The avalanche
Timestamp : Day 60 of Winter 513 AV
A hunting party gets trapped by an avalance and they have to dig themselves out through the snow. Ornea uses her fire reimancy to support it, but she goes too far.
THE HUNTING PARTY LEAVES MOUNT SKYINARTA
The weather was good in the morning when the hunting parties from Wind Reach set out. Syna was shining brightly and painted the snowy landscape outside Mount Skyinarta golden. It was cold of course, but in comparison to the latest few days the temperature had suddenly risen a great deal. For a winter’s day it was unusually warm. It was a good opportunity to replenish the food stores. The excellent hunting weather was not going to be wasted.
The three people, who would soon find themselves hunting on a snowy mountainside out there, were far from the foremost hunters of the city. They were just, one of many small extra hunter groups sent out this clear and sunny winter’s day, looking to contribute to the need of food in the city as well as they could. Ornea was avora; a metalsmith, an artisan and crafter, not a professional hunter. Like many other Inarta she had received the first basic training in shooting with a bow to hit a target though. Despite this, she was quite the novice at real hunting, as she had been busy with other things and not used the bow so often.
But now it was about food. Or more correctly it was about the city being low on food.
Every person who could handle a bow at all was better used as hunter right now. Nobody would need her metal items if they had starved to death, as Ruian, the endal who commanded her out as hunter, had told her in the blunt and direct way that was their people’s way. Why try to say things in a soft and less brutal way, when you could as well just face truth and say as it was?
The man stood before her self-assured and confident, sure of his endal authority. Ornea of course immediately obeyed orders without questioning them. She nodded in agreement at Ruian and in a hearty tone of voice she said she’d get ready at once. Then she fetched her bow and arrows, donned her katinu and other things she needed to keep herself warm in the unforgiving cold outside and joined the others. Her two team mates were chiet, and she was the only avora, which gave her authority over the others as she was of a higher caste. This went without saying, so nobody commented on it, they all just knew that the avora was the group’s leader and the one who would take the decisions this day.
They would get to fly out on eagles, as the plan was to spread out the hunter groups over a larger area in the hope of finding more prey this way. The endals with their eagles were the most skilled hunters and thus the most valuable people for survival of the Inarta people. This meant they would hunt where the chance of quick success at low risk was relatively lower. The experienced hunters would get the next promising places, and the less valuable extra people would get the somewhat more remote hunting areas and try to get at least something.
While they waited, Ornea took on the role of group leader by taking the initiavite to a chat. She evaluated her company by asking them questions to find out more about their competence. She listened to their answers with full attention, gathering what information she had time for. The two chiets, a man and a woman, weren’t working as hunters regularly, but both of them had some experience of surviving in the wilderness and they were competent enough with their bows, they assured her. These facts seemed somewhat reassuring to her when she analysed the situation. She concluded their little group would be able to cope well enough, as long as nothing seriously more dangerous than average happened.
As she was of higher caste the others didn’t ask her any questions, and Ornea didn’t offer any information. Why would she. She was fully able to observe how the others would do, when they moved in the wilderness. When it came to shooting with the bow, she would either hit or miss her potential target. There was no need to speak about this, as the words wouldn’t change anything anyway.
It was time for them to get their flight out in the terrain and they jumped on the eagles. The cold outside Mount Skyinarta enclosed them while they flew, and nothing was said during the whole trip. They weren’t too far away from the city really, for practical reasons, but they would still be just a small team of three people alone in their part of the huge wilderness. The danger was obvious, but Ornea composed herself and didn’t comment on it, for what use would it be. What had to be done, had to be done. It was about food and their people's survival. Silent and determined she jumped down to the ground once they had landed.
“In best case you’ll get some kind of prey. Anything will do. Something is better than nothing!” Ruian said straightforwardly before he and the other endals and eagles returned to the city to continue their job. This was perhaps meant as encouragement.
Ornea watched the endals fly away until the disappeared out of sight. The others watched too. As they were chiet and also lacked the confidence that fulltime hunters might have felt despite being of lower caste, they were naturally waiting for the avora to take lead. They wouldn’t see the endals again before the evening, when they would be picked up and brought back home. Until then they had only each other to rely on, and the survival of their team as well the hunt was their own responsibility.
