[Hopetoun] The Art of Surviving

[Elisabeth Black]

Arc 721, 26 Ashan

True to Darius’ word, the settlers of Hopetoun had been gracious and kind to Elisabeth, pointing out the direction where she could find one Vega Creede. The visit had been arranged, serving a few different purposes. While she had only been on Faldrass for about fifteen trials, it had long been past time for a visit to the other settlement. Adjusting her scabbard a bit, the young woman trudged on, focused on going the way the others had indicated, but taking in everything around her as she walked.

Upon arriving, she had been told of Doran’s presence as well, eliciting a bit of surprise within the young mage. What the Beneath was Doran doing in Hopetoun? It seemed an odd place for him to land. She hadn’t seen the professor since the Mummer’s Ball, although she knew he had submitted information regarding Balthazar for his trial. That left her with somewhat mixed feelings and unsure where she landed on the matter.

Vega, however, was the reason for the visit.

Upon her previous visit to Haven, the two had forged something of a connection. Elisabeth didn't want to let that tentative link wither so she was hoping that the redhead would be willing to impart a bit more information upon her regarding the fine art of staying alive. It was an area the young mage was lacking education in and the subject had proven to be something of interest to the raven-haired woman.

There were similarities to Haven within Hopetoun. Differences too. Settlements, in her estimation, were full of living variables. Those contained within would mold and shape a place as it grew. Her beloved Haven was situated at the edge of a beach - a beach she meditated upon every trial. If their settlement had been Hopetoun, where would she had meditated? How had they combated the freshwater problem? Had they come upon some of the same resources Haven had? A flurry of questions whirled in her mind, both personal and logistical. Elisabeth couldn't quite help herself.

[Vega]

26th Ashan, 721

Vega was working.

This was not unusual, the red haired biqaj woman was almost always busy. To-trial, specifically, she was sitting with Wren and they were working on a piece of wood. However, currently, the wood was off to one side and the pair of them were looking at a book. In it, there were records of interviews they'd had with members of Hopetoun, written in Vega's writing and Wren's. "I reckon," she said to the boy, "the thing to do is to go an' ask Lars?" Wren nodded. He looked at Vega with his oh-so-serious eyes and Vega knew that he was feeling that shyness, that feeling of not wanting to. Equally, he wanted to just as much and there was a small war being waged inside the boy. Vega understood children in an instinctual way, and she was very much of the opinion that pushing him was no use at all.

So, she did what she always did with Wren. She gave him options. "Look, see that lady walkin' towards us?" Wren nodded. "That's Elisabeth, an' she's from Haven. I need to spend a bit of time with her, so you have two options. Either, you could go back to our tent, an' keep on with the plannin', or you can go speak to Lars. He'll be havin' somethin' to eat soon, so you could maybe go get yourself somethin', say hi to Arlo, an' then sit with Lars an' ask him. But you don't have to." She smiled at him and ruffled his hair. He looked at her and sighed. "Yeah, I know, you're too big to have your hair ruffled. Someone else has to have hair as messy as me, don't they? Whichever you decide to do, make sure you get somethin' to eat in the next break, an' you know the rules, yes?"

Wren nodded. "In the camp, or in the settlement. Never out of shouting distance for an adult and don't go exploring or you'll pound me?" Vega grinned. "That's it. We're gettin' there, you go on an' make sure to get some food in your belly." She solemnly poked him in the belly and he skipped out of the way.

Watching him go, Vega picked up the woodworking tools and was putting them away as Elisabeth approached. "Hey," she said, standing up. "Welcome to Hopetoun. Is it your first visit?" She continued to busy herself with getting things put away. "Doran's here, too - you two know each other, don't you?" Vega remembered that Elisabeth and Doran had been noticeably together in parts of it. It wasn't Doran Elisabeth was here to see though, since the visit had been arranged before Doran's arrival. It was Vega. What the reason for wanting to see her was, Vega didn't know - but that didn't matter really. She was quite happy to be friendly and to see people.

