Is it So Difficult to (Find the Little Lion) ?

"My name is Yu, and like, my cute little Scotty is missing!  He's so tiny and like, a giant bird could pick him up and fly away so I totally need your help cuz like, I just don't know what to do, like, he wanders off sooo much and like, I just like, miss him more than I can stand so I really need you to find him."  Leah squinted dubiously at the dark haired kid who seemed to be nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other every quarter of a second.  Holding up her left palm in the universal signal for 'Halt', the redhead took a few shallow breaths to remind herself that handling this girl's problem was not going to be a huge endeavor.  A missing child was odd, though, at least in her opinion-- the client seemed to be around eleven years old, and the concern was not quite right for a sibling.  But what did she know, really?

"Alright, do ye know where yer kid was last?  Anythin' as could help me?" the mage prodded the other girl questioningly.

"Ehhh?  Well, I mean like, he likes onions, I feed them to him all the time, and he's super strong for his age I'm sure so like, don't think he's going to stay around!  We were taking a nap when like, I fell asleep cause like, that's what we were doing and anyways so like, he just was gone when I woke up."

253/5000, 1/20

"And yer sure someone didn't take him or sommat like that, he's just been lost?"  With someone as trusting as Yu was making him out to be, the kid probably would have willingly left with a random stranger. Since Leah had been enlisted to 'help discover the whereabouts of a missing loved one,' it was honestly her duty to consider all possibilities, not only the presented ones.

"No, you see, he's like, suuuper territorial, and I don't think you understand how important this is!  Scotty could be getting hurt right now and you're here asking me a bunch of questions that are like, totally pointless.  Like, I know you probably think lions are super scary and Scotty is as brave as a grown-up lion, but like, he could be in danger right now!  Can you just like, leave already?  And do something??"

Leah nearly tripped over nothing at that exclamation.  Scotty is a lion?  A baby lion, or a juvenile lion, but still... he's a damned cat?  And this ten-year-old or whatnot kid is keeping him?  That's gotta not be safe...  Her instincts said to find the cub and make certain that Yu would be going nowhere near it ever again.  No matter how trained or tame wild animals are, they always retain their instincts if they were born in the wild.  Then again, how could she know the domestic roots of the pet?  ... and she probably wouldn't be rewarded if she didn't bring back the creature to its owner, no matter how noble her efforts supposedly were.

515/5000, 2/20

And jewels basically dictated her entire life.  So any thoughts of attempting to see through ethically appropriate efforts had been solidly tossed out of the window.

With a soft, reassuring smile, Leah nodded briefly to the kid before turning away, a few fingers brushing momentarily over the guild mark centered at the base of her neck.  Sure, Golden Phoenix was a legal guild-- but although she had theoretically been accepted to join, it was at most on a probation-type basis.  The mage had hardly even met any other members yet, so she had mixed feelings of loyalty towards the guild.  Of course, it was legal, which was why she felt somewhat troubled by the fact that her hands were tied when it came to the situation of bringing back the lion cub to Yu.  Legal guilds had a responsibility for the common welfare of the people of Fiore, right?

... that really did sound too stuck up.  Too self-righteous.  Too ridiculous.

The redhead refrained from doing so, but it was tempting to spit on the ground merely at the thought of such foolish talk and action.  Nobility was for true heroes, and she was hardly one.  Her strides lengthening, her haste to escape (from the stifling air that seemed to hang thickly in the air around the little girl with noire hair) became apparent as she walked from the area.  The almost bog that she felt around the client was a mixture of uncertainty, shame, and realization at her own actions.  But Leah couldn't be bothered to care any longer after the pricklish, uncomfortable feeling left her skin.

