Ashan 18th, 710
He was an absolute madman, leaving nothing behind but a note and some darkness. The half-breed let out a growl of frustration as she looked at the note with more ire than could be expressed in simple words. "I've left you with nothing, consider this another test, come to meet me outside of Etzos," the note read as though it was the most simple thing to do in the world. Nightshade had been on a trip to the city with Icarus for some various supplies that the two needed. He was still obsessed with his flying machine and the half-breed needed some polish and a whetstone for her sword which was slowly starting to lose the glorious luster and sharpness it had when her father entrusted it to her. She realized the knowing how to sharpen and care for her own blade was part of the job, so she'd tagged along with Icarus to grab what she needed and possibly peruse whatever else the city might have. Icarus had even brought up the idea of abandoning their little wooden cabin and building a new one closer to the city now that his name had slowly been forgotten and the first thought that came to people's minds wasn't 'filthy Immortal follower'.
But Icarus, for as loving and caring and as much as he wanted to watch Nightshade grow as a person, as an insufferable dick of a person at times who pulled random shenanigans because he could get away with it and somehow in his mind it made sense. She'd come to the realization he wasn't completely sane, which made him the perfect pair for the half-breed. And she constantly reminded herself that he pulled this kind of bullshit out of simple affection. But it didn't make it any easier when she woke up in the middle of the night because she was cold thanks to no longer being in a tent. How did he even pull that off!? The half-breed was an incredibly light sleeper and had become far more perceptive in her time living with Icarus, the man in question constantly springing 'trap' on her to help prove something of a point. Immortals knew what that point was. But seriously? Stealing her tent and making off with it in the middle of the night like he was some kind of bandit? Honestly copping a feel of Faldrun's balls seemed like it would be an easier task than steal the tent of someone who was currently sleeping. In. Said. Tent.
"You've got to be kidding me, you deranged old windbag of a monk," she growled under her breath as she felt nothing short of rage boiling under her skin. The half-breed breathed in through her teeth for a short moment before quickly puffing out the breath. Getting angry was pointless, it wasn't going to change anything. As the situation stood Icarus had left her with three items. A map, a compass, and the clothes she'd worn to sleep including the waterproof cloak that she was particularly fond of. How lovely. This was going to be quite the experience.
"Alright, the first order of business, light," she muttered to herself as the looked around. She quickly checked her pockets. Alright, a match and a stick flammable kind of syrup that Icarus had taught her how to make out of pine resin. Ripping a piece of her pant leg she found a suitably sized stick and tied the strip of cloth around before smearing it with the pine resin substance. It was a rather minimalist torch, but it would have to work for right now. She had more syrup but she couldn't really just keep tearing away her pants to make more torches, so she had to move quickly. Couldn't the man at least have left her a lantern? She shook her head quickly. No, if he'd left her a lantern he would have left her without oil. And that would have been a much harder situation to deal with. For right now she could use moonlight, plus the fire they had originally camped by which Icarus was kind enough to not put out. It was best not to light the torch until she planned to leave.
"Alright, let's take a look at this again," she said. Glancing at the back of the note Icarus had left her she saw a rough set of directions on the back. "Go east until you hit the river and then travel upstream. Which river?" She groaned as she looked at the directions. Looking over towards the map her sense of frustration only seemed to grow. Seriously? Did he give her a political map of the entire area? There were few kinds of maps that could have been less useful. At the very least it had the city of Etzos marked as well as a general idea of where the river was. However, the fact it was a political map gave her no real indication of direction. It had a basic lay of the land, yes, but there were no important landmarks or smaller towns that one might find on a map that was geared toward travel. This was something a bit more geared towards a trader trying to decide who they want their partner to be. Or perhaps a political figurehead trying to figure out how to best push the territory. This was not suitable for Nightshade who was trying to figure out what feking river Icarus meant.
Letting go of her frustrations with an ugly groan she felt her shoulders sag slightly. She didn't even know where in the Immortal damned world she was. "Okay. east until I hit a river. So that means I should be somewhere on this side of the river", she muttered to herself quietly as she analyzed the map. "I have to be somewhere in this area this spot right here is where we live. We've been traveling for about three days due north and two due east. So that means if we were traveling at the same speed we always do I should be somewhere in this area. Right?" She muttered to herself quietly as she found an approximate location on the map.
She continued to look around on the map. It gave her literally nothing. Absolutely nothing to work off of.
Sending up hopes and prayers to Chiren the half-breed held her breath as he turned over the map. "Oh thank goodness," she cried in relief as she looked upon the other side of the map which was topographical. Distances! Locations! Altitude! She'd never been so grateful to see the complex ramblings of a map! "Okay, so that would mean I'm in about the right area to be," she muttered as she focused a little closer on the map. "That looks like a steep incline over there, while it looks like a bit of cleaner path down over there. I'm fairly certain that's a road. So if I go northeast until I hit that road, I can follow it all the way to the river and move on from there," she continued her ramblings to herself as she felt relief beginning to flood her body. It would have been absolute madness trying to stumble through the dark this late at night without any clue as to where she was going. She was so glad the map was two-sided. Some maps were without a doubt more useful than others. Specifically all political maps deserved to be burned. They weren't maps. They weren't good maps. They weren't useful maps. Or maybe she was just lashing out because Icarus had given her a good fright by putting the political half face up. That sounded more reasonable but the half-breed wasn't feeling reasonable.
At least she had a course to follow now. And as luck would have it she also had a light source. Striking her match she placed it against the torch, watching it light up. Only to realize her mistake. Turning around, there was a fire right there. "Oh, my Immortals!" She groaned as she smacked a hand against her forehead. Foresight! She had none! That match would have been lighting a fire so much easier... oh well, it didn't matter much now. She'd gotten a good couple hours of sleep so she could go at least till morning. Since she had a torch it made traveling at night a lot safer than it would have been, though still not as safe as traveling at day. Predators tended to hunt at night, but predators were also scared of fire so she could use the torch itself as a weapon if it really came down to it. The biggest danger of traveling at night was truly getting lost. But that wasn't as likely to happen since she had a general idea of direction.
Sending a quick glance skywards she located a constellation whose position in the sky was rather telling to what direction was northeast and began to follow it. If she traveled all night then she should hit the river by late afternoon the next morning if her calculations were correct.