"You hungry?" Vega asked. "Arlo's the best chef on Idalos." Whatever Elisabeth wanted to talk about, she'd come out and say it when she was ready. "Or do you want a tour?" It wouldn't take long, but it might be what Elisabeth was wanting.

[Elisabeth Black]

Arc 721, 26 Ashan

As Elisabeth approached, she noted the way Vega interacted with the boy that darted off, smiling a bit. She herself had no experience with children – at all, but it was nice watching someone who seemed as natural with them as the redhead. Vega, she surmised, from everything she knew and had observed over the span of time that Elisabeth had known her, was going to be a wonderful mother.

Over the course of the arcs, Elisabeth had noticed the tendency of people to ask women about becoming mothers, either their desire to or when they thought they might if they weren’t already. It wasn’t a subject Elisabeth herself had given much thought to in the past. At least, not until Vega had mentioned her pregnancy. A few stray thoughts had crept in since.

Waving at her, she approached. “Hey Vega. Thank you. And yes. I wrote Darius to make sure it was alright, just in case. Then you.” Watching as the redhead busied herself putting away tools of some sort, she began thinking about how she was going to broach the subject with Vega when the other woman told her about Doran’s presence. Nodding, she quickly replied. “I do. One of the settlers that I spoke to, that gave me directions to you, mentioned the same. I found it curious he was here and was going to ask.” Knowing Doran, he was researching something, but she didn’t question further.

Vega inquired if she was hungry, or if she wanted a tour. “A tour would be good, I’m excited to see what everyone has been up to over here.” Of course, that wasn’t the reason she had come, and it was best to get the reason out of the way sooner rather than later.

“I’ve been thinking about the information you gave me about the chimney over the campfire when you visited Haven, and I’m wondering if you would be willing to teach me a few more things about survival skills? It could be anything really. It’s an area I’m weak in and while books are great at teaching certain things, I feel like this is a subject that really is best experienced by doing the work, and I want to do the work.”

Being in Haven had impressed upon the young mage the need to focus on skills she hadn’t before – logistics, gardening, leadership – and she was learning a lot, but she wanted to be better for Haven. She had earned a certain amount of trust and the settlers inspired her to learn more so she could step in and help them in a multitude of ways – not just those few things she was currently knowledgeable about.

[Vega]

26th Ashan, 721

She found it curious that Doran was here ? Vega thought about that for a moment and then dismissed it as not her business. Instead, she left it at "I guess he's here for the same reason I am, an' Arlo is. Because he chooses to be." More than that she couldn't say - and even though she had her own thoughts and opinions, they were not something that she would share as - at the end of the trial - they were nothing more than gossip and speculation. She offered Elisabeth something to eat - which she didn't want - and a tour - which she did. Vega was happy with either so was preparing to set out when Elisabeth told Vega why she was here.

Vega nodded, when Elisabeth told her what she wanted. Her eyes swirled in a variety of colours, blue and orange shades mixing. She'd come here to get some information from Vega. It made sense, Vega supposed, and she nodded. "Sure," she said. "I can do that." She wasn't completely sure what exactly Elisabeth wanted, though, and that was the place to start. "When you say survival skills," Vega said, thoughtfully. "I think we need to start there. What do you mean?" She gestured in the direction of the Badlands, for example. "I mean, are you talkin' about survivin' with nothin', or in that nice comfy settlement of yours?" Vega grinned. "I think maybe our definition of 'survival' is different, an' that's fine an' fair, but I don't want to waste time tellin' you stuff you don't need."

She gestured then towards Hopetoun. "Let me show you my camp, an' I might be able to give you more of an idea of what I'm on about," Walking through Hopetoun, Vega called out greetings in reply to the people there. They all seemed to know her, and she waved, chatted - introduced Elisabeth each time. The people there were busy, obviously getting on and doing things constantly - but they were friendly and Vega led Elisabeth through to the camp she shared with Arlo.

