First steps of a long dream

[Aleister]

Timestamp: Spring 506 AV
Location: Wind Reach

Finally it was getting warmer. Aleister hated the winter, and that was probably one of the only things he disliked about Wind reach. Winters were long. as long as they get he imagined and even then it might still come back. It just didn't stay down like Aleister wanted it to. It was hard to believe the stories old Marid - The local talespinner - told of "Lands covered in ice as far as the eye can see and beyond! Where the very buildings are made of frost and fire cannot be born." . When ever Aleister thought of Marid telling stories, he couldn't help but mimic his voice in his head. He did enjoy the stories, very much so, but the way he presented them just amused him. The way he would always make sounds longer than they need to be and gesture with his hands. And besides some of the things he told about were a bit ridiculous. The king with his cloak made of wisps of frozen wind and icicles coming from his nose as long as a wind eagles talon? He might have believed that when he was six, but he was twelve now. Well... almost anyway. What was the place Marid told about called? Avanthal?

Aleister had just come into his room, back from his archery practice. It was not a big room, but it was his room. There was a bed against the wall, with a chest at it's foot where he kept most of his interesting belongings. Most call them junk, he called them treasure. Next to the bed was Aleisters drawer, holding his clothing, an extra pair of boots leaning against it. Glass bowls and vases of various color adorned the shelves and drawer. He did not necessarily want them in his room, but there was no other place to put the trinkets, and his mother enjoyed making them. Pretty much all of the free space around the house was covered with these. Aleister did like them, but he could not wait for when mother would just take them to the market. They broke too easily..
He did good today in archery, not many arrows got ruined so that will save him some time as he would not have to replace very many. He'd still have to go trough those he did recover and make sure they are good for use. He took his bow from his shoulder and unstrung it, placing the lower end of the bow against the sole of his boot, gently pushing the upper limb away, while pulling the handle towards himself, that way bending it just enough for the loop to come of and slide along the now rigid shaft. He was taught to always keep his bow unstrung when it was not needed or else it would, so to speak "get use" to the bent position, warp and lose power, or worse get ruined completely. When he was done with that he placed the bow horizontally on two little pegs he has on his wall. Treating his bow with respect was one of the first things he got taught and it has stuck with him.

Just as Aleister was about sit down and check upon his arrows his father, Laniv came into the room, carrying on his shoulder his bird like a Svefra ship captain - another gem from Marid's stories. Naturally the bird squawked at him still holding that grudge for those feathers, form so long ago. Aleasiter did feel bad when he was a kid about pulling some of them out. He was a kid.. But now he always grinned at the bird when it was in his room. He still had the feathers hanging on the wall just above the head of his bed. If the bird wanted to be nasty two could play at that game.
His father never never intervened the fighting between them. He believed that everyman should fight his own fights and that everyone should carry his own share. If anything he chuckled from time to time, amused at children feuding.
"Aleister" His father started "How would you like to go hunting with me tomorrow?" As direct as any inarta man. It did not follow up in Aleister however. Most likely cause he was not a full blooded inarta himself. He got his looks from his father, sure enough, but his placid nature came from his mother. At least that's what people told him. Well easily excitable or not this did catch his attention. He has been wanting to learn to hunt for a long time. He wanted to help his people and hunting was one way he could do it.
"Yes! You know what my answer is! I've been pestering you to take me with you for the longest time"

"You were too young. You could of hurt your self or get killed. Besides you were not as good with a bow then as you are now. You're not yet as good as one of the more experienced hunters, but I think you'll manage"

This was all such great news to Aleister. Hes been waiting for this for as long as he could remember. Though trough all of his excitement he did recall something

"I just remembered. I was suppose to help Alori with fletching tomorrow"

"I already talked with her. She's ok with you coming tomorrow. She got someone else to help her. Get plenty of rest, we fly out early" His father wished Aleister goodnight and went off

