The first hour or so of the trip was uneventful. Mona and Eurwen both simply walked, making their way through small paths where the brush wasn’t as thick. Neither talked, though Eurwen occasionally whistled soft tunes while Mo stayed silent. The birds above didn’t seem all too perturbed by their presence, some watching from their branches while others gave out calls to the other birds to announce the Beastfolk and the Elf.
Mona spent most of her time glancing around the ferns and the shrubs, feline ears standing alert atop her head as she kept up her guard. The green of the forest was relaxing, sure, but there were potential dangers. It was the wilderness after all.
Eventually, she looked to Eurwen. The Elven woman had her arms folded behind her head, walking leisurely down the path with her face angled up toward the leaves above and the sunlight spotting through them. Some of these spots of light seemed to glint off of the golden bits of her armor, while others flitted over her orange curls, adding somewhat to their fiery color.
“So, Mo,” Eurwen said suddenly, snapping Mona out of her absent-minded thoughts, “What had you travel to Ferncomb? Or did you grow up there?”
The feline woman found herself hesitant to answer, continuing to stare at Eurwen’s back. At the lack of an answer, the Elf glanced over her shoulder. Mo immediately looked away once their eyes met.
“I didn’t grow up there.” She finally muttered, refusing to elaborate further. She had no reason to give her any information about her past. She could hear Eurwen sigh at the short response before Mo looked up to see her turn to continue facing the path.
“Well… I understand that you don’t want to say much, but if we’re going to spend so much time alone out here, we might as well talk about something.”
Mo was glancing through the green of the forest again, attempting to keep a vigilant eye, although she couldn’t help but think Eurwen had a point. Even if she agreed with her, however, she found herself hesitant to initiate. “... What is there to even talk about?”
“For starters, do you enjoy living in Ferncomb? It’s a rather cozy little town from what I’ve seen of it.”
“...I suppose it’s nice,” Mo replied, looking forward to see that Eurwen was looking over her shoulder again, listening to her response. Mo did her best to try and keep eye contact. “I-It’s quiet, and mostly peaceful. I haven’t had any real trouble with anyone in the time I’ve been there.”
Eurwen gave her a smile at this before looking to the path ahead once more. “I think I like it, too. The honey from the tavern was sweeter and more refreshing than any I’d had elsewhere. I’m surprised they haven’t started trading it in bottles.”
“If I remember right, the owner said he didn’t have the budget for it.”
“Hm. That’s unfortunate. There are probably plenty of bakers out there that would be glad to use his product.”
Mona gave a soft hum of agreement, leaving the two in silence once more. After about twenty minutes of said silence, Mo perfectly understood how awkward the dead air really was. She began to feel self-conscious about it, even. Is this what others usually felt like when they tried to talk to her? She had to talk about something now, anything.
“So…” Mo started, though there was a bit too long of a pause before she finally thought of a topic, somewhat stumbling on her words. “How old are you? If it’s not rude to ask.”
“Ah, I’m twenty-seven!” The Elf responded, briefly turning to look at her with that same toothy grin she so often wore.
“Really?” Mona asked in an incredulous tone. “Only twenty-seven?”
“Ha!” Eurwen barked out a laugh, putting her hands on her hips as she slowed to walk beside Mona. Her grin morphed into a smirk as that same teasing expression from the tavern was on her face again. “Do I look old to you?”
“No!” Mo quickly blurted out, acutely aware of the blush that was now rising into her scarred cheeks. “That’s not what I meant! It’s just… I was told that elves lived for a rather long time, so it’s surprising that you’re actually young.”
Eurwen giggled at that and shrugged. “I suppose that’s fair enough. It does take a while before we start to grey. Speaking of,” she then reached up and gently lifted a grey lock of hair from Mo’s face. “You’ve got a bit of grey there yourself. How old are you?”
Mona swatted at her hand, making the other laugh again as she backed off. “Don’t just go touching people without asking!” she scolded, giving a huff before crossing her arms and turning to look away from the Elf. “I’m twenty-four, younger than you. The greys are from stress,” she mumbled.
