Welcome to Gaia! ::

The payout from that Shifter had been great! Elka hadn't expected to get so much money from her earned half. What a good gig that was, spending the time enjoying the great outdoors, away from the stuffy, congested streets for a bit, and returning with a wealth of treasures. That had been way more money than she'd made at the inn in a day. A week! No wonder everyone wanted to do this. It even made her want to do this. And it looked so easy. You just looked around, found something, and sold it. So easy. Never mind how Maia told her how good a month this had been. She clearly didn't want anyone trampling around in her territory, taking the things that she could profit off it. It was all too obvious to Elka that's why she was trying to scare her away. But she wasn't going to give in.

The night before her next day off, the Ice girl bought a bag with the money from her half of Maia's earnings. She also bought an elegant new hat and a fancy new dress with a beautifully embroidered bodice which she carefully tucked away in her closet to await the best opportunity to show it off. Maybe when she returned with her stash, she'd change into it. For surely, if she picked the right seller, she could use her charms to get a better profit than the average person would have been able to get. That Maia girl was quite the beauty, too, yet she didn't dress up at all. What a waste. What was the point of beauty if you didn't show it off?

Giving her hair one more pat, Elka pursed her lips as if she was about to kiss her reflection. If only her lips were as plump. They weren't bad as they were, if still a bit on the thin side. At least in her opinion. Men didn't seem to mind her lips as they were. Eh, what did they know. So long as a woman looked like a woman, that was all that ever mattered.

Once she was satisfied that she looked as good as she ever would, Elka left the inn and made for the entrance to the city, walking along the road once she had left it. A few others had joined her, talking excitedly about what they also might find out here. She felt a bit disappointed that this clearly hadn't been her idea alone, but she quickly shrugged it off. Who cared if others were joining in the hunt? She would find something better than they did, she was sure of it.

Eventually they split off to the right. The girl kept going, putting a bit of distance between them and herself before she, too, steered off the road and into the rainforest. She wasn't in the habit of being out in nature. As she plodded along, holding up her skirt to keep it from getting dirty, she started to remember why she never came out here. It was so dirty. And noisy, with all manner of creature cawing and chirping and screeching all around her. On the ground and in the trees. Her lips turned down into a grimace as she tried to ignore her discomfort and look down for anything interesting. She'd gone to so much trouble to prepare for this trip, she may as well make the best of it.

After what felt like way too long-and it was impossible to tell how long, with the canopy so thick above her head-Elka saw something sparkling in the grass ahead of her. Nearly dropping the hem of her skirt, she rushed forward as quickly as she dared, fearing her boot hooking in a root and tripping her, golden eyes locked onto the location of where she had seen the sparkle. Reaching it, she bent down awkwardly, gathering up the extra folds of skirt into her lap and picked up what looked to her to be a regular rock. A very pretty rock, but just a rock. She sighed in disappointment.

"Whoa!" Came a sound nearby. Elka looked up to see one of the boys from the group before staring at her in awe, pointing at the rock in her hands. "How lucky. Maybe there's more around here." He turned around, waving his arm at two others off in the distance. "Hey, guys! This girl found some silver. Come over here!"

"SIlver?" Elka repeated to herself, inspecting the rock in her hands more closely. Huh. Maybe it was. It certainly shined like some of the jewelry she had that she had brought from Zena. A smile spread on her face. Yes, this was silver, wasn't it? She had done it! She had found something worth selling. Now she could leave this blasted rainforest and return to the comforts of the swept streets of the city.