01.26.2016
Dalence did prepare a sack of dried fruits and skins of water before she ventured off. And she told some people on the top of the Knuckles that she was going to spend the day in Bansuth, to meet a friend of hers who was doing some business there as of late. She expected to be back by nightfall, but don’t be concerned if she was late in returning.
Tunshan thought it was strange for one so excited by the wolf to be cavalier with returning, since the wolf would likely be back, and who would want to miss that? But she didn’t say anything either. Perhaps this friend in Bansuth was a lover she had not seen in some time due to the distance.
Dalence started down a steep slope of scree as she made her way down to the pass through the Knuckles, the Splitskin. Few people ventured up higher than the pass itself, so there was no worn trail. Here and there she crossed small streams from runoff on the mountainsides, and, in northfacing pockets, she found patches of ice and snow much had so far withstood the summer temperatures. But they still fed the streams, little by little each day.
A fog lay over the ground below her which made it impossible to make out anything on the Finger. But further out she could see a few stray peaks, and they eroded the fog around them as the morning wore on. Several hours in and Dalence decided to lie down for a quick snack and a nap. She had not gotten any sleep since yesterday afternoon. She lay in a quiet grove of pine and used her knapsack as pillow.
A group of squirrels ran about and chased one another loudly in the shade and woke her. From the position of the sun now, she guessed it was two hours on, so maybe about 8am. She munched on some dried dates and began walking again. The trees were thick and the forest quiet, but here and there sun dappled the path.
She rounded a bend where the trees gave way to a steep cliff and she got her first good view of the Far Finger in the daylight. Even from ten miles out, she could see the darkened patches of the city, which stood in odd relief to the bright green forest surrounding, and the meadows that were sprinkled about.