Long, well-muscled arms stretched up into the morning light from under a large blanket thrown down on a soft patch of grass, hands bending back at the wrist and circling about. One steel-plated hoof poked out from the other end, and a muffled yawn echoed about the small clearing Kaya had picked for herself. She tossed the blanket aside with an enthusiastic motion and struggled to sit upright for a second, blinking her light brown eyes to get the sleep out of them. Her bulky hindquarters seemed to protest for a second before she hauled in her back legs and sat up. Another bit of strain got her upright and on her hooves. She wriggled and hand through her hair, tousled as it was from her outdoor rest, and she set about putting it into it’s normal braid, scooping hair up and over her ears to keep them mobile.<br/><br/>She kicked the blanket off of her gear, hauling out the first of many pieces of armour. Padding across her bare flesh, then the thick leather backing to keep the chainmail from digging into it. She tossed the chain over her hindquarters as easily as most people draped blankets, though with considerably more noise. The jingling startled a few birds out of the branches above, setting her ears twitching to track movement. The long, arduous process of strapping plates on took a handspan of the sun, causing her to frown. She was getting lazy. She belted on her sword and axe, hung the shield, flipped her bags over her flanks, settled her javelins in place,and took up her spear with probably more alacrity than absolutely necessary, but she was annoyed with herself. After all, it’s not like these lands are certain safety. But she had been overjoyed the evening before to find such a glade, smelling of trees. A pond have given her a bath, and if she was very lucky today, she could refresh her food supplies and perhaps find some work, assuming their was a village nearby. Settling her great helm at the small of her back on a hook specifically for that purpose, she nodded to herself curtly. Today would be a good day.<br/><br/>As she set off out of the glade and towards where she remembered the road through this area to be, Kaya reached along her flank, into one of her bags, and pulled out a small, flat loaf of bread and some dried beef. She chewed as she walked, oblivious to sounds of ambush because between the jingling and clanking of her armour and the crunch of her hooves along the turf. She made quite the racket, though not as much as in the cities, where she had been likened to a wandering blacksmith’s shop. While her armour was well-fitted, she was the only Epona she knew of who wore heavy armour like this, and whichever smith the Hellcats had gone to was not precisely familiar with combining barding and rider plate. Still, it had saved her on numerous occasions, and she would not be unthankful, even if her awareness suffered for it.<br/><br/>The road led east for quite some time, and Kaya finished her breakfast before she came upon an intersection. No signs gave any indication what lie south or north, so it seemed she must make a decision. She tried calling to mind what might be in this area, but her brain threw a blank. As she studied the ruts and divots in the road to make some sort of sense of them, a peculiar and terrible smell wafted into her nostrils. Part of her instincts nearly made her rear.<span style="font-style: italic">Fire in the forest! RUN!</span>But she fought this down, and sniffed the air again, her long ears rotating in their small capacity to try and find a sound to direct her. This didn’t smell of forest fire, more like cooking meat. But meat gone horribly foul, and too much hair.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">A battle? In the woods!?</span>Despite the incredulity in her thoughts, she swiftly coiled her hair into a rough bun and settled her helm onto her head, unslung her shield, and broke into a trot south, towards where she thought the smell was coming from. Her spear rested along her flank, ready to be couched if necessary. Her armour typically made announcing her presence superfluous.