Hina woke to cawing. The black bird perched on her bag, watching her. It whistled, and croaked when she sat up.

The line of the barrier lay within arm's reach, unbroken. Their safe space in the wild. Hina smiled. "Good morning, bird."

The bird croaked again, and cocked its head to the side. It hadn't hopped away in the night, she had half expected to be woken by the sound of it breaking the barrier. If it was intelligent enough to break the barrier at all—something to test later, perhaps.

The morning sun streamed through the trees, and other birds called in the background.

The bird croaked louder. "Break-fast?" it croaked, tilting its head.

"Oh my, you can talk?" She poked Kai in the ribs. "Kai, the bird can talk!"

Kai groaned. "What?" He sat up. "It's alive? And it didn't fly away?"

The bird croaked again, louder. "Break-fast?"

"Oh. And it talks."

"Let's get you some breakfast," Hina said. "Then let's get going."

Taking a spoon, Hina filled Kai's bowl with the leftover beans from the night before. "This is for you, little bird." She filled the pot with a couple of handfuls of dried beans and the last of the water from the fountain in the spire, to soak. "I'll be back in a bit."

Hina broke the barrier with a snap.

The bird hopped back from its bowl and looked at her. Then it dipped its beak back into the food.

When Hina returned to the campsite, the bowl had been scraped clean, and the bird was perched once more on her backpack, watching. It cackled at her.

"We can try the shaker when we stop tonight, I guess. I'm looking forward to tasting something other than beans. And we're getting low on those."

"Oh! Let's catch something for dinner," Kai said. "With the sling!"

"It's a shame we don't have enough for another one—twice the chances, right?"

"Yeah. Give me a minute." Kai stood, and wandered off into the forest.

"I need to get in there," Hina said to the bird. "Don't make a fuss." She moved over towards her bag gradually.

The bird squawked and hopped off the bag, trailing its injured wing. It croaked at her from just out of reach.

Hina got to work packing up. She rolled up her blanket and stuffed it back into her bag, along with the other things scattered about the campsite. She put the flour sack at the very top layer of her bag, so if the bird wanted to ride there, it could do that without messing up her things.

"Maybe we can take turns with the sling," Kai said when he returned.

Hina supposed that would be okay. But it would be better if they were both throwing rocks at whatever they were trying to hit. Or. "Could you throw that spear?"

"I dunno. Never tried." He picked it up from where he'd left it, one end stuck in the ground. "Maybe..."

"Sounds like something to try. For hunting, I mean. Try and hit that bush? The one with the yellow flowers?"

Kai took a few steps back. The bird whistled. Kai drew his arm back in an overhand motion, and threw. The spear flew through the air and landed point first a foot away from the bush.

"Not bad," Hina said. "Not bad at all. You should practice that."

"Thanks."

Kai practiced throwing a few more times, and then it was time to get moving.

"I'm going to pick my bag up now, okay?" Hina said to the bird.

It croaked out a low tone.

Hina picked up the bag and slung it over her back. The bird hopped over to her shoulder with a flutter, sharp claws digging in. It cackled, then hopped back onto the bag.

She lead them on, into the forest. She thought they were heading roughly south east, at least most of of the time. The forest was bright and fresh, birds sang and called to one another in the branches. The bird on her backpack gave the occasional croak and grumble when she stepped down too hard or too quickly, the backpack bouncing on her back.

* * *

The trees thinned as they walked, the undergrowth growing thick with bushes and shrubs. Hina fought her way through, pushing the plants aside as she walked.

They came to the crest of a hill. Down down them was a clear, grassy space before the forest continued on the other side.

"Look," said Kai, softly. "Over there, on the edge of the forest." He pointed.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Hina followed his gaze. "I see them." There were three or four furry shapes moving at the edge of the tree line.

Kai was preparing his spear. "On three?"

"Can you throw it that far?"

"I'll try!"

"Okay."

"One."

Hina lowered her bag to the ground, then took out a shiny black stone and her sling.

"Two".

The furry things were small targets. She lined up the shot, and focused, pushing all other thoughts out of her mind.

"Three."

She threw, putting her full strength into the over the shoulder throwing motion. She released the stone with a snap, as the free end of the sling collided with the body.

The stone flew down the slope and disappeared against the trees on the far side. The furry shapes were gone now.

She started down the slope. The bird croaked from behind her.

Kai's spear stood point down in the grass, marking the place, or somewhere near it. He picked it up. But there was no sign of anything else. No dead animals, certainly, and no stones or impacts with the ground. "I suppose this is another thing we need to practice," she said. "Help me find the stone."

They hunted high and low. Hina followed the probable path of her stone further into the trees, but there was no sign of it, and the bird was croaking louder on her back every time she bent down.

"We'll just have to get closer next time," she said.

"And practice. Yeah."

* * *

Late in the afternoon, they came across a clearing—smaller, this time, a thin strip about twenty or thirty metres across. As they approached the edge of the trees, Hina saw movement on the far side. She held up a hand and pointed.

Kai looked along the path of her hand, and then nodded.

