// May the road rise up to meet you //
Stroking the little ursur's soft pelt and scritching her behind the ears, Maea had the strangest feeling of meeting someone she'd known before. Perhaps due to the role she had played in reviving her, or because she cared for Alys, or simply because she had been invested in the outcome of this quest - either way it was odd in the best of meanings. Watching Shii invite the fuzzy companion to a game of tag among the trees, it was with a lingering smile that she eventually turned back to Alys.
"Sounds great. Something to drink would be nice, and something to go with the hare? I'll leave it to you. Let's meet back here in, say, an hour?" Sneaking a quick hug before they split up to procure the necessary items, Maea returned to the hunt. Readying her sling again, she read the tracks back out onto the meadow, into the sea of wind and grass where fuzzy-tailed shadows were retreating to their burrows. The first one she tried to sneak up on vanished with a faint pop of shifting air. The second one she barley missed, as it ducked into the warren. At last, on the way back to the grove, Maea got lucky - the sling hummed, releasing the stone with a snap and clipped a big female blink-hare mid leap, then took out a decent sized babe as the stone riccocheted. That made a more than adequate meal for two people plus companions, and Maea whistled contentedly as she returned, to butcher the game and get the fire going.
By the time Alys returned, a merry campfire crackled within a ring of stones, and logs had been dragged over to serve as benches. A small pot of water warmed next to a kettle of tea, and Maea sat with her hands so close to the flames that they licked her pale digits, washed clean of blood and viscera.
"Sounds great. Something to drink would be nice, and something to go with the hare? I'll leave it to you. Let's meet back here in, say, an hour?" Sneaking a quick hug before they split up to procure the necessary items, Maea returned to the hunt. Readying her sling again, she read the tracks back out onto the meadow, into the sea of wind and grass where fuzzy-tailed shadows were retreating to their burrows. The first one she tried to sneak up on vanished with a faint pop of shifting air. The second one she barley missed, as it ducked into the warren. At last, on the way back to the grove, Maea got lucky - the sling hummed, releasing the stone with a snap and clipped a big female blink-hare mid leap, then took out a decent sized babe as the stone riccocheted. That made a more than adequate meal for two people plus companions, and Maea whistled contentedly as she returned, to butcher the game and get the fire going.
By the time Alys returned, a merry campfire crackled within a ring of stones, and logs had been dragged over to serve as benches. A small pot of water warmed next to a kettle of tea, and Maea sat with her hands so close to the flames that they licked her pale digits, washed clean of blood and viscera.
Maea
// May the wind be at your back //
