Post by Wildrun on Aug 14, 2012 12:34:18 GMT -5
Dust rose into the thick summer air, blurring the horizon and shifting in the heat wave. The mouse travelling wanly wished for anything other than black fur as the sun seemed to target her, toasty on her arms as sweat droplets rolled lazily down her forehead. Her legs ached dully, reminding her of the hard travelling she had done and the injuries that still hid in her muscles. Trudging with determined breaths to the crest of a hill, she bent double and considered taking a break. She froze, however, as she looked up to judge the time of day and, in the distance, saw rising red walls.
Oaklea's tail flicked back and forth as she absorbed the view. The Abbey was a mere trek away. She wiped the sticky pool of sweat from her neck, muttered an encouragement to herself--"C'mon, you've run through marshes longer than this road. And they didn't have scones at the end."--and marched with renewed vigor.
A while later, the dust-coated traveler stepped off the main path and stood for a moment. She let her rucksack drop to the ground beside her and craned her neck upwards, staring at the old, old walls she had been away from for so long.
The mousemaid quietly inhaled, closing her eyes as a rush of images--battles, friends, enemies, far away places she'd spent the last year--flooded the space behind her eyelids and slowly ebbed, receding in the face of the overwhelming calm emitted by the great red stones.
Home.
Oaklea opened her eyes and felt a grin split her face as she waved her arms and danced around, cupping her paws to her mouth and hollering, "Allooooo up there! Hail to the gates! There's a long-lost Redwaller down here who's starvin'! Open up and let me in for tea, afore I perish of lonesomeness!"
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((It's been a looooong time. I thought I'd come back and look around...hi, guys.))
Oaklea's tail flicked back and forth as she absorbed the view. The Abbey was a mere trek away. She wiped the sticky pool of sweat from her neck, muttered an encouragement to herself--"C'mon, you've run through marshes longer than this road. And they didn't have scones at the end."--and marched with renewed vigor.
A while later, the dust-coated traveler stepped off the main path and stood for a moment. She let her rucksack drop to the ground beside her and craned her neck upwards, staring at the old, old walls she had been away from for so long.
The mousemaid quietly inhaled, closing her eyes as a rush of images--battles, friends, enemies, far away places she'd spent the last year--flooded the space behind her eyelids and slowly ebbed, receding in the face of the overwhelming calm emitted by the great red stones.
Home.
Oaklea opened her eyes and felt a grin split her face as she waved her arms and danced around, cupping her paws to her mouth and hollering, "Allooooo up there! Hail to the gates! There's a long-lost Redwaller down here who's starvin'! Open up and let me in for tea, afore I perish of lonesomeness!"
----------
((It's been a looooong time. I thought I'd come back and look around...hi, guys.))