Eurwen’s brow raised in curiosity. “Stress?” She said the word as if it were a question, seemingly asking the other to elaborate.
Mo remained silent, letting the lack of response show her unwillingness to carry on the topic. Eventually, the Elven woman beside her simply gave a soft hum of understanding, stepping ahead of Mona on the trail again. “Well, let’s keep going.”
Many hours went by without much more conversation. Mona did her best to ignore the awkward air between them, simply keeping herself alert for any dangers that might be around them. It was only when the evening began to approach and the blue of the sky just started to turn orange that she finally began to notice something strange.
The birds that had kept the woods from truly being quiet were now gone. At some point while the two were walking they must have entered an area the wildlife didn’t want to be near. The forest itself seemed otherwise normal, at least visually. However, Mo couldn’t help but smell blood in the air.
“I think we might have a problem…” Mona whispered, looking around as she continued to walk until she eventually ran into Eurwen’s back, giving a soft yelp of surprise and stumbling back. “Hey! What are you doing?” she hissed, not having expected the woman to stop. The Elven woman didn’t respond, simply staring down at something to the side of the road.
It was then that Mona realized just how strong the smell of blood was, reaching up a hand to cover her nose as she slowly moved to see what Eurwen was staring at. There, lying in the grass beside the trail, was the carcass of a doe with a torn-open belly, seemingly half-eaten. Judging from the lack of rotting scent, it hadn’t died all too long ago.
Mona felt a chill go through her blood, her ears standing tall on her head, swiveling around as her eyes darted across the brush. If it was a fresh kill, then whatever creature was dining on it couldn’t have been too far.
Eurwen gave a soft hum, looking back to Mona. “I didn’t see anything dangerous last I was on this trail, at least nothing big enough to kill a-”
Mo then gasped as she heard the nearby shrubs begin to shake, instinctually reaching out and grabbing the Elf’s arm with both hands to yank her backward. She just barely managed to pull Eurwen behind her and away from the blood-covered cougar that lept from the brush. It gave a hissing cry toward them after hitting the dirt of the trail, a white foam bubbling at the sides of its mouth.
“Shit!” Mo cursed, just barely getting out her bow in time to nock an arrow and shoot at the feline. The arrow flew and dug into the cougar’s shoulder, making it yowl in pain and snap to look at her. It bore its fangs and started to charge, quickly closing the gap. Mona barely had time to dodge to the side, Eurwen leaping off in the opposite direction with a yelp of surprise.
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Another arrow flew, but the cougar was too fast as it turned and lunged toward Mona. Its powerful paws began to swipe down on her, but they never landed.
Time seemed to slow as a flash of white fabric and fiery orange hair was suddenly on the other side of the large predator, plunging a long blade into its belly in a lunge. The weight of the sudden attack sent the two of them to the ground, Eurwen on one knee over the animal, pinning it to the ground with a sword that Mona hadn’t seen on her before.
Mona quickly recovered, notching another arrow and aiming toward the cougar’s head as it began to yowl and hiss. Just when it attempted to snap its jaws at the woman keeping it down, Mo released the arrow, letting it fly straight into the predator’s eye. Almost immediately it went limp, head thumping to the ground as its blood began to pool into the grass and dirt below it.
Mo panted, her heart pounding in her chest at the sudden fright of the attack, only putting away her bow once she was sure the animal was dead. “Are you okay, Eurwen?” she asked, looking at the Elven woman.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Eurwen said quietly, her shoulders moving up and down as she tried to catch her breath. She soon stood up and pulled out the sword she’d been wielding. Mo’s eyes flicked to it and widened at the sight.
The sword was ornate, yet sturdy, the hilt made of dark, tightly wrapped leather and gold molded like feathers to form two wings beside the blade. A translucent marble was set in the center and visible from both sides, though Mo couldn’t tell if it was glass, quartz, or something else entirely. The real wonder, however, was the blade. Though it glistened like metal and held the sharpness of a top-of-the-line steel blade, it was white. Whiter than bone.
