Quest: A Journey of the Heart [Finished]

[Nako]

Sleeping on the stiff hammock had done a number on Zuberi's back, and she couldn't help but give a soft yipe at the intrusive prod on her sore side. When she turned to face the woman though, she'd already turned away from her and was making her way out of the room again. Zuberi has slept rather soundly, if not uncomfortably, but it didn't keep her from feeling like a bucket of chum.

With a grunt, she hefted herself from the hammock and down on to the ground. She caught sight of the mirror.. and sighed, doing what she could to smooth the fur cowlick she'd acquired during the night. She wouldn't fuss with it for long though; she had work to do, and she was hoping to get news of their progress.

Finally, Zuberi made her way to the kitchen, keeping out of the way of anyone who might have been working the later shifts. Absently, she made sure the fires were lit and going well to the ovens, making her way to where the busy otter was working. "Where you need me at?" Her tone was a bit.. rough from just waking up, and she wasn't making much of an effort to be her more polite self. Then again, she didn't feel there was much need for it anyways. She just wanted to get through this, get some food in her own belly and figure out what the status of their journey was.

((I'm a big ol' sissy when it comes to pushing a rp along DX feel free to fastforward things yourself when I'm being a ninny =P ))

[The Jenn]

Peggy motioned with her shoulder towards the opposite counter, her hands full of fish. "Over there. See about chopping some of the greens. We're making a fast soup. Nothing fancy, but it's easy to spread among so many."

After breakfast was completed and cleaned up, they would arrive at their destination sometime just before lunch. Beginning gray in the morning, the weather only worsened as the day continued. The seas started to get a little choppier as they moved near port, the wind picking up and the skies growing darker. Several of the sailors looked at the sky with displeasure, while the rest just ignored it and made haste to have things ready. They would weather a brief storm much more easily in port than they would on the open water.

They put into the first isle that made up the pair 'Two Sisters' and Ferris called her over, motioning towards the shore. "There's nasty weather brewing, so I'd advise finding shelter and staying there for the night. If you have business here, make it short or save it 'til tomorrow. We'll be leaving come evening tomorrow, provided that the weather's decent."

((It's no problem... but do feel free to take liberties with the settlement and the people and whatnot. Most of this is up for lots of interpretation. xD))

[Nako]

The crew wasn't the only one looking up at the sea. Zuberi was no stranger to the angry Lady in that she lived right by it. As they traveled closer to their destination though, the weather only worsened. Zuberi was afraid that it was a symbol of things to come; difficult and dangerous. Well.. she certainly didn't expect it to be easy.

Now she made her way across the deck of he ship, her belongings on her shoulder. Ferris caught her eye; she'd tried to grab hold of him earlier, but with the rising storm, he'd been too busy to speak to. None of that mattered now, for they were at their destination. Coming closer, she listened to what he had to say.

"I'll try to be quick about it then. Business is always better when dealt with swiftly."

The wind was whipping about her quite harshly, ruffling her fur this way and that. Well, at least it made her look equally horrible all around instead of having just one cowlick. As she traveled into more populated territory, she noticed that most housings were crude, but sturdy. As an island they probably got many of these kinds of storms.

But... who to get direction from? She did not trust many of the faces she saw, but an honest enough one would finally be found as she found a man closing up his food stand."'X'cuse me!Is there a medicine woman around these parts?" She rose her voice over the wind so he could hear her. Medicine woman, Voodoo Priestess.. they were all the same thing. It was normally the older villages that kept them around, but there was a chance they had their own around these parts. Call her silly, but she felt like the only person she could trust at that moment was a woman.. one that she could understand. Zuberi had tried to push that life away from her, or at least tried. In a strange place with strange people though.. she needed a bit of familiarity.

[The Jenn]

Many of the people in the settlement were moving about quickly, closing up shops and dwellings to protect them from the worst of the oncoming storm. They tended to be quick but fierce in these parts and you could never be too careful. The vendor, a Midori mouse in animal form, looked up from his work as Zuberi called out to catch his attention and paused, one arm holding a basket of some sort of vibrant fruit tight to his chest. "Medicine woman? Somebody sick?"

He gave her a quick glance, then continued with his work, talking over the wind. You'd be after Shiisha, then. Her place's a little further in the trees, but if you follow the path straight through that's lined with the torches - 's our main street here - then you should come to it at the end after maybe a twenty minute walk. I'd recommend you hurry, though, if you don't want to get caught out in the storm when it hits."

[Nako]

Zuberi was not too keen to answer him, and was relieved when he didn't pursue the question any farther. Sure, she might have been able to come up with some sort of excuse, but the squirrel was never too keen on having to tell a fib and avoided it when possible.

"Thanks.. I will." She had to raise her voice to be heard over the wind, which seemed to only be getting worse. She left the mouse to his work and started up the way he had pointed her to. Some of the torches had been blown out from the fury of the storm, but it was enough to point her in the direction the forest where the path cut right through. It would be a twenty minute walk, but Zuberi had little intention to get there at such a slow pace. Instead, she kept her pace at a brisk trot, pacing herself as best she could yet moving quickly. The trees helped somewhat to break the force of the wind, but many of them were creaking dangerously, and she'd need to watch out for falling trees.

Finally she came upon the hut which she could only assume was Shiisha's, gasping for breath as she beat at the door with her paw. "Shiisha, are you there? I am a traveler in need of your council!" It seemed a strange question to ask, really. Where else would she be in the middle of a storm?

