Timestamp: 68th of Fall, 522 A.V.
When Kamilla climbed out of the hammock and out from underneath the tarp, Tazrae went about breaking up their mini camp site. As she did so, unfastening the stakes from the tarp, wrapping them up neatly, and then pulling and folding the tarp… she gestured above them. It Kamilla tipped her head up, she would see, high up in the huge trees around them, Ixam. The entire lounge that went with Tazrae and Kamilla were up there, in essence lounging on the branches, stretched out sleeping, or keeping an eye on the area for them.
Taz tucked the now-folded tarp into her backpack, unfastened the hammock, and rolled it up into a small tight tube of fabric. That went back into her backpack as well. She unfastened the half-hitch, rolled up the rope, bundled it, and shoved it in the backpack as well. Without a doubt, the thing should have been overly full by now, but it retained its lightweight feel and still looked like nothing actually was in it. Taz did all of this mostly with one hand, or both while she was gently mindful of where Khari was positioned on her chest. It was a new thing for the ranger, awkward, but she was more than willing to figure it out as she went. It was like a lot of things in her life she was working out. There were new priorities and new goals, and an overriding need for security and safety. Part of that entailed building up Syka, making it safer, and encouraging its denizens to be stronger.
She needed to be here, now, present in the moment and teaching this stranger. And she was going to do it to the best of her ability.
Once she’d packed all the gear up, Taz shouldered her backpack over the top of the baby wrap and moved them both out. She didn’t get back to the wildlife trail, there was no sense in it. Instead, she started down the drainage they were on, determined to follow it to one of the major rivers. If Kamilla got too tired, she could always call down the Ixam and they could ride home. And in that too was another lesson, though none of them wore tack today and it would be harder to manage them bareback than with their saddles.
After a chime or two moving out, Taz began to speak again. “I can tell you are a strong person, with an iron will, but it won’t be enough. To survive in the wilderness, you need to do a few things. The five things you actually need to survive are food, water, clothing, sleep, and shelter. With your magic – as long as it's functioning – you can create water, make shelter, and have a fire. What you won’t have easy access to is food, clothing, and good sleep. If bugs are eating you alive, for example, you won’t be able to sleep. If you are worried about predators, soaking wet and shivering, or starving… you won’t sleep. You can go a long time without food, though I don’t recommend it. But when you get sleep deprived, you make stupid mistakes. So, remember, do whatever you can to get good sleep. Make yourself comfortable. Barricade yourself in against predators. Create a fire that smokes to keep bugs away… spreading the ashes as I talked about. You will have to get clothing somehow, be that from killing something and taking its skin and tanning it… or weaving something from plants. Since you are a mage, I’d recommend learning morphing and changing your skin to fur so you can self-insulate without clothing… something anything. Be innovative.” Taz said as she walked, moving in and out of the thick brush, seemingly finding just the right trails and places that were open enough to pass. After a while, she drew her machete and started cutting her way through the brush when it got too thick.
“So, there’s a huge part of wilderness survival that is mental, Kamilla. Everyone thinks they will be fine… that they won’t panic or grow distraught but the truth is it’s really easy to lose your mind out here alone.” Tazrae said, looking thoughtfully at the Konti. “It's hard to explain until you experience it, but you must keep calm. You need good sleep. If you get sleep deprived, you’ll make bad choices and those choices can lead to you getting hurt and even killed. It's like out here when you walk, you must watch each step and place it with care. When you get tired, you start sliding around and not paying attention to where you walk. That gets you snakebit or scorpion stung faster than you can imagine. So, you need to keep your mind busy. If you are moving, you’ll need to schedule rests… and overnights. You’ll need to look for good places to regroup and gather your strength. Or say if you run across a windfall of fruit or food… camp by it and get your reserves built up, get your sleep caught up… refuel, and rebuild.” She added as she walked, slowing her stride for Kamilla to make sure the Konti could keep up.
