It had been an age since she’d been to the swamp, at least if you didn't count the swamp portal that she’d entered from the path. What an experience that had been… She’d spent a few days curled up after, Picoro nestled into her side. 

Usually that was comforting, but he had seethed the whole time, his fur prickling into her side. Yara and Mithra hadn’t even joined her, shying away from the angry little sloth, even though they could dispatch him in one swipe should they really desire it. When she’d finally risen again, she’d hoped that the cough she’d acquired over the winter would have finally been kicked enough to fade, but it still lingered, with a rasp in her otherwise gentle voice to accompany it. 

So it was off to the swamp, or rather to the hospital at it’s heart, to see what herbs they had that perhaps she didn’t. She left with a bundle of them, all of which she buried into one of two satchels that hung around her neck. One of which was bottomless, and used to collect herbs throughout the year. The other was a small drawstring bag that she used to carry her own personal herbs whenever she ventured out. It had been empty for most of the winter. 

It was on her way out that she caught a flash of something under a patch of sunlight. She turned her head, and had to stop herself from gasping in awe. Skeletal and pale, skin so translucent it looked as if it might melt away at any moment. Was this what others saw when they looked at her? No… This women did not have the same fragility. She was beautiful, in the same way a desert mirage is beautiful. Something to hunger for and chase, but the closer you get, the more you realize it was but a cruel trick of the light.
Luvena tipped her head gently to the creature. “Good morning” 

@Ophelia

The swamp was familiar. Afterall, she’d once made it her home, and so when she finally took a good look at that last portal in the clearing… She recognized its borders right away, as they twisted and warped around an uneven shimmering opening.  The bog behind it seemed haunting. Dark and foggy. Tinea always had an air of mystery around it but this… this was different. 

It was the last of the five portals she had to explore, and for a moment she found herself hesitating, hovering just inches away. It was dark already. It had taken her longer to get here this time, her head starting to ache, and the rest of her starting to tire. She thought about turning back, cutting herself off while she still could. But it was just one more day, one more portal, one more adventure. So she’d swallowed the rest of the feverfew she’d gathered the day before and made her way back to that eerily dark pathway.

After a few moments she finally stepped through the portal, her hooves landing in a wet patch of sod. It was horribly unpleasant. It was darker here then it had been on the other side. The moon didn’t seem to pierce the fog, and it took a moment for Luvena’s eyes to adjust, and focus on the strange landscape that surrounded her and Picoro. 

As they did she saw it. Just briefly, out of the corner of her eye, and she spun to face it, but it seemed nothing was there. “You shouldn’t have come today” Picoro growled. “You’re feverish. You’re going to get us stuck here”

She bit back a cruel retort. She wouldn’t stoop that low. Not again. Not like she had at the temple. Not again. 

She saw it again, this time more clearly, a tall figure, drifting ahead in the distance. She stilled immediately, trying to quiet her breath, hoping maybe it wouldn't notice her. She feared that if she moved through the portal again, it would see, and follow her back. 

So she waited, and waited, for it to leave her sight. It never did.

And then the cough crept up her throat, resisted only for a moment before she was taken by the loud fit.

Frantically she backed away, hoping that whatever it was would mistake her as just another noise in the bog.

She tackled the portal of woven oak next. Its intertwined branches reminding her of a land long covered in ashes. One long since forgotten and lost to time. Perhaps this portal would bring with it nostalgia. Or maybe longing for another past. She could never know until she stepped into it. 

She’d felt a headache coming on that morning before she left, but the urge to finish what she’d started was too tempting to spend another few days in that god forsaken stone room, alone with her thoughts, and a bonded who at the moment seemed to resent her more than life itself did. Instead she’d picked a sprig of feverfew on her way back to the path, swallowed a leaf, and stuffed the rest into the bottomless satchel Caligo had gifted her. She hoped it would stave off the oncoming flare until she could finish exploring the last two realms of possiblility that the portals had brought with them. Picoro hadn’t even bothered to scold her. Though she could practically hear the contempt brewing inside him as he roughly braided her sparse mane.
 
