Ashan 20th, 710
A little unsteady on her feet, the half-breed stepped off of the boat with a rolling sickness in the pit of her stomach. She hated boats, she hated water and hated anything to do with the sea. At one point she would have blamed such a hatred on her father, considering most avriel despised the stuff. To call it a form of inheritance would have been easier. But had she ever had a single good experience with water? The answer was a very loud and very resounding no! She'd been nearly drowned in rivers, thrown down wells, dunked in ice water as punishment, was there literally anything to like about the stuff? Suffice to say she was far more than happy to be stepping off that boat as she skirted the border of the city. "Thank you again," she told the old man with a weak smile. He quietly nodded his head and started to let himself slowly travel back down the river. He'd actually been on his way back to the bay when he picked up the half-breed, at least according to him. She was grateful to come across the old man as it made the rest of her journey shorter.
The trouble then came down to finding Icarus. She wasn't sure where the man was, let alone if he'd even gotten to the city yet. She knew that she was supposed to meet him outside of the city no matter what she did, so here she could hopefully wait for him. Hopefully. Just as she started to worry about if he'd be able to find her or not, a voice rang out in her ears. "Well, color me impressed. I didn't think you'd get here first," the blond said as he approached the half-breed. He had all of their stuff. All of it. She couldn't help but fix him with a slightly soured glare, her eyes narrowing at the man as a laugh bubbled out of him. "Ah, not so happy with me I see. Well, that is to be expected. After all, you've only completed the first half of your test," the smile on his face grew and grew until it was something the half-breed knew as being just short of true malice. It was a kind of mischief that reveled in that which others found to be a pain.
"Icarus, I swear-" she started but was quickly cut off.
"Speak not any names in vain my dear, they might come back to spite you," he smirked.
"Icarus, I swear to Ethelynda if you pull some dishonorable bullshit..." Her voice trailed off in a snarl as she locked eyes with the man.
"Well. I suppose that was fair. Though I still wouldn't have risked it," he muttered quietly as he shrugged. "Now then, about the rest of this. I realized on my way here that the city might not be a very good place for you to be right now. A couple of... things have happened and you might just generally want to avoid the area. So. Go home. I'll deal with everything here. I already know everything that you wanted while we were in town," Icarus nodded to himself slightly as if he was recalling a metal list.
"Go home?" She questioned, her voice barely above a whisper. "Are you telling me to go all the way back home? Without any gear?" Her hiss barely grew above the whisper of the breeze as she locked eyes with her trusted teacher and friend in a challenge.
"Unless you don't think you can," he returned.
"Oh, I know that I can. But do I want to is an entirely different question with a very different answer, Icarus," her eyes narrowed.
"Prove it," was the mock that he shot back at her without so much as batting an eye. Gritting her teeth she let a growl slip out from the back of her throat before she barked out a harsh word of affirmation that she'd go on this little test. Her fingers twitched and she couldn't help but wonder when the next time they'd do sparring practice was going to be! Of course, it was petty to try and beat someone up for wronging you. There were far more subtle and elegant ways to get back at the man. After she proved that she could make her way back. On her own. Without any gear. Icarus' back was already quickly disappearing by the time she straightened up and realized just what she had agreed to. She was going to kill that man.
Muttering under her breath quietly she turned back around the way she'd come. At the very least she still had her map. She could retrace her steps the way that she and Icarus had originally come. It had been a relatively easy trek, the man being a wildness expert by now had plotted the easiest possible route for the pair. She memorized the most important details about the trek and over the course of a couple trial could definitely make her way back. The return trip was always easier because you knew exactly what to be expecting. The hard part would be getting back down the river since she didn't have a boat. What she did have was the travel time it took her to get upstream. So a simple amount of math would be enough to help her estimate how much time it took on foot. Once she had that she could just time herself on the way back down the river by using the sun and make a general estimation of her location based on that.
