Medicine for the Melancholy
08-10-2018, 06:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-10-2018, 06:51 PM by Aerndis.)
I have toured the endless starlight…
Where had spring gone? Aerndis had squandered the season chasing ghosts and any rumor of her mother she could track down. One by one the leads dried up and she'd given up hope. She was never going to see her mother or Orion again. She'd spent the past month holed up in a den near the Rio Grande where she let the days slip past her, her only focus on making sure she had enough to eat. Late morning sunshine slipped down into her den and she could hear the rustle of the southern breeze. The air smelt of summer's fragrance. Was a change of seasons really so close?
Aerndis narrowed her eyes. She'd spent way to much time holed up in this den and it wasn't doing her a lick of good. Gritting her teeth and steeling her brow she forced her way out of the den, wiling her muscles to move, fighting the urge to just lay down and sleep most of the day away. She needed a plan. Aerndis wasn't going to spend the rest of her life looking for something that wasn't there and she certainly wasn't going to spend it feeling sorry for herself.
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Nature had reclaimed the range some time ago but the evidence of human work was still evident in the strange structures and artifacts left behind. Aerndis had travelled north to the Range, a decent hunting ground. She wasn't starving, having gorged herself the day before but it wouldn't hurt to mark the movements of prey. Besides, she needed somewhere new to bed down. She needed to keep moving. It was late afternoon now and humid but she didn't see any clouds. That was a good sign.
Searching for a good place to sleep her eyes widened when she saw a… well, she wasn't sure what it was. Aerndis gingerly approached the tractor, her nostrils flaring as she took in the strange metallic scent. What the heck was this? The skeleton of some strange animal? A unique mineral deposit? She lifted her right paw, reaching out to touch the thing.