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Okay. I look forward to whatever you write.
You are more than welcome to time skip. I have no real prefence. If you want to time skip to Azurei that's fine. I imagine it would take at least a year if not years for them to get there though. But where ever. I don't care. I just don't want to write pages and pages of "they traveled and then made camp"
Only a hundred and three. Most humans never lived that long. Yet Darin was saying it with almost the same tone the elders used when they complained about her. “She’s only sixteen. She’ll settle down in a year or two.” “She’s only seventeen. She still has time to be young.” “She just turned eighteen. Let her make a few more youthful mistakes.” Of course, she was nineteen now. The elders had been starting to worry about her. Not for the first time she wondered how aging worked for Elves. Ridahne was almost five times her age yet seemed to be about the same maturity level. Were Elves children longer than humans being or did their aging slow down when they reached adulthood? Darin could see the positives of living for hundreds of years, but wasn’t sure she could stand being a child for any longer than she had been a child.

Though that did raise an interesting question. How had her aging been affected? The Gardener was the oldest person in Astra. He had been here before Astra was, well, Astra. Did he stop aging when he got his Seed or when he planted it? She didn’t know. It wasn’t something The Tree had decided to tell her. He may not have looked like a Child of Astra, but Darin would say that he looked middle-aged. Did he look middle-aged to Elves or Sirens? She couldn’t ask Ridahne. She hadn’t seen The Gardener. She had said Anojan had seen him. Maybe she could ask the Taja when they got to Azurei. That wouldn’t be bad. Well they weren’t going to get there by standing around.

Taja hopped off of Darin’s shoulder into his travel basket as she said, “Well it will take even longer if we just stand a round. We should get going.”

Talbot took that as the invitation that it was and turned to exit the village. They had to go by the fields and Darin waved at the people going about the harvest with a smile on her face. They paused for a moment to wave back at her before turning back to their work. The ones that had been there when she stopped the rain paused for a moment longer to watch as they actually left. It was a clearly a sign of respect. Right before they officially left Darin turned in her seat to wave at them one last time. She had made some friends here. As a result, she felt a little bit better about her mission. Maybe she could make friends. Maybe this quest wouldn’t be a disaster after all. She had survived the Red Hand at least once; twice if Mark was Red Hand. She had proven she could make friends. She didn’t think the journey would ever be easy, but for the first time she felt cautiously optimistic.

Talbot kept a good pace. He wasn’t pushing himself, but he certainly wasn’t taking things slowly. That was good. They wanted to cover a fair distance today without exhausting themselves. From time to time Taja would take flight and disappear into the trees. He was still too weak to fly as far as he was used to. Still Darin was glad the hawk was making these short little flights. They would safely strengthen the bird’s wings, so soon the Taja would be ready to go back home. There was a part of Darin that wasn’t looking forward to that. She had grown used to the bird’s company. Of course, she would have to return Talbot at some point as well and when all was said and done Ridahne would go home. In the end, if all went well, Darin would be left alone with just her Seed and The Tree it would become. Suddenly she wanted to age and die like a human. She also felt an overwhelming sense of sympathy for The Gardener who had to watch time move without touching him. Darin’s optimism slowly leached out of her as she considered that. She was in for a long lonely life. She didn’t mind being alone, but she didn’t fancy being lonely. She slowly slumped on Talbot’s back. How had she gotten on to this depressing train of thought.
Hello!

In an effort to not have too many interest checks I've combined my Wayward Home and some ideas. I hope that's okay.

That being said I do have a few rules. The first is that I role-play on this site and this site alone. I do not move to discord or email. I don’t mind if we retreat to the PMs or do this via the threads, but I will not move to another site. The next rule is that I want my partner to be 18+. However, I do not do smut. At all. You’ll have to be okay with time skips or fade to blacks. I don’t like writing it. I do not like reading it. I will not do it. I’m okay with violence and darker themes. I’m like to keep the swearing to a minimal but can appreciate a well-placed impactful swear. I do not want it to be every other word. Please and thank you. The next isn’t really a rule it’s just something I feel potential partners should know. I can only post on the weekends. I can chat in the OoC all week long, but posts are a weekend thing. I try to make up for the lack of posting by the quality. I do my best to post longer posts that move the story forward. I try my best not to get wordy, but I do like delving into what my character is thinking.





Anyways I look forward to hearing from you if you’re interested. Have a nice day!

LadyAnnaLee!

Edited: 01/15/2022
Darin seemingly paid more attention to her fingernails as she answered, “Well maybe, if we need to put some time between now and heading to Azurei we could head more due west. If we kind of zigzag though Eluri lands we could enter Orosi lands in the border by the seashore. Then we could zigzag though their lands before heading Azurei. Then we could zigzag though Azurei before heading into human lands. Then we could zigzag there. Our last stop in human lands would be Lively.” She paused for a moment, “And my home. Then we could do the same in the Siren lands.” She let her hand drop as she smiled weakly at Ridahne, “Lots of back and forth.”

