I sat atop Batzorig scanning the horizon. I had just left my soon to be family’s campsite and was now on the hunt trying to secure provisions for us all. With all the new mouths to feed I desperately needed fresh meat, but also since I was now in possession of leatherworkers, I intended to put them to use with the hides of my kills. I wanted to see what they were capable of making with fresh hides.

      Everything on these wide-open plains was built to blend in with the landscape so locating one’s prey took skill and practice which just made the hunt all the more fun and rewarding. Usually I would be enjoying myself while hunting all alone with just Batzorig and nature to keep me company but not on this hunt. I thought that by hunting my mind would clear and I would find some peace to try and sort out what exactly had just happened but instead my favorite activity was tainted with thoughts ceaselessly racing through my mind.

    I was starting to think I had just made a big mistake that would have long lasting effects on my life. I barely know how to handle my three siblings and now I’ve gone and gotten myself a wife bringing her family into mine, I thought while trying to scan my surroundings for prey. I had also forgotten that if I was bringing in a wife and her entire family, I would need to hold a ceremony when we got home, just another reason to hunt for some meat. I figured the ceremony would take two to three whole Dulfar give or take depending on the size. My problems have just been piling up ever since I left father’s house. I sighed again for the Great One knows how many times, and tried to calm my turbulent mind. It worked a little and I became more focused on the task at hand.

      For as far as I could see there was brownish knee-high grass swaying in the slight breeze it was quite soothing from my vantage point which just helped me calm down some more. I took out my wooden Dulfar call and I blew on it a few times to see if I could catch the attention of anything within my immediate area hoping there were some Dulfar bedding in the grass within my vicinity. After finishing my calls, I stood in my saddle and began to scan my surroundings for as far as I could see. It didn’t take me long to notice some movement off to my right. I could tell that at least one Dulfar had bedded down over there and was hoping that there were a few more with it. Since the animals did tend to move around in groups, to stay safe from predators like wolves. I sat back in the saddle and got out my bow and a few arrows with my right hand while with the left I put the call back to my lips using my legs to steady myself on Batzorig’s back. Once I was confident that I was ready I blew again this time longer than the short bursts I had used before. That really got the Dulfar’s attention and it stood up followed by two more behind it. They seemed to be decent size from what I could see but since the shedding season had already passed I couldn’t tell their sex at a glance, but I could guess they were all doe’s since the rut had ended and there was no longer a reason for a buck to be sticking around in a heard anymore. The Dulfar spotted me once they stood up and immediately knew something was wrong. Even these creatures knew that a snow-white horse was well out of place on the plains.

      They all three in unison began to turn to flee opposite my direction, but before they could start to run, I had already trained my sights on my first target. To me the world had gone still and was moving in slow motion. All my senses were heightened to their greatest extent. I could vividly see everything, and the world seemed so clear and bright, I could feel Batzorig’s muscles strain and flex beneath my legs as she moved since she was already moving according to my wishes, she had gotten to the point that she understood what I wanted before I even gave a command and at this moment she was already on her way to running down our prey. In this state of heightened senses, I breathed in and loosed my first arrow taking the closest Dulfar in the back. Of course, that shot didn’t immediately kill it, but it was hurt enough that it wasn’t getting away from me anymore, so I moved on to my next target nocking another arrow and letting Batzorig guide us both to the next one. I aimed at the fast-moving target, when I felt confident with the shot, I was about to take I breathed in another deep breath and held it releasing the breath the same time as I released the arrow. This time my arrow struck the fleeing animal in its flank causing it to stumble along a little further before collapsing in its tracks never to rise again. Without missing a beat, I quickly nocked another arrow following my usual ritual before firing and hitting the final Dulfar in the rear. Cursing under my breath I drew another arrow and hurriedly released it. In my haste I missed wide. Cursing again I took a deep breath and repeated my normal process of firing my bow before I took another shot at the now injured animal. Luckily Batzorig was a good strong animal and kept me within range of my prey so I could take a third shot. this time my arrow struck true taking the animal in its flank similar to how I hit the second one. Without even waiting to watch the Dulfar fall I turned to find the first one and see if I needed to shoot it again. I scanned the area and did not see it, so I assumed it had died or just collapsed from its injury. I figured I had probably either nicked the spine or hit a vital organ causing it to collapse and even possibly die when I hit it, I didn’t get too good of a look at where and how deep the arrow went so I was only guessing at this point.

