07-17 (Search Day 2)

Had the forest not been so trodden perhaps she would have found wildlife tracks. But the groves near the town teemed with the green cloaked rangers. They passed by Havilah as she tried to search, but rarely spoke to her.

Trying to avoid the rabble she hiked ever further into the Fangwood. As the thicket tightened and choked all sunlight, only dapples shown before her. In that darkness she scarcely noticed the aged ranger meditating on a stump.

“Havilah? Hanusøvska? What are you doing out in the Fangwood? You wain, driving your mother mad!” the greyed ranger harked.

“Aubrin, you know well my mama is ripe for ****, I’ve **** but to search for a phycomid to brew a cure. Can you procure it? I’d be most grateful.”

Aubrin grimaced, “I can’t help you Havi, the Chernasardo Rangers need me. The Fangwood, Phaendar, hell all of Nirmathas needs us.” The elder began to pick at the stump she sat on, avoiding eye contact.

“Havi, you are as brave as your mother ever was. These past years you have become hale, why do you stay here? You are the blooming flower of this hamlet. What keeps you here? You deserve to be out in the Fangwood exploring for yourself, like when thee were a wee wain.” she spoke as her second mother kindly. “Your mother and I were Ranger decades ago, gods willing we would’ve had her come out of retirement too. But things grow dire.” Her tone became serious and she closed in with Havilah.

“Scouts deeper in the fangwood say that the Ironfang Legion is crawling out of their caves again. They’re more organized than before, Molthune is funding the war effort. The Lord Commander issued an order, a mission. We need capable people. You’re that Havilah.”

Life in the Chernasardo Rangers was a duty, her mother had give the best years of her life to them. Even as a child Havilah recalled her mother leaving and returning worse for wear. That life wore her down, and now she is ****. The curly haired Wench felt compelled as she hated this job, but then the worries began to beseech her psyche.

“I don’t know Aubrin, my mother needs medicine, what if this jeopardizes everything. And I’m not hale! I just don’t know…

“I’ll teach you tricks of the forest, get you trained for the fight. Come now, no more faffing about, time for you to learn.

….

Once at Aubrin’s camp, they began to train. She held in her hands a curved bow, curled at its ends and still freshly carved. It’s string, taut, tied with spidersilks from the giant spiders that infest the caves below the Fangwood.

Havilah spent the rest of the day learning to fire that bow with accuracy. The fresh breeze held her spirits high and Aubrin imparted her lifelong knowledge, or what could be said within the stretch of the afternoon.

When the sun began to set, the waif could fire a bow with accuracy, and learned to enhance her natural halfling guile.

…

As the day ended, Aubrin pulled Havilah over, “you and I will travel to the staging site near our target, Fort Ramgate. They’re amassing there and we intended to face them head on. I’ve taught you what you need. Meet here at sunset tomorrow.