Paths of Eriador Free RP

[Romeran]

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Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Where had these children learned this 'history'? Haldan wondered. There was nuance surely, and history is written by the victors but these were outlandish statements. Haldan couldn't help but frown in response to their claim that rangers murdered a whole village.

"And who was your mother?" he asked, given that they had heard this from her "and where was this village?" he continued without pause "The rangers of the north at least are a scattered and nomadic people, it's nigh impossible to gather more than a few score rangers and only then if the chieftain were to call for a muster. So even if, for some reason the rangers were inclined to 'slaughter the whole village' as you say, I'm not sure where the number of rangers would come from to do so. But why would the rangers, as the historic leaders of all the free peoples in Arnor, slaughter their own people?" he asked, curious to hear the response. "Did you grow up in this village or was this story told to you somewhere else?" it was difficult to convince someone that something they believed so strongly was wrong, but planting the seeds of doubt was often a suitable beginning.

"Orcs, goblins, trolls, white wolves" he said, in response to the question about what the Rangers guard against "occasionally bandits..." he added, looking carefully between Thorn and Fern as he said the word 'bandits'. From the way that these two were acting, that so young of children would be running away, and their perspective of the rangers -- which far exceeded the mistrust given to them in Breeland -- Haldan was becoming gravely suspicious about from where these two had run.

"I suppose it does not matter, strictly speaking" he said when Thorn had deflected his question.

"I take it you had reason to be running, few people will chose the dangers of the wild over a comfortable home. I take it further, that whatever you were running from was sufficiently bad that you were willing to risk possible death in the wild, or otherwise misjudged the danger. It seems that you are running from a people who would like you to believe that the Rangers are are an evil people, likely because they see us as a risk or enemy. Even in towns like Bree we are not considered anything other than queer or perhaps dangerous but not murderous so it is unlikely you are running from an established town. Am I far from the mark?" he asked.

"You may choose to travel with me, while I am to return to my father's people with those furs" he nodded to the rear of the shelter where the stack of furs was "I can detour 'southeast' if I can help. You need not tell me more, if you prefer, but I detect no evil intention on your behalf, and my heart tells me that you truly aim to escape adversity, so I will offer aid to you, if you wish, as is within my duty as a Ranger." Haldan took another draw from his pipe, waving his arm at the open entrance as he spoke next: "Or you can venture off alone, as you see fit, either now or in the morning. I break camp tomorrow either way: northeast, or southeast."

Haldan stood up abruptly, and Scout's head was unceremoniously dropped to the ground as he did so. "I must see to the call of nature" he said, nonchalantly and walked off twenty or thirty feet into the woods to take care of business, leaving Fern and Thorn to discuss their plans. While Haldan certainly had needed to relieve himself, he was intentionally giving the youths both a chance to discuss their predicament and, should they wish, to leave. The snow was falling heavily now, already a few inches had collected on the ground outside the wickiup.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

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A pair of runaways - Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

No answer came to the first question, but the second at least received a reply. Shrugging slightly, Thorn answered, "I don't know. Some village." He had never heard a name for it.

"It was a long time ago." Fern added. "Way before we were born."

"Our mother was very young, when that happened." Thorn offered as some small explanation, though he had no explanation for how she had not been caught in that 'mass slaughter' as well. And, by some unspoken, mutual agreement, neither Fern nor Thorn seemed inclined to answer who their mother was. As if, perhaps that was something they had agreed upon in advance before ever meeting Haldan.

Both listened with quiet curiosity while he spoke about the rangers; this was certainly something they had never heard before. Fern shifted to sitting with her knees pulled up, arms hugging around her shins, as she listened, and frowned as she considered the things the man said to try and discredit the tale. Of course, he would speak in defense of other rangers, so she wasn't sure how much she really believed of his version. "Way I heard it," She spoke up after he mentioned the lack of ranger's numbers to have been able to do a thing like that anyway, "it was two of 'em. Came in the middle of the night and took out the guards, then went creeping around in the shadows, killing everyone all sneaky like." She frowned, eyeing him warily. "You look old enough to have been around back then." She added with a hint of suspicion.

"Fern, shh." Thorn nudged her lightly. He had finished his meat by now, and while Haldan answered the question about what rangers guard against, he reached over and grabbed the cloth which was near the fire, and wiped off his own skewer before hanging it next to the other two. Returning to his spot next to Fern, he was just in time to return his gaze to Haldan when the ranger added 'occasionally bandits'. He couldn't help noticing the way he glanced at them as he said it, and felt a little bit nervous, though he tried not to let that show.

He was thinking quite a lot about that, while Haldan went on to say it didn't really matter, why they were running. He was mildly relieved about that, since he didn't know how to answer. Either option could go badly for them, he figured, and he didn't know what to say. So, he said nothing as Haldan spoke about running from 'a comfortable home'. And went on to mention how their family wanted them to believe the rangers were evil. Thorn was careful to not fidget under the man's scrutinous gaze, but Fern had a little less practice with that sort of thing.

"But they are evil." She frowned. "Well, I don't know about you, yet." She considered, thinking about different people from 'back home' and reached a decision. "Maybe not all rangers are the same." She looked at Thorn thoughtfully. "I mean, you aren't anything like-" She stopped as she caught a swift warning glance from her brother, a reminder not to give up any names. "Like our other siblings." She finished more quietly, then wrapped the fur closer around her shoulders.

While Fern covered a yawn, trying not to look as tired as she felt, Thorn kept his gaze on the ranger, listening while he spoke and said that they could travel with him, and that he could detour to the southeast for their sakes. He didn't reply at the moment, and watched him get up and go outside.

"What should we do, Thorn?" Fern asked softly, after he had gone. "Can we trust him?" She whispered, uncertain. He seemed nice, but the ranger thing had her very suspicious and unsure.

Thorn frowned.. he was very unused to taking charge of any sort of situation, and felt a little unprepared for all of this. But he tried not to let his little sister see that, and smiled reassuringly at her. "You get some sleep." It was obvious that she was sleepy. "I'll keep watch and think on it. For now, don't worry about anything. We're warm and dry, and.. safe enough, I guess." he shrugged. "The others wouldn't go out in this weather to look for us, and anyway, the snow would've covered up our tracks by now. So.. we ought to have plenty of time before we need to worry about them coming after us." He tried to sound sure of himself on that. He figured the only way any of the others would go out in this weather was if their mother demanded it. He was trying to decide if she would do that, but it was very difficult to say, since they'd never run away before and especially not in a snowstorm.

Nodding slightly, Fern laid down near him and got comfortable, wrapped up snugly in the fur cloak near the fire. She kept her bow and arrows nearby and soon fell asleep.

Thorn remained upright, sitting cross-legged, facing the fire, with the wolf's fur wrapped around him. He looked over at Scout. "You seem friendlier than the other dog I know." he mentioned casually, in a very quiet voice. He was unsure how much the dog could actually understand. He'd always been warned to stay away from the other one, since it was 'not a pet' and very likely to bite anyone who got near, who wasn't its owner. He looked around the shelter briefly, then after a moment grabbed the canteen and took another small drink.

[Romeran]

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Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Their story was already an interesting one and he knew so little. The story of the rangers was clearly hearsay. Crafted for some reason to strike fear. Haldan frowned, almost as if considering whether the story about the sneaking rangers has been true but it still seemed unlikely, at least in completion. Two rangers may have killed their grandmother, but it may not have been as murders in the night. Haldan did not react to the story and simply listened and observed.

Even when Fern insisted that Rangers were evil, Haldan remained stoically quiet. Haldan did not need to convince them that Rangers were not evil, as long as they did not think he was. By Fern’s cutoff remark, Haldan wondered if they had encountered someone who was a Ranger or at least claimed to be one in the past. That he wasn’t corrected, also indicated that he was not far from the mark. What these children were running from, how much of a threat did it pose?

Snow now covered the ground outside and lay atop the trees in a thin white coat. A cool wind swept the air and Haldan took a deep breath in with his nose. He did not smell anything on the wind that was unfamiliar or foreign. Scout likely would have detected it sooner, regardless, and the hound seemed completely at ease.

After Haldan left, Scout had not moved, save for having his head now lying on the ground. He was largely dry by this point and paid obvious attention towards the children and their talking. Scout was more immediately concerned with enjoying the fire and smelling the air for strange scents. When Thorn addressed him, he perked up and dropped his ears in a submissive and friendly posture and leaned his head forward as if to encourage Thorn to pet him.

