Closed Fledgeling.

[Leaf]

Fall 82nd 512 AV It was his sixth day on the hunt and Leaf was starting to get just a tad tired of tracking his quarry as well as just a little wary of the trees and mountains and caves. There was said to be a killer on the loose and he had to watch his step or end up as prey. Crouching, Leaf surveyed the nearby ground intensely. There were prints all over from deer, rabbits, wolves and everything else. Scat nearby, against a tree, and a few broken branches still green told him that something, anything, had come by here recently. However, he wasn't a tracker and had no idea what he was seeing. His eyes were better in the sky, staring down and following the prey clearly rather than the footprints. He couldn't tell what was fresh from what was old. Running a hand through the messy crop of his hair, Leaf sighed. His stomach growled and he mimicked it before reaching into his pack and taking out a chunk of hard, dried meat. He shoved the rest into his pack and rose to his feet to stretch, cracking his back and shaking himself good. Taking another deep breath he continued on, plunging through the trees and hoping he was still hunting that beautiful fifteen-point buck he had followed from the Unforgiving. Bells passed and the sun grew uneasingly sweltering. Hunting like this on foot wasn't his forte, not at all, and eying up the trees now, he considered something easier and more natural to him. Scaling the branches of a thick conifer was difficult. The little needles and sticky sap was uncomfortable, to say the least, and he had spent a good few chimes at the base of the tree just trying to get the hang of climbing without falling on his rear and making a fool of himself to the prey that might be watching. Now, at the lowest hanging branch and tucked against the trunk, Leaf sucked a needle out of his hand and surveyed the new angle with great appreciation before removing his bow from his back and stringing it. Fitting an arrow to the bow, Leaf waited.

[Alori Sai]

Aela raced through the forest as fast as she could, her boots slamming into the ground hard as she pushed herself forward, dashing through bushes and around trees. The bow and quiver at her back clicked together as the arrows shuffled about inside. Her vision was blurred from the speed at which she ran, making the trees and ground somewhat tremble within her gaze.

The day had started as many had since her escape from the city, but the day would turn ill, when she was suddenly attacked by a Evenstra Warm Wolf during her hunt. The beast had crept up on her, and the little huntress barley had time to react. She had managed to fire off and arrow but missed, and to make matters worse a second wolf surfaced and also began to chase her.

Running was all she could do for the moment to get away from them. They had been too close, moving too fast for her to get off an accurate shot on each of them. She needed to put distance between them, find a place high up where she could take aim. That proved easier said that done, as the beast were right behind her and she didn't have much time to check the area.

Aela raced on, only glancing back over her shoulder for a tick, her long ponytail whipping about in the wind, as she looked around. The wolves were closing in fast, racing to either side of her. Aela huffed, a panicked gasp slipping out as she almost ran into a tree, and had to push off it to keep herself going. Her breathing picked up, arms swaying wildly as she slipped through bushes and around even more trees.

Somehow, she had seemed to avoid being bitten and even gotten far enough ahead that she could finally stop and load her bow. Panting loudly, her back pressed against a tree, Aela reached over her shoulder and quickly snatched an arrow out and forced it into her bow. Emerald green eyes darted back and forth through the forest as she waited for the wolves to reappear, all the while she had been clueless to the man resting in the tree close to where she stood.

[Leaf]

Leaf sucked in a breath through clenched teeth as he saw the girl pursued by wolves. Raising his bow to aim, he stared down at the wolves and waited for an opening when they weren't behind trees, or around bushes, or in the shadow of the Inarta. In his right mind, he couldn't let some poor woman meet her end out here at the fang of some wolf. If there was a chance for her, then he would do his best to save her. He fired his bow. Hitting his target was a longshot, but he didn't wait around to see if it hit. He had seen her take a shot at the wolves as well and hit the nearest one, the one that had tried to flank her on her left, on his right shoulder, staggering him. He had aimed for the second before it had time to react to the presence of weapons in his hunt. He moves around on his branch, attempting to keep stable, to reach down for the girl. His strong fingers were about a foot from reaching her, but he called out to get her attention. "Hey, you!" He shouted in Nari. "Take my hand and get up here, now!" His hand was offered to her, blatantly. There was a nearby branch he could swing her into so the one he was on wouldn't suffer any more than it was about to. Heck, he might just climb up a bit further as well, just in case these wolves could jump. "Come on, lady! We don't have all day, here!"

