was. As Talya certainly felt better after 24 hours, and better yet after 48.

[Elias Caldera]

Behold, Your Just Reward!

Talya

Experience and Lore :

Skills

• Wilderness Survival +2
• Land Navigation +1
• Observation +2

Lores

• Doing Your Part for the Group
• Wilderness Survival: Effects of Drinking Contaminated Water

Miscellaneous :

Injuries

• -Tired and sick to your stomach for 2 - 4 days

Loot and Expenses

• None

Comments :

Another short but sweet one. I especially enjoyed the way you introduced the scene at the very beginning. Nicely written.

Oh, and don't forget to edit you requests to show these as graded now.

Don't Forget

Now that your thread is graded, be sure to edit your grade request. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send me a private message and we'll work it out together.