<strong>The Wilds of Dra Sirdu - River Flowing, Night Falling</strong><br/><br/>Night came more quickly than it had on previous evenings, due in no small part to the high walls of the river's ravine and the forest canopy overhead. By the same token, of course, true darkness took a bit longer to materialize, with the few spots of sky still visible showing off reds and oranges in the clouds.<br/><br/>For the pair of exhausted (and in one case, wounded) elves, however, a greater concern revealed itself. Aeryn's scarceness hadn't, apparently, been due to some great discovery in the cave or uncharacteristic aloofness, but something far more sinister: the scholar had vanished entirely. A few of her belongings, including the map, remained where she had last been seen setting up camp, but she, her bedroll, and her pack were nowhere to be found. No blood stained the cave floor or mouth, and no desperate messages marked the handful of things she'd left behind. Her departure hadn't been a violent one, at least.<br/><br/>While it'd offer little consolation over the loss of the group's scholar, the night proved slightly less unsettling (at least in the unnatural, haunting fashion that the island tormented its unwanted guests) than the first few on Dra Sirdu. The peace and calm didn't quite match the relaxing evening in the matriarch's glen, but rather bore a resemblance to the pleasant activity that the sisters of the Magna Sophia chapter house had maintained late into the evening. While she had broken contact with Eshalu for whatever reason, the river's phantom maintained her vigil while the living slept and warded off the island's influence.<br/><br/>The sun rose again, and failed to wipe away any of the previous day's events: strange writing still marked the riverbank (even if bits of it had grown even more indecipherable from dew seeping into the already soft soil) and Aeryn hadn't returned. Somewhat more reassuringly (or even more disturbingly, depending on how deeply one thought about it), the vague sense of being guarded by a friendly acquaintance also remained. Should someone venture to the water's edge, they would find their reflection intermittently replaced with that of the specter's, smiling pleasantly.