Solo Morning Exercise

[Dust]

Fall 60, 513 AV morning Dust started her day with a rabbit. A dead rabbit. It wasn’t her catch or kill, but one Chalce had provided, probably fresh from someone's snare that very dawn. She also had a very sharp knife, whose edge the Kelvic examined by eye but was careful not to recklessly touch. She pushed the rabbit around on the cutting board, considering different orientations until it seemed in the right place for being handled. Then she set about the task of skinning and chopping it -- the better to make hawk food. There wasn't much to be had from the lower limbs, Chalce had said, so Dust simply took the knife to the rabbit's knees and removed those parts. Then she worked its tip under the skin and slit up the insides of the legs, making a connecting cut between. She paused to poke at the edges of a cut, teasing the skin away from the meat beneath. It was odd just how thin the rabbit's skin was -- she knew a raven's beak couldn't get through it, and yet there was so little to that outer layer. You'd think it wouldn't offer that much protection! The skin also peeled off rather easily from the body, as if hardly anything connected it to the rabbit proper at all. Just thin little wisps of translucent stuff, something that reminded her of spidersilk, if spidersilk came in sheets -- stronger than it looked, but not strong enough to offer more than a token resistence against her fingers. Dust worked her fingers further under the skin, until she had enough loose to turn the edge over and get a good grip on it. Then she pulled the skin off towards the head, not all at once but in stages, turning the rabbit over from time to time to work on both sides. It came away easily, if slowly; she was probably more careful than she needed to be, but Dust wanted it to come out well.

[Dust]

The hardest part was dealing with the front legs, when she got to them. Dust couldn't remember if she was supposed to make slits the way she had for the back pair, or cut around them, or just keep pulling the skin off... As she looked at the carcass, that last didn't seem like it would really work -- she needed to get the skin off over the neck and head too. Maybe that also needed to be cut out. The Kelvic finally decided to leave off the front part from the pelt; she reclaimed the knife and made a cut around the skin, behind the forelegs and shoulders. That left her with a furry tube in one hand and a half-dressed rabbit in the other. The pelt, she set aside, focusing on the rest of the carcass. It needed to be a completely undressed rabbit, with the possible exception of the head -- Dust thought she could just take that off entirely. So she did, leaning on the knife until it crunched through the spine, then cutting through the flesh of the neck. A cut down the front and two more down the insides of the forelegs let her pull off the rest of the skin, a less-neatly-shaped flap of fur which she set over with the rest. The next part was to take out the guts. Chalce had said they could spoil the meat if left in too long, though this rabbit hadn't been dead long enough for that to happen. Dust was familiar enough with the insides of animals to know how to start that; a cut into the stomach would avoid all the ribs and things. So she made one, and felt around inside until she found places where organs attached to non-organ things. They came loose readily, too, and went into a small pile on the edge of the board. Dust took a moment to clean out the rabbit's body cavity, just to be sure she'd gotten everything. That took care of all the finicky stuff -- now all she had to do was chop it up into hawk-bite-sized pieces. ...without chopping her fingers, but she wasn't very concerned about that happening. She took the limbs off first, and cut them up; the knife wouldn't go through those thicker bones, so she separated the meat. The ribs, on the other hand, broke easily, and she left them in the resulting pieces. Some got chopped up pretty small, about half the size of her thumb, and others she left bigger, because it was boring if everything was all the same. A rabbit turned out to become rather a lot of pieces of meat, when it was cut up. More of a pile than Dust had expected, anyway, when she first contemplated the thing. She didn't need them all now; the leftovers got put in a jar and under cool water, where Chalce could get them later. Then she took a few minutes to clean up all the bits and pieces and mess, before heading out for the mews.

