Congratulations! You have formed a Beast bond with Boreal. Your passive ability ‘Survivalist’ now expands to affect Boreal. Boreal’s passive ability ‘Feline eyes’ now expands to affect you. You and Boreal are now able to slightly sense each other's location in reference to each other as well as gain a vague sense of each others emotions.

“What?” Zalia thought.

The first thing she noticed as she rushed over to the dead creature was how much her eyesight had improved. She could see considerably better in the dark of the early morning in the forest and everything seemed sharper, more in focus. She found Boreal and saw the feline had somehow pulled herself up onto the side of the creature's neck that hadn't hit the ground. Thankfully, she seemed unharmed.

"That was a little dangerous," Zalia chided.

Boreal looked up at her but didn't reply, instead looking back down at the moose expectantly. Zalia rolled her eyes but used preparation to field dress the animal before preparing a small bit of meat from it for Boreal. The feline didn't eat the piece of meat, instead still looking at Zalia expectantly.

"You're growing soft," Zalia said, realising Boreal wanted her to cook it for her.

Zalia reluctantly obliged, using heat manipulation from her Heat resistance passive to start a small fire and cook the meat. Boreal finally ate the meat once it was done cooking, Zalia using her ability to cool it down so it wouldn't harm Boreal.

"There's a reason I never did want children," Zalia thought, eyeing Boreal.

At least Boreal would quickly grow up to a size where she could hunt for herself. The not so little feline was steadily growing bigger by the day. She could vaguely sense Boreal in the back of her mind now, almost as if another mind was gently poking at her consciousness. The sensation was weird, the feeling of Boreal’s location was similar to her Hunter’s mark, something she was familiar with now but feeling the emotions of her feline friend along with sharing one of her passives was another change to get used to.

Zalia took a look at the rest of the moose creature and considered what to do with it. She didn't really want to waste the meat but hauling back such a heavy creature would be a bit of a task. With her increased strength she could probably manage dragging the corpse but carrying it was off the table. She was kind of wishing she had brought her tarp now but she hasn't been expecting to make such a large kill.

“We can't just let this all go to waste,” Zalia said, gesturing to the beast as she looked at Boreal.

The feline had finished eating and now looked back at Zalia.

“And you’re not going to be of any help,” Zalia grumbled.

She thought about the limitations of her preparation skill and turned to a nearby patch of a vine type plant growing up the side of a tree. It allowed her to magically dry, cut or otherwise prepare various foods, herbs and other similar items that are plant based. The vine was plant based so there was no reason it wouldn't work, right?

Zalia went over to the vine and activated Preparation. Focusing her thoughts on what she wanted it to do, the skill was able to cut off a few lengths of vine and dry them. The lengths of vine dropped to the ground with the light sound of undergrowth brushing past one another. She picked up the few lengths and intertwined them, then wrapped the whole thing around the body of the moose creature with a great amount of effort. She tied it to itself with a slipknot and then stepped back to look at her makeshift rope. She took up the loose end and gave an experimental tug, managing to pull the creature some distance with a lot of effort.

“Oh man, this is gonna suck,” Zalia mumbled.

While it had only taken her about twenty minutes to get out as far as she had while tracking the creature, dragging it back took her three times that long. She struggled and strained, pulling the big creature through the undergrowth back towards the camp. It was a lot of effort for little reward but the simple and achievable task gave her mind something to focus on that wasn't the convoluted problems she had been dealing with lately. Eventually, she arrived at the gates. She was coated with sweat and would have been covered in dirt had it not been for her clothes and armours self cleaning enchantments but accomplishing her self given task gave her a sense of accomplishment. The gate opened, the guards on duty recognising her and being aware of what she had been about, and she entered the camp once more. She slowly dragged the creature through the camp, getting not a small amount of odd glances from the soldiers she walked past, many just waking up in the early morning. She arrived back at the tent that her companions still slept in and finally dropped her burden with a grunt and a long sigh of relief.

She began building a small fire with some wood she found in a nearby stockpile, while she also used Preparation to magically begin cutting up the moose creature into a stock of well butchered meat on top of her tarp. She very carefully began cooking choice sections of meat and seasoned them with various herbs she had and some salt and various spices she managed to convince a nearby soldier to get for her. The man left happy after she gave him a nice chunk of well cooked and seasoned meat as payment and told him to spread the word in case anyone else was hungry.

Ember awoke first, leaving the tent and sitting down next to Zalia,

“Good Morning sleepy,” Zalia said cheerfully, handing the woman a nice piece of skewered meat from her campfire.

“It's so unfair how cheery you are in the mornings,” Ember grumbled, accepting the food despite her annoyance.

