Akorsa had retired early that night, knowing she would need a great deal of rest for her journey. She wanted to make it to the Walled Cities with the utmost haste out of fear of running into a large group of the Maseriff on her own. Feeling herself on the verge of tears at the idea of these overwhelming odds that were beginning to form against her in her imagination, she pushed all her fears and doubts into a crevice in the back of her mind.
With worries taking leave of her conscience, she fell into sleep again, not waking again until the sun was just beginning to show its glorious light in the far eastern sky. She rose from her cot, and grabbed her things, heading silently outside the house. Fastening her axe and then her pack behind her on her back, securing her water skin at her side, and grasping her staff in hand, she left the village.
- - - -
In order to reach the Walled Cities, Akorsa needed to head in a south-eastern direction. She really had no idea other than that direction which way she was going, so she chose to depart from the eastern end of the village and follow the curve of the river. The river did in fact curve to the south-east before reaching the Great Lake, which was not to terribly far from one of the Walled Cities� great gates, or so she had heard.
So she trekked on silently along side the river, which did indeed take a great deal of time. Walking such a distance was not a problem; she walked the flock for miles on some days. The heavy pack and the axe did slow her pace considerably. The most substantial and hindering of her burdens was her nervousness. She was not sure if she would even be permitted to walk through the city streets, let alone make audience with the Proctors.
She determined that the best way to go about calling for an audience with the Proctors would be to simply find some way to request one, but she knew that as an Arimythian, such a thing would not be likely. The worst thing that could happen would that she would be arrested on the spot or it was possible that she would be turned away and told to return home. In fact, she expected no less than that.
Eventually she came upon the Great Lake, a body of vast and plentiful water. She walked to the edge of the lake, on the far and opposite end of there the river met the great body of water. It was getting dark, but in the red and orange light of the setting sun, she could see a great structure ahead of her. What she saw was the great stone wall that surrounded the twin cities of Ilyana and Uljaya.
Figuring it was far too late for her to begin an attempt on her task now, and not much feeling like walking any more for that day, she made her small camp along the edge of the lake. She made no fire, regardless of the cold, for fear of alerting anyone of her presence. She figured the element of surprise would do her quite well later on, so she slept and waited for the morning.
