[color=c4df9b][b]Eska[/b][/color][hr]

She bit into a piece of smoked meat, eating with gusto as she did her business, reinforcing the tree, and remaking new arrows from the seeds it sprouted, as well as taking more seeds in a pouch.

Jiko was far away, but she was still alive. Eska couldn't imagine what sort of horrible things they might do to her. With how these people treated her kind, she had no doubt Jiko was suffering a far more worse fate than if she was just killed. It felt like her heart was clenching around itself, that tight feeling of regret, fear and anger at herself. If only she did not leave. If only she was the one who stayed. Every moment she was without her only companion, with every tear that fell, her heart hardened, slowly convincing herself they were base barbarians, and not worth compassion or regret. 

Stepping back from her work, she looked up again towards the massive boughs of the tree, satisfied that the dead of this town will feed it, and its offsprings.

Eska didn't even touch the assorted collection of coins she found on all the bodies and inside the houses, nor did she even bother with the weapons and material goods. The only thing she took was a few rolls of parchment that seemed to be maps, confirmed by her scouting the landmarks around the area and looking at the parchments again. Eska was not interested in trade or even negotiations with whoever bought Jiko. Someone as despicable as that only deserved death. 

Remembering what Coln told her, she moved quickly to the south, achieving a bounding pace typical of a persistence hunter. 

Though she was free, and bounding on the path through an open field, the silence of being alone was crushing, a constricting cage around her heart.