      The world snapped back into focus for me with the fatigue that followed an adrenaline rush. Batzorig and I were both breathing heavily and sweating even though the temperature outside wasn’t very warm and instead was starting to get chilly the lower the sun got in the sky. I slung my bow back over my shoulder and leaned down to pat Batzorig’s neck. “you did good girl now let’s go make sure we got em all,” her response was a simple grunt, but I took it as affirmation even though it probably meant nothing at all. I turned Batzorig around the way we had come and began back tracking looking for the first two Dulfar I had shot. as both of our breathing began to settle, I could finally start to hear things in my surroundings since my ears were no longer filled with the sounds of labored breathing. All I could hear was the call of birds and not the shrill noises a Dulfar in distress made so I took that as a sign that I had killed all three. If that were the case, I just made a new personal record three Dulfar in one go. Not that I never had the chance to kill three or more in go but up until now I never had the need to, but that all changed since I decided to take on a wife and her entire family into my own. With the fall of the adrenaline came the torrent of thoughts that I was so desperately trying to get away from. I shook my head to clear those pesky thoughts and followed the trail of trampled grass and bushes looking for my kills. The first of the dead I came across was the second Dulfar, the one I had taken in the flank. I checked to make sure that it was dead before moving on looking for the first one I had shot in the back. This one was trickier to locate, it had run around fifty yards from the point where I had hit it before finally collapsing beneath a small batch of shrubs essentially hiding its body from being spotted from afar. Luckily it had left a decent trail of blood for me to follow so finding it wasn’t impossible, just difficult. I tied a rope to two of the animal’s legs and drug it behind Batzorig as we headed over to my second kill. Once at my second kill I repeated the process of tying a rope to both its hind legs and dragging it behind Batzorig along with the first Dulfar as we headed towards my third and final kill. the last one had not gotten far after I had hit it for the second time, and it took me almost no time to find it. Once I had all my kills in one place I dismounted and grabbed my knife. I got to work cutting a slit in each Dulfar starting from the chest and going down through the abdomen, once all the cuts were made, I began emptying each one of their guts making sure to remove as much as I could.

     It was nasty work and by the time I was done I stunk horribly and was covered in gore. I had amassed quite the pile of intestines, stomachs and lungs, each putting off steam as they for the first time touched the open air. The sight was quite disgusting and would make a weaker man queasy but after seeing it so much throughout my life I was numb to the site of blood and guts. Also, the blood and gore sticking to my hands and arms couldn’t compare to the feel of my brother’s hot blood washing over my hands as I killed him. Not much can compare to killing your own brother I don’t imagine. Now that I was done dressing the three Dulfar they were significantly lighter making moving them way easier than before. I tied two behind my saddle and one in front before mounting back up. Batzorig looked back at me with an annoyed look in response to the added weight but I just ignored her and turned her back to my future in-law’s camp.

      Now that the excitement of the hunt and the work of dressing my kills had gone away my mind began to once again wander. Without a task to take away my attention I was forced to dwell on my situation. In one day, my family grew by twelve people and I even got a wife. That is a lot of responsibility for someone just past fifteen winters. It also doesn’t help that the men I was taking into my family could barely take care of themselves, meaning I would have to almost single handedly provide for seventeen people including myself. I sighed as I looked up into the sky giving a silent prayer. Please let this all work out.

