A Relatively Uneventful Trip ~ by SaralynArati

SaralynArati

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Story continues on this doll: httpwww.dolldivine.com/Azaleas-Dolls/SaralynArati-2933369

10 years ago

SaralynArati

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Thanks NightOwl, and don't worry about not commenting on every doll; I'm just so glad that you are enjoying these adventures!!

10 years ago

NightOwl

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This is brilliant! One fantastic story ends an other awesome one starts! I have read the other dolls btw I just haven't had time to comment! :)

10 years ago

SaralynArati

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Smoke Cat Watching does not know the tactics of these lowland outlaws, but she's seen horse raids. Capture as many as you can and stampede the rest. But there are so many trees here. The ponies will be scared into running, trip, fall, and break their legs or necks, or crash into branches that tear open their sides. Quickly, therefore, she unpickets the beasts, tethers them into their standard chain, and leads them forward, in the direction she thinks the enemy is least likely to come from.

10 years ago

SaralynArati

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"And that doesn't alarm you? They should be shuffling and snorting like always," she explains to his barely wakened mind. Suddenly Jason becomes fully alert. "Yes. Farther south, I would say a lion, maybe. Here... bandits. I'll rouse the others." He hands her a wicked looking dagger out of a box. The tip gleams wetly, like oil, and glows oddly in the darkness. "It's poisoned," he says curtly. "That alone should keep attackers well away from you. Don't use it unless you have to."

10 years ago

SaralynArati

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Soon they come to a forested area, and everyone is very nervous due to rumors of bandits. Smoke Cat Watching finds this enclosure strange, and lies awake much of the night, becoming groggy and surly during the day. On the fourth night, however, her listening sleeplessness is its own reward; creeping to where Jason is stretched out snoring softly, Smoke Cat wakes him with a hand over his mouth and nose. "Don't cry out," she breathes. "The animals are frightened." "I don't hear anything..."

10 years ago

SaralynArati

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Yet her usefulness does not end as they enter farm country, for all of Smoke Cat's people have a way with horses, and the sturdy pack ponies are no exception. Only once, when a mare turns up badly lame, does the young shaman resort to her magic, and by this time Lady Silver Smoke's reputation is enough to hide the slightly supernatural nature of the cure. Jason, of course, laughs at her frequently, although never in front of the folk who have given her this title. Jason rides with her, now.

10 years ago

SaralynArati

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As the caravan travels down out of steppe land, they encounter several clans with which Smoke Cat is passably familiar, and she is able to expedite their accommodations. That the chieftans treat her with respect is marked by the caravan leader, and he wheedles the name of her errant father out of the shaman. Henceforth, to him and his crew, she becomes "Lady Silver Smoke," much to her mingled dismay and bemusement. "It is clear that you must have status," he tells her. "Bear this in mind."

10 years ago