(Flashback) First Foraging Trip

[Silwyn]

Summer in the Year 497 AV

Silwyn jumped up and down excitedly within her teacher, Anhasha's apartment. "Come on! Come on! Let's go!" she chirped next to her teacher's ear. It was early morning, and Anhasha was still sleeping. She always struggled with getting up in the morning, perhaps it was her age, Silwyn guessed that she had to be at least forty by now. Anhasha's fiery red hair had the occasional gray strand after all.

Anhasha rolled over, and waved her left hand up in Silwyn's general direction. "Shhhhhhh, it's early Silwyn, go back to sleep." Silwyn tugged on Anhasha's arm, "but you told me to get you up early so we could go get everyone for our first foraging trip."

Anhasha let out a loud sigh, perhaps she had finally realized that Silwyn was not going to leave her alone. She began to stir, and sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes with her hands, trying to remove the sleep crystals from them. "You know Silwyn, you can be a pain in the butt sometimes." A smile crept across Silwyn's lips, and she began to giggle. "I know," she said as she ran to grab her bag. She had already packed it with whatever she thought she may need for the trip- her eating knife, waterskin, a blanket, and some food. She slung it over her shoulder and gave her hand to her teacher, who was struggling to get up. Anhasha took her hand. "Thank you Silwyn," she said as Silwyn helped her to her feet. Silwyn shrugged quickly as she pushed her braid onto her back and bent down to grab the bag Anhasha had packed for herself the night before. It contained some more food, a waterskin, a blanket, flint and steel, her eating knife, and a special knife that Anhasha had been given a few years before that she used specifically for cutting fresh herbs for her dyes. She handed the bag to Anhasha, who flung it over her back.

"You ready now?" Silwyn asked as Anhasha went over to the corner of her apartment where a small bucket of water was resting. Anhasha leaned down, put her hands in the warm water, and splashed some on her face to help her wake up. She turned and looked back at Silwyn, who was standing excitedly behind her. She smiled down at her young pupil, an overly-enthusiastic girl she had known little more than a year. Anhasha remembered the day she had found the girl studying the colors of various cloth, and began to watch her whenever she could, a few months later, she had gone to the girl's parents, telling them that she thought that Silwyn showed some potential in learning the craft of dyeing, and wished to take her on as a student. Her mother, another artisan, a glassblower, was ecstatic, her father, on the other hand, was an eagle rider, and had always hoped his daughter would be one too, and was very angry with Anhasha when she asked. However, when he realized that the girl didn't seem to wish to become an eagle rider, he reluctantly handed his daughter over to Anhasha's care.

Anhasha then nodded to her pupil, and led her out of their home, and the homes of the other inarta, and into the outside world. It was a sunny summer day outside, and the light shined off of her pupil's hair and made it seem all the more radiant.

The wind carried the smell of a fire somewhere far off, and the air was fairly warm. Silwyn looked around, wondering why on earth it was so quiet. "Isn't your brother supposed to meet us here?" she asked her teacher. Anhasha turned her head to face her pupil, and put her bag down at her feet. "Yes, Daiden said he'd meet us here with a friend of his to accompany us down the mountain, but knowing him, he'll be a bit late."

The light that had shone in Silwyn's eyes, which had struggled so much to contain her excitement faded a little. Silwyn put her bag down and let it rest on her left foot. "How late?" she asked. Anhasha just smiled and looked up at the sky, before turning back to look at her student. "Perhaps his untimely manner will teach you some patience," Anhasha said, with a slight hint of irritation in her voice.

Silwyn glared at her teacher, obviously upset, and a little disappointed. She turned her head away from Anhasha, and looked out and into the distance. She wanted to do her best to hide her disappointment from her teacher. She admired the clouds in the sky, the ones she felt made curious shapes- like a sword, or a hawk, others that looked so fluffy you could lie on them forever and never feel uncomfortable. She looked down at her feet, the rocks that gathered around them, the ones she was sure would find a way to creep into her sandals. She kicked one of the rocks in front of her, but it didn't go very far, all it did was produce a dust cloud. She coughed a little as Anhasha laughed at her. She liked when her teacher laughed. It was a light and infectious one, one that could always put a smile on someone's face. She looked over at her teacher, who was sitting on the ground, with her eyes closed.

Silwyn admired her teachers clothing as it fluttered in the wind- her green vinati, with an intricate woven pattern. It had brown beads sewn into it so that they appeared to form swirls, the end of which were leaves. She had on a loose flowing skirt which came down to around her ankles, and that matched the pattern of her vinati, and a simple brown scarf. It seemed as though her teacher never got too cold or too hot.