"We don't live in a house, never would." Vega said that without judgement. It simply was their way, their choice. "But that don't mean we don't like comfort. We do." As was always the case at the beginning of Ashan, it was rigidly cold, and this trial there was a high wind. But literally the moment they walked into the camp, it was comfortable, warm, and no wind. "It's a different way of livin' though, an' it requires different skills." She considered it, trying to think of an example. "If you're roughin' it in tents until you build a house, that's different than if livin' under the sun an' sleepin' under the stars is your way of life." From a box which contained everything for the tea she offered Elisabeth - including the kettle - to the high-backed comfortable benches they sat on, it was all very functional. "For us, the thing is to think about livin' the way we do. Everythin' has as many functions, as many uses as possible. We've got no time, no space, for faff. Houses have space, an' you don't need to pack them up." Vega chuckled. "I've seen people movin' house, an' all the boxes an' the fussin'. Everythin' here fits on our cart, an' we can pack up in less than two breaks. An' set up in less than three."

Fussing around making a cup of tea, Vega opened the drawers of the box, revealing a selection. "What flavour would you like?" There was a separate drawer with a small jar of honey and Vega put a hot cup of tea in Elisabeth's hands. "The bag goes in the composter," she said, with a smile. Then, she sat on the opposite bench, and sipped her own tea. "So, what sort of thing are you thinkin' of?"

If she knew what Elisabeth needed, Vega figured, she could help her better.

[Elisabeth Black]

Arc 721, 26 Ashan

Vega had questions about Elisabeth’s request, which wasn’t surprising. The young mage hadn’t been truly clear about her wording. Before she could say anything further though, Vega offered to show her their camp in hopes that would provide some clarity.

Walking through Hopetoun, Elisabeth smiled and returned greetings to everyone Vega introduced her to, trying to keep a mental list of those she met. Perhaps it wasn’t important to others, but she hoped that soon, there would be more communication and interaction between the two settlements, and anything she could remember that would help facilitate that would be helpful, even if it was just a few names.

She listened to Vega intently as they entered the camp, noticing right away the differences. The redhead was speaking to the difference between a bit of roughing it and truly living in the outdoors. Glancing around, Elisabeth noticed the mutli-taskers that Vega spoke of – objects that had more than one purpose. She herself had often considered the purpose of items and if there wasn’t a way to make things more functional. There was a bit of an art to it, which Vega understood. The tea box. The benches.

Elisabeth and Balthazar weren’t much for things, at least as far as she knew on Balthazar’s part. Having seen his house in Scalvoris Town, it had seemed the pair were of mutual thought on that subject, and she had no concerns that it would ever change. Things weighed one down.

Choosing a lemon variety of tea, she quickly found the tea in her hands. “Thank you, “ she said, smiling a bit as she blew on the hot beverage, testing the temperature before taking a sip.

They came full circle as Vega asked her if she knew which type of skills she wanted to learn. “The kind that will keep me alive if I’m in the wilderness on my own.” Elisabeth understood the differences in what Vega was explaining and while it would have been nice to learn a few more things like the chimney, those really weren’t specific to surviving. She knew how to make a fire, but that was with the right supplies and dry wood. Survival tended to imply negative circumstances.

“I’d like to learn how to survive on my own in the worst of conditions, or at least start learning.” She didn’t speak to it, but being in Haven, which was a much different environment than she was used to, had opened her eyes to much more than chimneys or figuring out rain barrel collection systems. Her life, well…it was weird, and perhaps it would always be that way. She hadn’t been prepared for Haven, but quickly had adapted due to the relatively minor environmental changes. If she could learn, even a little, of how to survive the wilderness in the worst situations, then perhaps she would stand a chance of coming home should that situation ever present itself, or help others survive. All information was helpful, in her opinion.

[Vega]

26th Ashan, 721

She wanted to be able to survive with nothing in the wilderness?