Haldan had decided to finish his pipe outside. It wasn’t quite cold enough yet to be too far from comfortable, and it would give the youths enough time to have any conversation in reasonable privacy. Upon returning, he found the young girl asleep and Thorn sitting, facing the fire. He seemed to be intently thinking.

“You look like you’d like to take first watch then.” He asked in a jovial tone although as if he has drawn the lottery on getting to sleep first. Despite his tone, it sounded more like a statement than a question. Haldan sat down by the fire and prepared an area with the first for sleeping.

“If you’re watching outside, better for your dark vision to have your back to the fire and look out” he said in a surprisingly kind and suggestive tone. “Of course if you’d rather watch me instead, feel free to face inside” He added with a smile, “But either way wake me up in about three hours.” He concluded, turning his back to the fire and facing the wall of the wickiup. The Ranger pulled his fur cloak over himself as he turned over. Haldan was not concerned where Thorn chose to watch. Willow and Scout would provide sufficient passive watching to suffice, and Haldan was a light sleeper.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

Thorn - Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Thorn didn't reach out to the dog, as he was not familiar with dogs being friendly and didn't really know that he wanted to be petted. He'd encountered very few dogs in his life, and never any of them were very friendly. As he sat watched Scout curiously, the wickiup was filled with silence aside from the quiet sounds of their breathing, and the softer sound of snow falling outside, though the wind occasionally whistled through the trees.

In the near silence, the quiet crunch of snow underfoot alerted Thorn to the man's approach, and he looked up and watched him enter wearing a thick dusting of snow on his shoulders and head. The comment about taking the first watch caught him by surprise. Blinking, Thorn straightened up slightly. "Sure." He wasn't planning to sleep anyway, so he might as well. And the advice about watching outside, versus watching inside, was mentally noted. He'd never really given that a lot of thought. Always before, if he was told to stand guard, he was told by somewhere where to stay, and where to watch, and that was it.

He had not really expected the man to trust them enough to lay down and go to sleep, so it was a bit of a surprise when he did just that. Thorn had actually not really thought a whole lot about watching outside, in fact. He had figured on keeping an eye on the man, not knowing what he might do if they both were asleep. So, he watched with mild surprise as the ranger wrapped up and got comfortable, and then wondered how he was supposed to know when three hours had passed. With the clouds covering the sky, there were no stars to look at, and obviously no sun, at night. He frowned and puzzled about that for a little bit, then looked at the fire and thought for a moment. The fire would burn out after so long, and he'd need to add another log, so he figured maybe he could gauge the time around that, somewhat.

He remained where he was for a while, glancing from the ranger, to the opening. After a while, he checked on Fern and found that she was sleeping very soundly. He shifted his position a little bit further from her, so that he had his back to the fire now, and turned most of his attention toward the entrance, with only an occasional glance toward the ranger. Sometimes he looked back to see how the fire was doing.

A few of times, he started feeling like his eyes could close too easily, so he stood up and stepped out of the shelter, walked around a little bit while keeping close enough to the entrance to be able to see the occupants. He cupped both hands full of snow, and put his face into it for a few seconds, which helped to wake him very well. Then, returning to his warm spot by the fire, he felt much more alert again.

All the while, he was thinking about many things. Like, if his family had been nearby, what they would expect of him. Him, and Fern, but mostly him. Things he did not really want to do. And he also thought what Haldan had said about the rangers. Thorn felt somehow that there was no deception in his words about rangers and what they were about. And honestly, it made a lot more sense than what his mother said about it. Although it was difficult to put aside fifteen years of being told one thing, and change his opinion to the opposite, overnight.. he had questioned the matter before now. He had never actually met a ranger until today, however.. except for that brief encounter he'd had with one, a few years ago. He was trying to think back about that day, now, and comparing the different facts that he knew, and then considering the latest bit of information that Haldan had told him.

It was close to four hours later when Thorn noticed the fire was burning lower, though he had no idea for sure how many hours it had been. He quietly stepped around Fern and went to get some logs to add to it. He carefully placed the log in the midst of the low fire, and waited for a moment for the flames to find it and take hold. After a moment more, he glanced around and found a stick, and used that to poke at the embers in hopes of rousing the flames a bit more. He frowned, not having much luck, and glanced over at the ranger.

After a brief moment to think, he decided it'd probably been around three hours, and hoped he wasn't short of the mark, which might make the guy angry or something. Also, he had no idea whether it was safe to get too close when he wakened him, so he figured he should keep a safe distance. Flipping the stick around so the ash-y end was closer to his hand, Thorn cautiously reached out and lightly poked Haldan's shoulder a couple of times with the cleaner end. "Hey. Um, wake up?" He whispered, not wanting to wake Fern by accident. "I can't get the fire to accept this new log. I think it's dying."

[Romeran]

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Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Scout looked at Thorn disappointedly when the lad did not pet him. After several minutes of waiting, he decided that the boy wasn't interested and laid back down again with a sigh. The breath from the dog's nose blew on the fire, blowing small flames by the dog's nose outward. When his master returned and laid down to sleep, Scout decided it was best to curl up by Haldan than to attempt to keep Thorn company, the boy seemed still wary of him and the dog decided to give Thorn his space. He snoozed quietly, falling asleep rapidly next to his master, but his nose twitched vigilantly even as he slept.

Fully intending to sleep, Haldan had kept to his word and lay comfily under his fur. Traveling in the woods alone besides the company of Scout and Willow had meant that he was used to sleeping most nights without trading a watch, relying on his own light sleeping and the senses of his two animal companions. Haldan felt he had little to fear from the children, confident that even if the oldest one had tried to creep up on him with a knife that he would wake before the boy could do any harm, not that he really suspected that Thorn would do as much.

Sleep came to Haldan, and he drifted into a warm and dreamless slumber. Most of the day, besides the evening when Scout had discovered the children, had been spent cleaning and preparing the hides he had trapped over the last few weeks. Scout had been sent out on a final check of the perimeter to search for any promising animal trails before they turned back to return north, having reached the furthest south in Haldan's usual trapping territory. Haldan was tired after the day's work and had been looking forward to a good night's sleep and, despite being cut short due to sharing a watch, he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to sleep for his part.

A prod, and then a second prod, on his shoulder woke Haldan whose eyes snapped open in sudden surprise. The mellow and still sleeping form of Scout reminded him that they had expected company. Haldan was glad he had not turned snapping around to scare Thorn and possibly wake up Fern, whose quiet breathing could be heard from the other side of the tent.

"I'm up" he said, turning and sitting up to face Thorn. Haldan rubbed his eyes and looked to the fire first which was getting close to burning out, then looked up to Thorn who was talking to him. Haldan took a long few seconds to process what Thorn was saying, still waking up, and stared blankly for a moment. After finally processing the lad's words he looked down to the fire and the oversized log sitting on the embers. The embers were still hot, the log was just too big. Haldan reached into the embers to touch the log to gauge the temperature, still reasonably cool.

Abruptly, Haldan pulled the log out of the fire entirely and inspected it, while it looked somewhat blackened over where it had lain in the fire, it was cool enough to handle. Balancing one end of the log in his lap, Haldan gripped the other end, digging the tips of his fingers into the wood. With a sudden and aggressive motion he pulled his hands in opposite directions. The dry and already cracking wood quickly split into two smaller pieces of similar size. Haldan repeated the process with the two newly created smaller logs creating four reasonable sized pieces. With the new smaller pieces, Haldan moved closer to the embers and arranged them in criss-cross fashion atop the embers.

Blowing on the fire in the same manner in which he had done so to start it in the first place helped the embers catch the now smaller pieces of wood and soon the small ribbons of wood created from the splitting began to catch and the fire started up again. In a few minutes, Haldan would add another log of similar size to the one he had just split, but for now he watched as the fire caught. Haldan did not criticize or discipline Thorn for letting the fire nearly die and attempting to resurrect it with an oversized log, he didn't even look at the boy critically.

"Thanks for keeping watch" he said in a gruff tone which came mostly from having recently woken. Haldan stretched his neck by leaning his head to either side as if trying to touch his ears to his shoulder. He then continued the processes rolling his head in one direction and then the other. The stretching appeared to be a routine for the ranger, who continued by stretching his shoulders, wrists, hands, and fingers. Scout stirred when his master did this, and as if mimicking him, stood up, yawned, and stretched deeply with his rear end raised and head bowed, forelegs stretched out forward.

