Rotten Logs, Rotten Luck

visualspice · December 16, 2012, 11:32:31 PM

"In the river!?" Miersck's face fell. He turned to look towards the river and cringed, and still kept his teeth bared when she mentioned her tale. No, it was a bad idea, she was right. He'd rather not think about the river water, but that still left him without his cloak.

"Look, I can't go into a town looking like this!" Miersck whined, finding himself reluctantly following the mermaid as she began to move onward towards the town. "It's dangerous for my kind to even be out here. I'm not from around these parts but I," and here, his feet caught upon the root of a nearby tree and his arms began to pinwheel as he fell forward. He managed to catch himself, but not without stumbling into Alycia as he did so, and soon found himself falling on top of her as they both landed in the grassy mud.

Embarassed, Miersck's face heated up as he looked down, realizing their faces were just inches away from one another as he remained, positioned awkwardly on top of her.
And although it was out of character, so was the moment as he stammered, "Er- S-sorry!" and was quick to scramble to his feet as he glared over at the tree root he had tripped over.
"Stupid, gnarled old tree root!" he said, hissing towards it as his hair and wings bristled- far too consumed in his OWN worries and woes to be a gentle man and offer the poor mermaid a hand.

OOC: Hope it's ok I had him trip and fall ontop of her, if not, I can adjust my post :)

zozee9 · December 18, 2012, 02:35:47 PM

It took Miersck telling her for Alycia to realize that he probably wasn't any safer than she was. After all, mermaids weren't the only beings that were hunted. This realization made her feel a little bit of sympathy for him, and she was about offer him cloak when, well, he was on top of her.

His eyes were right above hers. And goodness gracious, she still found them attractive. Alycia may have been playing it strong around him, teasing him and all, but this was too much for her normally shy personality. He was just so close and it caused her mask to break. Alycia could never be an actor.

Whereas this incident made Miersck break out of character, it snapped Alycia right back into hers. She moved her eyes back and forth—looked anywhere but at him. She could feel her face heat up. Her cheeks got pretty red. Even when Miersck got up, she couldn't calm her beating heart.

Although Alycia would've freaked out no matter who it was that was so close to her, the fact that she still thought Miersck was strangely attractive did not help. After a second, she murmured, "It's... no... no big deal." Slowly sitting herself up, Alycia took a few deep breaths. She knew Miersck had fell (she had guessed that even before he started yelling at the tree root), but, even still, this kind of thing had never happened to her. So she just sat there, dazed, trying to get back into her previous outgoing mindset.

visualspice · December 18, 2012, 02:42:50 PM

Miersck was still angrily berating the tree root, having focused on it for longer than he should have, considering he was just as embarrassed as she was (after all, he was a boy, and falling on top of an attractive girl never bode well for his senses as they tingled and burned in uncomfortable ways.)
Turning back to her, he noted the blush and averted his gaze angrily. Why was she blushing!? It wasn't like he-
Then he paled, his heart skipping a beat..

No, no, that didn't happen. Though panic streaked his eyes, but he shook it away.
No, no! He just fell on top of her. Nothing more than that!

But..t he poor mermaid did seem rather jarred. Sighing, he grumbled and moved towards her, offering her a hand.
"Here, let me help you up." he said, but couldn't look at her, the blush still evident on his face, even though his skin was dark as he waited patiently for her to take his hand.

OOC: He's being nice!? *gasp* Who is this Miersck person in this post!? *shocked*

Well, I'm sure he'll say something mean next time to ruin the moment anyway, haha.

zozee9 · December 19, 2012, 01:43:28 PM

Miersck offering Alycia his hand did not help her calm down. But she took it anyway and got up. Then she picked up her bag (she dropped it when she fell).

To hide her embarrassment, Alycia did what she always did and pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. She held it there for a few seconds, looking at the ground, before remembering something. Then, without hesitation, she put her bag down again and started taking her cloak off. Alycia hated not having her cloak on. It made her feel unprotected. But she didn't actually need it. So she pulled it over her head.

This left her loose brown pants and tight green shirt exposed. Her shirt had short sleeves since it was too hot to have long sleeve shirts under a cloak, but now her bare arms made her feel exposed. That might seem strange to others, since Alycia was a mermaid and would swim in a corset, but that's just how her mind worked. Her mermaid self was different than her human self. And, unless she was disguised as someone else, her human self always felt bare.