“Whoa…” Mona muttered, staring a bit too long at the blade before looking back up to Eurwen. She couldn’t help the look of wonder on her face. The weapon was simply nothing like she’d seen before, and Eurwen had moved with a speed and force she hadn’t expected.
“Are you alright?” Eurwen panted out, deep brown eyes looking Mo over to check for wounds.
“I’m fine, just startled,” Mona replied quietly, shaking her head to try and get rid of the feeling of shock. She grimaced as she then took in the state of her companion. “Regretting the white by now?” she asked, motioning to the blood that covered Eurwen’s torso.
Eurwen blinked at her with a confused look before looking down at herself and breathing out a soft “oh”. She then extended a hand as a soft white glow began to wisp off of her fingertips. Mo tensed, instinctively lowering her body as if to get ready for a fight before Eurwen then turned her glowing hand toward herself.
Slowly, she hovered her glowing fingers over her torso, blood and dirt beginning to pull off of her clothing and armor in tendrils. They pulled toward the glow of her hand, almost surrounding it. Eurwen then scanned the hand over her sword, pulling the blood off of the blade, through the air, and with the rest that swirled around her fingers. With one flourishing motion of the said hand, the blood swirled into one floating orb of liquid above her palm.
Mo stared at it, barely able to take in the sight of the blood being manipulated with such ease, before Eurwen, with a flick of her wrist, flung the orb off into the woods. Mona could hear it splash against the ground, but she didn’t turn to look at where it had landed, unable to look away from Eurwen now. The Elf was spotless, not a spec of dirt or blood on her, not even on the hand she’d used to pull it all off herself.
“What in the hell was that?” Mona muttered.
“Just some simple magic. Helps keep oneself clean” Eurwen replied in a casual tone, the glowing on her fingertips dimming before fading away entirely. She lifted the half cape and sheathed her sword in the scabbard that had been hidden on her hip underneath.
“And that sword!” Mona pointed to it, but Eurwen dropped the cape back over herself and started to walk on the trail again as if nothing had happened. “The blade! I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“It seems most folks haven’t,” Eurwen replied, not even giving her companion a glance. “I’m not too sure of what it is myself. It’s simply another item passed down to me.”
“You have no idea what it is? How--”
“Let’s set up camp there!” Eurwen quickly interrupted her further questioning, having stopped farther ahead on the path to point out toward a clearing a short walk off of the road. “I think it’s the same one I camped at when I was on my way to Ferncomb. There’s a stream nearby, we could find some fish there.”
Mona opened her mouth to continue her barrage of questions before Eurwen started walking into the brush, heading off toward the spot she’d pointed out. The feline woman gave a soft huff of annoyance before deciding to drop the topic and simply follow. The Elf did say something about paying her “not to know”, after all.
After a few minutes of silently walking through tall grass and ducking under low-hanging branches of pine and oak, they both broke through into a clearing. The ground was mostly dirt with small puffs of wild grass along the outskirts of the area. There was a small pile of charcoal in the center, indicating a previous campfire. Eurwen pointed to it and looked to Mona with a smile.
“Just as I thought! It’s the same clearing!” The Elven woman beamed, lifting her satchel off of her shoulders and from under the white half-cape. Mo’s olive eyes immediately caught the emblem emblazoned on the bag’s flap. A sun, the same one that was depicted on Eurwen’s leather pauldron. It was even embroidered in the same fashion; A golden sun surrounded by spikes and dots to indicate rays of sunlight, all with small lines of white thread surrounding them as if to give a glowing effect.
Before Mo could comment on it, Eurwen opened the flap and began pulling things out of the bag that couldn’t possibly fit. First a tightly bound bedroll, and then another, and then the wrapped contents of a two-person tent. She then produced smaller things, like a fold-over metal grill for a campfire, a tinderbox, a small fishing net, a waterskin, and even a small hatchet for firewood.