"You should try and get some sleep," he said off-hand to Thorn, and looking outside to gauge how much snow had fallen. It was still dark, and even now the snow fell heavily. The warmth of the fire had kept the snow, even with the wind, from building up inside the wickiup, but Thorn guessed at least a foot of fresh snow lay outside their shelter. So much snow so far south this early in the winter was unusual. The coming winter would be a long and cold one.

Haldan rose to his feet briefly, before practically falling into a push up position, although he took care not to make any noise which might wake Fern. The ranger swiftly completed a set of pushups before rolling onto his back and proceeding with sit ups. Whatever this was, it appeared just as routine to the ranger as the earlier stretching. Haldan paid no particular mind to Thorn as he performed his routine as if he had forgotten the company he presently kept. Content with the completion of his routine, Haldan stood and reached again for the tin and pipe and made for the exit, planning to check the outside of the camp and look on Willow while Thorn decided whether or not he would try to sleep.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

Thorn
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

For a moment, the ranger seemed to just stare and Thorn was wondering if he'd said something really stupid, or maybe if Haldan was not at all understanding what he'd said. But just as he was starting to wonder if he should repeat himself, he watched with surprise as the man reached in and just took the log out of the fire. Thorn's eyes widened slightly, watching him actually rip the log in half with his bare hands. He'd spent time chopping firewood before, and thought it to be a tiresome task. He had never before seen anyone do that.

Leaning closer, Thorn watched him coax the fire back and take hold on the smaller pieces of wood. He'd never before had to do any of the fire tending, except fetching logs and stuff, and realized that he probably better learn whatever he could about it. Soon the flames were burning better, and there was no concern about them getting too cold. He sat back and watched Haldan begin to go through some exercises.

Ignoring the suggestion that he get some sleep, Thorn kept quiet while Haldan finished his apparent routine, and then went outside. He looked over to check that Fern was still asleep, then after a moment of thinking he got up and stepped outside, repositioning the wolf pelt around his shoulders. He recognized sounds of someone checking on a horse, and went toward where he remembered Haldan's horse was sheltered. "Sorry if I woke you too early," He mentioned quietly, after finding him. "I didn't know what to do about the fire."

[Romeran]

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Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Outside was cold, and indeed over a foot of snow had dropped in the four or so hours -- if Haldan's internal gauges were roughly correct -- since he had slept. Willow was still quietly sleeping, but standing, in her makeshift stall when Haldan went to check on her. She woke up to the sound of his footfalls, quiet though he had been, and snorted in greeting, tapping the ground with her hoof. "Still nighttime, but very early in the morning" he said, patting the horse gently on the neck. "Not quite breakfast yet." Willow snorted again, this time a note of subtle annoyance at having been woken but not for breakfast.

Smoke from the freshly lit pipe trailed into the air from the bowl, stopping only when Haldan took a draw from the pipe and flying upwards then from the ranger's mouth and nose as he breathed out. The cold air made even his breath appear like smoke, as the water in his breath froze in the air as escaped. Haldan was still waking up and, despite having performed his morning routine, he still felt sluggish. The cold morning air helped bring him to his senses and his eyes slowly adjusted to the still dark of the early morning hours.

The sound of approaching footfalls alerted Haldan that Thorn had clearly disregarded his recommendation to sleep, but that the boy was walking towards him indicated it was not in order to leave. Haldan looked over to Thorn as he walked towards him.

When Thorn had gotten up and left the wickiup, Scout too had followed. The dog had expected Haldan to get up and look on Willow and smoke a pipe, as he often would do, and wasn't quite ready yet to abandon the warmth of the fire. When Thorn too went outside, Scout decided to find out what all the fuss was about and followed a few footsteps behind the boy. Scout wandered past Thorn upon arriving at Haldan and Willow, giving him a reasonable wide berth so as not to startle him. The dog trotted up and nuzzled first Willow, who seemed glad to see him, and then up against the ranger's legs.

"S'alright" the ranger said, in response to the apology and not knowing how to tend the fire.

"Seemed about the right time anyway" he said, looking up at the sky, although it showed no useful signs of the time, and then down at Scout, petting the dog with hand which did not hold the smoking pipe.

The snow was still falling, although Haldan guessed it was slightly less heavy than earlier, and showed no sign of stopping. Haldan was glad he been at this campsite for some time, as it had given him reason to construct a sturdy shelter and it would need it to bear the weight of the snow.

"Such a heavy snow is unseasonably early this far south" Haldan said, both as an observation and to see how the boy would respond -- did he live nearby for long enough to have a sense of this himself? Haldan also gave away his own geographical perspective by referring to where they were as 'far south' despite already being far north near the Blue Mountains

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

Thorn
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Thorn glanced up at the sky to see if he could see whatever Haldan was seeing, but all he could see were snowflakes falling down around them. "Is it?" He asked, when the man spoke of it being an unusually heavy snow for this time of year. He watched Scout go over to the ranger to be petted.

He stood quietly for a moment as he debated whether to speak up about what was on his mind. Eventually, he decided to go for it. "I've been thinking a lot." He began, hesitating. "I.. don't really know what's true or what's lies, but.. I figure you made some sense with what you were saying last night." He shrugged slightly and considered his words for a moment longer. Technically, it seemed to be still nighttime, and he wasn't sure how many hours were left until sunrise.

"So," He fidgeted and cleared his throat lightly. "Anyway, I don't guess you've got any plans to kill us. And, well I.. I just need to get her someplace safe." He looked up again. "I'd have left years ago.. when I was her age maybe. I had a few chances, but.." He looked toward the shelter, as if to check that she was still asleep, then turned back. "I couldn't leave her." He sighed. "She always seemed too young to run away with me, before. And I figured she was alright enough. But now..." He hesitated, unsure how much he wanted to say, and also whether the guy even cared to hear it. "She's older, and it's different. And, I don't know how to explain it really. I just have to get her away from there."

He looked at Haldan, trying to see if he was understanding what Thorn was trying to say. "Problem is, I don't really know what I'm doing." He admitted, looking down with a little sigh. That was probably clear enough to the ranger, but he said it anyway, as an admission more than anything. "I don't know how to get to someplace safe from them, I just remember there were some towns, like Bree and some others, and folks seem to always be coming and going from there. So, I thought maybe if we could get there.. I don't know." He frowned. "You said something about maybe you could help. So, if you really meant that, we could really use it."

[Romeran]

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Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Well either Thorn did not pay much attention to the weather, or he was not from nearby this area for very long, given his response to Haldan's question. The ranger shrugged, and scratched Scout behind the ears. The two stood in silence for several moments and Haldan took the opportunity to smoke from his pipe, patting Scout and then Willow in turn absentmindedly. Eventually the boy broke the silence. It seemed Haldan's words had some impact on Thorn who seemed to be questioning the version of history he had learned. Haldan scratched his beard with the same hand that he held his pipe and listened to the boy. It took a lot to confess this to Haldan, the ranger could tell as he listened. The ranger took a deep breath, and then a pull from his pipe before smiling and laying a hand on Thorn's shoulder.

"You've done a lot, Thorn." he said, encouragingly "it was brave what you did and showed great integrity by taking your sister too." whatever it was that they were running from, Haldan didn't have to know what it was to know that it must have been bad for two so unprepared to risk the wilderness over staying.

"I'll help you and your sister" he confirmed, taking his hand back and patting Scout on the head instead.

"We'll head south east." he continued "as you said, there are a few townships that way where we might find you and your sister somewhere to stay and some work" he looked Thorn up and down "you look like a strapping enough lad to be put to use, only this time for your own sake, and your sisters" he declared.

"As for the survival skills, I'm sure you'll pick some up along the way." he said, which wasn't exactly an offer to teach him but was likely the closest Thorn was going to get at this point.

"For now, the most valuable thing you can do, is get some rest." he said, not particularly scolding the young man, but making it clear that he was well aware this had already been his prior instruction.

"We'll need to cover as much distance as we can tomorrow, and with this snow" he motioned around "it's going to be hard work, and it sounds like we'll be needing to move with some haste." he added.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

Thorn
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Thorn didn't quite know what to think of the hand resting on his shoulder, being unused to such gestures. But, the words following were surprisingly.. kind. He was not used to that, either. He shrugged slightly and looked down at Scout for a moment, not sure how to reply to the bit about being brave. He didn't think it so much bravery, but rather just doing what he felt he had to do. He looked up again when Haldan said that he would help them, and let out a little breath of relief.

