Solo Ravok: The Journey Continues (Part 3)

[Maria Talwa]

18, Summer, 517

Now instead of a stream, Maria was sitting next to a pond with her feet dangling over the side, fishing rod in hand. Even though she still wasn't overly fond of fishing, it was a nice diversion from all of the guard duty, and served a practical purpose. While fishing, along with several others, Maria thought about something that hadn't occurred to her until now. The route the caravan was taking, while mostly a straight line, also seemed to hit most fresh water sources along with way. It made sense though, as Goreth and the others seemed to know the route like the back of their hands. It was only natural they'd know how to make the most use of the land.

Having only been by the pond for a few minutes, she'd yet to get a nibble, and so just sat there, watching the fish go about their business a short distance from where she was. Since movement in the water seemed to scare the fish away, Maria didn't move her feet. Both of them were in the water up to the ankle with both leather boots sitting next to her. The cool feel of the water was a nice change from the heat of the day. One of the fish swam over toward Maria, and she watched as it circled the bait for a time, than swam in and bite down.

With a smile she fought with it briefly, then pulled the catch up out of the water, and watched as the silver scaled fish flopped on the end of the line. This was the first catch of the day, and taking it off the line, Maria used a small knife she borrowed to decapitate the fish and left it laying on the bank. Putting some more bait on the line, Maria dropped it back into the water about the time Deena sat down next to her.

“Hi Maria,” Deena said.

“Hello Deena,” Maria said.

“Having fun fishing yet?” Deena said.

“It's productive...” Maria said. She watched as the little girl baited her line a few feet away and tossed it into the water, then things became silent once again. While waiting for another fish to bite, Maria began to think about the journey itself, rather than she destination. Traveling to Ravok would be an adventure in itself, and she had little doubt it would prove to be a learning experience as well. Already she was learning about surviving in the wilderness. While normally the type who preferred to be in a city, Maria was never one to pass up the chance to learn skills that might well keep her alive one day. She was also starting to wonder exactly what it was that Deena was up to, if anything. Most people weren't very friendly toward Maria, and she preferred it that way. Now this little girl seemed to be following her around for some reason. Considering how young Deena was, Maria wasn't entirely sure how to react to something like this.

Word Count: 504

[Maria Talwa]

\

“Did you really kill three bandits in the woods,” Deena said.

“Yes, why?” Maria said, shifting slightly from stitches that were still painful.

“That's sounds awesome, where'd you learn to fight?” Deena said.

“From the streets and back alleys of Sunberth,” Maria said. “I learned mostly from people who were trying to kill me.”

“I wanna learn how to fight, but momma says it's not lady like,” Deena said. Another fish took the bait on Maria's line causing it to tug and drew her attention away from the little girl. This fish was bigger than the last and had some fight to it. Maria tried to pull it in and almost bent her rod into a U shape in the process.

“Don't pull so hard, you'll break the rod,” Deena said. “Give the line some slack.” Doing as Deena said, she gave the line some slack and leaned forward, letting the fish fight some more.

“Okay, now pull it in slowly,” Deena said. “Let the fish tire itself out.” Again following the girl's instructions, Maria let the fish fight for a bit and noticed that it was beginning to tire out, and within another minute or so, she was able to pull it out of the water. Still not a record setter, this fish was more along the lines of a small meal instead of a snack. Again Maria cut the head off and set it next to the other fish. About to reset her line, Maria and Deena both looked up upon hearing a loud splash. About thirty yards to the left there was a man standing chest deep in the water as his rod seemed to be swimming out toward the center of the pond.

“That must have been a big fish,” Maria said.

“Yeah, there are few big ones here, but not many,” Deena said.

“How long have you been part of this caravan?” Maria said.

“I was born in the caravan, half way between Kenash and Syliras, or so dad says,” Deena said.

“Wow, how long have your parents been with the caravan?” Maria said.

“They were born into it too, Uncle Goreth's been running this route for... forty years?” Deena said.

“Goreth's your uncle?” Maria said.

“Well, great-uncle really,” Deena said. “Grandpa Bumar is his brother.” That gave Maria something to think about as her line dangled in the water. It was also fascinating to think about a caravan that had been running the same route for forty odd years. Goreth had been doing this kind of work longer than she'd been alive. If the man was able to stay in business that long, he must have been good at this kind of work. That also brought quite a few other questions to Maria's mind about what it must have been like to travel that much. She had a lot of plans, ideas, and things to do in life, but spending forty years on a trade route wasn't one of them. For once Maria was becoming a bit talkative.

