Shifting Sands (A WOF Fanfiction)

Chapter Seven- Preparation

Molotov. Molotov. Who's Molotov? Why don't I recognize that name? And yet at the same time, it sounds vaguely familiar... but from where?  Scorpion was walking back to Jackal's home, contemplating the new information she had learned from Orion. Her arm still twinged from time to time- the result of launching herself at Orion and pushing him against the wall with it. He was well-built and older than her besides, and she grimaced knowing that it was certainly possible that the only reason she had been able to pin him like that was due to his surprise making him off-guard. 

The sky was a light blue now, and Sanctuary was awakening around her. Down the road a Mudwing poured some water into a small flowerbed that had been dug in front of her adobe home, and Scorpion could hear someone singing a tune from the festival the prior night. She reached the outskirts of the town and took a left down into a curving backstreet. She reached Jackal's home and went to the doorway, but just stood outside for a few moments, gazing at the lightly-twinkling sun-catchers in the window. She didn't know where to go now. It was a scary feeling, not knowing her next move. However, it wasn't like she could simply carry on taking her jobs and running from the mysterious 'enemies' that Orion had named. 'Honestly, he's probably full of crap. I need to earn treasure and... and what? What am I really doing? Scorpion, right now you're standing outside of your childhood home having a bit of an existential crisis. This is a waste of time. No, the best plan of action is to find out if he was right. And for that, I have to find out if there's actually a Molotov. That means the Den.' 

Alright, that was a plan. Not a very good plan, but a plan regardless. Scorpion ducked inside the cooled home, which was still hanging on to some of the nights' cold air and sighed. She went to grab her satchels but saw that Jackal had already packed and prepared everything; her bags and carriers were sitting in a pile beside her sleeping mat, along with a waterskin and an extra satchel filled with dried foods for her journey. Jackal didn't know where Scorpion was going, but evidently she could tell that she would be going somewhere, even before Scorpion had known it herself. Scorpion smiled, full of appreciation and affection for her aunt, then scrummaged around for a cloth. She wiped and cleaned first her daggers, then each chakram from her neck pouch. A few more weapons and poisons were in the pile for her, but they didn't need to be cleaned, as she hadn't used them recently, so there wasn't any point in wasting the time. 

Scorpion glanced to the window and saw that the sun shadow was on the third quarter of the small sundial that perched on their East-facing windowsill, so it was definitely time to go... for some reason, though, she almost wanted to stay at Sanctuary for a few more days and relax. Sadly, that wasn't her life. A few moments later Scorpion had donned her bags, and she was standing in the doorway, looking back at her old home. There was no telling how long it would be before she would return here, but Jackal knew that. Her aunt would be okay, she was sure. After all, Jackal had taught Scorpion most of what she knew, so she could definitely fend for herself. As her eyes scanned the room, Scorpion spotted a piece of parchment on the floor that she had missed before- it must have been under the pile of supplies. She picked it up and scanned the page of scrawled writing, then smirked and dropped it back down. 

'Going to visit a friend in Sky T. Back in a quarter cycle. You're making dinner next time.' 
Jackal was getting older, yes, but the old Sandwing wasn't slowing down anytime soon, apparently. 'Good on her.'  Scorpion thought with a smile. One last look at her old home and Scorpion was striding through the village, to the Southern edge. There was one just final thing to do now, after all.