Ashan 48, Arc 716
Tose woke with the suns, as was her habit, and untangled herself from the mass of children who were sprawled about the place. She'd spent the evening listening to Mo'anas stories, and when they'd asked her to spend the night she'd accepted. Which of course meant dealing with their ever growing brood of children. An annoyance for many, but for Tose who was an only child, a novelty. She offered a grin and a wave to Kah'kilan, who was also rising, likely going to take up his watch once more at the Itọju. That done, she pulled on her boots and silently let herself out. Just because she was a morning person did not mean that everyone was. It would have been careless to wake those who did not need or want to be up yet.
Sev'ryn did not farm precisely, finding what they needed in the wild, but there were various fruit trees and the like that had been allowed to grow within Desnind itself, and rather than being wholly harvested, the fruits were left for those who were hungry, until just before they would go bad when they were either gathered for a shared feast, or turned into fruit drinks. If they were left a little too long the drinks were alcoholic and a feast was almost guaranteed. It was one of these trees that Tose shinnied up and plucked her breakfast. She bit into it, sweet juice dripping down her chin as she moved towards her own current campsite.
Perhaps she'd go out and do some hunting today. Or laze by a lake and fish. She was not particularly good at fishing, but she did know how, and it was a way to take a day off and still contribute. She paused her stride for a moment, rising up on her toes and leaning back, stretching her spine. She particularly enjoyed it because she'd only recently been able to do it again without causing herself pain. The wound along her rib-cage while still present had scabbed properly and started to heal, although it itched maddeningly at times, it no longer really hurt and simple movements didn't reopen it.
In short order she made it to her campsite. Tent was up, bedroll and the majority of her gear within. Wagon nearby, Nika a little further off grazing. Tose was halfway through breaking down and stowing her tent and belongings back in the wagon when she paused. Something was wrong. She looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. She listened and heard nothing that should not have been there. She sniffed the air, seeing if there lay whatever had cued her mind as wrong. Nothing. A deep sense of unease filled her. Hand dropped for a moment to the knife at her side. Survival instinct, learned on many hunts said that you listened to intuition, and if you felt like something was wrong, regardless of what your senses told you, something was probably wrong.
It took a good long moment of this wariness before she realized that it wasn't anything present that was striking her as wrong, it was an absence.
Nothing had challenged her approach. Nothing had attacked her. There'd been no beating with wings, no biting or pecking, no hissing or honking. In short, no You Bastard.
You Bastard was in theory trained. In practice besides shutting up on command sometimes, he did exactly one thing very well. He stayed with her belongings. Either the tent or the wagon. He was always within eye sight of at least one or the other. Always.
She looked around again and still saw no familiar feathered form. Neither did she see and great cloud of pulled out feathers of puddle of blood. Perhaps he'd finally wandered off in Desninds relative safety, but in her heart Toscun'ahesesi did not think this was so.
"Hey! You Bastard! Where are you? Come back You Bastard!"
She called, hands around her mouth, eyes scanning the general vicinity hoping to see an angry bird come flying out at her.