"I will!" Aleister sat down and just reveled in the thought of this little adventure. Another thing he has always wanted to do is travel and tomorrow will be a small yet sure step towards it. He quickly started to check the fletching on his arrows and how straight they were. He'll need as many arrows as he can have for how much he was going to hunt down

[Aleister]

Timestamp: Spring 506 AV
Location: At the foot of the mountains near Windreach

Flying on a back of a wind eagle was a thrilling experience that Aleister loved. Likely he loved it so much cause he didn't get to do it very often, but today they needed to get outside of the city. And Wind eagles were one of the only ways to do it, unless you count trying to climb out. You were welcome to try that, but mind that if you'd fail, you would likely break.. well.. everything. But they didn't have to. All three of them were in the air, his father and Aleister, on Apola's back - fathers wind eagle. Five other birds were in the air as well with hunters riding them. One of the passengers actually stood on his feet, balancing on the great beast and showing off, while the pilot was frantically trying to make him sit back down and calling him a various colorful names, promising to break his neck if the fall doesn't. Aleister laughed at that and looked down at the trees quickly passing under them and back at the place they celled their home. They had to fly a bit further where wildlife would be more present than in the vicinity of the city. They would only return in three days, camping outside the city. Alone Alesiter would not even survive a day out here, but he was with nine experienced hunters and he wanted to learn how to sustain himself in circumstances like that. Me might not always have someone to watch his back like this. This was a cruel world and if you didn't know how to survive in the wild you could not even dream about traveling. But Aleister dreamed. And oh how he did dream

Some of the birds started to descend and after a while Apola did as well with another wind eagle following them. Apola was small compared to others, carrying only the two of them, while the other bird that landed next to them had three grown men on it's back. Looking up Aleister saw that some riders were still in the air, most likely preparing to hunt from the backs of their beasts.
He got off on the ground and put his pack down as well, eager to get ready, but his father didn't climb down.

"Aren't you coming? We should start early!" Impatient he said

"No. I will be joining the others" Was the reply Aleister got. They would hunt in groups of three, with Aleister being the fourth in one them as the "trainee", but he had expected to be in the squad with his father. He did not know the people here today very well and that made him slightly nervous
"You cannot learn well when you are in comfort son. This is for the best. And besides they can teach you better than I"

"So you finally admit that I'm the better archer, eh Laniv?" One of the three hunters - Ano he though his name was - laughed

"No" Aleisters father replied "What I admit though is that you are better with kids and I think you should be a house wife"
What Laniv had said brought great laughs out of one of the hunters. Ano, laughed as well, yet nowhere near as hard as his companion. He was quite red cheeked

"I am no kid!" Alesiter said to his father, fists clenched. He was angry that he was not told this sooner. And that he was called a kid

His father looked at him for a moment "You are for now.. I must fly. Remember" He addressed the other hunters "When the sun passes four fifths in the sky Riel will fry into the air signaling where the camp is set up. So keep an eye out for that" His attention was on Aleister again "I will see you tonight son." and with that Apola took off

"So old joker got put down eh?" The hunter Skar was saying to Ano with a pat on the back and a wide grin. The other man tryed to look as if it didn't get to him and laugh it off, but it was not very convincing

Skar was the opposite of Ano if you would compare them side by side. Skar was bigger and bulkier with great muscles, while Ano was a bit short even for an Inarta and you could almost say built delicately. Skars auburn hair was let down while Anos almost vibrant red pulled back in a tail. The only thing that you could compare between them with any amount of similarity was their archery. Aleisters father when returned from a hunt would always talk about how the two would compete, yet almost every time catching an extremely similar amount of game. The third man was Ioru. The oldest in this group, his red hair showing fare signs of gray and his face some mild creases. He was wise and it seemed always serious. At least Alesiter had not seen many emotions on the mans face. While the two men threw friendly insults at each other he was just calmly got the idea of his surroundings.