“We are following the drainage downward… looking for a bigger water source than the little streams we keep passing,” Taz explained, having a general idea of where they were but not really having a destination in mind. They wove in and out of big and small trees. Above, the Ixam followed, curious. Everything they passed was technically a teaching opportunity. She’d find the next lesson soon, but she wanted it to be about food. Kamilla needed to know at least that much. Until then, she talked about psychology.
“Believe it or not, sometimes you need to imagine things…. conversations with loved ones… thinking you aren’t alone by inventing an imaginary friend… or companion. Sometimes it's enough to draw a face on a rock and talk to that rock in your camp. Tidy your camp. Dispose of your waste. Do chores. Weave fish traps… make cordage. Keep busy. If you keep busy, you won’t sit around thinking about all the things that will eventually scare the shit out of you… like finding your way home or how far from nowhere you are. You need to plan, pay attention, and note the details. We haven’t even begun to talk about direction and how to know which way you are going… orientation, that kind of thing. If you have paper, keep a journal. Even grab a stick and tick off the days on it… so you track how long you are here. No paper? Peel bark and use a charcoal sliver from one of your fires… paper and pen!” She added, coming down off the ridge they were traveling along and down finally, to where a bigger stream tumbled through the drainage, formed from the multiple smaller streams Taz had been halfway following that merged into a larger one. Once she got to that stream she paused.
It was a shallow stream, full of stones and full of life. There were no deep pools to conceal man-eating fish or crocodiles. Instead, it was perfect for other things. “There’s food here,” Taz said, smiling at Kamilla. “A lot of it.” She added, excited, as she lightly tracked down to where she splashed into the stream. Then she beckoned to Kamilla to follow. “Walk upstream with me…” She said, following a shallow riffle where a little bit deeper pool emptied. The pool was on a corner, and was no deeper than a foot, a foot and a half, with the mixed substrate on the bottom. Taz walked to the side of the stream and broke off a small tree no bigger than four inches in diameter with her hatchet and stripped it.
“I’m just making a pointer…. can you kneel down in the water, tuck your head under and look at where I’m pointing with the stick?” Taz asked, then waited until Kam did as she asked, urging her to sit in the stream with her head underwater at the edge of the riffle that spilled out of the pool. Then Taz walked up beside her, and used the length of cut tree, to gesture into the pool. She pointed out what looked like black stones sticking out of the sand and gravel, little sharp ends to the sky. They were gathered here and there, not clustered, and looked a little different than stones… some even had a bit of algae on them.
When she was sure Kam had gotten a good look, Taz carefully stepped up and into the small shallow pool and made a grab for one. Pulling it out of the water she showed it to Kam. It was a bivalve creature that had its shell clamped tightly. It fit into Tazrae’s palm neatly so it was a good bite or two big. “This is a freshwater mussel. It’s related to clams and scallops. They are absolutely delicious.” She said, then carried it over to the bank.
Setting it up on the bank, Tazrae closed her eyes, and her hand suddenly filled with extruded Res. She coated the shell in her sunset sparkling res and flipped it, coating it again. The Res vanished, and suddenly the mussel began to steam as Kamilla realized Taz had superheated the creature, cooking it inside its shell. The thing popped open in the next moment, and Taz drew a small eating knife out of her belt and slipped it into the open shell, severing first one muscle and than the next so she could use the knife to open the muscle fully. She sliced the meat diagonally and used her blade tip to scrape out the stomach. Once it was clean, she controlled the res again, cooling it immediately, and reached out to pick up the shell. She offered the palm-sized creature to Kam.
“Try it… it really is good… and you saw how many there are. Have yourself a feast and cook it without a fire using your Reimancy. Just make sure when you find a pool like that filled with muscles, that you don’t muddy it all up. Stand downstream, hit them one at a time, and wait for the water to clear before you step again and try for another.” Taz advised while she waited for Kam to sample the meal.
“Any questions yet?” She asked, curiously, wondering how Kam felt about all of this.
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