But Alycia pretended like nothing was wrong and just held her cloak out to Miersck. He was about her size so she'd be surprised if it didn't fit him. And it didn't seem girly. Deciding that she should probably actually say something, Alycia asked, "Do you want to wear my cloak? It's a hundred percent dry and will cover your wings for you. So you don't have to worry about people seeing them." Alycia added in a smile for good measure.

visualspice · December 19, 2012, 02:46:48 PM

Miersck took a step back when she began to take off her hooded cape.
Was she trying to undress!? What was this crazy mermaid doing!?
However, as much as he wanted to tear his eyes off of her, they stayed-
and he found himself just staring at her-

Even after the cape had been offered.
It took him a while to realize what she was doing as he wrinkled his nose.

"No, you keep it," he said, even though, part of him wanted to use it to hide himself away. He was well aware of the dangers of that and well...
"My wings need to dry anyways." he grumbled, moving past her. He needed to cool his face off. He didn't know what the heck was coming over him- perhaps he just needed to eat more.
Yeah, eat more.

Food was good.

"Let's just hurry up and get to the nearest town. Maybe I can get a cloak by then."

Although I haven't any money, he thought bitterly as he moved forward in the direction Alycia had been moving in until she had stopped abruptly to offer him her cape.

What was wrong with her anyways? Offering him her clothing?
He wasn't used to someone be so accommodating as she was being, and felt awkward for it.

"Come on. Let's hurry up." He didn't look back to see if she was following, he just kept clumsily moving forward, shuffling his awkward, wet wings upon his back. It would, ugh, take most of the day for them to dry. He ruffled a hand through his hair. And his hair.. he frowned, but kept his focus forward.

Yeah, he'd just follow her to town, get himself a new hooded cloak and well, that would be that. He could keep moving on to well.. where ever..
He stole a glance down at his hand.
Some of the binding over the black mark on his hand had come lose.
He was quick to draw in hand in, working at sealing up the wraps over the mark, but frowned as he realized, some of the black, veins still were showing through- and his skin was already greying away on the skin around it.

He frowned and tried to forget about it.

He had to keep moving onward...

Even though, the more he moved, the cursed seemed to tail him.

zozee9 · December 22, 2012, 11:26:55 AM

So he doesn't want my cloak?! thought Alycia. All that complaining, and he doesn't want my cloak. Isn't that just great. With a sigh, she put the cloak back on. If he wasn't going to wear it, she might as well.

Alycia was following Miersck. She knew the walk would take at least a few days and wasn't in any hurry, but it seemed like he was. She wished she could actually control water. Then she would've been able to dry off his wings for him. But from all experiences she had, she wasn't able to. That being said, she did discover new talents as time passed...

As Alycia was debating whether or not she should attempt to find out if she was actually able to control water, Miersck seemed to slow down. Confused, Alycia walked closer to him. He was doing something with his hand.

Are there black marks on his hand? thought Alycia. At first she doubted herself, but it seemed like he was trying to cover them up. And the more she looked, the more apparent they became. She decided not to just hide her curiosity.

Now so close to him that she was basically talking in his ear, Alycia asked, "What are those black marks? And... is your hand turning gray?" She knew no berries or common dyes that could've made his hand gray. That seemed awfully suspicious.

visualspice · December 22, 2012, 11:33:58 AM

Miersck made a noise and a jump, totally taken off guard with how close Alycia had gotten that he had almost missed her comment about his hand. His red eyes then went to his hand, the stupid bindings coming loose again as he growled and covered it up with his other hand.

"It's none of your business!" he growled, turning away from her and storming down the trail.
If there was one sore spot on Miersck, it was any mention of the stupid mark on his arm.
Water and his wet wings aside, now he was more than irritably, even a little jumpy and on edge since the mermaid had gotten so close to him without noticing as he nervously ran a hand through his white hair.

"Look, I just don't want to talk about it," he grumbled, a moment later. Though now that they were talking about it, the stupid mark seemed to turn itchy as he gave it a scratched, grunting as he did so and fussed more over the bindings, trying to be more careful this time so she couldn't see it as he tended to it. Though when he noticed more grey skin was showing, he frowned, his wings seeming to wilt along with along with the expression.

zozee9 · December 30, 2012, 04:04:51 PM

It did not take much for Alycia to tell how annoyed and irritated Miersck was. He said that he didn't want to talk about it, but he obviously was thinking about it. All of his body language was hinting towards that. Even his wings.