[Dust]

Armed with a pouch of rabbit pieces, not to mention the gloves on her hands, Dust stepped into the mews and gave her eyes a moment to adjust from the brighter light outside. She readily spotted the birds she was supposed to exercise; they all had accustomed places, after all. "Good morning, everybody," the Kelvic greeted, tone pleasant and amiable but not too forceful. "I'm taking a couple of you out this morning, and Chalce will be along later for the rest. You're up first," she finished, coming up beside a small red-tailed tiercel, untying its jesses from the bar, and bidding it step onto her hand. The raptor, well-accustomed to being handled, remained calm on her fist as Dust withdrew from the mews, picking up a leash line on the way. Outside, she headed for one of the empty pastures, where there was plenty of open space to be had. It was a little brisk yet, but not so much to pose either of them an issue -- especially not the hawk. The ground was damp under her feet, probably from thawed frost, or maybe a little rain during the night; it wouldn't endanger her traction. All good. Dust reached up and attached the leash to the hawk's jesses, its other end held comfortably in her hand. Then she removed its hood, tucking that carefully into a pocket without looking away from the tiercel. He blinked at the sun and the greater outdoors, swiveling his head to look around; of course, he found little worth excitement, aside from the general anticipation of flying and being fed. If there had been something out here to spook him, she would've left the hood on. After he'd had a chance to orient himself, Dust hid a rabbit piece in her free hand, and pointed out ahead. The hawk looked at her, looked in that direction, and she felt him shift position, feathers whispering just past her ear, poised for flight. He took off, flying out as directed; she whistled almost immediately, keeping him close. The bird circled back around, anticipating food; after all, he hadn't eaten since yesterday. When he landed on her upheld fist, she gave it to him -- just a little piece, both whetting his appetite and implicitly promising more. He cocked his head and looked expectantly at her afterwards, wanting that more. Even after her seasons at Sanctuary, Dust couldn't help but smile at the hawk she held, the wonder of it -- she, a raven, with a hawk on her fist. Red-tails didn't prey on other birds to the degree that, say, a peregrine falcon or goshawk might... but that didn't make red-tails and ravens natural friends, not in the least. Yet here was this one, earning his breakfast from her, and finding it no different than if she were Chalce. Well, probably he didn't mind much about his handler, as long as they played by the correct rules.

[Dust]

The hawk shifted his weight, looked out around the pasture, then down at the gloved hand he stood upon. There was no food hidden in it, to his woe. He wanted the next piece, and had no compunctions about telegraphing that want to all and sundry. Dust waited while he searched; it didn't do any good to give a cue if the bird wasn't actually paying attention to her. It wasn't until those fierce yellow eyes turned their regard back to her that she pointed again. Obedient to the cue -- hopeful for a reward -- the hawk launched himself into the air again. She let him fly out several ticks more before giving a whistle, cuing him to return. She didn't give a reward this time, to his disappointment. The next time, she did, and continued in that intermittent fashion, directing the hawk out and back but providing food only sometimes. It was a balance Dust was still learning to strike. Reward every desired action, and she'd run out of meat before the hawk was fully exercised. But if she didn't reward him often enough, he'd get bored and irritated. ...Kind of like he was getting right now. Dust could feel it in the way his talons gripped through the glove, see it in the lay of his feathers and his restless motions, hear it in the brief vocalization the tiercel made. It made her want to freeze and scan the sky, because a bored hawk might just be a hungry hawk... ...but she wasn't just a raven, and the hawk didn't even see her as potential food. Just the giver of food. Dust could go right on being that. Chalce had stressed not to feed the birds unless they did something for her, though -- it was part of keeping them habituated to their training. What was she supposed to do with an annoyed hawk? Focus them somewhere else, right. Dust waited until the bird looked out away from her -- it really didn't take very long -- and gave it a whistle. Its attention caught by the vocal cue, the tiercel studied the landscape off to her left. Grass. Fence. Nothing moving. Whatever was supposed to be interesting out here? He looked at her. Looked to her left. Whistle. On the third go-round, Dust tossed out a piece of rabbit -- one which still had the bone in it, because predatory birds needed to eat bones too. The hawk promptly launched itself after the tidbit, pinning it to the ground before scarfing it up. A fed bird was a happier bird, and for the moment, he wasn't even thinking about her.

