"Alright. Ready?" Yilka quietly asked his fellow beside him.
"I am ready." Degolani replied to Yilka as they both eyed their prey from behind the trees.
As they exchanged a nod, they charged from behind the trees into a snowy plain where three tall, furry, two legged, long armed, sharp toothed beasts were digging rodents out of the soil. At first, Yilka bashed one of them in the knee with his cudgel, making the tall beast fall on one knee. He then lethally hit the beast in its head now that its head was lower. Degolani then grabbed Yilka by the waist and threw him high and hard, sending the man spinning across the air towards another tall beast. As Yilka was flying through the air, he hit his cudgel on the head of another tall beast and landed hard on the ground. Once two of the tall beasts had fallen, Degolani charged the third and used his arm strength to grab the beast's leg and raise it off the ground. The beast couldn't balance itself on one leg for long and soon fell on its back. While it was on its back, Degolani still held on to the leg, but soon the beast sat up and grabbed Degolani with both of its long arms. Before the beast could rip Degolani in half, Yilka rushed to help and hit the beast in the back of its skull with his cudgel. All three of the beasts had now been felled, and the two hunters looked at their bounty.
"Well done. We did good today. Would be a lot easier if Venamo had enchanted my weapon before sending me out here. But are you all right?" Yilka asked his fellow.
"I am good. Not harmed. Are you all right?" Degolani asked back.
"I'm good. Think we can drag this to the camp or should we ask for some more hands?" Yilka asked.
Degonali processed what he heard and translated in his head.
"I can drag two." Degolani replied.
"Great. I'll try to drag the one." Yilka said.
Degolani then put one foot of one beast between his arm and ribs, and then one foot of another beast between his other arm and ribs. He began dragging them away while Yilka was trying his best to drag the remaining dead beast with all his might.
"I can't do it. I'll come back here to pick it up with some help." Yilka said and gave up.
He then jogged and caught up to Degolani and walked beside him while wiping blood from the tip of his cudgel.
"These will make for a couple more tents. The families of Harva and Maru can finally have their own tents instead of having to share with others." Yilka stated.
"Is nice." Degolani replied.
"And enough meat to everybody as well." Yilka added.
"Is very nice." Degolani added.
"That's the third successful hunt we've had in a row. You've become a reliable help. I appreciate that. And so does the tribe." Yilka said to Degolani.
"Makes me happy. But my home is not here." Degolani replied.
"I know. I don't know when's the right time for you to go home. I won't stop you from going." Yilka said.
"But the fine folk need me here too. What to do?" Degolani asked.
"The choice is yours. I don't want to be here for the rest of my life either. I'll take my home back again. One day. A summer and an autumn have already passed since we came here. And winter should be coming to an end around this time. No clue if it will end. That's up to Varma. Wherever she is." Yilka spoke.
"Winter not ends?" Degolani asked.
"The winter has always been longer here in Rarhea. It's a cold place, and the Fire Feather usually never bothered coming here to spread warmth. Or at least that's what... that's what Nofa told me. We'll see if the new Fire Feather will." Yilka replied.
"Maybe new one cares more." Degolani wondered.
"I hope so. I really do hope so." Yilka replied.
"We reach camp before dark?" Degolani asked, changing the subject.
"You remember where you left the bag? If we don't reach home, we'll camp out somewhere safe and quiet and continue in the morning." Yilka replied.
"I left bag behind big rock over there." Degolani told Yilka and nodded to the direction of said big rock.
Yilka went over and found the bag and took it.
"Found it." Yilka said as he reunited with Degolani.
"Your aunt Suiv really good at skinning animals." Degolani said.
"She sure is. In a family of hunters she had to be." Yilka said.
He then noticed that Degolani said nothing in response. He looked at the tall man and saw that he was looking somewhere. Yilka then also looked the same way, and saw a man with a red beard and a fur tunic standing among the trees while holding a walking stick and a knapsack. Yilka raised a hand to greet the strange man and to show that he means no harm.
"He's a Rarhean. Also called the Wicked people. They live here." Yilka said quietly to Degolani as they kept walking.
The walk continued but the home camp wasn't getting any closer due to the previous night's heavy snowfall making the terrain hard to travel. It became clear to Yilka that home wouldn't be reached before dark.