“Another hand-me-down from the family I assume?” Mo asked with a bit of a scoff. “You really must be heavy on coin to have a Bottomless Bag.”
“Just another item I’ve been gifted.”
“And I’m guessing the emblem is of your house?” Mona motioned toward the bag and then toward the other’s pauldron. “It’s the same sun if I’m not mistaken.”
Eurwen gave a nod, closing the flap back over the bag and throwing it back over her shoulders. The Elven woman stood, carrying the folded tent under her arm and beginning to walk toward a level plot of dirt near the old campfire remains. “That’s correct. That same sun is depicted on the crests and banners of house Heliodora.”
Mona watched for a moment as Eurwen began to set up the tent before her eyes wandered up toward the sky. It hadn’t felt like that long of a walk, but the sun was already getting close to setting. Clouds above rolled lazily over a backdrop of orange and wisps of blue. The gentle breeze that rolled past smelled slightly of rain as well as blood from the fight they’d left not too long ago. One feline ear twitched atop her head at the somewhat distant sound of a stream nearby. Anxious thoughts of other predators being attracted to the smell of blood began to nag at her before she heard Eurwen speak.
“Would you mind taking that net and going to the creek over there to catch some dinner? It would be best to eat fresh food when we can, rather than just dried rations alone. Oh, and could you refill our waterskins as well?”
Mo glanced back to her, watching the Elf work for a moment as she staked the tent’s corners into the ground. Her eyes then snapped down to the net resting near the campfire as she gave a sigh and picked it up. It was a small wooden rod with a circle on the end and a long sock of netting attached. Simple enough.
“I’ll handle it. Just stay alert for anything that might be attracted to those carcasses back on the path.” Mo saw Eurwen pause for a moment as if she hadn’t even considered it. The Beastfolk woman didn’t wait for a response, however, grabbing her companion’s waterskin from the ground as well before walking off deeper into the brush, down a small hill toward the sound of rushing water.
It wasn’t all too hard to find the creek the Elf had mentioned. The sound of the water was loud enough, and when she arrived at the bank of it, it was clear as to why. The water itself seemed to be coming from a large wall of rocks wedged into the dirt, streaming out in a small waterfall and spraying into the twisting path in the ground that was the river. The bottom was lined with pebbles and well-beaten algae, but the water for the most part seemed clear.
Mona rested the net up against a tree nearby and cupped her hand under the water that poured out from the tall stack of rock. She sniffed at the water that had gathered in her hand before giving it a small sip. It was surprisingly cool and tasted just as clean as the water served in town. More likely than not this water came from some sort of spring in the ground. Convinced that it was safe to drink, Mo dunked the two waterskins underneath the spray of water, waiting until they were both filled to the brim before pulling them back and sealing them shut.
Mo’s mind began to wander as she put away the leather waterskins, picked up the net, and walked downstream. Eurwen’s sword came to mind. She’d never even heard of a white-bladed weapon, let alone seen one before today. Just what kind of material could it be made out of to look like that? Marble was much too soft to be used effectively as a weapon, and as far as she knew there was no way to smith bone.
She soon found a small boulder on the side of the river, sat herself down on it, and sank the net into the water as her mind wandered. The magic was something she hadn’t seen either, but then again she hadn’t seen much magic in her life at all. Mo hadn’t met very many Elves, and all the Casters she’d met were Elementals or older, sagely humans. It could be a rather common spell in the south for all she knew. If that was even where Eurwen was from…
A tug at the net soon snapped Mo out of her thoughts as she looked down and noticed the small bass that was now attempting to swim past the netting it was caught in. Her eyes traveled down the water and spotted another not too far back. With a quick sweep, she scooped up the second bass, lifting the net and watching them flop against each other.
“... Well, out of everything happening lately at least that was simple,” Mo muttered, her brow still knit with an anxious curiosity as she began to carry the net back up the hill toward the clearing. Just who had she gotten herself mixed up with now?