782/5000, 3/20

Her lips curled up into an inadvertent smile as a chilly gust collided with her pale cheeks.  Today was a beautiful day, with an overcast sky that scattered light evenly and minimized crisp shadows.  It was just the way she enjoyed it.  And miniature zephyrs only served to heighten the delightful mood that the combined work of the picture-esque environment and the ideal weather conditions had created.  Leah ambled easily along the brush line of the forest, not quite willing to go back in yet.  Cliffs were just so... intriguing, really.  Something about the sheer drop, the immense height difference, and the potential power residing in all of the above.  Really, the mage couldn't see how it wouldn't impress a gixie.  Consequently, her fingers dropped to her sides and stilled from their usual twitching movement that signaled focus and slight anxiety on account of a situation.

She could take her time, but considering the circumstances, it would probably be to her advantage not to.  The girl was worried about her- her Scotty, and although the redhead had no real desire to use that to her advantage, she had no qualms about doing so.  Especially, it needed to be remembered that if she had no intention of manipulating the girl into letting the creature go free and safe (for all involved parties) into the wild, then Leah should remain as uninvolved and careless as possible.  Or else her conscience might get to her, And wouldn't that be a shame? she mused.

1036/5000, 4/20

If she continued to stroll along at this pace, the mage reckoned that she might finish the job within... well, she actually had no clear estimation.  The forests behind the serene cliffs were deep but not horribly dark or dense, considering that there was hardly a significant canopy layer and that the trees were often cleared out by mages wielding flames or just wood cutters in general.  They were as greedy for jewels as Leah herself was.  That, and there were so many duels and battles that took place in this area that one couldn't be bothered to keep a clear count, not to mention that it would be nearly impossible.  Loitering around on the edge of a forest, keeping count of those who entered and what their business was... that was rude.  And suspicious.  Something not to be done, no matter whose random whim it was on.

But truly, she would eventually have to search for the cub.  What she was doing right now could admittedly qualify as looking- just, looking at the view.  Not for a baby lion.

Witholding a sigh of relief (for some only the gods know reason, for there was absolutely nobody around to judge her on any obvious exasperation), Leah started off at a decently brisk pace through the tall grass that grew just a few meters back from the rocky mixture of dead micro-organisms and packed dirt that made up the top layer of the cliff face.  Underneath, there was surely some combination of granite, mica, quartz... or the like.  But stubby grass could force down roots in the soil almost right near to the edge of the formation, so clearly there were some nutrients here.

1320/5000, 5/20

The thin, straw-like stalks parted easily to her leather boots as the mage ventured farther and farther away from the lovely scene she had lingered in excess to admire earlier.  As she moved, something was... strange.  Perhaps the vibrations through the air had sent off warning signals to the animals in the area, but the gist of it was that there seemed to be a general lack of wildlife as she passed through the outskirts of the forest.  Not a single squirrel, bird, or even insect was visible.  It was highly unnerving, not to mention suspicious, since she knew for a fact that a few days ago when she had come through here to measure some leaves' length (don't ask) there had been a countless number of chittering creatures.  Was she that frightening?  It would be nice to believe she had gained substantial power since that pointless busywork, but it was unlikely.  After all... here she was, still fetching pets for little children who had misplaced their bucket of care that morning.  And every morning, really-- it hardly even existed for most kids, especially ones who were completely oblivious to the struggles that happened between magical folk when it came to the safety of Fiore (and all other countries where legal mages tried to keep order).

But she digressed.  The basis for all her curious wondering was the lack of... life.  And she disliked it, being improper and unnatural and all.  An ecosystem such as the one she was walking through really ought to teem with the bustling of life in all sizes, but it was utterly silent.

1588/5000, 6/20

Leah repressed a shudder as a slimy, though somehow brittle branch crackled against the wool of her top.  Rather than her ordinary dark outfit of leather and linen, the mage had opted for a knit sweater that was now quite warm and cozy in the shadows of the woodland.  The initial hope had been to seem more approachable to the young client, but the girl had been so determined, nearly petulant, about finding the... Scotty... that there had been really no reason at all now for wearing the thing.  Despite the warmth, it was impractical in a place with so many twigs and little bits that easily caught and got stuck in the petite holes.