He nodded slightly at the mention of townships and work, though he wasn't really sure what sort of jobs there would be, and if he would be able to properly provide for them both. "I don't know what integrity means, but so long as I can make sure she don't end up like.. everyone else we know, I don't really care about much else."

He was feeling the effects of not having slept, especially after not getting much sleep the night before, in anticipation of running away. While he had intended on staying awake to make sure that nothing happened to Fern, the ranger did make sense, yet again. He considered what he said about how it would be hard work and traveling fast. "Right." He nodded slowly, deciding that if he could probably sleep for a little while. "Alright. Just for a little while." He nodded wearily, and then turned and went back to the shelter, laid down near his sister, and quickly fell asleep.

[Romeran]

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Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Thorn seemed uncomfortable with Haldan’s hand on his shoulder and words of encouragement. The ranger guessed that Thorn was unused to this, which saddened Haldan. What kind of childhood had these two had? Clearly not one worth envying, he thought.

“Integrity means doing what is right, even when it’s the hard thing to do, lad” he explained as he removed his hand from the boy’s shoulder. “I’m confident you will make sure that just that happens, and I can help however I can” he continued as Thorn expressed selfless consideration for his sister. He seemed like a good brother, despite whatever they had been surrounded by.

At least Haldan had managed to convince the lad that sleep was the best thing that he could do. That meant that Thorn finally felt some degree of safety with the ranger and his motley crew of animals, or at least that the danger of exhaustion outweighed any risk of sleeping. In either case, it was a good thing, Haldan decided.

“Good idea”. He said, as Thorn said he would retire for a little bit, as if that was his idea.

“I’ll wake you and Fern at first light, we should pack up and head south as soon as we can.” He explained as Thorn walked away. While Haldan felt confident navigating in the dark, he did not feel confident that the youths would be able to follow, and the last thing he wanted was them getting lost in the snow and dark. Besides, it didn’t seem like they were being actively hunted and so the additional urgency was likely not important.

The ranger spent the next twenty minutes or so outside, finishing his pipe and taking in the cold air. Scout gave up after five minutes and followed Thorn, quickly falling back asleep inside the wickiup. Eventually, Haldan returned to the fire and put on another larger log as he had planned to, stoking the fire to keep it burning. Haldan sat with his back to the fire, looking out of the entrance. To entertain himself he whittled quietly.

The snow continued through the night and another foot or so landed before the sign of first light. Haldan had already begun quietly packing up the shelter. He fed Willow, and Scout who woke up at the sound of Willow eating. “Figured that’d get you up” he said quietly to Scout outside in Willow’s makeshift stall. He fed the two of them together so that the sound of them eating wouldn’t disturb the children.

By the time that the first light was breaking, Haldan had packed and organized everything outside of the wickiup and even the easier things to gather inside. It would take them another half an hour to an hour to pack the rest up, Haldan guessed. True to his word he crouched over Thorn and gently roused him by patting his shoulder.

“Time to get up lad” he said quietly but loud enough to wake him. “Wake your sister and gather your things.” He instructed and started the process of packing up the remaining inside of the shelter, now taking somewhat less far to be quiet.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

The explanation for what the word 'integrity' meant stuck in Thorn's mind even as he drifted off to sleep. He hadn't expected to fall asleep so easily, and yet it seemed like he'd only closed his eyes for a couple of minutes before he felt a light patting on his shoulder. At first, his sleeping brain ignored it, not quite registering, but then hearing the words that accompanied the patting, he first jolted with alarm as he half-remembered some of the events of the previous day, blinking a couple of times as he sat up and stared toward where Haldan was already going about his packing. He took a moment to let his heart rate slow back down a bit while the rest of the events returned to his half-asleep memory. That was a far different method than he was used to, for being wakened.. but far nicer.

While Haldan went about doing some packing, Thorn rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms out on either side, then turned his attention toward the task of waking Fern. She'd had the whole night to sleep, and was curled up cozily under the furs like a thick layer of blankets. One hand rested lightly on her bow and quiver, with a fold of the fur being tucked under her head for a blanket. Thorn smiled faintly, glad that she looked comfortable and happy. He kind of hated to wake her, but it was necessary. She had taken her boots off before lying down to sleep, so he smirked faintly to himself and lightly ran a finger along the sole of one foot, finding the ticklish spot he knew was there, near the arch. She twitched her foot a bit, then it jerked slightly in a kick, but he was expecting that, and avoided any impact.

"What're you doing?" She grumbled as he kept it up, then finally sighed and pulled her feet up under the covers better. But she was awake now, and peeking out over the top of the furs at him.

"Time to get up." Thorn told her. "We gotta get going."

She frowned at having to wake up. It felt waaaaaay too early. "But it's so nice and cozy here." She pouted, then glanced toward where Haldan was working on packing things up.

"It won't be cozy after Haldan's put out the fire and taken his furs." Thorn pointed out, shrugging. "Come on." He leaned closer and dropped his voice to a whisper meant only for her to hear. "We need to go before the others find us. You know how much trouble we'll be in if Ruby's the one who has to look for us."

Fern sighed, knowing they would definitely have to get going if they didn't want to get in big trouble. "I know, I know. Finnnnne." She sat up and shifted the fur to be around her shoulders instead, blinking in surprise at all the snow gathered outside. "Wow, it snowed a lot!"

Thorn stood and looked toward the entrance as well. There was more snow than he remembered when he laid down to sleep. He checked that his dagger was in its sheath, which was attached to his belt, then pulled Fern up to her feet as well before turning to Haldan. "We don't have any things to gather," He answered a little belatedly, to what the ranger had said upon waking him.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

This was a shelter that Haldan had re-used over several trapping seasons and he had no plans to completely tear down the shelter. Nevertheless he had all of his gear and fur and weapons to pack up. Even Scout wore a small pack, mostly with the things used to feed and care for Scout himself including his own water. Willow naturally bore most of the burden, especially many of the furs which were the primary reason he was out in the first place. Haldan himself bore a pack that was reasonably well filled but did not egregiously hinder his movement.

“Yes I suppose not” he said to Fern and Thorn who had indicated that they did not really have their own things. He knew this of course having found the two himself but it had not immediately occurred to him. Haldan did not say anything further as he finished packing the camp. When he got to the fire he paused as he put out the fire, smothering it with dirt.

“There’s some nuts, dried fruit, and a bit of cheese in that pack” he said, motioning to a medium sized leather bag sitting near the fire. It had not been there the night before but reason would indicate it likely that the Ranger had eaten his breakfast already.

“You should both eat a little before we leave. We will stop for lunch but that won’t be for several hours yet” he clarified, in case they wondered why he was pointing to a bag of food.

Meanwhile, Scout milled about the campsite and made another attempt to procure attention from the newcomers. He made a miraculous appearance when food had been mentioned and sat himself down in front of Fern and Thorn, mouth agape giving his best puppy-dog-eyes impression.

“No begging” Haldan reprimanded Scout and tapped him on the nose. It was a mild rebuff and certainly not any real discomfort for Scout who promptly ignored Haldan’s request as soon as the ranger was out of site, going to pack up Willow and prepare to leave.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Just as Fern was about to ask if they were going to get some breakfast, the ranger made mention of some nuts, fruit, and cheese. She pouted slightly, glancing at Thorn. That was such light fare! She had hoped for something more, like they'd had last night.

But Thorn seemed to not mind, and grabbed the bag, looking inside to see what there was. "C'mon, Fern. Best eat while we can." He offered her a handful of the nuts and fruits, and a small chunk of cheese.

Figuring it was, in fact, all they were going to get, Fern sat down and sighed as she accepted these from Thorn. When Scout came and sat in front of her, she hesitated and stared at the dog uncertainly. She watched him while she bit into her piece of cheese. After a moment, once Haldan was out of the shelter, she tentatively held out what was left of the cheese, about a bite-sized portion for her, but probably a crumb to the dog that seemed enormous to her.

Thorn watched him warily while he ate a handful of nuts, unsure what the animal was going to do. "Fern, don't!" he warned her in a hushed tone, slightly alarmed that the dog might bite her.

"He lets him rub his head and stuff," Fern protested. "I don't think he'll bite.. will you?" Despite her words, she still flinched back slightly if Scout made a move to take the piece of cheese, and ultimately tossed it toward him so he could catch it if he wanted it. "Can I have some more?" She asked, turning to Thorn.

"Not if you're giving it to the dog," He rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure this is supposed to last us for.. until we get to some town or something."

