Flashback A Child's First Hunt

[Rhu]

21st Summer, 493
The jungle

Rhu was perched on her mother's back, and it was fantastic because she could see for miles. One day, she silently promised herself with far more seriousness than most four year olds could manage, she would be as tall as this. No. Taller. As tall as the trees. She rested her head contentedly against her mother's shoulder, the sun beating pleasantly warm heat against the back of her neck and her loping stride an easy, fluid movement even with the added weight secured behind her.

"Tell me, Rhu, what do you see?" Rhu blinked and accepted a hand down. They had come to a stop near a marshy puddle, and Rhu, in an instinct born of her mother's daily lectures, instantly put a hand on the miniature sword at her waist. She knew without looking up both that her mother's own left hand was in casually close proximity to the slim dagger by her own side.

What did she see? The grass was damp and the ground mushy. The sky was dull with clouds and the promise of further rains, and the sun's steady burn was offset by the humidity in the air. The ground below them was splattered, a murky mix of shapes, some she vaguely recognised as similar to - "Tracks, mama," Rhu said, and glowed when her mother's hand went to casually tousle her hair.

"Very good little one," she said, and Rhu glowed again, turning her head to beam up at her mother. The gentle pat at once turned to a sharp yet not unkind swat. "Eyes front, Rhu. We're not at home any more. Look away for an instant and...bam!" Rhu flinched. "You're eaten by a crocodile. That what you want?"

"No, mama," Rhu kept her eyes forward this time when she spoke, although her hand wrapped tight around her sword's hilt trembled. After a moment of fixated staring, her mother's hand reached back down and patted her again.

"I know. You're young," her mother said quietly. "You'll learn. We never hunt alone if we can help it, because two people are less likely to be distracted than one alone." There was a brief pause, and Rhu's mother's lips twitched upwards a little, the way they did when her aunties said things that made her father burst into laughter and had Rhu sent many pointed looks. "Now, the tracks. This one here, what do you think it is?"

"A crocodile?"

"Correct, but why? Because I mentioned them earlier?" Rhu nodded, and her mother laughed, the sound warm and deep and affectionate in a way Rhu loved it to be. It was the way her father made her laugh. "Ah, Rhu. That track is old, see? The others overlap it. This crocodile is long gone. A pity," she added after a moment's reflective silence. "It would have been a fine kill. What about this one?"

This one was harder. It was large and wide and Rhu stared at it blankly until her mother squatted down next to her. "The first rule of hunting is pay attention to your surroundings. The sort of beasts near a cave won't be the same ones around the lakes."

Her mother was right as usual. Rhu looked up, paying close attention to her surroundings, ears keen to any footstep or crunch of a leaf. None. Nothing. No clues as to what animal it was, either. There were no burrows nearby, or at least none that Rhu could see, and she told her mother as much.

"Hmm, not quite. Here, see Rhu?" Rhu obligingly leaned over and watched as her mother put a finger above two prints and walked them alone, print by print, until they stopped at a tree. "This beast climbs. What else can you tell me about her?"

"Four legs?" Rhu hesitated. "Um... it's large?"

"Very good. See, here though. Look at the back left print. What do you see?" There was nothing to see as far as Rhu was concerned, and after a few moments of silent staring, her mother took pity on her. "It's deeper than the others. Do you see?" She didn't, but nodded anyhow. "Good, Rhu, good," her mother said, and the praise tasted bitter with the knowledge it was won by deceit. "The animal's limping. She's injured and compensating for it. This print," the back right was tapped now, "is distorted, do you see?" Peering closer, Rhu could see the way the soil was a mess around it. She nodded again, and silently preened as her hair was tousled again. "Good. Injured on the back right. Should be slower, less of a threat. There's no blood I can see... it must be quite old. Again, the animal's long gone, even injured. Can you think what it could be?"

"A tiger, mama?"

