Day 1. Zarakkar Jungle

“No, really, I tell you. I can just feel it! I have to see my son!” spoke the old woman with gray hair, patting a large tortoise shell with her wrinkled hand. “We’ve been best friends since we were kids, Josephine, and you can’t just let me go on my own,” she continued lecturing someone as she clambered up the shell, hauling a pile of old clutter with her. “What if this is our last journey? Anyway, there’s no way I’ll stop pestering you, so don’t go counting on that. Besides, how would I walk on my own? My legs aren’t what they used to be!” Four legs and a wrinkled head appeared from inside the shell. The head replied in a grumpy tone: “What a crazy old crone you are, Martha!” A load of bags, crockery, and teapots clattered as the tortoise turned around and trudged off to the northeast with Hero Wars Martha on her back.