After The Hunt

[Sheva]

25th Summer 512AV
It was another day in the winter city, the residents of Avanthal were hard at work trying to return their city to its former glory. Meanwhile in a familiar clearing near the edge of the forest, kneeling in the middle of the clearing was Sheva. Nate had agreed to meet her here today for another hunting trip but she had decided to arrive a few hours early to practice some of her other skills. The people of Avanthal didn't seem to mind magic but it was always safer to practice somewhere isolated.
.
Sheva was currently using a stick she had found to carve out a sigil that she hoped could be used as a trap. She had been at hard at work for the past few hours working on the series of glyphs. First she had cleared the small area of the thin sheet of snow that covered the ground. Then for several minutes she had carved a large focus glyph into the ground. The barrier was the more time consuming part of the sigil, and Sheva suspected she had been at work on it for atleast an hour, carefully drawing the series of glyhps surrounding the focus glyph. Currently she was finishing off the final glyph, the trigger which had proved more than difficult to draw, but when she was done Sheva was satisfied with the finished result. She may not have been great at glyphing, but that was the best part about it, glyphing only required reinforcing the basic concepts and Sheva felt that the immense amount of time she had spent on the sigil compensated for her lack of skill.
,
Next was the important part, she had to charge the focus glyph in order for it to be of use. Sheva decided she would combine it with her reimancy, a burst of fire to shock and disorientate the animal allowing for her to finish it with an arrow. So slowly she focused her djed as she began to excrete it in the for of gaseous res. She forced the res to spray into the glyph while simultaneously transmuting it to fire. The flames flew into the glyph and disappeared as if they had been absorbed by the cold ground itself. Then the barrier went up aswell as the trigger, the first creature to step on the sigil would trigger the barrier into de activating and release the spell that was stored by the focus glyph which in turn would disorientate her prey. Or atleast that was how it would work in theory. Finally she layed an apple in the center of of the trap finishing it. Sheva took a step back admiring her work just in time to notice Nate arrive.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate had spent the morning with Ashca, as was becoming the norm. The dog seemed to be growing more attached to him day by day, and he was more than pleased about it. The pair had not gone hunting together yet; he wanted to wait until he was sure they meshed well enough.

They were currently both laying on the floor in his room, Nate on his back with his hands behind his head, Ashca with her head on his chest. The dog gave a yawn, which caused saliva to drip onto Nate's shirt. "Nice one...thanks Ash." He pushed the dog off of him and sat up, plucking at the damp patch. Ascha looked at him curiously for a moment, and then jumped up to settle on the bed instead. Nate shook his head in bemusement before grabbing a scarf.
He wrapped it round his neck and grabbed his bow before turning back to the dog. "You stay here." Ashca didn't so much as bat an eyelid, and he rolled his eyes before heading out the door.

Nate crunched through the snow as he made his way out of the city. He passed the groups of people still rebuilding the Icewall Gates. They were being raised at quite an impressive rate. Predators were becoming less and less common in the city itself now. He broke into an easy jog, heading towards the edge of the nearby forest. The clearing wasn't far past the first line of trees and only took him a couple of chimes to reach it.

He paused as he did, glancing down at the ground. It had been cleared of snow, and what Nate recognised to be glyphs were scratched into it, though he couldn't tell one glyph from another. It took him a moment to realise that Sheva had been the one to draw them all out, and this took him by surprise. His eyebrows rose as she turned to look at him.
"Uh...what'cha doing?"

[Sheva]

Sheva shot Nate a friendly smile as he entered the clearing, it seemed her sigil had caught him by surprise. Perhaps because it was uncommon for kelvics to learn magic, or just because it was unexpected.
"Hey...well I'm trying my hand at a magical trap. When an animal steps on the glyph in the center there should be a disorientating burst of fire, giving us time to swoop in for the kill. Or atleast that's what's supposed to happen. But we can come back to it later, after we hunt."
Sheva laughed awkwardly hoping that it would infact work in the way she planned. As Nate stepped closer she noticed a scent coming from him, or rather a stench. Sheva's nose wrinkled slightly at the musty smell.
"Why do you stink of dog?"
Her eyebrows raised suspiciously as they began to walk deeper into the forest. Her sense of smell would be less useful now as the snow was getting thicker again, hiding scents beneath it.

[Nate Frostfawn]

'A magical trap?' Nate peered at the glyph circle curiously. He assumed that the apple placed in its centre was the bait, but besides that he couldn't see how some drawings would be able to trap something. His brows knitted together in confusion. He turned back to the girl and was about to ask her about it when he registered the look of discomfort on her face.