Hina readied her sling. She placed a stone into the loop in the middle and held it taut with her other hand so the stone wouldn't slip out.

She looked at Kai and mouthed "One... Two... Three." Hina stepped forward, rolling her shoulders in an easy bowling motion. Her hand shot forward in a throw, and she released the other end of the sling, catapulting the stone forward with a whip-snap.

The stone blurred as it flew across the clearing to to the other side. In the distance, a sharp squeak. Shapes on the other side of the clearing scattered.

Hina walked across the open space to where her stone landed, where Kai's spear stood proud. A fat speckled bird lay on the ground, dead. A smooth black stone was nearby. The fallen bird was egg-like, with a feathery tail and feet on the bottom, and a rounded head that curved into a pointy beak at the front. It was brown and white and it looked delicious.

She might have been a little hungry.

"You killed it! Nice one!"

"Thanks!" Hina grinned. She picked up the stone, wiped it off on the front of her dress and put it into her pouch. "It looks like you were pretty close too."

"Maybe."

"Well, you know what the most important thing is?"

"What?"

"Dinner!" Hina picked up the bird by its feet. "Come on, we've gotta find a place to camp."

Kai looked at the bird in her hands. "Do you know how to turn that thing into food?"

"Field Dressing Game by uh, Hessler? And you know that the Fischers kept quail, right? They had a whole pen of them in their courtyard."

Kai shook his head.

"We were there all the time—I guess you were a little young. Anyway, I've been there while they dressed quail, and this looks a lot like an oversized quail."

"Do you have to take the feathers off? Like a chicken?"

"I'll work on it while we walk. Unless you want to?"

Kai shook his head twice.

"Come on, we've only got a few hours of light."

A trail of small brown and white feathers marked their passage through the afternoon.

* * *

In the evening they stopped in a little clearing with trees on all sides. Hina's fingers were sore, but the game bird was mostly defeathered and that was worth a little discomfort. Hina's mouth watered at the thought of fresh roasted bird for dinner. It had been a long time since she'd eaten any kind of meat.

The black and red bird on her backpack was quiet. "You okay back there, little bird?" she said, softly.

No response. No matter.

"I'm gonna make a fire," Kai said.

"Okay. I'll take care of this." Hina gestured with the game bird. "And you, little bird," she said. "I'm taking off my backpack now."

The bird was muttering as she set the backpack down, almost words, but Hina couldn't quite make them out. Otherwise it didn't move, though it watched her closely.

She let it be, there were a lot of things to do now. And she was sure it would come around with food. Food. She grinned.

Hina found a fallen branch to lean on, and began to dress the bird. Mrs Fischer had a big cleaver that she used to cut off the wings and the heads of the quail, but Hina's everyday cooking knife would have to do. It was a little tricky to get a good cut without a solid surface beneath her, but she managed.

Next, remove the entrails and the other bits that weren't good to eat. Carefully. Mrs Fischer would do—something. A cut down the bottom? Sounds about right. Hina gave it a try. She pulled out all of the bits on the inside and left them in a pile on the ground. And hmm. "Hey, little bird," she pointed down. "This is for you, if you want it."

The black bird croaked and then croaked again. It hopped in Hina's direction, dragging its injured wing. Soon it was picking through the off-cuts happily with its beak and claws. "Break-fast," it muttered between bites, "break-fast."

As for the rest, they only had one pot, which was full of beans, so frying was out. Hina figured she had two options: she could cut the bird up and dump it in with the beans. But the pot was already pretty full, and this was a lot of bird—seemed like a stretch. Or she could roast it over the fire on a stick? Yeah, that sounded great. They could eat most of it that way, and add the bits that didn't cook properly in with the beans. They'd even have leftovers for tomorrow.

Hina balanced the dressed bird in left hand while she went to look for a roasting stick. Carrying it with her was messy and awkward, but better than some wild animal—she glanced at the black bird, who was still rooting through the off cuts—better than something getting into it while both she and Kai were distracted.

A short walk in nearby forest and she found a suitable branch, two fingers thick and longer than her arm. She trimmed off a few wayward twigs with her knife—balancing the stick between her knees while she used the knife with her right hand. The knife was getting blunt, which wasn't a surprise given all of the mistreatment. They'd need to find a tinker to sharpen it in Blandmanch when they got there.

She picked out a few more of similar size, imagining a framework of sticks to hold the bird over the fire. And then they'd just have to turn it every now and then while it cooked. The process had been briefly described in her campfire book.

Prepared stick in hand, Hina impaled the raw bird and stuck the end into the ground. That would keep it out of the dirt and out of the reach of any nearby scavengers.

And then she picked the string out of her bag and got to work on setting up a frame. She settled on a design with three sticks on either side, tied together at the top, and then the piece that the meat was threaded through could span the two.

By the time she was done, the fire was burning cheerfully. Hina set the game bird on the frame, across the fire, and took a seat on the ground. "Now we wait," she said.

The black and red bird hopped back over to Hina's bag and climbed back on top of it. "Good bird," it said.

"You're welcome, little bird, any time," Hina said. "You know what, you're going to need a name. Any suggestions?"

The bird croaked.