Catching up to Miersck, Alycia sighed. Although she wished she could comfort him and help him somehow, she knew that that wasn't likely. First of all, she had no idea how to comfort someone like him. Secondly, she had just met him and didn't want to intrude. And, lastly, she was afraid that if she said something wrong, he would just leave. So she just walked beside him in silence.

They weren't near the river anymore. Instead, they were heading towards the forest. Looking at the trees, Alycia sighed again. She had never liked forests. They were nice for seclusion and sometimes had rivers in them, but that was all that was good. Plus, the rivers were usually too shallow for her to go into. But these woods looked especially menacing. The trees were tall and left lots of shade. The bark wasn't the least bit smoothed and even looked like some of the trees had claw marks in them. Alycia couldn't even see any flowers in this forest.

But two more things seemed unsettling to Alycia. The thing she noticed first was that the woods were eerily silent. She couldn't hear a single bird singing or squirrel chattering or snake slithering. With the exception of the leaves crunching under Miersck and her feet, she heard nothing. Even the river behind them seemed to become dead silent. Also, the woods appeared out of no where. It was river, then a plain, then the woods. There were barely any trees by the river, and the few trees there were were small. But, all of a sudden, there was a giant forest. Subconsciously, Alycia threw a nervous glance towards Miersck.

OOC: Sorry for the late response! I was out of town and we had no wi-fi.

visualspice · December 30, 2012, 05:11:13 PM

OOC: It's ok! <3 tis the season to be busy!

IC:
Miersck continued walking in silence, but it was that silence that jarred him, not in the forest, but with his companion. She had been bubbly and happy a moment ago, now..
He glanced over his shoulder and looked at her. She looked nervous.
Did he make her upset or something?

Miersck slowed his pace, sighing hotly as he closed his eyes.
"Look, I didn't mean to yell.." though it was hard to tell he was being sincere, and not angry, since he certainly sounded angry, hands clenched into fists at his side, but he was attempting at an apology, even though every second of it burned at his pride.
However, he was so wound up over his own irritations that he almost didn't notice the white deer before them and suddenly he froze.

The deer raised it's head, eating a mouthful of grass and staring back at them with black eyes.
Miersck's wings twitched, his hands moving outward, legs poised as if his body were acting as a defensive shield between the animal and Alycia. It seemed Miersck and the deer were having a stare down, but then Miersck felt something- he wasn't sure what, and the animal suddenly bolted.

Releasing his breath, Miersck stood more erect as he watched it leap away.
"Well that was strange. Are you ok?" he turned towards Alycia, only to become completely frozen in shock as a massive bear was slowly stalking their way. It was close enough he could hear it's grunts and breathing as it approached with it's wide steps.
Miersck's lips gaped open, moving as if to say something, eyes as wide as the sun.
"We.. need.. to run.." Miersck stammered, and suddenly the bear got up on it's hind legs, drawing it's heavy front paws to it's chest as it let out a raw, it's maw baring large, angry white teeth.
"Shit!"

zozee9 · January 01, 2013, 07:49:56 AM

Miersck's sudden apology surprised her more than the deer did. That deer, however, seemed to freak Miersck out. Alycia almost laughed. Deer were basically harmless—unless you got them mad. That being said, Alycia had never seen a white deer before. Just as she was about to tell Miersck not to worry about the deer, it ran. So she didn't.

But then Miersck turned towards Alycia. Even asked how she was. And then froze up. She could tell by his expression that this was a bigger problem than the deer. With Miersck and herself and the forest silent, Alycia could easily hear the heavy breath of the thing behind her. Slowly turning around, Alycia's eyes widened at the sight of the giant bear. This bear did not seem harmless.

The bear started standing up on its hinds legs and Alycia was so frightened and mesmerized by the creature that she didn't even hear what Miersck was saying. When the bear roared, Alycia couldn't help but notice that its gigantic mouth looked like it could eat her in a few bites. And yet something about this creature compelled her. It was so frightening and yet so magnificent. The power, the strength, the grandeur... as well as something else she couldn't quite place her mind on all reminded her of magic. Alycia took this feeling to be the magic of nature, though that wasn't necessarily correct.

