How Hard Is Gathering Wood?

Log Info

• Title: How hard is gathering wood?
• Emitter: Vaera
• Characters: Un'eth, Vaera
• Place: The Wilderness, near Mictlan
• Time: Octorber 2nd, 2021
• Summary:

Vaera had been thinking. She had never seen a sith-makar village preparing for winter, and had only weathered the season on her own. She knew how difficult it was for just one person. Food and shelter, too things that became even more of a concern than usual, eating more to combat the cold, and fire to stay warm around. So she had gone into the forest to find fallen trees that would serve. There was a decently sized trunk that she found, and so the red makari strapped it up, and began the process of pulling it back to Mictlan.

It was slow going. Too slow. She used to be able to do something like this with ease, but her wooden leg dug into the ground less, and she was much less muscular. It was frustrating.

The leg in question locked up at one point, causing the redscale to trip forward to the ground. They grumble a bit as they get back to their feet, and chuff, before they sit down on the trunk. They did not have their coat on, only a leather skirt and other pieces of armor, with a bow strung over their back.

Un'eth ripples and changes, coming to rest on four paws with white fur and very large lupine jaws.

Cooling temperates signify the change of season, and this a shift in most all life upon Ea. Predators seek excess prey to gorge themselves in preparation for months without, for example. Some become more bold from this, and so patrols and travellers must be more wary. Such as the lumbering mass of white fur that emerges from the deeper forest and onto the trail.

Vaera was resting on the path, but she was not completely unaware of surroundings. And the sight of a large wolf out of the corner of an eye gets her to her feet. The bow unslung, and an arrow resting , but not drawn in one movement. She does not fire, but watches the wolf warily. They were part of these forests as well, but she may need to ask back in Mictlan if they were a threat or not.

Dire Wolf looks to the Sith-makar, then to the fallen trunk, then back. She then growls low, though it quickly becomes intelligible. "If you collect fuel for a fire, you will need more than a single log. Do you wish assistance? <draconic>

The trunk in question was not small. In fact, it was quite large, more a moderately sized fallen tree than anything. At the growling, the bow is drawn, but the hands tremble slightly, not from fear, but perhaps from the stress of pulling the longbow. When she hears the speech, it is quickly relaxed, and the red makari chuffs, returning to her seat.

"Shaman, yes?" She asks after a moment. "This one is taking it to Mictlan, where it can be split into many logs. I should be able to manage this. I have many times in the past." <Draconic>

Dire Wolf's snout dips in a gesture akin to the gesture of softskins, as her tail is not articulate nor lengthy enough to strike the ground at the moment. "I am Un'eth," she clarifies, "and your contribution is welcomed. The chill is lessened in Mictlan, yet the need to cook remains, and scales are meant for the heat of jungles, not the cold of Alexandros."

"Shaman Un'eth, it is good to see you, then." Vaera replies, breathing a bit deeply to catch her breath. "I should be doing more to help where I can. But, I seem to have overestimated my abilities."

"This would have barely made me work up a sweat before, it has been so long since I have supplied for more than just myself."

Dire Wolf snorts. "If everyone able were to aid with a single branch, there would be no forest. Do as you are able. No more is expected."

"This one only looked for fallen wood, so as not to disturb the forest." Vaera nods, and chuffs. "But this one should be capable, Un'eth. Finding my muscles so weakened, is frustrating. Holding a bow was never a concern in the past. Nor was hauling firewood or game. It is as if I lost a part of myself, more than just a missing leg."

The large wolf's head now tilts. "Weakened? Lost? How? Recently? Battle? Magic?" Inquiring minds want to know.

"Weakened in the sense of my muscles being ruined. I am better, but nowhere near where I was, prior to being taken as a slave." Vaera notes, gesturing to her thin form. It did have a slightly unhealthy look to it. Un'eth may have seen it before, the telltale signs of starvation. "Several years ago now. No magic, but there was more than enough physical harm."

"As for the loss, I feel distanced from the understanding of the land I had before, and the creatures within it."

Un'eth ripples and changes, coming to rest on four paws with white fur and very large lupine jaws.

"You strengthen your body anew with every step, every action," the large white lupine notes. "You strengthen your spirit the same. The more you commune with Ea and those upon Her, the more you will regain understanding."

"I was barely able to walk before, shaman." The redscale notes, looking down to her wooden leg. "I can not run as I used to. The draw of a bow is not even close to before." Vaera chuffs. her flesh and blood led curls and digs into the dirt. "Hauling firewood is a struggle. And even if I recover, which I know not if it is even possible, it was not enough once. What are the odds a second time?"

Dire Wolf eyes the redscale and snorts. "Yet you walk better, now. Why do you think this will not improve? Will you be as you were, once? No. You are not as you were. Tomorrow you will not be as you are, now."

