Flashback Auburn [Synntina]

[Viridae Kabre]

Viridae drew his breath carefully as he pulled his shoulder blades together, putting tension on the bowstring until it was drawn full. The shot was not clear yet, but the bear was in motion. All this time he held the string still, breath shallow as the point of the arrow followed the bear. Once it had turned to the side, exposing its heart just beneath its armpit, he relaxed his fingers and loosed the arrow.

It sunk deep into a space between the beast's ribs. He had hit it in the lungs.

The beast stood and let loose a deep roar as it glanced the arrow for the pair of Symenestra, wavering on its feet. An arrow to the lungs would kill in time, but not immediately.

[Synntina Novul]

Synntina took a deep breath before pulling the bow back to its full extension. She took shallow breaths as she waited for Viridae to fire the first arrow. The bear moved around a bit, unaware of the two hunters in the tree. As it moved, Synntina noticed Viridae tense for a moment before letting loose the arrow into the bears side. The creature grew aware of its situation at once and stood up, letting out a large roar that made Synntina flinch. She lost some of the grip on the string and had to pull it back once again before looking down the sights and aiming it to the right of where Viridae had struck with his arrow and let the arrow fly free. It also struck the bear in the chest, although higher then where she had originally hoped.

In fact she was lucky the bear was a large target, had it been a bird she would have missed completely. But unlike a bird, she didn't have to lead any sort of shot here. Her arrow had landed above Viridae's arrow, and slightly to the right. With any luck she would have hit the bears airway, but it was difficult to see from where they were positioned. She pulled another arrow from her quiver and readied it, looking over at Viridae to see what he planned on doing now.

The fact that an angry, snarling bear knew where they were frightened her a bit, but for now they seemed safe at least.

[Viridae Kabre]

Viridae glanced to Synntina with an approving smile at her shot before pulling another arrow from his quiver and firing it quickly. The bear had begun to trot half heartedly towards the tree, most likely with the intent of charging it. This worked to the hunters' advantage, considering it was now further from the shore, and the other bears, who had not even looked up from their fishing activities.

Viridae's arrow hit the bear in a soft spot between its shoulder and upper front leg, causing it to fall onto its side, and pushing their arrows depper into its flesh. It attempted to grunt, but all that was produced was a bloddy cough as it lay on its side and took deep, slow, and wet breaths. Finally, the beast's chest no longer rose. It had taken its last breath of cold Kalean air.

He scuttled to the end of his branch and stood, glancing the shore once again. The bear had fallen into the brush between their tree and the river, and the other bears were still preoccupied with their fish. Viridae gave Synntina a slight wink before leaping from the branch and landing gracefully on his feet on the hard ground below.

[Synntina Novul]

Synntina looked to Viridae to the bear as it started to come toward the tree. The grip on her bow tensed as it got closer, but before it got to the tree another soft 'twang' came from Viridae's side and his arrow struck the bear right in front of its shoulder. The bear stumbled and fell, driving the arrow deeper. She winced, looking away from the bear as it died. She instead looked down at her wrist, at the bracelet he had made her, sitting next to the leader bracelet her father had given her when she was a child. She stared at it for a moment before moving to but her arrow back in the quiver and swung her bow over her back.

Her eyes moved from her close surroundings to watch Viridae move to the end of his branch, slowly she stood on hers and looked around. It seemed none of the other bears noticed the one they had killed, which was extremely lucky on their parts. She saw Viridae wink at her out of the corner of her eye and she just shook her head in return. Rather then jumping off the tree as he did, Synntina dropped down from her branch, holding onto it with her hands before letting go and hitting the ground with a soft thud. She straightened up and walked toward the bear, curious about it because she had never seen one up close. She moved closer, seeing that it really was dead, she kneeled down next to it and touched its fur. She had felt bear fur before, it was always very coarse.. but soft at the same time. And now was no different. It smelled of earth and blood, which was often something she smelled, being a hunter. Synntina let her golden eyes off the bear to look at Viridae, a soft smile on her face before standing up and waiting on what he would decide to do now.

[Viridae Kabre]

Viridae

Viridae looked the bear up and down silently for only a moment, making note of its size. It would be heavy. Very heavy. Its limbs alone would be a heavy burden. They could just skin it and take a couple flanks of meat along with the fur, but they could not do that here. Not with these other dangerous beasts lurking about.

Speaking of dangerous beasts, a large bear had spotted them from across the river. It stared at Viridae and Synntina, paw above its head like it had frozen in place. He stared back at it and placed a hand on Synntina's stomache without looking at her, a guesture to indicate neither of them should be moving. After about twenty ticks it grunted and puffed its cheeks before returning its attention to the river.

Viridae reached for his belt and retreived a long woven silk rope, handing one end to Synntina before stepping to the opposite side of the bear and pulling his end under its chest and shoulder. He nodded to her to indicate she should do the same. Once the rope was looped on both sides, he guestured again towards the brush and began to pull. Pulling alone would get them nowhere, but together they would just barely be able to move the massive beast.