[The Jenn]

Many of the older trees were well used to storms like this, but a branch or two came dangerously close to the squirrel as she made her way towards the squat, sturdy hut. When she neared the door, it would be impossible not to hear noise from inside even over the wind that was quickly picking up. A lot of crashing and clanging ensued before the door was finally shoved open and a bipedal starling stared down at her, beak clicking together as she appraised the girl in front of her.

"Well, fine then. Get in here, girl, before the wind messes with more than just my feathers!" As soon as Zuberi scooted inward, the door was closed and barred so that it wouldn't be blown open easily.

The inside of the hut looked as though a ferret or pack rat lived there, with piles of random things strewn here and there. Near the small indoor copper fire pit were a variety of metal implements, some of them meant for cooking and some... well, it was hard to tell. The bird ruffled her wings before she smoothed them back, patting a few feathers into place that had been displaced by the brewing storm. "Alright, well then, nasty weather. I don't recognize your face, girl. New to these parts? Some sort of dire emergency to send you out with a storm on your heels?"

[Nako]

Squeezing in, she couldn't help but think the storm had already blown into the woman's hut. It was an utter mess.. comparable to the dead Priestess's hut of her own village before they had cleaned it out. Zuberi had to stand up on her haunches so as to have enough room to merely -be- in the room, and moving.. well.. that would be a feat all its own. She settled down to merely stay where she was, shoved uncomfortably next to a coat rack that seemed to be used for everything except coats.

"Well.. not exactly dire, but business that I'd not wish to speak with just anyone on the street." She paused when she nearly knocked over a box of trinkets, quickly reaching out to set it upright again."I'm from the mainland Beach, actually. I'm Zuberi, by the way."

"I'm actually looking for a particular place on this island. I was hoping you could help me."

[The Jenn]

The bird smirked and crossed her arms. Considering the fact that they were connected to her wings, it was a tricky gesture and feathers stuck out every which way. "If it's on this island, girl - Zuberi, pretty name - I know about it. Lived here my whole life and crawled over every inch of land, and a hell of a lot of the water, in my time."

She turned and dug around in a pile of what looked like skins, or pelts, or some mix of the two, ending up with a tatty wooden stool. Another moment of searching turned up a second stool, though this one only had two legs and would be tricky to balance on. Shiisha took the whole one and left the other as an option.

"Settle in, then, since this storm will probably last us a good few hours and you won't want to make the trek back in the dark. Even familiar with it as I am, everything's different after a storm, at least until it's cleared from the path. In the meantime, why don't you give me whatever story has you off the mainland?"

One of the things on the coat rack reached out and tried to bite at the squirrel with a sharp mouth of ferret-teeth.

[Nako]

Zuberi was particularly heartened when the woman stated such confidence in her knowledge, but the woman offered no information. Though she refrained from showing her anxiousness, there was a part of her that squirmed impatiently at the thought of having such information she desperately wanted withheld from her. When she brandished two stools though, it became obvious that this woman was no fool; she would not proceed with any more information until Zuberi gave her some in return. She offered a leery gaze toward the offered stool, and opted to stand... though when she leaned back to far, something on the coat rack attempted to bite her.

She jumped forward with a small 'meep', deciding to put the chair in between her and the snapping.. thing. It was hard to see exactly what it was amongst all the clutter, but Zuberi didn't really care to find out. Still, Zuberi fiddled sheepishly at the question. She'd worked so hard to keep her affairs private that it felt odd divulging anything. Under the curious gaze of the older and more wizened Priestess though, it was obvious that she would not be able to weasel out of a conversation without appearing very rude. This would be bad, of course; Zuberi could not afford to seem unworthy of inspiration. So.. how would she start? Well... she'd tell it like she saw it, she supposed.

"Well..." She paused a moment, seeming to be considering what she was about to say. It was obviously hard for her to put into words, and she stayed silent for a few heartbeats before a soft smile touched the corner of her mouth. "It's.. A journey of the heart." Zuberi finally said, nodding as if committing to the idea for the first time. "To tell the truth, I thought it seemed ridiculous for me to go out on some quest too until I looked at it that way. You see... I'm in love. Hah.. in love with a man I'll most likely never meet.. A man who probably doesn't even exist any more. But... I found evidence that I might be able to find -something- that is left of him.. some mark in time that he was in fact alive and well at one point and time. If I could have that... I feel like I can get some... closure? To tell the truth, I don't really know. If there is a chance.. even a vague one that I could acquire some.. memento to commemorate his grand existence well... I must have it." As she spoke, her smile broadened and her gaze was a million nauts away.

[The Jenn]

The bird's eyebrows rose in curiosity as Zuberi explained her case. There was plenty left unsaid, she was sure of it, but the matter seemed quite sensitive. Shiisha remembered when she'd been young and stupid, two or three decades back - though she was still paying for some of those mistakes to this day - and the girl's words were quite ambiguous. Obviously this was a private sort of quest.

"Closure... ehh, I can respect that more than you realize, girl. Lost my man to the sea a few years back an' the body was never recovered. Only had his crew mates' words as to what happened, which you can bet your fluffy ass wasn't nearly enough for me. After some soul-searching and divining, though... well, let's just say the bastards what actually did it didn't live to see the dawn." As she spoke, the medicine woman's eyes glinted with hard memories. Oh yes, she could understand, though in a different way than she would have imagined.

She grimaced, the skin at the edges of her beak twisting at unpleasant memories, and locked eyes with Zuberi. "So. Tell me, girl. What exactly are you lookin' for on this here isle?"