Today I still found myself unable to capture the scrawl’s boundless energy, but I was also in agony less often than before. I would take pride in the progress, but disappointment hung low on my shoulders. How much longer was this going to take?

  Marilleth materialized at my side, catching me off guard. Soon followed a shockwave emanating through my body like an echo.

  “Ack! Every time I lose the slightest bit of focus...”

  Marilleth suppressed a light chuckle as I took the time to recover.

  “Leonn, I’ve got a job for you.”

  I looked up at her from where I was sitting,

  “does Essa need help today? Maybe Ingward?”

  She shook her head.

  “No. Me, idiot. I’m taking you hunting today as your chore.”

  I had never been on a hunt, and Marilleth threatened to kill me the last time I was caught in it. Needless to say, I could want for optimism.

  “The cold in the air is picking back up, so we have to get some meat to preserve.”

  “Wait, you can just tell when a snowstorm is coming in?”

  “Yeah! Nobody else has any jobs for you to do, because they are all preparing.”

  The thought of getting blood on myself didn’t give me any energy, but if hunting was it, then hunt I would.

  Marilleth and I trekked a ways into the forest before trying to find any traces of nearby wildlife. Suddenly, she dropped to one knee, examining the grass with an unexpected intensity. It looked trampled, but that was hardly a good reason to-

  “East. It’s something big, but not too big. Likely another rabbit. The print is way too thin to be a predator.”

  I took a closer look myself.

  “How...-”

  “There are many prints, so it was hanging around here for a while, but the tracks begin to space out...”

  She pointed where the anomaly began,

  “...as it runs away. It was scared off by something.”

  I was dumbfounded. There was so much on the ground that I would not have been able to spot anything amiss. Marilleth continued her lesson.

  “Also, you can tell by the shape of the print what you are trying to find. Many mammals have these bean shapes in their prints. Predators sometimes leave an extra impression from their claws, which is also helpful.”

  It was clear I was out of my element here.

  “Should we get going? I’d hate for my lesson in tracking to make us lose the trail.”

  “Leonn I don’t lose the trail. Memorize that before I make you.”

  I would certainly take her word for it, lest she make good on that promise.

  We made our way through the sprawling pine trees as conversation continued.

  “How long have you been hunting?”

  “Ever since I was little. I learned everything I could from my dad. I still miss him.”

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  “Oh... I am truly sorry.”

  I watched as she started twirling a stray strand of hair around her finger.

  “None of it was his fault. We were starving back then, and he wanted to go out hunting. I insisted to go with him because at the time I knew what I was doing, I’d been out with him before, but then...”

  Her voice trailed off, and she stopped in her tracks.

  Marilleth’s gaze traveled to the distant tree-line. I had thought she spotted something, perhaps the prey we were here for. The wind was beginning to howl through the trees, making an eerie sound as if something was laughing at us.

  Then she wrapped her arms around herself, as if a chill had pierced through her. Trembling and pale, as if she had been caught naked in the snow. I brought my hand down gently onto her shoulder.

  “Marilleth? Are you doing-”

  She staggered backward, tripping on her own boots and falling to the earth.

  “S-Shut up! Of course I'm fine!”

  She snapped with an unusual coldness I had not seen from her. I extended my hand out once again, and she refused it as she stood up on her own.

  Though she postured herself tall, the shape of her cloak implied she had her arms folded tightly once again, as if they were rope, preventing her from coming undone.

  As we moved along, the track begun shifting below our feet.

  Marilleth took a deep breath.

  “There’s no other tracks nearby, and a predator would follow given the chance. They just keep going...”

  Her face returned from slightly startled, settling down into a mellow neutral.

  “Leonn, lets pick up the pace or we’ll be at it all day.”

  “I’ll do my best to follow, lets go.”

  We ran through the towering pine trees, dodging around the littered stones and over scattered sticks that lay practically everywhere. Suddenly, Marilleth came to a dead stop in front of a rather wide and mossy rock. In my attempt to stop my momentum, I lost my footing entirely, and fell flat on my face.

  How flattering of me...

  “Shit... Leonn, stay quiet will you? That's the biggest rabbit I've seen this season.”

  She reached for an arrow, and pulled her bow off of her back. The broadhead found its place against the wrapped handle.

  I could only watch in awe at her form. I didn’t know archery, mind you, but the grace in her stance and movement told me it came from years of mastery.

  As Marilleth pulled the string, the woods became completely silent, as if it was readying to hold a vigil for this fallen rabbit. Time seemed to expand around us as Marilleth’s instincts sharpened, all to perfect every aspect of the shot.

  A twig shouted from the distance, snapping in half under the heel of —likely— just another animal. As quickly as it started, it was over. The arrow buried itself into the rabbit’s neck, and nary a sound came from it as it passed on nearly instantly.

  “I got it.”

  She allowed herself half a smile, before quickly correcting herself.

  “Well... naturally, but it was a perfect shot.”

  Endearing, the way she hid pride behind that stone face

  She stepped over to collect it. And from my angle, I saw what she didn’t.

  A figure in the treeline. Cloaked. Hunting bow raised. He nocked an arrow with the same practiced calm Marilleth had used seconds earlier.

  I lunged suddenly, slamming into her shoulder and dragging us both to the ground

  She began hissing at me in confusion.

  “Ow! Leonn, what the hell-”

  An arrow buried itself in the spot she’d been standing

  The hunter’s stalking approach became a dead sprint. He siezed the rabbit without another word, yanking it by the ears as he disappeared into the treeline. No threat. No gloat. Nothing.

  Marilleth remained where she was. Her eyes weren’t fixed on the fleeing hunter, instead focused on the empty ground where her arrow had been.

  “...they took my father’s arrow.”

  It was the softest I’d ever heard her speak. Wind kicked up, branches rustled, and the whole forest felt quieter.

  My knuckles burned white from how hard I was clenching them. Any more and I think I could’ve drawn blood. My chest rose with fire, every exhale might as well have been a curse.

  “Should we go after him?” I asked, pulse pounding in my neck.

  “No.”

  She stood carefully. “Leave it.”

  She was giving up, of all people? The fire in me sputtered into confusion.

  I looked toward the hunter’s arrow, noting the Vuudweyen emblem stamped onto the shaft. Likely another servant hired to fill Father’s endless shortages. Two dozen servants can empty any storehouse faster than it can be stocked.

  She sighed, brushing dirt from her cloak.

  “We’ll just find another.”

  She walked ahead of me, hood low, sholders drawn close. I followed close behind.

  Part of me wanted to say something — anything at all — but the words died in my throat.

  She’d pretend I’d never said a thing, and continue to hurt just the same.

  She needs silence.