Verdigris Ravine tercera

mercy had caught the scent of pronghorn, or what she could compare to pronghorn, and had been on the trail for a few hours. at this point she wasn't sure if it was the possible meal that fueled her adventure or the familiarity of the scent, because it reminded her so strongly of sangeda.

the sand gave way to scattered limestone stacks, and by the time she found cover among the stone arches, she knew she'd lost the game trail and her efforts were in vain. that said, she was pleasantly surprised by the reach of the shadows within the ravine, the greenery, and the pockets of water; she stopped to drink from one of those pools and forced herself to linger until she'd had a good fill of it, even though the water tasted strongly like minerals.

from there, she had to choose: explore the caverns and potentially get lost, or turn around. the sun was beginning to set but mercedes knew she had a few hours before the chill of night fully descended; so she chose the first option, and delved further.