Off the Deep End

Adventure

Isa, finally at home in her preferred night, frolicked through the sky. Dick wasn't worried, but he made sure to check on her periodically.

He scoped out the possibilities. The Hindu Kush mountain range could be accessed via tourism based travel. He could easily get busses and trains as close as possible. From there it was... a hike.

Brilliant.

He didn't really want to call ahead (also he couldn't) because it would give Thalia a chance to tell someone. She probably wouldn't but he didn't want to run the chance.

There were walking tracks he could take. He knew where and how to get to Nanda Parbat, seeing as he'd asked Thalia once and she'd explained it. looking back he didn't know why she'd been willing.

Whatever, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He pretended to be a tourist who liked hiking, bought himself a pack that had room for his current gear and some more. He got a hold of maps, figured out where everything was and planned the trip. He stayed in a motel for the meantime, hiding Isa with a lot of ease, somehow.

In fact, he'd somehow managed to switch into a nocturnal-esque sleep pattern in the three days he prepared. Isa hunted her own food at night but Dick had fallen asleep during the day and Isa had curled up in his hoodie. He'd almost died of cute-ness, so he leaned into it.

The nocturnal lifestyle meant the tourist group he travelled with was really small. He made sure to get a one-way ticket, so no one was looking for him, thinking he'd got lost.

and he set off, really hoping he had planned this out well. 

Dick rolled up the final part of his tent and shoved it in the hike pack. The afternoon air was chilling, the last of the sun's warmth scurrying away with every second. Isa was just waking up, having had to scurry out of the tent when Dick started packing it up not long ago. He'd found on his first time packing up his campsite that things went smoother if he did it while the sun was still up, hence not relying on his torch.

He checked his water bottle, almost empty. This had to be his final night of travel. He checked his map, logic stated it would be.

He'd found it a great idea to hike at night the first time. He was good at orienteering, even if he had to keep a torch on hand. It also meant he didn't have to worry about overheating quite as much, just hypothermia- a quick fix, seeing as he'd stocked up on warm overclothing and thermals.

He started walking again, as much as it had been easy the first night, the third was far more troublesome.

His legs were sore, he was tired, his back ached, yadda, yadda. At least Isa was great at hunting, she found plenty of prey. Dick had packed plenty of food, dried and preserved things that wouldn't be good for him in the long term but were perfect for a short three day hike. Or rather, three night hike.

The problem was, he could not easily arm himself.

Half way through that night's stretch he had been admiring the sky. Gotham almost never had visible stars, but here the dark cover of night was so full of stars that he decided to figure out how to orient himself to them. Why stare at a map when he could have this view?

He was passing through a small canal of rock, rising up on his sides were rock pillars. He normally would go around or above, but he figured he wasn't close enough for any trouble.

He was wrong.

Isa shrieked and swooped, Dick immediately kicked into instinct. He turned to Isa, expecting her to make a stab at his face, finally turning against him like Matilda had.