> Quote:Now with more spacing and minor editing.

As the morning came, the little cabins residents were already up and awake having dinner.

"Dried rabbit meat and potatoes, enjoy."Terry handed a bowl to Aleyn. She gave a quick glance around the bowl and started eating.

Once the morning drowsiness had faded she got ready to ask the question which had been on her mind since yesterday.

"So what are you going to teach me today?"

He was about to say something but was interrupted by Emily who was growling next to him.

Terry picked up a whole rabbit leg from the campfire roast and threw it next to her.

"She gets so angry if she doesn't get food while others are eating." he chuckled.

Emily didn't waste much time and started eating her food, Terry picked up a potato and stuffed it in his mouth.

"But back to the topic, what do I teach?" he paused and ate some more.

"That usually is decided, by the "student"." He took a jug and poured water in to a handmade mug and handed it to Aleyn.

Terry emptied a mug of water and continued

"I have a lot of experience and knowledge, but I'm no teacher. Usually I just show how to use a bow properly and if they have something else they want to know I try to answer to the best of my abilities."

Aleyn emptied her mug and replied "I don't really have any ideas at the moment but maybe some will pop up later."

"That's perfectly fine." he said as the conversation tapered off and the trio continued their dinner.

Everyone were done with their dinner, both Aleyn and Terry had gone outside to wash their bowls in the snow and Emily had taken off in to woods.

Terry looked at Aleyn's clothes and wondered.

"So you came through the woods while only wearing all that? I'm surprised you didn't freeze."

She looked at her clothes and replied "I didn't really have problems with the cold yesterday though it did get slightly unbearable later in the evening when the wind started picking up."

Terry shook his head.

"You're underestimating the cold, I've met many men and women who have done so, they're fine until the evening and then the wind and lack of sunlight takes away all of the heat. In most cases they pass away in the snow."

Aleyn was slightly shocked, it had to be more serious than she thought due to Terry's reaction.

They both went back into the cabin, she was getting concerned over what she just heard.

"I don't really have any other clothes than these though."

Terry thought for a moment.

"Didn't you have some hides in your backpack?"

"I do, they're for another request. Why?" Aleyn asked

"Well since I live here pretty much alone I've had maintain and sew my own clothes, I could probably make you something depending on what i got to work with."

Terry said with a little hint of pride.

She took the hides from her backpack and presented them to Terry who started looking them over.

"Tsk-tsk, I've seen worse cuts but it still hurts to look at these." he said while going through the hides

"Does that mean they're useless?"

Aleyn had skinned the wolfs with no previous experience and if Terry didn't think he could make something out of them it could very well be that the old lady wouldn't accept them either.

"No no, I can still work with these but I definitely need to show you how to skin properly."

He folded and left the hides on the table.

"But before I do any of that you should probably start using that bow since it's still nicely warm outside. Come, lets go out."

Terry left the cabin and Aleyn rushed after him once she picked up her bow and quiver.

They walked away from the cabin towards the lake until they came to a tree far away from the cabin.

"This tree here will be your target." Terry said as he walked to the tree. He took six long steps from it and drew a line.

"Come over here and give it a shot."

Aleyn walked to the line quickly and drew her bow and shot at the tree. The arrow flew past the tree and hit the snow behind the tree.

Terry moved behind her.

"Okay, draw the arrow again."

She stood with the arrow drawn.

"Move your right leg back and sideways... straighten your back." Terry gave instructions and she kept changing her posture and position.

"Lastly, watch your breathing, release the arrow once you're about to breath out. Now try again."

He moved to the side and kept observing. Aleyn took longer this time and after a few rounds of breathing in and out she released the arrow.

This time the arrow hit the tree, not at the center of it but it was a huge improvement to her first shot.

"Good good, now do that until you can hit this circle consistently."

Terry moved to the tree and drew a circle on the tree with a knife, the circle was the size of a basket ball and covered the tree from side to side.

"Oh and I'm taking most of the arrows, you're gonna need to go fetch the ones you've shot and reuse them, its good to move a bit while shooting."

He went to Aleyn's quiver and left only eight arrows in.

"Once you think you're done come to the cabin, I'll be working on the hides."

Having nothing else to tell her Terry went back to his cabin.

Aleyn had been shooting at the tree for a while, but she wasn't too happy with the results yet, she could only get three arrows inside of the circle consistently.

"Straight back, right leg back, breath in breath out." she had her own little mantra going as she kept shooting at the tree and picking up the arrows.