But that feeling got Alycia wondering. Could she copy a bear? She had never tried to copy anything but a human before... and even though she could do that flawlessly, she didn't know what might happen if she couldn't completely copy the bear. Maybe nothing. Or maybe she'd be some kind of weird morphed thing between a human and a bear. Although Alycia was now extremely tempted to try transforming into the creature in front of her, she withheld herself due to the fact that it might eat them any second. And it didn't seem like the ideal time to explore her own magic.

All of those thoughts passed through Alycia's head in a matter of seconds. With wide eyes, she slowly backed away so she was next to Miersck. "What do we do?" asked Alycia.

visualspice · January 01, 2013, 09:30:38 PM

Miersck didn't need to answer her as the bear moved forward and before Miersck knew it, he grabbed onto her wrist and was dragging her away, running like a mad man across the brush.
He could hear the bear pause to roar angrily behind them.
"Whatever you do, just keep running!" Miersck shouted, fear gripping his heart as adrenaline nearly made his feet fly across the ground. He was moving so fast and desperate that he didn't see the steep drop before them until it was too late.

Leaves skirted beneath him as he pinwheeled to a halt at the crest of the hill, his hand still clutching onto Alycia's desperately. They were both teetering now, just at the edge, and thankfully Miersck had managed to halt them before they would have fallen over the side! It was a long drop, and Miersck's face paled at the thought hte two of them could have been tumbling to their deaths...

But then he heard the bear and when he whirled around, the thing was nearly upon them.
"Oh Gods, hold on!" was all Miersck could shout as he suddenly pulled Alycia into his arms and threw them both over the cliff side, moments before the bear's maw crunched into the air, mere inches from their faces....

And they began to free fall, falling over the edge and down.. down.. down.. their faces towards the sky.
And he had to think quick. Holding the girl fiercely in his arms, he closed his eyes tightly and turne them in mid air as they began to free fall and with a pain filled cry- He withdrew his wings as they shot open upon his back.

Although they were drying, the one wing had been crumpled and now that it was being forced to work, it nearly tore as the weight from the river, Miersck's own body weight, and the additional from Alycia began to take it's toll as his wings helped guide the two towards the ground.

Though the bottom came closer than he thought, and a landing wasn't calculated as the two suddenly collided into the ground and were tossed into a jumbled mess of spinning limbs and scrapping off the underbrush until the both settled into a pile upon the floor- Alycia nestled below him, sitll within his arms.

YEs.. ironically.. Miersck was still holding onto her so tight he hadn't realized he had shielded her from most of the scrapes from the fall....

He, on the other hand, remained motionless as he lay there, breathing heavily into her hair as blood began to trickle from the various cuts now burning across his body.

OOC: Hope this post works XD
I suddenly got inspired and the fingers kept typing @_@ ;

zozee9 · January 02, 2013, 07:16:39 AM

Don't fall, thought Alycia after Miersck grabbed her hand and sprinted. Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall. The sudden jerk of the pull on her wrist made her totter about for a little while, but she regained her balance. Keep running. Faster, faster, faster. Then a cliff appeared. Alycia knew she probably would've just fallen over the edge if it wasn't for Miersck.

She looked down. They were pretty high up. She could see grass and bushes and some trees below them, but no water. Water would've been a life saver. Even though Miersck didn't like it, Alycia could've turned into a mermaid and protected them from any serious harm. But there was no water.

Turning around, she stared at the bear wide eyed. It was right there. Right in front of them. Then Miersck shouted something and hugged her tightly and all of a sudden they were falling.

What did he say? wondered Alycia. It seemed to her like everything was moving in slow motion. She saw the bear's mouth almost eat her nose off, along with the rest of her face. She saw the clouds in the sky, floating happily about as if nothing was wrong. And she saw Miersck's wings unfold in such a manner that they seemed both beautiful and painful. After a few long seconds, they hit the ground, but Alycia barely felt any pain after the inicial shock.

Unexpectedly, Alycia was quite calm. She had never been in a situation this tense since she got captured as a child. And she barely remembered that. Just running, running, running. And then tripping. The visions of blue, and green, and tan. Then the red. The red was the worst.