"No, I just wanted a little more since I gave him part of mine." She gave him a pleading look. "Pleeeease?"

Thorn paused, then sighed. "Fine, one piece. But you better not give it to Scout."

"Thanks!" Fern smiled at her big brother as he gave her another chunk of cheese. While he was focused on packing up the bag once more, she broke off a small piece of this, and hid it in her palm while she ate the main portion.

Once he had finished his own food, keeping an eye on his sister to make sure that she did eat the second piece of cheese, Thorn grabbed the bag and stood up. He headed outside where Haldan was working on getting his stuff packed up. "Where does this go?" He asked, holding up the bag of food.

As soon as Thorn had stepped out, Fern cautiously held out her palm, flat, like she would if she were giving a horse a treat, and held it out to let Scout sniff and take the other piece of cheese, while trying not to flinch if he touched her.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Once Haldan had left the tent, Scout inched closer to Fern and sat down again, begging. Fern he had judged was the most likely friendly human that might give him food. Fern reached out with with a small piece of cheese and Scout stood up from his seated position and inched towards the hand. Fern flinched but Scout was only paying attention to the food by that point but stopped moving forward as soon as she pulled her hand back. When Fern finally decided to throw a piece at him he caught it dexterously and ate it quickly. He looked up at Fern gratefully.

The older child did not seem likely to give him food and seemed more wary of him. Despite this, Scout still looked over to Thorn after finishing the piece that Fern threw him, just in case the boy decided to to the same. When he did not, Scout returned his attention to Fern should she decide to share any more food.

Meanwhile Haldan was as saddling up Willow, not for him to ride but with the furs and supplies. Haldan still wore a pack and carried most of his weapons as well, to spare the weight from Willow. He left space in case Fern needed to ride her. It wasn’t that Haldan expected to feel pity on the younger girl, rather that the snow may become too deep for Fern to navigate and keep up. Hopefully Haldan, Willow, Scout and Thorn could wade a sufficient path for the smaller child to follow without too much struggle.

About when Haldan had finished packing up and loading Willow, Thorn came out of the wickiup with the food bag and asked where it went. Haldan did not ask if they had eaten or how it was. He held a hand outstretched to take the bag from him.

“I’ll pack it on Willow for now” he said, taking the bag and doing just so.

Despite Thorn leaving, Scout decided to stay again figuring his odds of getting food or attention were considerably higher with Fern than with Thorn or Haldan. When the girl held her hand out with some cheese on it, Scout approached slowly, trying not to startle Fern. Like a hunter trying not to startle his prey. The wolfhound moved all the way to the hand when it did not retract from his approach. Scout very carefully took the food from her hand making sure not to startle or touch Fern with his teeth. Surprisingly delicate, for a dog. Scout at the food eagerly, despite the relatively meager portion.

Since her hand was already outstretched, Scout decided to take advantage and ducked his head underneath her hand. He rubbed his head against the back of her hand from underneath as if trying to simulate being petted like Haldan had pet him.

Satisfied with the camp being packed up, eventually Haldan called into the wickiup.

“Fern, Scout. It’s time to leave” he said and looked over to Thorn. “Southeast then, eh lad?” He asked in an ambiguous tone so that it was not clear if it was a real question or a rhetorical one.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Thorn gave the bag to Haldan when he held out a hand for it. "What'll you do about the stick-tent?" he asked, unsure what else to call the shelter. It seemed too cold to stand around for very long, and he was not eager to have to take the time to help tear it down, if that was the plan. But it soon seemed that they would be leaving without tearing it down. Thorn waited for his sister to come out of the shelter with the dog, and wondered if they would be able to keep warm enough with all this snow.

The dog's fur was a little ticklish, and Fern could feel his muzzle brushing her palm lightly as he gently took the piece of cheese. She giggled slightly when he then put his head under her hand. Remembering how Haldan sometimes patted him and rubbed his head, Fern did the same, cautiously. "You really aren't mean, are you?" She asked softly. "Not like Nightmare and Chaos are. They're scary," She whispered to Scout, as if imparting a secret.

About that time, she heard the ranger calling that it was time to go. She gave Scout another light pat on the head before she stood up, picking up her bow and quiver. "Come on, I guess we have to go now." She told Scout. The snow outside was beautiful and glittered white as it covered everything. She hadn't ever seen that much snow all at once before, and she was excited to have at least a little fun. She emerged as Thorn was shrugging while giving an answer to Haldan's question.

"I guess." Thorn said as Fern emerged from the shelter. He noticed that, with a couple of feet of snow having fallen during the night, it came up higher than the top of Fern's boots. He hoped her legs and feet wouldn't get too cold. "It's the only area I know much about," He admitted, turning back to Haldan. He was a bit startled when something very cold hit the back of his head and exploded into a puff of snow. He jumped slightly and spun around.

Fern stood grinning at him, another snowball already in her hand. "Got you!"

"Hey!" He tried to brush the bits of snow off from the back of his head. "That wasn't fair, I wasn't-" He swiftly dodged as she threw another one, then he snatched up a swift handful of snow and ran toward her. Wherever the other snowball had gone, he didn't know, not paying attention to that at the moment.

Fern gave a half-giggle, half-shriek as she turned to run from him, but Thorn was too fast, and he caught up to her before she could go very far. His free hand caught her shoulder while his other pushed the handful of snow down the back of her shirt, which brought another little yelp/shriek from her. Thorn grinned at his successful 'revenge' but the snow made the ground too slippery for him to stop his running in time. He ended up crashing into her, and they both fell over into the deep snow, both siblings laughing, and forgetting about trying to stay warm and dry, for the moment.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

“I’ll leave it up. I’ll be back here soon enough and if I provides shelter to someone or some animal in the meantime then so be it” the ranger said matter-of-factly, as he tied the food bag to Willow.

The dog’s fur was thick and somewhat coarse, not nearly as soft as the fur that Fern had received from Haldan. Scout was eager to receive the attention from Fern leaned into her hand as she petted him. He resisted the temptation to lick her hand. Scout had heard his master’s call just as clearly as Fern had an he turned his head instinctively. The girl patted him on the head and they both proceeded out towards Haldan, Scout prancing happily from behind.

The interrupting snowball started Haldan initially who was trying to think of something sufficiently funny to say in response to lighten the mood. The ranger watched in silence but he couldn’t help but smile. The children reminded him so much of what could have been. He felt the sadness again but did not interrupt them. It seemed wrong to try and stop such childish and innocent fun when it was so clear the two had come from hardship.

Scout on the other hand was quite happy to join in, snatching one of the snowballs out of the air and chasing after Thorn who was also chasing Fern. Scout did not bark or growl and instead jumped through deep snow after them as if chasing them was a convenient excuse to bound through the snow. He caught up with them quickly but kept his distance, bowing down playfully and following their movements, jumping in the snow delightfully.

“You’re going to want to dry off” Haldan said, walking towards the children with a linen cloth in hand.

“You don’t want to be out in the cold and wet. Even sweating is not a good idea as the water is more likely to freeze than dry.” He explained the particular danger of traveling in such conditions. The ranger tried to maintain an even tone and not to come across as scolding them necessarily. He had let them have their fun, but he also did not want them to freeze.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Thorn smiled as he got up and held a hand down to help Fern up. Once they were both back on their feet, he reached out and took the cloth that Haldan had offered. Before long, they had both dried off as much as they could manage.

"I don't think we'll have much to worry about with sweat, as cold as it is." Fern mentioned with a little shrug. "But even if we did, what could we do about it?" She tilted her head in curiosity. She made another snowball, this time tossing it up in the air toward Scout, to see if he would catch that one, too.

"We probably better be quieter, too, Fern." Thorn mentioned thoughtfully, frowning as he thought about the noise they'd made a moment ago. He looked around, suddenly thinking, now that it was daylight, their people would probably start looking for them. "Will there be less snow, once we get further south?" He asked Haldan, thinking that if there was less of it, they'd surely be able to move faster.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Taking the linen cloth back and folding it neatly before placing it back in the pack on Willow, Haldan turned to answer Fern's questions.

"Trudging through snow carrying a pack and especially going up hill can be strenuous work" he explained "even in the cold it's easy to over-exert yourself, even without wearing warm furs, and start sweating. As soon as you stop working hard your body temperature drops and then the sweat is at risk of freezing and cooling you down even further." He continued, fussing with Willow's reigns as he talked and getting ready for them to leave. "The trick is to be very careful of your exertion levels" he looked between the two carefully, "If the pace I set is too fast, or you feel yourself beginning to sweat it is imperative that you tell me" he instructed and then looked specifically at Thorn "It will not seem tough, if you die from the cold" he said in a grave tone.