After a while she showed improvement she was consistently getting more and more arrows inside the circle until she stopped at seven.

"This should be enough." she thought as she picked up the arrows and left for the cabin.

As she walked to the cabin she noticed the wind was picking up, the weather was still sunny and it wasn't that cold, but if Terry's story earlier was any indication it might get bad fast.

"I'm done." she said as she entered the cabin.

Terry was working on what seemed like a cloak

"Oh yea? How many did you get up to?" he asked while still working.

"I can get seven arrows in the circle consistently." she said while expecting a negative answer.

"Oh? Not ambitious enough to go for full eight? Well that's not bad either way, most people quit at around five."Terry chuckled.

"So now for the next part, you're gonna take four more arrows and double the distance. Come back once you're satisfied." He said and pointed at his quiver.

Aleyn picked up four arrows and turned to Terry.

"I noticed the wind was picking up, should i stay inside since you aren't done?"

"Eh?" Terry sounded confused and looked out of the window, but weirdly enough he started smiling.

"Oh, you're quite lucky, it seems today is more windy than usual. You don't need to worry about it, as long as the sun is shining and there's not a snow storm you shouldn't freeze."

He was about to get back to working on the cloak but then a realization hit him.

"Actually, don't double the distance, instead take four steps from the line and try from there."

Aleyn asked with a slight smirk "four dwarf steps or four human steps?"

Terry turned around thinking he might have offended her but instead saw her smirking face.

"Four dwarf steps. If it starts snowing then come back in unless you want to turn into an icicle." he gave a smirk of his own and went back to working as Aleyn left the cabin.

Aleyn was back shooting at the tree, the distance she had to take had lowered her accuracy, but not by much since she could still get 4 arrows in the circle, the biggest annoyance was the wind since it seemed to pick the arrows up and throw them off course easily.

"Guess that's why he changed how far I need to go." she thought while shooting at the tree.

Over time her arrows started reaching the circle more consistently, she was getting used to adjusting to the wind and she had reached back to her seven, but this time she had more arrows so she decided to keep on going until she could hit ten arrows.

"I'm finished." she claimed once again as she entered the cabin.

"So how many this time?" Terry was holding the cloak in air and looking it over.

"I could get ten arrows inside the circle." she declared with a little pride.

"Sounds good. I'm also done with your cloak." he nodded and handed the cloak to Aleyn.

"Try it on.".

The cloak reached from her head to her ankles, it had a hood and it covered most of her front side down to her waist.

She was amazed at the handy work "This is rather impressive Terry."

"Thank you, I do take some pride in my work." he replied as he was cleaning the table he was working at.

"More importantly, we can now go and replace those hides I used while it's still early.".

Both of them left the cabin and traveled deeper in to the forest.

"You said "while it's still early" is it better to go hunting early or is it more about the coldness in the evening?" Aleyn asked curiously.

"As much as its about the weather, the animals actually get more aggressive through out the day so it gets harder to avoid bigger packs later in the day." Terry said while looking around.

A realization hit Aleyn, it had been a lot easier to dodge wolf packs right at the start and it got harder and harder later on leading up to her running along the frozen lake yesterday.

"So it was actually like that" she thought.

Terry and Aleyn moved around the forest not finding any wolfs for a while, but eventually they stumbled on a duo of wolfs who had not noticed their approach.

They were behind some rocks very close to the two wolfs, maybe at around the same distance where she had been shooting the tree from.

Terry whispered "You take the left one, if you miss or it doesn't die then don't worry I'll cover for you. Remember to properly move your cloak off so it doesn't interfere with the arrow."

They were both getting ready to shoot at the wolfs and Terry started counting down

"four...three..two...one" and they both let go off their arrows.

The right wolfs neck was pierced and it died but Aleyn's arrow hit the wolfs stomach and it was still alive and angry. Terry quickly shot another arrow and the wolf was put out of its misery.

Aleyn was annoyed that she hadn't killed the wolf.

Terry noticed her mood and commented "Don't worry about that, you hit the wolf at least."

"I thought aiming at the heart would be the best way to kill it, but I missed." she said with a frown.

"The wolfs heart is actually hard to hit, you should go for its neck in most cases since it's easier and the wolf dies immediately in most cases."Terry said while pointing at the wolf he had shot in the neck.

"Is that some sort of a secret weak spot of the wolf?" Aleyn said curiously.

"Well im no expert on the wolfs body, but I think there's a vein in there that once pierced the wolfs heart just can't handle it, though don't take my word for it."