She stepped out of this one into a frozen forest of conifers. She quickly noted the footprints that dotted the snow under her, leading not away from the portal, but into it. Which meant the creatures she had met in the other lands… they were going back to hers as well. What it meant she didn’t know, but it was exhilarating in some strange way. Change was coming, and for better or worse, at least it would break the stagnance that seemed to be taking hold wherever she went. At least. That's what Luvena hoped. 

Her breath fogged up in front of her as she ventured into the trees. Somehow this felt even more unfamiliar than the rainforest. She’d seen trees like this before, spent days wandering through them, but even still somehow it felt odd. Like strangers were all around her. Their shadows danced about the trees, and she wondered if they were real, or if they were just fever dreams creeping in behind her.

She had  walked through many forests. Lands of willow, and lands of canopies so thick every hour of the day was shrouded in darkness. But this was new. Flowers of every color draped themselves over and across webs of vine. Water dripped off leaves, forming pools on the forest floor. Bugs filtered between leaves. It was the birdsong that was most enchanting. Calls she had never heard before, echoing about them.  

This trip had come later than she hoped. After she’d pushed herself through the waters behind the mountain portal. She’d needed a few days to recover before her legs were no longer aching. The rasp behind her breath lingered. But eventually she found herself once again in that strange clearing. Looking around at the 3 portals she hadn’t yet touched, her eye quickly drawn to the dew dropped leaves on the other side of the cave opening.

It was the perfect canopy for Picoro, the algae on his back matching that of the trees, the branches intertwining into the perfect jungle gym. Yet he only watched them longingly, his grip in her mane tightening. “Why don't you... “ she hesitated, the words hanging between them.  She cleared her throat, attempting to rid herself of the persistent hoarseness that seemed to be striking around “Why don’t you go explore?”

She got nothing in response, but a turn of the head, and she let a sad sigh escape her lips. 

She wondered if she would encounter the same things here she had behind the other portals. She was still trying to figure out how they were all connected, why all the portals seemed to be so different, and yet they all felt the same. Perhaps these were all regions of the same land? Or maybe they really were just random pins in a map, that the portals had attached themselves to at random. Sucking in any passersby who couldn’t resist the temptation, just like herself.

It had been only a day since she’d visited the portal full of stars. Since she’d seen what wonder sit held, what mysteries lay beneath its surface. She hungered for more. For the thrill of discovering life not seen before. For the wonder that had come down to her as she gazed at the stars, more vivid than they were anywhere else in Novus. And so, though the tremble of the body was more visible that day, she found herself back in that shadowed path, wandering towards the ring of adventures once more. 

This time it was the crash of waves that caught her attention. A sound that had so often accompanied the brightest moments of her life. Maybe she could find happiness again. She stepped through - Yara and Mithra running at her side this time around - and found herself on a golden shoreline, with waves lapping at her hooves. 

She watched the now grown leonbergers charge into the foam, barking and snapping at each other's heels. It seemed her own sort of euphoria took over as she followed them in. trotting awkwardly over the waves, her legs stiff through the motions. Overtaken by the feeling of seaspray and wind and joy she pushed herself into a slow canter, ignoring the jolt of pain that moved through her shoulder. Letting the water splash up around her, her mane floating over the surfa-

“Luvena stop”

There was tension in Picoros voice.  It was a voice she hardly ever heard these days, and only ever to scold her. So she did, her breath rasping as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. For just a moment she had forgotten. It could have been longer. She stood just deep enough that her hooves didn’t lift off the sand. Staring off to the horizon. She didn’t answer the sloth, instead letting the tension simmer between them.

It had been that day for months now. Since Kodarki had visited. And then the winter had made it worse. He still braided her hair, and curled up beside her. He never left her side. That was part of the problem. Before they had each gone on their own journeys. They didn’t speak to each other. The dogs and the sloth tossed glares between each other. 

What a mess of a group they were.