[Synntina Novul]

The forest seemed eerily quiet despite the river and bears. As if the forest itself was holding its breath. A touch on her stomach made Synntina jump a slight bit away, but noticed Viridae's eyes locked onto something in the distance. She turned her head slowly and saw one of the larger bears staring straight at them. She froze, understanding what the touch had meant now and stood quietly. The only part of her moving was her hair in which whipped gently in the wind. As the bear turned away, it was as if the forest took a breath along with her, and things started to move again. Synntina took a step back for a moment to take another easy breath.

Her yellow eyes turned from the river to Viridae as he began to move around the bear to hand her a part of a rope in which she took in her hand. She watched what he did and copied him on the other side of the bear. She let her gaze turn to the bush and she gave a soft nod. She wasn't the strongest, but she did her best to pull on the rope alongside the other symenestra. She tried to take her mind off the pulling for a moment, wondering what her father would say if he saw her now. twenty-one year old Synnie just helped to shoot down a bear for the first time. She imagined he would say something smart that would make her laugh. To make her feel less upset about killing such a wonderful animal. She didn't have that now. Now it was her time to grow up for real. Killing these forest beasts was good experience for later, experience she would need.

Synntina dug her feet into the ground as she pulled, feeling the bear move slowly, but at least it was moving. It was hard to keep footing at times because of the leaves underfoot. But she managed to keep her footing.

[Viridae Kabre]

Viridae was impressed by her strength. The Lithe young spider was pulling just as hard as he was, and they were making good progress. Once they had the carcass limped into the brush, Viridae stood straight and stretched his arms high over his head, before looking to Synntina and placing a claw on his chin.

"Well," He began, thinking of how to get the bear back. The meat would catch a fair amount of Miza but the hide and fur were the real prize. "It looks like we have two options here. We can either skin the beast and bring the hide to be tanned, or we could drain the blood and carry the entire bear home. Whichever is within your comfort zone. But first, we should rest a while."

He scaled the tree again and laid across one of its mid branches, feeling Syna's light warm his face.

[Synntina Novul]

The pale skinned woman gave a soft huff as the pulling of the bear came to an end. She let the rope fall from her hands and to the ground with a thud, wanting to do to same with herself. But she kept her composure, although it was apparent she was a small bit tired from that task. She looked over at Viridae as he spoke. He mentioned options on what they could do, but before she could even think upon the matter he suggested they should rest.

Synntina watched him climb back up the tree and she shifted her weight for a moment before checking to see if her bow was still secured and followed him. After she made it up the tree on a branch near his, she took the bow off her back and hung it on a small branch within close arms reach. She leaned into the tree trunk and gave a soft sigh. After a long, quiet moment filled with nothing but the sounds of the forest, Synntina spoke,

"What has been the most accomplished hunt for you Viridae?"

She directed her eyes toward him for only a brief moment before back at the world around them. Her fingers absentmindedly fiddling with the two bracelets on her arm.

[Viridae Kabre]

Viridae raised a shortened claw to the sky and evaluated its deep black grooves. His most accomplished hunt? He had been on many, both alone and with his father. But for some reason, he couldn't keep his mind from wandering back to last winter, and the wolf- woman on the ice.

He shook his head and sighed.

"Last winter. I didn't actually kill anything, but I met someone. " He tilted his head and allowed his leg to dangle from the branch, swaying in the slight breeze.

"I don't even know her name, but she saved my life."

"What about you? have you hunted much in the past?"

[Synntina Novul]

Synntina led her eyes wander as Viridae both thought up, and answered her question before asking the same to her. She thought back to the first time her father had taken her on a real hunt. He had trained her for months before letting her leave the safety of the city out into, what was at the time, the Spring season. She remembered the trees were all starting to come back to life, how fresh everything smelled. A soft smile appeared on her face and she spoke, her voice hollow sounding, but a smooth, loving tone danced on its edges,

"I am not usually one to hunt the large beasts as you are, but I do remember on my first hunt ever, the first arrow I drew for my, at the time, small little bow found its mark in the form of a rabbit. I cried for at least an hour on what I had done."

She gave a small huff, which could have been translated into a very quick laugh on her part.

"My father told me I was being silly, and I remember reminding him that at some point in a girls life, all animals are cute and cuddly, and killing them would be hard for me to get over."

Her yellow eyes moved from Viridae to the bush where the bear lay. She gave another huff, similar to the first.

"You can see where I has gotten me now."

After a few moments of silence, Synntina's gaze returned to Viridae's. A much lighter look to them since they started their hunt. She was always in a better mood outside of the city, where she didn't feel so boxed in. She considered his mention of the person he met who saved him and she tilted her head slightly.

"Have you seen that person since?"