Tormented Tarns Orion and His Belt

Phone post because I was too excited to wait, aha. @Hosannah

It was with the tales of his mother's life before him that had inspired the boy to go out and see the world. Though young and inexperienced, he'd seen little wrong with the idea and had proceeded with it even after having heard his father speak against it. He could not blame the elder male, knowing well what his reasoning was, but he also couldn't conform to his ruling. It was long after the sun had set that the child had slipped away, telling only his grandmother of his departure. While he'd been loath to harm his father in any way, the idea of never seeing the same sights his mother had earlier in life had left him feeling empty inside. Having not been able to know the woman firsthand, he felt the only way to connect with her was by living the lifestyle she had. Which, from what he'd understood, meant traversing the land around him and taking paths less frequented. Somewhere along the way, his paws had crossed the threshold into what he would eventually learn to be called the Teekon Wilds.

Minshi knew not for how long he'd be traveling, nor was he concerned enough to try and calculate the days passed. Each night brought with it the stars, guiding him north away from the only home he'd ever known, and that was all that really mattered. For each night that light filled the sky, he would remain content with his decision and press onward through exhaustion. It was an unhealthy way to live, really, but there was no one there to lead him down a different way of living. All he had was his will to travel and the obligation he believed himself to have; as he saw it, there was no one else capable of following in his mother's footsteps, leaving him to be the one to honour her memory. His thought process was not at all correct, and yet, never did that dawn on him.

Through various terrains he'd trekked, up until the point in which he'd found himself entering a place that seemed flooded. It was far harder to get across, the water cold and dry land seeming to be nonexistent. That is, until he'd happened across a very thin strip of a path, to which he'd immediately stepped upon. It was not entirely dry, quite muddy, actually, but it was good enough for him. It was with a great shake of his slate coat that he'd rid himself of some of the water, leaving his fur to stick up in various directions. Thereafter, he'd continued forward, having to walk cautiously along the strip to avoid reentering the mass of water. The idea that, perhaps the piece of earth would not stretch on forever had yet to be realized, leaving young Minshi to press forward with a childlike smile and burning determination.

she was weak still, but surviving. somehow. by the grace of her lord perhaps - she would not doubt Him - but whatever the case, she was alive. the poison had lasted days, but the effects were limited. a shortness of breath, a persistent ache to her muscles and joints, some dizziness... it wasn't the worst she had experienced. hosannah's tail had not recovered. it would not, unless gifted with healing powers by a higher power, which even she knew was not something the lord would grant. she lived by scrounging meals from nothingness - hunting alongside the mountain when she had the energy, which was fleeting, or scavenging. with some luck she had discovered a burrow of mice still sleeping through the winter, and had gorged herself.

her belly wasn't full, but full enough. and there was still light to guide her. the stranger that had led her this far was gone, vanished back from whence they came, so to hosannah she had been saved by the daystar alone; the stranger being an agent of her lord, more or less an angel. she was back on the path now. wounded, weary, but resilient. she would need a certain level of tenacity to survive the next few days of chilled water, swampland, and strangeness -- and in delving through the wilderness, she began her migration.

perhaps, had she been of sounder mind and body, hosannah would have noticed the stranger in her midst.

It was by some mysterious stroke of luck that the child had spotted her, his interest immediately piqued. He was, by nature, a sociable boy, never being one to turn down an opportunity at speaking with another living soul. Back home, he would have approached her right away, completely disregarding any potential dangers that might arise from such an impulsive action. Here, however, he knew not what to expect. Even still, his right forelimb had raised, fully prepared to initiate the closing of the distance between them, before an echo of a voice had stopped him dead in his tracks. Few words had been exchanged between himself and his grandmother upon his admittance to the journey he'd planned, causing her warning given to stand out against all else. She had told him to be careful, to be weary of strangers and ensure they had no ill intentions prior to approaching them. That alone kept him glued down in place.

While Minshi was not prepared to engage the stranger in any sort of encounter, his interest in her seemed to skyrocket. He knew not of the throes she'd recently endured, nor had he any clue as to what her purposes for being there were, but that did little to quell his desire to speak with her. The star child had to fight every instinct in his body in order to stay in place, though those efforts never managed to reach his inky gaze. One look and anyone could see the internal struggle he was having with himself, his silent fascination with the golden wanderer sitting atop the throne of it all.

there would come a time when hosannah needed the aid of many, and now would have been a close call. leaving her home behind had been a poor decision. or it would have been a poor decision, had she needed to think about it. when the will of Raas is spoken, one follows. the fact that the priests had granted her this boon, this holy quest, had given her a purpose. yet she was here in a swamp of all places, her body injured and her spirit dulled; it took all of her energy to focus upon keeping to the true ground and not sink in to the mire. she could not take the time to look around, nor to stop, and would soon pass by without a word to the onlooking child. there was work to be done - to fix herself, and to spread the greatness of her lord - and no time to waste.

*shakes fist at the die*

The boy's movements had stilled entirely by then, gaze unwavering as he'd watched her get closer and closer. As the distance between them had decreased, he'd been given the opportunity to sneak a better peek at her. From afar, he'd been unable to see how battered she was, but once he'd been able to his mind had started to soar. A great deal of questions flooded his thoughts, some of which were followed up on by vivid mental images and totally made-up scenarios. What had happened to her? Where did she come from? Was she a warrior of some sort? A killer? Was she going to hurt him? In the end, he'd psyched himself out, giving her a life story that would most likely never belong to her in the real world. It existed only within his mind, but that was enough to light his nerves ablaze.

Minshi had moved clear out of her path, his paws finding their way into the murky water once more just to avoid a confrontation with the stranger. A part of him still wished to converse with her, maybe see if she could tell him anything about that land he'd found himself in, but his anxieties trumped everything else. All his body wanted to do at that point was head for dryer land and clearer skies, and perhaps even meet someone who didn't look like they'd just been through hell and back