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Terry paused and turned the wolf on its side, "Anyway since we got two good hides here I'm gonna show you how to skin properly."

He took out a knife and started cutting around the wolfs neck "There's no point skinning the head, its more trouble than its worth. So what I do is start at the neck and cut down to their stomach right up their tail."

He made a deep cut from the neck towards the tail and all of the wolfs insides flopped out with a burst of blood.

"At this point, depending on what sort of an animal you're skinning you need to either cut the legs off or make certain cuts around the feet and strip the skin off."

He cut around the wolfs ankle and lifted the hide to strip the legs out. The process took a few minutes but the results were ideal.

"And that's how you pretty simply skin a wolf." he folded the fur and handed it to Aleyn.

She packed the fur in her backpack.

"Now skin this one." Terry said as he pointed at the other wolf.

Aleyn took Terry's knife and made rough cuts around the neck and a deep cut that started from the neck and reached the tail, she had a lot of trouble with the leg part but after some struggle she had skinned the wolf.

Terry took a look at the cuts "Not the best I've seen but it's already an improvement to the ones from earlier. It comes down to practice at this point really." he handed the fur back to Aleyn and she put it in her backpack.

After the skinning presentation the duo weren't done with the wolfs, they harvested all of the edible pieces and once they were done they headed back to the cabin for nice bit of wolf meat stew.

After the lunch Terry instructed Aleyn to go back to the tree with four more arrows and take few more steps back, the routine of going further away from the tree continued until nightfall and the next days noon when they went out again to hunt for some wolf hides.

After all of the shooting Aleyn now had all of her arrows back and could reliably hit the circle from 25 of Human steps away, but due to her only training for a day and a half her shooting speed wasn't up to standards since she still had to take a while to aim and fix her posture but from this point on that could only be fixed through repetition.

They wondered around the forest avoiding bigger packs of wolfs while not coming across suitable targets until they found a group of three.

Terry looked at the wolfs and back at Aleyn "You think you can hit two of them?"

Aleyn had seen the three wolfs but never expected for Terry to suggest that.

"Well i can try, you're backing me up right?" she asked nervously and Terry nodded.

The duo decided on their targets and got ready to go for the kill.

"Remember not to panic, take your time if you need to and aim for the neck. You ready?" Terry whispered.

Aleyn nodded and the count down began four... three...two....one.

The two arrows flew and hit the two wolfs in the neck, killing them instantly.

The third wolf noticed both of the culprits and started running at them, Aleyn took aim with heavy breaths and as the wolf got closer Terry readied his bow as well.

The wolf had halved the distance between the duo and himself, but unfortunately for him Aleyn was very ready to shoot as she inhaled and released the arrow, the arrow flew in a straight line towards the moving wolf and disappeared.

The wolf kept moving towards them for a few more steps and then fell on its side showing the poking arrow on its head.

Both Terry and Aleyn went to look at the last wolf "You didn't aim for the neck?" Terry asked.

"My idea was to aim for the eye socket, it would pierce the brain and pretty much lead to death almost instantly like the neck." Aleyn replied while panting.

"Well points for creativity and execution."

Terry picked up the wolf by its back legs and dragged it to the other two"You skin yours I skin mine".

It didn't take long for either of them to skin the wolfs and as they we're about to leave Aleyn asked Terry "Since it's so early you mind if we get one more set of hides?"

Terry turned to her and asked "What for? You have 5 now." he was slightly confused.

"Well originally I wanted to have more than 5, and I would like to practice shooting and skinning a bit more." Terry liked that she had interest in training herself, but he wasn't fine with excess killing.

"How many do you want then?" he asked bluntly, "I was thinking on seven or so." she actually wanted more, but Terry's reaction told her everything she needed to know about his opinion on the matter.

Terry took a moment to think "Well, fine, but no more than seven though. Come lets find some wolfs.".

The duo returned to the cabin, once they got inside and sat down to rest Aleyn had something to say

"I think I'm going to head back to the town in the evening."

Terry shook the snow off his cloak and put the bow next to wall "Already?"

"Yes, I feel like I've learned much from you, but from this point on it seems it's mostly about practice."

Terry sighed "Me and Emily here had already gotten attached to you, but who could keep a young adventurer locked up in the woods when the whole world is open to them I suppose."

Aleyn took a look at Terry's sad face "You know you're not that old yourself, you could still make a name for yourself out there."

She really did mean it, from what she had seen Terry was in great condition and his skills were exceptional.