Silwyn was growing more and more impatient. She was convinced that it would show in her hair- that it would burst into flame and crackle and smoke and demonstrate the extent of her impatience and anger, but it didn't.

Silwyn didn't understand how her teacher could be so patient when she was ready to crawl out of her skin. She just wanted to get down the mountain, gather the supplies they'd need for their dyes, and then come back home and crawl into bed. Perhaps Anhasha sensed her pupil's growing impatience, since she opened her right eye, looked over at Silwyn, and patted the ground next to her. Silwyn bent over, grabbed her back, and walked over to where her teacher was sitting. She put her bag back down and sat to the right of Anhasha. She looked over at her teacher who now had both eyes closed.

"Close your eyes," Anhasha told her. Not wanting to argue, even though Silwyn felt that doing so wouldn't accomplish anything, she closed her eyes. And she saw colors and shapes- black, blues, greens, pinks, purples, triangles, rectangles, teardrops... the list went on and on. She had no idea as to how much time she had spent with her eyes shut, but she could hear the distinct voiced of two males approaching. Both voices were low, and kind of gruff. After a few moments, she heard their heavy footsteps coming closer. She never opened her eyes, but instead silently prayed that these men were the people she and Anhasha were waiting for.

A few moments later, the footsteps stopped, and both she and Anhasha opened their eyes. Once she realized who it was, Anhasha stood up, and dusted herself off. Silwyn followed suit, standing behind her teacher, and standing on her tippy-toes, doing her best to look over her teacher's shoulder without appearing as though she were doing so. It was kind of difficult, considering she was only 13, and was approximately 4'9, while her teacher was 5'4.

Even so, she realized that each of the men were taller than Anhasha. They were both the same size, around 5'6. Anhasha embraced the one on the right, saying "hello brother, it's good to see you." Daiden smiled, and returned the embrace.

Daiden seemed like a giant to Silwyn, he was essentially a whole foot taller than she, and was broadly built, with muscles that shown through his thick Katinu. He also wore a Sontav, so Silwyn guessed he must be an eagle rider, but she didn't see his eagle. He had piercing golden eyes, very pale skin, paler than Silwyn's own, and a very cocky smile.

When Anhasha had finished hugging her brother, she turned slightly and grabbed Silwyn's right wrist, pulling her forward, "and this," she began, "is my student, Silwyn." Silwyn smiled, and bowed her head slightly to Daiden, in her best effort to show some respect towards him. Daiden flashed her a smile back, well, smirked really. "How do you do?" Silwyn asked, as Daiden simply chuckled, and slapped his sister's right shoulder affectionately, "quite the student you have there," he laughed. In doing so, he pushed the hilt of his talon sword in slightly, it was then that Silwyn really noticed it. It was long and slim, and had a band of leather wrapped around the top, as a sort of grip.

No one seemed to notice as Silwyn stared at the blade. Instead, Daiden introduced his companion, another eagle rider named Belshink. Belshink, although the same height as Daiden, was no where near as muscular, although he was rather muscular himself. He carried a bow, and had a quiver filled with arrows strung to his back. He was also wearing a sontav, and a thick katinu. His eyes were an emerald green, his skin white as the moon, and his smile was all teeth.

When the introductions were over, Daiden asked if everyone had whatever it was they thought they'd need on their trip, since it may be a day or two. When everyone nodded that they were indeed ready, the group set off down the mountain. Daiden let the way, his right hand never leaving the hilt of his sword, Anhasha followed close behind, and at times, the two would make small talk. Belshink followed the two of them, and was approximately six paces behind at all times, Silwyn walked as quickly as she could, and trailed slightly behind Belshink.

At times, Anhasha would lose her footing on the mountain, and her brother would reach out an arm to steady her. Belshink, who kept his red hair longer, so that it ended in the middle of his back, would tuck it behind his ear at times with his free hand, since the other held his bow, and the wind was blowing fiercely and making howling noises.

They walked down the mountain, mainly in silence, and when the sun sank in the sky, and the moon came out, the group decided to rest for the night. They were about halfway down the mountain, which Silwyn blamed on their companion's late arrival, if they had shown up on time, they'd be at the bottom already. She was convinced.

When they had decided on a place to settle, a small area that was enclosed by large rocks, everyone put down their bags, and Daiden fished in his back for some fire wood, a flint, and steel. He arranged the wood into a sort of box-like structure, and started to rub the flint and steel together. A little while later, he had created a spark, and lit the wood on fire. Belshink, thankfully, was smart enough to gather a few twigs and dry leaves as he walked, and used them for kindling as Daiden blew on the fire to really get it going.