"I am able to walk, yes, but this one is a liability when they sleep, as the limb must be removed. This one can not fight as they did, either." Vaera replies, finally catching her breath and picking up the rope harness to begin pulling the trunk back to Mictlan.

"What sort of hunter-caste can not draw a bow, hold a spear properly? Defending those cared about feels impossible."

Dire Wolf begins to pad alongside the redscale. While she did offer to aid, before, she does not take the burden from her now, unbidden. "Not all hunters have great strength nor quick strides. We do not flourish from the strength of a few, but the efforts of many. If you truly believe that you are no longer best for your caste, or it for you, there are others."

"And what would that even be?" Vaera asks, a single brow raised as she pulls the trunk along, visibly struggling. "This one gave up their caste when their young ones passed. This one does not have a caste, does not feel worthy of one. The thought is one considered, but it feels even more an admittance of failure, shaman."

"What is it you seek?" The dire inquires. "You speak only of what you can not or wish not to do. What you have lost." She breathes out a light snort. "There are no answers to find if there are no questions."

"What I seek?" The dark red makari replies, pausing, catching their breath, before the chuff. "I seek to not be a liability to others. That is all. That is all, that is all that is deserved."

"I speak of these things as they are all that has been on my mind since. It motivates, and keeps stuck in the past at the same time."

Dire Wolf pauses her strides as the red does. Her muzzle flicks to the log. "You do what no one else did. You provide, and do not expect; support, do not burden. You are not a liability to others. The past makes you look forward, as you should."

Vaera pauses, and sighs. "This one, had to learn to use a firearm. It does not feel entirely right, like a bow. Yet it was the only way this one managed to provide for themselves, to survive."

It was not on her that moment, back with her things in the village. "All this one did, it was for nothing. The past, it is hard to escape though. When it haunts one and their thoughts every night. It makes one look forward, but with dread and fear in addition to the hope."

"All for nothing? You still walk, hunt, forage, live," Un'eth points out with a chuff. "Not as you did before, but you still do so. Discovered new ways to do what you must. Tomorrow is never certain. There is fear and hope for both."

"This one lives, and everyone this one cared about did not." The redscale chuffs herself, continuing on her way. They shake their head before continuing. "This one would have happily perished if it meant they would not have."

"But still, you are correct. Skielstregar is correct, perhaps there is hope for something better."

Dire Wolf's head dips once. "You would, and would not be alone in that wish. Many are those who are not here."

"All is not as we would wish, but it is as it is. We can only live in what is, and strive to make it better than what was."

"It is, too many. Much too many." The redscale sighs. "My village, family, all gone. There is no peace on this one's nest."

There was, from the subdued makari, the scent of sorrow. "It is a struggle to move forward from what happened."

"Ssa..." the lupine chuffs softly. "I know this. Too well. There are no words to heal those wounds. They will mend, in time, but there will always be scars. Still, we must continue, or not. I chose to move to the next day, and the one after, so that their memories will continue on. Their tales heard."

"This one, I want to move to the next day. But this one worries, if they move on, that they it will not feel right." They sigh. They spend a moment to tug the log over a root overgrown onto the path. "To move forward, to find a new life, perhaps even a new nest, it would forever be a reminder of what happened. That there are others who deserve peace, and a better life more."

Dire Wolf steps ahead of the redscale now, stopping ahead of her in the path and turning back to face her. She looses a snort. "Your life is different now. That does not make it wrong. You do not diminish the past by looking forward. You do not take anything from another's life by seeking to live well."

Her nose jerks thrice to their surroundings. "The woods do not seek to make you well nor ill. The jungles, mountains, seas... all of Ea is no different. Life is not fair nor unfair, kind nor cruel. It simply is and seeks to be."

Vaera pauses with her path interrupted. she looks down, and chuffs, sitting on the end of the tree trunk. "You are, correct, and wise, Un'eth." The redscale responds, bowing her head. "This one, should not use their experiences to their own detriment."

It was difficult to say, and the makari sighs. "The world, Ea, this one, they are a part of it, and do a disservice by not remembering that. Perhaps that is why this one does not remember the magics of the land as they once did."

"Memories can bring pain. Recalling the land as they did could recall them, as well," she chuffs more softly. "It is natural to shy away from pain." She turns to move alongside the redscale once more. "Allow one to mend, and you may heal the other. That requires time and effort, just as moving this log. You stop, rest, and continue. It is not easy, yet you are far closer than when you began. Nor are you without aid." With that, she falls back a half stride so that she can use her teeth to grip a portion of the trunk. Enough that she can begin to move it.

"It was, too much pain. Too long away from the land, and the people." Vaera chuffs. Though, she turns at the explanation, and thumps her tail once. "This is, true. Perhaps this one simply expects too much, too quickly. This one should give time to mend, as it is just as important a part of moving forward."

"You care correct as well, that this one is not without aid. Thank you for sharing words, and listening, Un'eth. It has been an unexpected boon this day."