Tales of Torrnal: Chapter 10
#10 of Tales of Torrnal
We awoke the next morning to the now normal sounds of the wolf clan camp activities, foods being dried and preserved, clothing patched, and younger cubs play fighting with their elders. Jeseia sat there with me for a moment before poking at my side gently.
"Stand up, lets get those bandages off of you before we get moving. I'm thinking, we take two days on our one day trek north. No point in working too hard." She calmly pointed out while starting to pick at the knots and ties holding the cloth wraps around my arms and legs.
"Sounds good to me, what's that far north? " I squirmed slight as the vixen tickled me while getting the bandages off.
"Well, where we're going is kind of a special place. A, convergence I suppose you could call it. There's a few around the country side but this is one I've visited several times." She tugged at a tough knot for a moment, "All five of the elements meet up there, evenly and peacefully. It's a great place to meditate and learn the last trial you'll face. Plus, it's kind of a pretty place. It's near the edge of a meadow, lots of wild flowers" She tossed the last of my bandages aside, smiling up to me before I helped her back up to her feet.
"Lets get our gear together and check it out. Speaking of gear, where did my walking stick go? I seem to have lost track of it since before the fire thing." I ask, eyeing her idly.
"I'm afraid I haven't seen it, I'll wager it was burned up somewhere. We'll have to get you another one along the way." She idly murred as she walked past me to fetch her backpack, I swatted at a foxy rump once before following her out. I flinched just a little when stepping out into the sun light, nice day out today.
"Good morning you two, what're the plans for the day Jeseia?" Granh asked quietly, standing with some younger clan members, apparently telling some wild tale. "I'm thinking we'll head out this morning, take our time. How about yourself?" Jes replied, slipping her pack over her shoulders.
"I think we're going to send a few out to a feline caravan thats en-route to Torrnal, Trade some skins for some knives, the like. Is there anything you need us to look for?" Granh quietly asked, "Nothing at all, just curious. We're off, safe travels to yours and we'll see you in a couple days."
Granh nodded softly to Jes and then myself before turning his attention back to story telling. Jeseia nudged me softly before starting to walk roughly north out of the camp and into the trees. I trailed behind, nodding softly to Granh's mate on our way out of the camp before scooting a touch to catch up.
We broke out of the northern part of the forest after about an hour or so, Jes was humming quietly to herself while to strolled along. "Out of curiosity Jes, why do you know about so much of this area. We've been all over the country side, and you pretty much lead us around straight as an arrow."
"Well, I've got a few years on you, and I've had to go through all of this once before. Plus, I'm what you'd call a free spirit, do a lot of wandering around." She shrugged softly, smiling to me.
"Myself, up until recently, I never left home. The world I've seen so far is what you've shown me.
Jeseia took my hand in her paw and murred quietly, her tail whisking side to side lightly as we strolled together. "So what're we going to do to pass the time? We have two days of walking ahead and no Granh to put us to work." I inquired, giving her paw a squeeze.
"Well, to start with.." She pointed off to our left towards a slight roll in the landscape. "I think that's a travelers tree over there, if you wanted a new walking stick."
Travelers tree, is a somewhat common tree in these areas. It grows as a central truck of bundled thiner trunks, each usually a good thickness for tent poles, walking sticks, and similar instruments. The tree itself doesn't usually suffer any damage by cutting one free, it'll grow back after a couple of years. One other trick it has to offer is in the leaves. The leaves have several medical properties depending on how they're prepared. As a tea, it soothes a sore throat, but as a mash it can stave off infections in wounds. Really, they are a very helpful plant for folks on the road.
"That'd be nice, I've been working on an idea anyway." We turned and idly continued our stroll now towards the tree. "I've been thinking about taking these elemental tokens and putting them in a staff rather than just in my pocket."
Jeseia nodded a bit, thinking. "That'll probably work. But if you lose it, you'll be out of luck."
"I was thinking that too, I was thinking Granh and his clan could teach me some combat with it. Just in case I need it."
"I have a better idea, There's a band of feline clan nomads that roam further north and east of where we're going. They're the ones to learn from with staves." Jeseia commented.
We reached the tree shortly and I give a quick walk around before finding a sprouted trunk of about the right thickness for me, a quick slice with a touch of the air element broke it cleaning off in my hands. "How do you know all of these people and clans?" I asked softly, testing my walking stick for a moment before casually motioning towards our northern route.
"I've wandered a lot, Met a lot of the clans. Wolf, Feline, and Dragon clans. Fox too, obviously." She teased.
"Wait, what? Dragon?" I asked, surprised.
"Aye, dragon clan, they're a fearsome breed. Much like the wolves actually, only tougher, meaner, and without the strength of heart. You don't get along with them as much as be tolerated."
"I've never even heard of them, where do they come from?"
"Far far east of Torrnal, Easily a month and a half travel by horse."
"So, why were you there?" I again asked curiously.
"The fox village I'm from is south of one of the dragon camps there, So I've met them before"
This is how we passed much the first day, idle chit chat. Jeseia mainly telling stories from her travels while I listened quietly.
"I don't know really how to describe it. More man type village I suppose? We build wooden homes and shops just like you do. We have blacksmiths and metallurgy, really about the same as you. I suppose the really big difference is the whole. There's not a lot of villages for us. We have three big villages and that's about it. There's a lot of talking and contemplation. Good if you want to meditate, not so good if you're a wanderer like myself."
"It sounds almost like a monastery rather than a town." I commented, swinging my walking stick around slowly, mock fighting as we spoke.
"It's not quite like that, however. I have visited one monastery in my travels. Was a nice place to visit, but, didn't want to live there." Jeseia replied, sticking her foot out just a moment to cause me to drop my walking stick. "But I did learn a few tricks during my short stay."
We drew up to a small copse of trees, setting up a small camp earlier than we normally do. The sun was just starting to dip and we were already set, mat rolled out under the evening sky and a warm fire burning nearby. We just lay there together, sharing warmth and watching the stars as they started to brighten up the night.
I felt cute little vixen nibbles at my neck, to which I replied with some playful tickles at her sides. "Hehe, hey now, I thought it was bed time silly fox"
Jeseia growled playfully at me and crawled atop my frame before mrring down to me. "Not just yet, I'm enjoying tonight. It's so nice out."
Resting my hands on her sides I looked around for a moment before nodding with a smile, "That's true" I gently drew her down for a kiss. "The view is quite nice."
Jes nuzzled in against the crook of my neck and settled in comfortably atop me, "Well I'm glad you like it. So, how's your first real adventure been so far?"
"Mmm, well, a lot more than I was figuring. But all things added up so far, I can't complain too much. Though, now that you mention it, what is the deal with tomorrow?"
Jeseia nibbled playfully at my neck again, mrrring, "Don't worry about that too much, When we're ready I'll go over all the details with you. For now lets just relax"
Nodding I closed my eyes, idly roaming my hands along her back as we rested there. We went to sleep there, cuddled up and close to each other. The night was calm and comfortable, I woke only a few times when Jes would squirm or press in against me once more.
I awoke to Jes pressing another soft kiss to my lips, giggling down at me. "Well good morning sleepy, Get yourself up and going" She teased, bouncing up to her feet and starting to clean up the camp.
"Can't a guy sleep in for once? I whined before rolling to my feet and starting to roll up our little straw sleeping mat. Jes having already put the fire out and gathered her pack.
"I'm afraid not Tan, hurry up. I want to try and get there early today, theres a lot I want to go over with you when we get there." She chimed, ruffling my hair a little before helping me up and starting off again roughly north.
"Sounds good to me." With that, we were off again heading north to my next and final trial.