By now, the mage must have been at least a half mile into the forest.  Her mind was caught up in the peculiarities, but her eyes still flitted around ever so often.  It was simply her nature to be on the lookout all the time, because survival was her first and foremost priority.  The earth under her boots began to squish and her feet sank more with each step she took.  Hardly was the ground swamp, per se, but it was rather moist, and grabbing a handful of soil and squeezing might even render several drops' worth of water (hardly that of a sponge, but rather wet nonetheless).  And then all of a sudden, she burst out into a swampy area (but not quite littered with pools of water).  There was rock underneath her feet, and the solidness warned her of what was ahead: the sheer drop of a cliff face.  Around the stone were scattered a handful of large, shiny... pebbles?  They were ridged with what seemed to be different sections, with at least three different layers as well.

1884/5000, 7/20

How odd, she acknowledged with more than a hint of interest.

And then she took another step closer and the strange little things began to move.  A few took to the air while others simply regrouped, skittering towards her at an alarming rate.  Soon enough, Leah found herself confronted by what was a massive horde of beetles: previously sunning, trying to catch what heat they could from the cloudy sky, now aggrieved by her clumsy human footsteps.  The entire swarm took to the air and headed straight for the redhead.  Nearly at the level of a thunder by now, the cloud came roaring towards the girl.

But she was already gone.  Backing away, sprinting into the forest; Leah might not be able to outrun the critters, yet even so she could escape.  Having a head start was the majority of the reason why.  After all, as soon as the glimmering things had begun to stir, the mage had been up and hightailing it out of there.  She had instincts.  They told her to run.  Likely enough, the beetles had been eating all of the smaller insects, and as a pack, they could probably give the smaller mammals and birds a hard time.  Perhaps they had simply evacuated the area for their convenience... it was a plausible explanation, although she had not noticed any beetles in the forest (they probably would have reacted to her stomping around in the brush, anyways, and she would have known nearly instantly).

2134/5000, 8/20

Her iLac didn't really get much of a signal out here, nonetheless she was able to, after a decently dragging loading time, discover some information about beetles in the Serene Cliffs area. Ha-abwera Beetles were highly aggressive and also preyed on smaller species of bugs.  Being semi-intelligent but very cohesive and well oriented as an overall group, they were something to be avoided.  Leah had trusted her gut, and it had paid off.  Nobody liked to be ambushed by little... mites?  They weren't insects.  Oh well, whatever.

A glance over her shoulder told her that once again, she appeared to be absolutely alone with the towering trees and messy undergrowth.  Much of which, on a second thought, was currently stuffed through the holes of her sweater and peevishly prickling at her skin.  Battle scars were one thing, but from bouts with acidic pine sap and branch scratches?  Not so appealing.

With a quickened step Leah continued on, weaving through the maze of trunks and saplings, speed as deft as she could muster.  Her dodging technique showed less dexterity as the minutes dragged on, but the redhead maintained her pace at the very least.  She wanted this job done.   It was a simple one: finding a missing pet, and shouldn't have posed any issues in the first place.  Yet, due to her meandering around and sightseeing views that she had already taken in multiple times before (aka wasting time,) the mission had swallowed up the entire morning already.  And she had only encountered beetles and ran away, half-ripping up her garments as she went.

2466/5000, 9/20

Judging by the position of the sun alone, or at least what she could see of it from her spot basically submerged in the forest, it was nearly high noon.

Her visage now grim at the prospect of possibly spending two days rambling around in the wilderness, searching for a lion, Leah hurried through the woodland at as rapid of a speed as she could maintain tirelessly. With a penchant for spending only as much time on jobs as was necessary, the girl had no intention of ruining her good streak now just because of frivolous sightseeing. With a straight set to her mouth (there was nobody nearby to impress, anyways) the redhead marched onwards.