     I continued to ride on while my mind raced through all the things that could go wrong. Quite a few times on my trip back I thought of just abandoning these people and going home just forgetting about them all together, but I just couldn’t bring myself to doing that. One reason I couldn’t was because that girl would hopefully make for a good first wife and second, if things did workout I would become a powerful contender within the tribe and that could keep me safe from any retribution after threatening the chief and his son, and then taking his prized horse. This was just too good of an opportunity to pass up, even if it was going to make my life harder.

     It was around dusk when I finally made it back to the camp. To my surprise I was greeted by the children followed by what I would assume to be their mothers. My soon to be wife was also in the mix causing me to instinctively sit up straighter subconsciously wishing to impress her. But I think I had impressed them all with the three Dulfar I had tied down on Batzorig’s back. All of them, adults and children alike, aside from the two men who weren’t present, looked up to me in awe after seeing the three dead Dulfar. That caused me to swell up with pride. I looked to the three boys who looked to be around ten maybe a little younger or older, I couldn’t say. “You three know how to hunt?” I asked. I knew the answer was no, but I needed to ask anyways. I was taught to hunt on my sixth winter when I could finally properly ride my horse and I got my first kill on only the second time I went out. The three almost simultaneously shook their heads no. of course they haven’t, their father is a fool, I thought suppressing the thought, so I did not say it aloud. “you will learn,” I said before dismounting and leading Batzorig into the camp by the reins. As I walked the group made way for me and then fell in behind me as I kept going. My soon to be wife whose name I did not know and who I had yet to even hear speak, fell in directly behind me. they clearly told her, her role in all this, I thought as I led Batzorig along. I looked back to her and caught her staring at me, instead of turning away she just smiled at me. she had a gorgeous smile, her pearly white teeth complemented her emerald eyes well. I won’t mind looking at that, I thought to myself as I nodded back to her.

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     This marriage would not be out of love but out of necessity and we both clearly knew that. Her looks would certainly be another added perk in all this. I led her over to the saddlebags I had set down before I went out to hunt. I opened them up and grabbed what I needed. My skinning knives, very sharp and small blades that would be able to get between the skin and the meet and even between bone that with a larger knife could get in the way, such as my knife that I used to dress the animals that always stayed on my side. I had to take extra care of these knives since the fat from the animals they skinned dulled the blades horribly fast especially if they weren’t properly taken care of. Once I had what I needed I closed the bags back up and to her relief removed the three corpses from Batzorig’s back. I laid them out beside each other and made sure my audience could see. Where are the two men, I wondered. “watch closely, all of you,” I said addressing all those watching me, “this is how to properly skin your prey.” After those words I quickly knelt beside the largest of my three kills and began to work expertly at removing the skin from the animal’s body with minimal damage being done to the meat or the hide. I started cutting around the feet of both the hind legs and began to work my way down the body from there. I made incisions then slid the blade under the skin cutting away the tendons that kept the skin attached to the meat. It was tedious work, but it kept my mind busy and I soon forgot I was being watched all together. I was lost in my work and before I knew it I was drenched in sweat and had removed the skin all the way down to the neck. I looked up from the animal and was shocked to see everyone had walked up to me as close as possible without disturbing my work.

     They seemed to be quite impressed with what I had done. The two men had also come out to watch, and they too also seemed to be impressed. I was once again filled with pride and feelings of gratitude towards Alton’s teachings, because without his harsh lessons I would not be where I am right now that’s for sure. I nodded to the two men and received slight bows of the head in return. I’ll have to get used to that, I thought feeling uneasy at their shows of respect, since now I was the head of both our households. I grabbed the animal by the neck and made a cut around it finally releasing the hide from its body signifying that one step of the processing was complete. As the animal’s head fell to the ground out of my grip I turned to my new family as I still held onto the freshly removed hide. “that is how you skin your kill,” I made sure they all heard me before throwing the hide over an empty tanning rack that seemed to be sitting out without much purpose. I needed to get all three hides removed and cleaned before I started the tanning process, but this was a start. I wiped my blade that was now covered and slick with fat on my shirt cleaning it up somewhat, before turning back to the group watching me. “Who wants to give it a try?” they all eyed me curiously seeming to be unsure if I was being serious or not. I was most certainly being serious, I wanted to get started on their training, so they could be of more use to me as soon as possible. I couldn’t afford to be carrying around dead weight right now. It is harsh but that is just how life is out here in the wide-open expanse that my people call home.