Nate couldn't help but grin. "Ah well you see...I have a dog." He imagined that the smell of Ashca wasn't particularly what Sheva wanted to have hanging around. In hindsight he should have changed his shirt. He stepped after her, and the pair wandered deeper into the trees. "I bought a dog to help me track when I go hunting on my own." He looked sidelong at her and grinned. "She might have drooled on me earlier."

As usual, Nate shoved his hands in his pockets. "So... how do you know magic?" Yes, it was a bit of a personal question, but he was genuinely curious. Nate had never known a Kelvic to practice magic before; he didn't even know that they could. He thought back to her description of the glyph trap, his mind lingering on the mention of fire. There had been no mechanism that he could see (not being able to read glyphs), and his brow creased in thought.

He knew that some people used glyphs to store magic, but that was about as far as his knowledge stretched. Although, if magic could be stored in glyphs, surely there was a way to get it out again... His eyebrows rose and he glanced at Sheva again. "You know reimancy!" It made sense to him now. Well, the trap made a little more sense, the fact that the Kelvic knew magic still baffled him.

[Sheva]

Sheva listened to him as her eyes scanned the surroundings for any clues to wildlife. Ofcourse, he was a hunter so he had bought a dog. Sheva felt a small spark of jealousy which she knew was ridiculous because Nate thought of her as a person or atleast that's what she hoped. Ugh, filthy creatures dogs...always slobbering everywhere they went but Sheva found it hard to be annoyed with Nate especially when he had that boyish grin on his face. The young man was charming, effortlessly so but Sheva tried not to let it show on her face or body language.
.
He was clearly curious as to how she knew magic, his first question was how she had learnt it. They walked in silence for a moment as Sheva tried herself to remember the days she spent learning magic from the wise old mage. Those days seemed so far away, as if from a previous lifetime. She let out a soft girlish giggle after Nate's sudden realization that she was a reimancer. He had obviously been trying to figure out the inner workings of the glyph and she had to admit it hadn't taken him very long, she was impressed.
"Yes, I know reimancy, fire and water. And to answer your first question I learned magic from a wise old mage a long time ago, too long ago. I lived with him for a long time and he would teach me magic and I learnt happily because it pleased him. That was in Zeltiva. "
Sheva paused again lost in thoughts of the past as they continued to walk. She shot Nate another quick glance seeing the curious expression on his face.
"And what about you mister hunter? Any secret skills or past I should know about? Or have you always been a hunter in the winter city?"
Sheva's tone was more teasing than curious although she was curious as to the charming young man's past. He had obviously not spent his whole life in Avanthal, Sheva could see that by his slightly tanned skin, a warm gentle sunkissed colour.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate walked beside the Kelvic in silence, listening carefully to her words. Fire and water reimancy... It was a curious combination of elements. Nate didn't know much about the magic, but he would have thought one received complimenting elements rather than opposites. Perhaps magic didn't follow logical pathways? His best friend knew water reimancy, and Nate had always been a little jealous of him because of it.

He looked sidelong at Sheva and met her eye, smiling when she asked him a question in return. "Secret skills? I wish!" He grinned. Nate was essentially what people saw on the surface. He didn't really hide things because truthfully, he was rubbish at it. He could keep other peoples secrets no problem; Nate was by no means untrustworthy. He just didn't like to dampen down his own personality.

"I've lived here for my whole life." He paused. "Well, besides a short trip to Syliras with my parents when I was younger." He gave a small smile, remembering the days when his family was complete. "But that was a while ago. Mother and I came back here and I've never left since." Of course, there was more to tell, but right now they were supposed to be hunting.

"Anyways, we should probably try and find some rabbits!" Nate grinned and waited for Sheva to lead the pair on.

[Sheva]

Sheva listened to Nate's story as they went on, there had to be more to it than that but she assumed the rest was personal. So he had been to Syliras? Sheva had always dreamed of seeing the city for herself, she had heard that the city itself was an immense fortress built of stone. But she would have to ask him about that later.
.
It had been a long uneventful walk, the pair had been searching in mutual silence for a while now with no signs of prey and Sheva was beginning to worry that they might not find anything today. At that moment as if by coincidence Sheva heard the gentle sound of digging. She put her hand out signaling to Nate to be quiet as she crouched slowly arming herself with her bow as they walked closer. It sounded like, something small, digging at the ground, no wait two, three different creatures all in one place. It seemed that they had stumbled on some rabbits digging themselves a new den, although they hadn't dug very deep just yet. The pair stepped closer as the rabbits came into sight, yes three all waiting to be killed by the hunter and the tigress.
.
Sheva couldn't help but lick her lips as they stalked closer to the rabbits until they were as close as they dared to go, watching the prey as she knocked an arrow and drew the string...assuming Nate would do the same. There she sat waiting for Nate to give the signal.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate stopped immediately when Sheva held her hand out and watched her intently as she pinpointed whatever it was she had heard. He mimicked her, slowly pulling his bow from his back and stepped quietly alongside. As they neared, his human ears picked up the faint noise of scratching. 'Ah, rabbits...'

