Closed The Same, Yet Oh So Different (Lian Windrunner)

[Dinah]

Watching the way Lian's face lit up and he spoke about webbing was bittersweet. There was something infectious about the obvious joy he took from it that couldn't help but remind Dinah of the same way her older sister was about her Reimancy or even how her grandfather occasionally went on about Webbing as well. The only thing that kept the girl from mirroring the smile she could hear more than see was her immediate envy. Unorthodox or not, Lian had found what he was passionate about, something that Dinah was still searching for.

A ghost of a smile finally managed to appear as he agreed to teach her. The prospect of having to wait wasn't entirely something to look forward to, but there was clear wisdom there. She wasn't the most focused of individuals, and something told her that her sudden flares of temper and frustration would do her little kindness in delving deeper into the web. His mention of meditation in particular seemed like it may have been worth pursuing. Who knew, maybe it would help with other things as well.

As they came to the stream she followed his example, taking to the ground slowly. A concerned sputter from Niamh was met with a slight roll of her eyes and a quick gesture, I'm fine. Because clearly she had forgotten so quickly about her still healing injures from earlier in the Season. A nudge was given to her arm as if the mare knew exactly what she was thinking. A quick annoyed glance was given back to the Strider before Lian called her over.

Care was taken in each step as she approached, echoing as she had seen the Sapphire hunter had walked. A trail, yes, it always seemed to start that way. Gods knew she barely could tell a deer print from cattle from even a large bird if it was obscured enough.

"Not really... " She begrudgingly admitted. Admitting you needed help was one thing, admitting you were entirely petching clueless was another and all together more difficult. "Hooved is about all I know, and obviously not like a horse is. Aside from that? Haven't the slightest clue."

A small shrug of her shoulder was offered, though her tone hopefully relayed a desire to learn more than the sudden annoying inferiority she felt. She did however, notice some areas of grass were more flattened than others as she looked around, one even seemed to form a continuous cut through. It didn't seem disturbed quite enough for a trail made by riders, though, but she couldn't be certain. A nod of her head was directed towards the disturbance.

"That one of ours? Or did something else make it?" Dinah was hoping she didn't need to clarify, even if she instantly regretted her phrasing.

"Pavi" | "Common" | "Tukant"

[Lian Windrunner]

Lian tried hard not to smile at the begrudging tone in Dinah's voice when she answered his question. He really did. And he was successful...mostly. "Sorry." he muttered, his hands signaling that his apology was genuine. "It's just that...you sound just like me when my brother asked me the same question years ago when he was trying to teach me how to track my prey. A deer's hoof is much smaller than that of a horse. And the shape is very different, too. Let's see if I can find one that's clear enough to show you." Lian began searching the ground intently, looking for a clear deer print. Showing one to Dinah would be far better than him trying to describe one to her, after all. But after a few chimes, he was distracted by another question. Lian turned to look at the print that Dinah was looking at. It was larger than a deer print, but the shape was wrong for it to have been made by a horse's hoof. The size wasn't quite right, either. "No, it's not one of ours..." Lian muttered, clearly distracted as he tried to identify the print. "It's larger than a deer print would be, but the shape is similar...wait. An elk is similar in many ways to a deer, except that it is bigger, so perhaps that is what made this print." he said thoughtfully. It was more of a guess than he would have liked it to be, but he had some confidence in his answer. It had definitely been made by a creature with hooves, so that ruled out any kind of bird, rodent, or predator such as a wolf or wild dog. The shape of the print was far closer to that of a deer than that of a horse. So it seemed likely that he was right. The print was a fresh one since it was clearly defined, and nothing had come and walked over it yet. Lian looked around, and sure enough he found another one. And more beyond that leading away from the stream. "I've never tried to go after an elk before. But I think I can follow this trail. It's worth a try, at least. Do you want to try? The trail is fresh enough that the tracks are clear and well defined, so it can't have left too long ago. I can also use Webbing to try and find it if we lose the trail. The two of us together might have better luck bringing down an elk than one of us alone would." In the past, Lian had stuck to deer rather than trying to go after elk because a wounded elk could be a very dangerous foe indeed. He didn't have enough confidence in his skills to think he could bring one down on his own. But with two of them, it might well be possible. Especially if Dinah could entangle its legs with her bola so it couldn't charge them.

[Dinah]

Elk? It seemed reasonable enough that they could be in the area, Dinah supposed. Of course, that could very well have been that aside from deer, rabbits and glassbeaks she hadn't really paid much attention to the animals in the Sea of Grass. Small game and the lethal predators had been about the only things she had even begun to concern herself with. Elk though? That was new.