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Zalia didn't comment, happily focusing on her task. She really did enjoy the simple things in life, cooking, walking the wilds and fighting powerful creatures to the death in a violent bid for survival.

Before long, a few more soldiers began arriving and accepting food from her small campfire with thanks given. Each of them arrived with a small token of various cooking herbs, spices, salt or pepper. At first she had found the small tokens funny, guessing that the first soldier had spread the word but told them to bring her spices or herbs as payment. After the first ten or so soldiers however, she was getting a little concerned. She need not have worried though as Indis and Zen soon woke up, also accepting her cooking, and she soon ran out after a few more soldiers came by her fire. She had started giving them larger amounts to take back to their friends, hoping to get rid of it before she ended up with too many small pouches of herbs and spices. The soldiers probably had some army chefs around but they most likely had not yet begun serving and the food they served would probably not be as good as the fresh meat.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Zalia asked.

“There isn’t one, the general doesn't arrive until three days time. Had something in mind?” Indis asked back.

“Not really, I’m always up for a good hunt though,” Zalia replied.

Ember looked at the last piece of food she was still eating,

“Did you not just hunt?” she asked.

“Yes, so?” Zalia said, a little confused.

Boreal made a small chirping sound as if in agreement. Ember looked down at Boreal somewhat confusedly as the feline stared at her.

“Zalia?” Ember said.

“Yeah?” Zalia asked.

“Why is Boreal staring at me like that?” Ember asked.

“Because Boreal is in agreement with me and wanted to let you know,” Zalia replied.

“What does that mean?” Ember asked.

“I don't know, Boreal seems to be starting to understand words and has even started speaking into my mind sometimes,” Zalia said.

“She’s started doing what?” Zen asked.

“Is that not normal?” Zalia asked, stopping cleaning up for a moment.

“Not particularly, no,” Zen said.

“Have you ever seen others of Boreal’s species though? It could be normal,” Zalia reasoned.

“I… guess,” Zen said, frowning.

“Could be a useful ability, in future,” Indis said thoughtfully.

Zalia rolled her eyes,

“Always thinking about how you can twist things to your advantage,” Zalia replied, tsking a few times.

Indis just shrugged,

“It is what I must do,” Indis said a little morosely.

They were all silent for a moment after that, remembering the situation they were all in once more.

“I formed something called a Beast bond with Boreal,” Zalia said.

Ember whistled,

“Damn Zalia, that’s lucky. Though I guess not unexpected with both your classes and the fact you somehow managed to befriend a murderous predatory kitten,” Ember said, a little awe in her voice.

“Is it rare?” Zalia asked.

“Mmm, not super rare. I have heard of Beast bonds before, it's not something so rare as the familiar bond Zayes had with Hidey for instance,” Ember said.

The mention of Hidey brought the mood back down again immediately.

“Maybe it would be good for all of us to go on a hunt,” Zalia suggested.

“Why is that?” Ember asked.

“To take our minds off things for a little while. It's better than sitting around thinking about our situation when nothing can be done about it at the moment, right?” Zalia asked in reply.

“I suppose so, three days isn’t a long time to find something that can challenge us around here though,” Ember said.

“We could ask Faian or Eztari if there is anything worth going after nearby, they might know of something,” Indis suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” Zen said.

“Of course it is, it's my idea,” Indis replied, trying to put some of her old poshness into her tone.

Zalia hadn’t realised how long it had been since Indis had played the part of spoiled noble and also realised she had missed the playful if not annoying side of the woman.

“Naturally, My Lady,” Zen said in a formal tone, giving a mock bow.

“It is good you recognise your betters, peasant,” Lady Indis said, raising her chin and looking down her nose at Zen.

“Cut it out you two,” Zalia said.

They both laughed and Zalia found herself joining in. Being able to joke around and have a laugh was refreshing and something they all needed.

“Shall we go and talk to Eztari or Faian then?” Ember asked once they had settled once more.

“Yeah, sure, just let me finish cleaning up,” Zalia said, standing once more and going about cleaning off her tarp with some water from a large barrel on a cart nearby.

Boreal followed behind her as she dragged the tarp, pouncing on the trailing edge and sticking it to the ground with some icy magic momentarily. She had to yank it to break off the ice and gave the feline a glare. Naturally, Boreal pretended nothing had happened and innocently sat, cleaning herself.

“You’re a pest,” Zalia told Boreal.

Boreal looked up and she swore she could see a humorous twinkle in the feline's eyes.

“She is becoming more and more intelligent by the day as well,” Zalia thought.

She finished cleaning up and returned to her friends.

“Ready to get going?” she asked.

“Yeah, let's go find ourselves something to do!” Zen exclaimed.