The small isle of Ressyta may no longer be a rock of no resource and little import, but it is still quite a small island. There are but a few blemishes of civilization on the untamed, if not entirely natural, Nature growing and spreading throughout. The manor of House Tise’el sits, well sat, at the edge of one such blemish. The port turned city of Tiserrea. Then, there were the encampments, well fortified and towering bases out from which the two armies sortie and throw magics. Several, small and large, pepper the beautiful forest as one travels across the rock in the sea. Finally on the opposite end of her isle, far as one could get from her old Manor, lies the small port town of Rylitta. From what Alessari understood, the Betrayer State had no Tise’el equivalent to bolster and build up their port on the isle. Most of the Isle Ressyta’s houses who Betrayed the Kingdom left, going deeper into the Betrayer state, and in their place came not Houses but Generals. And, good as generals are at maintaining supply chains and taking territory, building it up once it has been taken is not their forte. A day ago, Alessari passed what might be the best example of such in modern memory. The once manor of House Lirran’al.
House Lirran’al, before the split, had been the first House sent away to Ressyta. They built a beautiful mansion with a small walled town surrounding it right in the middle of the small, scarce isle. They knew well why they were there and had no intention of trying to worm their way back to the Kingdom’s good side. As the outcast houses came, they became a sort of judge for inter-house disputes on the isle. A relatively impartial arbiter. And, up until the war, the manortown of the House Lirran’al was the largest town on Ressyta. When the Betrayer State split, there were but two Ud Lirran’als left, a young man and his younger sister. The young man, Tessino Ud Lirran’al, wished to maintain the house’s status as impartial. Neither side of the war cared much for this policy and the town became a centerpoint for much of the early conflict. Eventually, the remaining house disappeared, both sides of the war blaming the other for the house’s demise. The villagers all fled, leaving behind a beautiful, partially destroyed, and overgrown city. Less than a century ago, a push from the Betrayers’ side finally took the manortown of House Lirran’al, as well as much of the surrounding lands, and holds it to this day. And yet, to this day, the once great town remains overgrown and partially destroyed. Because the Generals of the Betrayer state care more for taking the land then restoring it.
But that matters little to Alessari Ud Tise’el. She has more important matters on her mind. Mostly getting off Ressyta as safely and quickly as possible. The longer she lingers, the more likely her survival will be reported and spread about both sides of the conflict. Rumors spread worse than wildfires in a war, especially a war where both sides have practically as many spies as soldiers. Best not to think about that, the young noble reminds herself as, dressed in the comfortable clothes for her wilderness travels, she stalks near to Rylitta. Food shipments into town are practically daily, as the wilderness here, overgrown and powerful as it now is, refuses to allow for farming. If she’s lucky, there’s a Caravan docking for trade. Probably not, at least not on this side of the isle, but there’s a chance. Otherwise, she can sneak into the hold of whatever food transport is docked today and stow away to one of the nearby proper islands, where she can get to a proper port and travel somewhere she isn’t known.
Ascending a nearby tall tree as though it be her second nature, Alessari looks into the port. The town is bustling, people gathering carts and moving around the square and chatting and transporting the food. Looks like fruits, which means the ship comes from the plantations on Yolryta, the largest of the Islands of the Betrayer State. Not a long journey by boat, and at least one nice proper port city is within a week’s travel of pretty much anyplace this could be from. Shaking her head, she figures it’s good enough. She knows better than to head down there now, though. The sailors will be unloading, then eating. If she heads down now, with all the hustle and bustle in town, she risks being seen and then will have to wait a while before she can leave. No, she will go, find herself a nice brunch out in the forest, say goodbye to the figment of Nature attached to the isle, then sneak aboard the transport. It will be easy as the single twist slosarryn, and she learned that dance when she was seven.
Alessari closes her eyes as she drops to the forest floor, and simply breathes. In, and out. Just in, and out. Silently, she calls out to the trees and the grass, asking with her hunger for a meal. Nature, being her friend, is more than happy to oblige. Through the whistling of the wind between the trees and the rustling of the underbrush, Nature shows her a path forwards, towards a lunch she can hunt that will not hurt Nature.
In four minutes, she finds herself slinking behind a bush, facing down a large hare. The hare looks up, not in her direction, and gets spooked by something. Probably some troops patrolling or moving goods, stomping through the forest without care for their impact. No matter, Alessari thinks. She darts up into the foliage and begins to follow the rabbit’s trail through the woods. It’s scared, it’s moving fast without worrying about its trail. Easy enough to track. However, it’s also faster than she is at top speed. She has an advantage for a bit, this area of the forest is dense so the hare can’t get to top speed, but she knows the trees thin out in about twenty paces. Pulling out her bow she bursts to a thicker branch. Wrapping her legs around it, she notches an arrow as she lets herself hang upside down. Taking a deep breath, she draws the arrow back. In her mind, she pictures where the rabbit will be. Not where it is. Never where something is. Aiming, she waits a beat of her heart. Then, she looses the arrow. It flies through the air, spinning slightly. With a dull thud, it makes contact with something close to the ground. Time to check it out.