Vega nodded. "Right. That makes sense," she said. Sipping her own tea, she thought about it a moment. How to survive on her own in the worst of conditions. "So, first things first, I'm not much of a teacher." Just ask Darius, Vega thought. In truth, she was better than she thought She's competent now. She was entirely incompetent when she taught Darius! . "But I'll do my best. Alright, so." There was a lot to consider, and Vega thought about how best to explain it. "Survival is a skill, for sure. But it's a mindset, too. An' a little bit of plannin' an' thinkin' about stuff goes a long way." She gestured to the high-backed bench, which was placed to look out over the lush oasis that their camp was next to, and she frowned slightly. "That there bench," she said. "It fits our cart exactly. Jus' the same length as it, an' exactly half the width, cos there's two of them. We used to sit on logs. Still do, lots of the time, but sometimes you wanna put your bum on somethin' comfortable." Standing, she opened the bench-seat, revealing storage. "Everythin' we own can fit in these two benches, on that there cart. When we're usin' the cart, the back of the bench does this," She lifted it slightly, it clicked out of place and folded back. "But that jus' adds to the thickness, so see, it does that here, a little way up?" Indeed there was a small gap between the rear of the bench itself and the now-folded back. "That's exactly the width of the cart." Vega explained. "When we're travellin' Arlo's herb-pots an' stuff," she gestured to the small garden they had, which was in long planters. "They hook on to this an' travel with us."

She shrugged slightly. "Things are important. Not faffy material things like beds an' doors an' houses an' carts an' benches. But if you got teleported right now an' you were stranded somewhere, there are things on you that you have, an' thinkin' about them can help you." Vega smiled slightly. Elisabeth was always - the times Vega had seen her anyhow - very nicely dressed. That could help. "I always wear a belt," she said, tapping it. "It's functional day - to - day, but more'n that. If I need it to be, it's a tourniquet. If I need to hold somethin' up, buildin' a shelter or somethin'? I can use it then." Vega lifted her skirt slightly, revealing her petticoats. "These are bandages, or they're a blanket. I always have a shawl on me." She shrugged slightly. "Layerin' of your clothes is a basic tool of survival. It's about the way you think about things. What they are, an' what they could be. I always, without fail," reaching down she pulled a knife from the back of her boot. "Have a knife."

That way of thinking about things was part of who she was, very much so. Vega wore no jewelry except one leather thong bracelet and she had, inevitably, boots on her feet. "So, that's the first step really. Think about what you have with you - always - an' how you can use it." She gave a slight grin. "I always have a spare pair of socks in my medical bag, an' I always have that satchel flung on." She did now, she had when she'd been to Haven. "Because cold an' wet feet suck. An' socks can be mittens or weights to hold somethin' down. Filled with stones, they can be a weapon. No one will see that comin'," She chuckled.

Gesturing to the oasis itself, Vega summed it up. "It's like that. Right now, it's beautiful, an' it's tranquil an' it's serene. It's lush an' filled with plantlife. But that's because we're not stranded miles from nowhere. If we were, it would be a source of fresh water, an' food. Maybe some medicine, too." She smiled at Elisabeth. "I'm warblin', but I hope it's makin' some sense? Just that mindset, that alone could save your life." She'd move on to specifics, but first she really wanted to make sure that Elisabeth had the best chance she could of surviving the situation of being dropped in the middle of nowhere.

[Elisabeth Black]

Arc 721, 26 Ashan

Elisabeth sipped her tea as Vega seemed to consider her request. It was always difficult to know, at least for her, how to approach the redhead. The visit itself was to serve a multitude of purposes, but mostly it had been to check in on her. Besides Balthazar and Darius, Vega was the only other one on the island she knew to any degree and even though the young mage often stumbled with her words around her, the fact was that she really liked her and wanted to get to know her better. Trust as well - she trusted her to be straight and honest with her about...well, everything.

