Winter was Kaara’s favorite time of year and it was just around the corner. The cold weather brought everyone in her clan closer together. Kaara knew it was because it was dangerous not to huddle closer for warmth, but she still liked that.
Her parents told her that she was born on the first day of winter. It was said to be a good omen for a xio with water Aix to be born on that day. They told her how she brought everyone closer together just like the winter seasons. Kaara knew it was because it was dangerous to be spread out with so many Malaki around. She still wasn’t sure if that was okay.
Since her time visiting Yvian, Kaara had been shadowing Tiksu and Tadios as their apprentice. She was a huntress now, or at least she liked to call herself one.
In the past few months, Kaara had worked tirelessly to hone her skills. She’d never taken anything so serious before. She rarely got to see Rorik and Arik anymore, but she’d grown closer to Tadios and Tulos.
It was bittersweet, but she wasn’t ready to tell them about her curse. Not until she could safely say “It’s okay if monsters are attracted to me because I can beat them up if they come!”
She practiced it in her head every night, and worked towards it every morning. The two of them got to focus on their training while she was away too.
Kaara felt warm thinking about the day she’d reunite with her two best friends. She wondered what they would think seeing her hair so tightly braided. She was already thinking of the stories they’d tell one another. Kaara certainly had quite a few from her hunts, but none had topped the adventure she’d had in Yvian last Spring.
It wasn’t even winter yet, and there was so much snow around. It felt like winter had already come.
She stopped in the snow.
Kaara was surrounded by a tremendous white forest, which seemed empty of all life until she stopped to listen. The crisp winter air had made the forest quiet, but not silent. She could hear animals climbing up trees, and crunching through the snow. She was dressed in several white furs to keep warm and hidden, Kaara put herself low to the ground as she hid behind one of the gargantuan trees.
That’s right, she was supposed to be hunting right now.
She was in an Ingen forest. Kaara had heard that this was one stage of an Ingen tree’s life cycle. A Great Ingen tree would scatter its seeds across the lands, and when enough Ingen seeds took root they would make a forest like the one Kaara was in.
After that the trees would continue growing until they could no longer support their own weight. When that happened, they would curl towards the other trees and twist together to become a greater Ingen tree like the one Kaara had climbed last spring.
The trunks of each tree were wider than the tent she lived in, and they stretched so tall it was as if they were scraping the sky above with their naked branches.
It was crazy to Kaara that in the next few centuries there would be a mountain-shaming tree here.
The trees danced in the wind showering the forest floor with what little leaves they had left. The smell of her quarry hit her nose.
She crawled forward, her eyes honed on a single point in the distance. She could not see her target, but she could sense it.
Kaara was entranced. She moved in careful, trained steps to a better vantage point. A javelin was loosely balanced in her palm. She weaved through the bare branches of the underbrush, careful not to step on any of its dead appendages. She breathed through her nose, relaxing her grip on the javelin.
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Then, like the crack of a whip, she sent it whistling through the sky.
THUMP!
With the soft sound of a body crunching the snow, Kaara knew she had hit her mark.
She tried her best not to squeal with delight.
On the ground, a deer-like creature called a kervaza lay dead with her javelin pierced straight through its heart. A clean, painless kill.
Even if it wasn’t her first kill as a huntress, it was the first time she’d ended a life painlessly. She’d practiced long hours just to accomplish that goal.
Its pelt was pure white and crystalized to mimic the snow around it. If its blood was not pouring out of it, the kervaza would be indistinguishable from the snow.
She could already see the ground coming alive. Hungry Ingen roots sprouted from it, wrapping around her quarry like greedy snakes. They wriggled, and pierced into the kervaza’s hide, drinking up its blood.
That was alright with Kaara. She would’ve needed to drain its blood anyway.
She removed her javelin from the kervaza's ribcage, pausing to say a silent prayer for the animal, “May your soul have a safe journey back to Itaro with memories of eternal peace and renewed life.”
Kaara grabbed it by its crystalline antlers and hefted it over her back. She heard the snapping of several small roots as the trees attempted to keep their meal.
Huffing out a labored breath, Kaara transmuted the snow around her to water and sliced it through their roots. "Hey, don't be too greedy! I gotta eat too." She pouted as she moved forward.
The large kervaza’s hooves dragged along the snow behind Kaara. Its body was still warm, and its fur was incredibly soft.
It would make a fantastic winter cloak.
Kaara entered a clearing where the rest of her tribesmen were setting up camp.
A young wulviir with black fur and an orange diamond on its forehead followed her into camp. It sniffed excitedly at her fresh hunt.
She turned and crouched down to pet it, grabbing it by its large fuzzy cheeks while it tried to get around to her quarry, "Hi Ragna! This isn’t for you."
Ragna whined, licking the air as if it thought it could reach the kervaza with it.
"I know, I know." She looked around, leaning in, “I might throw you a piece when it’s cut up, don’t tell anyone though.”
Its tail flopped about, tilting its head and looking at her with pleading eyes. Seems Ragna couldn’t understand her. That, or he just chose to guilt her with his big puppy eyes.
Kaara sighed, sending a blade of water through one of her quarry’s antlers.
She picked it up, and presented it to the wulviir, "Chew on this to tide you over okay?" Ragna barked, gingerly grabbing the antler and trotting off.
Kaara ran the rest of the way to camp hoping to avoid any more beggars she couldn’t say no to. The kervaza’s head flopped and flailed about as she ran. It looked horrifying.
She spotted her father overseeing the construction of the tents nearby.
They had packed up to move here for the winter since the trees would break the freezing winds while also providing ample tinder for fires.
"I did it!" she shouted, "Look! See? I did it! I killed it in one hit all by myself!"
The xio turned to her, his eyes widening, "Oh? That's wonderful! You hunted this by yourself?"
Kaara nodded, “Yeah, and Old Iron Antlers can attest to that! Right Iron Antlers?” She said, making the kervaza nod with her, “See?”
“That’s great, Kaara! This looks like a big one too.”
“It’s cuz Tiksu and Tadios taught me how to erase my presence.” She grinned.
“That so?” Her father hefted the kervaza off her back, and inspected its wound, “This is a clean kill.”
“Momma taught me how to do that.”
Her father chuckled, “I’ll get this to Tiksu. The meat’s gonna taste great since you killed it painlessly.”
“Oh! Can I have the pelt? I wanna use it to hunt more things!” Kaara asked, running in place.
“Sure why not?”
Kaara cheered.
Her father patted her head, "You really have been working hard these past few months huh? Tell you what. I’ve got some time right now and there’s something I’d like to show you."