Red, red, red, thought Alycia now, trying to remember what that red was. Then her life seemed to speed back up and her eyes widened as she looked at Miersck and saw, well, red. Blood red. The same color as the red in her memory. Although she couldn't remember what exactly happened before, she knew the red wasn't good then. And it ruined her life. She wasn't about to let that happen again.

Alycia instinctively got out from underneath him. She was about to turn him around but decided that might not be good for his wings. She started going through her brain for anything that could help.

Blood had water. She was a mermaid. She couldn't control water. It didn't matter that blood had water.

Doctors could help fix him up. She wasn't a doctor. There wasn't a village close enough. There were no doctors.

Herbs could stop bleeding. But she didn't know which herbs. And she didn't want to grab a poisoness one. So she didn't want to rely on herbs.

But then Alycia saw her bag a few feet away. She must've dropped it at some point during the fall. Quickly limping over to it (her legs were weak from the shock produced by hitting the ground), she opened it up and started looking in it. In desperation, she turned it upside down, dumped everything out, and got on her knees to look through everything.

Finding a salve that was supposed to help stop bleeding and heal cuts, Alycia went back over to Miersck. She put it on all of the smaller cuts she could find. But some of them just seemed too big. Pulling off her cloak and ripping some pieces off of it, she tightly wound the pieces around his arms and legs to hopefully help stop the bleeding.

OOC: The more you write, the more I'm inspired to write XD I'm easily inspired by other people's writing so... yeah.

visualspice · January 02, 2013, 09:37:45 AM

OOC: I Don't know *why* I'm envisioning Miersck being bound up like a mummy but...
8D~

IC:
Miersck groaned and began to come around. While she was tending to him and sorting through her pack, he had found himself too dizzy to stand or move, and in too much pain it stunned him. He would have remained laying there all day if he could, but then he felt movement upon him and after a time..

He sucked in a breath between clenched teeth the moment she applied the salve across a large gash on his arm. The pain was enough to rouse him and he was sitting up, but not without consequences as he let out a noise, his body quivering in pain.
Panting, he paused a moment, a grimace on his face as he waited, waited.. waited for the pain to subside before groaning and opening his eyes up towards her.

It was only then he felt the bindings on his body, and curious, he turned to Alycia and blinked.
"What I-"
then blinked again as he peered up at the top of the treacherous hillside they had fallen down.
He turned back to Alycia, eyes flickeirng over her once before he suddenly asked.
"We survived.." then a moment later, after his wings gave a painful twitch, he added. "Are you ok?"
He was obviously more worse for wear but...
well, even he couldn't ignore inquiring about her feelings, after all, he had just risked their neck for them when they could have been gobbled up, just moments ago, from the bear.

It was only then he heard the bears soft complaints at the top of the hill as it stalked across it in an angry fashion. Thankfully it was worlds above them as Miersck sighed and turned back to the mermaid.

zozee9 · January 05, 2013, 07:56:39 AM

OOC: I don't think he actually is bound up like a mummy, but I have the same image too...

IC:
When Alycia first met Miersck, she found him annoying—even though she tried not to judge him. He was just rude to her. But now it was obvious that there was more to him than met the eye.

Anybody with a soul probably would've helped her get away from the bear. That part didn't really surprise her. The jump off the cliff was the only option. So that made sense too. But he didn't have to take all the damage. Alycia assumed he did so on purpose, given how he had been holding her. And even with all his injuries and obvious pain, the first thing he asked her was if she was okay.

So Alycia's opinion of Miersck had drastically changed. Although he may have been mean on the outside, she was starting to believe that maybe he was a sweetheart on the inside. With this realization, Alycia definitely wasn't going to treat him the same.

With a smile, she responded, "I'm perfectly fine, thanks to you." Then she paused and added, quietly, "You saved my life."

Now that she had done everything she could do to help his injuries, Alycia returned to her pile of junk that had fallen out of her bag. She looked at her ruined cloak and decided that it was probably about time to buy a new one, anyway. And given that it had been used to help someone, she decided not to think about her bare arms and un-cloakable head.

Turning her head back towards Miersck, she laughed and said, "Well, I guess you are wearing some of my cloak." And he didn't have much choice in the matter that time.

Finally, Alycia returned her eyes to the pile and started searching through it. There was food, extra clothes, a bunch of maps, some money, and other random stuff. It was the other random stuff that interested her at this point in time. Alycia grabbed one of the many pieces of paper (though one of the few blank ones) and some ink and a feather.

visualspice · January 05, 2013, 11:01:18 AM

OOC: I Know he's not- but the idea of it just amused me!

