Private Tales Cherish What You Have

[Weylin Kyrel]

The hunter placed the dog far away from the orcess. While the victim denied any harm or foul intent was done, he knew better. White had done that on purpose not because she was feeling playful and needing to let off some energy but because she had some hatred for the green skinned woman that he couldn't explain.

So Weylin grabbed White's face with both his hands and made her look at him. Look into his eyes. His disappointment and frustration were fully bared upon the not so good girl. White tried to be defiant at first, but eventually caved. She knew how much trouble she was in and how much more she would be in if she did anything else bad.

White would behave and leave Zeri alone.... For now.

Weylin turned back to Zeri and went about trying to help her with the last bits of her restoring their campfire setup.

"No. Traps or line with a hook. Sometimes have a rod. Most prefer to feel how it moves in their hands and pull the fish in with their bare hands."

The hunter paused a bit as he remembered something. A look the orcess would hopefully recognize after their time together.

"Was a town where they tried to catch salmon and trout with nothing but their hands and arms. Like a bunch of bears.... Probably still doing it that way if those raiders missed them....."

His eyes went to Zeri. She wasn't one of them. Her people weren't one of them. Other orcs from other tribes that were doing things not all of their own kind would approve of. They even went after other orcs. Other orcs like her. They were in this together.

After a moment he went on. "You use spears?"

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

"Yeah! We sure do!" Zeri said.

It wasn't that she had missed the somber tone which had come over Weylin just prior to him, in that minorly incredulous way, asking if she and the others really used spears for fishing. She hadn't. Weylin could be very subtle with his emotions. Guarded, even. His was a life of long solitude after the (orcish) raiders took his home from him and, presumably, before he met her on that one fateful day in the Spine when a mountain troll was in quick pursuit of their scent. The solitude maybe dulled his expressiveness, maybe it hadn't and he was always like this. Either way, Zeri liked to think she'd learned to read his subtleties with a fair degree of adeptness.

And the memories were painful to him still. He had said as much, hadn't he? Back then. Yes, he had. He grieved slowly. That was his way. Not the rush of a river like Zeri, crying it all out in a matter of days in a great and terrible burst, but the slow trickle of a stream, taking many years.

She moved past it though, his comment about the raiders and the neighboring town. If he wanted to talk about, he would. Prying, as she had found out before, did neither of them any good.

So she maintained her brightness.

"Spearfishing," she said again, bending down and freeing her spear from the strap holding it to the pack. "Do you want to give it a try, maybe? It's easy to learn, hard to master—that's what my Pa would say. I can show you, if you'd like!"

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

The idea of using a spear wasn't new to the hunter. It was better for boar and bear after all. Arrows were better for bleeding out prey that wanted to run. Both those animals charged instead. A bit of distance between you and their tusks or claws was a good idea. Why Zeri liked using them as a weapon no doubt as well. Came in handy with that bat creature back in the cave after all. And he had seen it used by guards with that caravan.

So it was odd it would be associated with fishing which wasn't so dangerous. Was it purely about the reach it gave over using your hands? Why not just use a line with a hook then? Much longer reach on a line, even if it took a bit of technique to properly catch what you wanted.

Weylin nodded his head to Zeri. His interest was peaked. Surely this would be a useful skill for the future. Help him be a better hunter and survive these lands beyond his home in the Spine.

"Teach me. Please."

He moved over close to the orcess.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

"All right!" she exclaimed, genuinely excited. The whole idea of it seemed entirely new to Weylin, foreign, so she was eager to share this small piece of her culture with him. It was one reason why she spent much of her younger days helping travelers to Bhathairk as they trickled in through the Gates. There really was nothing quite like the joy of sharing something so dear to yourself and your people.

"Over this way," she said, walking back over to the riverbank and gauging where might be a good spot. "It's a bit different in the winter. Harder. When it's hot, or even warm, oh it feels so nice to go into the water! Got to be careful now, though! We, uh..." Zeri smiled sheepishly, glancing back to Weylin, a knowing look in her eyes, "...we know what's it like to be drenched in freezing cold water, huh? Anyway!"

Zeri found a decent enough spot. A collection of large stones just a short walk down the bank from their landing, these stones jutting out of the water and providing just enough surface to place their feet upon. Zeri hopped up onto one of the stones, hopped out onto a few further along in the river. She stood with her legs spread, spear held in both hands, water foaming about the stones upon which she planted her feet.

"You get yourself ready, holding the tip of the spear just above the water...and then you wait! Just like human fishing! Lots of waiting. Usually. But sometimes you get lucky and spot a whole school of fish migrating along."

She bobbed her head about, looking through the water at different angles.

