Solo Something in the Wind

[Amunet]

80th day, summer, 515 a.v.
6th Bell
Endrykas, Shimmerstone Pavilion

The cub had slept in the bedroll with Amunet since she got her out of the chest. The rains at end of season had returned the sea of grass to its luster and had cooled it reasonably off. It was getting cooler. Not a lot cooler but the slight changes the Drykas could feel. The city was buzzing with the talk of moving to the fall grounds. Those with large pavilions have started consolidating and packing now. It was prudent and wise to do so. It was no less for her family. The three month old cub was named Leia. Her pavilion was murmuring all day when she brought the cat home and they found out she had gotten her out of the silver chest. Some family members became even more fearful of the chest and some darted towards it to try and get a gift.

Amunet was awakened by the cub licking her nose and face, purring all the while. Amunet was an early riser, but Leia, as she came to call the cub from the medallion, seemed content to wake her anyway. “You don’t have to do that.” The girl said in that quiet early morning voice. The cat just continued purring and licking her face till she sat up full. Both Camile and Leia looked towards the tent opening. There were a few early risers as well. The change in weather had improved a lot of dispositions.

The soft chuckle exited from Amunet as she rose from her bed roll. The redhead spent time petting and rolling her fingertips under Leia’s chin. She needed to go fishing, but she also needed Leia to be able to go with. That meant that she needed to make sure her strider can manage with a cub in the yvas with her. The girl got dressed and went out to call Shetanae. The horse was doing some early morning grazing as she came walking up with the mouthful in her mouth still chewing. “Oh I see you got your meal in.” The girl teased the strider a little.

Her father came out of the main family tent and approached her. “Amunet we are starting to pack and the smaller tents are being taken down today. Start getting your tent ready. “

Amunet nodded. “Yes father. Just got to get the cub used to traveling. “

Her father looked at the cub that she had named Leia. He wished inwardly that his daughter hadn’t done that. When he looked at the cub in the eyes, there was almost something. Then he would shake his head and call himself a fool. He looked back at his strong willed and spirited daughter. There wasn’t a mark on her when she came out of the underbelly of Semele This included her being without windmarks. The long explanations by all three solidified the story. If Amunet was by herself, the story may not have been believed. All three had proven they were still well bonded with their Striders. He nodded at Amunet in his quiet way and went back into the tent for his morning meal.

The girl checked the water level for the animals and gave the sign to ‘stay’ to her strider. With her plans set for the day, the girl set to make her own morning meal. Porridge of coarse cracked buckwheat and honey should see her through. The girl could eat with the main tent, but she was priding herself on being self-sustaining. Slowly but surely she was relying less and less on the main tent. Her father and brothers didn’t like it as she wasn’t married. They felt she needed a husband to protect her. It was mostly they felt a husband would keep her close to home or at least had someone to forage with. The constant reminders of this and the none too subtle hints from the women of the pavilion was getting increasingly irritating. She would marry when it was right. Hopefully her father would not push an arranged marriage, which was entirely possible.

[Amunet]

The fire was started and her cooking pot was on the stone with a measure of water in it. The girl added a pinch of salt. It was several chimes till the water was up to boiling when the small measure of coarsely cut buckwheat groats was added. It had been a staple of the family pavilion, this simple porridge. The pavilion sometimes use wheat which is more expensive. Buckwheat was just as good in her opinion and it was not nearly as expensive. The flavor she found to be better as well.

The girl moved the pot carefully from the hotter place of the heat so the boil would slow. It gave the time for the cut grains to absorb water. This mixture was stirred for a few circles of the spoon. It was then left to boil for a few more chimes and the spoon went into it again to stir. It had to be watched as there was a stage where it would thickened into porridge or turn into horrible goop or worse, burn. This took several chimes as well. It looked thick enough so she took it off the fire and gave it one more stir before the red head would add a tablespoon full of honey to the porridge. This was then transferred to her bowl as she sat near her fire, ate and watched the sun climb up into the sky from the grass. Camile was on one side lying down and Leia laid on the other. Amunet absorbed his moment of contentment as she ate her breakfast. She was in no hurry.

