By the sea

West of Ostiarium

Alexis & Tarmen – You ride west for a few days, along the vast empty expanses of the southern coast of Arcadia. The hot summer days are made easily bearable by the cool breeze that blows inland from the ocean across the pristine sands of the coastal beaches. It mesmerizes you to gaze at the beautiful creatures that hover all over the beach and on the deep-sea waters.

There are sights of beautiful birds that fly all over the shore and over the seawaters. Their coloured feathers brightened the sea with marvellous appearance at their illumination by the sun warm rays. The gentle crashing of waves is soothing as you ride along, but you cannot help but wonder why such vast tracks of land are deserted.

Maybe the Odsier fear the sea, or maybe the proximity to Sentinel Island makes these bountiful lands devoid of people and settlements. Or maybe these beaches are not the tranquil paradises they appear to be.

You stop for the afternoon to give your mounts a rest. You need to be economical with how you push them. You make camp slightly away from the sandy shores but close enough that the fresh breeze keeps most of the pesky mosquitos away. Tar goes into the beach while you two prepare to settle for the night. An hour or so later he returns with a couple of handfuls of mussels and razor clams, that he throws into the glowing embers. He keeps studying the map that you gathered from the broken tusks as if looking for more revelations and clues. That evening rather abruptly he turns to Alexis.

“Why Desdem? What do you know of the place?”