Maeve carefully made her way over small twigs and fallen tree branches left over from the wind storm a few nights prior. She hummed quietly to herself, careful not to disturb any animals that may have been resting nearby.

Okay... Just focus on where you are right now, Maeve thought to herself. ...Focus on solely that and finding someone who might know where Sagamorequin and Aelod are... or at least had seen what direction they had gone off in.

Despite her thoughts that were originally crafted with the intention to calm her rising nerves, Maeve still felt anxious about the task that had been laid out before her.

Typically, when it came to quick jobs the young witch had taken up, she was confident in her abilities--she prevailed almost instantly. She got the job done with little to no issue. But this time around, Maeve couldn't help but feel like she was setting herself up for failure.

Maeve had helped heal the sick... Find someone's animal... Even taught the school children a thing or two, but she had never been told to look for someone---especially someone who didn't want to be found, at that.

She honestly felt like she was walking straight into a perfectly crafted trap set up by none other than Reverend Richard Henry himself; it made almost no sense to Maeve that he'd actually want his son home, especially with how he treated Aelod when he was still residing within the settlement. To Maeve, it truly did just feel like she was strictly sent on the quest to be cruelly outed as a sorcerer... For some of the villagers, there was almost nothing that would stop them from setting up their fellow man in a scheme like that, just for them to be punished and the villagers to be entertained for the evening.

Maeve shuddered at the mere thought of what some of the villagers did to each other--they didn't seem to care about how cruel it was, as long as they got a few laughs from what followed.

Maeve tried to push the grim thoughts out of her mind of what might happen if she were to be caught and continued along the dirt trail, her sights set forward, hoping to find some open clearing with a campsite not too far from it.

Instead though, Maeve continued on, only being met with more trees--in a denser population too, not as sparse as they were near the village.

"What in the..." Maeve trailed off as her gaze cruised along the tree tops and tried to make out the skyline above that was almost completely obscured by the thick bunches of leaves. She groaned, as it dawned on her. "...the heart of the forest. That's... great. Just great."

She took a few moments more to look around---she even looked back the way she had come from to see if she'd be able to see the mouth of the woods in the distance---where the village would wait; but unfortunately for Maeve, the brush was even too thick for that... ...Matter of fact, the winds from the distant clearings that could weasel their way in made sure to blow the dirt around on the trail, effectively covering her own tracks, leaving Maeve unsure of what way she was even facing.

Maeve huffed. "Damn it all to hell!" She grumbled, "I'm lost. I'm actually lost out here. Why now of all times? Why me of everyone in that damned village? Why not Richard? Surely, he could've gone with a few days of being missing---it would've served him some good and given him time to think about how to properly better himself."

Maeve rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Night's bound to fall soon... and when it does, I'll be forced to stay in place. The gods know that with this kind of brush, light won't make it here at all." She sighed, sitting down on a rock, planning to stay there until daybreak, deciding she'd wait until tomorrow to continue her quest.

Maeve sat there for a few more hours; the sun's last lights fading as it sank to its grave beyond the horizon.

She had looked around to ensure no one was nearby before in the dead of night, using a small spell to make a tiny flickering flame in the palm of her hand for light and for warmth.

Maeve focused on the way the flames swayed back and forth, trying to ignore the fact she couldn't see even ten feet in front of her. She was so zeroed in on the flame's movements that she didn't even hear the voice behind the rock call to her---but she sure as hell heard it the second time.