Solo Roaming (Solo)

[Mellea]

Mellea waded through the shoulder high grass, peering around for where she had dropped her eating knife. Her father had just replaced the old one she'd lost, so he'd be furious if she came home without it. Jerelloh chewed contemplatively behind her, snuffling occasionally as he went down for more grass.
Mellea, sighing, sat down, then shifted uncomfortably. From underneath her she pulled the knife. "Well that solves that mystery." She said, laughing lightly.
She was just starting to get up when she heard a growl from behind her.

[Mellea]

Mellea whipped around, pulling her shortbow from the yvas on Jerelloh's back in a practiced move, and found herself arrow to nose with a wolf. Make that wolves, as it's fellow pack ages pushed through the grass behind the alpha. Mellea got to her feet, backing up to be near Jerelloh, who was pacing around in a panic, wanting to run, but unwilling to leave Mellea.
The alpha wolf took a step towards Mellea, snarl on its muzzle. She fired an arrow at it, but didn't wait to see her results, instead swinging onto Jerelloh's back. He started off immediately, barely giving her time to hold on. She steadied herself on his mane, gritting her teeth as she heard the howls and barks of wolves chasing after her. But a glance behind her revealed it was only two wolves, so her arrow must've found its mark.

[Mellea]

The wolves followed tirelessly, so Mellea notched another arrow and fired at the closer one. Her aim wasn't the steadiest, so it missed the brute's head and hit him in the leg instead. But it made its point (haha, pun intended), and the wolves hurried away.
Mellea let out a sigh of relief, but then tensed again as she realized she had no clue where they were. The sun blazed a brilliant red on the horizon, minutes from sinking below. She bit her lip, there was no time to get back to the pavilion, and more animals would be pestering them soon. So she slid off of the yvas, legs sore from being clenched around her Strider during the chase. She unhooked the pads from Jerelloh, and set them on the ground nearby.
Her father had often drilled into her what to do if she got lost, and she followed the procedure now.
First, find a place relatively clear of grass. Cut away any nearby stalks, no need to start a wildfire. If there is any wood, turn it into kindling, dried grass if not enough or no wood is available.
She had a cheery little blaze going just as the sun went down, and leaned against a large stone. Jerelloh munched contentedly nearby. He would know before her if any danger neared.

[Mellea]

As the twilight darkened, Mellea added more grass onto the fire. She stared into the coals, watching the fire lick up the slender grass stalk, consuming it. She frowned and looked away.
She shifted on the stone, getting into a more comfortable position. Her father would be worried about her, but Dara and Klove and Gerran would tell him she was ok. She'd spent nights outside before. There'd just always been someone with her. But she was 17 now, soon to be 18 she could take care of herself.
She groaned as she thought of what awaited her back in Endrykas where her family's pavilion was currently. Dara was pushing her to get married, and had covinced her father it was a good idea as well. Mellea wanted to live life first before they awarded her to some stupid guy.
She smiled slightly at that, and decided that as soon as dawn arrived she wouldn't head back to the pavilion. She had a small tent with her, a bedroll, and a weeks worth of rations. She didn't need to stay here. She could explore the world with Jerelloh. Too bad she didnt have a map.

[Mellea]

Surprisingly she passed an uneventful night, sleeping in a doze and awaking to every rustle of a leaf. She was bone tired when the sun poked its head above the horizon, but stamped out the remains of her campfire anyway, and tacked up Jerelloh. It took her a couple tries to stay on his back, since she was still waking up and hadn't slept much that night.
But as soon as they started off she started to feel better. She wasn't much of a morning person but the wind in her hair, the sun on her face, and a prospect of adventure always woke her up.

[Mellea]

She headed north, away from the only home she knew. She planned to head to Sylrias and onward. Jerelloh didn't complain as they moved at a brisk pace through the never yielding Sea of Grass.
It was late afternoon when Mellea thought she saw a mirage. The Sea of Grass ended before the horizon, where a brown smudge grew ever larger. She squinted and shook her head. It was impossible for the Sea of Grass to end. Didn't everyone live like they did?
But now here she stood next to Jerelloh, looking at the plowed field that cut the grass into a straight line, like soldiers or a knife wound. She cautiously took a step onto the land, curious. Little green sprouts lay everywhere on the careful rows of dirt. Mellea investigated them, one by one, followed by Jerelloh who was checking to see if they could be eaten.
"Oi!" Someone shouted from the wooden but in the distance. "Get back in your grassland!" Mellea vaulted onto Jerelloh, a trick she practiced rarely, and they headed away from the rows of tiny leaves. She believed her father would call that a 'farm'.