[Alori Sai]

She could hear them, rustling around in the bushes, growls and snarls giving lead to their location. Raising her bow, Aela focused in on the area that the noise came from and fired her arrow. It quickly disappeared into the brush, but she wasn't sure if it hit anything. Thinking quickly, she slipped another arrow into her bow and aimed it towards the bushes again. She waited this time, hearing the huffs and pants from beyond the mess of green between her and them.

As much as she wanted to fire at once, she waited. Blind shooting wouldn't do her any good and she would soon run out of arrows to use. Things were different now, and unlike at the Second Quiver, she couldn't retrieve her arrows and try again. It didn't take long however, and the wolf finally showed itself, appearing from within the brush. She aimed at it, ready to fire, when suddenly a loud yelp was forced from the animal as it was hit with an arrow and sent back into the bushes.

Realizing what had happened, Aela spun around, searching the ground near and far for another archer. Finally lifting up her head to search the tree's, she noticed a man kneeling in one of the low hanging branches reaching out for her. It was a surprise to be sure, and she was left with a choice to make. A choice that she had to make quickly.

Deciding to trust the man for the moment, Aela slung her bow back over her shoulder, and turned her arrow into her palm and reached for his hand with her free one. Once she had a good grip, she moved against the tree, using her legs to propel her upward while balancing herself as he pulled her. She stumbled onto the branch with a thump and just held on for a tick, until she could right herself and take down her bow for the second time.

[Leaf]

As the woman's hand clasped in his, a shiver ran up Leaf's spine and churned a familiar gut-wrenching feeling in his stomach. The flower, it tingled on his abdomen, and he fought the deceptive lull of colourful bait that teased the edges of his vision. It wanted him to see something, and with the girl in harm's way, he couldn't afford the distraction just yet. So he fought it. His eyes were manic with both his inner struggle and his pulling of the other hunter to safety. The wolf burst through the bushes, flanking her position, and one of them lunged at her dangling ankles. She was out of reach, though, and with a snarl it fell back and began to pace back and forth. It's packmate sat back and stared at them, intelligence in its burnished gold eyes. It howled. With the girl in the safety of the tree, Leaf immediately released her hand as though it had burned her and edged away from her as much as possible in this cramped safety of theirs. Finally, he succumbed to it. His eyes half-lidded as his awareness was shepherded somewhere else. The trees and leaves and grass were replaced by brilliance. A weave of strands danced before his not-eyes, and one in particular called to him. He reached out without wanting it and grasped the strand. He was in Wind Reach. He recognised it easily due to the presence of the overwhelming gingers and the feeling of comfort that one gets when they are at home. He didn't know why he was there again, but his simplistic mind translated it into a flashback. It became a memory for him, because he didn't understand what else it could be. There was fear there. He was running for gods knew what reason. There was the sound of pursuit, of anger. It ended as soon as it began, leaving Leaf with this almost amusing stunned expression on his face. He shook his head, glanced warily at his new companion, and then down to the wolves. It seemed the howl had not gone unheard, for there were now five wolves at the base of the tree. Quickly, Leaf reached back and snagged another short arrow from his quiver before fitting it into his string and aiming at the nearest wolf. "So, got any plans for this?" Leaf said to the female. Now that she was closer he realised she was older than what he originally thought. He didn't fire the arrow, but his gold eyes looked to her. The clipped Nari he had spoken would leave no doubt to him having been at Wind Reach for some time. He smiled, one of the few he gave, but it was more fierce than friendly. This had become a much better hunt than he had thought it would. Evantia Warm Wolves were valuable.

[Alori Sai]

Aela straddled the tree branch roughly, her bow held firmly in her hands with an arrow pointed at an angle towards the ground below. Another would-be nice day, turned sour because of the beast of the Unforgiven. Aela was so frustrated with it all and coming closer each day to losing her mind to the madness.

