Closed Hunting on Commission 3 (Dravite)

[Lian Windrunner]

Timestamp: 45th Day of Summer, 515 AV Lian nodded at the suggestion that they smoke the bear meat. He trusted that Dravite knew far more than he did on the matter since he had never even considered hunting a grass bear before today, so had not paid that much attention to what their meat sold for. It was decided that he would be the one to bring the deer they'd killed to the pavilion they were meant for. Lian knew that it was best to butcher a kill as soon as possible. And since these deer were meant to be a wedding feast, it was important that they be the very best quality possible. But Lian also knew that the pavilion might want the organs as well as the meat. The heart, and liver were especially good, but just about everything could be used for something. If nothing else, the other organs would make a good meal for any hunting cats or dogs the pavilion might have. Lian knew the very basics of how to butcher a kill. But he was well aware that he was more likely to make a mistake while doing so than not given his lack of experience in the process. And the last thing he wanted to do was ruin the deer that were meant to be offered as a wedding feast. There was something else to consider as well. Lian didn't think he had the means to transport the organs back to Endrykas without ruining them, and ending up with a huge mess to clean up. He could put them in a yvas bag, but the bag would be ruined when it was soaked with blood. He decided not to butcher the deer before bringing them back to Endrykas. If the pavilion they belonged to wanted him to help with the task when he got there, he would be happy to do so. But he would leave that decision up to them. So Lian used a rope he had brought to tie the deer together, and secure both to one of the yvas rings. Talise snorted and pinned her ears back as he did so. She didn't like the scent of blood and death, and had no hesitation in showing her displeasure and unease. But with Lian's reassurance, she settled down, willing to tolerate it out of trust in her human. Lian watched Dravite work for a while before leaving. His partner removed the arrows first, though Lian noticed that he left the arrow in the bear's eye. Lian couldn't help but grin at that. He was too practical to want to lose a valuable arrow, but the rush of fierce pride and excitement he felt every time he saw his arrow buried in the bear's eye made him want to leave it right where it was...for a little while longer, at least. As he watched, Dravite cut down the center of the bear's belly, folding the hide back as he worked. Then it was time to go. Lian mounted Talise quickly, and urged her into a brisk trot. The ride back to Endrykas was uneventful. Every so often, Lian would stop and check the Web to make certain that he wasn't leading any predators to his home with the scent of blood, but there were none in the area close enough to smell the blood. Once back at Endrykas, Lian wove his way through the tents towards the pavilion the deer were meant for. It was one of the smaller pavilions of the Ruby Clan, a clan not known for their hunting prowess to begin with. Lian rarely had reason to deal with members of the Ruby Clan, so he was less familiar with that section of the city than he was with others. But news of a wedding spreads quickly, so it was easy for him to find them all the same. "You must be Lian, right? Zethar told us that you were one of the hunters who had been kind enough to accept our request." Lian looked at the elder who had greeted him. The small man's fingers were discolored. "I am." was all he said. The elder noticed him staring at his hands, and chuckled. "That's what happens when you spend your life working with dyes, young man. No amount of washing will ever wash the color off completely." As they spoke, women and children gathered around them, and quickly got to work. Within a few chimes, the deer were free from the ropes, and the work of butchering them had begun. "I can help with that if you'd like." Lian offered. The elder smiled, and nodded. "That would be greatly appreciated, young man." Lian dismounted, and got his hunting knife before moving over to one of the deer. He turned it onto its back, and began feeling along its rib cage with uncertain fingers until he felt the V shape that he knew to be the animal's sternum. Once he had located it, he inserted the knife into the carcass carefully. After making a small incision, he inserted two of his fingers, and checked to see if he had cut too deep. He could feel the hide wall, and the muscles beneath it that held the deer's organs in place. Without being able to see what he was doing, it was hard to be certain, but he didn't think that he had pierced any of the organs. At the very least, there wasn't a large amount of blood welling out of the incision the way there would be if he had ruptured an organ. So he removed his fingers, and began cutting once more. Remembering the lesson he had had last fall in mind, he cut from the sternum all the way down to the animal's crotch. As he did so, he tried to peel the hide back carefully as he had seen Dravite doing with the bear. But he quickly realized that he had no idea what he was doing, so he gave up. Instead, he focused on removing the organs as carefully as he could. It was hard work. He had to work slowly, or risk cutting himself up badly because the broken bones inside of the carcass were very sharp. Even so, his hands bore several minor lacerations by the time he was done. When he was finished, he paid his respects to the elder, and took his leave. Talise was feeling frisky, so once they had passed the edge of the city, Lian gave her her head, and they raced through the tall grass. It didn't take them long to reach the spot where Lian had left Dravite. The other man had finished skinning the bear, and was now rubbing salt into the hide. Lian joined him, helping where he could. He sliced the meat into more manageable chunks while Dravite worked on the hide. They worked in companionable silence, but Lian couldn't help grinning like a kid at the thought that he had helped to bring this powerful creature down. Had, in fact been the one to kill it. Whenever he glanced at Dravite, he couldn't help but laugh in sheer incredulous amazement, and relief. His laughter seemed to set Dravite off, because he would start laughing too. And when Dravite's eyes met his, the other man was the one to start laughing, only to set Lian off in turn. The work went quickly, and soon it was time to begin taking their spoils back to Endyrkas. It was decided that everything would be brought back to Dravite's pavilion. Lian was more than happy to agree with that decision. He wasn't proud of the single tent that he called home. It was a far cry from the pavilion he had grown up in. The two men rode together for the first trip so that Dravite could show Lian how to get to his pavilion. Lian was truly impressed with the camp, and he wasn't afraid to tell the other man so. Dravite's camp consisted of several tents, indicating that a number of people lived there. More than just the wife Dravite had mentioned earlier. It looked comfortable. Welcoming. If Lian were the type to get jealous of another person's prosperity, he would be quite jealous of his new friend. Instead, he was happy for the other man's success, and his determination to rebuild his own pavilion surged within him. It took several trips to carry everything back to Dravite's camp. With each trip they alternated who would go, and who would stay behind to guard what was left. By the time everything had been hauled back to the city, it was getting dark. There was still a lot of work left to do, so Lian sent a message to one of his neighbors, asking them to keep an eye on Seirei in his absence. She hadn't tried to run away before, so Lian wasn't truly concerned that she would make an attempt now. But it was better to be safe than sorry. By the time Lian had finished sending his message, Dravite had cooked a sliver of bear meat. Lian thanked the other man when he offered him a piece. He ate it slowly, savoring the taste. It wasn't often that he got the chance to eat bear meat. And while he liked the taste of deer and rabbits, a variety was always welcome. "I hope you're ready for a master class in cooking." Lian grinned. "A master class, huh? I look forward to it. I can use all the help I can get when it comes to cooking." he replied with a chuckle. Lian finished his meal. Then it was time to get back to work.

