[center][h1]TIMESKIP: 2-3 months later[/h1][/center]

[h3][color=lightsalmon]Mar[/color][/h3]

Mar's anxiety tossed and rolled within her middle. With the passing time, her insides were slowly blacken by worry. The sensation filled her core as it spread inch by inch, her control barely enough to prevent it from seeping to the surface in the form of gestures and twitches. With each pang of worry, her eyes renewed her search for any danger signs causing her awareness of her anxiety to grow. Her heart pounded within her ears, threatening to drown her hearing's usefulness, and feed the dark dread in her heart before she squeezed down upon it.

She inhaled then exhaled, letting out the stress with the breath. Now wasn't the time to get worked over, her mind returning to the task at hand. From the corner of her eyes, movement caught her attention and her head whipped over to study the source: Althalus. She had caught him gazing upon her with a smirk crossing his handsome lips as his chin rested on his palm, golden eyes like their daughter's absorbing her image no doubt.

After a few moments Mar's eyebrow arched in demand at what he was staring at. Her eyes hardened and jawline tensed, her annoyance at him obviously ignoring the situation's importance causing her to sigh then speak. [color=lightsalmon]“What are you looking at Althalus? Shouldn't you be more concerned about wounding a few rabbits instead of staring at me?”[/color]

Some of the other students were in the woods, flushing out the prey animals to where Athalus and herself was and this gave them the responsibility to filter out which would be best suited for Lyn. Several smaller mammals, namely fleet footed rabbits, squirrels, birds, and smaller mammals darted past to the meadow beyond the pair. Their small figures quickly vanished into the overgrowth and into her daughter's direction where Lyn could hunt them for the afternoon meal. Most the animals would be too fast until either Althalus or herself wounded them, but their main objective was prevent any mammal too large for Lyn from entering the protective area.

Though she had made a valid point and was waiting for an answer, she knew exactly what he was eyeing up.

His sight roaming her current outfit, lingering on one of his tunic she was wearing. The waistline trimmed higher on her waist and sleeves cut shorter, her neckline folded into a v which revealed the curve of her breasts to the unimaginative eye. She held the mostly masculine frame in her torso thanks to the original shape of his shirt but she knew, in his opinion, it was much more flirting on her than him. The last accessory was on her waist where a belt filled by numerous pockets hugged her middle. There was mainly a basic first aid kit, created by Sam, the college healer, in preparation for her daughter's first hunt. Each balm, ointment, salve, and herb she was fully informed of its purpose and wound it treated. In addition there was bandages and stitches for more serious injuries, a matter that made Mar's spine shiver in concern. The notion of her daughter getting hurt both worried and angered her causing her tail to twitch in irritation, her mind considering such a thing was possible was enough to stress her.

Her mind, while waiting on Althalus' reply, wondered to the plan for Lyn's first hunt. Althalus had been generous enough to ask for assistance from selected students who would flush out suitable prey and chase away the more dangerous types. This way, her daughter was still required to hunt the prey but minimized the risk she had to take. If it wasn't for Mar's own experiences with the wildlife, the Naga would've preferred to have done this task alone. However, pride took backseat to her daughter's safety in the end.

Usually this was an important milestone in a Naga's life and done solely by the mother. Her job was to wound and chase suitable prey, allowing her children to experience a slower version of the hunt and thrill of killing their own food. As time went on, their hunting talents would improve enough that a mother's instinct would believe them ready to be left on their own. In the back of Mar's mind there was a fear the time when Lyn no longer needed her was drawing to a close, a fact she wondered if she would be able to officially let go. Would she want to? That was the primary question that shadowed her very mind and seemed to violate her traditional sense as well as her Naga pride.

Any further discussion was prevented when something stepped on branch and made a loud crack to her left.

Immediately her head whipped about to spot a large, moose like deer gracefully edging into view. Its spindling and thick legs navigated the pale tree trunks as their outspread leafless limbs briefly scratched the night colored flank causing it to shudder at the touch. The beast snorted creating mist to flutter from its flaring nostrils. Its antlers, wide and spreading from either side of the male's head, were curved upward and looked able to rip flesh into ribbons at a little application of pressure. If that wasn't dangerous enough, there was also its size. The animal reached about double the size of any war horse Mar had seen on the feast's opening day, either of Djarkel or Eania breed, and about as monstrous in appearance. Both features would easily damage Lyn if she tried to hunt it and filled Mar's mind with fear for her daughter's life.

Impulsively, Mar's fangs flashed, her voice letting out a warning hiss. Her fingers wrapped about the cannibal's femur bone, a souvenir from her last mission, as the her joints whitened from the stress. Mar's venomous eyes narrowed on the target and darkened. [color=lightsalmon]“Althalus, we have unwanted company...”[/color]


[h3][color=pink]Lyn[/color][/h3]


Meanwhile, within the meadow not far from the others, stood Lyn within the gray grasses of a meadow. Her figure had changed over the few months since spring and no longer was she the thin, fragile looking child of six years. Now there was the slight hints where maturity was blooming into the young girl's image, her chest developing subtle mounds on her chest to her widening hips, and visibly showed she had started to edge into fourteen. Her hair, golden brown like her mother's, reached her shoulder blades and was roped up into a braid in order to keep it out of her sight. Thin limbs had thicken a bit into developing muscles thanks to training between Alaira, her mother, and even her father. Sadly, Lyn suspected her father was often holding back on some of it which annoyed her inside.


Nervousness spread through her causing her hand to pick at her chosen outfit lightly. Her top consisted of a white, sleeveless and embroidered tunic with a low cut about the waist. It was a top her father hadn't been enthusiastic to see her wearing in public, giving into letting her only when her mother had pointed out it was more mobile than her father's standby. In addition to the unusual tunic, her wrists had braces where two daggers were strapped on the underside and able to be withdrawn to be thrown. On her waist was a belt filled by a small first aid kit and several small daggers like the ones in her bracers. Her legs were covered by skin tight deer buck breeches and tucked into her hide boots, thick cords tied about the calves. About her neck was the Rune Leith had given her for a gift, though she hadn't slouched in her efforts to speak. Her vocabulary had increased bit by bit but she stuttered often.


Movement out of her peripheral vision interrupted her thoughts caused Lyn's hand to jerk up to her bracer. Her finger tips brushed the handle of a hidden dagger, the hard iron cold against her warm touch. Her aim was as sharp as her blade thanks to all the practice between classes. In addition, she could easily tap into her Herbamancy since she had been working with Lucilia (with supervision) over improving her skills in that area. Sadly, it was still at the novice level but finding her prey would be easy.  She hadn’t managed to spot any wounded ones,  at least for now. It was what she was waiting for was more animals to flood into her little area, her eyes flickering between each moving shape trying to spot that hint of red.


[color=pink]“C-c-come on,” [/color] She muttered softly to herself.