Jesse groaned softly, adjusting her seat in the saddle. Having been in that same position for hours, her entire body was beginning to become stiff and sore.

She glanced over at Olivia, who was riding beside her. The engineer was staring down at the reins she held in her hands, seemingly deep in thought. She didn't even realise that the breeze was flapping one of her own pigtails in her face.

Jesse sat back in the saddle again, once more adjusting her seat. She was becoming so stiff that she started considering to dismount and lead her horse for a bit.

Deciding to distract herself again, Jesse glanced over at her other friends. Lukas was holding his horse's reins in one hand, holding a book with the other. Jesse had no idea how he managed to read and ride at the same time. Axel looked like he might fall asleep the saddle, his eyes blinking lazily. Petra was still in the lead, the only one who didn't look worn through and frustrated. Even her horse was eagerly bobbing his head up and down, his step full of life.

"I wonder how much longer we'll be riding for, before we can stop for a bit." Jesse said to Olivia as she squirmed in the saddle again.

"Huh?" Olivia's head snapped up, as she was pulled from her train of thought. "Sorry, zoned out a bit. What did you say?"

"I need a break." Jesse said. "Do you think it'll be long before we can take a breather?"

"No clue." Olivia responded, switching her reins to one hand while stretching out the other arm, before repeating the process the other way around. "I myself could do with some rest. But I don't dare ask."

Jesse giggled slightly. "That makes two of us. Petra would fume if anybody asked to-"

"You two do realise I can hear you back there, right?"

Jesse and Olivia quickly shut up at hearing Petra's voice, trying to stifle their laughter.

"I mean, a break could be nice." Lukas said, looking up from his book. "The horses could use one too, not just us."

"And I'm hungry!" Axel added.

Petra tilted her head back and let out a long, dragged out groan. Jesse held back a chuckle, knowing Petra would probably kill her if she started to laugh.

"Fine." Petra said with a sigh. "Let's just ride until we at least reach the river, so the horses can have a drink there."

"How far are we actually going to go?" Lukas asked curiously, slipping his book into the saddle bag. "I haven't been on many of these trips."

"Usually just until we find a place worthy of exploring." Jesse explained. "It's almost like a super long camping trip, we practically live out here for a few weeks before trekking back to Beacontown."

"A few weeks?" Lukas's eyes widened. "I thought we'd be gone for a few days."

"Nope!" Petra glanced over her shoulder, grinning. "We have to go far out, if we want to explore new terrain!"

"Better get used to it, Lukas." Olivia said, chuckling. "We do this all the time!"

"I mean, it sounds great, don't get me wrong." Lukas said hesitantly, scratching the back of his head. "I just don't know if I came prepared..."

"None of us did." Axel responded. "Living off the land is part of the fun!"

"I suppose." Lukas responded, frowning slightly.

Jesse prodded her horse's side slightly, urging him on until she was riding beside Lukas. He looked over at her questioningly.

"Excited to finally be on one of the expeditions?" She asked him with a grin. "You're a part of the Order, after all."

"Clearly unprepared, but yeah." Lukas admitted. "This is pretty cool. What types of things do you usually get up to, other than searching for dungeons and temples?"

"Most of the time, exploring." Jesse said. "Riding, hiking, climbing, you name it! It's actually a ton of fun, if you don't count how easy it is to get saddle sore after a few hours." She chuckled again.

"Do you ever just, I don't know, stop to relax?" Lukas asked her.

"Oh, all the time! Petra likes to push us to get far away from Beacontown, but once we're smack in the middle of nowhere, things go a lot slower." She sighed dreamily. "There's nothing like camping out somewhere completely new, miles from any civilisation."

"That does sound nice." Lukas said. "I can only imagine how nice it must be to write out there."

"Finally!" Olivia called in excitement. "The river! We can take a break!"

"And have a snack!" Axel added excitedly, his black horse whinnying in what sounded like agreement.

Jesse slipped her feet out of the stirrups, swinging her legs over the saddle. She staggered slightly once she was on the ground, her muscles taking a moment to realise they actually had to work again. She could hear her friends all moaning their complaints as well.