[Dravite]

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Endrykas, as beautiful and humble as it was to the Drykas, to outsiders it seemed like a prison; one did not simply leave the city of tents by foot or on horseback unless they knew the lay of the land and how to get where they were going all while avoiding the dangers of the surrounding grasslands. Dravite knew little of Lian's circumstances, but he had managed to pick up small hints of information here and there that told him Lian was worried about something, or more appropriately, someone escaping his clutches. "She won't go anywhere," he assured the man, "especially without Syna's light to guide her."

The man worked to get the fire pit in order, setting slow burning logs down. "These ones have a lot of sap," he pointed out to his hunting partner, "they burn a lot slower and create much more smoke. We need to filter the smoke upwards through the meat and trap it so that it cooks slowly."

They had a lot of bear to cook and only tonight to do it in; come dawn they would be carting freshly smoked bear meat to the traders of Endrykas to buy and sell of their own accord. Dravite was accustomed to working alone, so it took him a few chimes to realise that he needed to play the part of teacher and explain what he was doing as he worked. He set some large stones down in the fireplace and smiled when and where Lian offered some assistance, "these will hold the heat when the fire eventually burns out; they also hold the meat off the flames which we want to cook slowly rather than hot and fast."

Once that was done they set to work cutting the slabs of meat evenly, "I figure if we cut them roughly about the same size they should all cook evenly."