"This spot is about as safe as any that we'll find here. It's even, and no vantage points for anything to jump us. Alright if we stop here for the night and set up the shelter?" Yilka asked.
"Sound good." Degolani said and dropped the beasts he was carrying.
Yilka dropped the bag he was carrying and took out a thick rolled rug and four wooden spikes. He also took a bundle of sticks and an odd looking flower out of there.
"I'll make a fire. Can you set up the shelter?" Yilka said to Degolani.
"I can." Degolani replied and grabbed the necessary supplies for the job.
Yilka kicked the snow out of a spot on the ground and put the sticks there, and then he took the flower, removed its bud and rubbed the bud between his hands hard. Sparks fell from between his hands as he rubbed the flower's bud. Most of the sparks fell on the sticks, and soon enough there was fire.
"That was the last fireflower we had. We'll have to keep an eye out for them on our way back." Yilka said out loud.
"If I notice them, I take them." Degolani promised while puncturing the ground with spikes.
Once the little bonfire was lit and the tent made of hide was standing, the two fellows sat around the fire. Yilka pulled out a thin book from the pouch of his fur coat, and when Degolani saw it, he looked fearful.
"I know you don't like it, but you need to get better at the language if you want to speak with our folk better." Yilka said and opened a page from the thin book where Varma always wrote her poems.
"Too hard." Degolani complained.
"The more you learn, the easier it gets." Yilka said in an understanding tone.
"I know. I listen." Degolani stated.
"You know how this goes. When you hear a word you don't understand, stop me and I will explain it to you." Yilka said patiently.
And so the darkening winter evening in the forests by the mountain range went by with a learning session by the fire. After that was done with, Yilka asked his friend to repeat the new words he learned once more, and then it was decided mutually that Yilka would stand guard and Degolani would go to sleep for the first half of the night. As Yilka sat by the fire, he heard something that caught his attention.
"What is that? Is that gnawing?" He thought to himself and sat up.
He went to the direction of the sound while holding a burning stick. The sound came over from where Degolani had left the two big beasts that were hunted earlier. Over at the carcasses Yilka saw that a pack of canine scavenger animals were eating away at the game that he and his friend had felled earlier.
"Hey! Off! Out of here!" Yilka shouted at the animals and waved his burning stick around at the animals that quickly ran away as a pack.
Yilka then inspected the carcasses and saw that big chunks had been torn and bitten off. Bones of the beasts were showing at certain parts.
"Damn this. Nobody's getting any tents out of these now. And their teeth even spoiled the meat too. Of course this would happen." Yilka quietly talked to himself while gritting his teeth.
"We still have to get what we can out of them. Got to keep my ears sharp from now on. Ngh." Yilka bitterly spoke to himself.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3whjeKCWsb
Once a new morning rose in the land of mountains and tundras, the echoes of the mountain eagles blared in the hills. Yilka awoke inside the hide tent. He came out of the tent and saw that Degolani was still sitting in his own fur coat by the pile of sticks that had burned to ashes now.
"Did anything happen when I slept?" Yilka asked.
"No. Only birds singing all night." Degolani replied.
"Nothing touched our loot?" Yilka asked.
"Nothing. I watched." Degolani replied.
"Good. Thank you. Ready to go home?" Yilka asked.
"I am ready. I can pack the tent." Degolani said as he stood up.
Once the tent got packed in the large sack, and what was left of the beast carcasses had been grabbed, the rest of the way back to the camp continued in the snowy terrain. Before the morning had turned into noon, the fellows saw a familiar trail that had formed over the period that the tribe had spent in the area. Following the trail they found the place they call home. An open land area where all trees had been chopped down to make space for the six tents that now stand in the area. The six tents were in the formation of a circle, and in the middle was a bonfire and a spit. From a couple tents they could hear loud coughing. By one of the tents was a stone with Vaino's name written on it. As Yilka passed it, he touched it and paid his respects to it, and then entered the tent it was near. Degolani dropped the carcasses he was dragging and also entered the tent.
"We're back." Yilka announced once he was in the tent that had so little room that he had to get on his knees.
"Thank all that is good that you came back safe." Suiv said as she walked on her knees over to Yilka and hugged him.
