Jul 10, 2021 5:06 pm
Taz found an out-of-the-way place to sit, then plopped down on her backside, folded her legs, and took inventory. Behind her back, the stone brick of the rural tavern was a cooled mirror of the dewy earth beneath her rump. The early morning sun was full and warm on her face, though, and it kept her comfortable enough.
"See that? Blue skies as far as the eye can see," she pointed out, though the squirrel nearby her paid her absolutely no mind and continued with its foraging. "It's a good sign," Taz continued, as much to herself as to the nearby animal. It'd been a long ride to reach this point, and before this trip, Taz had been rather unaccustomed to being completely alone for such long stretches of time. She'd taken to having (decidedly one-sided) conversations with her horse, and now found the habit of talking aloud a bit hard to break.
"I'm gonna miss him, you know," she told the squirrel, squinting as she looked over towards the stables. Taz had planned to ride by herself all the way to Lambor's Hold, but her horse had thrown a shoe and injured himself a few days prior. Thankfully they hadn't had to walk but a few miles before encountering the Harpyie's Nest Inn. With her options flagging and her resources dwindling by the night, Taz felt like she had little choice but to agree when a farrier passing through the inn offered to take the injured horse off of her hands. She would have preferred to just have the horse's shoe repaired and go on her way, but the injury he'd suffered would take days and maybe weeks to heal, and she hardly had the money for a nightly bed by then anyway.
So she'd accepted a pitifully low sum in trade for the horse, and decided to trust in luck to see her the rest of the way to the village. The inn wasn't exactly bustling, but people were through it enough that she was certain she could con convince someone to let her accompany them further along her way.
That'd been a week ago, and though she was once again pitifully low on funds, she finally had a PLAN - and even better, a bag full of cookies from the bakery attached to the inn. Mork's caravan would head towards the coast soon, and traveling with such a group offered a good bit more security than traveling alone, horse or no horse.
Thinking about her task, Taz pulled out the sealed parchment case the wizard had entrusted to her. He'd given her very, very firm instructions to not attempt to open it, and so far she'd resisted the temptation to break the seal and snoop. He'd seemed the sort to plant a pretty nasty surprise into such a thing to harm people who didn't listen, she thought. She tucked it back away to quit fostering temptation, and pulled out a cookie instead. She watched the fields aside the inn as she consumed her sugary breakfast, and thought about the people she'd met via the tavern over the past week.
Once the cookie was gone, she brushed her hands off and pulled out her notebook. Lyrics and stanzas were forming in her thoughts, and she hurried to jot down her impressions of the travelers she'd met while the thoughts were still fresh in her mind.
"See that? Blue skies as far as the eye can see," she pointed out, though the squirrel nearby her paid her absolutely no mind and continued with its foraging. "It's a good sign," Taz continued, as much to herself as to the nearby animal. It'd been a long ride to reach this point, and before this trip, Taz had been rather unaccustomed to being completely alone for such long stretches of time. She'd taken to having (decidedly one-sided) conversations with her horse, and now found the habit of talking aloud a bit hard to break.
"I'm gonna miss him, you know," she told the squirrel, squinting as she looked over towards the stables. Taz had planned to ride by herself all the way to Lambor's Hold, but her horse had thrown a shoe and injured himself a few days prior. Thankfully they hadn't had to walk but a few miles before encountering the Harpyie's Nest Inn. With her options flagging and her resources dwindling by the night, Taz felt like she had little choice but to agree when a farrier passing through the inn offered to take the injured horse off of her hands. She would have preferred to just have the horse's shoe repaired and go on her way, but the injury he'd suffered would take days and maybe weeks to heal, and she hardly had the money for a nightly bed by then anyway.
So she'd accepted a pitifully low sum in trade for the horse, and decided to trust in luck to see her the rest of the way to the village. The inn wasn't exactly bustling, but people were through it enough that she was certain she could con convince someone to let her accompany them further along her way.
That'd been a week ago, and though she was once again pitifully low on funds, she finally had a PLAN - and even better, a bag full of cookies from the bakery attached to the inn. Mork's caravan would head towards the coast soon, and traveling with such a group offered a good bit more security than traveling alone, horse or no horse.
Thinking about her task, Taz pulled out the sealed parchment case the wizard had entrusted to her. He'd given her very, very firm instructions to not attempt to open it, and so far she'd resisted the temptation to break the seal and snoop. He'd seemed the sort to plant a pretty nasty surprise into such a thing to harm people who didn't listen, she thought. She tucked it back away to quit fostering temptation, and pulled out a cookie instead. She watched the fields aside the inn as she consumed her sugary breakfast, and thought about the people she'd met via the tavern over the past week.
Once the cookie was gone, she brushed her hands off and pulled out her notebook. Lyrics and stanzas were forming in her thoughts, and she hurried to jot down her impressions of the travelers she'd met while the thoughts were still fresh in her mind.