Flashback A Hunting Lesson [Part One]

[Sayani]

1st of Summer, 505 AV

Nine days had passed since the surrogate incident, and Sorana was still cautious around her, as if her daughter was a caged animal, only waiting to the right time to attack. Maybe she was. Sayani had wanted to cry, for a while, after what had happened, but she didn't allow herself to. Crying was a sign of weakness, and she wouldn't let her mother think she was weak.

But she felt like a monster. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Symenestra had affinity with blood, and yet, what she had felt while the surrogate died in front of her eyes were something much greater than affinity. And no matter how much she tried to think only about the pleasure she had felt, guilt always came crawling back to her mind.

"Sayani." the deep but gentle voice startled her, and she turned to look at her father. His violet eyes, much brighter than hers, shone with excitement, and the young Symenestra felt an urge to hug him.

"Are you not... Wary of me, father?"

"Of course not." Duran smiled, and knelled down to face his daughter. "You are first born. You are supposed to go on Harvests and all that. Feeling a connection to blood is only natural for you." it hadn't been only a connection, but she smiled, and hugged him. Duran laughed. "Good, good. See? You are still perfectly normal." straightening up, the man looked at her. "So, to prepare you, I'm going to give you a lesson in hunting. Would you like that?"

A lesson? Sayani's smile broadened, the thought of learning something with her father something new. Usually, it would be her mother's voice talking about purity of blood, surrogates, duties of a Symenestra and all that. A hunting trip seemed much more interesting. She nodded, excited.

Duran guided her to the surface, the silk paths easy to navigate through for both Symenestra. It was long before Sayani could finally see the morning sky, clear and bright. It was beautiful, and the summer breeze that brushed her face was comforting, as if telling her everything was alright, and that she was alright.

Her father passed his hands around her shoulder, and guided her to the forest near Kalinor. "Hunting, Sayani, is something that requires patience. Which you have plenty of, I agree." Duran made her stop. "It's not only an activity. It's an art, that requires time to perfect. A good hunter is the one who doesn't rush, who investigates the victim, and who employs the best technique to catch it. Know not only the prey, but also the environment around you." Sayani listened, her eyes fixed in the trees closer to them, but her whole attention turned to the words that left her father's mouth.

[Sayani]

"For now, let's put some traps around, and then we go hunting." Duran tapped her shoulder lightly, and began to walk between the trees. Sayani followed him, walking quickly to be able to keep with his long steps.

"You haven't brought anything." the girl remarked, not sure how they were supposed to trap an animal with just their hands.

"Because I'm teaching you how to trap game using only tree branches." his smile made Sayani frown. It wasn't the normal kind smile her father had, but somehow... It looked like a very excited smile.

"Father..." Sayani began, cautiously. She wasn't sure whatever or not to fear that smile. It wasn't something that she had ever seen on her father's face. "What are you planning?"

"A night on the wild."

"What?" she was surprised. Wasn't it just a hunting trip? And they hadn't bring anything, besides a bow, some arrows, and their armor. Staying outside was madness. "Are you crazy? Do you even know anything about wilderness survival?"

"No." Duran said, not even a bit worried, and Sayani had to sigh, frustrated. It was madness to her, but she doubted she could talk her father out of it. However, the Symenestra trusted him, and knew that if something happened, her father would protect her.

They walked a bit more, until her father pointed to the ground. "What do you see?" Sayani looked at where he was pointing. The ground was covered by grass, mostly, except for a small path. It was really tiny, so Sayani wasn't sure whatever it was just some natural thing or not. Bending over, she looked again, seeing small and round brown things.

"Is this..." she trailed off, straightening herself, a look of disgust in her face.

"Rabbit waste and rabbit trail." her father seemed much more happy about it. "Rabbits are animals of habits, and a trail means that this is the path created by a rabbit. And this means we can caught something in it. Ready for some trapping?" Duran smiled to his daughter, and Sayani couldn't help but mimic him. She had never seen her father like that, but she supposed it was his usual behavior when hunting. Usually, he would take only Vardan with him, so Sayani would enjoy this rare opportunity.

"Sure."

[Sayani]

"Wonderful. Now, there are a number of different ways to catch a rabbit, but my favorite is the trapping pit." Duran walked away from the trail, placed the bow on the ground and crossed his arms. "Dig a hole on the floor."

"You are not helping, are you?" Sayani asked, not really waiting for an answer as she knelt down, careful not to touch the rabbit's waste, and began to dig. It was weird, and she felt really stupid doing it, but she tried to keep her face straight. By the amused sparkle on Duran's eyes, she wasn't managing to do it. Huffing in annoyance, she focused on the task before her, knowing there should be a better and easier way to do it. Otherwise, there really was no reason as to why her father could enjoy making this trap.

At least before the most superficial layer, the earth was soft and easier to remove. It took half a bell for her to finish, though, and when she finally did, she raised and tried to clean the dirt of her claws.

"It's a little... Rough, but I guess that will do. The rabbit seems like a small one, but remember: if it's big, you will need to dig a deeper hole." Duran said, after a quick look at her work. Sayani nodded, knowing that her pit was far from perfect, not even resembling a hole at all, but if her father said it would be good enough for catching the rabbit, she wouldn't dig anymore. "Now, we need sticks just slight bigger than the width of the whole, so when the rabbit steps on it, the sticks will break."

Sayani nodded, and looked around the floor, grabbing five sticks and returning to the hole. Three of them were too small and one was too big, only one fitting the description her father had given her. She broke the bigger stick, until it could be used in the trap.

"How many do I need?" she asked her father, without looking at him.