And came across some things-- animals-- that were actually alive. Of course, there was an obvious faulty to her observation; there was also an animal that was dead. Now it was clear why the other creatures had fled the forest. Giant birds of prey perched on sun-bleached rocks, so pale that they seemed to be carved from clean marble. Their beaks were splotched with a deep maroon rust, and from the sides the innards of some unfortunate animal dangled sickeningly. Prone in front of the four raptors, its belly ripped open savagely, was a doe whose pelt was a soft hazel hue. Even not being one who approved of unnecessary cruelty, the redhead could find nothing wrong with this scene. Surely they were just predators doing their job...? The mammal had been killed as cleanly as the birds were used to, that was certain.

Of course, then the hulking figures spotted Leah.

2667/5000, 10/20

Their beaks were honestly not particularly impressive: gargantuan, hooked affairs, coated lightly with a smattering of gore from their last meal of a fully grown female deer. On second thought, she acknowledged, I probably ought to get a runnin' by... a long time ago... And with that lovely, panicked phrase racing through her head, Leah bolted from the scene.

The one bright, relieving fact was that the birds couldn't follow her into the forest. Their bodies were too large (hardly a reassuring idea). Only... she wasn't free yet. The raptors were circling in the air above the trees, gnarled talons hanging menacingly from the air in a reminder that she could easily be dead meat if a single pace was taken away from the tree line. As far as escape routes went, she was obviously trapped, for the pattern of their flying was continuous and left no room for error to let her loose. Having finally captured prey in the forest (now she knew for certain that this was why the larger animals, who couldn't survive in an enclosed space or on vegetation so had fled) they were patient enough to hunt it. In fact, their aerial rotations were so uncannily synchronized, and there even seemed to be flying shifts where the birds would switch off with others of their kind. Leah was well and fully stuck in a sticky situation, and there seemed to be no way out of it. At least, no way to remain alive and leave the forest.

2924/5000, 11/20

She was barred from escape to any side, basically, for they could dive down and pluck her up as easily as flicking a fly off her shoulder. Similarly, trying to climb up would only make her a more appetizing target.

Well, wasn't the answer obvious? The only possibility was to go down.

Immediately, her gaze dropped to the sticky soil pressed beneath the soles of her feet. Soft and almost squishy for the most part, her assumption was that any kind of passage dug would be unstable and liable to collapse in on itself. Unless, of course, it was reinforced with magic: earth, or stone based would probably do the trick. Unfortunately, the redhead was thoroughly not an elemental mage with any sort of power to suck out the water, dry up the land, stabilize the earth, or blow away the excess moisture. So an underground tunnel was out of the equation, and once again, the girl was left with no options for escape. Forgetting all about her desire to finish the mission in less than one day or her worries of extending it to two; Leah might be stuck here until the birds forgot (unlikely, if they continued to patrol in such a manner) or dropped dead due to heat exhaustion or the like. Considering that the predators were circling the forest in an ingenious pattern of taking turns, the second also seemed highly unlikely.

So what was a fire haired mage to do? All she had were a whole bunch of knives.

3179/5000, 12/20

One throw. That was all she needed.

The musty air felt like a bog trapped in her lungs, heavy within her chest. It made breathing so hard, almost as if any second, now she would-

No. She could do this. One throw. Maybe eighteen, twenty birds at the most. One throw.

Exhaling as sharply as she could in the heat that made all her breaths and movements sluggish, Leah drew out forty darts from her personal space. Rather than allowing them to litter the ground and undoubtedly sink into the spongey soil, she stuck them all through her belt. Bending over would result in a Leah-pincushion, but it would do for now, since little to no mobility was required for this concept to work. And then, she began climbing.

Fitting three of the miniature daggers between her fingers, point out, made scaling the thick trunks a lot easier. The needle-like points of the knives (although much thicker, admittedly) barely pierced the layered bark and likely caused no damage at all (and certainly no lasting such) to the tree itself. Upon reaching a decently sized branch, Leah hoisted herself up to rest and drink what she could from the flasks of water (cool and refreshing from the shade) without becoming bloated or dehydrated. Balance, balance, balance, was all she could focus on, in many regards. It kept her from falling and it kept her from gulping down an entire canteen for absolutely no practical reason. Up the redhead went, clinging to tree knots and scrambling for footholds. Several times, the makeshift claws saved her from a long and potentially (probably) lethal fall.