"We got catch. But animals ate much." Degolani said.
"We can still make something out of it. Whatever it is, it's better than nothing." Suiv said and then knee walked over to Degolani and gave him a hug too, even if still a little hesitant one.
"I also found more fireflowers." Degolani said and took a few of said flowers out of the pouch of his coat.
"Well done. It's very useful." Suiv said and pulled away from Degolani.
"So what else did you boys bring home?" She then asked.
"We felled three furhands, but we couldn't drag all three with us home. Dego managed to drag two of them here. I'll tell the others to come with me to retrieve the third. Let's just hope it hasn't been eaten like the other two were." Yilka said.
"Well, let's go look at them to see if we can still get anything out of them at least. Bringing home two still helps." Suiv said optimistically.
As Suiv left, Yilka noticed on her pillow a damp spot, as if she had cried recently. He knew the reason why, and didn't think of it too much. By this point it had become common at nights, and Suiv wasn't the only one. Yilka and Degolani also left the tent and went to where Suiv was already inspecting the hunted preys to see what parts were still usable or edible.
"No. A tent won't be made out of these, but a good coat could be whipped up from the skin of the back, and there's an untouched bit here in the ribs as well. Could make a couple of hats out of that. We need to make more clothes in case more folk turn up here still." Suiv explained.
"Right. Two days ago we did find another camp of our folk out on the hunt. We told them where ours is. Never know when they may come asking for help too." Yilka added.
"While you were gone, somebody did actually come here speaking Uhmakian. He wanted firewood and offered sweetener in exchange. I accepted the offer because we've got plenty of wood here, and once Vena comes back, he can quickly grow new trees anyway." Suiv told them.
"So you still think he'll return?" Yilka asked.
"Everyone who isn't here right now will return and life will go back to what it was." Suiv spoke seriously, as if trying to convince herself.
"What is sweetener?" Degolani asked.
"Dust that makes food taste good." Yilka explained in simple terms.
"Why we need it?" Degolani asked.
"We don't, but they needed firewood." Suiv replied impatiently.
"I understand now." Degolani said.
"I know you would. Could you fetch me my knife, please?" Suiv asked with a calmer tone.
Without replying Degolani went inside the tent to look for the knife.
"Sweetener is pretty precious. How much wood did you give them for it?" Yilka interrogated Suiv with.
"Enough. Just... enough." Suiv replied.
"How much?" Yilka asked again.
"Suiv! A big butterfly is here in the tent!" Degolani shouted from the tent.
"A butterfly? In this climate?" Suiv said out loud and went inside the tent as well.
Yilka followed her in the tent as well, and in the tent they all saw a green-brown large butterfly eating away at the sweetener in the brown bag.
"No no no no! I paid for it!" Suiv said and began shushing the butterfly away.
"Wait! That butterfly! It's Blueberry!" Yilka said and protected the butterfly from Suiv.
"Blueberry? Nofa's butterfly? Wasn't that blue?" Suiv asked.
"It changed at one point. But that's Blueberry and I know it." Yilka insisted.
"Whoever it is, it can't eat what I traded wood for." Suiv said and shooshed Bluberry again.
Blueberry then flew and landed on Yilka's shoulder, as if it remembered him.
"Blueberry, can you lead me to Nofa?" Yilka asked the butterfly.
Whether Blueberry understood Yilka's words or not remained a mystery, but in either case it flew away from him and exited through the small crack at the flaps of the tent. Without any further words, Yilka followed Blueberry outside the tent and saw it flying on a low altitude towards the hills covered in forest. Suiv and Degolani only looked on as Yilka ran towards the hill chasing a butterfly.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmAiByy1JR
Following Blueberry proved to be harder than Yilka had first thought. Before he realised it, he found himself climbing the steep side of a mountain with his woolly gloves that had a poor grip. He wouldn't let Blueberry out of his sight except when looking for a foothold. After pulling himself over a ledge and finding a flat spot to take a breather, he put his gloves in the front pouch of his coat and looked up where he saw Blueberry still flying on higher along the side of the mountain. Yilka knew that he couldn't wait too long or he'd lose Blueberry. With bare hands he began grabbing at rocks that were on the snow covered mountain hill.