Scout, on the other hand, seemed still in a very excited mood and jumped eagerly at the snowball when Fern threw it. The powdery snow exploded in his mouth and sent a spray of white frozen crystals out sideways. The wolfhound landed dexterously on the ground and immediately dropped into a playful bow, as if waiting for the next snowball. This was a far more exciting way to start the day, in Scout's opinion, than his usual mornings with the ranger.

"Less snow yes, ideally" he said in response "although we'll see how far we have to go before that happens." the snow had come down quite hard, he expected that it would be a good distance before it relented, but he did not want to scare them unnecessarily.

"Willow and I will go in front, Thorn you go behind me, then Fern, then Scout will be last." he instructed but quickly followed "and before you ask if you can go behind your sister" he said, looking between the two "your job will be to help Willow and I ensure that the snow path is sufficiently packed down for your smaller sister to follow. Scout is a perfectly good guard dog and will ensure that Fern does not fall behind. Understood?" his tone of voice brooked no disagreement. Without any further discussion, he started walking.

Luckily for them, the path southeast had at least been flat, if not covered in snow. Willow and Haldan did a reasonable job individually in wading through the snow so that Thorn and Fern's time of it was considerably easier. It was convenient having a doughty horse and ranger to help navigate the deep snow.

The forest was quiet, the snow had this effect, dampening the sounds and muffling the usual crack and snap of twigs and branches, instead replaced with the eerie sound of snow drifting broken up only by the crunch-crunch-crunch of their own footsteps. Haldan was not particularly talkative as they walked, and made no attempt himself to start conversation. Willow occasionally snorted but otherwise took her job at point in stride, even though she was doing the lion's share of the work and carrying a large fraction of the gear. Haldan stood close to the horse, holding the reigns and making the path clearer as he followed behind.

The wolfhound happily took up the rear, occasionally letting himself fall behind somewhat to smell the air or to check on their trail -- it would be easy to follow for obvious reasons -- but would always quickly catch up. Fern seemed to be taking a liking to him, so he would casually approach her as he would catch up to them and try to get her to pet him by rubbing his head against her hand suggestively.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Both nodded seriously as Haldan explained about how sweating could be really dangerous, and how easy it was to work up a sweat when trudging through snow. "We'll be careful." Thorn promised, and gave a look to Fern as if to make sure that she agreed. She nodded, but couldn't help smiling as she watched Scout catch, and explode, the snowball in his mouth. She picked up some more snow, packed it into a snowball, and tossed it to him.

Thorn sighed softly. "Fern, if you keep that up, your hands are going to get too cold." He frowned. "You don't have any mittens. You gotta keep your hands warm."

She sighed. "Yeah, you're right." She agreed reluctantly.

As Haldan said what their walking order would be, Thorn was about to protest about having Fern at the back, as he thought it more likely that she could end up falling behind, but the ranger seemed to anticipate that, and explained why he thought they should go in that order. He closed his mouth and nodded slowly. "Alright. I understand."

Even with Haldan and Willow clearing a path, it was tougher going than the day before when there had been no snow. When Scout occasionally came up and pushed his head into her hand, Fern smiled and rubbed his head, but after a little while she tried to keep her hands tucked under her arms to keep them warm. Because, as Thorn had reminded her, she did not have any gloves.

Thorn occasionally looked back to check and make sure that Fern was still close, and also tried to keep aware of whether he felt too cold or too hot. After a couple of times glancing back to check on Fern, he noticed her keeping her hands under her arms. "Remember to let us know if you get too cold or hot."

"I know." She answered, focusing on walking in the tracks left by those ahead of her. They continued on, mostly in silence, for a long while, though occasionally Thorn turned to check on Fern. After a long while of walking, she started to fall a little further behind before calling out to ask if they could take a break.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

The sound of Fern calling for a stop triggered Scout to run to catch up with her, circle her once and then run towards Haldan. Scout growled softly but loud enough to catch the ranger’s attention and ran up to his hand. To Haldan’s credit he had already heard Fern and, thinking of it, was surprised at how long they had walked without break. The ranger was already stopping and turning around when Scout arrived at his side.

“I heard her”. He said to Scout, patting him gently on the head. Looking up towards Fern he called out.

“Time for lunch then” he concluded and waved at Scout to accompany Fern to the rest of them.

Meanwhile the ranger cleared a path towards some fallen trees which made for convenient seating. They must have fallen early in the storm because a good layer of snow covered them, but would easily squash down to make a good pillow.

Willow followed Haldan close behind and made a space for herself as Haldan dropped the reigns and moved to select a bag from Willow. The brown mare was strong and, while not considerably tall, well built and sturdy which was valuable considering the load she bore. In addition to the furs, of which there must have been at least a half a dozen, she had two large equipment packs, one which held the food bag, presumably among other things, which Haldan was currently removing. The saddle bags rested on either side of Willow with the furs laid out across them, where the saddle would be, and some behind as well.

A hunting spear was strapped parallel to Willow on one side . Diagonally at a slight angle, point up, to minimize the likelihood of spearing anything and better align with Willow’s profile. A longsword was strapped on the other side of Willow, in a traveling position rather than for immediate draw in combat.

The ranger himself was carrying a pack with a hunting bow unstrung and tied to the side. On the other side were a dozen or so arrows in a tight quiver also strapped to the pack.

Haldan opened the food bag and handed it to Fern.

“Eat up.” He instructed

“We won’t eat again until dinner.” He concluded, with no indication that he thought this unusual.

“There’s a river nearby where we will camp for the night, hopefully I can catch a fish or two.” He added encouragingly, although it was unclear how likely the ranger thought that would be.

He sat down on one of the logs and the snow crunched down as he did so, sinking nearly a foot as his weight compressed the fresh dry snow. The tomahawk, which Haldan had brought with him on the night he found the youths, pushed up and over slightly as he sat down, but was not forced out of the strap. The sharp end of the axe pointed down and lay flat against Haldan’s thigh. The brown sheath of his knife also protruded from the fur of his cloak as he sat down.

“I can make a small fire, if you are cold.” He said, looking over at the two of them, although thinking about smoking his pipe. But if they wanted to move on, he could understand. They were running from something, although he felt they would say more if and when they felt the need to do so.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Fern was about to ask if they could have something else to eat, when the ranger actually said it was time for lunch. She paused in surprise, and glanced curiously at Thorn. While Haldan went to get a bag from his horse, she whispered to her brother, "Do you think he can read minds?"

Thorn glanced at her, then shrugged. "I dunno.." he hadn't quite thought about it. But then, the man had guessed he was going to protest about having Fern in the rear of their group, and he thought there might have been a few other instances where it seemed that way. He watched Haldan pass the bag to Fern.

Hearing that they were not going to eat again until dinner, she frowned slightly but nodded. She paused, looking at another of the fallen trees, then broke off a stick from one of the branches, and used it to sweep a section of snow off of it before taking a seat on the snow-less trunk. "I'm not that cold," She answered to his question about a fire. "You were right. I stayed warm enough. But I didn't sweat. My face is cold though." She investigated what was in the pack and selected a portion before passing the bag to Thorn.

After taking it, Thorn looked back the way they had come, thoughtful. "I'm alright, too. Do you think it might snow again, Haldan?" He wondered, sort of hoping that it might, so it would cover up their trail. He went to sit next to Fern, since she had cleared enough space for him to sit there. "How much further do you think we'll be going today?" He added, glancing over at him. After they had each gotten out a reasonable portion of food, he passed the bag to Haldan so he could also eat.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

There was still plenty of food in the ration bag, he thought, taking it from Thorn and picking out a small handful of nuts and piece of hard cheese. It was good because as Thorn mentioned the weather, Haldan looked up and indeed it looked likely to snow soon again. He nodded grimly.

"Yes, I think it might, in fact." he said "and possibly not too long from now." he added, taking a second look at the clouds forming in the sky. The weather had stayed well below freezing all night and continued below freezing even at the hight of the sun -- as it was roughly now. Any precipitation was sure be snow. So much snow so suddenly in an area that's not worn in for snow could lead to trouble. Fallen trees, impassable fields, or worse yer, avalanches.