3450/5000, 13/20

At last, her slim fingers were wrapped around the highest boughs of the sturdy tree she had chosen to climb, and what a wondrous sight it really was from up here. Not nearly up in space, but still perched in what seemed to be the midst of the sky, finally arriving at the top somewhat made up for all the stressful hugging of a tree she had done in the minutes before. And of course, despite the fact that it seemed to Leah that climbing the statuesque hardwood tree had taken at least four to five hours, this was hardly the case. In all honesty, the redhead had barely spent an hour, and that was with the greatest care which she had taken.

Now her plan would have a chance to be put into action. Risky and altogether unsatisfying in her head, it was a concept that she had tossed around quite a bit before forcing aside her doubts and beginning to scale a tall, chosen trunk fairly in the center of the forest. Really, it was a simple idea; to kill all the rotating birds in the hopes that reinforcements would not arrive with enough time. If other birds were nearby and not currently taking part in the carousel-esque pattern, they would hopefully be few in number: just the couple of raptors who were arriving to relieve the most tired of their companions.

Her throwing skills had been unmatched before her death, and now they were significantly impaired. With any hope, it would still be enough to take down a bunch of nasty predators.

3716/5000, 14/20

She was sprinting towards the cliffs, her knees battered and raw, grit and mud splashed into the open cuts and onto her starkly pale skin. Behind her, at least a score of carcasses littered the ground. Much to a common would-be bystander's surprise, there were several other dead bodies of the same large birds, struck down in droves around the forest.

But they weren't all dead, and the surviving raptors were coming for her.

Leah's entire respiratory system gasped for air as she skidded to a halt at the edge of the cliff. Underneath, there wasn't just a gaping ravine; a racing river, the water's speed heightened by the narrowness of the valley, flowed meters down from the rocky drop. She would jump, if she had to, but if fighting off the raptors was in any way possible on land...

I ain't going anywhere near them rapids, she swore with a crazed light in her eyes at the thought of being submerged in the slippery substance, being dragged beneath the waves' surface. Of the life-giving liquid pouring into her chest cavities and stealing away the breath from her lungs. She shuddered despite the sweltering sun that was now free to beat down on her sensitive skin after emerging from the forest's dense cover.

As the birds dove at Leah, her vision blurred and her knees buckled. Consequently straining for any grip at all on her senses, the redhead took the only route possible. As her bloodied darts disappeared from where they had been tucked into her belt (the ones she recovered, at least) the mage turned and launched herself off the cliff.

The brief feeling of weightlessness soon subsided as she plunged into the icy river.

4004/5000, 15/20

It swept her downstream at what seemed to be the speed of sound. Due to sheer luck, the body of water wasn't filled with large rocks that jutted up and could impale her in combination with the forceful movement of the river. Still, nonetheless, there was plenty current to drive her into the riverbank again and again, much to her dismay. The painful jolts were thankfully not quite powerful enough to cause serious bruising that would result in internal damage or the like, but her thin frame was decorated with scrapes and splotches of crimson to violet, freshly broken vessels under each patch of colored skin.

But overall, Leah was absolutely fine. Dandy, not so much. Yet she would unarguably survive.

That was, until her flitting eyes caught sight of the disappearance of the flow farther down the valley. The ripples seemed to just vanish into thin air, but she knew better; they roared down into a powerful cascade that smashed anyone borne inside the river onto rocks or the cement-like surface of the larger body below. She could recall vividly the feeling of her bones shivering upon impact, then shattering after her skeleton tried to bend and slightly splinter to sustain minimal damage and utterly failed.

The redhead refused to experience it again. With flinty eyes and gritted teeth, she scanned the area for something, anything to keep her from falling. Twelve seconds...