With the sound of her pavilion working on packing up the crafting supplies they wouldn’t need for a while, she pushed herself up, cleaned her bowl, pot and spoon so that she could put it away. She spent her day mostly consolidating her things into the various baskets. Her belongings mostly went into a large chest and a small chest. The women of this pavilion had a knack for packing the most impossible load of random things into a compact space. It could be said it was a Drykas thing as well. Amunet helped the other tents in their pavilion to work with getting packed watching how they consolidated and different ways of packing. It seemed each family had their own method and it was interesting to see how this was done. When she had returned, her father, brothers and uncles were taking the smaller storage tents down as they said. Their home was quickly becoming a pile of boxes, chests and bags ready for the wagons.

Once it was evening, she needed to forage or find something to eat. The girl then moved to her Strider as now she had time to see if Shetanae would react to the cat riding on her back. When the strider came up to her, that great big head came down to her level and Amunet returned the affection. The girl stroked the big cheeks of the Strider mare gently. She spent more time with this affection. Leia interestingly enough was interested in this exchange. The strider was curious as she put her nose down to the cub. Sure the cub was no threat now, but she smelt like predator. Shetanae was a brave soul for a horse, but she was a horse and often were hesitant to these sorts of things. “Ok, girl got to get you used to Leia.” Her strider looked up at her with an almost. 'what now?' expression.

The girl got the riding pad and yvas on the mare in quick order. She gave the horse the pavi sign of ‘calm, steady,’ along with the verbal command to "Stand." This word the strider knew well. The redhead went to pick the cub up and bring her over very calmly and very carefully.. The mare already had smelled the cat and seen the cat around. Hunting cats were not an unusual thing in Endrykas. The mare smelled the cat. Leia actually was purring a little. Most cats would hiss or be alarmed a little. This cub did not. Regardless of this behavior, Amunet proceeded to carefully place the cat on the Strider’s back. The pad was to protect the Strider’s back in case Leia’s claws was used to grip. One hand petted the cub and one hand was petting the mare calling each one a good girl.

The mare's head hedged back uncertain as she snorted. It was normal instinct to NOT have a predator on your back. It was usually a bad thing. "Easy girl." Leia seemed to know the strider was important and the bond between Amunet and the strider was strong. The little cub was a bit uncertain herself but tried to keep purring. Fortunately the cub's claws where not too long as the cub used them well to cling onto the pad. The mare side stepped a bit and snorted a strong long one. "Shetanae, stand,easy." Amunet quickly moved to the side to take the cub off briefly so the strider could regather herself.

"See she wont hurt you," as if that made sense to a prey species. The young woman looked in her strider's eyes. "Stand." It was said firmly but in a low calm voice. her head went down still snorting a little. The girl took a deep breath. she brought the three month cub to the strider to see and smell. The little cub did a strange little thing. Her little paw went out and touched the strider's nose without drawing claw. The mare jerked back a moment out of instinct then got a speculative look on her face. 'what was this?' That nose came back to the space to the cub where Leia again put her paw on the nose of the huge mare. Those ears perked forward, rotated back and repeated several times.

It was at that point that Amunet felt to try it again. She needed this to happen for the move also as Leia was too small to walk the whole way. The determined red head placed Leia on the pad on her back very slowly. One hand was petting Shetanae for a chime or two, while the other one was close to the cub in case she had to snatch her up in case Shetanae bolted. Again she picked the cat up and put her on the ground. Amunet waited a chime or two when put her on the back of the horse. The reassuring hands petted the cub to stay there. Shetanae moved her ears back as the strange animal was there, again but she was getting the idea this cub was important to her rider. Her head would whip around and huff a snort at the cub. “Easy girl. Good girl. “ The continued low, calm and soft words to both of them was repeated.

