[EVENT] Border Patrol

[Djute]

At least a month had passed since the previous expedition, and the members of Arcadia's Eyes again found themselves on a job. The country of Ibium was in dispute with its neighbor Actona and they had hired the guild to patrol their borders and update their maps for strategic strengths and weaknesses. Djute was to map the border itself, while Hammond would cross over into Actona and map out anything of note near the border. They would also be looking for any Actonians that tried to cross the border. The hope was that they would not have to openly clash with any soldiers, but if it came down to it, they would have to fight. At the moment, Djute sat on large hill overlooking the border. A half-drawn map sat in his lap and an apple core sat next to him. He had drawn as much as he could for the time being, but he was waiting for Garoche and Lars to return with more information about the strength of the border. Normally, Garoche would have gone off on his own and let Lars scout with Hester, but in the wake of the chaos of the previous expedition, Hester was no longer capable of going on expeditions. Djute still had not gotten over what had happened and he had spoken little since.

Djute sighed heavily and set the map aside, rising slowly to his feet. The scouts were taking a long time to return and sitting for so long was making him sore. Rather than simply sitting around and waiting, he decided to practice his sword play in the time being. Walking to the lone tree atop the hill, he retrieved his sword from where he had placed it. Removing it from the scabbard, he placed himself in the middle of the hill and began to run himself through the drills that his teacher had taught him. When he had limbered up and the soreness had left his body, he continued his practice on the Astra strike. He had since started trying it with his armor on, and that had knocked him back a bit in his progress. He was again having trouble with the third swing, though this time the weight of the armor, rather than his feet, was getting in the way.

[Zacharia]

Similarly, Zacharia hadn't heard a peep out of Garrett as far as he could remember. But there was nothing the shaman could do to convince Garrett otherwise. He'd have to work his feelings out for himself. He had been a little more silent as well; not out of sense of self, but the constant scrying attempts were leaving him out of touch with reality. He could've passed the time with what he received from the previous expedition, but he wanted to keep it a secret just a little while longer. Maybe after they had recovered from the events. He saw Djute practicing off in the distance, complete with the curses that came with it. At least he was trying as hard as the former student was. Djute was serious about this bet, it seemed. Zacharia decided to climb up the lone tree at the top of the hill and watch him practice. The Astral Strike, right? Something like that--whatever it was called it had a type of beauty in the way one performed it. "Why is there only one tree at the top of the hill anyway?" he softly spoke his thoughts aloud. "I wonder if there was ever more..." Nuts, his thoughts came back to scrying yet again. He just needed to focus on the mission and not on practice, of which there wasn't much to focus on. Thankfully it was rather cut and dry. The hardest part so far had been getting to Ibium.

Every step he climbed up the tree it felt like the wood itself was simply contouring to his demands. There was always a foot or handhold when he needed it, thankfully. He hauled himself up to a decent way up and watched over Djute from above, not thinking of how he kinda ditched his group. He also wasn't thinking about how the branch was slowly cracking underneath him----whump----oh look, he was facing the sky. "Hello, sky." he chuckled and held his magical book close. It was quite a fall, but thankfully the unkempt grass was something of a lifesaver for him. The branch had went off to do its own business of course, but he wondered if Djute had heard the noise. He didn't want to inconvenience the lad if he was right in the middle of his training.