IC:
Miersck looked down at the wrappings on his body and felt himself flush, then over to her, blinking curiously as she rustled through her supplies.
He moved to stand, though winced and fell back, merely shocked by the sudden pain. It wasn't over whelming, but his body ached.
He tried again and moved to her side, his teeth still bared as he peered at her things.
"You carry a lot of stuff," he idly commented and tilted his head at the paper and ink.

OOC: Sorry it's short XD

zozee9 · January 08, 2013, 03:06:47 PM

It was quite obvious to Alycia that Miersck was still in pain. She would've been quite surprised if he wasn't, considering how much he was hurt. And she didn't even close the big cuts. Although she normally would've had him stand, she didn't like the idea of putting him through more pain.

"Lay down," Alycia demanded. "Flat on the ground. I need to draw a picture of you." She paused. "I suppose you could lean against a tree or something if you'd like. But I feel like that would be painful. I just don't know if you'd be comfortable with me leaning over you to draw you. But, whatever you choose to do, I'll try to be quick."

Alycia felt absolutely no need to tell him why she wanted to draw him. If he cared, he'd ask. If he didn't, he wouldn't. He would figure out sooner or later, anyway. And she definitely wasn't going to use the drawing before notifying him. But she also figured that he would ask her why. People always did.

visualspice · January 08, 2013, 03:17:56 PM

Miersck blinked.
"What do you want me to ly down for?" he almost snorted at the idea of being told what to do. But then she went about explaining ad he couldn't help but feel himself blush.
"You want to what!?" his wings and hair bristled.
Shaking his head he backed away.
"Why would you want to do that?" he seemed rather jarred by the idea, staring at her skeptically as his eyes went from quill to paper, then back to her quill again.

zozee9 · January 09, 2013, 06:23:25 PM

Miersck's reaction to her demands made Alycia laugh. And the bristling of his wings and hair was so attractive. That thought made her blush a little bit.

Like she expected, Miersck did ask why she wanted to draw him. In normal situations, she wouldn't have told somebody what her magic was in such a short time. But in normal situations, she wouldn't have wanted to draw someone. And Miersck had done enough to earn her trust.

After a slight hesitation, Alycia responded, "I can perform some transformation magic. If I have a drawing of you, I know I can transform into you at any given time." She paused. "I'm kind of worried that once we get to town, something will happen. I have a bad feeling about it. And if you get in some sort of trouble, I can definitely help you get out of it by transforming into you. It confuses people. Majorly."

One of Alycia's biggest problems with her transformation magic was that she usually forgot what people looked like. And without a clear image in her head, she couldn't successfully transform. The other problem she had was that people usually felt uncomfortable with her drawing them and being able to transform into them at will.

This realization coming upon her yet again, Alycia added, "If you don't want me to draw you, I don't have to. I just figured it might be useful."

visualspice · January 09, 2013, 06:31:51 PM

Miersck blinked.
"What?" the idea baffled him, then his entire body suddenly gave way to blush as he realized...

If she were him.. she know every minute detail about his body and....

He suddenly felt a droplet of stinging blood and his nose and gasped, putting a hand to it.
Turning away, he wiped the blood off on his arm, giving a sniff.
"Why would you want to do that?" he snapped, grumpily, wings twitching at his back. "I mean... wouldn't that also put you into harms way if I was in harms way?" he shook his head. "That's just crazy!"

zozee9 · January 11, 2013, 07:54:28 PM

Seeing blood, Alycia quickly hurried to her cape before ripping off yet another little piece. Then she went up to Miersck and gave it to him to stop the bleeding.

"I don't need to do it if you don't like. But it wouldn't really put me in harms way. I mean, I can always transform into someone else. I have been playing cat and mouse for almost a year now and have never been caught." And, for some reason Alycia didn't quite understand, there were a lot of people that chased her. "But if you don't want me to, then that's that."

Alycia returned to her bag. She put then quill and the paper and everything else back into it. She hesitated for a second before sticking her cloak in the bag as well. Her uncovered arms were still bugging her a little big. But she picked up the bag. And then put it back down. Taking out a map, she looked at it with wonder while thinking, Where in the world are we?!