She took her down again and did the process one more time. She picked the cat up and placed Leia on the Strider’s back. The cub was small enough to not be considered a predator. That was the theory Amunet had worked out in her had. The calm steady little hands reassured both cat and horse that this was ok behavior. “good girls. That’s my girls. “

She looked at the three month old cub. “you’re a little small to teach to jump onto the horse. That might be for when your bigger.” All the animals looked at her confused. “Let’s go fishing girls.” The little lady grabbed up her fishing tackle, mesh bags and rope was put in the yvas bag. Amunet picked Leia up and put her onto the horse’s back before swinging up onto the horse. The cub was in front of her hanging on. The girl looked down and wondered if pads for the yvas handles could be made for the cat to grip.

Once the mare was turned and headed in the right direction she called the dog. “Camile, come.” Once the mare was on the move, the hound ran easily with the horse in the easy loping canter. The girl had one hand gripping mane and one hand curled around the cub. The girl was headed towards the now full streams. There were several likely places. She looked for the small expanding circles in the water that spoke of the fish being active as they snatched up their meals from the water surface of those insects that dared rested there. Her older brothers and uncles had taken her out fishing many times growing up.

[Amunet]

Once dismounted and having put the cub on the ground, she got her tackle out and went in search of bait. Camile was more interested in the butterflies. Her brother had said that worms were good bait. Let's see. Her uncle said worms like dead stuff like dead grass and rotten wood were likely locations for worms. The girl located a spot that seemed to have some dead stuff dug with her dagger in such a spot to bring up the wiggling things the handful of worms in her hand she went to the bank. The girl sat the worms down. Leia pawed at the wiggling mass. Once she had her tackle out, she threaded a likely candidate onto the hook. She looked at it and its victim wiggling on the hook and it seemed to look just fine. The girl chucked it into the water. all you need to do is wait right? it floated on top for a tick or two before starting to sink. she did see a bunch of smaller fish just start mobbing the hook. The girl jerked the line as it went flying behind her. "hey!!" When she pulled it back to her, the hook was picked clean.

What did her unclle do? Wait a second there was usually something in the water with the line. something that stayed on top. The girl went in search for some light piece of wood like bark or something. With her dagger she pried a piece of bark that seemed to be a good size. The crude wrap around of the bark three times. The hook was threaded with a worm and chucked back into the water. The wood turned over and over till her line went down and the bark floated away. "hey!!" The girl yelled at the bark as if it was at fault. She pulled her hook in again and it was cleaned out again.

The huffing sigh escaped her lips as she went back to the deadfall she was at to pry another piece of bark off. "tie it off silly." she told her self. That was what she did. The girl wrapped the line three times, tied it off and checked its length to the length of how low the hook would be. "that looks good." Well, she thought so. Back to the escaping worms which she grabbed an escapee and threaded it horizontal, puncturing it multiple times till it was on the hook in what she thought was good. She threw the line in the water.

Amunet watched this floating piece of bark that was a would be bobber. It was aptly named as it bobbed in the water, literally. It started to jiggled and she got excited. Her fingers on the line felt for the stuttering feel of something trying to eat the bait. The girl jerked the line. The line came up without a fish and the bait half eaten. The red head huffed another sigh patiently threaded another worm onto the hook and back out it went. The stream she was told by the old timers around Endrykas was full of bream and possibly Bluegill. Bream had small mouths and easily would eat the bait around the hook sometimes. The trick was to jerk at the right time. That was good in theory but it was proving challenging.

Out went the line again and those eyes where trained on that piece of bark. She watched the bobber and her fingers were curled around that line. There it went again the stuttering feel in the line that felt like they were hitting the bait. The girl suddenly jerked the line up. The line went sharply down. The girl pulled on the line to bring up a hand sized bream. Her hand size which isnt very big. It never the less produced a smile. "Well you ate well didnt you." The girl said to the fish as if it was solely responsible for eating all her bait. “There you are. “ The girl unhooked it from its mouth and she tossed it to the bank. She let Leia play with it as the cub’s instincts took over and bit down on the fish. She watched her carefully to make sure she didn’t need to cut up the fish a little bit. She seemed to be fine with it as she took her prize and went a little further inland to eat it.