She didn't look to the man beside her, instead focusing on the beast below, the ones looking to take her as a meal. She pulled the arrow tightly against the rear string and fired it. The arrow dove from the bow and jammed into the back of the closest wolf. The wolf groaned a bit, lumbering to the side and settling there. It wasn't her best shot but it had injured the beast, making there one less to deal with.

So she thought, but the howling from before had attracted more of them, and there were now four standing tall at the base of the tree."Petch!" The little huntress cursed as she reached back into her quiver and pulled out another arrow. This was not good, she only had so many arrows left, and if she used them all on these wolves, there would be none left for future hunts. Again she fired, the arrow soaring through the air and landing on the ground close to where the another wolf had made it's stance.

Finally the man spoke up, after coming out of whatever daze had claimed him, and Aela glanced over towards him for a tick, while pulling another arrow from her quiver. "Plan? The plan is not to die." She slipped the fresh arrow into the bow and raised it, aiming for the beast's head this time. She paused, taking a deep breath and focusing her aim better. The long bow's string vibrated violently as the arrow was released, taking a mere tick to reach the wolf and dig into it's back. More whimpers poured forth, and the wolf found itself laid out flat, while gasping for air.

[Leaf]

"Got it." Leaf said grimly. He took fire at the closest wolf, going for its exposed flank. The next arrow he put towards the weakened one that lingered back behind its allies, breathing heavily and stuck with the huntress' arrows. Leaf felt no remorse as his arrow sunk into the fur just below its right jaw, causing the beast to drop to its belly with a faint whine. To Leaf, the response of the other wolves was that of anger at the loss of one of their own. Injured though they were with arrows in various places, they raised their hackles in challenge. They couldn't climb the tree but even as the intelligence behind their eyes worked out a plan of ambush and attack, Leaf was still firing upon them. The huntress was as well and as the arrows rained upon the ground they stood, the wolves buckled at the pain of the wounds. Their resolve faltered and they backed off, leaving two more of their number behind with the first to fall and retreating. The sounds of their whining and complaints drifted like music to his ears. Now Leaf was concerned. They couldn't see the two wolves that were hiding, or at least he couldn't. They were out of his direct line of sight, hidden among scrub and trees. Maybe if he climbed higher..? He had little experience with climbing truly and typically didn't go beyond the first few levels of branches on a tree. It made him uncomfortable to think about going higher. He didn't know about this woman with him. For all he knew she could totally love climbing trees and being in danger could be a thrill for her. "Do you see them?" He asked her steadily. "I can't, and I am thinking if we go up further we might get some insight as to where they are. Or, I can go down there and see." He liked that idea better. At least he would have two feet on the ground and no possibility of getting hurt in a fall.

[Alori Sai]

"Higher? Are you insane!?" she yelled to the hunter. Climbing was not something that the girl enjoying. In fact, the time she had climbed a tree was when something was chasing her. It hadn't been so long ago when she and her friends found themselves trapped in a tree by a deformed Wind Eagle. Somehow the group was able to survive and now she found herself in yet another tree...again. She wanted down, not up to where she would have even less of a change to hold her balance.

Then he said it, almost as if he were reading her thoughts. "Go down?.." he words trailed of as she rethought the situation, and found that going down sounded almost as scary as going up. She thought if over while looking down and around them. She couldn't see them either and silently hoped that they had run off. "Ok..we both go down." She said uncertainly and glanced towards him. It was the first time that she had looked at him looker than a tick and noticed his features. He was rugged in a way, though also having a youthful look, and a somewhat wild look in his eyes.

The tiny Inartan turned away as she took in a deep breath. It wasn't a long way down, but far enough to cause the girl worry. The fall itself wouldn't likely kill her, but if the wolves were still around, they might get to her before she was able to even stand up again. Aela glanced back towards the mysterious man again to see if he was also moving down, or if he might suddenly come up with a better idea. She slipped her bow over her shoulder before moving, sliding herself off the branch. She clinging tightly to the branch to balance herself off as she lightly stepped towards the one below.

The girl stopped when she heard a snarling near-by. It was close, so very close, but as she glanced down she couldn't see anything below. After another moment, Aela decided to attempt to move lower again, and that's when she saw it. Just below her, handing half way off the tree was one of the last remaining wolves. Somehow it had managed to jump up high enough to catch on the lowest branch and was fighting to push itself up. "You gotta be petching kidding me!"

