Solo The Plight of the Hunter

[Azira]

83rd Spring 515AV
There was a bit of warmth in the air as she made her way down the mountain. Maybe she imagined it, the impending summer making her feel only what she expected to feel. She was too high up and it was too early to be feeling anything anyway. It could only be her imagination and perhaps a little optimism as well. Spring could be a wet and cool season, not one that she enjoyed hunting in. Winter was hazardous to hunt in but spring weather brought its own dangers. It could sometimes be difficult finding game depending on how late in the season the took place. Summer would be drier, the game would be fair, or so she hoped, and was less likely to have to worry about her bowstring getting wet.

Today's weather was dry and Syna had been an early riser. The days were getting longer so the goddess had to put in more of an appearance. Her rays hadn't reached everywhere yet with some places remained in shadow, drops of dew left clinging to vegetation. Azira's boots were left glistening with moisture. It didn't bother her, the water not managing to penetrate through the material to soak her feet. She wouldn't even have noticed if her eyes weren't fixed on the ground, searching for tracks as she searched for game. The huntress wasn't wandering aimlessly, she had a vague destination in mind, but that wouldn't stop her from diverging from her planned path if she found a good trail. It was doubtful that she would have much luck on such hard ground. Tracking wasn't her forte. She wished she'd brought Khara with her - she had better eyes than her - but she couldn't be calling on the Chiet every time she went hunting. The Avora needed her independence and she needed to be able to hunt on her own. It was her job to find and bring down game, not Khara's so the huntress would damn well do her job by herself.

Finding something to shoot and kill would be a good start of course.

The teen travelled down the mountain on the Sanikas Road, keeping her eyes open for signs of animal traffic by the roadside. While there would be Inarta using the road during the day, it was free from any human presence after nightfall. Animals could brave traversing it once it was peaceful but they were unlikely to leave marks on the road itself. She was hoping to find tracks at the side, or failing that any sign that something had passed through. Azira searched for a beaten track, a gap in the vegetation, a stone that had shifted, flattened grass or disturbed earth. It meant she had to move slowly, scouring her environment for any little clue that might point her in the direction of prospective meat.

It took more a bell of intensive searching before she found a sign that looked promising. The place was shadowy, dew still clinging to the vegetation there. To most of the vegetation at least. Something had passed through there and shaken some of the moisture off. The huntress examined the place with care, leaning in cautiously to further examine the ground. The earth had been disturbed although the track was indistinct, stones interspersed within it so that she couldn't get a clear view of it. She stepped forward, crouching so that she could examine it more closely. Some of the stones had been pushed back in her direction, earth gathering behind it where the animal had inadvertently pushed it. Whatever animal it was. She followed the direction it indicated, moving further off the road as she looked for a further clue to its direction and to what animal it might be. It might be a hunter's track for all she knew but she had to follow it up all the same because it might turn out to be fruitful for her.

The Avora moved slowly forward, her back bent as she kept an eye on the ground. In some places, she lost the signs of any sort of passage and has to double back and set off in a different direction. It was time consuming, it was frustrating but at last she was rewarded with a clearer track so that she had a better idea what she was hunting for. A cloven hoof mark. It was either a goat or a deer that she was after, which meant that she was going after a good source of meat, if only she could find and catch it.

Nari | Common

Template courtesy of Khara

[Azira]

The huntress scanned the area around the track carefully before she moved forward. She didn't want to obliterate any minute pieces of evidence and so caution was essential. Time might be against her - her prey could be quite far ahead - but she couldn't afford to rush things.

As she considered the track and searched for more imprints, she thought of the altitude that she was at and settled on the idea that her prey was probably a goat. It seemed doubtful that she would find a deer at these levels whereas a sky goat was a more plausible culprit in this case. She hated sky goats. She was fairly certain that most hunters hated the creatures. They could climb ridiculously high, ridiculously fast and get well out of a hunter's shooting range. Usually you had to be quick and have a bit of luck on your side if you wanted to catch one of the buggers. Azira hoped that she had both when she came across this goat, provided that she could find it first of course.

The track she'd found was followed by another visible track. She followed the trail closely until the prints became less distinct. Her pace slowed once again as she had to work to find which direction her prey had gone. She tried to remember if goats would leave any other signs she could use to track one aside from those on the ground. She knew that moose could rub against tree trunks and leave markings on the bark and hair behind them and so did deer. She wondered if goats might do the same thing. Perhaps they did something a little different like scraping their horns on the bark or something. The Avora moved in the direction the last visible prints had indicated, looking for further signs of the animal's passage.

She left the tracks behind her, moving forwards in search of more of the trail. She kept an eye on the ground, hoping that some small would betray that it had been there. The trees were also examined, the teen looking for the markings she hoped that the goat would make. After a few chimes, Azira concluded that she'd lost the trail and doubled back, retracing her steps to where she'd last found the trail. The huntress got a little lost amongst the trees, veering off her previous path and only stumbling upon the trail again by accident. She'd been sure that she could remember exactly which way she'd come but it seemed that she'd have to learn how to track herself as well. The Avora probably left a clear trail behind her; she wasn't trying to cover her tracks after all.

Reaching the point where the prints seemed to vanish again, she considered her surroundings. The goat hadn't vanished into thin air. It couldn't fly, it couldn't be picked up by a Wind Eagle and that meant that there would be a clue to its direction somewhere. She considered the evidence of her own passage, where she had had to part vegetation or trampled on it. A goat was smaller than she was - just about - and closer to the ground. She searched for a spot it might have been able to pass through without leaving any obvious evidence. With this new perspective in mind, she was able to find such a spot and parted the higher vegetation with care. A few steps in and she succeeded in finding some scratches in the dirt. They were small and could have been made by a squirrel but they encouraged her onward all the same. She found depressions a little further on. The tracks weren't distinct but she could tell that what had left it was certainly bigger than a squirrel. She continued forward.

Her searching was laborious and long but she turned up broken vegetation, smooth bark where an animal had brushed against it and an occasional hoof print. It was slow going and she soon realised that the creature had taken a crazy route, zigzagging back and forth rather than taking a straight path. It made no sense to her and it meant that she ended up covering far more ground than she should have. It also quickly became apparent that it was travelling up the mountain and so was she. Azira had no clue where she was although she could orientate herself if it became necessary. For now she was only focused on finding her prey and fast. She had no idea how much of a head start the goat had because she couldn't age signs. Khara probably could do it but then she was a scout, that was her job. The huntress just had to hope that she could catch up to the goat before it hit any particularly difficult terrain.

Nari | Common

Template courtesy of Khara