State of mind

What a surreally peaceful evening. With the hardships they had endured, feeling well fed on good food, relatively save and somewhat tolerated was a much appreciated condition indeed. It would end very, very soon, the mercenary had no doubt about that.

They had set up their camp at the edge and out of the way of the colorful hustle and bustle. Alexis had opted to stay and watch their equipment, and left Tarmen to his own devices. Gods knew the man more than deserved a breather.

Alexis quietly led the coal pen over the slowly filling page of her notebook.

It was a rather strange habit she had picked up, starting after being gifted the book by Wim and utilizing it to document the winding tunnels of the ruins below Aquilo. Every now and then, when she had a moment to herself like now, she would pick it up and sketch down a memorable impression of these strange lands. A rudimentary diary of sorts, she supposed.

Her current drawing was of the oasis village, a speck of life, a gem hidden in the unforgiving desert. Surprisingly enough, at this point, it looked pretty alright. Practice, and all.

After a while she added the finishing touches and looked at it critically. Content with the result, she closed the book and stored it away.

She just sat there for some time, senses routinely on alert, but thoughts wandering without pursuing any particular trail.

When her eyes found the starlit sky, a thought came to her and she sorted through her pack until she found the map Tar had copied from the tusk parts. She remembered he spoke of a constellation he didn’t recognize. She wondered what that meant? What constellation could be found here that he could not have seen from Fang? Maybe it wasn’t a constellation at all?

The map itself was very familiar to her by now. It was all the clues she had after all to finding the mysterious hammer shaft.

Yes, despite Islana being on the forefront of her mind and her mixed feelings about her forced involvement in this quest, she had resolved to give it her best shot. She… had a life debt to pay back.

And Fosia…
Alexis sighed deeply and carefully folded the map back up.

She… just didn’t know. There was something, a connection to the fire god that went deeper than her conscious mind, and that she could not deny. But it was also barely there. Like… the hint of something that could be but wasn’t. At least not yet.

She had not even known of Fosia’s existence mere weeks ago. She still knew barely anything of Him. His nature, what He stood for. And now her she was, trying to find His personal hammer, lost for centuries. That was quite a bitter pill to swallow for someone who didn’t do well with blind faith.

Alexis shook her head. Questions of faith just weren’t easily answered, it seemed. Things certainly had felt less complicated when religion and the gods had been more of a backdrop in her life.

She picked up her blade and began to apply the necessary maintenance. That at least she knew how to do.