      I looked them all over one time and nobody spoke up and took the opportunity I was giving them. “No one wants to learn?” I asked with an edge to my voice. I felt somewhat annoyed they were still being so hesitant around me. I know I have no reason to be annoyed because I barely knew them, but I was feeling annoyed nonetheless. Still no one took me up on my offer and just stared at me awkwardly. “screw it,” I huffed turning around to start working on the second Dulfar. Before I could get in my first incision however A soft melodic voice spoke up. “I’ll do it,” she said. I quickly turned to see who the owner of the voice was, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was my soon to be wife’s voice. A nice voice, another bonus on the growing list, I thought smugly. It hit me that this was the first time I had heard her voice since meeting her. That almost made me feel bad, but it was a good match and feelings didn’t really matter in these types of things. “Here,” I said grabbing the knife’s blade and offering it to her by the hilt. She timidly grabbed the blade from my hands and knelt beside the Dulfar carcass, much the same way I had on the first one. I stood over her to watch and give instruction where it was needed. She mimicked my cuts as best she could and slowly began to cut around the dead animal’s hind legs as I had done earlier. Her movements were not as well practiced as mine and she had to go over them a few times to completely break through the skin down to the bone and muscle. It was evident to my eye that she was trying her best to mimic my work as well as not damage the meat and hide of the creature. I was quite pleased with how she moved with such care. I did not mind that it was taking her so long to do the work as long as it was done correctly, I could wait as long as I needed to, I would even have a fire made to give light if it got too dark to see as long as the work got done. The dead Dulfar weren’t going anywhere anyways. But the longer we took the stiffer the animals would become and the harder they would become to deal with. “You can cut deeper don’t worry,” I said trying to sound as encouraging as possible. My words got through to her and she did begin to make deeper cuts the first time. Making deeper cuts to begin with made for less time, meaning her work began to speed up.

      Her work was far from perfect and needed a lot of practice but for what I would assume to be one of her first times doing this she was doing quite well. I only had to correct her a handful of times and in just over an hour the skin had been removed. There was more fat attached to the skin than there was on mine and the cuts were more jagged than mine but all in all I was pleased, and I wanted her to know that. I reached over and took the hide from her and began inspecting it. “Not to bad,” I said running my eyes over her finished product, “still need some work but this is acceptable.” I set her hide next to mine then took the dirty knife from her hand. I cleaned the knife as best I could by just wiping the gore and fat off. I looked over to her and saw that she was beaming with pride. Seeing her like that made me smile genuinely for the first time in a while. “Wanna give it another shot?” at my words she snapped her head in my direction and gave me one of the most beautiful smiles I had ever seen. That smile left me speechless and I couldn’t help but stare admiring her beauty and charm.