Unwrapping her legs, Alessari drops to the ground. Like a cat, she manages to twist her body around in the air and land on her feet. She breaks for the spot where she aimed just moments before. When she hits the spot, she does indeed find the arrow, sticking out from the very rabbit she’s been tracking. Her aim is still true. Even with everything on her mind. Taking the corpse with her towards a clearing, she gathers some tinder as well. In the center of the clearing, she builds a small fire to cook the rabbit. Before she lights the fire, she takes her tent out from her pack. Unfolding the tent, she sets it up around the fire. She doesn’t need the fire for light or warmth, and she can’t afford to be spotted. Lighting the relatively small fire inside her tent, she lets it heat up some. Meanwhile, she pulls out her knife and cuts a small incision through the fur and skin on the rabbit’s flank. Pulling it open, she gets most of the skin off the meat with ease. Once she’s gotten the skin and fur over the legs, she takes a deep breath in and returns to the tent. Setting up a spit over the fire for cooking the hare meat, she leaves the tent to let it cook.
Taking a couple of deep breaths, she lies down on the forest floor to picture the next steps of her plan. The boat is docked in the middle of Rylitta’s port. Once aboard, the boat looked to be big enough to hide in easily, for at least a week. But getting into the boat will be tricky. If she goes into town during the afternoon meal, she should be able to make it a good distance without being seen. Coming in from the Northern Coast, she figures that should take her near, or even to, the dock. But too many eyes face the port. No matter how quickly or quietly she moves, someone is bound to spot her on the approach. Dang it. She shakes herself out of that thought as she sits back up. Opening the tent, she holds her breath. She reaches in and turns the hare over. Once she gets out of the tent, she takes a deep breath, in and out. Lying back on the grass, she returns to the matter of a plan.
So, she thinks, head to the coast north of town. Watch for the afternoon meal to start, head into town quickly and quietly, keeping low. That gets her to docks, at the very least. But no going across them without being seen. And if she’s seen, she won’t be able to slip aboard the boats. No moving across the docks, but she could move under them. Slide into the water near the docks and swim. Come above the surface for air and reorientation under each pier of the docks. Good. She smiles as she gets back up. Taking a deep breath in and holding it, she once again enters the tent and rotates the rabbit. Leaving the tent, lets the breath out. Sitting down this time, she returns to the plan.
She’s now under the dock, beside the transport. From there, she needs to get inside the transport. Should be easy enough, she thinks. She can just head to the side of the ship opposite the town and climb up the hull. That should be easy enough. Then she just needs to slide over the edge of the ship, stay low until after she gets to the trapdoor on deck, and head into the stomach of the ship. So, she goes over it one more time. Hit the coast north of town, wait for the afternoon meal to start, head into town fast and low. Slide into the water. Swim under the water, coming up under piers. Swim to the opposite side of the ship. Climb up the hull. Stay low and get to the trap door. Perfect, she thinks with a smile. She gathers up a bag of dirt as she gets up. Holding her breath, she enters the tent. With one hand, she removes the spit from above the fire. With her other hand, she dumps the dirt onto the fire. It dies out and she leaves the tent. Breathing once again once outside, she takes a bite of the hare. Delicious, relatively speaking. For an unspiced and shoddily cooked meat. After swallowing the first bite, she sets about unstaking and refolding her tent.
Once she’s all packed back up, Alessari makes her way towards the coast north of town. As she’s walking swiftly through unknown yet somehow familiar woods, she takes bites from her hare every couple paces. A mobile brunch, if you will. Within fifteen minutes, the hare is half gone and she makes it to the edge of the woods. Before her, a small, untreed hill, and then the beach. Looking around, she finds a good tree to watch the town from. It’s a little deeper into the woods than she would like, but shouldn’t change the timing much. Climbing to near the top of the tree, Alessari settles in, watching the townspeople as they go about their late morning, early afternoon habits. She takes another bite of her rabbit. Shouldn’t be long now. Soon enough, she’ll be in the hold of a relatively empty ship heading for a different small port. From there, more traveling, more planning. Less worrying about being seen, or recognized, but this is just the beginning of her journey. She takes another bite of her hare as she waits for the right moment to move.
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