"You flatter me, but to tell you the truth it's just not for me anymore. When you get older you see the world differently, and for me personally I'm starting to prefer this quiet life style."

Terry smiled and patted Emily who was just sitting there next to him. "You're gonna stay for some lunch at least ?"

"If you're offering." Aleyn replied with a smile.

Terry and Aleyn were standing in front of the cabin, Terry was holding Emily in his arms while talking with Aleyn as snow was pouring down and the sky was getting dark.

"So, was it worth staying ?" he asked while rubbing Emily's neck.

"It was worth every minute." Aleyn smiled.

"You're taking the road back to town yeah?" he asked and Aleyn nodded.

Terry nodded back "Good call."

Emily dropped off of his arms and went to Aleyn.

Aleyn gave her a rub behind her ear as she told her "Don't worry girl, I'll come and visit at some point."

Emily barked once.

"Be safe Aleyn." Terry reached for a handshake.

Aleyn put her right hand in to his "Same to you old man."the last words before she took off.

Aleyn noticed that Emily had decided to keep her company for her small journey as she traveled the road from the lake to town.

"Really attached huh?." she thought and smiled at the fox.

The road was wide and man made, it seemed to be specifically made for caravans and carriages.

She walked and walked with the little fox and eventually the lights of Ironedge started to show in the dark and snowy weather.

Aleyn stopped and crouched next to Emily "you should head back soon, Terry might get worried if you stay too long outside."

Emily looked at her and the town and gave a bark before snuggling into her arms for the last time.

Aleyn let go of the fox and started walking towards the town while Emily sat still and looked at her until she couldn't see her in the distance anymore and started following the road back to the cabin.

Aleyn was now back in Ironedge, it felt good to see civilization after such a long time, but she didn't have time for standing around.

Terry had told her to bring proof of delivery to John, she didn't really understand why she needed to do that but Terry had insisted so it must have been important.

She entered the adventurers hall and approached the clerks stand which was empty. She gave a quick knock on the table which got an immediate reaction as you could hear John yelling from the back room.

"Comiiing."

John walked to the table "So what can i do for you.. Oh!"

And thats when he noticed who he was talking to "Ah Aleyn my girl you're still alive."

He hugged Aleyn which came to her as a surprise "Erm, you thought I was dead? "

"Well when someone goes through the woods and doesn't return for a few days you start to think about possibilities right?" John answered while still hugging Aleyn and then let her go.

"But the most important thing is that you are alive." He paused and sighed.

"So what do you need from me?"

Aleyn handed in the paper Terry had made "I completed the courier job and the client told me to give this to you."

John took some glances at the paper and nodded "Yes this is definitely Terry's handwriting, this means you can get your badge, now where did I put that box.."

John started looking for something right after reading the note "Ah here it is."

Terry brought a box filled with what looked like metal badges with some sort of a crystal in each of them.

She took a look at the badges and asked in confusion "What are these then?"

John raised an eyebrow "Oh did I not tell you about the badge? Well no time better I suppose."

He took a needle from a box filled with paper and vials of alcohol "So what we need to do is apply some of your blood on that badge, marking it as yours, give me your hand a bit."

She reached her hand over the counter which was up to her neck making the scenario look slightly silly. Before she knew it John had already poked her index finger with the needle and drawn some blood. John moved the finger on one of the badges and few drops of blood fell on it.

"Here you go its your personal badge." he showed the piece of metal to Aleyn.

"So this is an artifact made by the mage's guild in the human continent, it doesn't have a real name so it adopted the name Badge due to its shape and size."John said as he showed the badge.

"It's generally used by adventurers for recording their accomplishments, when you put some documents on it and use a stamper like this one on it."

He stamped the document on the badge and a moment later a light burst out of the badge and absorbed it.

"Got the idea?"

Aleyn was in a slight shock due to the whole event, it was the first time she had experienced something related to magic after all.

"Ye..yes, but how do I show whats inside then?" she muttered as she was looking the badge over.

"Ah, for that you need to pour in a small amount of magic, let me show you."

John took the badge and held it in his hand, suddenly a burst of light appeared over the badge showing the document it just absorbed.

Aleyn looked at the light in daze "Woah."

As she took the badge back she tried it herself but sadly nothing happened.

She thanked John and went to look at the copper jobs, she wanted to see if the Old lady still had her request up and it turns out she did.

Aleyn took mental note of her address and realized that she had spent way too much time in game and should probably log out for a while, remembering her last log out experience she decided to rent a room at the inn.