"I'll climb over this whole damn mountain if I have to." Yilka spoke to himself and grit his teeth while climbing.
Fortunately for Yilka, Blueberry didn't fly all the way to the top, but stopped at a hole at the side of the mountain. Yilka climbed to the hole with his hands bleeding and his boots worn out, and discovered that it was a cave. The daylight gave light for the cave where there wasn't many things inside, aside from burned fireflowers and burnt pieces of wood and piles of dirt with small berries growing on them.
"What did you bring home?" A familiar voice said from the back of the shallow cave where a ball of furry rugs was rocking back and forth.
"She found sweetener and couldn't help herself." Yilka said from where he was standing.
For a moment, no words were spoken. Blueberry landed next to the ball of furry rugs and then from inside the fluffy ball, Nofa's shy eyes peeked out as the top half of her head stuck out. When she registered what she saw, she sprung up from inside the ball of rugs and rushed to Yilka and looked him in the eyes as she took his bloody hands.
"Yilka. You survived. I thought... I thought that you got swept away with that wave. But you got out. And you came to find me. I... I thought..." Nofa spoke in awe and joy as she couldn't even get the words out as she was shivering.
"I missed seeing you. Has enough time passed that you can forgive me?" Yilka replied in simple words.
Nofa then locked onto Yilka with a strong and long hug as she warmed her cheek on Yilka's shoulder. Yilka put his arms around Nofa in return and embraced her. Both enjoyed the moment for as long as it needed to last, and when they both pulled away, they had questions.
"How did you even find me?" Nofa asked.
"Blueberry found our camp. Or the sweetener in our tent. I just followed her home. But how have you fared here? Do you want to come to our camp instead of staying here?"
"Blueberry has been retrieving me food and rugs and dirt. She can make berries grow on dirt, since she's the ruler of life and fertility now. If I need to come down, she just carries me down and back up again. It's safe here because nothing can reach here. Nothing but you, I guess." Nofa answered and chuckled a little and then silently looked at Yilka again.
"I'll come here again if this is where you want to stay." Yilka said in a joking manner even though he meant precisely what he said.
"Or... perhaps you could stay here..." Nofa shyly suggested.
Yilka went quiet and looked at the floor.
"I couldn't. I'm needed home. There's a few of us down there and I couldn't leave them." Yilka regretted to inform her.
"I see. And I understand. But I can send Blueberry to bring you here every now and then." Nofa suggested.
"I'd love that. But I still feel like..." Yilka began saying and then walked to the exit of the cave.
"My work is still unfinished. Our lands are still under a boot. I won't die here in the mountains. The scouts told us that our home village is still manned by the invaders who are using it as a training camp now. I can't let that stand. I have to get done what my brother hasn't gotten done." Yilka said as he looked at the landscapes from the ledge.
Nofa joined him and stood next to him, also looking at the landscapes where snow from the sky was falling into the rocks and forests.
"You're never going to give up. I knew you wouldn't." She stated.
"So long will the tribe warrior keep striking as the defiance in his sword lasts." Yilka said.
"Pardon?" Nofa asked.
"Something that Varma once wrote. It resonates with me. Backing down and accepting defeat makes me disgusted with myself." Yilka confessed.
"When you're ready to go do what needs to be done, I'll be with you. Every step of the way. Like I promised you before." Nofa assured.
"I don't want to make you feel like you must come with me." Yilka said.
"But I want to. I don't want to sit here and wonder if you're alive, like I have been all summer, autumn and winter. I need to be with you out there. And just like back then, you could use my help and wisdom." Nofa made the case.
"I'm not denying how helpful you've been. I'm just not sure how great my chances of surviving are. Venamo is better than me at everything, and he hasn't succeeded. I don't even know if he got close." Yilka admitted.
"You beat him in a duel. And with my help, our chances are better." Nofa reminded him.
"You really want to?" Yilka asked.
"I couldn't refuse the chance." Nofa admitted.
"How prepared are you?" Yilka asked.
"Not at all." Nofa answered.
"Me neither. Should we go to the camp and start planning and preparing?" Yilka suggested.
"Gladly." Nofa replied.
"And another thing." Yilka said.
"What is it?" Nofa asked curiously.