The horse lord used his hunting knife to carefully cut through the deep red meat, happy to see that Lian carried the same type of knife and was a very attentive student, learning quickly and sometimes going above and beyond without being asked to do something. They set large leaves down on the rocks and waited until the smoke found its way through the cracks, drying out the vegetation. Dravite waved for them to start setting the meat down and when they were finally done carting it from the tarp to the pit, Dravite got Lian to help him pitch a makeshift tent over the meat that would work to trap the smoke and heat of the fire. It was hard work and after a long day of hunting, Dravite felt completely worn out. He wiped the sweat from his brow and let his tired arms hang at his sides.
"The sap in that Nabato wood is very sweet and should flavour the meat quite nicely. We will have to check it every now and then, but it's important not to let too much heat escape."

Dravite disappeared into his large pavilion tent and came back with some pelts for them to sit on around the smaller fireplace which was still burning away nicely. He set the cooking pan down after removing the pot to fill with water so that they could both wash their hands. With the left-over meat, Dravite planned to put a meal together for them to share with the rest of his pavilion. He rinsed his hands well in the hot water before doing the same with his tools. He set down some carrots next to Lian and demonstrated the size the orange medallions should be diced into.
"When you finish cutting those up just throw them into the pan to start softening them."

He wasn't a master cook by any means, but the horse lord was fond of preparing the same types of meals over and over until he had perfected them. Dravite had worked with carrots a lot in the past and he knew that honey went well with them, he just didn't know if beat meat and honey worked well together. There was only one way to find out. He dropped a dollop of honey into the heated pan and waited until it was malleable enough to run across the pan when he lifted it. After that he added a few strips of thinly cut bear meat and tossed them around in the honey until they were coated consistently. While they were simmering away he watched Lian dice the carrots and after a few chimes had passed, the meat was cooked enough to taste.
"Not bad," he smiled and gestured for Lian to add the carrots and the rest of the meat before stirring in more honey, "go ahead and give that a stir, I'll put you in charge of dinner," Dravite grinned and sat down to work on the bear pelt, which Lian was more than welcome to help him with.

Out on the field, Dravite had worked quickly to get everything done, while here in camp, he was able to relax and make sure the pelt was well skinned and preserved to his liking. He worked especially hard on the paws, neck, face mask and nose, cutting away any extra flesh that he had missed before and working the small bones in the fingers of the paws free before he filled them with salt to make sure the tanning process would not fail. While he worked on the two front feet and the head, Lian did the same to the back paws; they seemed to make a good team and Dravite was more than happy for the help.
"I hope the wedding party paid you for both of the dear? Why don't you keep that and I'll take the bear skin. We can half the money on the smoked meat and that should cover any arrows you lost and the time we've both put in today."

There was no denying the two of them would both be a lot better off for taking down the bear, something Dravite hadn't foreseen this morning. In the fall his family would live well and hopefully, so would his new friend.

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[Lian Windrunner]

Lian smiled when Dravite reassured him that Seirei wouldn't run off during the night.

"I didn't really think she would. Seirei hasn't tried to escape before. It's just...she isn't happy with the way she's been treated. She's a captive, and I treat her decently enough. But she sees it differently, and from her perspective, I can see why. There's always a chance she might be tempted to try and escape if she thinks she has a good opportunity to do so."

Lian listened closely as his new friend told him that the wood he had chosen for the fire would produce a lot of sap, and how the large stones that Dravite placed in the fire place would help them with their task. It was good to learn how to smoke his own meat. If he could master the skill, then he wouldn't have to call for a butcher whenever he went hunting. As Dravite began cutting the meat into smaller chunks, Lian watched for a few ticks before he started in on the task as well. Even as he worked, he kept an eye on what Dravite was doing so he would know how to do it correctly.

There were so many things to learn. By cutting the meat into pieces that were roughly the same size, they would cook evenly together. That was important if they wanted to avoid having some chunks of meat that were half raw while others were badly burnt. And a tent was used to trap the smoke and heat in around the meat. When he learned that the sap in Nabato wood was good for smoking meat because its sweetness would add flavor to the meat, he couldn't help but wonder if Nabato wood would also be good for carving. Lian did everything he could help out.

"What are the leaves used for?" Lian asked as they worked.

When Dravite turned to cooking their own meal, Lian paid close attention to that, too. Especially when the other man demonstrated how the carrots needed to be cut. Lian couldn't help but grin back when he was placed in charge of their dinner. It made Lian feel useful, and it gave him a sense of brotherhood that he hadn't felt since Lukar's death. Lian had missed that feeling.