Upon admitting she didn’t think herself to be much of a teacher, Elisabeth simply smiled. Vega was a better teacher than she let on, but it was probably something she didn’t realize of herself. “I think you are better than you realize, Vega. I’ve learned a lot from you in the times we’ve been together, and I’ve appreciated it very much.” It was a simple, straightforward comment, earnestly meant.

As she began, Vega noted there was an element of logistics to survival, as well as a mindset. The idea intrigued Elisabeth, listening intently as the redhead explained about the bench and the way everything could fit into their cart just so, inter-packed and perfectly measured out as to not waste space.

Then came the part that Elisabeth was woefully ignorant on – trial to trial matters. Vega mentioned being teleported. The only time that had happened, thus far and thankfully, had been the doing of Saoire for some holiday cheer. Had she been taken for more serious purposes, Elisabeth would have been in serious trouble. As it stood, she never seemed to have what she needed when unexpected things happened, and that seemed to be what Vega was driving at. Elisabeth never considered what she was taking with her, other than immediate needs, and put less thought into what she wore.

Nodding her head in understanding, she considered what had been said. “I confess, I’ve never thought that way. If I go for a walk in the Ashwoods, I just take what I think I’ll need for that trip, but it makes sense to think beyond that. When I was teleported by Saoire, had that been something else, it could have ended up badly.”

A satchel with certain necessities? A knife in her boot? Why hadn’t these things occurred to her? Well, because her training hadn’t been, up to that point, traditional. Elisabeth had taken bits and pieces from different people along the way but never had she, except for Balthazar, sat down with someone and said, ‘teach me’.

Vega was the first.

The oasis was beautiful, and she understood the point Vega was making. It was about being prepared, or at least that was what she was taking from the conversation.

Sipping her tea quietly, the young mage nodded. “You are making sense, yes. I just…I’ve never thought that way before and I’m a bit surprised at myself in realizing that. I suppose the easiest way to start thinking that way is just…to start and be intentional about it?” The belt made sense, and she generally wore those so that was easy. The knife – why the beneath had she never thought about that?

[Vega]

26th Ashan, 721

"That's a good example," Vega said, of Elisabeth going for a walk in the Ashwoods. "An' it's a perfect example of what I mean. There's all sorts of stuff on Faldrass right now, an' a lot of it I bet we know nothin' about. If a bear attacked you, lets say. Now, maybe you've got your sword with you. That makes sense. But you could bleed out between the Ashwoods an' the nearest medic, you know?" She shrugged slightly. "It's a bit odd, me sayin' this, but for me it's about thinkin' of what is the worst thing what could possibly happen?" She grinned. "Not very Xiur-filled it may seem. But, I believe that hope is somethin' you give yourself. An' if you find yourself in a situation, then you know that you'll have more hope of survivin', an' you'll feel better about it, if you're prepared."

It was, certainly a way of thinking and she understood - entirely - that it was a bit of a flip from the way most people thought. She sipped her tea, watching the thoughts play across Elisabeth's expression as she considered this and Vega was happy to be silent a while to let her companion work through what they were talking about. She nodded at Elisabeth's assessment of the best way to start. "Aye. I figure the best way to start anythin' is to jus' do it." Her lips twitched slightly. "But I'm a bit prone to that. The thing is, it's about preparin', an' you can't rightly know what to prepare for if you don't know what to do, how to do it. It's all a bit mish-mushed about an' squishified, I reckon."

Logical it may be, but Vega also knew that sometimes, it just relied on instinct. "So, lets think about it. If you're dropped in the middle of nowhere, or you're lost, or whatever. You're alone in a place which is inhospitable. The very first priority is makin' sure that you are not bleedin'." She smiled slightly. "People can live without food for a long time, without water for a few trials. You'll bleed out in bits or breaks, so you need to deal with it. First aid first." Patting her satchel, Vega pulled it off her shoulder and held it out to Elisabeth. "Have a looksie. My go-everywhere bag."

