33rd Vhalar, 718
It's trials like this when you know that Vhalar is truly here. Lei'lira mused as she cleaned up the dishes from the morning meal.
The nights were cold, and the chill lingered well into the mornings, which had been crisp and cool for the last several trials. But as the trial progressed, the temperatures gradually warmed until the trials themselves were quite comfortable. Warm, but the heat of Saun was well and truly gone for another arc. Lei'lira loved trials like these.
A hunting horn sounded in the distance, and as Lei'lira dried her hands off, she wondered what the hunters were hunting. Sound could travel for quite some distance, and Lei'lira guessed that the hunters were in the Ywyngyll forest out to the west of Rharne. She wished them well in their hunt as her mind drifted off to another hunt that had taken place many arcs ago.
It was a crisp morning in Ashan, and people were gathering at her father's farm for the First Hunt. Lei'lira was nine, and her father had decided that she was old enough to come with them this arc. Lazuli was very excited about being allowed to come. Lei'lira wished that she could share her twin's enthusiasm. But she hated the idea of killing anything, even if she knew that people needed to hunt to eat. She didn't object to other people doing it...but she couldn't bear the thought of taking an innocent life herself. The animals they hunted had every bit as much right to live their lives in peace as she herself, did after all. Who was she to steal the life of another? And her imagination was all too ready to picture how terrified and confused an animal must be when people hunted it. How it must suffer as it tried to escape, and how much agony it must feel as it died in terror. No. Lei'lira knew that there was no way that she could cause an innocent creature to suffer in such a way.
But what choice did she have? The First Hunt took place in Warrick for a reason. Her own ancestor had started it. And as a Warrick, no one would understand that she couldn't bear to take the life of another, even if it was "just" an animal. Not even her father would understand, and he was the one who always told her that she could be whatever she wanted to be as long as she was willing to put in the work needed to fulfill her dreams, even if she was a noble.
So it was with sick dread that she waited for the signal to set out. When the hunt began, Lei'lira followed the others reluctantly. But it didn't take her long to realize that no one was paying any attention to her. They were all focused on the hunt...and Lei'lira used that to her advantage. She snuck off when her mother was peering into some bushes that had rustled promisingly.
After making her escape, Lei'lira found herself alone in the woods. It had rained recently, and she breathed deeply, enjoying the rich earthy scent in the air. Birds chirped to each other in the trees, going about their lives. Some of their calls were familiar to the young girl, and others were not. As she looked around, a small, brightly colored bird landed on the forest floor, not far from where she was standing. It had bright blue feathers with a white cap on its tiny head, and black bands on its wings.
Lei'lira watched it in fascination as it hopped around on the ground, searching for food; worms or bugs, she guessed, or perhaps seeds. When it noticed her, it cocked its head at her curiously, completely unafraid of her presence. After a while, it went back to what it was doing. Lei'lira watched it in awed amazement until it flew away once more. Once it was gone, she decided that her "hunt" had been successful after all. Instead of hunting for an animal to kill, she decided that she had been "hunting" for something she had never seen before...and she had found it. The bird had left a feather behind when it flew away, and Lei'lira bent down to pick it up. It would be her trophy from this hunt. With that thought in mind, she headed home.
Lei'lira smiled at the memory. Her parents had been frantic when they had discovered that she was missing, and she had been scolded soundly when they found her safely back at home. But even that had not been enough to dim her enjoyment of the trial. Instead, it had started a tradition of sorts. As a Warrick, she had to participate in the First Hunt each arc. But she was the one who chose what she was going to hunt. And rather than hunt for food, she would hunt for a glimpse of something she had never seen before.
Off Topic
This post covers the following challenges:
Story Challenges
10. Take a moment and go back to your characters past. Write about a memory of theirs either in a memory thread or them remembering in a current one. Include important figures from your pc's past and explore an area / aspect / situation you haven't explored so far with them.
Story Challenges
10. Take a moment and go back to your characters past. Write about a memory of theirs either in a memory thread or them remembering in a current one. Include important figures from your pc's past and explore an area / aspect / situation you haven't explored so far with them.
