Yet another wrench had been thrown into North's plans. After being ordered off to Era for who knows what sort of reason, he had just been informed by the train conductor that because all of the other stations in Fiore were having repairs done at the same time, there were no running trains. "I can't believe this!" North shouted to himself, pulling at his hair and looking angrily at the sky as he walked away from the ticket booth. It was as if the entire universe were out to get him and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He really didn't want to have to walk all the way to Era, but it seemed like he had little choice. There was no telling how long it would take for the trains to be prepared, and North didn't want to be late for whatever secret mission it was that they'd been assigned to. North hadn't had an overly big presence in the guild lately, and he thought that perhaps now might be his time to shine. So, determined not to let this get him down, he gathered some supplies from a nearby vendor with some of the money he'd collected from gathering mushrooms and headed off.

The walk would be long and arduous, and the heavy callouses on North's feet came in handy as he passed over rocky terrain and foliage heavy forests abundant with sharp twigs and branches. It was slow going for a single man on foot, and North wished he had some sort of mount that he could ride along with, or at least a companion with which to joke around with as they continued walking. Truly, it was a lonely time to be heading off for a week long journey to Era with no one beside him, and North had to sing and hum and dance along the way to occupy his mind. His dancing nearly got him in trouble at one point in his journey.

As North was traveling along, he noticed that he would have to traverse a rather narrow path that snaked along the face of a rather high cliff. He wasn't feeling overly anxious and continued to dance along and have a fun time despite the danger. In fact, the thrill was rather enjoyable, and he didn't want to be overly cautious in what could be a fun situation. North was twirling and spinning and kicking his legs, but one careless arm flail sent his momentum sideways and off of the cliff edge. He screamed and flailed, but was luckily able to grasp out and cling back onto the cliff face. He got incredibly scraped and beaten up in the process, but he was able to climb back up without an overly large amount of trouble. He was breathing hard and his heart felt like it was beating at a million miles a minute. North couldn't get the smile off of his face after experiencing that near death situation, and it was hard to say that he regretted his carelessness. Still, he was certainly a bit more cautious as he continued along that particular path.

There were a few more bumps in North's road to Era, but nothing that was overly noteworthy. He had already been traveling for five days, and he could see Crocus in the distance as he continued down the road. He had trekked so far into civilization that the path was far more beaten, and he assumed he was walking along some sort of trade route. He was also running across a lot more people on his journey, and while this meant he had to cover his tattoo with makeup, he was glad to have some people to talk to and greet as he continued along his journey. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to be very open minded to North's life style and just about every one he met shied away from his friendly greetings. That didn't matter much to North though, as he still felt quite good about himself and hoped that someday perhaps such people would be more open to his lifestyle as well. Luckily he had met at least a few people that didn't seem to mind, and most of his guild mates at Phantom Lord were rather accepting of him. That was why he had made this long trek out to Era; for them. He was finally going to show the rest of them his mettle. At least, once he found out what his job was.


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