Dravite went back to working on the bear pelt while Lian cooked their dinner. Lian kept one eye on what he was doing so their meat wouldn't burn, but he also watched Dravite work. And when he had time to pitch in while their dinner was cooking, he did.

When Dravite asked if he had gotten paid for the deer, Lian nodded. He was also quick to agree to letting Dravite keep the bear hide in exchange for his portion of pay from the deer, and halving the money earned from the meat.

"I think I'd like a claw or two, though. They'd make a good memento of the hunt. As a necklace, perhaps."


Lian liked the thought of trying to make a necklace out of them. He wasn't usually the type to wear jewelry save for his clan colors, but this was a special hunt. Both because of the new friend he had made during it, and because it was his first bear hunt. It deserved to be remembered..
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[Dravite]

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"The leaves?" Dravite repeated, assuming Lian was talking about the Nabato leaves, "you can dry them out and use them start a fire, they are especially good for burning if you want a lot of smoke I've realised," he smiled and shaved a bit of fresh bark from one of the roots he had collected earlier on in the season, "give that a chew," the horse lord offered the bark shavings to Lian, "it's sweet tasting and Belkaia seems to think it does wonders for cleaning teeth," he laughed, unconvinced, but chewed a small piece of bark as he worked.

Their dinner was starting to smell good and the man could only assume Lian was doing a fine job of watching the meat. Dravite had cooked bear once before and seen his old Windborne pavilion prep the meat plenty of times in the past. While he worked on the back paws, Dravite cut around the toes with his hunting knife and carved out the fleshy parts on the claws before packing them tightly with salt so that they would dry out properly and not smell when it came time for Lian to make his own necklace.

He piled all of the back claws next to Lian and told the man they were his to keep. The front claws, however, remained attached to the pelt as Dravite wanted to keep them intact, as well as the head, which was getting a lot of attention from the man who sat rubbing a second course of salt into the flesh. Once that job was done, Dravite checked on the meat in the smoking tent, braving the wave of hot air that hit him when he lifted the lower part of the door to peek inside. He tested a piece of meat before trapping the heat again; it was already starting to soften and he could hear the blood running out of it and hissing at it dropped down onto the hot stones.

"It will be a few bells if we do it right," Dravite mentioned, "My uncle says the trick to smoking meat is cooking it really slowly."

Taking his hunting knife, Dravite shaved the rest of the bark from the branch and then started chipping at the waxy wood in an attempt to carve himself a makeshift spoon. By the time he was finished the stick looked nothing like a spoon at all, but had enough of a point on it to do the job he intended to use it for. Carefully, he plucked out the Bear's good eye with his back to Lian, and his shoulders shook momentarily as he attempted to hold in the small bout of laughter that desperately longed to jump past his lips. It was a mean trick to play, but Dravite had been without any friends his own age for most of the summer, and he was, after all, a bit of a prankster. He reclaimed his seat on one of the tanned furs near the smaller, cooking fire and held out the stick to Lian with the Bear's eyeball impaled on the pointed end.

"You should take this," he nodded, only just managing to keep a straight face, "they say if you eat the eye of your foe, you will claim his power and gain his hunting strengths," Dravite lied, attempting to get the other man to eat the raw eyeball.

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[Lian Windrunner]

Lian nodded thoughtfully. He hadn't realized that dried leaves would make good tinder for a fire. It did make sense, though. He himself usually used bundles of dried grass when he needed to make a fire. Dried leaves were very similar to dried grass in that respect. When Dravite offered him some bark shavings, Lian eyed it sceptically for a few ticks. Bark wasn't something he usually thought of as edible. But when his new friend told him it was sweet, and that his wife thought it was good for cleaning teeth, Lian took more interest in it. Now he was curious. And when Dravite started chewing a piece himself, Lian figured that it wasn't some elaborate trick on the other man's part. So he popped one of the shavings into his own mouth, and began to chew. It was sweet, and the taste was quite pleasant. Whether it helped clean one's teeth or not, Lian couldn't be sure. But he thought it might soothe hunger pains in slim times if one had nothing else to eat.

"Not bad." he told his friend.

"Do you think it would help ease hunger pains if you had nothing else to eat? On a long hunt, perhaps, or in hard times?"

Lian watched as Dravite carved bits of flesh out of the hind claws. When he gave the claws to Lian, he grinned as he thanked him.