At the top of the bag, sewn into the inside of the lid of it, there were tightly rolled bandages. "First aid is easy when you're sittin' in a classroom an' learnin' it. It's hard when you're doin' it on yourself, aware that every drop of blood you lose makes you weaker an' attracts more predators. Make it easy on yourself an' always have bandages, an' have them on the top of the bag an' in an easy to get to place." Vega gestured to one of the benches. "In there is a medical kit for in camp. It's got a lot more in there, herbs an' salves an' all sorts of malarkey. But out on a hunt, I need to be able to clean a wound an' dress it. An' that's about it." Everything else could wait. "If you need to deal with bleedin', do it. Don't pause, hesitate, or explain. Jus' do it." Vega couldn't stress this enough. "Every drop, every inbreath, every word. You're weakinin' an' you're becomin' more of an attractive prospect to predators. "

Vega poured some more water on her tea, offering the same for Elisabeth. "An' then stop. Stop an' think an' take stock. Calm yourself down an' recognise that you have jus' saved your own life. It'll make you feel better. A bit or two takin' stock of where you are an' what resources you have, of revisitin' this minute an' thinkin' 'what the bloody hell did that woman say next?', that kind of stuff? It'll help you hold in any panic. An' panic'll kill you as quick as bleedin'."

With that, Vega asked a question which she rather suspected she knew the answer to. "Have you ever been huntin'?" She asked it because it would mean that Elisabeth could have an awareness of her surroundings and what things meant. "Or, I guess, what I'm askin' is how much experience do you have in the wilderness?" Would she recognise tracks, that kind of thing. It might be important.

[Elisabeth Black]

Arc 721, 26 Ashan

The raven hair mage listened to what Vega said carefully. It was true that there were a whole host of things on Faldrass that they didn’t know about, and why that fact had never occurred to her, she hadn’t a clue. She took her sword, of course, but if something happened out on the Ashwoods, she was too far away from the settlement to get help easily.

For example, a bear attack. Vega even brought up the fact that having a weapon was sensible, but apparently, that was where Elisabeth’s sense stopped. Shaking her head gently, she remarked quickly when the redhead mentioned that her thinking might be a bit odd. “It’s not odd in the least. I think that if you try to prepare for the worst, there isn’t much that happens that you aren’t at least better prepared for.” Grinning back at her, she appreciated the way Vega thought about hope. It was a subject she mulled over frequently in terms of being hopeful or giving others hope. Instead, Vega was speaking of giving oneself hope of surviving.

When the redhead got to the mish-mushed, squishified part, the young mage nodded. “That’s the part that concerns me. As I said, Genna taught me a bit about common medical issues that might occur while traveling. Broken bones, cuts, stitches – things like that. But there’s more to it than just injuries…”

Step one – make sure you aren’t bleeding. That made sense. Sipping her tea a bit, Elisabeth listened as Vega broke down what a body needed and didn’t need, and a priority list of such. Stop bleeding. Get water. Food is last on the list. Watching as she handed over her go-everywhere bag, taking it gently as Vega told her to have a look inside.

Opening it up, she noted the bandages first, understanding the stated reason for their location and purpose. Elisabeth hadn’t been aware that blood attracted predators so that was good information to have. “Genna gave me a bag of basic medical supplies. I could easily make something like this bag with those supplies.” It was reasonable to her that on short trips into the Ashwoods, there were only certain types of things that one would need to treat away from the settlement. “So, what you are saying is, for like short hunting trips and such, take only the medical supplies needed to treat what needs to be treated to get back to the settlement, right? And you can do the rest there? That makes sense.”

Holding out her cup as Vega offered more hot water, they moved on to some additional basics, after Elisabeth thanked her. Keeping oneself calm and noting resources to help keep one calm.

The hunting question brought a smile to Elisabeth’s face, shaking her head gently. “I haven’t. I have been meaning to have one of the hunters in Haven take me out into the Ashwoods. There are some types of game out there that I’m interested in taking a look at. Balthazar and I went into the wood one day to look at trees and saw these large, turkey-like birds. They seemed like they might be a good resource, although I’ve been thinking about those types of resources and how to manage them. For example, those birds. If we start hunting them, I don’t want to hunt them until there aren’t anymore. I want us to be…responsible? I guess that’s the best word.”

