Lashes of emerald foliage flickered past Saki as she dashed through the under brush, lashing at the exposed skin of her face as she went. Her boots sunk considerably in the soft soil as she forced her feet down hard, leaving tracks to map her return with little trouble.

Her eyes darted over her surroundings, picking apart the best route for her to take as a furious roar ripped through the forest air. The slapping of heavy, encroaching paws on the ground served to tell her just how close she was cutting this escape.

Throwing herself over fallen trees leading the way towards gorges and chasms towards the east, Saki felt the chilling sweep of an attempted slash towards her neck graze through the ends of her hair trailing behind her, bringing her to throw herself into a veering sprint towards a sizeable tree to her right. Weaving around thick trees to try and earn even just a second gain, the furious roar tore free again, pushing her efforts further.

Until finally, Saki reached the gorge she had chosen as her retreat and leaped right across the meter gap into the branches of an old oak at the bottom of the three meter drop.

Saki's pursuer, a massive brown bear, let out an enraged roar as Saki propelled herself higher into the branches.

With swift movements, Saki's fingers dove straight into the hip-pack attached to her right hip to retrieve a small phial of yellow oil and tossed it straight at the lip of the rocky gorge at the bear's feet. The container smashed, sending the contents splattering over the stone and the bear's paws.

An angered roar escaped the bear as Saki nocked a stone-tip arrow, and let it fly, striking sparks as it stuck against the oil-stained rocks. The oil ignited in a sudden burst of flames, startling the bear into fleeing.

A sigh escaped Saki as she watched the bear disappear, and the flames begin to die down as its fuel source dissipated. Her brow furrowed considerably as she patted a gloved hand over the now-empty hip-pouch.

'I should have ordered more of that, too...' Saki muttered beneath her breath as she stowed her bow away and began the careful climb down the tree.

Of course, Saki had expected run-ins with angry, territorial bears due to the fact that it was mating season, but she hadn't expected that the sample-locations Garak had sent her to survey were right in the middle of some of the largest bear hot-spots she'd ever seen. Undeniably, that was why the Second Prince didn't want his seemingly favourite court herbalist wandering out into the wilderness. If this Shirayuki had no combat experience like Saki was expecting, then she would undoubtedly fall victim to a bear-attack.

But it really would have been nice if Garak had of warned her in advance.

This part of Clarines was moderately unfamiliar to her, considering that it was so close to the border of Tanbarum.

Saki followed her heavy-placed tracks back the way she'd come, taking note of the bear-tracks that veered off from her path with as much haste as it had started.

But there was something seriously wrong with the bears around here.

The ones in her usual woodland ranges never attacked so viciously, and certainly never at the sight of a human from over three hundred feet away. The usual tactics of deterring the bears didn't work on these ones, either.

Was there something wrong with the habitat, here?

Saki's tracks lead her back towards the shadowed glade which marked location seven, the final location of her journey. Garaks mention of a "few" locations were more than just that small stroll that she'd implied that night, and Saki was more than tempted to voice her displeasure to the woman, if not for the fact that her order's costs were to be waved in return.

In spite of the bear incident just a handful of minutes earlier, there were no bears within the immediate vicinity, however, the young trees throughout the forest were marked up beyond recovery. Ripped and split off at Saki's head-height, many trees stood split in two as a show of territory. All the young trees within three miles of this place were marked as so.

With no bears around at this present second, Saki traced her way through the area as quick as she could manage, tracking down this infernal herb so she could get the samples, jot down any observational notes, and then retreat all the way back home before any other bears found her.

But no matter how much she searched, she could find no intact samples anywhere, no herbs retaining the same characteristics of the one she was searching for. All she could honestly find were the remaining, half chewed of unidentifiable plants, large patches of worn ground where the absent bears obviously rolled around, and mostly intact, old carcasses of deer and other herbivorous prey lay here and there, which of itself was odd considering that bears tended to leave very little left, especially in their territories.

Everything around here felt wrong.

Saki's breath escaped her in a frustrated huff as she circled back around, where she quickly scanned over the map Garak had provided her with her destinations marked out.

She had traced the whole zone, and she found nothing helpful.

In all the other areas, Saki found the specified herbs easily enough growing in among the under-brush and upturned trees, generally following the same principals of fungus in a sense. Instead, she found a peculiar kind of residue massing over the blades of grass, one that made Saki hesitant to touch, even with her hands gloved. Its reaches extended well beyond the large area Saki searched, and it made her uncomfortable.

The bears were hostile beyond reason, the air felt wrong, and mostly-intact carcasses were left to decay. It appeared that not even the crows would feast on the remains.

With no recourse but to take careful samples of what she could find and log what she could ascertain of the area, Saki filled jars before she scaled one of the larger trees and propped herself up into the branches to jot down her findings.

