~Serana⚜

Water. Water. Need some water. The words cycle through my mind on an endless loop until they start sounding like a tuneless rhyme being bounced around in my head.

I'd been flying for only a short while trying to get to the riverbank, but I couldn't find a spot where the bank looked safe enough to venture out on, and the places that did look safe were always when the water was in too dangerous a spot to even attempt getting a safe grip long enough to fill my canteen before slipping into the rapids.

Well this is great. I am just having the best day. I'm so distracted with my complaining, that I almost pass right over a small stream that converges with the river.

I quickly throw my wings up to slow down and land in a nearby tree before I get too far away from the stream.

Turning back toward the stream look to see where it's coming from.

The stream disappeared around a bend in a deep cut through the land created by the flowing water.

The river wasn't being much help and I needed water. Taking a deep breath and letting it out in the form of a sigh, I start jumping from tree to tree following the stream.

I followed it around the bend and a little ways farther until I found a place I could land and fill my canteen. The stream channel was about three foot deeper than the surrounding land with a steep incline, but I was sure I could hold my footing and if I did fall into the water all that would happen is I would get wet and dirty. Well I was already dirty, so I'd just really get wet and maybe a little cleaner.

Taking an experimental sniff of my arm I draw back and cringe at the smell of dried sweat and caked dirt. I need a bath.

Scowling I focus back on the stream. I couldn't see or hear any danger but that didn't mean it wasn't there.

Taking my chance I jumped from the tree and lighted down to the channel edge. Squatting I gingerly slid down the steep slope, staying on the balls of my feet and using my talons to dig into the soft mud.

Reaching the waters edge I took the canteen out of my bag and popped open the cork tied onto the lip of the leather water bag.

Reaching down I let the clear water, from the top of the stream, fill my bag. Thankfully I had the foresight to take everything useful, which happened to include a small half full bottle of iodine tincture. It wasn't much but the water was clear enough that I'd only need a few drops to clean it. That was good enough for me.

Lifting the now full canteen I reached into my bag and shuffled around the many bottles stuffed in there until I came back with a small black tinted glass vial.

Opening the vial I held it over the canteen to let a few drops spill from its glass rim. Closing the vial once more I returned it to my bag and proceeded to pop the cork back in my canteen and shake it until I was certain the iodine and water were properly mixed.

I returned the canteen to my bag before climbing back up to the top of the channel. Glancing around I still didn't see anything so I went to the nearest tree and scurried up it using the talons on both my hands and feet to run up the side of the tree.

Reaching the higher branches I stopped to take another look around. I had water, now I needed shelter.

I desperately wanted to reach into my bag and drain the canteen, but I had to wait and let the iodine purify the water.

Sighing I looked around trying to decide which way I should go. I didn't really know where I was or which way lead back to Lockren and which lead to Algrie. I didn't want to go back to Lockren, but I definitely didn't want to end up anywhere close to Algrie.

The guards there would know what the queen looked like and if they saw me with the lavaliere I'd be killed for gryph meat, or maybe they'd chain me to a prel and have it drag me in circles across the castle courtyard. I shake myself from my musings and turn back to the task at hand.

I knew Algrie was a long ways from Lockren but I wasn't sure exactly how long it took to get from my village to the kingdom's capital, which meant I also wasn't sure how close I was to the massive city.

I remember my vavi telling stories of his time in Algrie and describing how huge the city was. Buildings so tall you couldn't hope to see the bottom and every building was connected to the ones surrounding it with bridges and walkways. How the whole city seamed to gleam with golds and silvers, a sea stretching across an entire land-shelf and spilling out onto the ones below. The city was so high in the sky that there was not nigh but a few rocks floating above.

I always dreamed of seeing Algrie, but that was just a fantasy. If I were to ever lay eyes on its towering skyline, I might as well throw myself on a spear before the guards.

There was always Darqira, the largest port and trade city in all of the Angelo kingdom. It was the closest place to ocean level and the second largest Angelo city. It was the cite of all trade between the Angelo and Deamon kingdoms. It was also the farthest away from Algrie anyone could get without going to the Deamon kingdom, and as fun as it would be to visit, the extreme heat and thick air would kill any Angelo over an extended period of time. The same was true for Deamons, or so I've been told, they couldn't withstand the harsh winds, thin air, and extreme climate change of the Angelo kingdom for too long.

I could see that to an extent, the trees locked in and held the heat of the day but the moment you left the cover of the trees and exposed yourself to the outside air and piercing winds the temperature around you plummeted to a bone chilling degree. It was cold but not deathly so, I guess that had something to do with growing up in and being born to this type of environment.

Sighing again I look towards the distant mountains. Can't be any more harm that direction than any other.

Checking by bow and bag to issuer they were tied securely. Everything appeared to be in check so I braced myself and leapt from my perch, into the air.

~💠~

The sun was now well through its daily trek and was starting its way down toward the far horizon. And I had yet to find a suitable shelter that wasn't already occupied.

Landing on a thick branch in a nondescript tree I take perch and look around at the hills and rock forms scattered around the ground below.

I couldn't see any signs of a cave or den. That didn't mean there wasn't one there.

Flitting down from branch to branch I make my way lower until I get to the bottom most branches, still some twenty feet off the ground.

Looking around I still could not find any shelter. I was about to give up and continue looking somewhere else but something small and black dashed across my vision a few branches away.

My eyes darted after the blur and landed on the form of a plump black skirte. The little tree rodent was grabbing nuts the size of its head off the smaller branches of the tree and using all four of its thumbs to break open the hard outer shell of the nut before digging out the soft inner meat and stuffing it in his cheeks.

My hand reached to untie my bow from my bag out of sheer habit, but I caught myself when I remembered that I had to throw all my arrows away. Damn. I curs my luck.

Reaching into the side pocket of my bag I pull out the three inch hunting knife Vavi gave to me, made from a long lower fang of a babbo. It wasn't nearly as long as the ones made from their six inch upper fangs that protruded from their upper lip and past thick jaws, at the end of long snouts, but was efficient none the less.

Gripping the knife by the honed tooth-blade I aimed at the little rodent.

Taking a deep breath, like I would if shooting my bow, I bring the knife back in a throwing position and let the air out slowly only leaving a little left before bracing myself and hurling the hunting knife.

With a loud thud the knife embedded into the tree bark a few inches from where the skirte once was.

Closing my eyes I let my shoulders and wings sag at missing one of my only opportunities to catch food. Sighing I open my eyes and make my way across the maze of branches and retrieve my knife.

Today was just not my day it seamed. Climbing back up the tree, with noticeably more effort than it should have taken, I reach a thick branch midway up the tree with a large bowl shaped formation where it met another large tree branch and they wrapped around one another.

Settling into the natural nook I take stock of my body condition. My shoulders, wings, back, and lower chest weren't stiff anymore but they were sore as the mid skies. My mouth was thick and my saliva sticky, I was dehydrated, opening my bag I pulled out the canteen and took a few long gulps from it. I couldn't take more than that, I didn't know when the next time I could get water would be and I only had so much iodine. But other than those two things along with hunger the only real problem with my body was fatigue.

Curling up I use my wings to partially cocoon myself and keep warm as I sleep. This little nook was better than anything else I had found and was probably safer than staying on the ground.

Comforting myself with that thought, I slip into a deep dreamless sleep, my body and mind too tiered to do more.