      Maybe I was being biased since she was to be my first wife, but still, I do not think I have ever seen a more beautiful site in my life. While I was still lost in her smile she reached out for the knife catching me off guard. She held her hand out expectantly for a few long seconds before I caught onto what she was doing, and I belatedly handed her back the blade. My rigid and unsteady hands made the normal handoff look almost comical, but she didn’t seem bothered by it, which helped ease some embarrassment. I still looked away trying to collect myself before turning back to her. When I looked back at her she was back at work on the third and final Dulfar. This time around she was much more at ease and she made less mistakes than with the first one she skinned. I still stood over her and gave her guidance where it was needed. Forty-five minutes later she was finished. Once again, I grabbed the freshly removed skin from her hands and held it up to eye level to inspect her work. This time she did a better job with her cuts, they looked smoother and were less jagged. I was genuinely pleased with how fast she learned. I looked down at her and smiled, “excellent work this time, it could still be better, but good job.” Once again, she smiled up at me as she swelled with pride. She had sweat beading around her forehead and some of her hair in the front was wet and matted, but regardless of all of that, she still looked stunning in my eyes. I was more pleased with the girl doing the work than the work itself. Her ability to learn fast would come in handy down the road. Alton always told me that the best wife was submissive and learned new things quickly and from what I could see, the girl before me was both. I really got lucky out here huh? I thought as I put away the last skin.

      I still have yet to butcher any of the Dulfar corpses and they were already starting to stiffen up so instead of trying to teach my new family members how it is done and let them give it a try themselves I decided to just quickly get it over with myself and teach them by example. I started with the biggest one first and immediately got to work. I made sure they were all watching me as I worked. I lost myself in my work and in no time the animal was dismembered with the different cuts of meat put in separate piles including a bone pile. Every piece of the animal would be used. Not wasting any piece of the prey is how the hunter shows respect to the animal that died to feed others. “Put the meat away,” I told those watching and turned to the second largest Dulfar corpse and got to work butchering it as well. I got finished butchering this one quicker than the other one and soon I had several piles of meat and bone lying around me. I used my forearm to wipe the sweat from my brow as I stood up stretching out my back. I looked around and noticed that all the bones and meat for the first Dulfar had been removed and presumably put away like I had asked. I looked at those around me which was less than before. It seemed most of the women had gone somewhere probably to put away the new meat.

      It was completely dark by now but with the fires that had been set up around the camp I could see perfectly fine. I pointed to the last and smallest Dulfar, “we will cook this one whole and feast throughout the night. The joining of our families requires a celebration.” At my words everyone listening loudly cheered and rose to their feet. Even the two older men cheered, the prospect of having meat seemed to have overridden their reservations toward me, food did tend to do that. I just smiled and got to work on getting the last Dulfar ready to cook. Once the animal was rea I left it to the women and went and washed up. I felt grimy and could use a quick rinse. As I walked away from the camp to the small stream I could hear the camp was alive and well. They were all talking loudly and happily which brought a great sense of pride within me knowing that I helped make that happen. I got to the stream and removed my shirt setting it off to the side so it wouldn’t get wet. After discarding my shirt, I walked up to the water’s edge and knelt beside the slow-moving body of water. I dipped my hands into the water, the water was cold, and I was compelled to remove my hands from the cold, but I fought through the discomfort and began to wash my hands within the water. Once I felt like my hands were clean enough I began to scoop the water up and wash my neck and hair. Once I was finished cleaning up and washing the sweat off I stood up feeling refreshed. I turned around to grab my shirt to see that it was not on the ground where I had left it but instead in my future wife’s hands. I looked at her with part shock and part confusion. “what are you doing here?” “To serve you,” she said handing me my shirt. “thank you,” I smiled grabbing it, “Mind giving me your name?” I had just realized that I did not even know her name. I may have rushed into this too quickly. She blushed and bowed her head to me, “I’m terribly sorry for not already telling you,” she said head still bowed, “I am called Yesui.” I walked up to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. When I did so she shuddered, that made me feel guilty that I had inadvertently scared her. It was not terribly uncommon for men on the plains to beat their wives when angered. But for me this little mishap was nothing to be angered over. “no need to fear,” I said hand still on her shoulder. To my words she looked up into my eyes with hers that looked like two emeralds adorning a crown. “that is a truly beautiful and fitting name Yesui.” Her cheeks started to darken at my words. “My name is Aridan, let us get along from now on, okay?” “Yes,” she said beaming with joy, “Lets.”