"Let's rest for a minute?" Rook half asked, half demanded as she set down her bow and quiver, then plopped herself down on the trunk of a fallen tree, wiped a small bead of sweat from her forehead, and took a drink of the tepid water in her waterskin.

Though it was only spring, it was a warm day, too warm for the multiple layers she was wearing. But she was reluctant to discard the extra garments, knowing she would miss them once the sun went down. "We've got to be getting really close," she commented after a few moments. She pulled out a folded piece of parchment to study it, though by now, they'd looked at the map so much she could have probably recreated it from memory.

"Maybe the ruins are just over that hill?" she said hopefully, then laughed at herself slightly and gave a half chuckle toward her companion. "Though I guess I said that about the last hill too."

Jenna had been quietly panting to herself but refused to sit down, taking instead to against a tree. A thin layer of frustration had been building up over the last few days. Surely, it was a fake by now she though while watching that darn shred of fabric. She thought of other things and breathed her muscles loose. Remember the prize, her father always said.

She looked around at the surroundings and found them to deemed them to lack interest, nowhere to find and there was a bloodlust which boiled. Her eyes scanned more and landed on the Rook's waterskin. Her mouth realised its own dryness and she reached for her own pack. her angst relaxing upon the first taste of liquid. She closed her eyes and took in the essence.

The unmistakable ruffle of foliage rustled at her feet. Her hand, as it never really left it, pulsed on the dagger at her belt. She waited for whatever rodent or otherwise scatter from safety.

Still looking at the parchment, Rook didn't immediately notice that Jenna was intent upon whatever critter was moving underfoot. "Hey," she said suddenly, with some excitement in her voice, "do you think that hill back there is this one on the map?" She pointed at the parchment, then the hill and back again, "If so, we're really close! Just need to head up this ravine!"

Already convinced she was right, Rook grabbed her bow and quiver. "Look! There's the odd rock formation!" With a renewed energy, she looked at her friend. "I think we might have found it!"

Now, let's hope there's something more interesting than old rock foundations here to find...

The creature, whatever has been had escaped her and the fury instead coursed through her own blood, filling every extremity of her body. She breathed slowly to contain the malcontent.

"I'm not sure. Hills and rocks look very similar around here." she admitted with a strain in her tone. Before she was done calming, Rook had started up again for another go. Jenna shrugged and went along after her. The liveliness of her brought its own benefits, especially to curb the boredom of the endless hours of barely-trodden paths.

Jenna looked upon Rook wearing that impenetrable hope again and sighed again, waiting for the another square rock with bugs under it.

Jenna was right about two things. There was indeed a square rock and the centipede crawling along the side of it but this square rock was the intricately carved centerpiece of a conspicuous and perhaps ancient entrance. It was a wonder it wasn't ruins, the fallen trees in the area considered. She scanned the perimeter again, due to habit.

"And no one else heard you before? Are you sure?" She asked for what must have been the fourteenth time.

"Of course I'm sure," Rook said, brushing aside Jenna's concern as they discovered the intricately carved rock. She pulled off a few tendrils of ivy from the rock to get a better look at the carvings beneath. "Would you look at that?" she said, admiring the ancient craftsmanship.

But that didn't hold her attention long and she broke off a good solid stick and started poking around, looking for a way down into the underground chambers that were surely around here somewhere...

A young man clad in ragged clothes watched the two explorers from his favorite vantage point and froze as he saw one of the women scanning the woods, hoping she hadn't spotted him. "Well, well, won't Tarkin be interested in this news," he said to himself. He'd been up in the tree with his bow and arrow hoping a deer or other quarry might stroll through, but hadn't expected this kind of luck! Of course, he couldn't climb down right now without being heard or seen, so he stayed put and watched.