The path that winded through the woods was old and narrow. Bushes were growing on it from years of disuse, and it really looked a tad too narrow for a kint, let alone to allow two to cross. It definitely did not look like the road to an important town like Vienda should.

Which did not mean the place was deserted. Something could be heard shuffling on the forest floor. Sudden silence followed, soon broken by a loud twang. The movement in the bushes became more frantic, until a cute furry thing darted from the undergrowth.

And something else was still there in the forest, moving carefully. A cold ray of the winter sun, filtering through the trees, revealed a burgundy silhouette slowly progressing towards the path.

The young witch huddled closer to her morning fire, eyes darting around the undergrowth, pack pulled high onto her shoulder. She held her sai in each hand and if one was watching carefully, they would see the tips were trembling slightly.

"Vrunta! Goin' t' Vienda, an' I can't even find m'way there. How th' clock did I en'up here?" Sarinah muttered to herself in a slightly hysterical voice, strong wick accent weaved into it. She was very very lost. And it was all together to green and...bushy...to be the main road. It could only be her that would manage to take that right hand turn that looked like the road but was in fact a hunting trail. Now she couldn't actually find the trail she first took and she'd spent the night in the woods. Sleep hadn't occurred, in fact, she'd sat wide eyed in front of a rather poorly constructed fire, sai's in hand.

A rustling came from somewhere on her immediate left and she gasped, spinning to face the undergrowth.

"Vrunta! Gah!" Her breathing increased and adrenaline ran through her body. She was ready to bolt.

The rustling quickly came nearer, until its source was revealed to be a cute, fat, and frightened hingle, visibly running away from something. The animal stopped dead at the sight of Sarinah, slightly trembling. It let out a short sigh, and darted away towards the forest on the witch right. Something else was still moving in the forest on Sarinah's left. Now making a lot of noise, as if shuffling for something in the bushes under the tall trees.

Where did I shoot this clocking arrow?
Shi was angry at herself. Not only had she missed her shot, but she could not find where the arrow had landed. One of her best arrows, perfectly straight, and with exactly the right spring for her bow.
And how could I miss that shot anyway? That animal was perfectly still!
Of course there was an explanation. She knew it. She had wanted to miss that shot. She had not wanted to harm such a cute thing. But now, today's hingle stew was bound to become a potato stew! She would have laughed at herself, but she was still missing her best blunt arrow, while the level of her archery skills did not make it trivial to make a new one. And she was quite confident that Noli and Ti would soon supply the teasing.

She sighed and stopped moving around.
Think. Where were you really aiming at?

Sarinah squeaked when she saw the hingle, almost laughed at herself. But after it darted off their was still something there. But it wasn't crashing through the brush. It was more of a shuffling, searching sort of sound. The young witch swallowed hard, thinking it through. If it was some big scary creature, it would have lept out by now, right?

Gods, what if it was a Vradire?! Or a hatcher!!!??

She swallowed again and began to back very slowly to the right, eyes on the bush. If the hingle hightailed it this way, maybe she could too. Creeping, she was so slowly getting to the forest. She was going to...

CRACK!

The stick broke loudly, almost echoing in the respectively quiet forest. Sarinah swore and her chocolate eyes opened wide as she stared at the bushes. They had stopped moving.

"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods..." She breathed, praying for a quick and painless death.

The crack was perfectly audible from Shi's position.
It's still over there. By the path. She quickly reached in her back for another arrow. Or something else. But I might save the stew after all.

She put the arrow in position in her bow and with long slow steps, walked as silently as possible towards the path.
I'll make less noise in the open.

The witch stepped out of the forest and turned towards the source of the noise, along the path, her bow at the ready.

(SFSR)

Sarinah watched with wide eyes as something tall stepped through the growth. As it came out of the bushes, she saw it was a person, a woman. But she was aiming an arrow at her. The teenager squealed and lowered, holding her sai protectively, ready to...run.

"Oh Gods, don'kill me!!" Her brown eyes filled with tears.

"I didn' mean t' be here bu'I was travelin' an' I think m'lost an' I can't get out an' m'not doin' anythin' bad honest m'jus havin' breakfast an'...an'...oh please don'shoot me!" She babbled, cringing.

The woman who had stepped out of the woods wasn't even tall or strong. She would have looked galdori more than everything else, if it wasn't for her wick's clothing style.

Shi - it was her - lowered her bow at the sight of the frightened teenager. But kept the arrow at the ready, not sure if she should laugh, reassure, or be frightened too.
She wasn't too sure she was the target of the pleading. Why would I want to kill you, I don't even know you? And the young witch was holding a weapon, after all.

The girl continued pleading, in some ununderstandable way. Shi could make out the words "don't shoot" inside the babble, and glanced behind her too see if she could see someone with a pistol. But no, the path was empty, and the youngster gaze was fixed on her.

"Are you talking to me? I don't want to kill anyone, I'm just hunting."

Sarinah let out her breath in a whoosh, lowering the sai.

"Oh gods, I thought y'were a...a somethin'! An' I thought y'were gonna eat me! An' then shoot me! But.." Trembling, she burst into tears, crying miserably.

"M'lost!" She sobbed, black and red pony tail falling over her shoulder as she put her face in her hands. This wasn't the place for a fresh-out-of-the-kint teen.

Shi nearly laughed at being mistaken for a hatcher or something like that. But her beginning of a smile froze as the teenager burst into tears. She put the arrow back in her bag, and quickly crossed the distance towards Sarinah. She extended a hand, but stopped short of touching the girl.

"Oy boch, it's okay." She was feeling motherly, now. After all, Ti wasn't that much younger.
"You're not lost anymore. I know where we are." Though I don't know where your fami is, but one problem at a time. "Have you had something to eat yet?" The girl didn't seem to have much around in term of food.