The trio of bunnies quickly came into view, the little mammals oblivious to the two hunters that approached. They crept as close as they dared, and Nate carefully strung an arrow to his bowstring. Even if they were quick, it was likely that they would only catch two of the rabbits. That, however would be plenty for now. Sheva had also readied her bow, and seemed to be waiting for a signal. Nate squinted, aimed and nodded, right before loosing his arrow.

The rabbits were a lot smaller than the wolf had been last time, so the margin for error was both bigger and smaller simultaneously. If he missed, he missed, but if his arrow found the the creature he was more likely to kill it in one shot. As it was, his arrow found its way through the back of his quarry's head, killing the thing instantly. The third rabbit, completely terrified, had bolted away through the trees.

Nate retrieved his kill, waited for Sheva to do the same and then fell into step beside her as they headed back to the clearing. As they walked, he hummed a random tune, the rabbit swinging from where he held it in his hand.

[Sheva]

After Nate gave the signal she followed suit, but her arrow flew anything but straight. Luckily, she was close enough to the target that her arrow hit the rabbit in its stomach area although she had aimed for the head. The rabbit struggled for a few moments before finally giving up the fight. Sheva smiled having noticed that Nate's arrow had hit it's target aswell, although his aim was truer. She followed him retrieving her kill while mentally scolding herself for her poor marksmanship before returning to Nate's side as they began walking back to the trap.
.
Nate must have been satisfied with the outcome of the hunt because as they walked to the clearing he began humming a pleasant tune. Sheva tried unsuccessfully to hide a big smile as he hummed, she thought it was adorable but chose not to say anything that might cause him to stop. So instead she just walked in silence with smile on her face as she took in the melody.
.
As they neared the clearing now only a few meters away though not yet in sight, there was a noise as a quick spray of fire shot up a few meters above the ground. Sheva broke into a jog curious to see whether her trap had worked or not. When she arrived there was the distinct smell of cooked flesh and the rabbit, dead. She had given the trap too much fire and it had half cooked the rabbit instantly. She also realized that carving the sigil into the earth wasn't a very sturdy medium since the rabbit had disrupted the glyph therefore triggering it too early. Well, atleast they had caught another rabbit.
"Hey how about we have one now? We earned it."
The sun would set soon but Sheva didn't mind being here at night, infact she liked the idea. Nate however, was not a kelvic and might not feel as at home in the forrest as she did.
"We don't have to worry about wild animals because they don't like fire, believe me I know."
But Sheva would not force him. It was completely his choice. And so she waited peacefully for his reply and began to make a fire gathering fallen branches for wood and stacking them neatly and lighting the pile with a quick, small flame from her reimancy.
"So what is Syliras like? I heard it's amazing! Hopefully one day I'll get to see it for myself."

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate's humming was abruptly cut short as a burst of flame came from somewhere before them. He shot a glance at Sheva, but the girl had already picked up her pace. Nate fell into an easy jog and he quickly joined her in the clearing.

He raised his eyebrows as he entered. Sheva's trap had obviously worked, a little too well by the look of it. He looked pointedly at the charred rabbit and then at the girl. "Was it meant to do that?"

He smiled and gave a light nod at her suggestion. Nate was always hungry. He placed his kill on the snow and glanced round the clearing. The sun was starting to set, he could see the sky starting to take on the pastel hues it did each evening. His mouth twitched at the girls comment, eventually letting out a chuckle. "Is that from firsthand experience? When you've been a cat I mean." If her feline form shied at fire, it was ironic that her human form could utilise the element to her advantage.

He wasn't going anywhere however. They were close enough to the forest edge that they weren't in too much immediate danger. Plus, they both had bows, Sheva had fire and she also happened to be a tiger. He picked up a few branches and chucked them on the fire as it caught the flames before setting in the snow next to it.

"Syliras? It's...big. I don't remember it in huge detail 'cause it was a while ago. I'm pretty sure the whole town is a castle though." He paused for a moment, trying to retrieve a memory. "Yeah the whole city is inside the castle. It was pretty amazing to me at the time, though I was only nine." He smiled. "Why do you want to go there?"

oocSorry for such a late reply, it's been a crazy couple of days!