Dawn had crept up on him much like the haze that followed, hanging loosely from the trees. The soft, warm earthy ground molded easily beneath his feet, the tell-tale sign of streaming water cascaded into his ears, drawing him in like moth to flame. Shrapnel had followed water sources before, often using them to carve a fairly direct route out of one region to another. But he wasn't quite ready to venture out of the Lore, not yet. It had far too much to offer, much more than his homeland and many of the places he had hastily cleared.  Thriving and not overcrowded, he liked that the land flourished but yet did not overgrow its limitations. There was a childish part of him that wished his own family had stumbled across it all first. But then there was the overriding principle in his own head that wanted to capture it all for himself.  There was much to learn before that; his options laid out ahead of him like the forms and bends leading up to the falls he began to hear.


Crisp and cool, the first glimpse of the waterfall made him at ease. It was quiet yet and deserted, leaving him to occupy the eye-catching sight without fear of being happened upon by unwanted company. He drew himself up to the water's edge in a slow stride, his muddy toes lightly sinking their way in the stream. He drank from it shortly thereafter, replenishing what had been a dry mouth to something a little easier to work with. And it wasn't until the sun had broken through the abundant canopy that he dared to venture out in the clear waters in his feeble attempt at washing his own earthy coat out. But where the real earth departed from his body, the colors did not, and he knew through his lazy strokes that the current wouldn't wash him away either.