//------------------------------//
// The Sound of Rain 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
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A flock of manateeagles passed high above, their shadows cast wide down to the earth, the beating of their finwings almost audible in the calm stillness of the air. They seemed uninterested in the creatures far below them, at least for the time being. Trixie was rather glad that was the case.
She looked at the vast, dry, sun-beaten plains stretching before her. Would she find a tree or perhaps a cave to spend the night in? And was it even worth risking it? She didn't have all that much water with her, and though she didn't like the idea of stopping there for the rest of the day she knew travelling at night would be the wiser choice.
Finding a place to rest was perhaps the best use of her time, then. She turned and studied the rocky side of the mountain behind her, looking for some jutting slab of rock that could perhaps offer some shade underneath it, or maybe the start of a cave of some kind. She didn't mind resting on the dirt, but she would still have preferred otherwise.
It didn't take too long for her to find someplace suitable. What looked like the entrance to a cave the inside of which had crumbled down, though it could just as easily be a large hole the wind had carved out, some shrubs growing above the entrance providing a bit more cover. It was decently fresh, a bit humid as well, perhaps there was some water nearby.
She settled down, and took off her saddlebags. Then she pulled out a map and a compass, and opened the former on the ground. Judging by how much it had taken her to get there, it would be about two more days of walking before she finally arrived at her destination. She had food and water enough, assuming she travelled at night and wasn't thrown off-course by some wild animal or worse.
She folded the map back up and slid it back into her bags, alongside the compass. Then she took out her rations, along with the package resting at the bottom. Just to check it was still there, as she did probably more often than necessary. But she couldn't be too cautious with it, the risks if it was somehow stolen were too great.
No sings of tampering on the outside of the metal box. Still properly locked, and every spell looked like it was holding up. And peering through the small glass window at the contents of the container, the red and black and grey of the object inside were still visible. Trixie stared a moment longer, then shoved the box back at the bottom of her saddlebags, underneath everything else.
Time would come, but not yet. And hopefully, things would work out, and no creature would get hurt. Beginning to eat her food, she stared at the horizon, while the manateeagles in the sky moved further and further away. She just wished she could trust her own plan as much as she'd made Twilight trust in it.