The work was going slower than expected. Hornet was in the Sagoli desert in a small cave that she was trying to make habitable. Step one was already done. She had covered a large piece of canvas in paste and pressed it into the sand and grit around the cave so that when she sets it over the entrance the color and texture matches the surrounding area. It would be nearly invisible when she wanted it to be. Inside she had hung two ropes running parallel along the length of the cave that each had a single lantern hung to it. She was proud of the lighting idea, she could move the lanterns up and down the cave wherever she needed light.
The cave varied between two feet wide and ten feet and was forty feet long. The slimmest point was about thirty feet in where the stone walls come closer together before widening into a second, smaller chamber. Hornet was working from the back of the cave to the front, clearing dust and dirt and small stones and making sure no animals had made claim to the space. It took nearly a full day to clean the cave to her satisfaction. Once that was done, she started to make it properly livable.
A large carpet was spread in the larger chamber along with a coal pit for cooking and a makeshift pantry made out of the empty bags she had used to transport her gear. The smaller room toward the back was prepped with sleeping gear. Blankets and pillows and cushions to make the hard floor a bit more bearable for herself and, hopefully, Dhemgeim. It was nearly nightfall on the second day when Hornet finally took a moment to rest and sit.
That positive sort of exhaustion that only comes from productive work washed over her as she watched the stars move through the night sky and saw the distant flames of the deserts fire elementals. She sat and drank from a skin of cool water. Nervousness was beginning to creep into her stomach. She hated waiting, but there was nothing more to it. She stayed out under the starlight for several hours before moving inside and securing the cover to the mouth of the cave.
The cave varied between two feet wide and ten feet and was forty feet long. The slimmest point was about thirty feet in where the stone walls come closer together before widening into a second, smaller chamber. Hornet was working from the back of the cave to the front, clearing dust and dirt and small stones and making sure no animals had made claim to the space. It took nearly a full day to clean the cave to her satisfaction. Once that was done, she started to make it properly livable.
A large carpet was spread in the larger chamber along with a coal pit for cooking and a makeshift pantry made out of the empty bags she had used to transport her gear. The smaller room toward the back was prepped with sleeping gear. Blankets and pillows and cushions to make the hard floor a bit more bearable for herself and, hopefully, Dhemgeim. It was nearly nightfall on the second day when Hornet finally took a moment to rest and sit.
That positive sort of exhaustion that only comes from productive work washed over her as she watched the stars move through the night sky and saw the distant flames of the deserts fire elementals. She sat and drank from a skin of cool water. Nervousness was beginning to creep into her stomach. She hated waiting, but there was nothing more to it. She stayed out under the starlight for several hours before moving inside and securing the cover to the mouth of the cave.