"These will make a fine memento of the hunt. Something to show Lukar and Lira when I tell them about it in years to come." he said with a laugh.

"Have you ever made a necklace out of a creature's claws before? I could ask Seirei what the best way to go about it is, since she's skilled at carving wood. But, well..."

Lian shifted uncomfortably.

"She's a captive, not one of us. For all that her father is Drykas, she was born to a foreigner, and raised with foreign ways. She doesn't know our ways, or what it means to be Drykas. It may be foolish, but I hate the thought of asking an outsider how to do anything. I know our people value the trade they bring, and I can't deny that it is useful at times. And the captives are good for bearing children for our people. But outsiders are still...not Drykas."

The signs that accompanied Lian's words signaled "different," "strange,", "unknowable," "less than us," and "untrustworthy."

When Dravite mentioned that his uncle had taught him that the key to smoking meat was cooking it very slowly, Lian nodded thoughtfully.

"I think I remember my father telling me that, too. I was more interesting in exploring the Web, and practicing my webbing at the time, but I think that's what he said."

Lian turned his attention back to their meal quickly when he heard a slight change in the sound of the sizzling meat. How long had the pieces of meat been cooking? He seemed to remember his mother telling him that each side of the meat had to be cooked for the same length of time so they would cook evenly. Otherwise, you would end up with something that was half raw, and half charred. Lian eyed the meat for a tick. Was it time to turn them? Better to be safe that sorry. Using his knife, Lian stabbed each piece of bear meat, and flipped it over so the other side could cook, too.

Once he'd finished with that task, he found Dravite offering him one of the bear's eyeballs impaled on a stick. Lian eyed it sceptically. When Dravite told him that eating the raw eye of his foe would give him that foe's strength, and power, Lian wasn't sure what to think. It sounded like a wild story, and yet...it could be true. Maybe. For all he knew, the members of the Watch ate the eyes of the zith and bandits that they killed. There was enough possibility for the story to be true that Lian decided to give it a try. And who knew? Maybe it tasted better than it looked.

Lian took the stick, and took a small, tentative bite. It didn't taste better than it looked. In fact, it tasted worse than it looked, if that were possible. Lian grimaced at the taste, but he resisted the urge to spit it out. Instead, he chewed it quickly, and swallowed it as fast as he could, nearly gagging on it as it went down.

"Do people really eat these things?" he demanded, glaring at what was left of the eye with great distaste..
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[Dravite]

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"The smell of that meat isn't helping with my hunger pains," Dravite grinned and spat the bark out once all of the flavour was gone; it worked a little bit like chewing tobacco, "I guess there is some good to take from it, but chewing usually just increases hunger if you ask me."

No matter how finished the horse lord thought he was with the pelt, he kept finding areas that could use improvement and worked on them as Lian spoke; using his hunting knife to peel back more of the flesh, just deep enough that he wouldn’t cut through and mar the fur. After that he took more salt and massaged it into the skin which felt almost rubbery under his thumbs. When Lian mentioned the necklace, Dravite got up quickly and ran over to his tent to find the little memento he had taken at the end of spring, "Zith," he explained as he held the claw up for Lian to see, "I fought it last spring while on patrol with The Watch. We were riding ahead of Endrykas to make sure the road was clear for the journey to the summer grounds and when we got to the Serenity Tree to rest, I worked in the web which was still rather rundown over there."

Dravite handed Lian the claw so that he could take a closer look at the long, sharp object, "the group I was with discovered the body of a woman in the tall grass, I didn't see her with my own eyes but my Windborne brother said she looked rather cut up." He hadn't considered making a necklace out if the claw, but thought it might be a nice way to keep it close. "While they were investigating the kill site I was attacked from behind and lost my weapon. I was lucky that day; my Strider Cree lunged at the creature and gave me enough time to find my feet. The Watchmen returned and we managed to scare the thing back up into the tree where he later died."

While Lian thumbed the long, slender claw, he told his own story of the captive he had taken in and his trust issues surrounding the woman. Dravite was surprised to learn that the woman's father was Drykas, which in his eyes, made this woman one of them; raised differently or not. He listened intently, the knot in his brow softening when Lian was reduced to using grassland sign to portray his feelings. Hardship, decisions, unknowing, he replied, unable to imagine what the man opposite him was facing.