Word Count: 504

[Maria Talwa]

“So, do you have a house somewhere?” Maria said.

“Yeah, back at the camp, it has four wheels,” Deena said.

“If Goreth's been doing this for so long, why isn't the caravan bigger?” Maria said. “Business bad or something?”

“Nah, business is fine,” Deena said. “Uncle Goreth spends a lot of money helping family too. We've got family in Riverfall, Kenash, and Syliras. Sometimes people wanna get off the route and settle down, so he helps them get houses and jobs and stuff.”

“Sounds like a pretty good guy,” Maria said.

“Yeah, Uncle Goreth's the best,” Deena said. That drew a bit of a smile from Maria and a margin of respect, even if it was small. Despite her hate the world and most of the people in it attitude, even Maria couldn't fault a man for helping his family to have decent lives. Refocusing her thoughts on fishing, there hadn't been a bite for a few minutes, which was becoming annoying. Never the overly patient type, Maria drew as sword and stabbed it at a school of fish as they swam by, just to be mean. When she drew the sword out of the water, there was also a small fish impaled on the front end.

“Sword fishing? That's awesome,” Maria said.

“People normally use spears for that kinda fishing,” Deena said.

“Sword, spear, I'm not picky,” Maria said. Now interesting in trying to fish with her sword instead of a rod, Maria knelt down close to the edge of the pond, weapon raised, and waited. Periodically she would stab at the water, but more often than not, end up missing. By about midday people were starting to head back to the caravan, but Maria was determined to get one last fish. Seeing a decent sized one that kept darting around, she tried to aim several times, but couldn't get a decent angle of attack on the fish. With a bit of a growl, Maria stood up, watched the fish a bit more, than leapt into the water. Sword held overhead with both hands she hit the water with a 'bloosh'. Deena, who had already started to walk back, ran up to the end of the pond.

“Oh my goodness, Maria, are you okay?” Deena said.

“I got it!” Maria said, standing up with the fish impaled on the sword.

“You're silly,” Deena said, giggling a little.

“I'm just glad I wasn't wearing my armor,” Maria said, climbing out of the pond. “Leather and water do not mix.” With a total of four fish caught, Maria dripped her way back to camp, followed by Deena. It was also something of an interesting experience for her. Maria couldn't entirely explain why, but she didn't detest being around Deena. The little girl seemed to have a fairly simple approach to life, and she also appeared to enjoy the caravan lifestyle. For her part Maria didn't hate it, but it definitely wasn't something she had any intention of making a lifestyle out of.

Word Count: 500

[Maria Talwa]

Now that she had four more fish to work with, it was time to work on trying to properly gut a fish... without having it explode this time. She was about to look for the older woman who'd helped her before, when Deena crawled into the back of a wagon and dropped the rear gate. There she started to take out everything that would be needed for salt curing the fish. That problem was quickly solved, and Maria was finding this little girl to be quite a source of knowledge when it came to survival skills.

“How old are you anyway, ten?” Maria said.

“I turned eleven last season,” Deena said.

“Cool, mind showing me how to cut fish up properly?” Maria said.

“Sure, set'em down on the gate,” Deena said. Maria set the fish down on the rear gate of the wagon and watched as her little tutor began to clean and gut her fish. She was almost as good as the older woman, and Maria began trying to do the same. Like before she ended up cutting off chunks of meat as well, but this time instead of a complete disaster, it was only a minor one. By the time Maria was finished she had about a fish and half worth of food left.

“You haven't done this a lot have you?” Deena said.

“That obvious?” Maria said.

“Don't worry, it just takes practice,” Deena said. “Want me to show you how to salt'em?”

“Sure,” Maria said. Taking out a bag of salt, Deena showed her how to properly layer it. This gave Maria the chance to get her first bit of hands on experience when it came to preserving food. The process wasn't complicated, and this step would be easy to get the hang of with enough practice. Once the fish were salted and put away, Maria found herself without anything to do after giving the borrowed knife back to Deena. Having already completed her early morning guard shift the rest of the day was free. Leaning on the back gate of the wagon Maria looked around the camp seeing that a lot of other people were doing that same thing... nothing.

