Closed A hunting we will go..(Azira)

[Erade]

Erade was glad Azira was willing to try to find the shrub. She winced slightly as she slid to the ground, which was probably more of an ungraceful fall. Looking around her she located a small stick and leaned over to retrieve it. The yasi began to scratch a crude drawing into the ground of a boxy star like flower. She definitely was no artist but hoped the huntress would semi get an idea what to look for.

"It's a shrub that likes to creep along the ground and it grows out from a centralized root. The whole thing is covered in wool like hairs. The flowers are pale yellow greenish color kind of look like a star in the middle of them is where the berries grow and they are bright reddish orange color. If the berries are green means they aren't ripe yet. You know you are close when it suddenly smells like a horse." Erade recalled, she was pretty sure that's everything Azira needed to know. Now it was just a matter of finding the shrub.

Then it began to rain. The yasi wasn't a particular fan of the wet stuff, it was cold and well... Wet. Luckily enough it was only lightly falling and wasn't causing serious damage, yet. If it wasn't one thing it was another. Erade was beginning to think she had a serious case of bad fortune or has displeased some God or Goddess. The teen felt awkward to be so pessimistic but right now she thought the situation deserved such attitude.

"That's all I can remember about the herb. Unfortunately it doesn't grow in any one particular spot just grows around these parts of Kalea, your biggest aid is the smell factor. I'm sorry I can't give you much more to go by."

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[Azira]

The huntress listened closely to Erade's description and also looked closely at her crude drawing as she tried to memorise all the details that she'd need to find these berries. She had no idea what a horse smelled like, not having ever been in the stables but she figured that if she came across a spot that smelled strange then it was probably the right place.

The girl left the Yasi alone and began to walk around, searching for plants on the ground and the strange smell.The smell of the rain filled her nostrils and she hoped that this plant smelled very strongly of horse or she was going to miss them. Then again it shouldn't be so hard to find if there were ripe berries on it. Reds and oranges would really stick out in the otherwise emerald landscape. Unless they were under something of course then she wouldn't see anything either.

"A woolly creeping ground shrub," the teen reminded herself. How many of those could there be around the place? "Pale greenish, star shaped flowers. Horsey smell. How hard can it be?" she muttered as she continued to circle in the rain, wondering if this was an idiotic search. There would be no benefit for Erade if she sent Azira on a fool's errand so presumably the plant actually existed.

After about ten chimes, she was feeling hopeless when the smell hit her. It was a curious smell, a smell that could be described as belonging to an animal but yet not one she was used to. Sniffing deeply, she followed her nose to the small shrub, checking its flowers for the sought after berries. There were a few of the winter cherries that had already ripened and so she picked a handful of them and returned to the Yasi with them.

"Is this enough?" she asked, holding her hand out, palm open so that the youth could see the fruits.

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[Erade]

Erade slouched against a nearby tree. She had to crawl over to it but the extra support was greatly appreciated, not to mention a slight relief from the rain, that was becoming more than a slight drizzle.
The yasi watched Azira as she walked off into the forest in search of some winter cherries. The teen really hoped her description of the weird smelling plant had helped and the huntress to return soon. Erade didnt know it was possible for one's ankle to swell so quickly. She looked at it with renew fascination. It seemed to have increased in size from the last time she looked, or at least the yasi thought so.

The wait for the Avora seemed like forever to Erade but in reality it was probably no more than 10 chimes at the most that have passed. In this moment of waiting the teen realized how exhausted she was. The exertion of today's events were clearly taking its toll upon her unconditioned body. Erade's eyelids slowly drooped until they closed. A slight slow breathing pattern emerged and before she grasp what had occurred she was fast asleep.

Erade didnt know how long time had elapsed between her falling asleep and Azira returning with a dozen or so berries. Trying to rub the lingering slumber from her eyes she peered down at the bright crisp red berries that laid in the older girls hand.

"Yes this should be enough. Just need to crush them and.." She trailed off momentarily as she grabbed a piece of her torn bryda.
It took a bit of an effort but she was able to rip a strip or two from the bottom. A twig could easily rip through it but she had difficulty doing the very same thing. Erade shook her head in disbelief before continuing her previous statement.

"Crush them and place them in these strips and tie around my ankle. It should bring the swelling down and hopefully we can get back to Wind Reach in reasonable amount of time." Erade gave her signature grin in hopes to lighten up the mood some.

Taking the berries from Azira, she let them roll off her own palm onto the makeshift bandages. The yasi then folded the strip over onto itself, picked up a small rock beside her and promptly began to hit the berry filled material. Erade didnt want to overdue it but leave it as a chunky red mess so the berries could continue to ooze its juices. Her foot would stink of horse and be dyed red for a few days but worth it in the end if it helps.

"I'm going to need help tying the bandage please, dont worry if some of the berries fall out as long as a majority stay in," she said. This part wasn't going to be fun and full of promise of hurting. The yasi stretched her leg out before her and righted her foot as if she was walking. Grimancing at the pain and stiffness of her foot she waited for Azira to wrap it.

