Abstract Lessons in Forestry

[Glenn]

Young Elliot, squire and erstwhile employee of the Broken Dagger's stables, had gotten himself into quite the fix this time. It was all the wild woman's fault! She had to keep calling him a CHILD. After what he had been through, he wasn't a child. No way. Not even a little. He just wasn't anymore, no matter what anyone said, especially no matter what SHE said. She wasn't even FROM Myrken. So he showed her! He all but forced her to take him out into the Wood and now she was going to show him this and that. That would prove it once and for all. Once he learned whatever she tried to teach him and show him, then she couldn't deny the fact he was a man.

"Okay then," He was trailing behind her, despite his best efforts. He had grown up in Myrken, but had been a creature of his family's farm. Every kid knew better than to go into the Wood lightly. Things lurked there. The Baie, for instance. And wasn't that the story to keep every child in all of Myrken up at night. It kept him up.

He had stood with the brave knights, so many of them now fallen, against the Ashfiend. He had burned the bodies of his friends and mentors on the battlefield mere moments after they fell. Otherwise, the Fiend would have raised them as undead. He wasn't a kid anymore. And he was following her into the woods, her dark skin easy enough to spot against the lush greenery. At least it was daytime. Not that he would have been afraid of being in the Wood at night! "So what now? Hey! Slow down, already!"

[Dulcie]

"You need to keep up. I will not wait for you." She called back at his cries for her to wait. She would teach the boy in the same manner that she had been taught, with no special allowances for his youth or inexperience. "You will see where we are going when it is that we get there." She was moving quickly through the woods, apparently familiar with the environment. If Elliot was paying close attention he would realize that they were on a very small path, one that couldn't have been tread by more than one or two people. A path that the wild woman had created for herself. She had claimed these as her woods and so far she had not been disappointed.

She would continue leading at that incredibly quick pace with no breaks for rest or for water, pushing the poor boy just to the point of where he would be growing exhausted before she finally stopped, reaching a clearing that was obviously someplace she had camped before. There were a few supplies there, arrow heads, some partially finished shafts for the arrows and the stones of a campfire with some charred wood still remaining in it's center. She sat then beside where the fire should have been and waited for Elliot to catch up, an amused smile resting on her lips.

[Glenn]

Elliot let out a low groan; really, it was a bit of a whine. It's exactly what he wanted, of course. He didn't want her to coddle him or treat him like a child. That was well and good on paper, or when he said it (since he couldn't actually read much at all so being on paper wouldn't mean anything), but in reality it was quickly becoming a problem. As it was, he wasn't paying close attention to their surroundings. He was paying close attention to not losing her and to keeping up and then some attention that was not exactly close was being paid to the sheer act of not tripping. That meant only occasional stumbles.

When he finally caught up to her in the clearing, he was exhausted. For some strange reason, hauling around a giant sword didn't help to prepare him for this sort of cross country expedition. Elliot would sit across from her. More accurately, he'd collapse across from her, sweating and even a bit pale. Mid-drop he'd mumble out something completely and utterly incomprehensible, though it may have been an offhanded comment about her mother.

[Dulcie]

Kacela laughed as the boy collapsed across from her, sweating and cursing. She even let him rest for a few moments before she collected a filled skin of water from beside where she was sitting and took a drink, casually offering it over to Elliott when she was finished.

"You did good, not bad for a human." There was a smirk for him there and she would lean forward a little bit, resting most of her weight on her knees.

"I think that next time you come with me to the forest you will not need that ugly metal." She pointed towards the sword that he had been dragging with him. "We can make you a bone knife, or a bow. These would serve you better in the wild. Tell me, what things have you killed?"

[Glenn]

For a human. Those were chilling words for the boy. Elliot even grumbled a bit when she said them. Some things he was better off knowing. That was one of them. Ah well. Too late now. He sipped from the skin with only a little bit of hesitation and looked over to her.

She had asked a question and it only made him frown. "Do things that were already dead count?" That would have been quite the comedic statement if he wasn't completely serious. His voice softened down to the point of a dull mumble and he looked to the dirt. "...because I killed some zombies, kind of. I burned them. And they were getting up and.. it still counts." He glanced back up at her. "Uh, Rabbits. That's what you mean, right? Rabbits, squirrels. Wait, you mean hunting? Because I had to kill some pigs on the farm, but that's not the same."

Then another pause. Something had been yanking at his mind and he had to at least ask. Maybe she'd just dismiss it. That would be nice. "If you're not human, what ARE you?" He was sort of glad he had his sword with him, to be honest.