Suddenly, with stunning claryity Darin could see the path she wanted to take in her head. It was not an easy path, and Darin had a feeling that someone she didn’t want to would figure it out sooner or later. She wasn’t sure she cared. She just wanted to get this whole thing over sooner rather than later. She wondered if Ridhane knew what was really happening or if the warrior still thought The Seed-Bearer was still looking for a place to plant The Seed. Darin was still doing that, but it wasn’t the primary goal anymore. That was a long way off. She was a sheltered farmgirl. While she knew the importance of hard work she didn’t know much about the world. If she was going to save the world, she supposed she should learn about it and its people. She still hadn’t met any Sirens outside The Farm and they only half counted.

Darin’s attention was back on her fingernails, “I know it doesn’t seem efficient, but I have no real destination in mind. This journey is going to be a long one and I feel like we’ve been talking about Azurei as the final point. It’s not. Even if you do get married there you can’t stay. You made promises to me that cannot be broken and hitting Orosi second makes sense. There would be less backtracking. I already have to backtrack though a part of human lands because I didn’t know what I was doing, I was hopelessly lost, and I hadn’t met you yet. Besides there is something in Greyrock that I need to do. I’m still learning and as such I’ve already put something off for longer than I should of.” She took a shuddering breath, “I would like to avoid doing that or backtracking moving forward.”

This Seed-Bearing thing didn’t come with an instruction book or a teacher. Darin had very little idea of what she was doing. Some of it just made sense like wandering Astra trying to make friends. Some of it she didn’t know she could do until it was done like Chaining Ridhane to The Seed or making Harris a Seed-Friend. Some of it was instinct like how animals listened to her and how she could understand them or stopping the rain. That didn’t mean she knew how she did. The Tree had a fairly decent idea of what she could do but not how or when. The Tree was not human. It could not teach The Seed-Bearer. It could council and advise but not teach. The only one who could have was dead, buried, and had no teacher of his own. That was at least one blessing of this whole thing. Darin would not be expected to teach the next Seed-Bearer. She would be dead.

Darin was still studying her fingernails. They were longer than she liked but she wasn’t sure how to cut them on the road. Back home she would use a paring knife and a great deal of concentration. Darin did not want to try to do that with a sickle. There was dirt under her nails and that was a surprisingly comforting thing. Her hands herself were clean since she had washed them this morning. She had a depressing thought that this would be the last time she would feel properly clean for a long time. She already missed it, but she supposed she could expect to remain pristine while trampling though Astra. That was one miracle too many.

Darin finally turned her whole attention to her traveling companion, “I need to see as much of Astra as possible. I need to meet as many of the Children of Astra as possible. I cannot do that alone. I warned you about this when we meet. Azurei is just one stop. I don’t know when this journey will be over. It will take years at least. However, just because I don’t know where I’m going doesn’t mean I want to be foolish on this trip. Zigzags and back and forths seem like the best idea.” A strange aura came over The Seed-Bearer as an odd glow entered her eyes, “What say you, Ridahne Torenzi.”

The Seed-Chained bit was left unsaid due to the lack of privacy, but the unsaid title hung silent in the air. It was not quite a challenge. Darin truly wanted The Seed-Chain’s advice in the manner. That was the purpose of the people, past present and future, that had or would be Chained to The Seed or The Tree. They were to protect and serve either The Tree or The Seed and by extension the Gardener or The Seed-Bearer. The Gardener was no more. There wouldn’t be any Tree-Chained induviasl for a long, long time. Ridahne Torenzi Seed-Chained was currently the only present member of Darin Seed-Bearer’s, for lack of better word, court present. There were others; Thomas, Mila, Jack, Workers that wanted to be, Harris, but right now, as the only one traveling with Darin the Azurei had the unfortunate honor of playing multiple roles. She had already proven herself as protector and Darin was extremely hesitant to make her play servant. Still Darin needed advice so Ridahne would fill the advisor role. The posture and energy of The Seed-Bearer practically demanded it. That didn’t mean she would listen to it.
This is what Darin is thinking. I know it's not the best but I figured they were at the light pink spot now and end at the hot pink spot. Let me know if you have any questions. I don't think we need to write the entire journey. I figured we could skip to the interesting bits like getting to Azurei, running into Martin in the human lands, a little bit of the Sirens, and whatever else we think is interesting. If Ridahne agree with this path Darin will be hard pressed to diviate from it. She doesn't want to change her plans for anyone, not Sols or kings or other rulers. She wants to meet Hadian and Anojan before she meets the Sols so I'm hoping the path I came up with works for that. If you don't like the path just let me know. It's not set in stone or anything.

