Season of Summer, Day 24, 505 AV
Zenai has been living in Wind Reach for about a year now. Having failed to become a Syliran Knight, he has come back to Wind Reach and tried to be a useful member of society. He has been slowly been developing his skills at archery, hunting and wilderness survival to better facilitate the needs of his people and to make himself a place in Inarta society. Though he has been warned that he should not go out hunting without an experienced hunter, Zenai would usually lie and say he would not do it again. He would then leave Wind Reach to hunt on the following day. Maybe the elders are just being cranky and grumpy or that Zenai was just being young and foolish; Zenai thinks it the former since he has been going our regular on his horse to hunt game. He is after all old enough to have the skills necessary to fend for himself; he knew some swordplay and archery as well as he has his trusty animal companions, Stryker the horse and Vicky the magpie to accompany him and keep him out of trouble. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Zenai was a loner who doesn’t want friends. In fact, he has been trying to gain some human companionship with respectable success. One day, he met with a particular girl that he had his eyes on. Long story short, they became friends and decided to go off hunting on their own. Zenai appreciated having human company.
Zenai, ever overconfident, has rode out farther where, Zenai had heard, game would be plentiful and fat. Plentiful and fat prey means easy and slow targets for Zenai to hunt. So far, Zenai only had been able to catch small prey such as rabbits while he only had deer once in a season or even within two seasons. Zenai was confident that with his skills combined with that of his friend would be enough for them to challenge an experienced hunter. Ainyi was her name; an Inarta Yasi like Zenai. She’s a mean girl; often making fun of Zenai as if she got a beef with him. What’s her deal, Zenai always wondered. Girls are an enigma; so mysterious and random that there’s no single book in existence that can fully comprehend what, who, how and why of a girl. It doesn’t matter whether they come from Syliras or Wind Reach; girls are just random entities of randomness. Still, she was willing to Zenai a few tips in archery and they would often practice together. Zenai may have made in-roads by inviting her to come and hunt with him. She has accepted it and Zenai assumed she wanted to prove that she was the better archer and hunter.
They got together their hunting and camping gear for their three-day hunting trip. Tents, flints, water flask and bedrolls were some of the items they brought to establish their campsite. Their hunting gear was their bows and talon swords. Zenai grinned and puffed his chest when he had two talon swords compared to Ainyi’s one talon sword. He was pretty sure she was going to stab him during the hunting trip to get his swords. Zenai had favored a composite short bow while Ainyi had her long bow. Short bows would normally pale in comparison to long bows in terms of range and power. However, the short bows come into their own in terms of rate of fire and ease of us when riding a horse. During his days as a squire, he would train in the use of a composite short bow on horseback in lieu lances that were overly favored by most knights. They rode out of Wind Reach just before sunrise. It would take an entire day for them to get to wherever they want to go and he would certainly want to avoid the disapproved gaze of the elders. They stick to the dirt roads before heading through the grasslands and forest.
They arrived at where Zenai assumed would be the “Hunting Ground of Milk and Honey” just before sunset and made camp on a hill at the edge of the forest. Zenai had volunteered to set up the tent while he expected Ainyi to get a warm and cozy fire started. Though it was summer, the nights would be still chilly and the fire would keep the wild animals at bay. Fire was one of the reasons mankind and the other mortal races were able to conquer Mizahar. Zenai let his horse grazed on the grass hills very near to their campsite. Stryker was probably exhausted and would want to a chance to eat some grass to replenish his strength. Zenai and Ainyi also brought out their rations to fill their bellies; some dried meats and biscuits. He saved the meat jerky for later and munched on the biscuits while taking sips from his water flask to keep his mouth from being dry and choking on the biscuits. Zenai decided to open up to Ainyi, telling her his days as a page and squire. He would talk about his Patron-Knights who had taken on Zenai as their squire and trained him in the ways of the Syliran Knight; horse, lance and honor. Whether Ainyi had chosen to open up to Zenai, it didn’t matter; he wanted to talk himself to sleep.
They got up just after sunrise on the following day. Zenai woke up with a messy hair and a nest that Vicky had made as her own bedroll. He did his morning stretches to fend off the drowsiness and to awake his muscles and bones for the long day ahead of them. From head to toe, Zenai twist and twirl his joints as well as flex and stretch his muscles. He does this for half a bell; none should look down on the importance of getting yourself and your body ready for the physical exertion to come. Having done his exercises and satisfied that his body is ready, he went down to the nearby river to refill their water flasks but keeping an eye for would-be predators such as bears or wolves. He brought one of talon swords with him just in case. When at the river, Zenai refills the flasks first before washing up and taking a few sips of water to hydrate himself for when the sun is out and bearing down on them with light and heat. Back at the campsite, he would get ready for the hunt; putting on his weapon harness and making sure his weapons are in tip top shape. Ready for the day’s hunt, he turned to Ainyi, “Are you ready, Ainyi? I’m certainly am.”
