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3. You awaken on a briskly-cold but brightly sunny day on a rocky slope. The vegetation is sparse and the wind is biting, but the air is invigoratingly fresh. If you are a native Totoma, you recognize this as the foothills of your homeland. A strange, smooth-sided tower of black stone rises in the distance. Native Totoma may or may not recognize it as a landmark.
Rising Sun, as her name may imply, always rose at dawn to greet the sun's first rays. So naturally, she found it odd that her skin felt the sun's warm embrace prior to her opening her eyes. And that breeze... It was unsettlingly too chilly for the Swamp. Her bright orange eyes blinked open, and she gasped, stumbling upwards gracelessly to attention. The click-clack sound of her hooves against the rocky surface as she got up cast her eyes downward, to further assimilate her situation. "Ohboy, I'm a long way from home, aren't I?"
Now, she wasn't the sort of Kimeti to let her present situation get her down, but she couldn't possibly calm the steadily quickening pace of her heartbeat, or the cold sweat she felt at the nape of her neck, which was made evident by a quick gust of wind that made her shudder. She muttered a praise for the sun's warmth, and looked around some more.
She was on a mountain or hill of sorts (this was nothing like Swamp terrain, so she couldn't distinguish), but this was nowhere near the peak! And this is where her positive analysis came in: 'I don't know where I am, and I am all alone, but I can safely climb down, and... What's that?' A dark spot on the horizon caught her eye, if she squinted and looked really hard, she could make out a kind of cylindrical object made of some sort of black stone. It looked important, like a gathering place. 'I guess that's where I should be heading..' Another chill rushed down the slope, making her shiver yet again, 'but let me head down first, before I freeze to death!!'
...
The brightly colored doe's descent was nearly faultless. She had had a few stumbles and tumbles, but only because the reality of the situation caught her daydreaming about all the unique features around her. There was next to no plant or animal life on the slope, which she found odd, but the gray slabs of boulder she was trekking down were fascinating enough on their own: To her it was as if each one had its own personality; Its own life and stories to tell. Upon further examination, Rising Sun even discovered some marks that looked as if they were made by the hooves other Kin, which only made her wonder harder about why she couldn't find anyKin around.
'Maybe they were here once, but they certainly aren't here now! No use brooding over the past, I'm sure everything is peachy! Get to that... Thing!!' Once again, she simply could not find the word to describe the figure in the distance, but her little internal self-motivational speech did well to quell her scrutiny. That's right, there was absolutely no point in standing around, 'debating when and where other Kin were here.' She giggled at the rhyme, making a mental note of it to recite in song at a later date. Mayhaps she'd even have a complete verse by the time she got home, and she'd be able to share it with all her friends! The thought made her giddy with joy, and the burst of excitement quickened her pace. She hadn't even noticed the passage of the precise moment when the decline of the hill had ended, but she was already galloping along level ground! Oooh, how she wished she had a mane to trail behind her in the wind!
She was nearly there now... So close, she could almost feel the cool, black stone against her cheek. Why she'd be rubbing her face on it, she wasn't sure, but she felt like it was the right course of action upon arrival. 'Only one way to find out!'