Scout usually was fed once in the morning and once at night, nevertheless, Haldan threw the dog the last bite of his cheese. The wolfhound jumped eagerly at the food and appeared to inhale it more than eat it. Haldan shook his head with a grin.

"Three or four more hours, I'd say" he said in response to Fern's question, "I'd like us to get to the river Lune, as we head east. Following it will be a useful source of food and water on our journey south." he explained, hoping to give the children some confidence in knowing what they were doing. "I hope you like fish" he added with a smile.

Was that a snowflake? He thought looking up, or was it just his imagination. If it started now, they may even struggle to make it to the river at all, he thought. Willow snorted as if to agree with Haldan's silent thoughts. He looked over at the two of them. Fern's face was red with the cold. Haldan's beard was a useful source of comfort in this weather, but he could hardly lend it to the girl.

The ranger stood up abruptly and walked to Willow where he returned the food bag to its saddle bag. He then dug around in the very same bag and retrieved a small thin square wool blanket, not big enough to cover a human because it was for Scout when it got particularly cold. He folded the blanket in half and then half again along the same axis so that it was now a rectangle.

"You can use this as a scarf for your face." he offered to Fern. "If you don't mind the smell of dog..." he said, sniffing the blanket-turned-scarf and holding his hand out if Fern wished to take it, it didn't smell that much like dog. Scout generally didn't like the blanket unless it was really cold, and then the chill itself served some protection from the odor permeating the material.

"When you're ready" he said, after the children had finished eating "we should go" he finished, looking up again at the ominous clouds.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

While Haldan was thinking about the bad news, and possible dangers that came from more snow, Thorn was thinking about what a good thing it could be that it would snow, and therefore cover up their trail and make it less likely that anyone would find them. He finished off his handful of nuts as he wondered how long it would be before it started snowing again. He was a bit reluctant to have to start traveling again, but he also did not want their family to find them.

"Even more snow?" Fern asked, eyes wide as she glanced around. "Where are we, anyway? How far'd we come today?" She had finished her snack.. she refused to call it lunch since she didn't feel like it had been very substantial, and now was trying to breathe warm air on her hands to warm them.

They both watched him suddenly go over to the horse, and then looked uncertainly at each other. What was he doing? Then, seeing him dig out a blanket, they watched in curiosity. Thorn gave a tiny nod to himself then, after watching Haldan take it over to Fern to use as a scarf. He knew his own ears and face were really cold, and could see that hers must be as well, so he was glad that she had something. He had pulled up the hood of his cloak, but the cloak was more intended for use to keep out rain and moderate cold, not freezing cold like this.

"It's not that bad," Fern smiled slightly after taking the blanket. She paused briefly as she debated whether to put it over or under her hood, and eventually decided on putting it over her hood.

After watching Fern for a moment, trying to adjust the 'scarf' to her liking, Thorn went over and took a moment to help her with it, doing his best to make it so that it would keep her face warm without being too hot, though he wasn't entirely sure how to do that himself. "Alright. That should work, right?" He checked with her, after a moment. She nodded slightly.

"Alright. Let's go."

"Wait," Fern caught Thorn's arm, whispering, and pointed a ways off, where a grouse was perched on a snow-covered bush, trying to find something to eat. "If I could shoot it, we could have more to eat for supper?" She suggested with a glance toward Haldan to see what he might think of the idea.

Thorn hesitated, recognizing that it was a type of bird that he knew was often hunted for its meat. "Your hands are too cold." He told her, also in a whisper, shaking his head slightly. "You shoot your bow, and your fingers are going to hurt." Besides that, he wasn't certain she had the skill to hit such a small target from this distance, especially with half her face covered, and her fingers so cold. But he did think it would have been a good opportunity to get some meat. He glanced toward Haldan questioningly as well.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

"We've come about ten or so miles south-east and it's another," he paused trying to gauge the distance in the mental map in his head "six or so miles further east-south-east until we reach the Lune River. We'll be there before dark, if we can maintain the same pace." he estimated, unsure if they were really able to keep up the same pace, especially if the snow came in fast.

Scout seemed to pay particular attention to his blanket being given to Fern. Like a child who expresses interest in an abandoned toy only when it is given to another child, Scout looked between Fern and Haldan as if to ask what the ranger was thinking. The wolfhound scampered towards Fern and sniffed at her, rubbing his head on her arm again. Eventually the dog seemed to decide that either it wasn't worth protesting or that Fern was an acceptable new bearer of his little-used blanket.

"You're welcome to try" he said in response to Fern's eagerness to catch the grouse, part of him was interested to find out how accurate of a shot the young girl would be. "Your brother is right about your fingers" he decided to add, feeling some degree of responsibility. He did not make any further comments, however, being more interested in discovering both her talents and her determination, and whether she would decide if the pain was worth the reward.

Haldan's own bow was unstrung and the ranger was sure he would not be able to string it and bring it to bear without startling the small bird, in any case this would risk spoiling Fern's success and prevent him from learning anything about her grit and skill as an archer. The ranger simply nodded at this point staying quiet, waiting to see what the child would do.

The sound of the rustling bird had also caught the wolfhound's attention, whose ears perked up eagerly as he stood quietly watching. Scout knew better than to make a noise or move towards the bird -- he had no chance of catching such prey -- as he was well trained as a hunting dog and knew that birds were targets for arrows and for hunting dogs to retrieve, rather than to corner. The dog spared a glance between Haldan, then Fern -- who Scout had calculated Haldan had been looking at, rather than the grouse -- and then to Thorn before immediately looking back at the grouse, calmly awaiting what would happen next.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Fern frowned slightly. Thorn did know what he was talking about, about her fingers hurting. But she was really hungry, and a few nuts and bits of cheese weren't really enough, as far as she was concerned. And besides, she'd been keeping her hands tucked under her arms as well as she could, to keep them as warm as possible.

Since the ranger didn't say anything to discourage her, or give any reason why she should not attempt the shot, she had to take a moment to decide. Recalling that it would be a few hours before they ate again, she almost imagined her stomach rumbling, even though they had just eaten. She glanced at Thorn, knowing he was only concerned for her hurting her hands. But she felt that they'd be fine. She put a finger to her lips to signal him to be quiet. Then drew an arrow.

She did have to push the scarf back out of her face so she could see clearly, but her shortbow was ready to go, as she pretty much always kept it strung. Keeping her eye on the grouse, she shrugged off part of the fur cloak on her shoulders. Thorn reached out and took it so it wouldn't fall on the ground, and she gave a quick smile in thanks before refocusing on her target, drawing back her string.

Looking from Fern to the grouse, Thorn held his breath as he watched a bit anxiously, hoping she would make the shot, but worried she wouldn't. The string twanged as she let go, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her wince slightly, but he watched the grouse and the arrow. He thought it was going to go over the bird, and bit his lip in anticipation for disappointment. But, as fortune would have it, the twang of the bowstring startled the bird, and he saw it start to take off. The arrow struck its wing just at that moment, and it dropped down into the snow. "You got it!" Thorn exclaimed, just as surprised as he was delighted.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

The ranger watched Fern carefully and silently, Scout's eyes remained firmly on the bird, having seen Fern draw her bow. Neither the wolfhound nor Haldan moved or made a sound. It was a good shot, a little wide of the mark but as fate would have it the bird had nearly thrown itself in front of the arrow. Haldan smiled approvingly. Scout stared up at the ranger eagerly, he simply nodded and the wolfhound took off after the grouse.

"Good shot." he said, encouragingly. "I suppose we'll be having grouse for dinner. I may still try to catch some fish as well." he added, it would be useful for their continued travels if he could catch a few fish at the spot he had in mind.

Scout returned promptly, carrying the grouse carefully in his mouth. The wolfhound scampered back eagerly as if basking in the victory. Scout dropped it in front of Fern, not Haldan, apparently recognizing that it had been Fern's shot and not his master's. The ranger seemed to approve of this.

"Do you know how to field dress the bird?" he asked to Fern but also Thorn.

It was better to do so now and let it air out while they walked than to wait. Haldan was genuinely curious of the answer, perhaps it would reveal something about what they had learned growing up, clearly archery was a skill but to what end if not hunting? Haldan looked the two of them over, unsure if Fern carried a knife.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

While Thorn and Haldan congratulated her on her shot, Fern squeezed her fingertips with the opposite hand, wincing. It did hurt. But not as badly as Thorn had seemed to think it would. She soon recovered, as she watched Scout hurry off to retrieve the bird. She smiled in surprise as he dropped it in front of her. "Good dog." She was honestly surprised at how well trained and polite the dog was. She reached down to pick it up, and patted Scout on the head lightly as she straightened. "Aww, the arrow isn't here." She noticed, glancing back toward where the bird had fallen.

