Signs in the Sand [Solo]

In which Hilana practices tracking in the comfort of the desert.

Apart from the two major metropolitan centers in the kingdom, The Atraxian Expanse is home to tens of thousands of Solunarians. Some of the Vastii still hearken back to their days as nomads, roaming the open desert and braving its many trials, but most have formed settlements along the River Vasta or around nearby oases. Most of these settlements in the present day are completely self-governing, but there are a few in the vicinity of valuable resources, which are overseen by representatives of the greater kingdom. Unlike the two fortified cities of Solunarium and Tertium, many of these smaller settlements live under the constant threat of desert squalls, droughts and attacks from desert-dwelling predators, like Tusk Titans and wild wyverns.

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Hilana Chenzira
Posts: 858
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2022 3:14 pm
Location: Solunarium
Character Sheet: viewtopic.php?t=3526
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=3545
Letters: viewtopic.php?t=5196

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63 Frost, Year 123

[Closed - Solo]

When one wanted to practice tracking, it was a good idea to be somewhere where animals had converged at some point. The foundation of the skill of tracking came down to honing one's senses: sight, scent, hearing, touch, and even taste, and then interpreting your findings based on what you knew about what you were looking for. At an oasis some days southeast of the Citadel, the younger sister was crouched in the sand, studying the imprints in the darker soil around the pond. Her arms rested around her knees as she hugged them to her, containing her skirts from the breeze and shadows that would playfully pull at the colourful fabric. Normally, she didn't mind, and even now they made a little game of it, but she wanted to study these hoofprints.

While the habits of animals changed, the ages and sizes changed the prints, tracking principles were far and away universal. The way soil, vegetation, and substrate reacted to being stepped on was always consistent, and once you knew what you were looking for, you could see what had been by. Even if she could cheat with Semblance and see and sense the echoes of what had made those prints, she still wanted to make sure that skill was finely honed so that she didn't need to rely on the begonia-shaped Rune that had been painted onto her scalp. It was important to her to recognize the animals and species that lived in her home, so that she could find them later. From the great water bison to the smaller scorpions and adders... everything left a trail, and it was the skill of the tracker to be able to recognize it and to follow it.

So many people didn't think about their own paths, and she wondered how she could combine Semblance and tracking to try to find those who hid themselves.. Could she be able to do that one day? Maybe some day in the future... but it was worth pursuing. In the meantime, she could get her 'dirt time', as she affectionately called it, here and now.


word count: 378
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