Soon enough, the fire was raging, and 5 feet high. Smoke was billowing out around them, flying south with the wind, and the flames were casting long shadows on the ground, and across their faces.

Tired and hungry, each person pulled some food out of their individual bags, and began eating. Daiden and Belshink ate quickly, and soon decided that Daiden would rest first as Belshink kept watch, and then they'd switch. Anhasha and Silwyn both ate slowly, deliberately, and finished after the men. When they did, they each pulled a blanket out of their bags, wrapped it around themselves, and went to sleep.

[Silwyn]

By the following morning, the fire had gone out, and Belshink and Daiden were ready to go by the time the women woke up. They both looked oddly well-rested. Belshink was cutting up an apple he had in his bag into thin slices with his eating knife, and scooping them delicately into his mouth. "Morning," he called as the girls got up. "Morning," they said, in unison, still both half-asleep. Belshink finished his apple, and tossed the core over his shoulder.

Silwyn sat up first, unwrapped the blanket from her body, folded it, and stuck it back in her bag. The sudden lost made her feel a slight chill, but her body soon got used to it, and she began to feel comfortable again a few moments later. Anhasha was a little slower, but within half an hour, everyone was up, and heading down the mountain. As they continued walking, Silwyn began to notice more and more vegetation, and a slight rise in temperature. She smiled, allowing the sunlight to set into her bones and continue to warm her.

The sun continued to rise in the sky, and when it reached its highest point, the group had reached their destination, the bottom of the mountain, where vegetation could thrive. They stared at the tree-line for a moment before deciding that Belshink would go hunting as Daiden watched over Anhasha and Silwyn as they did their gathering. Belshink ran off, deep into the woods. Anhasha, Silwyn and Daiden watched as he left, and disappeared behind a row of trees.

"This," Anhasha began as she gestured with her arms towards the forest, "is where you shall have your first gathering lesson. We need to gather some woad, the bark of the white birch and oak trees, any acorns we may find, and raspberries. Now Silwyn, which would you like to gather first." Excited that her teacher asked for her opinion, she replied, "woad." Anhasha laughed, "somehow I knew you would say that. Now, what is woad used for?" Anhasha asked, trying to quiz her pupil, find out how much she had absorbed. "The first year leaves are used to make a pale blue dye," Silwyn recited. "Very good," Anhasha chuckled, "now, what does it look like?" Silwyn had forgotten, so she bit her bottom lip and shifted her weight back and forth from one foot to the other, "errmmmmmmmm." Anhasha sighed, her pupil obviously still had a lot to learn. "It's yellow, typically with 6 petals, 2 smaller than the others. They're rounded and oblong. It's in the mustard family."

Silwyn slapped her forehead lightly, of course she knew that. Anhasha led the way, and Silwyn followed, looking down, trying to find the woad for her teacher. She stopped at one point, and pointed to a flower, "that it?" she asked her teacher. "No," her teacher replied as she bent over another plant, pulled her herbal knife out of her bag, and cut it. Daiden stood a few paces behind her. Slowly, Anhasha got up, and turned to Silwyn, "this is woad," she said, holding it out in her hand. Silwyn moved closer to get a better look at the plant, she made a mental image of it, next time, she thought to herself, as her teacher bent back down and cut as much as she thought she would need.

"Now, for the bark!" her teacher exclaimed. "This should be easy for you." Silwyn smiled at her teacher, her eyes glimmering, like little sparkles possessed them. She turned to her right and rested her left hand on a medium-sized tree with gray bark, which was splintering off of it. It had been marked with long, horizontal lenticels. The tree's leaves were green, and pointed. Her teacher smiled, "very good!" Silwyn turned, and started to pull some of the paper thin sheets of bark away from the tree. It presented very little problem for her. When she was done, she stuffed the bark in her bag, as her teacher asked her to find the oak.

Silwyn wandered through the wooded area she was in for a few minutes, Anhasha and Daiden following. She as very conscious of the muddy ground beneath her feet, the way her feet sank into the mud, and made a sloshing noise. She was cognizant of the scent of various animal droppings, and how little sun shown through the tree tops. She allowed her hands to wander and brush the plants as she walked, looking for the oak tree her teacher wanted, and the acorns she knew it would carry. Eventually, she began to see little brown acorns littering the ground, she picked them up as she went, until she came to the base of a tall tree. She looked up at it, its leaves were green, and spirally arranged, with a lobed margin. Silwyn was fairly confident that this was it, and told her teacher so. Anhasha congratulated her for making the right choice.