[Mellea]

The next day, Mellea continued onward atop Jerelloh. The landscape changed further, until the line of green and brown in the distance disappeared over the horizon. Trees grew in larger numbers, and it was in one of these forests that she camped the next day.
Plenty of game to hunt, through she was unused to the layer of needles and leaves underfoot, and thus scared away most game. She made a meal of berries and a bird she was lucky enough to have shot. Cooking was another matter. The bird toasted over the flame, hovered over by Mellea. She nearly forgot to pluck it, as well, which took a while. It came out raw the first time and burnt the second. But it was palatable.
As she rose the next morning, Mellea discovered her heading was off. She'd been veering off towards the west, but luckily realized her mistake and set off northward again.

[Mellea]

Mellea woke in the middle of the night to Jerelloh prancing around nervously. Looking around, Mellea saw nothing, but heard the rustle of footsteps on the forest floor. "Who's there?" She called.
No one spoke from the shadows of the forest, so she repeated herself in Common. This time a voice spoke.
"We're just travelers, madam." A skinny man stepped out from behind the foliage. His tough looking partner followed suit from a behind a tree not two paces from Mellea. She frowned, she couldn't take them both out at once.
"Why're you sneaking up on innocent dozers then? Hoping to search my yvas bags for money?" Mellea accused. She saw a flicker in the skinny man's eyes. He was probably the brains and the other the brawn. They looked enough alike to be related. Probably cousins or brothers by her guess.
"No, we didn't realize you were here at all. Just wandering through the forest." The skinny man protested.
"At night?" Mellea asked, eyebrows raised.
"All right, you caught us, we're on the run." The tough guy said, and was then glared at by his compatriot. "What?"
"From where?" Mellea asked. If they came from Sylrias they could point her towards it.
"Sunberth, but we stopped in Sylrias recently if that's where you're headed." The tough guy said. He seemed nice enough, though his skinny friend was flailing at him to shut up.
"Yes, could you point me in that direction?" She asked, and smiled a tiny bit. They weren't the smartest of bandits.
The tough man, who introduced himself as Fallo, gave her good directions to the fortress city. In exchange she gave him and his brother, Haerb, her campsite. The sky was already lightening, so she climbed upon Jerelloh again and set off.

[Mellea]

Mellea rode hard on Jerelloh over the course of the next day. She had lost track of calendar time by now, but had no need for it on the road. She just needed to know how much sunlight she had left before they needed to stop and set up camp. She got better at making fires and hunting over the trip as well. Eventually she was able to catch two whole birds and remember to pluck them just before they head into the fire.
Now, it wasn't all hard riding for the city ahead. She often stopped with Jerelloh to admire a vibrantly colored flower patch or to rest in the shade of a large tree with apples growing from its branches. They weren't quite ripe yet, but Jerelloh took the ones Mellea cast aside.

[Limey]

Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Observation 2 The Dangers Of Wandering The Sea Bow 1 Don't Watch, Run! Riding 1 The Pressures Of The Pavilion Socialization 1 A Decision To Leave Farms: An Odd Institution Additional Notes : OK, this wasn't badly written, but you need a lot of work, love. First of all, there was at lest three or four threads worth of material covered here. The wandering and fight/flight with/from the wolves. Problems with your family. Leaving and riding the Sea. Meeting those travelers. But you packed it all into a single thread with very short, stripped-down-to-the-minimum posts. I don't want to frighten you away by any means, and you aren't a bad writer by any means, but this is not that kind of site. This is about painting a picture, setting the scene and exploring your character. Not waffling on and on for page after page, but really getting a reaction from your audience. That and taking the time to draw out and expand on incidents as they happen. The encounter with the wolf pack? Could have been much bigger, much harder for you. The incident with the farm? Could have been much more. And that bird you're eating? You had to hunt that. So how did you? What techniques? What bait? What tracking? What arrows? All these are questions you just skimmed over. Also, you seem to be pretty blase with time. You can't just say time went quickly or words to that effect. You have to fill it, and fill it adequately, or you just seem lazy. I know it's probably not the concise and quick method you were hoping for, but you clearly have a lot of potential and this could have been a wonderful storyline you explored. I just want to see that fully realized. Check out some of Khasr's work, he's the best Drykas I know and a fine writer. Any questions or queries, please PM me.