"Tell Blueberry to return all the rugs she has brought you here. Their original owners might need them." Yilka reminded her.
"You're right. I should." Nofa admitted.
"She can do that once we've gotten to the camp. Blueberry can take you there first." Yilka suggested.
"No. I don't want to be with them alone. I know what they'll think of me when they see me. You go first." Nofa replied.
"Or what if we just do it like this?" Yilka said and pulled Nofa close to him with his left arm and held her tight with his arm wrapped around her.
"You sure you can hold on to me?" Nofa asked.
"You'll hold on to me, will you?" Yilka asked.
"Of course I will." Nofa assured and wrapped both of her arms around Yilka.
"Call Blueberry here then." Yilka said to her.
Nofa did exactly what Yilka told, and Blueberry landed on her shoulder.
"Blueberry, my love. Take us to the same camp where you found Yilka. Hold on to Yilka's hand as you take us off, alright?" Nofa said to Blueberry.
Yilka raised his hand, and Blueberry wrapped its talons around two of Yilka's fingers, and off they all went. Nofa held on to Yilka like her life depended on it, because it did, and Yilka held on to her with his left arm as hard as he could. Together they flew down the mountain's side and over the trees of the forest, and fortunately for them, Blueberry remembered where the camp was. The further Blueberry flew from the cave, the heavier the snowfall got. Before long, the snowfall was so thick that it was hard to see anything.
Blueberry had no clue where she was anymore, and flew around aimlessly, and when the flight had been suspiciously long, Yilka noted it. He looked down, and something down there caught his eye. A Blue spark was moving quickly down on earth.
"Nofa! Do you see that down there?" Yilka asked Nofa with a loud voice just to be heard.
Nofa looked down and saw what Yilka saw. She called to Blueberry to get her attention, but in the heavy wind the butterfly couldn't hear Nofa. The light on the ground was moving with about the same speed as Blueberry, so it was easy to keep up with. Blueberry seemed to be following the blue light, since it had nothing else to go off on. But after a little more chasing, the light stopped moving, and so did Blueberry. Blueberry began descending towards the stationary light. Nofa and Yilka touched the ground soon enough, and the light was still there. Yilka grabbed his cudgel from his belt and Nofa kept her eyes on the target as well. They both heard frustrated cussing in a language that they couldn't understand, but they both recognised the voice. They also heard dogs barking from the direction of the voice and the light.
"Hey!" Yilka shouted.
The light began moving towards the young pair, and Yilka raised his weapon. Once the light was closer, Yilka and Nofa saw what it was. It was an electric staff, and holding it was Lapis himself. Something about him had changed however. On his neck were gills now, and his head and face were hairless.
"Good to see familiar face out here." Lapis said.
"Why are you out here?" Yilka asked and felt suspicious.
"Because I'm not sure if my friend here will survive. I don't know how to help him, and I can't return to the academy now that it's in the enemy's hands. If he dies, he deserves to die in the midst of his own." Lapis said and pointed his staff towards his sled that had one of its blades broken, and on the seat of the sled was Venamo, unconscious and with bandages around his torso.
Yilka walked over to the sled to get a closer look. He looked down at Venamo who had snow and snot on his beard and who was showing signs of life.
"So you failed." Yilka said and exhaled through his nose.
"You don't seem too worried for him." Lapis wondered.
Yilka just looked at Venamo coldly for a moment.
"I don't much care anymore. But we'll take him home anyway once this snow stops falling." Yilka said.
And just then, the snow stopped falling.
"There." Lapis said.
"Did you do that?" Nofa asked him.
"I am the ruler of waters. I can make it happen and make it stop when I please. I spawned this snowfall to hide myself on these unknown lands, but now it's a nuisance." Lapis explained.
"Can this sled move? The blade is pretty badly broken." Nofa wondered.
"If the dogs pull it and I we push it, we can move it." Lapis replied.
"Let's help then. I guess I can do that much for him." Nofa said and got behind the sled.
"I've got no clue where the camp is now." Yilka said.
"I'll send Blueberry to scout and we'll follow her. How about that?" Nofa suggested.
"That works. Well thought." Yilka replied and got ready to push.
ns216.73.216.95da2