Her hand barely caught a branch before it was tugged from her grasp as the waves carried her farther downstream. Nine seconds...

4260/5000, 16/20

And then she was out of the water. Hands clawing for purchase on the loose, root-infested ground, Leah clung for dear life as the current continued on without her. Miraculously, she had been caught in front of a large rock that was situated directly neighboring to the shore itself (not so hard that she would have broken bones, but with no little force). Shakily, Leah picked herself up on the solid ground. Her clothes were soaked, saturated so heavily that as she tried to stand up straight, the pull swayed her from side to side. With a bit of hesitation, the redhead disrobed just enough so that she could be upright on her own feet without feeling like gravity was going to conquer her if the slightest, most gentle of breezes lent a small bit of help.

Her expression was hardly joyful, but it was immensely calm compared to earlier. There were no birds around here and certainly no rushing rapids to send her heart rate skyrocketing through the roof.

Leaving her discarded clothes out in the sun on the bank to dry briefly, the redhead began to venture back into the thin forest that stood a decent number of paces away from the bank. Intending to return for them later, likely after the mission, Leah strolled along through the forest with a singularly relaxed gait. Her hair seemed to be like... pleats of red linen, stiff and flaring slightly with the light bounce of her easy movements. Without her heavy sweater and long leggings, her mobility was no longer as severely impaired as it had been upon first exiting the water. The downside was that now her legs and arms were covered in scratches from the twigs and little bits that stuck out pell mell in the forest, both from the brush and from the branches and trunks of trees.

4571/5000, 17/20

She honestly had no idea how the situation had escalated so quickly.

One minute, it seemed, she was peacefully ambling along through the woods, returning to retrieve the clothes that she had assumed were dry by then. The next, she was rushing through the forest at a breakneck speed, trying to out-run the freaking... albino bull moose or whatnot that had charged her from out of the blue. Her impression had always been that large creatures were sluggish, or at least slower than she could be (especially considering it was her job to move around quickly) but the fact that the white (not albino, as a closer look revealed there were no red eyes) herbivore was more frightening than the murder of human sized crows she had encountered earlier.

Winding through the maze of trees was easier here than it had been on top of the cliff, where the trunks grew together much more dense despite the efforts of several different groups to bring the growth to heed. Leah was able to sprint at her fastest speed without much focus on dodging mother nature. This turned out to be to her disadvantage. Any slowing due to extra necessary concentration would have been to her benefit, since she was more apt to this sort of thing than the moose, who had chased down wandering mages before but was not as familiar with running away as the redhead was.

She sent a few darts whistling through the air back at the moose, who knocked them away with surprising deftness using his antlers. Can this thing just... not... Leah hissed to herself. The mission had already been filled with plenty of interruptions.

4853/5000, 18/20

At last, the moose had snorted haughtily and refrained from chasing the girl any further.  Likely, Leah reflected as she snuck as furtively as she could (so as to not catch the brilliant pelted creature's attention again) she had stepped onto its territory or something.  Weren't hippos terribly aggressive like that as well?

No matter.  The girl bent down to gather up her garments, noting with satisfaction that although the yarn of her top was still damp (one couldn't expect those gnarled threads to just let loose all their moisture like *that*, no matter how warm it was) .  After slipping them on and acclimating to the texture of frizzy knit and smooth cotton (in the case of her over leggings) the redhead continued on her way.  This time, she was much determined that there would be absolutely no interventions.  Luck was apparently on her side, for within perhaps forty minutes of ruthless searching (not allowing for any breaks for drinks or shade time, despite the powerful heat radiating from the sun) her goal was met.

A scrap of a lion cub (cute, to be fair) purred softly from his perch on a low boulder, located near the edge of the lower-level forest. With a heart lightened by the discovery and promise of jewels, Leah scooped up the baby predator and started off back to town. Yu would be delighted, she was sure.

5085/5000, 19/20 (Done by word count).