Back to the fishing spot as her hand darted for another runaway worm. She had to reach kind of far to get one that was trying to get back into the soil. The girl threaded the worm onto the hook more verticaly this time. It came to her that maybe her bait was being eaten because she had too much of it exposed. She did leave a bit of it extended so it would wiggle. This went back out into the water. She watched the bobber and her finger was on the line. With rapt attention she watched the bobbe. After several chimes, she jerked the line a little to wiggle the bait. Several more chimes went by with nothing. She brought the hook in as she dangled it in front of her. only a few bits of worm left on the hook. The girl made a face and looked for an escaped worm. Finding one in the grass beside her, she threaded a new worm. It seemed the little bream was having a feast. The girl tried to throw the line as far out as she could in effort of getting away from the smaller mouth fish. The girl stood up on her feet for a bit watching the bobber.

Every chime or two would go by before she would lightly jerk the line to wiggle the bait a little. Then suddenly her bobber went down. The girl grabbed the line quickly as it yanked and bit into her hand. She pulled. This had to be a fish. The girl pulled the line feeling the wiggling mass at the other end fighting the pull. Her pull was steady despite the cutting sting in her hand. The girl pulled till she pulled it up to more of the surface of the water and got a glimpse of the markings on the side. It looked like a bluegill. Good eaten size it was too. She brought it to shore and to her awaiting bags. Leia had finished her meal with only the chewed up head left there. Camile had been chasing a rabbit. They seemed to be her favorite thing to chase these days. Camile brought it back to her in a half eaten state and dropped it at Amunet's feet. The girl sighed at the carcass. One day she is going to get a full rabbit out of that dog. The rabbit carcass of what was left went into a bag. There was some meat left, not much.

Amunet sighed. At least she remembered to bring it back. “Good girl. “ Once they get to fall grounds she is going to have to seek someone out to help her with this. At least the dog had eaten. She put the fish in a bag of its own. Back to her fishing spot for one more fish to make fish balls. Fish balls were basic in cooking up fish to preserve it to eat the next day. The girl got a few more worms from the spot she had gotten them from at the beginning. The red head laid the wiggling few worms down beside where she was at and threaded one of them on the hook. She attempted for the same spot as she tossed her line out.

Inwardly she planned to stock up on a few things. Smoking some fish and rabbit for winter storage was sounding pretty good. The walnuts should be ripening as well as the wild grain heads. The girl didn’t pay attention to her bobber as her bait was taken. The patient sigh escaped as she brought her line in and threaded the worm onto the hook. Back out into the water as far as she could throw it. It wasn’t long before it was nibbled and then taken as she jerked on the line. The girl brought in a bream that was a hand and a half big. Amunet was satisfied as she took that, bagged it with the bluegill.

[Amunet]

The girl bundled up her tackle and put it away. The girl found a stick as she enticed Camile with. “Ready, girl.” The young lady used excited terms as the dog got down in a ready stance and even barked once. Amunet threw the stick as the hound ran it down. The stick was returned as the dog liked the game. Fidgeting as Amunet went to take it out of her mouth, tugging a little. “Camile, drop it!” The dog did drop it. She threw it again and the hound took off. Amunet laughed as the dog about pounced it like a cat almost. “You’re supposed to catch it not stomp on it.” The redheaded mistress teased. The silkena wagged her tail, picked the stick up and ran back. Amunet got the stick easily that time and threw it again. When she came back, Amunet didn’t pick the stick up. “ We got to head back to deal with these fish girl. That’s enough.” The dog seemed to even look disappointed but accepted as she would get to run. This dog loved to run.

The hand caressed the dog lovingly. Leia was laid out in the grass enjoying the evening sun quite content with letting the dog run about needlessly. That was according to the cat. Amunet scooped the cub up from her spot and placed her on the yvas and padd. She swung up and gave the horse the signal to head out. The tap of her outer thigh got Camile’s notice as she started to follow. This pleased the little lady. “Let’s ride girls. “ The red head edged the mare into a loping easy canter, holding the cat in place. Her hips would move with the canter in its long steady oval. It took a little longer to get back, but it was worth it. Her and her companions were coming along just fine.

