Timestamp: Spring 5, 515 AV It was one of her first times outside of the city; and the idea that she was heading to foreign lands felt as unfamiliar to her as these woods. Pine and oak reaching for the sky. Their scraggly, twisted branches interwoven as the sun beat down on their bodies; filtering through the leaves, rustling softly in the wind. Their long shadows crawling across the hard-packed soil of the forest floor. Marred by the occasional patch of grass, or aged dandelions, if not a shrubbery tucked into a tight nook beside a tree. The air largely warm, although it was cooler down in the darkness of the trees, nestled between their midst. The sky a soft blue as the sun hung high overhead, suggesting that it was nearing noon, if not just past. A time in which Talya's stomach began to rumble, as it was typically the sort of time she took her lunch back in the city, which meant, now was likely as good a time as any other for her to take it out in the Wildlands too. Especially considering how she had been traveling for the larger portion of the day. So, she stopped in a clearing ringed by trees, and decided to make a fire to re-jerkify some meat she had brought from the city, as for whatever reason, she had always preferred things well charred. So, Tal set her pack down on the side of the clearing, and then, drew a circle in the middle with her foot. Etching it lightly in the dirt, so that she would know where to build the fire- a place equidistant from the trees, a place, she supposed, where it would be the least likely for her to burn anything. With that done, she realized she would need things to burn, and headed into the thicket of the forest to retrieve some wood- whatever she found on the ground mainly, as she didn't want to harm any of the living trees. So, she grabbed some small, splintering sticks, which looked as though they had been broken off nearby trees in the storm, and she picked up a few leaves and twigs for kindling and headed back to the site where she planned to build her fire. When she got there, Tal dropped her things off by the side of the circle, and then, began to sort all the sticks she had collected based off their size. When she was finished, she began to make a sort of box in the center of the circle. A lopsided thing, which looked like it could have been a log cabin without the roof and mud tucked between boards to keep everything together. It wasn't very sturdy, and if she wasn't careful, the logs would roll as they weren't locked to well together, but over this, Tal didn't worry, as she didn't intend to keep the fire long or burn herself, and as far as she knew, it couldn't pass over mud without going out anyway. So, Tal reached for two leftover sticks before inching closer to the site of the future fire, kneeling by its side. She held one stick in each of her hands, and lightly, pressed them together so that they formed a cross. She then began to rub them together. Furiously, so that the bark that remained began to scrape off, and little bits got tossed against her structure of logs. So that the flesh of the stick itself seemed to whiten and grow more smooth, and gradually, the implements grew warm in her hands, although nothing happened. Deciding, after about fifteen minutes, that nothing was going to, as nothing had as of yet, Tal put the sticks aside, went over to her bag, and rummaged around, until she brought up her flint and steel, and remembered what they were used for- building a fire. Tal then returned to her fire site, and knelt over it, just as she had before when she was using the sticks. She held the flint in her right hand, and the steel in the left. She then began to strike the steel against the flint, as she held it down into the center of the pit. She heard a faint click-clacking noise as she did so for several minutes, and then grew excited as it began to spark a few times, but catch on... nothing. Which made her think, that perhaps she should add the kindling. So, Tal put down her flint and steel, and picked up the kindling. Some she wove into the structure of the pit's frame, which lent it some level of strength and support, and the rest she dropped in the center of the pit, rather unceremoniously. She looked down at it a moment later, and realizing that it seemed like nothing at all, and might not be enough, she went to gather some more and stick it in the pit before coming back. When she had done so, she picked up the flint and steel again, and began to slide the steel against the flint. Striking them together as she lowered her hands into the midst of the pit, just to help ensure that the spark caught, and took flame when she managed to attain another. It took Talya several more minutes, but finally, she managed to create a spark that took, and like the kindling. Instantly, as her hands began to glow a faint orange, as they grew warm, she pulled them away and out of the fire. She watched as the kindling began to smoke; a thin tendril rising into the air as the twigs curled and burnt. Pointing at the sky as the leaves blackened and split apart as the flame licked and consumed them. Spitting shards as she pulled away a little more, and then picked up the ends of her dress, and fanned the flame. It didn't seem to work very well, so Tal stopped and smoothed out her dress with her hands, before moving her head beside the pillar of smoke and blowing on the fire until it grew to be a lightly crackling thing. With that done, she got her jerky from her bag, stuck it on the end of one of the leftover sticks, and held it over the fire until she had practically burnt it to a crisp. At that time, she removed it from the fire, and touched it. Still hot, she realized as she retracted her hand, and waited before eating. She chewed thoughtfully, until she finished her food, and discarded the stick, before wiping her lips with the back of her hand and thinking that perhaps, she should put out the fire now that she was done. So, she went over to her bag, got her waterskin, and poured it on the fire. The flame smoked and sputtered, spewing spoke as much as little crackling sparks that reminded her of a firefly's behind. It did not go out, even as she upended the rest of her stores. Now what? Tal wondered, as she looked onto the fire, and then thought, perhaps, given how weak it was now, she could simply blow it out with a little magical aid. So, she pictured the djed that lingered with the pit of her stomach, and pushed it out into the tips of her fingers. As she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth, she pushed the djed out through her fingers, so that it formed a clear gaseous substance above their points; res. Which, when she opened her eyes, seemed to reflect the sun's light that made its way down into the clearing, in a curious way she could not find a way to describe. Tal allowed the res to trickle out of her fingers a few seconds, and form a relatively stable sphere above her left and right hand. She held them out before her, and smiled, her eyes glimmering, as she filled each with air, but let the outer shell remain simply res, as she felt it would allow the "orbs" to hold their shape better. With that done, she chucked each of the orbs at the fire, and found that it only fanned the flame. It did not go out, but instead grew, and began to crawl across the kindling toward its wooden encasement. At which point, the logs blackened and groaned, shifting as weight was added to their structure as the fire turned other portions to ash. Tal stood transfixed a moment, simply watching as the fire spread over the logs, and the fire grew to be a few feet tall. Smoke billowing from its center and rising into the sky as flame licked angrily at the air. Tal grabbed her waterskin and backed away. "Petch," Tal whispered, as the flame flickered in the blackness of her eyes, their heavy expanse, "now what do I do? I've got no water..." Didn't mean to burn the whole place down... |