faderift | (no subject)

WHO: Katniss, Pel, and Salem
WHAT: A Hunting Trip Gone ... Awry
WHEN: Right before they take off for their missions
WHERE: The wooded slopes beyond Skyhold.
NOTES: Warnings for violence, against goats, Venatori, and a Druffalo

When Katniss came back to return Master Tethras's book, and perhaps chat with Pel a little before she went to go hunting, she did not expect to find Pel so nose deep in a book that she was muttering at Katniss in Elvish, with Salem curled up on the floor next to her, reading just as intently.

They looked like they hadn't actually had a breath of fresh air in - oh - days.

So Katniss rolled her eyes, put their books forcibly down, ignored Salem's snarls and plucked Pel up and hefted her over one shoulder.

"Fresh. Air." She stated firmly, as she marched a protesting Pel out of the library, down the stairs and down to the stables. She put Pel on the horse, told Salem he could either grab a bow or carry the meat, and off they went.

Now, hours later, with the cold air whipping through their hair, and a fine grouping of rabbits, rams, and even a snofleur, Katniss breathed in deeply, looking satisfied.

"And you two are finally starting to not look like death warmed over." She stated, turning to look at them. Salem had been extraordinary, but Pel? Pel surprised the hell out of Katniss with those ice traps. "Aren't you glad you came? I never would have been able to get so many on my own. We'll be able to feed the common folk for weeks on this."

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"The pelts will trade well," Pel adds, always considering the practical side. "Though I might keep a couple of the rabbit skins to line a hood with."

She's grinning, though. Everything is bright after weeks spent buried in her research. It's good to get out in the wilderness and remember who she is.

Salem had squawked when Katniss had started to make off with his sister, but now, he was glad he'd followed along rather than simply kicking the girl in her arse and stealing Pel back.

He was looking a little bit breathless as he hefted his axe back over his shoulder, blood dripping off the curved blade into the trace of snow on the valley grass. By now almost all of the frostbite damage had been repaired in his ears and exposed digits, and he was back in the leather armor he'd arrived in, with the addition of a pair of boots pushed on him by multiple frustrated healers.

"Fine, you win. This was absolutely necessary. And I'll be taking the hooves off the rams." He had plans that involved polish and maybe a little bit of begging at Merrick for those hooves.

"Naturally ... which will allow us all to buy some better gear, if need be, for the days to come." Katniss nodded her head with approval at Pel, and then smirked at Salem, "Fine, the hooves are yours -- but I call the horns and bones. I need them for carving. We can store the fat for the cooks and to make more candles ... for the keep..."

She trails off, her gaze catching a flash of light out of the corner of her eyes. She frowns or a moment, eyes narrowing as she saw it again - not just one flash, but two or three through the trees. Before she even realizes it, instinct has her pat Haymitch on his horsely rump, pulling him out of sight behind the trees.

Then she nods off to the distance, "Metal, out there. Did anyone hear of a patrol being sent out this far?"

Pel squints, trying to isolate what Katniss is seeing. The flashes, yes. She shakes her head, touches a finger to her lips, meets Katniss' eyes, and nods for her to creep forward and scout.

While the two of them are trying to figure whether it was metal in the distance and if patrols had been out here, Salem glances around until he's found a rock face to climb up. He lifts himself up onto it and hops from stone to stone, scrambling up until he's found himself a good vantage point. He can see the glint of unrefined metal out in the distance, and the same thought occurs to him: have they had scouts sent out here before now? There was so much overlooked if they had.

What Katniss had seen, was not the ore that seemed to dot the cold winter landscape, but something else. She nodded at Pel, and began to track her way forward, keeping to to the trees and rocks. Her steps barely disturbed the snow at all, and she moved as a whisper.

Crouching low, she peered up around a cropping of rocks, and her eyes widened. She moved back, silently and swiftly, to where the other two were.

Well, one. She frowned as she looked around for Salem, before gesturing to Pel and picking up a stick, scratching in the snow.

Venatori.