"Ah, Rhu," her mother patted her on the head again then stood, wrapping an arm around Rhu's waist. Knowing what was to come, Rhu grabbed hold of the arm tightly, and squealed with delight as she was picked up into the air and swung onto the warm safety of her mother's back. There was a moment as the two adjusted themselves, Rhu wiggling until comfortable and her mother shifting the straps of her pack until everything fell neatly into place. "No, little one. Tigers have longer toes. Our tigers are bigger, too. That was a cat though, a jaguar probably."

Rhu nodded and once again the two were plodding along under the sun, their hunt only just begun.

Rhu of the Tempered Steel

[Rhu]

It was about an hour later when Irit called a halt to the walk. She smiled at Rhu as she swung her daughter down. "Tell me Rhu, why are we stopping here?"

Rhu stared at the ground around them, then crouched down and tapped a finger gently against one of the tracks nearby. "There are lots of these, mama."

"Well done. Do you know what animal it is?"

Rhu examined the shape. It was a thin oval, with what looked like four toes on each foot. Four feet, too, although that hardly narrowed it down. It was, however, the small heap of dung pellets and the large gaps between the sets of prints that gave it away. "It's a rabbit!" she said enthusiastically, and grinned when Irit chuckled softly and patted her hair.

"Close. It's a hare." She felt Irit's hand rest harder on her head for a moment as the woman crouched fluidly next to her. "You see how the back prints are larger than the front? A rabbit's are about the same size," she explained, sketching an example into the dirt. Rhu mirrored it carefully. "Good. Now, tell me. How do you think we catch a rabbit?

Rhu frowned, dabbing a finger into the rough 'track' she had just created. The answer seemed like an easy one, but with her mother any answer that seemed easy was anything but. Unsure of what else to say though, she said, "with weapons?" with little hope of it being right.

Irit laughed quietly. "I suppose if I'd brought my bow...or my sister, for that matter. But no. Not today. Today we're going to trap the little blighter." She smiled and pulled Rhu back to her feet with a gentle hand. "The simplest way to trap is to make one at home and bring it out with you, but they're cumbersome and if you rely too much on that and find yourself without one on hand there's not much you can do." By that Rhu knew she meant her trial. It was supposed to happen when she was sixteen - ages away, long enough that Rhu thought learning in preparation for it was a bit silly. Still, the skills would be useful to help the clan and -

"Focus, Rhu!" Rhu yelped when her mother tapped her hard on the head. "This is important." Irit waited a moment until she was sure she had her daughter's apologetic attention before continuing. "What sort of traps do you know about already?"

That was an easier question, one Rhu knew an answer to. Tal, her mother's sister and a huntress, had explained some to her once. "There're snares," she started, counting them off on her fingers, "You can get the animal's foot stuck. Pits the animal can fall into. Um. Traps the animal stays alive in. Uh. That it?"

"Very good." Irit patted Rhu on the head. "The only one you missed is the deadfall trap, but they're rarely used. If you crush the animal to catch it the pelt's ruined. It's just simple to make," she added, and disgust coloured her tone. Irit tucked one of Rhu's curls back into her braid, then continued in a milder voice. "Pits are usually used for large animals, and there's always the danger that you'll get something you don't want in there. Also, the animal will almost certainly be alive still, which can be good, but if you get a poisonous snake instead of what you wanted, there's trouble. Snares are quick to make and can be fitted for specific animals very easily."

Irit pulled her kukri out of her belt and held it up in front of Rhu's eyes. "When you're older, you'll have one of these of your own. Carry it with you always. You can fight with it," she demonstrated a smooth slash through the air, "and use it to skin animals or chop firewood. Here," she passed it carefully to Rhu, who reached for it eagerly. Irit's spare hand wrapped around Rhu's as she passed it over, blade pointedly carefully away from the little girl, and Rhu quickly realized why. It was heavy, far, far more so than she would have expected. With her mother's hands holding most of the weight she could just about avoid dropping it, but it was a relief when Irit took the kurki back. "Perhaps not today. I'll get the wood, you make the noose."

Rhu of the Tempered Steel