All the Lonely People 23rd of Fall 512 A.V. “We do not encourage going out alone into the wilderness, but you must be able to survive in the wastes without aid as well, so what does that tell you?” Everyone loved to be cryptic when she brought up Wilderness Survival in the icy tundra. She knew she would undergo her wilderness trial at some point, perhaps not this season, or even the next, but eventually they would throw her out there to make sure she could do it. Sliver had made it to the Everwinter City almost entirely by herself and with little aid along the way, but regardless of the stories she told on this note it didn’t mean she got to bypass this rite of passage, nor did she wish to, and now that she had gotten rather settled into the city the idea of being alone for several days was not the most appealing one. So what better way to make herself feel better about this singular event than by going out, not too far, but far enough and spending a couple nights out in the wilderness? She packed lightly, after all survival wasn’t about packing as much food as you needed it was getting on without it. She took some flint, a knife for skinning, an extra set of clothes in case she lost the set she was wearing currently, and a single strip of dried meat just in case. The day was windy, but relatively clear despite the fact the sky was a deep grey that could lead to any sort of weather. The Kelvic took in a refreshing lungful of air and while she started at a brisk walk, once the city was behind her she broke into a casual jog. She purposefully didn’t keep track of her location or progress in order to make a more challenging return on the homeward trip, but she did try to keep appraised of the smells. She had learned rather early on in the icy environment that sounds could trick you, sounding closer or farther away than they really were. The wind enjoyed whipping noises around on you and confusing the senses, but despite the fact that smells eroded faster in the harsh landscape, they could always be relied on. Today the air and the ground where she stopped to check an indent that might be a track, were relatively clear. She picked up faint hints of animals, but it was the most cursory of smells. Of course she was still close to the city and Icewatch patrols kept a large number of animals at bay, so there was still ground to cover before she would find anything of interest. She had made it to her first set of forest just as the sun had passed its zenith in the sky. She appreciated the fact that while the landscape was generally a white blanket interrupted only by chunks of icestone, it was not so barren as to not offer the most topical form of protection in the form of copses of trees. She slowed her jog back down to a casual walk and stopped at the edge of the trees, cautiously placing every foot. The crunch of snow became quiet as snow less battered by the wind made for softer steps. A couple of partridge, disturbed from their perches, fluttered off, offended at the stranger in their midst. Sliver continued forward, slowly, nose scrunched up and trying to catch any tasty scents that might lead her to a meal. Most of them were faint and old, this spot of woodland wasn’t good for much more than a temporary resting spot, and didn’t provide too many places for creatures to hide. That being said it wasn’t clean of tracks. Bending low Sliver brushed her finger absentmindedly across a set of small paw marks, belonging to some small rodent, perhaps a vole or lemming, and not far from these were larger ones, suggesting ermine origin. That was when her eyes drifted upward and met with two wide eyed black orbs of a dusky colored squirrel. Each animal had their own intent gazes, Sliver’s hungry, the squirrel’s panicked. Each one knew that one of them had to make the first move, which would lead to an answering response from the creature they stared at. In the end it turned out to be the panicked squirrel. It would only take a couple moments for the creature to dash up a tree and be out of reach. Even if she followed it, the branches were close enough together that Sliver would only be playing a losing game of tag with the rodent. She dashed to one side then another running not so much to catch the creature as to lessen its tree options. When it finally found one to scramble up, it was barely more than a sapling. Lunging after it before it could leap to a connected bough, Sliver grabbed onto the tree with one hand, pulling it back and letting it snap like a catapult outward, sending the squirrel flying. While this kept it out of the trees a bit longer, it also increased its distance from the Kelvic, and she dashed after it, jumping bodily on top of the creature before it had a chance to recover. She sat, small creature struggling to escape from beneath her stomach. It wasn’t elegant, but with one swift maneuver she was sitting cross-legged and one hand had the squirrel by the throat. Severing the spine with a swift crack of the bones the wolverine took the time to skin the creature before digging in to its flesh. The meal didn’t leave anything to spare for later, but it filled her for now and would keep her as long as she didn’t shift in the near future. She relaxed in the grove for half a bell then rose and continued her journey. She was still much too close to the city and had to push forward into the tundra. Even as she emerged she saw a larger spot of woods in the distance, a good spot to aim for when night came. |