Proposed Journey
Darin moved over to where Ridahne was with the other three Azurei. She and the young apprentice made eye contact. For a moment it was tense before Darin let a small smile grace her face. She nodded out of respect for him. Even though the young Eija didn’t return the smile he did return the nod. Darin supposed that was going to be the best she got. She and the young man had found themselves running into each other more than once over the last few weeks. She used the opportunities to practice her Azurei. He had practiced his Common. It was an odd sort of kinship that Darin was shocked to realize that she was going to miss. However, if Ridhane’s words were to be believed she would cross paths with Ja’heil sooner rather than later. That was good. She found herself liking the apprentice.

Darin called out to him in Azurei, “Till we meet again Ja’heil.” She raised her hand in fawell, “May The Tree bless your journeys.”

It was a common enough expression that it caused nothing uxpected and wouldn’t be suspisios. Ja’heil returned it in Common, “Aye Martin. May The Tree Bless your journeys as well.”

Then the two groups separated, and Darin laughed lightly at Ridahne’s obvious restlessness, “Yes. Let’s leave and hope this doesn’t become a habit.”

The Seed-Bearer had a bad feeling that it would become a habit. There were people out there who wanted her dead which meant there were people out there looking for a fight. Which meant Ridahne was going to do most of the fighting and fighting would lead to injuries. Darin had a feeling that he already long journey doubled taking into the account all the time Ridahne would need time to recover. That was not an appealing concept, but to be completely honest Darin didn’t want to bring it up. She was sure, that if it hadn’t already, it would occur to the warrior. It wasn’t like the Azurei was stupid.

Darin made sure her grip on Talbot’s reins wasn’t going to slip before swinging onto his back, “Come on. I was looking on the map and I saw a few more Eluri villages I would like to visit before we get to Azurei. I’m not sure how far the next one is, but the people here resupplied us. We should be able to get there easily enough; we just have to hope we aren’t attacked. I’m so tired of being attacked.”

That was just a little bit of an understatement. She had a feeling that the attacks were only going to keep coming. Though she did have a vague idea of an answer to the Red Hand. She was pretty sure it was inspired by The Tree. The Azurei Sols knew who she was. They knew what the goal was. They had warriors; Eija and Tajas and possibly others. Maybe it was wrong of Darin to think it, but surely there would be nothing wrong with asking the Sols to help them discover the truth behind the Red Hand. Darin just wasn’t sure about trusting the Sols. What little she had heard of them had not endeared them to her. She supposed she really to not make assumptions. Darin wasn’t sure they cared. Ridhane was her friend, kind of sort of, she felt obligated to take her side.

Darin found herself tucking a leg under herself to get comfortable of Talbot’s broad back, “I hope that works for you. I do need to try and travel as much of Astra as possible. There’s no real direct path to where I’m going. I’m not even sure where I’m going. It’s just not here.”
I hope that post is okay. If it's not just let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.
Two weeks was a long time. Darin was starting to get restless. She never thought that she would get restless. Yet she couldn’t help but feel that way since she had other places that she needed to be. Everyday she wasted was a day closer to the death of The Tree. She felt enclosed in this little village. She supposed she couldn’t count the two weeks as fully wasted. Ridhane had needed time to heal and recover from the injuries the Red Hand had given her. The Elf wouldn’t have recovered if they kept moving. So, even though it made Darin anxious she was glad that they had rested in the Eluri village for as long as they did.

She supposed that rested was the wrong word for her. Darin had spent the two weeks helping the villagers in their farms. Most of the Elves regraded the humans with a wariness and suspicion that Darin couldn’t fault. Harris didn’t. Neither did any of those who saw what she had done the night of the rain. They simply let her know where the tools were and let her know how they distributed assignments. Darin took her assignments without complaint and worked her hardest to do her best work. She returned to Konie’s hut sore and exhausted every night. It was the good kind of exhaustion that came from a productive day’s work.

The night before Konie finally gave Ridahne the okay to start traveling. The healer had made it perfectly clear that they needed to take it slow. It was clear that the Eluri had not been impressed with the fact that the human had been traveling with stiches that she kept ripping. Though Darin had healed as well, and she was happy now that she had full use of her arm again. Ridahne and Darin weren’t the only members of their party that had healed. Taja’s wing was finally mended. The hawk was capable of short flights, but he still only put up with Darin. The hawk tolerated Talbot as well, but that was more due to the fact that Talbot didn’t tolerate Taja’s attitude. Though the bird’s attitude had improved since he had been able to hunt for himself.