The minutes passed, leading up towards an hour as Saki wrote down every scrap of information she could, and from where she was perched up in the branches, she dipped her quill into the pot of ink she had propped precariously on a neighbouring branch and sketched the unsettling forest glade before her. Her quill scratched in calculated lines, intricately to depict the scene in front of her with undeniable accuracy. Before long however, a shift of movement caught Saki's attention away from the bundle of parchment in her lap.

What she immediately recognized to be a young deer edged cautiously into the glade, its form rigid and alert as it scanned its surroundings. It was scarcely more than six months old, Saki judged, and certainly not old enough to be away from its mother. It nervously edged closer, failing to notice Saki's form up in the branches of the large oak as it lowered its head towards the grasses covered with the residue Saki hesitated to touch. However, instead of veering away as Saki had expected, the deer tentatively grazed upon the greenery, bringing the woman to narrow her gaze cautiously.

Pieces were falling into place, and it was all Saki could do to jot down the speculations and pack up.

The forest was sick, and the toxicity was potent enough that not even the crows were courageous enough to gamble with their lives. And perhaps detecting by her scent on the air that she wasn't native to Clarines at all, the bear had decided her a safer meal.

She needed to get out of here and take the samples back to Garak as fast as possible.

Saki's journey back to the capitol was speckled with bear-encounters averted by tree-top detours and the lowering decent of the sun overhead. Hours passed as she trekked, until the capitol's high walls came into view just before dusk.

Needless to say, Saki was more than just a little relieved. And while she could have detoured for home, the sickness of that forest was concerning enough for Saki to decide that she had to head up to see Garak.

Which, unfortunately meant dealing with the evening shift of Clarines' gate guards, who were never helpful when she needed to get in quickly.

The heavy rucksack weighed Saki's motions down considerably as her weariness sunk in, making the irritable wait at the gate feel even longer than it really was. She waited with her arms crossed firmly over her chest as her right foot tapped impatiently upon the cobblestone road as the middle-aged guard at the gate took a painfully long time to read over and authenticate the passage papers of a travelling merchant in front of her.

Her patience wore quite thin as the guard cast her a suspicious stare once he'd finished with the merchant and allowed him passage inside.

'What brings you to Wistal, Foreigner?' The guard questioned as Saki moved to approach.

Saki pretended she hadn't heard the man's rather obvious edge of irritation and chose to tug out her papers of passage from the inside pocket of her coat and handed them to him.

'Passage to the Castle.' Saki answered, earning the same visible wince and recoil from the man as she did everyone else she met in the street. 'I have an arranged audience with the Court Herbalist Office.'

'Surely you jest.' The man practically scoffed as he carelessly glanced over the papers of passage. 'Even if I humored you, the guards at the castle would never let a suspicious, foreign individual such as yourself through.'

It was at that moment that a glare spread right across Saki's face, and she reached up to tug her identification tag out from within her under-shirt.

'Yes, I am foreign to Clarines! But I'll have you know I've lived here for most of my life, and this should prove it!' Saki responded as she held up her tag for the guard to read. 'I even work at the Castle!'

'Now that is a blatant lie.' The guard dismissed as he swatted her identity tag away with a sneer. 'The City gates are open to the general public at dawn. Come back then.'

It was at that moment that Saki had to try very hard to refrain from slamming her fist in the guards face.

'I have authorization papers and an identification tag that proves I'm a legal resident of Clarines! You can't tell me to just come back at another time without even reading anything!' Saki snapped.

'I just did, now beat it!' The guard dismissed as he threw her papers right back in her face. 'You're holding everyone up!'

'No, that would be the asinine fool who can't so much as read.' Saki muttered as she crouched down to pick up the papers that had scattered over the floor, all the while that guard just stalked off to go tend to the next person requiring passage after hours.

Saki half wondered if these damn guards pretended not to even recognize her just to try and cause her trouble, but there was no point in seriously considering a question she didn't truly want the answer to. In the end, all Saki could do was walk around the city wall and try the other gate. She could climb the wall if she really wanted to, but she was too tired after her journey to do that, and the shrieking fit the guards would rage into presuming she was an assassin out for a member of the Royal Family was too much hassle, even if she did explain her situation. Reaching the top of the wall and calling out for a guard to read her papers did her no good, either.

In all honesty, she probably could go home and rest until dawn instead, but given the sickly state of the forest near the border of Tanbarum and it's creatures, Saki wanted to get this information to Garak as soon as possible. So, after muttering a choice string of words beneath her breath, Saki left off with her crumpled handful of passage papers.