Once she got back to the tent, the cargo was unloaded and the horse was denuded of a yvas and padd. The horse was checked over to ensure she wasn’t too hot. The hand went under the forelegs and gauged her temperature. It was a bit clammy from sweat but she wasn’t over heated. They had settled to a walk the last bit of the trip back to the tent was good to cool her down. The mare was fine. Amunet dismissed her with signs to go graze and the mare, with a snort, wandered off towards the herd. The little lady watched her mare saunter over with the general Strider herd that moved around the city. Shetanae never did go very far and she did not suffer a stallion’s shenanigans. That was not too far off from Amunet's view point. The girl might be naive, but she did not suffer a fool very well.

The fish and the rabbit carcass needed to be dealt with. The rabbit carcass was the worst. The head was cut off before she looked at the rest of it. At least she didn’t have to gut it. The rear end was pretty much gone. The hide was stripped away as best as she could. It came off in ugly strips. Maybe she needed to find someone to show her how to skin these things better. Of course having a whole rabbit would be nice, too. The girl glared at her dog who looked confused. she was going to try and make glue again from what she heard was a thing. Some trader said that you can make glue out of the bones. She had all she needed from the last batch she made. There should be plenty of the glue to do any weather proofing or repairing bad spots if there are any. Once she can get some sulfate minerals, which was inexpensive as it’s often in the way of ore and other finds with miners. At least that was what she heard. She set the skin and bones aside one the meat was cut away from it. The red head pushed sticks through the meat. “Hey look, rabbit on a stick.” It was meant to be funny, but came off as weird. Those close enough just gave her a disparaging expression at the strange girl. This was lightly oiled and placed on the stone to cook. Her mother had always said that rabbit meat was lean and would stick to about anything when trying to cook. oil them well. While that sizzled, the pot received a measure of water.

Her attention was then on the fish. The bream she gutted. This was stabbed with a stick and it was oiled and placed on standby as she turned the rabbit. It wasn't at all straight as it looked like it was bent into a death strangle. There was no way she could explain how she got it in that shape either. It wasnt meant to be like that but she just wanted it to cook. The theory was that fish didn't have a lot of fat to keep it from sticking too so oil it as well. It works for the rabbit, why not the fish. It was sound logic to the young lady. The bluegill was nice and meaty. Off with its head as she attempted to get the meat off of this. She cut along the spine and side. Was it pretty? Not one bit, but she wasn’t after pretty she was after the meat. This meat went into a bowl as she cut and scraped it away from its skin. What was left went into the pot of water with a bit of ginger, green onion and salt.

[Amunet]

She took the rabbit off to cool and flipped the fish. It was whole so it will take a bit. Not too long as it was not that big of a fish despite its odd configuration. The attention as returned the the fish flesh. The girl pondered a moment to remember six years or so back at how her mother used to do this. A pinch of salt, spoon full of flour and a bit of scraped ginger went into the bowl. Trying to remember the proportions was tough but here it goes. With the pestle part of her mortar set she started pounding the fish flesh. This was actually fantastic to get out frustration. Once the fish was getting a tacky consistency she started adding a tiny bit of salted water and a pinch of flour. Her hands went in to get the pounded down fish into a large ball. It was more of a coarse paste with bits of fish still lingering. Her mother could get this as smooth as a baby’s bottom. She would have to work on that.

She checked on the fish broth that was bubbling away. Amunet then turned the whole fish. it was flaking off a bit on the bended parts but it was cooking. Oddly a couple of men were watching her cook. When she caught them staring and she glare at them. The fish paste was spooned up and slid with a finger into the bubbling broth. The girl wiggled her finger as it hit the hot water. Into her mouth it went as if that would cool it off. The girl watched the paste oblong mound thingies. Its supposed to be balls. It supposed to be smooth. Mom said when they floated they would be done. She had forgotten something. Still the oblong paste was cooking in the broth and as they got done they were put in her other bowl. The fish paste concoction was cooked. Some of the fish paste sort of disintegrated into the broth. In another few chimes the fish was taken off. The offal of the fish and the cooked bones she looked at the cat and gave it to her. The cub was growing and needed the extra. The girl tried one of the oblong paste thingies. it was overly ginger and it was not firm enough. The girl huffed as she would have to work on that to get mom's recipe to life again. No one had the recipe unfortunately.