...Timestamp : Day 60 of Winter 513 AV
A hunting party gets trapped by an avalance and they have to dig themselves out through the snow. Ornea uses her fire reimancy to support it, but she goes too far.
THE HUNTING PARTY LEAVES MOUNT SKYINARTA
The weather was good in the morning when the hunting parties from Wind Reach set out. Syna was shining brightly and painted the snowy landscape outside Mount Skyinarta golden. It was cold of course, but in comparison to the latest few days the temperature had suddenly risen a great deal. For a winter’s day it was unusually warm. It was a good opportunity to replenish the food stores. The excellent hunting weather was not going to be wasted.
The three people, who would soon find themselves hunting on a snowy mountainside out there, were far from the foremost hunters of the city. They were just, one of many small extra hunter groups sent out this clear and sunny winter’s day, looking to contribute to the need of food in the city as well as they could. Ornea was avora; a metalsmith, an artisan and crafter, not a professional hunter. Like many other Inarta she had received the first basic training in shooting with a bow to hit a target though. Despite this, she was quite the novice at real hunting, as she had been busy with other things and not used the bow so often.
But now it was about food. Or more correctly it was about the city being low on food.
Every person who could handle a bow at all was better used as hunter right now. Nobody would need her metal items if they had starved to death, as Ruian, the endal who commanded her out as hunter, had told her in the blunt and direct way that was their people’s way. Why try to say things in a soft and less brutal way, when you could as well just face truth and say as it was?
The man stood before her self-assured and confident, sure of his endal authority. Ornea of course immediately obeyed orders without questioning them. She nodded in agreement at Ruian and in a hearty tone of voice she said she’d get ready at once. Then she fetched her bow and arrows, donned her katinu and other things she needed to keep herself warm in the unforgiving cold outside and joined the others. Her two team mates were chiet, and she was the only avora, which gave her authority over the others as she was of a higher caste. This went without saying, so nobody commented on it, they all just knew that the avora was the group’s leader and the one who would take the decisions this day.
They would get to fly out on eagles, as the plan was to spread out the hunter groups over a larger area in the hope of finding more prey this way. The endals with their eagles were the most skilled hunters and thus the most valuable people for survival of the Inarta people. This meant they would hunt where the chance of quick success at low risk was relatively lower. The experienced hunters would get the next promising places, and the less valuable extra people would get the somewhat more remote hunting areas and try to get at least something.
While they waited, Ornea took on the role of group leader by taking the initiavite to a chat. She evaluated her company by asking them questions to find out more about their competence. She listened to their answers with full attention, gathering what information she had time for. The two chiets, a man and a woman, weren’t working as hunters regularly, but both of them had some experience of surviving in the wilderness and they were competent enough with their bows, they assured her. These facts seemed somewhat reassuring to her when she analysed the situation. She concluded their little group would be able to cope well enough, as long as nothing seriously more dangerous than average happened.
As she was of higher caste the others didn’t ask her any questions, and Ornea didn’t offer any information. Why would she. She was fully able to observe how the others would do, when they moved in the wilderness. When it came to shooting with the bow, she would either hit or miss her potential target. There was no need to speak about this, as the words wouldn’t change anything anyway.
It was time for them to get their flight out in the terrain and they jumped on the eagles. The cold outside Mount Skyinarta enclosed them while they flew, and nothing was said during the whole trip. They weren’t too far away from the city really, for practical reasons, but they would still be just a small team of three people alone in their part of the huge wilderness. The danger was obvious, but Ornea composed herself and didn’t comment on it, for what use would it be. What had to be done, had to be done. It was about food and their people's survival. Silent and determined she jumped down to the ground once they had landed.
“In best case you’ll get some kind of prey. Anything will do. Something is better than nothing!” Ruian said straightforwardly before he and the other endals and eagles returned to the city to continue their job. This was perhaps meant as encouragement.
Ornea watched the endals fly away until the disappeared out of sight. The others watched too. As they were chiet and also lacked the confidence that fulltime hunters might have felt despite being of lower caste, they were naturally waiting for the avora to take lead. They wouldn’t see the endals again before the evening, when they would be picked up and brought back home. Until then they had only each other to rely on, and the survival of their team as well the hunt was their own responsibility.