Everybody loosened their horses' girths, leading them over to the water to drink. Axel was quick to fish a granola bar out of his saddlebag to much on, sharing it with his horse.

"Don't worry girl, I got something for you as well." Jesse said as her mare gave her a nudge, fishing two apples out of her overalls pocket for both her and her horse.

She glanced around at her friends, seeing how they were making use of the break. Petra was sitting on the grass, also eating an apple. Olivia was leaning against a tree, fanning herself with her one hand to cool down. Lukas was still standing by his horse while she drank, stroking her neck. Axel and his gelding were contently eating together.

"Hey." Jesse said, walking over to Petra and inviting herself to sit down beside the redhead. "We've been on the road for an entire day and a half now. How much further do you think we need to go?"

"I don't know." Petra said with a shrug, taking another bite of her apple. "We haven't really passed through anything that seemed worth it yet, you know?"

"The landscape have been kinda bare, yeah." Jesse agreed, leaning back on her elbow as she began to eat her apple as well. "Plains, plains, a strip of desert, one not-so-dense forest... it's been kind of boring."

"Nothing compared to that cool jungle we once passed through, or the mesa we discovered last time." Petra added.

Jesse thoughtfully chewed on her apple, her eyes scanning the surroundings. There were some tall mountains in the distance, summits dusted with snow. It'd be cool to explore, but quite a journey to get there.

"You checking out those extreme hills as well?" Petra asked, starting to grin.

"Isn't it too far?" Jesse asked her.

"Nothing is too far, Jesse." Petra said, rolling her eyes. "Can you imagine all the caves we'll have the opportunity to explore? Olivia can replenish her entire redstone dust supply, while Axel will no doubt have emeralds to find!"

"Did I hear something about redstone?" Olivia asked plopping herself down beside Jesse and Petra.

"Look, let's get a third opinion." Petra said, turning to face Olivia. "Liv, what's your opinion on the idea of riding all the way out to those cliffs in the distance?"

Olivia scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Um... It's really far, and would probably take us a very long time to get to, not to mention getting back again."

"It's sounds like there's a 'but' coming." Jesse said, almost hopefully. She couldn't deny that it sounded really exciting.

"Correct." Olivia said, grinning. "It's going to be one hell of a ride, but it's not like we have anywhere to be, am I right?"

"Yes!" Petra excitedly punched the air, grinning.

"What are we cheering about?" Lukas asked as he and Axel came over.

"You know when I told you these journeys tend to get long?" Jesse asked him, unable to keep herself from grinning broadly.

"Yeah..?" Lukas crossed his arms, lifting an eyebrow.

"We've made the choice of journeying to those extreme hills in the distance." Petra took over the explaining. "And don't even bother to object, because the majority has already decided."

"Ah, that means I can get some more emeralds!" Axel said eagerly, while Lukas's jaw dropped.

"Okay, when you said we were going far out, this wasn't what I expected." He said, managing to get his voice back.

"Aw come on, what will we be doing back in Beacontown anyway?" Jesse said to him as she got up from the grass. "This is going to be so much more fun that just lounging around the house!"

"Point taken." Lukas said, still seeming a bit uncertain.

"This is going to be great!" Petra said as she leaped up from her seat on the ground as well, tossing her apple core aside. "Let's do this thing!"

Jesse couldn't help but let out her own whoop of excitement, her and Petra's energy starting to affect the others and making them grin as well. Everybody excited for their adventure to come, as they ran over to get mounted again.

It was going to be a long journey, but together – it was going to be a ton of fun!

___

Hmm, do I like how this came out or not?

I was a bit torn on what to write for today, so I kind of made this up as I went - Which is my favourite type of writing, admittedly xD It doesn't really have a strong plot or any suspense, etc. but I do kind of like where I went with it. The order, adventuring together, everybody actually enjoying it... the stuff we never got to see a ton of!

I'm going to go ahead and say I like how it turned out! xD

I don't have much else to say, other than I hope you all enjoyed this one shot and I'll see you tomorrow with whichever prompt I draw next!