The scraps of hide and bones went into the pot of water once it was cleared of cooking. She needed to get another pot at least. All this had to do was boil for a while, right? Thats what the traders talked about. She thought she heard of the tent makers using something like this. The girl would stare at the gently bubbling mess of bones and hide to hopefully render it into glue. Three bells passed and she poured into a jar what was conceivably a grey gelatinous goop. It looked like dead grey skin in liquid form. It looked absolutely wretched. Amunet decided to take this to the tent makers and see if it was any good, but not today.

They communed in the tent as Shetanae found her sleeping spot to stand near the side of the tent quite content. Camile was off to the side laying down. Leia was stretched out on the bed roll as if she owned it. Amunet took time to write in her journal and attempt to sketch out a few things. It was a rough outline with a few scratches that represented a what she saw today. The grasses, the dead fall log and the stream. It was a few squiggly lines to represent the water and the shore. Then she scratched some vertical lines for grass. If she curved it that way. There she went as the slight curve made it appear to be more grass like. The girl tried a few different lengths of the vertical stroke with a slight curve at the ends. The dead fall log she drew was some horizontal lines with two circles at the end. The squiggle lines in between to represent bark. It didn't look dead so she labeled it dead log.

She heartily wished she could have it at least look a little like what she saw. She needed to work on that and maybe she could find an artist. That was a bit on the bottom of her list of priorities. On the top of the list was planning for winter. She took a bit of an inventory of what she had and what she didn't have, she had a good cloak and winter stockings. The girl may need heavier top and a blanket or two. If she could get some yarn she might try crocheting herself a blanket. The list continued talking to someone about learning basic crochet stitches. That was placed on the list as crochet was also a good cold weather activity. She dipped into the ink well to write a few things down. The charcoal pencil was to do the sketching with. It didn’t matter really as it was only for her, but she did want to make the drawing better.

What if I added this at this angle? As the girl put the quill down and picked the pencil back up. She tried it and discovered it was getting a bit more depth. That looked like something. She continued to patiently make the picture look like what was in her head. The scritches, scratches and stick figures looked more barbaric but it was something. She laughed at her own work. She had time. At least, she thought she had time.

Her father watched her from the back of the tent. Puffing on his pipe wondering what was going through that child’s head. The man sighed as she wasn’t a child. She might be small, but she most definitely was not a child if the looks from men were any indication. That red headed child reminded him so much of Leia. How he loved that woman. Amunet was far more spirited than Leia, but the girl had Leia’s kindness and care. That child of his cared a bit too much. His father, their Ankhal was pushing for him to arrange a marriage for the girl, but look at her. He puffed slowly on that pipe. She was content. Did he disturb that? Tradition indicated yes. His heart said no. He made a face as tradition may win out. The decision did not have to be made today, fortunately the move to fall grounds was prevailing.

[Tribal]

G R A D E S

Amunet

Experience

• Socialisation: 1
• Animal Husbandry: 2
• Cooking: 3
• Observation: 4
• Cleaning: 1
• Horsemanship: 1
• Riding, Horse: 2
• Foraging: 1
• Fishing: 1
• Wilderness Survival, Plains: 1
• Bodybuilding: 1
• Organisation: 1
• Medicine: 1
• Butchery: 1
• Logic: 1
• Drawing: 1
• Writing: 1

Lore

• Leia: The hunting cat
• Leia: A very affectionate cat
• Buckwheat: Part of a staple diet
• Observation: A sunrise in Endrykas
• Amunet: Introducing a hunting cat to a strider
• Fishing: Worm make for good bait
• Fishing: Using a float
• Fishing: Jigging the line
• Camile: Loves to run
• Cooking: Rabbit on a stick
• Cooking: Adding flavour with salt, ginger, and onion
• Drawing: Rough sketches