Kekona walks away from the silent wagons, her full belly slowing her long stride. Each step makes the coal-burned fur of her foreleg ache.
The western road fades behind her beneath frost and scattered lantern glow. Wind moves through the fields, carrying no voices, only the distant creak of wagon canvas.
Beyond the road, she finds a sheltered limestone hollow beneath wind-bent pines. Dry leaves gather in its shallow basin, mixed with old, weather-smoothed bones.
Kekona lowers her hunched neck and folds her long legs beneath herself. Pine branches break the wind, while the hollow holds the lingering warmth of stone.
Kekona
The hollow is dry, and the bones are old.
As she settles, a faint color emerges among the stones: a fresh strip of red cloth tied around a thorn branch. Its loose end points deeper into the dark.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get some well-deserved rest
“Kekona is full and has no interest in finding more prey right now. She curls up and rests in the hollow.”
Kekona curls deeper into the limestone hollow, drawing her long legs beneath her and wrapping her scorpion tail along the warm stone.
Her full belly rises and falls heavily. The ache in her coal-burned foreleg dulls as dry leaves cushion her black-furred body.
Kekona
The stone holds warmth beneath the leaves.
Wind combs the pine branches overhead, but the hollow remains sheltered. The red cloth trembles on its thorn branch at the edge of her sight.
Kekona does not follow its direction. Her orange eyes grow heavy, and her hunched neck settles against the gathered leaves.
Soon the hollow contains only the slow rhythm of her breathing, the faint creak of pines, and the quiet scrape of her tail against stone.
Quest Complete
Get some well-deserved rest