Between the ability to retrace her steps and get a better read on her situation thanks to a prior estimation of her travel time it really shouldn't be that hard to get home. But the hike was a good couple of days with enough breaks not to hurt herself. She knew for certain she couldn't power through it all which made her absolutely certain she'd be spending some nights outside in the cold. Which wasn't preferable. On top of that, she'd need to take even more time since setting up camp would be a bigger hassle without tents or food. If she wanted shelter she'd have to build it herself. She'd have to start the fire herself. She'd need to hunt or scavenge food all by herself. Which she'd like to think was possible for her. Though not necessarily as easy as she would have preferred her life to be.
"Stupid Icarus and his stupid, stupid tests," she muttered to herself quietly as she walked along the river with a growl of frustration. The one thing she couldn't deny was that fact that it was helpful. These tests were a good measure of her skill level, and it wasn't like he threw her outside before she was ready or anything. He was, in fact, remarkably careful. She was fairly certain this was the first test where he didn't actively watch over her shoulder. Which meant he truly did trust her to be okay outside on her own. In a way, it was probably a testament to how proud of her he was. But damn it, if he didn't have a weird way of showing his pride then Nightshade didn't know what weird was anymore.
The half-breed walked for a couple breaks but didn't want to spend too much time traveling. Just enough to get a good start on things. If she rushed too quickly she might hurt herself, and there was no way she'd be traveling at night again if she could help it. Perhaps if she could snag a couple of cattails from the river bank to use as torches when she might, but as the situation stood she couldn't risk getting stuck in the dark without a fire or a camp. It was pretty much just asking for trouble. She could try flying... Icarus had been helping her get better. But the idea still... worried her to say the least. Icarus was hopeful that eventually she'd learn and he could use her wings as a model for his first ever flying machine. But the half-breed was admittedly doubtful. In fact, she was fairly convinced she'd never fly. At this point, the sky scared her nearly as much as the sea.
Eventually, the half-breed did come to a stop. She'd camp by the river where it was a bit more clear. She didn't expect to be able to catch another ride, but at least she'd have water which was something that might become an issue. Perhaps if she could trap something in the morning she could make a water skin and make things a bit easier, but as it stood she was just going to have to try and keep good time and travel from river to river until she got home.
There was a lot of dried foliage to use as tinder, but no way she could set up a lean-to fire given everything in the area. So she set up a circle of larger river stones and opted to set up a tepee campfire. It would start to get dark soon, so her fire had to be her first priority. Since she'd so stupidly wasted her match she'd have to start the fire the old fashioned way. The fire plough method of starting a campfire was one of the oldest in the books, in summary, it was the act of rubbing two sticks together until you created a spark. It would be easiest if she could find a V-shaped piece of wood to use as the base.
As fortune would have it she was able to find a suitable stick and a piece of long flat plant that had a small groove in it. She began quickly rubbing the stock against the piece of a plank in a repetitive plowing motion. This would create dust and then friction on that dust which would turn the dust into embers and coals. She moved as quickly and with as much strength as she possibly could. Eventually, she saw hints of smoke starting to emerge from the wood. As quick as she could as to not let the new coals die she placed it into her collected tinder. Blowing on the tinder gently plumes of smoke flew outwards, black as the approaching midnight until a small flame started to appear. In the middle of her campfire, she placed the tinder before lying sticks over it in a tepee-like fashion.
With her job in creating a fire now done darkness slowly started to descend. She didn't have any time to set up a fire. But the sky was clear and it didn't seem like rain was in the air, so hopefully, she'd be okay. At the very least she had the waterproof cloak, which thankfully had a thick and warm inside that she was able to pull tighter against herself as she laid down next to the fire. Her biggest worry was bandits, and if she had the time or the daylight she would have set up traps or set up some kind of warning alarm. She would have slept in shifts with Icarus if the man came along with her. Pausing for a moment she glanced upwards. She wondered if it would be possible to sleep in the trees.
A smart person might actually sleep in a tree if they didn't have shelter. It would keep them from being pestered by animals and bandits alike if they could effectively keep themselves warm... But a smart person would also tie themselves to the tree. Well, the avriel were bird-like enough. It was worth a try. She definitely and most certainly wouldn't fall out of the tree three times that night before she got the hang of it. Spoilers, she did. At least she chose low hanging branches.