The horse lord smiled at Lian's mention of the web, for he too had struggled to pay attention to most of his lessons as a boy, choosing instead to lose himself in the vastness of the web and explore the world beyond the markers that were set for the children of the Windborne pavilion; to keep you safe, his mother would always tell them, to keep us trapped, Dravite couldn't help but feel. Of course, webbing had its own dangers and he was one of the only children from his pavilion brave enough to take up the ancient art; it was nice to think that he had someone else to confide in with Lian.

His new friend took the eyeball and to Dravite's surprise, bit down to tear away a bite. Everything in his being wanted to lark, to roll back against the ground and shake with that laughter until his muscles stung, but it was respect that flooded his form, made his shoulders loose and picked up his wheat coloured brows to point out his admiration. Of course he smiled, but the gesture was warm and in no shape of form did it hint at mocking. Dravite took the rest of the eye and put it in his mouth quickly to chew, just as his wife Belkaia returned to camp with their four year old son, Kyanite.

"What in the world are you doing?" The woman laughed.
"Taking the strength of my enemy for the next hunt," Dravite cringed, only just managing to get the thing down his throat; dinner would be a welcomed treat right about now.
"By Zulrav’s breath, is that a Grass Bear?" Belkaia froze; surprise, amazement, wonder, worry, hot on her quick moving hands.
"It is," Dravite beamed, "and this is Lian, the man who took it down with his arrows; Lian, this is my wife Belkaia and our son Kyanite."
Belkaia smiled and greeted the man with a wave before joining them on the mats, while Kyanite merely stared, "and he can cook! Smells delicious," the woman cooed.
"A man of many talents," the horse lord grinned and reached back to take their eating bowls to set down near Lian, "smells ready."

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[Lian Windrunner]

Lian looked at the claw that Dravite showed him with curiosity. When his friend explained that the claw had once belonged to a zith, and the story that lay behind his acquiring said claw, Lian's curiosity turned into something near awe. The sheer amount of luck needed to survive an attack by a zith seemed incredible to him. Both luck, and skill alike. Lian knew that he himself would not have had a chance at surviving such an attack. a zith made a grass bear look about as dangerous as a deer in Lian's eyes. The monsters could fly, so they could simply fly out of the way of any attack while attacking you at will...also from the air. Lian had heard that some of the creatures could use weapons as well.

As Lian handed the zith claw back to Dravite, his thoughts turned to how he would make his necklace. He was no wood carver like his captive was, but maybe he could use his knife to drill a hole in the claws for the string to pass through? Did he need to let the claws dry out first, or would that make the claws brittle, and likely to break? He wouldn't know until he tried it. But there would be time for that later.

When Dravite ate the rest of the eye, and showed no sign of mocking him, Lian felt mollified. He wasn't quite sure he believed his friend about eating the raw eye of a foe to gain their strength and power, but if it was a prank, Dravite was being good about it, and not making him feel like a fool over it. There was even the possibility that it was true, after all.

A woman and young boy approached them, and Dravite introduced them as his wife and son. Lian smiled as he stood to greet them politely.

"It's nice to meet you." he said sincerely before sitting down once more.

Dravite mentioned that Lian had been the one to kill the bear. Lian grinned, and nodded. There was no hint of bragging in his smile, or his posture, but he was justifiably proud of his accomplishment.

"Maybe. But I wouldn't have had a chance against that thing if you weren't there, Dravite." he said sincerely.

Lian turned to Belkaia.

"Dravite had the hard part. He was attacking the bear at close range while I distracted it from a distance, giving it something else to think about other than him. With each shot, I kept moving so the bear wouldn't find me an easy target. I learned a lot from hunting with your husband today."

Lian smiled at the compliment to his cooking.

"I just hope that it tastes as good as it smells." he said with a laugh.

Dinner was ready by then, and Lian offered the food to Dravite and his family before taking his own. The meat wasn't as bad as he'd feared it would be given his inexperience at cooking. It was edible, at least. Not half raw, or charred as it could have been. And the natural flavoring of the meat and its own juices was quite good.

When Lian finished eating, he noticed that he seemed to have finished before the others. So he pulled out his hunting knife, and began work on the bear claws. He took one, and carefully placed the point of the knife at a point near where the claw had been attached to the bear's paw. Then he pressed down carefully. The tip of the knife sank into the claw slightly. Lian didn't want to cut the claw, though. He wanted to drill a hole through it. So he twisted the tip of the knife while adding pressure to it, turning it as he had seen Seirei turn her drill while working in the past. His efforts paid off, and gradually a hole was formed.