[Azira]

   

It wasn't until after she'd shoved the berries under the Yasi's nose that she realised that Erade had been asleep. She couldn't see that being a good sign. The youth would have hit her head hard during her fall and wasn't there something wrong with sleeping after you'd hit your head? Maybe she was making that up but she didn't know for certain. The huntress clicked her fingers under her nose to make sure that the other girl was completely awake.

Erade seemed to come to her senses, tearing strips off her bryda to put the berries into. Azira watched as the girl placed the fruits in the cloth, folder it over and began to bash it with a stone. Perhaps she'd been wrong about sleep being bad if you hit your head; the youth still seemed perfectly coherent. The girl's knowledge was surprising though. The huntress wondered how she'd learned about these winter cherries.

Taking the bandage as Erade had instructed, she wrapped it around the girl's ankle. The Avora made sure that it was tight against her skin before knotting it tightly. It was sure to hurt terribly but there was nothing she could do, it had to be done. Once it was tied, she pried at the edge to make sure that it was tight enough. Satisfied, she got to her feet and offered her hands to Erade.

"Come on, you need to get up. What little light is left will be gone soon and if we don't get going soon we'll be travelling in darkness. You're likely to twist your ankle again if that happens. Up you get then," she ordered.

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[Erade]

Erade was expecting pain when Azira was to wrap up her ankle but the amount of pain wasn't as much as she thought. It did indeed hurt.. a lot but just not as much the teen had psych herself out to think. The huntress had tied it pretty tight, surely the swelling wouldn't increase now and hopefully went down some now that the berries juice was working their magic. Besides with it now wrapped the pain seemed to subside some or perhaps it was all part of her imagination.

Azira offered a hand to help up the yasi as she noted on the position of Syna in the sky and didn't look to be many bells left of her light maybe at the most two or three. Getting to her feet, even with the help of Azira and the make shift walking stick was a lot harder than it looked. The teen had no desire to put any weight on her foot so had to do a flamingo kind of move, trying to balance on one foot all while hobbling and swaying to keep up right.

Once on her feet, she assumed the position before balancing her weight between the Avora and the stick. Erade felt a small energy boost from the power nap she had but she figured it wouldn't last very long.

Taking a chance to really look around, the teen couldn't recognize any of their surroundings. The landslide had forced them to take alternative route than they had taken before.

"How much further to Wind Reach do you think?"

[Azira]

Erade took the hand that Azira offered her but it was clear that getting up was still an effort for the girl to rise. Her unsteady wobbling as she tried to balance on the makeshift walking stick and the arm of the huntress made her seem like a drunk. The Avora had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing at the unfortunate Yasi. It certainly shouldn't be funny. The girl had hurt herself and here was the huntress finding amusement in the girl's misfortune. She just tried to focus on helping the youth walk, taking some of her weight to make it easier.

Erade's question made her frown. Glancing up, she worked out their position using Syna's rays as a guide and then did a quick calculation in her head. The numbers made her grimace.

"I'd say that we were about a bell away from Wind Reach but it will take more than a bell for us to travel there considering your foot. Maybe twice the time, or more? I'm not sure, it depends how quickly we move and whether or not we stop again," she explained as the pair staggered along. "If I was you, I'd try to move as fast as possible. I'm no healer so I can't tell how bad your ankle is. Suppose we have a time limit that we don't know about before something bad happens to it. Plus we're likely to get hurt more if we're left out here when the light goes. We can't stagger back in the dark, not like this.

It was an extremely frustrating situation. How could one hunt go so wrong? The Yasi had managed to get hurt and to make matters worse they'd also lost the stag. It was turning out to be a really bad day. It was no doubt worse for Erade though. This hunting trip would probably put her off the occupation for life which was a shame because the job was never quite this hazardous. All her enthusiasm hadn't ended too well for her.

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[Erade]

Erade was at first more than relieved to hear that they were some what of a bell away from Wind Reach but was quickly crushed when Azira tacked on that it will probably take longer due to her foot. The Yasi tried to put on her best grin of nonchalance but in the end failed miserably. Despite that she was determined to not let her foot bother her too much and try to keep within the bell time frame maybe even a bell and a half.

The teen tried to walk a bit faster but it was awkward to do. She needed to find a working rhythm between hobbling and leaning on both the stick and the huntress. Erade tried to do what she had before with most of her weight on the stick but the girl lacked the proper energy to do that any further. Erade resigned to letting Azira set the pace and just wish for this nightmare to be over already.

The pain in her foot became a dull throb and the yasi took that as a good sign that perhaps the swelling had gone down. Erade couldn't really check at the moment, all of her concentration had to be put towards staying awake and keeping her balance. Maybe even not tripping over anymore roots.

