08-23-2019, 06:41 AM
Her classmates around her, Lepis watches the presentation of new materials with a wry smile. Some are fascinating, some less so, but all are gone in the blink of an eye. They arrive outdoors, and Lepis blinks away the bright sunlight from her blue-grey eyes before taking in the scene ahead of her.
Ahead of them is a creek with a stack of pails, and then a trio of paths that Tir tells them lead across wasteland. No, only one will lead them across – the others will presumably lead them into danger or worse: to nowhere. The trails are marked with the number of horses they need to take with them, and each of them can only take one bucket worth four hours of water. The trail will take five hours to walk. They need to choose the trail with the least number of horses to take with them. They can refill their buckets but there is no water inside the labyrinth.
Lepis frowns for several minutes, glancing back and forth from one trail to the next. She certainly need not take more horses than any natural number, so the infinity trail is not an option. That leaves the trails marked 1 and 5. She hears the others around her – something about organization and flower chains? - but she has already made her decision and says as much to the horse beside her, a black mare named Blackie.
One is less than five, and she is more than capable of running.
So she grabs her pail and scoops up her four hours worth of water, and starts down trail 1 at a steady trot with Blackie beside her.
The dun mare has come to the conclusion that the trail must be a bit less than 20 miles long, since a horse can walk at four miles an hour and surely the obstacles will slow down progress a bit. At a trot (8 miles per hour) such a trail would take only two and a half hours, but she means to canter (11 miles per hour) when the way seems clear enough to cut that time down even farther. This should give them plenty of time to complete the trail and reach the plains on the other side.
With the bucket held firmly in her mouth, the now-wingless pegasus rounds the first canyon bend. The way is narrow, and there will be no cantering through here. They make a wrong turn several times and end in a dead end, but follows thier hoofprints back without losing too much time. When the canyons widen again, the two mares pause to take a sip of water.
Lepis is glad they have, because while still, her watchful eyes catch motion ahead of them. She might not have seen them if she were moving, but trails of scorpions – moving oddly like ants – lines the trail. She is able to step over each one with carefully timed steps, and breathes a sigh of relief when they are behind her. The desert is not an unfamiliar place to a woman born in the Loessian hills, and she is grateful for her experience with terrain at least something like these labyrinthine canyons.
Their next obstacle is a sheer drop off. Lepis paces back and forth a few times before gathering the courage to look down. There it is, a narrow path that leads down the cliff and then back up the other side, and she takes it without hesitation. Another swallow of water marks the passing of an hour, and Lepis eyes the remaining three hours worth of water in their bucket thoughtfully.
Time to carry on.
When the trail is smooth enough (which is rare) she canters, and when it is not she trots, careful to keep her water held tightly. The sun overhead is bright and hot, and Lepis is no great judge of distance, at least not in an unknown place. As time passes, she wonders if she has made the correct choice, but does not consider turning back. Instead she carries on, certain that she will eventually round a bend in the canyon that will reveal the open plains ahead of her and prove she has taken the proper trail.
If she and Blackie do not both reach the plains by the time three hours have passed, Blackie has agreed to give Lepis her remaining hour of water and wait for Tir to rescue her. This suits Lepis, who does not question her classmate’s generosity, though she does mean to pay her back in the future if possible.
ooc: lepis and i really hate math okay
Ahead of them is a creek with a stack of pails, and then a trio of paths that Tir tells them lead across wasteland. No, only one will lead them across – the others will presumably lead them into danger or worse: to nowhere. The trails are marked with the number of horses they need to take with them, and each of them can only take one bucket worth four hours of water. The trail will take five hours to walk. They need to choose the trail with the least number of horses to take with them. They can refill their buckets but there is no water inside the labyrinth.
Lepis frowns for several minutes, glancing back and forth from one trail to the next. She certainly need not take more horses than any natural number, so the infinity trail is not an option. That leaves the trails marked 1 and 5. She hears the others around her – something about organization and flower chains? - but she has already made her decision and says as much to the horse beside her, a black mare named Blackie.
One is less than five, and she is more than capable of running.
So she grabs her pail and scoops up her four hours worth of water, and starts down trail 1 at a steady trot with Blackie beside her.
The dun mare has come to the conclusion that the trail must be a bit less than 20 miles long, since a horse can walk at four miles an hour and surely the obstacles will slow down progress a bit. At a trot (8 miles per hour) such a trail would take only two and a half hours, but she means to canter (11 miles per hour) when the way seems clear enough to cut that time down even farther. This should give them plenty of time to complete the trail and reach the plains on the other side.
With the bucket held firmly in her mouth, the now-wingless pegasus rounds the first canyon bend. The way is narrow, and there will be no cantering through here. They make a wrong turn several times and end in a dead end, but follows thier hoofprints back without losing too much time. When the canyons widen again, the two mares pause to take a sip of water.
Lepis is glad they have, because while still, her watchful eyes catch motion ahead of them. She might not have seen them if she were moving, but trails of scorpions – moving oddly like ants – lines the trail. She is able to step over each one with carefully timed steps, and breathes a sigh of relief when they are behind her. The desert is not an unfamiliar place to a woman born in the Loessian hills, and she is grateful for her experience with terrain at least something like these labyrinthine canyons.
Their next obstacle is a sheer drop off. Lepis paces back and forth a few times before gathering the courage to look down. There it is, a narrow path that leads down the cliff and then back up the other side, and she takes it without hesitation. Another swallow of water marks the passing of an hour, and Lepis eyes the remaining three hours worth of water in their bucket thoughtfully.
Time to carry on.
When the trail is smooth enough (which is rare) she canters, and when it is not she trots, careful to keep her water held tightly. The sun overhead is bright and hot, and Lepis is no great judge of distance, at least not in an unknown place. As time passes, she wonders if she has made the correct choice, but does not consider turning back. Instead she carries on, certain that she will eventually round a bend in the canyon that will reveal the open plains ahead of her and prove she has taken the proper trail.
If she and Blackie do not both reach the plains by the time three hours have passed, Blackie has agreed to give Lepis her remaining hour of water and wait for Tir to rescue her. This suits Lepis, who does not question her classmate’s generosity, though she does mean to pay her back in the future if possible.
ooc: lepis and i really hate math okay