The skies above lost the deep reds and vibrant amethyst hues as nightfall blanketed the lands, casting shadows and darkness across the greenery as Saki jogged along the city wall. Her feet of course, were aching chronically from the two day journey she'd undertaken, and her mood was souring with every step.

Though at least, by the time she arrived at the other gate on the harbour-side, there was very little in terms of after-hours cue-ups at the gate. She wound up standing behind a pair who were next in line, an odd pair, if she had to judge by their appearances. A scarlet-locked woman in a white dress that seemed vaguely familiar, and a taller male with short dark hair and earthen-hued clothes.

They appeared to be talking amiably enough, bringing Saki to carefully straighten her passage papers as she waited.

She didn't have to wait very long, either.

The very instance the guard at the gate looked up at the pair in front of Saki, he smiled amiably and just let them through with no question or concern, which left Saki next to be let through.

And unfortunately, the look she received was just the same as at the other gate.

'What brings you to Wistal, Miss?' The guard questioned her with a slightly more polite tone, bringing Saki to carefully hand the papers over.

'I have an audience with the Court Herbalist Office at the Castle.' Saki explained, with a small smile as the guard hesitantly took her papers from her hand. 'I've already visited the other gate, but the guard there wouldn't even consider letting me through.'

The guard looked up at her from the papers with a frown, seeming to not even notice the peculiarities of her ghostly voice, which told Saki that this man had obviously met her before.

'Then I can't let you through, either.' He responded promptly.

'Why not?' Saki questioned, with a struggling smile of pleasantries written across her face.

'If the Guards at the other gate declined your passage, then I can't authorize your passage, either.' He responded seriously.

'Did you even read the papers?' Saki questioned.

'No.'

'Neither did that other guard, even though they're signed and given by the castle.'

'That is besides the poi--'

'WHY WON'T YOU PEOPLE LISTEN TO ME!?' Saki shouted as loud as she physically could, her patience well and truly spent as she rounded upon the guard, who looked rather stunned by the full force of her extremely abnormal voice. 'I'M NOT SPEAKING A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE HERE! YOU'VE EVEN MET ME BEFORE TO KNOW I LIVE HERE! DO YOU HAVE ROCKS ROLLING AROUND INSIDE YOUR HEAD OR ARE YOU JUST STUPID!?'

The guard stood there at a loss of what was even going on, all the while Saki struggled not to snatch the papers back and just force her way through the gate by force.

'Excuse me miss, but are you Akazwa Saki?' Came a soft, melodious voice from just next to the stunned guard, bringing Saki to immediately turn her gaze upon the owner of the voice.

Immediately, Saki found herself staring at the scarlet-haired woman who'd been granted passage already, and she appeared to have a look of burning curiosity across her face. Her companion was sauntering over with his hands buried in his pockets and a mildly amused look written across his face.

'Yes, that's correct.' Saki responded with little hesitation, though she turned her severe gaze upon the guard standing stunned in front of her. 'Vazey here should already know that if he bothered to actually read.'

She heard a rather distinct snicker come from the scarlet-haired woman's companion in response to her words, though the guard in mention actually shook himself out of his shock and rounded back on Saki.

'How dare you--'

'Wait!' The redhead cut in over the guard quickly, earning his attention from Saki within an instance. 'The Chief Herbalist is actually waiting for Akazawa to return! Please let her through!'

Saki's gaze narrowed slightly upon the nameless woman for a moment, before she finally recognized the unique uniform of the court herbalist office, giving her at least a vague idea as to who this could be.

The guard whom Saki had insulted appeared to let out a breath as he cast a glare towards Saki.

'Very well, just get out of my sight.' He snapped as he marched himself away from Saki, towards the next in line behind her.

And leave, Saki did.

She didn't hesitate in the least as the nameless red-haired woman smiled brightly and motioned for Saki to come within the city walls with her, and her companion merely followed along without a word.

The way his gaze fell suspiciously upon her visible inventory however, was a little disconcerting.

'Thank you for helping me out back there.' Saki told the red-haired woman as they got out of earshot of the guard and the others at the gate. 'I didn't fancy scaling the wall again.'

'It's no problem, really.' The woman responded immediately, appearing quite modest as Saki gave her a quick glance over. 'In fact, The Chief did ask me to help out if I happened to see you having trouble with the guards.'

That sounded feasible. That was something that Garak would do, after all.

'Right, well, sorry if this is a bit rude, but I have to get going.' Saki hedged as she shifted aside, gripping tightly at the strap of her rucksack. 'Hope to bump into you again at some point!'

And before the redhead could respond, Saki had taken off at a run to finally put this job back in Garak's hands.

--=[Submitted April 17th]=--

[By the way, thank you Skyscapic / Obsidianix for the beautiful cover, once again! It looks amazing :D]