A Visitor from Terrasen [Indefinite Hiatus]

New Day, New Hell

Aelin made sure to drink as much as she possibly could the next morning, used to travelling on foot, she could tell she was another 2 days from the base of the mountains, then likely another 2 days to the base of the largest one. Deciding not to try estimate the length of time to climb the mountain itself seemed wise, she had no idea if there was a path or if she would need to scale steep cliffs for days on end.

There would be no way out if she reached the peak and could not leave, she would not make the climb back down, would not make a trek through the woods to gods knew where. No.

She would make it, no matter what happened, she would make it and she would survive to see her family again. She had not yet had her promised thousand years with Rowan, she was an immortal Fae and she would not die in these unknown woods in this unknown world.

Her second day in the woods was the same as the first, travelling as fast as she could in this form, lucky enough to find water every few hours to keep her going, it was at one of these streams she realised something, she had seen no life in these woods, no birds and no small bits of wildlife. She did however see bird nests, which meant birds did live here... or had lived here. Until something happened, she didn't entirely know if she cared to find out. She had even dared some fruit she had spotted by one of these streams, as it had looked similar enough to a fruit she had tried years ago in Adarlan, unusual in their world, but seemingly plentiful here.

Aelin was surprised by how easy she was finding it to cope in the woods, other than that river water was plentiful, now that she recognised the plant, fruit was also easy enough to find. It was just the cold that ripped through her at every opportunity, and kept her grounded rather than daring the higher up trees. It was truly brutual conditions in these mountains, but even in her human body, Aelin had suffered worse hardships than this. The slight hunger that panged through her was not something she was used to in recent times, but the reminder of her younger years did not frighten her, she knew how to handle herself. The small cuts on her hands from sharp bark were nothing more than inconveniences, the cold was nothing in comparison to those months as Maeve's prisoner, and the soreness in her limbs was welcome from her endless journey through the trees.

She stayed another night in a cave, covering the entrance as much as possible in order to stop monsters sneaking in.

The next morning, a strange chill had settled over the nearby woods, consciously staying on guard, Aelin drank, took a few bits of fruit with her, and started off again, she had to reach the slopes of the mountains by nightfall. Not even Aelin Galathynius could survive if caught in the barren gap between the forest and the hills in the dark.

The silence convinced her to take to the trees, a slightly slower method of travel in this kind of tree, but her instincts told her to stay hidden above, and that something was wrong. She finally heard them at about midday. 2 male voices snarling at each other, and occasionally laughing at whatever they were saying. To her surprise, they spoke the common tongue and she could understand them. Although from this distance her human ears could not pick up much.

Lightly, she crept closer. Aelin couldn't be completely sure who exactly she would encounter. If they would be human or even Fae. Or given that this was a different world entirely, they could be something she had never seen before. She had enough brain cells rattling around her head that Aelin remembered to position herself downwind of the 2 males, and then, she moved closer. Pausing every so often to listen. As she neared, their voices became clearer.

"He should have known one of us would butcher him during the Rite, he's been running his mouth all year." That was the harsher voice, rougher and whinier.