Timestamp: Summer 51st, 520
For two and a half seasons now, Kopesha had been living here in the Tent City. And much as the owner of the caravan she arrived on had said, she'd been robbed and attacked multiple times here. A couple attempts she'd fought off, others she'd lost, and a couple times she just came back to find stuff missing. She had considered leaving but the stubbornness deep in her gut refused to allow that. She'd seen enough here to know that people from all over lived here, she just had to make her place.
But earlier in this season, there had finally been a turning point. Her neighbor, an older man who would brow beat anyone who called him elderly, had come back from buying supplies, swearing like a sailor. Apparently, he had been unable to buy some flower called a daisy. He seemed particularly upset about it since it is supposed to be a common flower throughout the area.
Kopesha had seen enough to know that not everyone here got attacked and robbed, just those without a community to belong to. So she got up from where she'd been whittling, walked over to the man, and asked exactly what this flower looked like. He was perplexed and annoyed by her and shooed her away. So she continued to ask neighbors and people she came across until finally, a child, described it to her. It took three days of searching until she found it, and she returned, setting it in front of the man's tent.
And now, every time she went into the wilds to hunt, she kept an eye out for the white flower, and when she found some, she set them in front of his tent. And the attacks stopped. The robberies stopped. And neighbors would answer her questions now.
She was reminiscing on all of this, a near smile almost crossing her face as she looked up at the morning sky, just as the last of the stars were beginning to disappear. She watched as one, glowing bright, streaked across the sky. It could only be a sign of good luck. She continued to clean and prep her bow, check her arrows, slipping six shortbow arrows, two broad arrows, and two game arrows into her climbing quiver before strapping it to her back. It was warm, so her cloak stayed in her tent with much of the rest of her stuff. She took her pack, with her eating knife, herbalist's kit, flint and steel, a coil of rope, with one torch hanging from the pack and another quiver of arrows strapped to the outside. Her knife hung from her hip as always.
She looked over at Leonard, the neighbor who liked daisy flower tea for his stomach issues, nodding her head. He raised a cup of tea at her, nodding and cracking a small smile. Once Kopesha had determined that all of her equipment was ready, she stood up, bow in hand, and made her way south into the wilds.
She never took the same path in nor out of the Tent City, nor did she enter the wilds at the same point. Predictability got you jumped. Her tent might be safe due to the watchful eyes of her neighbors, just as she now watched theirs, but that didn't mean she was safe while away from it. She slipped between some trees as the sun began its slow, summer climb across the sky.
She found a game path, following it in parallel, doing her best to walk as quietly as she could. She kept to a low crouch as much as she could, following the trail down to a small creek. And there, from behind a brush, she pulled two arrows, one standard and one game. She readied the standard in her bow, not yet pulling on the string, and set the other within easy reach. And from there, she watched the creek and waited. She knew all creatures had to go to water, just as all paths eventually led to it. She was hoping for something substantial like a deer, but all meat sold well in Sunberth.
She just had to be patient.