"I'm Shi, by the way." The witch tilted her head towards her right hand. "And I must admit I was really planning to eat you." She winked. "But only because I thought you were a hingle!"
Shi was quite satisfied with herself. Cracking a joke to a stranger, that was Laughing Sky style. Noli and Neti might finally have managed to loosen her up a little, during the last ten years.

Sarinah pushed her sai back into the holsters on her belt, sniffing, bottom lip trembling as she cried on.

"Ne...no'yet. I brought some dried stuff with me, bu'I fell down this big hill a while back an' th'pack busted an' then it went flyin' int' this stream an' everything got all so-hog-ggy." The brunette's crying matched the frustrated bounce she made towards the end of her tale. Eighteen wasn't really a childhood age, she was an adult in her tribe's eyes. But she'd never done this traveling stuff before. It was all a bit frightening and too much.



The girl laughed once through her crying, then again. Finally, she laughed properly, wiping away the tears on her face with sniffs and giggles.

"M'a lil' big for a hingle, but I did see one. I think I scared him away. Sorry rosh." Stepping closer to the woman, she smiled warmly.

"My name is Sarinah Lissden. M'on m'way t' Vienda but..." Looking around, she sighed.

"M'terriblly lost."

"Don't worry for that hingle. I shouldn't have missed it in the first place." Shi smiled at the young girl. "We'll have to do without meat for a few days, that's all." Actually, Shi didn't mind eating rice and vegetable soup. Noli and Neti were the ones who liked to have meat regularly. We're soon in Vienda, I'll barter us a ham.

"As for Vienda, you're not that far. The bridge is barely one day south from here. I can show you the way." The witch cast a quizical glance at the young girl. She was wondering what would push some young witch to travel alone like that. Se didn't look that independant yet, not even having a kint. Not my business!
"But first, let's get you some breakfast. We must have a bit of soup left. You're coming? It's not that far."

The green-eyed witch started leading the way towards her kint, but stopped after a few steps with an apologetic look.
"But if you don't mind waiting a bit... I've lost one of my best arrows there, when I missed that hingle. Somewhere around those bushes, probably. Would you mind help me find it?"

The young witch smiled, she liked Shi already. It was like talking to her mother almost. Nice and kind and all smiley.



Sarinah grinned broadly.

"Oes! That would be benny!" How could she get so lost when Vienda was so close. Briefly, the wick hoped she would never ever have to travel again. Ever.



"We? Who else is out here? Don't tell me ye have a whole tribe back there?" The girl felt ridiculously foolish. She was really very bad at this sort of thing. Perhaps she should just go home.



The brunette nodded.

"Sure!" She almost sprang into the bushes with the unconscious grace of an acrobat or a dancer. Walking around stooped, she looked carefully, before standing a little sheepishly.

"Uh, what does it look like? Fletching?"

"No, no whole tribe there. They've already left for Vienda. Oh, I'm talking Laughing Sky, by the way." The older witch was realizing she hadn't supplied much information to the youngster.
"But we had a brewing underway, so we decided to stay. I mean, my fami and I. We'll catch up with them tomorrow." Besides, it's nice being alone sometimes. Shi was grateful for the tribe to have accepted them, but sometimes, she longed for the quiet surroundings of her childhood.

She watched the girl hop around a bush. So graceful. With her childhood training, she had acquired a sense of someone connection to the ground, and could tell the youngster had a good balance, but did not care much about it, was used to jump or fall. Acrobat? Dancer? Very different from her daughter, who was anchored on the ground like a wrestler.
"Oh, the fletching? Black. Made with magpie feathers. Which doesn't make it easier to find, I'm afraid."

The green-eyed witch stepped under the trees, carefully scanning the ground for signs of these black feather.
"You've slept outside? It must be cold, without a kint."

Sarinah grinned, nodding.

"M'Yellow Eye, through'n'through."



The girl scanned the ground, frowning with concentration. She spotted twigs with what looked like black feathers, but they turned out to be mearly twigs with..well...green leaves. This was...this was hard! Chewing the inside of her cheek, she couldn't help but imagine it would be easier just to make another.



The brunette grabbed a thin piece of wood, standing triumphantly, only to frown at the dead twig in her hand. Tossing it away, she continued looking.

"Yeah, its freezing! I tried t'make a fire, but m'not benny at it. Ent really good at much of anythin', 'cept readin' cards." She looked at Shi and winked.

"Y'know what those humans 're like, always up'fo their fortunes read. Easy pickin's."

"Some of them don't believe you, you know? They just ask you for the show."
Shi smiled, remembering a younger Noli with her half-sisters, who had been into palm reading. Though those had been quick to turn him away, or predict very dangerous things, once the two had started to look seriously attracted by each other. Finally, despite Anaxas being harder for a human, we got the less dangerous route, being away during the plague.

Noli and Neti often liked to ask other Laughing Sky for predictions and laugh about them together.
"Actually, if you accept to work for fire and breakfast, you're going to have two customers." The older witch suddenly stopped, looking at the bush into which Sarinah had thrown her last twig. She had been following her gesture absent-mindedly, but now, it seemed that one of the branches in there was unnaturally long and straight.

"Yes!" She jumped and retrieved a black-feathered arrow. Not more than a straight piece of wood with the feather attached on the back, not even a metal point, just blunt wood. "You've brought me luck." But Shi was looking at it as something admirable. She held the arrow for Sarinah to see.
"You see this? Perfectly straight. And with exactly the right amount of spring for my bow. I'm not that good at making those." She was putting the arrow back in her bag when something moved in the bushes, on the other side of the track.