Anhasha came up behind her, as Silwyn grabbed at the brown tree bark and failed to pull anything off. Spotting a jagged black stone at the base of the tree, she picked it up, and tried cutting into the tree to get the bark off, it kind of worked. Anhasha pulled her knife out of her bag, and helped Silwyn to pull the bark away from the tree. Their fingers brushed up against each other often, and each time, they were red, and cold, and trembling slightly. It took them about an hour to gather as much as they needed. When they had finished, their breath was short, and they had to sit down against the tree for a moment to rest.

Daiden simply flashed his cocky smile and stood near them, waiting for them to be ready to move on. When they were, they got up, and looked around for a raspberry bush, it took them another two hours to find one, and when they did, they all plucked the berries delicately from the bush, occasionally plopping an overripe red berry into their mouths. They were cool, and tasted sweet, and their red juice would oftentimes pour down their fingers, so that they had to lick them clean when they were done.

Their bellies happy, and pleased with themselves at having found everything they needed, the girls sat down on the cold ground as Daiden gathered a small pile of food for that night's fire. He lit it as the sun seemed to disappear, and the group waited for word from Belshink.

Silwyn had eaten and dozed off a few times by the time that he had found them, carrying a gray hare triumphantly in his left hand, his bow in his right. He was smiling from ear to ear. As he got closer, he bent by the fire, pulled out a knife he had hidden in his clothing, and started to skin the rabbit.

Silwyn flinched, disgusted, then turned her head and covered her eyes. She didn't want to see. Anhasha and Daiden laughed heartily at her as Belshink finished, and got a large stick to spear the rabbit and cook it over the fire. Unfortunately, he dropped it in the fire, and it burnt, just a little bit, and they had burnt rabbit for dinner, but it satisfied their hunger.

Silwyn fell asleep first after dinner, wrapped in her blanket. She didn't know if the others stayed up for a while and talked, or if they fell asleep shortly after her. All she knew, was that she had a strange dream in which she was standing on top of a hill, looking out at the world. The sun high in the sky, trees all around her, birds flying overhead, when it suddenly turned into a black mist that shrouded everything, making her beautiful dream world disappear.

[Silwyn]

The next morning, when Silwyn awoke, all the others were already awake. The sun was still rising, and it created dazzling colors up in the sky- purples, and pinks, yellow, and orange. Little lines of each spreading out among each other, blending together, and then each being distinct and alone in other sections.

"Good morning," Anhasha called to her, "good morning," she chirped back. As always, Belshink and Daiden were packed and ready to go when she awoke, ans since everyone seemed anxious to get back to the caves, Anhasha and Silwyn packed their things hastily, got up, and followed Daiden back through the woods, and up the mountain.

This time, the trip was silent, perhaps everyone was quietly thinking about something, or secretly too tired to form thought, and hold a decent conversation. They walked in a straight line, with Daiden in the front, followed by his sister, then Silwyn, Belshink took up the rear.

Silwyn had heard many stories of how beasts would attack groups that travelled down the mountains, and camped in the woods, she felt lucky to have met none.

Hours later, when the sun was once again high in the sky, and the eerie silence had stretched on far longer than Silwyn could bear, they reached the entrance to the homes of the inarta. At this point, Silwyn seemed to be in her body, but it was though someone else was propelling her forward, not like she was possessed, but that she was so exhausted from the long journey, that some part of her took over, and kept her going as her brain slowly shut down, or took a nap, or whatever it does when one was in such a state.

Silwyn's legs felt like lead, and she was overjoyed when Anhasha opened the door to her home, and stepped inside. Silwyn remembered that Anhasha dropped her bag as soon as she got through the door, but Silwyn waited another moment before doing so. She watched as her teacher crawled into bed, and pulled the blankets up around her, before putting her bag down, and walking over to the blanket that rested on the floor a few feet away from her teacher's bed. This is where Silwyn slept, and although the floor could be hard on her back, she was happy to be back home, and all too overjoyed to be able to go to sleep. But before she did, Anhasha mumbled, "your next lesson shall be tomorrow morning. Sleep well," before rolling over. Silwyn smiled to herself, as tired as she was, she was rather excited for whatever tomorrow would bring.

[Dreamcatcher]

Character: Silwyn Experience: +2 Herbalism, +2 Wilderness Survival Lore: Camping 101 , A lesson in Patience, Foraging for Dye Ingredients Additional Note: If you feel that I missed something please PM me with the details on what I missed and I will review it.