110 Ashan 721
Continued from here
Rharne Weather
Ashan Calender The last few days before Ymiden arrives, however, see a violent hurricane coming in through the Crescent Sea from the 110th to the 123rd of Ashan.
Dan set up his bed and brazier, unharnessed, brushed down, and settled his two ponies, then took the rabbits he had caught earlier over to the entrance to clean them. It was a messy and smelly task, best done as close to outside as possible, unless he wanted to be smelling rabbit guts for breaks, or even trials, afterwards. Perched on his folding stool, with a pot wedged securely between his feet, he cut the rabbits' throats and let as much of the blood as possible drain out into the pot. Then, taking each in turn, he cut down the belly from throat to tail, eased out the guts, and cut them free. Anything edible went into the pot with the blood to be turned into a rich soup. The rest he set aside to dispose of.
Once the rabbit was gutted and cleaned, he peeled back the skin, which with rabbits was only loosely attached to the flesh beneath, with his fingers, only using a knife where he had to. He rolled up the skin for drying and tanning later, and set it on the opposite side from the guts.
As he worked, he glanced out at the wilds and the worsening weather, hoping for it to ease long enough to get the guts out of there, but the wind and rain showed no signs of letting up. The only other creature moving around was a shepherd, slogging along into the wind with a rescued sheep over his shoulders and a dog at his heels.
Dan had just finished the third rabbit when a particularly vicious gust of wind whipped past, and the rain abruptly turned from drizzle to deluge. Dan scrambled to get everything back under cover, but as he looked up, he saw the shepherd had gone to his knees at the force of it. Dan snarled silently. He didn't want to share this cramped cave, but he wasn't about to sit there and watch another person die in a storm. People had taken him in when they found him hungry, feral and lost. The least he could do was pay that forward. He hastily wiped rabbit blood off his fingers, stuck them in his mouth, and whistled as loud and shrill as he could manage.
The dog heard him. Its ears pricked up, its head turned, and it nosed the shepherd urgently. The man set the sheep down, and stayed kneeling, head hung low as if resigned to the storm. Dan whistled again, hoping it would be enough, knowing he couldn't just yell through the storm as most folk could, and waved his other arm back and forth. The dog barked, and the man looked around and saw Dan. Despair turned to relief and determination on his face, and he staggered up again, stumbling towards the offered shelter.
"Signed words" Spoken words