"You always want to stand very still. Very still! Which I'm not doing right now, ha ha, but that's the idea: you catch the fish by surprise. Surprise and precision and speed! Do you see any?"

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

Weylin watched as his little song bird ran about in excitement. She chirped and chirped and chirped away. A slight smile formed on his lips seeing it all.

A spear in hand, she was saying things he understood. Aside from the spear itself, it sounded the same as all other hunting and fishing he had done before. Patience. Timing. Position. Accuracy. It was what he needed to shoot a deer. To snag a trout. Should be simple enough if he was lucky.

The hunter picked up a spear and carefully joined the orcess. His gaze on her face for a moment then slide slowly to the water. Any moment to tip him off. Any slight difference in shade in the water. Same as he did while fishing with his hooked line. Same as he did when waiting for a deer.

And things were not going well. His gaze first spotted a reflect of the orcess' in the water below her. It was hard for him to look away. Lingered for a time but eventually the waves washed it away. Not content, his eyes began to wander to look at the source of the reflection. Lingering. Holding as fast as stone.

It was not fish his mind was on. Several swam by them. None of them noticed by the hunter next to Zeri.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

"AHH!"

A fierce enough warcry. But it didn't yield any results. Zeri had plunged her spear into the water and wrenched it back out with a great splash, but no fish was impaled upon its iron.

She just gave a little laugh and a sigh, shifting her straddling stance between the two rocks, and readied her spear once more.

"Oh, it happens. Just like other kinds of fishing, I suppose. Miss and try again. It feels sooo good once you actually spear one, though. You know what I mean, Weylin? It's like...ah ha, gotcha!"

She hadn't heard any splashes of water from his attempts, so she glanced over. Saw him looking as though he were lost (or lost in something) and smiled.

"Go on! No need to be shy. I was awful at this when I first started, and it took a long time before—THERE'S ONE!"

Zeri thrust her spear into the water and grinned and pulled it back. But alas, no fish. She said something sharp in Orcish, then laughed it off again.

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

The orcess' words took the hunter out of his current focus. Instead of just staring at her he actually looked down into the waters once more. One might even notice the reddish tint of his skin beneath his hood. She was laughing about he didn't have one then turned around and missed catching her own.

She was always like that. A cheer and joy about her like a beam of light miraculously finding the one path through the thickest of canopies. A bit of warmth in his cold, dark undergrowth.

Weylin needed to focus on what was important right now: securing their dinner. He was the proud hunter here. It was his place to provide them food by forage or hunt. Even if the current method was new to him.... Or was it?

Memories returned. His dad had taught him a few things about spears. How to use one to gut a boar. How to use one to gut a raider. The same techniques and principles applied for hunting and for fighting. Something he had heard many times but hadn't been realized until now.

He needed to be precise where he thrust. He needed to be quick to give little time to react. He needed to be smart and predict their next move accurately. It was true for his bow. For his hatchet. For the sword. For this spear.

The hunter shifted up his stance to be more on his toes while remaining perfectly balanced. His grip on his spear adjusted so it could be pointed closer to straight down. He rose high up as he could, taking advantage of his full height. His profile narrowed from the water below.

No doubt he looked like an awkward stork, the very animal he was taking his current inspiration from.

And then he waited. Watched. And waited.

Eventually a larger fish began to lazily swim below him. The tip of the spear struck the water sudden and quick. He had aimed for right behind its head but ended up further back behind its gills. But he had the fish impaled and rose it out of the water.

Held into the air it splashed around in a vain struggle against death. His eyes looked from it to the orcess. No words spoken but it was clear what he wanted to ask. Was she happy and impressed?

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

All about patience and persistence. That's what Pa always said, and that's what Zeri kept at heart. Such was the lot of the hunter, be that hunter a lion or an eagle or an orc and a human armed each with a spear.

Weylin seemed a little flustered a first when his initial thrust produced no fish. But now he looked to be catching on—he was nothing if not determined. And, well, more than catching on, he looked like he was getting into it! Trying out a different stance! A daring one. Zeri had the notion that if she tried something like that, balancing on the very tips of her toes, she'd go sprawling into the river once she plunged her spear down.

She stuck with the form she was most familiar with.

"Ah! Almost!" she said, her spear dripping water but holding no fish after she pulled it out of the river again. She reset and tried again, white foam splashing up onto the rock. Gah! That was a bad one, misjudged by a lot.

Then Weylin's spear plunged into the water. Zeri glanced over and—

"You did it!" Zeri pumped her spear overhead in triumph. "Yaaaaaaaaa-ha-ha! You got one! Look at that, Weylin! I think you might have a natural talent for this. How's that feel? Huh? Feels great, doesn't it?"

Weylin Kyrel