Time was starting to blur, for the teen. Surely they have walked for almost a bell or so and Wind Reach was within their sights. Exhaustion was gripping Erade, and she was only continuing forward by sheer will not to be blubbering out at night and Azira all but holding her up. Erade began to chant in her head, "Almost there! Dont give up!" over and over again. Her own personal cheerleaders had worked before in the past and she definitely hoped they would now.

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[Azira]

Erade was hobbling awkwardly, her weight seemingly balanced precariously between the huntress and the makeshift walking stick. She was trying to put on a brave face but Azira could see the way the girl grimaced and could feel the youth staggering against her every so often. If the Yasi would only allow Azira to support more of her weight then it would be easier going for her. The Avora wasn't a complete weakling and it wasn't as her companion was a dead weight or anything so it made sense. She wasn't going to say anything though as it was better if Erade figured out what was best for herself.

The young woman tried to set a reasonable pace so that Erade could manage with her injury. If she tried to force the girl to move faster she'd only slow them down overall. The youth would strain herself or lose her balance or something and they'd have to stop. The pace they moved at though was frustratingly slow and she was worried that they wouldn't get back to the city before the light went. If they ended up stuck outside in the dark then they were never getting back to Wind Reach in one piece. The teen briefly considered leaving Erade so that she could go and get help, maybe in the form of a Wind Eagle but it wasn't fair to leave her alone.

When the Yasi began to lean heavily on her, her body lolling against that of the huntress. Glancing sideways, she found the girl was dead on her feet, what she could see of her eyes behind dropping lids looked unfocused. She was pretty much a dead weight and so now it took all of Azira's strength not only to keep the girl upright and moving forward but also to keep the weight off her injured ankle. Moving the girl forward would be all right if she could just drag her but that wasn't possible with that ankle of hers. So the young woman quickly found herself exhausted as well and ready to collapse.

She had to push them both forward, lifting her companion to keep them covering ground. They didn't move particularly quickly, the light fading around them as they made their slow progress towards the city gate. Somehow she succeeded in getting them to the entranceway but when she was in sight of Val she finally allowed herself to give in to the waves of exhaustion that quickly overtook her, suffocating her in blackness as she passed out, something she wouldn't recall clearly until awaking in the Infirmary later.

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[Erade]

Those last few moments, were completely fuzzy to Erade. All she knew was one moment she was walking with Azira, hobbling to the best of her ability toward home. Then she became very sleepy, could barely keep her eyes open. Now the yasi was now in the Infirmary, which of course meant they made it home but how would all be a mystery to her until she spoke with Azira.

Strangely, it was an odd sensation, being in the confides of Wind Reach's embrace again after being out in the wide open space of the Unforgiving. Even though it was only for one day, it seemed longer to Erade. Looking down at her injured foot, the teen was glad not to see a giant cast on it. Instead it was properly wrapped up tight in clean neat bandages, that meant it wasn't broken, and a sigh of relief escaped her lips.

Recounting back on everything that happened, Erade once again was wondering was it all worth it. In the end, she decided it was. Who else would have enough bad luck to get bumped, bruised and get caught in a landslide but herself. Definitely could say it was an interesting hunting trip to say the least. However the young Inartan had no will to go hunting again anytime soon.

"Wonder how long I was out," she pondered out loud.

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[Azira]

When Azira woke she had no idea where she was. She was lying on something that felt like a bed but that didn’t make sense. She couldn’t remember coming back into the city, let alone getting to somewhere with a bed. She opened her eyes with difficulty, the lids heavy as she struggled to gain a view of where she was. Her eyes took in the stone of the ceiling but that didn’t give her much of a clue of where she was. Every room in the mountain was made of stone. Slowly, carefully, she moved her head to the side, another difficult movement because her head felt leaden. Gasping from the exertion, the huntress took in the view and with a jolt recognised the infirmary. Why was she here? She couldn’t manage to sit up, that was too much of an ordeal. She was so tired and she had no idea why. Her body felt heavy from exhaustion.

She had no memory of getting to where she was now. She only remembered getting to the gate and all the feeling going and then... Oh! The teen realised that she must have passed out. Well, that was embarrassing. Imagine passing out from exhaustion. Val the Gatekeeper must have gotten the healers and had had her brought here. But then where was Erade? Groaning, she tried to force her way into a sitting position. The teen needed to be able to see where her companion from her hunting trip was.

After a couple of chimes, she had managed to sit up by propping herself up with pillows. The motion made her feel dizzy and she had to lean her head back and take deep breaths until the room stopped spinning. When she could see straight again, the Avora glanced around the room and spotted Erade but before she could say anything, a healer came over to the huntress, checking her vitals to make sure that she was okay and asking stupid questions about how she was. She waved off the questions and instead asked one of her own.

”How long have I been here?” she asked, giving the man a cold look. He didn’t look happy about her tone or her expression but he decided to answer her anyway.

”You’ve been out a few bells. Syna’s light went about five bells ago and I think you came in around then. So does that answer your question?” he explained before bustling away to check on Erade instead. Perhaps hoping that she wouldn’t be so rude and uncooperative.

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