[Dust]

Once he'd finished the tidbit and started looking around for more, Dust held her hand up, summoning the hawk back to her fist. He failed to respond, instead continuing to search the short grasses. Just holding her hand out there wouldn't do any good, so the Kelvic let it drop; she looked around too, though never taking her eyes entirely off the hawk, and brushed some hair back out of her face. Eventually, he looked up at her again, and she put her hand back out in silent demand. That time, he hopped up to her fist, and got an approving whistle for the action. No tidbits, though, which led him in short order to return to scanning the grasses. Dust could work with that. Continuing to hold the bird up, she watched him study the ground, looking for prey. When she felt like he'd given the search a good go, Dust tossed out another tidbit, letting it land near the edge of his view. As it arced out, she imitated the sound Chalce used when hunting the birds, the one that meant prey here, come get it! Dust didn't quite get the timbre of the Inarta's voice, but the tiercel definitely recognized her intent... and the 'movement' of something in the grass. Prey! He glided out after it, striking the tidbit and scarfing it down just like all the rest. She gave him a couple more iterations of 'search and find' before deciding that game was done; it didn't give Dust enough to do, just left her watching a hawk watch the grass. Plus he might then find something in the grass -- actual living prey -- which would distract his attention from her, and that wasn't something a falconer was supposed to encourage. At least as she understood it. So, when he'd finished the last of the tidbits Dust tossed out, she changed things up on him again. This time, when he returned to her fist, she lowered it, angling her arm down towards the ground. The tiercel understood that as a cue to hop down, and did so, giving her a perplexed one-eyed glance. Jumping down hadn't been in his plans! His hop up was gratifyingly quick, probably because of that confusion, and when Dust pointed outwards, the hawk obediently launched himself out into the same kind of circling maneuvers they'd started with. Changing things up, Dust made note, was pretty effective at focusing attention.

[Dust]

She kept the hawk moving for a little while longer, cycling between her fist, the ground, her fist, flying out, and back again. Eventually, he stopped having quite so much interest in the food she offered, or the act of flying; a definite cue for her to declare an end to their exercises. Not to mention, her arm was getting weary of holding up the bird, and being landed on so many times. Plus, Dust's chores for the day included taking another one out to do many of the same things. She had to keep enough of her own energy available to get through both... not get disinterested, not get bored, and not let her attention wander. The Kelvic took a moment to remind herself how important that was, and never mind that the reminder itself was a case of wandering thoughts in progress... Taking the jesses back in-hand at last, Dust gave the tiercel a quiet chirp and one last tidbit to gulp down, an indication that this exercise session was done. She slipped his hood back on and walked him back to the mews, returning the hawk to his designated perch. A quick, reflexive check said she didn't need to sweep the area right now... which Dust already knew, anyway. Now was not the time for those chores. She needed to replenish her stock of rabbit meat, since she'd used a little more than she probably should've given the tiercel. It wouldn't do to shortchange the second bird, though -- she needed food just as much as he did! More, actually, because this one was a female, and female raptors were bigger. So, with her pouch reloaded, Dust headed back over to the perches, to where a rather larger red-tailed hawk waited. "Okay, pretty birdie, now it's your turn to go outside..." And so she set off on another round of exercises, putting the female hawk through her paces, making sure she got fed and a reasonable amount of physical activity all at the same time.

[Faradae]

Dust
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E X P E R I E N C E

• Cooking +2
• Falconry +4

L O R E S

• Cooking: Skinning and gutting a rabbit
• Falconry: A hawk's diet
• Cooking: Leaving the organs in may spoil meat.
• Cooking: Preserving meat in a cooled jar
• Falconry: Leashing a falcon
• Falconry: Using a hood to keep a bird calm
• Falconry: Getting and keeping a bird's attention by changing things up
• Falconry: Withholding rewards
• Falconry: Predatory birds need to eat bones
• Falconry: Ending an excerside when the bird is fed
• Falconry: Balancing food and activity

N O T E S

Thanks for the interesting read!

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