Traversing the continent had proved to be more difficult for Elias than he had initially thought. One could only travel so fast with a bad leg, and a donkey who didn't always want to do what she was told. Still, Lady Luck had seemed to take a liking to Elias. He'd made it through a good portion of Connlaoth without any misfortunes, and had even found a kind older man to lead him into Serendipity.
That was when his fortunes seemed to come to an end. The plan was to go to Arca, sell his wares, and then maybe stay a while and see if the city suited him. Several days and, unbeknownst to him, wrong turns later, Elias found himself with two options. Follow a path into the Draconi forest, or turn back the way he came.
He stood there a while, leaning against Miss Sue, his donkey, for support. The forest didn't seem too intimidating, he'd crossed part of Connlaoth with a civil war after all, what could be scarier than that?
"Well Miss Sue," He said, patting her side, "No point in goin' back now! Sure as I'm standing here now, we'll find Arca on the other side of this forest! If not, well then I hope wherever we end up, I can get a good soft bed for a night, and you, a nice warm place to sleep."
Taking her lead, Elias led the way down the path into the forest. The going was slow, and just over an hour in, Elias found that the path was growing narrower, and the forest wilder. He'd often have to clear debris from the path in order for Miss Sue to get the cart past.
It was day two in the forest when they lost the cart. The path had ended, so they went off road, when the axle broke, rendering it basically useless. Sitting down on the back of the cart, Elias put his head in his hands. Sure, they could continue without it. He'd just have to leave stuff behind. Mostly things he was going to sell. He had two small trunks with hats in there, not to mention some of his other crafting supplies. Luckily Miss Sue had some saddlebags he could pack, so he fit what he could, after putting in his essentials of course, and they set out into the forest.
"This forest doesn't like us so much, huh?" He said out loud to himself. He stuck close to Miss Sue, keeping an eye out for any creatures that might pose a threat, now that he was deeper into the forest.
The dread that comes from being alone in the woods started to dissipate when Elias and Miss Sue came across a little glen in the woods. Something about it just felt peaceful. In fact, the pair of foxes sunning themselves in the grass were the first animals he'd seen in awhile, which in itself was comforting. Perhaps most exciting, was the pond. He'd been running low on water, and Miss Sue for sure needed more to drink. Limping heavily, he lead her over to the pond, letting her drink while he sat down in the grass.
Shifting to a more comfortable position, Elias checked out his reflection in the pond. He ran his hand along the short hair that had started growing back on his head and sighed. Keeping up appearances on the road was hard.
"Hey Miss Sue, I think I'm starting to get as fuzzy as you are!" He said, turning to smile at her. But she'd wandered up off up stream a ways. For a moment, Elias considered going after her, but shrugged it off. He knew she wouldn't wander far. For now though, he could use a bit of a wash.
Having taken off his boots, cloak, tunic, and rolling his pants up past the knees, Elias uses his cane to help himself to his feet. Still aching from a long days walk, he slowly makes his way into the pond, up to his knees. Scooping up water in his hands, he begins to wash off the dirt of a few days travels, in the relative bliss of the glen.
