The sun shining in her eyes, Leona sat up on her bed. After a few days of relative inactivity mixed with interesting social gatherings, she was ready to find a job. However, she was not quite ready to take on another bounty hunting job or travel far afield just yet. She wanted to stay close to home for the time being. Leona thought about the range of things that could be done around the guild hall... she had heard that the kitchen and library could always use a helping hand.
She decided to postpone those endeavors because she had recalled a more interesting activity. The blonde had heard of a guild ritual called "Howl With the Wolves." It involved trekking to a mountain range, then building a campfire and howling at the moon, preferably in the company of fellow guild members. While she was already an "official" Silver Wolf member, Leona decided to do it because it was a way to unofficially cement her status as a group member. It was worth a shot.
Dressing in her traditional white t-shirt and desert camouflage shorts with tan boots, Leona added her desert cloak to her backpack. She did not count on blending in. Brown was a horrible choice if one wanted to blend into a snowy mountain range. Rather, the cloak would provide some measure of warmth because the area outside the guild hall was still cold. One day she needed to visit a town and buy some long pants to make travel in cold climates more comfortable.
Once her backpack was checked and everything in place, Leona checked her canteen. Having been born and raised in the desert, she always made sure to have a canteen of safe, drinkable water on hand. She had lost track of how many desiccated corpses she had found of people who had died from dehydration. It was too many to remember, but the count was easily in the twenties or thirties. Thankfully she was traveling in a snowy region... she could always melt snow over a fire for painfully cold but safe and plentiful drinking water.
The canteen was full. She placed it in her backpack and put it on her back. Leona was ready to go. The gathering was going to be held in the Phoenix Mountains, which was close to where the guild hall was located. Having the ritual in home territory was safe and convenient, but she would be in for quite a hike.
Leona had been hiking in the mountains a few times before. As long as she did not look over the side of the cliff, she was fine. Thinking about mountains brought back an unpleasant memory.
One of the last times she had been mountain hiking was with her older brother when she was eight years old. He picked her up, swung her by the waist, and playfully threatened to throw her over the side. Unfortunately for both Jarnefeldts, he almost followed through on the threat when his foot slipped on a small rock in the middle of the path and he fell onto his back in mid-swing.
It was nothing short of a miracle that Leona did not die that day. She had landed on her side and had almost rolled over the edge when her older brother somehow righted himself, scrambled on all fours and seized her right leg just in time. She remembered hanging upside down while facing the cliff wall and praying that she would be pulled up soon. It took what seemed like forever for him to actually pull her up. It was an experience that Leona did not ever want to repeat.
Leona did one last check of her supplies. She had everything she needed. Leona shut her room door and set out for the meeting point in the Phoenix Mountains.
[Word Count: 640]
She decided to postpone those endeavors because she had recalled a more interesting activity. The blonde had heard of a guild ritual called "Howl With the Wolves." It involved trekking to a mountain range, then building a campfire and howling at the moon, preferably in the company of fellow guild members. While she was already an "official" Silver Wolf member, Leona decided to do it because it was a way to unofficially cement her status as a group member. It was worth a shot.
Dressing in her traditional white t-shirt and desert camouflage shorts with tan boots, Leona added her desert cloak to her backpack. She did not count on blending in. Brown was a horrible choice if one wanted to blend into a snowy mountain range. Rather, the cloak would provide some measure of warmth because the area outside the guild hall was still cold. One day she needed to visit a town and buy some long pants to make travel in cold climates more comfortable.
Once her backpack was checked and everything in place, Leona checked her canteen. Having been born and raised in the desert, she always made sure to have a canteen of safe, drinkable water on hand. She had lost track of how many desiccated corpses she had found of people who had died from dehydration. It was too many to remember, but the count was easily in the twenties or thirties. Thankfully she was traveling in a snowy region... she could always melt snow over a fire for painfully cold but safe and plentiful drinking water.
The canteen was full. She placed it in her backpack and put it on her back. Leona was ready to go. The gathering was going to be held in the Phoenix Mountains, which was close to where the guild hall was located. Having the ritual in home territory was safe and convenient, but she would be in for quite a hike.
Leona had been hiking in the mountains a few times before. As long as she did not look over the side of the cliff, she was fine. Thinking about mountains brought back an unpleasant memory.
One of the last times she had been mountain hiking was with her older brother when she was eight years old. He picked her up, swung her by the waist, and playfully threatened to throw her over the side. Unfortunately for both Jarnefeldts, he almost followed through on the threat when his foot slipped on a small rock in the middle of the path and he fell onto his back in mid-swing.
It was nothing short of a miracle that Leona did not die that day. She had landed on her side and had almost rolled over the edge when her older brother somehow righted himself, scrambled on all fours and seized her right leg just in time. She remembered hanging upside down while facing the cliff wall and praying that she would be pulled up soon. It took what seemed like forever for him to actually pull her up. It was an experience that Leona did not ever want to repeat.
Leona did one last check of her supplies. She had everything she needed. Leona shut her room door and set out for the meeting point in the Phoenix Mountains.
[Word Count: 640]