After Lian had successfully finished with the first claw, he began work on the next. One by one, he slowly but surely worked until he had managed to drill a hole in each one. As he worked, he seemed to remember noticing that Seirei did not wait until the wood she used dried out before she drilled holes while she was making beads. But he knew so little about carving that he had no idea if what he had noticed held any importance or not. Still, he managed to drill holes in each of the claws without breaking any even if the holes weren't perfectly even, or all in the exact place. He had a piece of string he had taken from Seirei, thinking he might be able to use it to replace a string on one of his pouches that had broken. Lian carefully passed the string through each of the claws, stringing them into a necklace. Then he tied the ends of the string together. The end result looked okay on its own, but Lian thought he might buy some beads with his clan colors at some point to alternate with the claws. He might even buy them from Seirei. Captive or not, she was quite skilled at making beads. Lian couldn't deny that.

By the time Lian had finished making his necklace, Dravite and the others seemed to have finished eating. Lian put his necklace aside, and asked what he could help with next..
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[Dravite]

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As Lian spoke of the man's effort in assisting close-range with the bear kill, Dravite leaned back, trying to get the man's attention with a wide-eyed-look that begged him to be quiet. By the time Lian had finished telling Belkaia all the details, the horse lord couldn't help but laugh; now he was in trouble, "ah, yes, that sounds just like my husband," Belkaia scolded lightly, "he knows better than to go hunting bears, especially when he has a wedding to attend in two days where his brides would like for him to remain in one piece," she poked the man in his side and Dravite sucked in a breath, caught off guard.

The food was eatable, but a lot like anything Dravite attempted to make, dry and slightly overlook; it probably didn't help that they had spent a lot of time talking and busying their hands with other tasks. Lian was quick to finish his meal and get to work on the necklace he had mentioned while Belkaia sat feeding Kyanite before taking the odd morsel for herself.

"While roaming like thunder,
Earth shaker moved in.
A kill in the meadow,
And blood on the wind.
Beyond the old tree-line,
Two hunters stood near.
Gathering courage,
And hiding their deer.
Brothers in arms,
Unshaken by fear.
Descend on horseback,
To slay the brown bear."

Dravite sung to Kyanite who was always enthralled by the silly little hymns, while his wife merely rolled her eyes, "you're lucky it wasn't the other way around," she smiled and took the eating bowls from each of them to go and clean them up along with the cooking pot.

Kyanite sat by his father and watched from across the fire pit as Lian worked on the necklace. Dravite added more wood to the low burning cooking fire in an attempt to fight off the chill of night that would soon set in. When Lian asked what it was they could do next, the horse lord jumped to his feet and got Lian to help him hang up the heavy bear hide, stretching it out between two posts that held up part of the main pavilion tent. When he was satisfied with the hold and all the heavy lifting was done, Dravite spoke up, "I guess it's just a waiting game now while that meat is slowly smoking away."

He kneeled in front of the bear pelt and scraped away more of the flesh he had missed, working hard to perfect the pelt he wanted to preserve and keep as a winter blanket. The drying flesh peeled away under the delicate movements of his hunting knife, but would snag every now and then where an arrow had driven a hold through the skin; he had to be careful not to make the cuts worse than they were and again treated the newly revealed pelt with a good dosing of salt.

When Belkaia returned from rinsing up, she sat down by the fire and summoned Kyanite to her side, "Do you have any children, Lian?" She inquired, fond of hearing about other families and stories about people, "a wife, a pavilion?"

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[Lian Windrunner]

Lian was surprised when Dravite began singing a song about their hunt. He didn't think that he would be able to come up with something on the spot like that. If he were to try and think up a song about something, it would take days of thinking about it, coming up with ideas, and discarding the ones that didn't fit before he had something worth singing. It might even take weeks rather than days. But Kyanite seemed to enjoy it. Lian did too, and he complimented his friend once the song was over.