For her this was something of a problem. Maria wasn't normally the type of person who would sit around and do nothing. She preferred to keep busy with some sort of activity or another, and if something wasn't found soon, this would turn out to be a very long day. Near the edge of camp she noticed a trio of young men with bow, pointing toward a herd of animals some distance away from them, and had an idea of what they were up to. Walking across the camp, she approached the three of them.

“Going hunting?” Maria said.

“That was the idea yeah,” one of them said. When the young who had spoken turned around, Maria blinked a few times in surprise. Unlike most of the people in camp who had rather plain, of even slightly homely appearances, the leader of the group was well built, with a strong jaw, square chin, and neat brown hair. His well curved face framed a set of vivid blue eyes, and though Maria normally preferred women, she'd make an exception for him.

Word Count: 545

[Maria Talwa]

“Got room for one more?” Maria said.

“Sure, you any good at hunting?” the young man said.

“Animals, no, but I'm willing to learn,” Maria said.

“Grab a bow,” the young man said. While walking away, Maria looked the other two over, noting they were faces that wouldn't stand out in crowd. This was also followed by thoughts of her and the handsome one in the back of a wagon, and other things best left to the imagination. The rather erotic thoughts going through Maria's mind at the moment also brought to mind another point of interest. With everything going on lately, it had been quite some time since she'd had someone to share a bed with. After this little hunting trip, Maria considered some hunting of another variety.

Bow in hand she returned to the group waiting just outside the caravan and the four of then started to walk in the direction of the herd. As far out as they were it would be at least a two hour before they were within bow range. While the others chatted about this and that, Maria hung back, remained silent, and spent a lot of looking at the handsome one's butt. She also learned during the various conversations that the one she was having inappropriate thoughts about was named Dakar. After a long and boring walk, the group approached the herd, but were still some distance off when Dakar held an arm out and they all crouched down behind some bushes.

“Why are we hiding?” Maria said.

“We're staying down wind,” Dakar said. “If the herd gets a good wiff of us they'll spook and take off running. They rely on scent as much as sight.” Having no clue how to properly hunt, she followed his lead as did everyone else. There were a lot of bushes in the area so the group had cover, which they used to stay low and try to sneak closer to the herd. From what Maria could tell they looked like antelopes, or elks, she wasn't exactly an expert on species. They ducked down a few times to avoid the herd smelling them as the wind changed, then they all drew arrows, as did Maria.

“What are those?” Maria said, speaking in a whisper.

“Deer, they're fairly common in these parts,” Dakar said, keeping his voice low as well.

“You ever fired a bow before?” Dakar said.

“Not much, why?” Maria said.

“The guys and I can hitting running targets pretty well,” Dakar said. “You can have first shot while they're standing still.” With a nod Maria assumed a kneeling stance, drew an arrow back in the bow, and started to aim, then Dakar put a hand over top of hers.

“Not like that,” Dakar said. “Here, let me show you.” When the man pressed his body against Maria's from behind to help show her the proper way to aim a bow, it became increasingly hard to focus on hunting. With Dakar's help, she loosed an arrow that sailed straight, striking one of the deer in the ribs and killing it almost instantly. At this, the herd took off running as a whole. Dakar and the others readied their bows and quickly took down a deer a piece as well.

Word Count: 545

[Shaqira]

G R A D E

xp

Fishing +3
Weapon, Shortsword +1
Observation +3
Butchering +2
Socialization +2
Food Preservation +1
Rhetoric +1
Stealth +1
Hunting +1
Weapon, Longbow +1

lores

Fishing: Angling with a rod
Wilderness Survival: Travel routes should always have fresh waterways
Fishing: Movement frightens fish
Butchering: De-heading fish
Fishing: Baiting the hook
Sunberth: A 'kill or be killed' way of life
Fishing: Giving slack & letting the fish tire itself
Deena: Born to the caravan life
Gareth: Generous with his family
Fishing: Stabbing with a sword – sword fishing!
Fish may be caught by spear
Maria: Patience is not a virtue
Maria: Industrious & innovative
Deena & Maria: A surprising friendship
Butchering: Gutting fish
Dakar: A handsome hunter
Hunting: Stay downwind
Hunting: Deer rely on scent as much as sight
Stealth: Using brush for cover
Lust-filled thoughts of Dakar
Archery: Taking a kneeling stance


rewards

+1lbs fish fillet

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