Dinah tried to study the print that Lian pointed out to her. It didn't look like any sort of track she'd ever seen. It was more pointed, and strange in the way the two larger pieces came to rest almost perfectly parallel to one another. There seemed to be two smaller indents near the bottom as well but Dinah wasn't entirely sure if that was part of the print or just other disturbances in the ground. At least she would know what to look for with Deer in the future as well, only smaller apparently.

Stoic as she would have liked to appear, Dinah couldn't quite keep the flicker of excitement from her eyes as she listened to Lian suggest they give it a shot. Did she want to try? Of course he did! She couldn't wait to see the look on the others in her Pavilion's faces when the silly Ruby girl turned hunter managed to help bring in an elk.

Still, she didn't want to seem too eager. "Sure!" - so much for the that plan - "Sounds like we have a good chance, and if we don't follow up on it, someone else probably will. Might as well give it our all, right?"

A glance over her shoulder was offered to her Strider who seemed energized by the prospect as well. It would be interesting to see how Niamh handled chasing down a larger animal if it came to that. Dinah almost couldn't wait to find out.

"Pavi" | "Common" | "Tukant"

[Lian Windrunner]

Lian couldn't help it. He grinned at Dinah's obvious excitement. He was caught up in it himself, and he was certain that his own excitement was as obvious as hers was. "Then let's get going." he said, his eyes bright with excitement at the prospect of the upcoming hunt. Lian was startled by just how excited he really was. It had been a long time since he had truly enjoyed himself while hunting. He thought it might be because he had a partner to hunt with this time. And if that were the case, Lian would have to try to go out hunting with others more often. It felt nice to truly enjoy himself for once while he was working. Lian went back to where Talise was waiting for him, and mounted quickly. Then he glanced in the direction their trail was leading. He noticed that the grass looked somewhat flattened in a line right where the tracks were. Had he elk flattened the grass as it had passed through? Now that Lian thought about it, he had seen similar disturbances in the grass before, but he had never made that connection until now. Lian wondered for a tick whether Dinah had meant the grass trail or the print when she had asked her question earlier, but he felt too embarrassed to ask. He should have noticed the flattened grass himself. Wasn't he supposedly the teacher here? Lian had to suppress the urge to snort. Teacher. Right. Lian suspected that he would learn as much from Dinah as she would learn from. Lian gestured for Talise to begin walking, glancing back to see if Dinah was following. As he rode, he took a few ticks to enter the Web and make sure that they weren't heading towards any dangerous predators. But he chose not to seek out the elk they were following. That could come later if he lost the trail, but for now, he wanted to practice his admittedly limited tracking skills, and see if he couldn't improve them at least a little. So he paid close attention to his surroundings, trying to catch signs of the elk's passage. After a while, his efforts paid off in the form of a tuft of brown fur that had snagged on the grass. There were two more near by. "Further signs that we're going the right way." he told Dinah with a grin. He waited until he was certain that Dinah had had a chance to see the tufts of fur, and get a close look at them if she wanted to. Then he asked Talise to continue on. The first real challenge to Lian's tracking abilities came several chimes later when they found a larger area of trampled grass. Several tracks crossed the one he was attempting to follow. Sensing Lian's frustration, Talise came to a stop, allowing him to dismount. Lian did so, and squatted down, examining the new tracks. He recognized them as deer tracks, and judging by the sheer number of them, he guessed that a herd of deer had passed through the area. "Dinah, can you come down here, please? I think I'm going to need your help finding our trail again." he admitted reluctantly.

[Tribal]

G R A D E S!

Lian Windrunner

Experience

• Organisation: 2
• Animal Husbandry: 1
• Observation: 4
• Socialisation: 5
• Deduction: 2
• Diplomacy: 1
• Teaching: 4
• Acting: 2
• Webbing: 2
• Wilderness Survival, Plains: 1
• Storytelling: 2
• Hunting: 2
• Tracking: 3
• Riding, Horse: 2
• Leadership: 1
• Rhetoric: 1
• Land Navigation: 1

Lore

• Dinah: Of the Emerald Clan
• Teaching: Start with what you know
• Bola: A good weapon
• Webbing: A useful survival tool
• Logic: Following childhood dreams
• Teaching: The importance of webbing in Endrykas
• Webbing: Using webbing for hunting
• Lian: A passionate man
• Hunting Elk with Dinah

Notes

Sad this one went unfinished; I thought Lian did a really good job of teaching in this one, even if he didn't really want to! Enjoy the rewards and be sure to edit your grading request.