Lian was happy to help Dravite hang the bear hide, presumably to allow it to dry out. When his friend said that all that was left to do was wait for the meat to finish smoking, Lian nodded. He had learned a lot tonight. How to smoke meat. Nabato wood has sweet sap, which will give smoked meat a good flavor. Hot to make a necklace out of bear claws. Rubbing salt into a hide to cure it. And more. He was starting to get tired, but he felt good about how much he had learned.

"Will the meat be done by morning? If so, we should probably get to the market first thing tomorrow to sell it. The Spit Fire offers good money for bear meat. I overheard another hunter trying to sell some the last time I went to sell a kill. If I remember right, they pay three gold mizas per pound for bear meat. How much do you think we have here, Dravite?"

The bear they had killed had been a large one. They had a lot of meat to sell. Lian tried to guess how much money their kill was worth, but he was soon distracted by a question from Belkaia.

"I do have children. Twins, actually. A son named Lukar, and a daughter named Lira. They're starting to get big now. They were born on the 63rd day of winter last year."
The soft smile on Lian's face as he spoke and the way his eyes seemed to light up at the thought of the twins showed that he loved his children dearly. Then his eyes darkened a bit.

"I'm not married, though. I own a captive. She's the twins' mother."

Lian's tone reflected his conflicted thoughts on the matter of Seirei.

"I believe that you mentioned a wedding?" Lian asked with a grin as he changed the subject..
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[Dravite]

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"I'd say we have at least a hundred pounds here," Dravite smiled, "but I'm not the best cook, so we might not get the best deal, still, when we split the money I don't think either of us will be displeased."

He worked for a while longer, scraping more flesh from the hide; he just wasn't happy with the finishing yet or the mask of the bear which was slightly thicker than the rest of the pelt and harder to tan and preserve correctly. "Don't overdo it on the salt," Belkaia called.
"You can't overdo it," he smiled over his shoulder at the woman before rubbing another fistful into the nose of the bear skin.

When he returned to sit down, he listened to what Lian had to say about his own family, the twins and his captive; Dravite couldn't help but notice the way the man lit up when he mentioned his children and then how withdrawn he became after admitting that he was unmarried. Belkaia went to question the man again and Dravite cut her off, "Kyanite should be in bed," he told her and without another word that woman left to put her son down.

The horse lord hadn't given too much thought to the wedding he had to look forward to, in fact there wasn't much to tell, "I haven't even met the girl," Dravite explained, "it's an arranged marriage, her father works for The Watch; I only know that she has been married before and has one son, though she lost her husband to a snake bite," the man smiled half-heartedly, "I'm not picky, as long as they are Drykas, and like the idea of raising my children; what more could a man want?" He smiled, hoping his going along with the subject change had eased his friend's woes.

• • •

It was early morning by the time the meat was finished smoking. Dravite tested a small piece and savoured the tenderness of the morsel, "it's good," he assured Lian before letting the man finish the other half of the cut.

The two of them loaded the meat carefully to take to market, lifting one piece after the other until it was all packed and ready to go. Working in the heat that rose from the hot rocks was a real work out and by the time they were leading their Striders out if camp, Dravite felt he would be glad to see the last of it by the time they got to The Spitfire. Cree was being stubborn and didn’t like the smell, just Dravite encouraged the horse with a pat and a firm tug on his halter.

Negotiations were tough, but that this was the first trade if the day and the first bit of bear the business had seen in a while swung the deal in their favour. "I won't give you three," the man behind the stall said, "There’s no profit in it for me at that price."
"Two and five," Dravite said, "you still make five silver a pound that way," as soon as the words left his mouth Dravite found himself doing the maths in his head, trying to work out the lowest he would be able to accept for the meat before he would take it elsewhere to sell.
The old boy looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin as the smell of the meat permeated the air, "I need to make more than that."
Dravite folded his arms; he and Lian had done all the work, what made this man so entitled? "Two and five, it's fair," Dravite insisted.
Again the man shook his head, he was a mean negotiator, "two gold miza a pound, you each walk away a lot better off," the man smiled.
Dravite did the maths, if they split the profit that would give them a hundred miza each. He looked at Lian and then back at the man, "all right," he nodded, "hundred miza for each of us and the meat is yours," Lian had already taken all of the profit from the deer the day before, so he wouldn't turn his nose up at a hundred."

They unloaded the smoked bear meat for the man and took their pay before shaking hands and going their separate ways. It had been nice working with Lian and Dravite looked forward to going out on another hunt with the man later in the season.

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