Alrister, already calmer, didn't pay them too much and already had strung his bow, warming it up by drawing it about half way for a few times and going a bit farther with every pull. If you did not warm your bow up first it could be seriously damaged or just break completely. Ioru watched the boy and approached him
"You seem to have your wits about you. More than these two I'd say. Laniv has taught you well"

"Thank you." Aleister replied a bit bashfully. He never did know how to take praise. It's not that he didn't think it's not do. He just always felt awkward when complimented. "Will I be hunting with you? Father said that I should stay close to someone"

"For now yes. Since you've already strung your bow we should get moving, eh?" He turned to the two other men "We'll be off already. Now we expect a good meal when we come back housewife. And Skar. Maybe you can help him with your delicate fingers" He grinned and both of them ran off while Ano's and Skar's protests followed them.

[Aleister]

Moving trough the forest was a tad tricky for Aleister at first, but being a young boy he got the hang of it rather quickly. The land was rocky and a bit steep, being on the foot of the mountains, but it didn't give him much problem. Ioru did move faster and more adeptly than him, being use to the land a long time ago. He would run ahead, but stop, let Aleister catch up and looking around as he did. They had to get farther away from the Wind eagles landing place cause the animals would of run off when seeing people, therefor not much game was to be found in that location. Ano and Skar would be following at a distance, yet close enough to come quickly if one of them got into trouble. That's why they all hunted in a party like this. It was never desirable to go alone. When they had navigated sufficiently away, Ioru took a moment for Aleister to catch his breath and used that to teach him a bit. "Alright. Listen now. There are two main ways you would hunt while on ground not using additional tools like bait or some such. I'm talking of using your bow and your skill with it. They are stalking and still hunting. Right now I'll teach you about the still one. Still hunting is when you hide your self and wait for the prey to come to you"

"Everyone could do that. What skill would one need? If you can shoot a bow you're set really." Hearing this was a disappointment for Aleister. He really hoped to learn something not play a siting duck

"Really? Tell me. Could you make that red hair of yours blend in with the leaves? Could you hide your sent so that it doesn't overpower the smell of the forest? Could you, right now, find a place where animals would visit frequently? How about sit still and not make a sound."
Ioru went on about the various aspects of camouflage and the perception of animals. He handed Aleister a green headband and put one on him self, then moving closer to a nearby river he lodged a stone out of the stream revealing some mud. He then started to apply the mud on his face "Usually I'd have some better camouflage with me, but since I knew that you would be joining me today I decided to teach you how to improvise it" Aleister wasn't too hesitant about imitating the man, however unpleasant a muddy face was. Watching Ioru he made sure to be thorough as he was making sure to cover up all of his pale skin. Their clothing was already in shades of brown, green and gray, and next to the trees and stones they could be easily overlooked. They moved on. Ioru seemed to already know of some good spots and animal trails where they could catch something. While moving to those the older man gave Aleister a few tips on where to aim his arrows when an animal would pass by. It was always preferable to have the animal with it's side towards you and the best thing to do was to aim for the vitals. And the biggest vitals a dear or almost any other animal had was it's lungs. If the arrow penetrates both lungs, in every instance the animal will not go far. It was one of the quickest ways of bringing it down, taking only seconds. The quickest way not counting hitting it's heart, but that was difficult to do.
"You will hit the lungs if you aim low, right behind the shoulder, but there is one important thing. Make sure when you shoot, the animals front leg, the one towards you is positioned forward. If it is positioned backwards the lungs will be blocked by the leg and you will just unnecessarily harm the animal"
Aleister had never really given this much thought. All he ever thought was that you should just hit the animal and it would die, but after Ioru told him about these nuances of why not to hit a deer in the gut or the leg he realized just how much harder that is.
„There is no need to harm the animal any more than necesarry to bring it down. And besides an bleeding, panicking deer running around the forest will scare off any other potential game and that would be bad for us, eh?”
Aleister nodded, thoughtful . Maybe it was better to start with this still hunting. If it was this hard to hunt while standing, how much more difficult would it be to hunt while stalking