Moff Wandering: Scavenging 3

                       Moff’s hands were dry and gray from the rock dust, and their throat burned from breathing such pollution. They’d pulled their bandana up over their snout, but it did little to block the tainted air. Their claws ached from pawing through debris.

            Tag was equally dusty, snorting and sneezing as she stalked around the last structure the group searched. The dark feathers on her head were pale from the ash, and a plume was thrown into the air when she shook off. Her teeth bared, lip curling with distaste.

            Overhead, the sun was still hidden, though given how much time had passed, Moff thought it might be closer to evening. Not quite sunset, but approaching. There was still plenty of daylight to work with, but they needed to focus more on finding a place to stay for the night. Given the state of things, they might be staying longer than a single night. It would take at least a few weeks to fix everything.

            Probity chortled from where he perched on a nearby branch. A tree had been knocked over, near snapped in half midway up the trunk. The top half leaned against one of the building’s low walls, bare branches reaching far enough to scrape the ground.

            Moff let out a long breath and wiped their hands on their pants, leaving pale streaks across the fabric.

            The threat of heavy rain still loomed over the horizon, dark clouds rolling in and further darkening the sky despite sunset still being a while off. The smell of water warred with the cold and bitter scent of ash and dust, and Moff couldn’t tell if it was a promising sign or a bad omen. The rest of the forest was dead and still. Standing this close to the edge again, all they could see through the trees was more trees. Where did it end? Was there an end?

            “We went through everything,” Moff announced. The group’s collected treasure was piled a few yards away. There were a few old pots and pans, though Moff felt they’d be more useful melted down and turned into something else rather than as they were. There was a knife, but it too would be more useful repurposed, the blade rusted and dull. Tag found a rock that she was quite determined to keep, and Moff didn’t feel like arguing about it.

            And then there was that ketter skull…

            “Where should we set up?” Moff continued, looking back to their raptor.

            Tag cocked her head to the side, listening but adding very little to the conversation.

            “Right.”

            Really, the only place that seemed safe enough to trust for the night was the second building they’d searched. Only the low walls remained, which offered little protection from, well, anything, but at the very least, the floor was intact (aside from the massive crack running through one half) and there was nothing that could fall on them or collapse beneath them. There was a lot of debris, but it could be cleared away easily enough.

            Tag seemed to agree, leading the way back to the place while Moff struggled to gather their collected treasures.

            Probity took off, following the raptor by air. He was the first to reach the place, lighting down on the highest of what remained of the walls. He seemed perfectly content to watch the others do the heavy lifting. It wasn’t as if a dragon his size could help move anything of importance.

            Even so, Moff felt like the little guy could be doing something useful with his time. Though, they supposed keeping watch was useful enough. Whatever lurked in that house still hadn’t moved or made any attempt to threaten them, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t.

            Yeah, it was probably best that Probity just keep an eye on that.