"Enough to cover the hole, with a good space between them. Otherwise the rabbit will just pass straight through the trap, without falling."

Sayani took one of the sticks that were on the right size and searched the floor some more, until she found a third one that could be used. She returned to the hole, and covered it carefully with the three sticks. It was enough. The Symenestra got up, and looked at her father once again, waiting for the instructions.

"Cover the sticks with twigs, until you think you can put leaves and earth on top of it to cover everything."

She nodded once again, searching for twigs and snapping some out of the trees. When she had an armful, she returned, and carefully covered the sticks with them, before putting soil and a few leaves on top of everything, trying to make the place look just the same as the rest of the path. For her eyes, the difference was still very clear, but she thought that maybe the rabbit would find it more difficult to identify.

[Sayani]

"Is this good enough?" Sayani asked, before stepping away from the trap to let her father look. Duran only smiled, not even sending a glance at it, before motioning her to follow him and walking once again between the trees. Sayani pressed her lips together, before gathering the sticks she hadn't use and throwing them randomly away from the trap.

It was weird, her father's way to teach. While her mother would nag her every time she did the smallest mistake, her father would just observe, and not even tell her if there was something wrong. Sayani preferred it this way. While she could just loose time because her trap wasn't good enough, at least she could learn with her mistakes, and find out the best way for her to do the job.

They walked a while more, before Sayani saw another trail, this time slightly bigger. She called her father, pointing it to him, and felt proud when the older Symenestra smiled back to her, nodding.

Her pride soon changed to irritation when she had to spend almost a bell digging another hole, and covering it with leaves and twigs. She wished her father would just teach her another way to caught a rabbit, but the man didn't seem very inclined to do so. At least this one hole didn't look very deformed.

The rest of the morning and half of the evening was spent looking around for hares and rabbits trails, and digging holes on the ground. Although Sayani thought a day of hunting only rabbits would be incredible productive, she ended up with only five holes. Finding the trails without her father help, and only looking around in the forest was harder than she had initially thought.

And she was getting hungrier too, not having stop for food since they had began. However, her father had said nothing about eating, and she didn't ask. If there was something else he wanted to teach her, she would learn, even if she didn't know she was learning it.

Finally, Duran stopped, in the middle of a clearing. He turned to his daughter, a huge smile on his lips, and offered her the bow.

[Sayani]

"What?" Sayani asked, taking the bow and weighting it. She had heard of shortbows, of course, but she had never touched one. The form felt foreign, and the Symenestra ran her hands carefully in the weapon, feeling it.

"Archery lesson." Duran answered her question, smiling and laying against a tree. "Try to hit one of these trees." he motioned to the trees in front of them. They were close, but Sayani had never used a bow in her life.

"I didn't know you could shoot."

"I can't." Sayani looked at him, unable to get the look of surprise out of her face. Did he truly think she could just shoot, without never touching a bow before? "I don't want you to hit the target, I want you to try."

The Symenestra scowled, before grabbing the bow awkwardly and taking an arrow. She drew the string, noticing the arrow was shaking, and, not matter how hard she put pressure on her fingers, there was just no way to make the arrow still. It was annoying, and after a while, she just gave up, deciding to shoot anyway. Her fingers were hurting, already.

The arrow just trembled a single step in the air, before falling to the ground. Sayani looked back at her father, a pleading look on her face, but Duran only kept smiling.

The Symenestra sighed, walked to grab the arrow again and put it once more on the bow. It would be a very, very long day.

[Sayani]

It was night and Leth had appeared on the sky, when her father finally allowed her to stop. Sayani was hungry, terrible hungry, she was thirsty, and her fingers were cut in multiple place from the pressure she was applying on the string. She still couldn't shoot, so, in her eyes, everything had been a huge waste of time. In fact, she wanted to cry from frustration, but it was the last thing she would do in front of her father.

"We have to lit up a fire, and find some fruits to eat, since we haven't grabbed any kill today." Duran said, and Sayani only nodded, not trusting her voice on that moment. She only approached her father, waiting for instructions. "You know the theory about how to make a fire, right?" Sayani nodded again. "Good. Go ahead, then."

Do not cry. she told herself, as she went around the clearing looking for branches and leaves that could be used for a fire, and joining them together in the middle of the clearing. She then took two branches, although she didn't have the slightest idea what a soft and hard wood was, and came back.

"I need a knife." Sayani murmured. Duran nodded, and gave his knife to her.

She then began the process of trying to flat one of the branches enough to use as a fire board. Sayani had actually little idea of what she was doing, only remembering the things she had read. She passed the knife in the wood, grinding her teeth when she miscalculated and ended up with a cut in one of her fingers. It wasn't deep, but it didn't help the pain she was already feeling with the string cuts.

"I'm thirsty." she said, noticing her voice was rough. She couldn't tell if it was because of the lack of water, or simply because she hadn't spoke in so long. Duran nodded.

"I know, Yani." he said softly, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll go back to Kalinor and get some water for us. Do you think you can manage alone?" the young Symenestra shook her head, violently, and Duran sighed. "Fine. Let's go back. Tomorrow we can bring a few more things, and be more prepared, what do you say?"

Sayani nodded, hugging her father tightly. Duran laughed lightly, before pushing her in the direction of the cave entrance once again.

[Poison]

Skills: Observation 2, Trapping 2, Hunting 1, Bow 1, Wilderness Survival 1
Lores: Hunting requires Patience; Recognizing Rabbit Waste; Recognizing Rabbit Trails; Building a Rabbit Trap; Making a Fire

Notes: This was an enjoyable short thread. If you think I have missed a skill or a lore somewhere, please let me know!

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