Laughing softly, she gave Vega a grin, realizing she had gone off on one of her rabbit holes again. “Sorry. You didn’t ask about all that. Hunting, no. I don’t have any experience in the wilderness, but I do have good eyes. My observation skills are even better than Balthazar’s I think, so I’m sort of hoping that type of skill will lend itself well to wilderness or survival skills.”

[Vega]

26th Ashan, 721

"Exactly that," Vega agreed when Elisabeth clarified what she meant as far as medical things went. "You need to either be able to survive long enough to make it back to civilisation, or you need to be able to survive long enough to be found. An', while it's in my head, that's another thing." She pointed over to a tent. It looked the same as any other. "We have a map of the area, an' if we're goin' out huntin', we sign out. Who's goin' when they left an' where they're goin'." With a slight grimace, she admitted. "It's a pain in butt. But it's that when nothin' goes wrong. When we come back, we say what we found an' what we saw, an' what we caught. It allows us to build up a picture. The point here though is that you don't go anywhere without someone knowin' even jus' roughly where you're headin'." It was all part of the same thing, to the red head. "Minimise risk, an' maximise the chance for bad stuff not to happen. If no one knows where you went, no one knows where to look for you."

She asked Elisabeth about her experience in the wilderness and she listened carefully to the answer. "Responsible huntin' isn't possible on a place this small," she said, quite certainly. "Not without more proactive steps, for sure. There's jus' not enough of a population. I don't know how much bigger Haven's got, but you're a'right until you're talkin' about a hundred people. Then, what you eat will start to cut into the numbers of what you hunt. There's two ways to mitigate against that." She thought about it a moment, then added, "maybe three. First thing is hunt in rotation. But to do that, you've got to know what's hangin' out where. It's one of the reasons we have that map. We've got the big turkey-lookin' things too - they're called kazon fowl, apparently - an' we've started notin' where they are. So, learn about them an' then give them the time they need to repopulate. That's one way an' it works, as long as there's a good amount of alternatives." That was one thing to do. "Another thing is to hunt their predators. If you're huntin' what preys on them then you're givin' them more chance to survive, an' supplementin' your hunt with the predator, too." That was the most usual way and most practical in a place like this.

"You can grow more of what they feed on, too, be that plant or animal. That'll help them to grow." But really, the bottom line was that killing less of them and allowing more to be born was the way to go. But, then there was the actual answer and Vega smiled slightly.

"That's strange, really," she said. "Because you went out in the wilderness with me, to the Umbral Caverns." She paused a moment and then smiled. "People think of 'the wilderness' as like the forests an' the glades an' the place where all the animals gambol about an' you go huntin' an' fishin' an' come back more rugged than you went." Shaking her head she tried to explain why that wasn't the case - and why it was important not to think it was. "The wilderness is anyhin' you don't know, anywhere where people aren't. Those caverns they were the wilderness, an' you prepared to go to them. You thought about it." Recalling the events in the caverns, and the way in which they'd met, Vega admitted, "I remember how new an' shinin' an' non-scuffed your armour was. An' it was. But you wore it. Because you understood it to be a threat. You knew you didn't know what we were facin', an' you went as prepared as you could." It was true, she was sure. "The single best thing you can do is stop thinkin' about 'the wilderness' as somethin' that is trees an' forests. You're in the wilds every time you're somewhere where you don't know the rules. Best advice I can give you is to take that attitude you took to the Umbral Caverns every time you're somewhere you don't know."

She paused, then, waiting to hear what Elisabeth had to say. "There's lots more, about what to do after makin' sure you're not bleedin' an' you've taken stock. Let me know when you want me to get on with that, but if you want to come out huntin', I'm always happy to help."