The huntress moved back against the tree and swung her bow from over her shoulder again. She steadied herself, as she lifted up enough to free an arrow from her quiver and notch it into her bow. With the aim on the wolf, she fired. The arrow thrusting into one of the wolves eyes and knocking it off the branch and tumbling back to the ground.

[Leaf]

"You're petching kidding me..." Leaf swore as he spotted the source of the huntress' reluctance to go down. He was lucky to have waited, needing to locate a good branch to drop down onto once he realised she was going for the one he had used to get himself up. He quickly sat back though and loaded another arrow to shoot at the wolf as it fell off the branch and hit the ground, however the arrow struck the ground harmlessly, having been overshot. He swore again and tried another time, this time sticking the arrow in the wolf's shoulder before he lowered himself to a close branch to get a better angle on the creature and see where its buddy had gone. He didn't remember how many of them were left, being that his counting wasnt too great and he tended to forget things in the heat of the moment. He assumed two, for sure, but was ready for a third to be hiding out somewhere. He shot again at the wolf and his arrows, as well as the arrow the girl had put in the wolf, seemed to be killing it. He was feeling a sense of victory as the wolf retreated again, however more slowly than before. And then he saw it. The second wolf stood off to his far left, nearly out of sight but still obvious. It was crouched down, ready to lunge once someone stepped down to finish the other wolf off. Leaf didn't have a clear shot at the wolf at this angle and he didn't know if the girl did. "He's off to the left, waiting," he said aloud. "I'll go down. Stay up here and shoot him when he comes at me." Leaf hardly thought at the danger he would be in if he went down there. He didn't want to believe there was a third one somewhere he couldn't see. One would be enough if she wasn't ready. He removed two arrows from his quiver and slipped his bow over his shoulder before crouching and dropping down to the ground, his legs buckling as they caught his weight. He faced the wolf to his left, assuming the first one would be too disheartened to come back anytime soon, and held both his arrows at the ready, like they were knives. The wolf took the bait, snarling at the Kelvic as it broke into a jog. Leaf clenched his teeth, anticipating a whole world of pain opening up shortly, and swung his right fist at the wolf, trying to time his swing and get the wolf right in the face with his arrow before he fell back, the wolf having landed on him and shoving him over. He was lucky enough to have swung because it put his forearm in the position to hold the head of the creature up should his blow have missed completely. Hopefully the girl was shooting or was going to start soon. Leaf didn't like to think of sacrificing his safety for nothing but a pretty face.

[Alori Sai]

Aela breathed a sigh of relief once the wolf fell off the branch and onto the ground. It was insanity really, and she couldn't imagine what would have happened if wolves could climb trees. For the moment at least, she might have been somewhat content to stay seated in the tree for a short break. But she knew that there were more of them, when it came to pack hunters, there were always more. Again she took in a breath when the sound of light thumping followed by whimpering catch her attention.

The other archer was laying it into the beast from his branch on the tree, apparently having a better shot and view than her own. With the only wolves insight limping away, Aela wondered if it was safe to try and go down again. And so she did, but before she could slip off the branch, the other hunter called out to her.

"Where?" she asked, though her voice was barley a squeak. The girl started to say more but for whatever reason her lips wouldn't move. Instead she pulled another arrow from her quiver and notched it to her bow and looked around for the other wolf. Looking around, it took her a moment to find it, but it was there. Just out of the corner of where she could aim, the wolf stood. "Maybe if I go lower I can..." she paused then as she saw that archer had already made it back to the ground.

"Petch!"

Suddenly the wolf moved, a flash of fur blazed passed her and she fired at it. There was no telling where the arrow went, but it didn't land in the wolf. Aela slung her bow over her shoulder again and moved down onto the lowest branch as fast as she could. The little huntress could hear the wolf snarling as he fought against the archer. Once she was somewhat balanced on the branch, she snatched an arrow quickly from her bow and fumbled as she notched it into her bow.

"Petch..come on!"

With the arrow finally in place, Aela raised her bow and fired upon the unsuspecting wolf, catching him in his ribs. She didn't think for a tick, before reaching for another arrow and notching it in the bow to fire again.