The calm after the storm

Alexis had been walking for a while now, long past sunset and into the jungle night.

Like it or not, she was going to need a break soon.

She had followed the stream she fell in, given it lead south anyways and would get her away from enemy terrain and closer to the base camp. She suspected she would be approaching it from the west, through the territory they had not explored. So if she made it out of here, she could fill out the map some more.

Grrrrreat.

She looked up another massive tree with broad, sweeping branches and decided: why the hell not?

Climbing the tree, she found enough room in its top to make a decent resting place, taking some time to take care of her wounds - which, save for the wound on her arm had been shallow and didn’t even bleed anymore after her spontaneous bath - and indulge in some of the meagre provisions that had survived her fall.

Of course she knew there where more than enough predators that could get to her up here. Hey, maybe she was lucky enough to get eaten by a giant snake or something. That held honestly more appeal than to be feeding some demonic ritual with her blood.

Although… she had not heard anymore natives for a while now. In fact, now that she took time to notice, it was eerily quiet.

That wasn’t really true, though. She had, somewhere in the back of her head, been aware of it for a while. But she suspected she was beyond caring at this point.

There had been no signs of the natives where they had started their mission, either. Maybe… this was just another being’s domain. Like that creature Till and Nicolaus had described.

She looked up at the moon. Strangely and unwanted, a memory came to her mind. Her old homestead on a cold night like this. Her mother coughing painfully inside the house. The stream that ran close by.
An old hag Alexis had never seen before washing blood from her mother’s clothes. Alexis approaching her.

Present Alexis shook her head. What a strange thing to remember at this juncture. She had believed it had only been a dream back then. But now, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
It didn’t really matter. If the washer woman even walked beyond the realms of Garrah, she would visit the remaining rather than those who were to die.

Alexis continued to look at the moon, and after a while spoke up.

“Hey. This is probably me going a little crazy and talking to myself. But if not, and if you can even understand me… I have no quarrel with you. Merely passing through. I mean no disrespect.”

And she didn’t. She had not fought against magik until today, but even now, she held no hate for magik itself. From what she knew and now had seen, magik felt more like… a force of nature. And she did not hate the blizzard even though it might freeze you to death. She did not hate fire even though it could burn down your house. Force, in itself, was neither good nor evil by human standards. Humans were.

“I’m sorry, Till.”

she said quietly. Even without seeing his corpse, she held no more hope the poor sailor might still be alive. He had been so afraid of all the strange happenings. It was just unfair.

There was no answer, of course. She would have probably fallen out of this tree if there was. Much better to assume she had just lost it.

But, on the other hand, she was able to take her break completely undisturbed and continue on, walking through the silent night.