Right now, Darin was right outside Konie’s hut with her arm extended wearing the falconry gear she had recently acquired. She was waiting for Taja to come back to her after looking for breakfast. She could see him in the trees surrounded the village. She had already eaten and packed last night. They were leaving the village early this morning. The sun was just starting to peak out from the horizon and sky was painted in the rose oranges and blush pinks of dawn. Darin was glad that they were getting a move on. There were a few more Eluri villages she wanted to visit before they reached Azurei. Darin was still trying to make friends. Though she figured that she had done a pretty good job her even if most of them still thought she was a boy.

Darin called out, “Taja! Come on! We need to go get Talbot and finish getting ready to go.”

The hawk let out a screech before gliding over the small open space to landing on his person’s arm. Darin ran her fingers of the golden bird’s chest feathers as he hopped on to her shoulder. The Seed-Bearer was glad for the tough leather protecting her skin. At least the hawk wouldn’t be able to accidently injure her again. Darin turned and began walking towards the stables. Taja figured out where they were going and took of to fly of towards the building. He couldn’t only fly short distances, but soon he would be back to full strength. The human figured he would fly off to not be seen again. That was a bittersweet thought.

Darin got to the stable and called out, “Talbot! We’re leaving.” She muttered quietly, “I’m so glad.”

Talbot must have heard her because he let out a snort of agreement as he tossed his head in a nod. Darin laughed as she got what little tack the horse would let her put on put on. Since that was the reins and the reins only it was easy enough. She also attached Taja’s traveling basket and her bags. She had added to her small collection of things while being in the village. She now had a better knife, another blanket, a pair of leather gloves and she now had three changes of clothes. She also had a proper mending kit and fresh supplies. Harris had made sure she and Ridahne were properly outfitted. The elders of this village still didn’t like her, but as far as Darin could figure out Harris actually had more clout in the village.

Speaking of Harris, a voice filled the air, “We’ll be sad to see you go young Martin. You’re a good worker; better than some of our own young adults.”

Darin smiled at the Eluri as he came up to Talbot’s stall, “I thank you for the compliment, and I wish I could stay, but I have work to do. I cannot do it here.”

Harris nodded, “I didn’t figure you would. You’re a farmer alright, but power like yours comes with responsibility for sure.”

The human bit her lip as she considered. Finally, she spoke slowly, “Yes. To all the Children of Astra.”

Harris instantly understood that he was being trusted with something big and secret. He was completely serious, “What do you mean?”

Darin’s voice was barely a whisper, “The Seed.”

Harris’s eyes went wide, and his response was instant, “Enough!” His voice was sharp, “I need no more!” Then his gaze softened, “Though I can think of no one better.” He bowed slightly as he maintained eyes contact, “Noble lady.” Her eyes went wide, and he laughed lightly at her shock, “I knew when you wouldn’t go swimming with the other young ones. Though you are wise to travel as a boy. Especially if you had such an important task as you are implying, and I do not think you would lie.” He placed a soft kiss on her forehead, “Best of luck young Martin.”

He turned to walk out of the stable when she suddenly called out, “Darin!”

He turned to smile over his shoulder, “Best of luck Martin. And thank you for everything.”

Darin’s voice gained a touch of something, “May The Tree Bless you Harris, Child of the Wind, Child of the Sky. And may that Blessing elevate you. Go Harris Seed-Friend; with my thanks for all that you have done.”

Harris smiled widely as he turned to bow deeply with his right hand crossed over his chest and his fist over his heart. His waist created an almost perfect 90 degrees. Then he turned to leave again. This time he managed to leave. Darin let out the breath she didn’t realize that she had been holding. She needed to stop doing things she didn’t understand even though it felt right now. The Seed had been burning against her thigh the entire time. It was a pleasant sort of burning. There was a change in Darin’s soul that was similar to the time she Chained Ridahne to The Seed. This was done out of respect instead of anger so felt different, but the change was still there. Harris wasn’t quite Seed-Honored, but that was okay. Darin let out another breath. She needed to finish getting ready to go.

She turned to smile at Talbot, “I’ll need to do that for your person.” Talbot nodded and Darin laughed, “Well you’re ready to go. I’m going to go check on Ridahne. I bet she’s even more excited to leave than I am.”

Darin left the stable to head towards Konie’s hut for the last time. She was glad to be leaving, but it had been nice to be a farmer for a little bit. She had not been on ordered bed rest for two weeks. She had just been told to take it easy. She didn’t but her injuries had still healed and Konie only made her ingest a minimal of terrible tasting concoctions designed to help her heal. Darin may have been feeling restless, but Ridhane had to be ready to explode with boredom. Leaving would do them both some good. Then again maybe the Elf didn’t want to leave. Darin didn’t think so, but she was trying to not jump conclusions.
Would you be alright with me doing a time skip? I like to skip to when Ridahne is fully healed and they are getting ready to leave the village. SO about two weeks.
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