"Maybe we can look for it briefly, but I don't think we can spend much time looking." Thorn mentioned with a glance toward Haldan to check. When the ranger asked if they knew how to field dress a bird, Thorn turned to Fern and held out his hand to take the bird. He knew that she didn't know how, nor did she have a knife. "I do." He answered. After his sister had handed the bird to him, he drew his dagger, being the only blade he had. "...sort of," He added with a little hesitation, as he realized it had been a while since anyone showed him how to do this, and the one or two times he'd done it, he had used a knife more suited to the purpose. The dagger seemed a little bit lengthy and awkward for this sort of thing, but after passing Fern her cloak and stuff back, he kneeled down to work on it as well as he remembered how.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Finding, killing, and retrieving hunted birds and even larger mammals was a common occurrence in Scout's life as was made evident by the swiftness and efficiency by which he accomplished his tasks. He panted as if to smile when Fern rubbed his head and called him a good dog. He was a good dog, he agreed.

"If Scout can't find it, we can walk in that direction and take a look for it, if it's easy to find there's no reason not to retrieve it." he agreed, arrowheads would like be hard to come by along their journey south-east so there was no sense in leaving one behind without at least a reasonable search. With that he called over to Scout.

"Scout," he said to get the dog's attention. The wolfhound immediately turned to the ranger, but did not move.

"Find the arrow" he instructed. Scout immediately ran off back in the direction he had just come from with the grouse. Scout and Haldan had trained retrieving arrows. Of the many hunting and trapping related tasks Scout was trained to do, this was one of the easier ones for Haldan to practice. Finding the arrow, of course, was not always possible and the ranger would call for his return if he was gone for too long.

Seeing the dagger that Thorn removed, Haldan realized that the children likely did not have a proper hunting knife, only a dagger more designed for combat than survival. The ranger guessed they likely escaped without much access to the tools and gear you would bring when running off into the wilderness, especially in the Ered Luin. Haldan unsheathed the knife on his left hip with his left hand in a reverse grip, so that the blade went down his arm rather than outwards. The ranger offered the hilt of his knife to Thorn.

"You might find it easier with this." he said simply.

Haldan was quite happy to field dress the grouse, or help if the boy needed it. But perhaps Thorn had something to prove, he seemed eager enough as he had immediately started to get to work. Haldan had not asked them to do it, only if they knew how. He decided to wait and see how Thorn would respond.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Fern watched with amazement as Scout went off to find her arrow, upon command. While she waited to find out whether he would find it, she bundled herself back up in the fur and 'scarf', and used her bow to help secure everything in place, by slipping her torso between the bow and its string, so it would be easier to carry.

Thorn, meanwhile, was a little surprised when Haldan offered his knife. He paused, glancing from the dagger to the knife, and then slowly reached to take it. While he didn't say anything about it, it meant something to know that the ranger trusted him with his knife. "Thanks." Thorn said quietly as he sheathed his dagger again, then focused on what he was doing.

He had to take his time to remember how to do it properly, and hoped he didn't miss anything, yet it was not as stressful as the other few times that he'd done this, with certain people being impatient and stressing him out trying to rush him. After a bit he concluded that he was finished, and took a look around for something to clean the blade off with. All there was around them was snow, and he paused to think, then pressed down a portion of snow and used the packed snow to clean off the blade, and dried it the edge of his cloak.

That being done, he then stood up and handed the blade back to Haldan in the same manner it had been offered to him. "Does Scout eat the organs and stuff?" He asked, remembering that the folks back 'home' would give things like that to the dogs they kept.

While Thorn was busy with the grouse, Fern stood on tiptoe trying to see Scout as he sniffed around the area where the grouse had been. It seemed like a little while, and she was beginning to wonder if maybe he couldn't find it. But when he did return with the arrow, she grinned in surprise. "Wow! He's amazing!" She exclaimed happily, accepting the arrow back from the dog and then took a moment to pet him. She had decided that he was definitely not a mean dog like the others, and so she had no more nervousness about petting him.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

The ranger hadn't thought much of offering Thorn his knife. It's not as if he feared the boy would use it as a weapon against him, Thorn already had a dagger if he wanted to go that route, and besides Haldan was quite confident that would have ended much worse for the boy than for him. The knife wasn't anything he held with particular reverence, it was a tool, an important one yes, but a tool nonetheless. He had gone through many knives over the years, for one reason or another. He might even give this one to Thorn if he found a suitable alternative he pondered, as the boy seemed to take it with some reverence. The ranger simply nodded at the thanks and proceeded to watch as Thorn got to work on the grouse.

A little sloppy and maybe somewhat inefficiently done -- Haldan had done this easily hundreds of times in his life -- but all-in-all he thought Thorn had done a stand-up job.

"Not bad" he said, taking the knife back and sheathing it. "I've certainly seen much worse" he continued. Haldan's praise usually came in this form, not so much praise so much as not-criticism.

"You can give him the heart and liver, the gizzard requires cleaning so leave that. Don't give him the intestines, crop, or stomach." Haldan explained. Scout would be quite happy if he got some heart or liver, he would eat it eagerly. The rest of the insides would be left for carrion or other creatures which might stumble this direction in the snow. Haldan was unwilling to risk getting Scout sick and they didn't have time to clean and cook the gizzard or intestines or other organs. Some other poor animals stuck in this cold might be able to benefit from it.

It hadn't taken Scout long to find the arrow. Traveling through the grouse had changed the trajectory of the arrow, but luckily for them it ended up embedded in a tree not-too-far from where the grouse had hit the ground. The wolfhound had to tug on the arrow a few times to dislodge it but eventually got it free. Holding the arrow in his mouth like a stick, Scout returned it to Fern who seemed quite pleased, and the wolfhound received further pets as reward. Scout decided he could get used to this. Haldan and Willow were great and all, but Scout enjoyed attention from others, he was an affectionate dog and enjoyed the company of people. Scout thought it was a shame Haldan was such a recluse and that they spent most of their time out in the wilderness with only each other and Willow as company. Scout always enjoyed when they returned to a town like Bree or to Haldan's father's village in Forochel where most of the small town of Lossoth people knew Scout by name. It had been a long time since he and Haldan had traveled with other people, and Scout was looking forward to spending more time with Fern and maybe winning over Thorn as well.

"Well I suppose we should be off then" the ranger said, after a while. "The river is wide and fast running this far north, I don't expect it will be frozen" he said, somewhat to himself and somewhat to the children. Without waiting too long for them to prepare, Haldan once again took up the reigns of Willow in one hand and began the trudge through the snow. This time they headed largely due east, trying to intersect with the river. The plan was to continue south along the river banks, but the river would be a good source of food and water on the trip, even if they did not need to cross it so far north.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

He was somewhat relieved that he hadn't done such a bad job, although he didn't have to be told that it could've been done better. He had hardly any experience doing this, and he didn't really know much about the organ stuff, nor why they had to be taken out. He certainly wasn't going to argue with the ranger about what to give his dog. With a nod, Thorn tossed aside the other organs. "Here, Fern, wanna give him these?"

Fern was very pleased to have her arrow back, and after checking it for damage, she was glad to see it was fine. She slid it back into her quiver and looked over at her brother. "Why don't you do it? He's nice. He doesn't bite like Nightmare and Chaos do."

Thorn hesitated, having not really thought about it much. He glanced at Scout. He had come to realize that he was not a vicious dog, yet he had not thought about trying to pet him or anything. "I guess I could." He agreed, figuring it made more sense anyway, since he already had the grouse's blood on his hands. He hesitated before holding out his hand to Scout, the heart and liver held in his palm. "Want this?"

He was still a little wary, but had seen Fern petting and feeding Scout a few times by now, and tried not to be nervous. He held still until Scout had taken them from his palm. After wiping his hands in the snow, he stood and brushed off his knees. He hoped they weren't too damp.

Soon they were moving on, and the siblings took up their previous positions; Thorn following Haldan and Willow, while Fern followed him, with Scout following her. They mostly didn't talk as they traveled, though after a while, Fern began to lag a little behind, getting a little tired as she was not used to traveling for extended periods, especially on foot.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Nightmare and Chaos. At the names, the ranger cocked his head curiously. How strange, he thought, to name your dogs so viciously. What kind of people had these two grown up with, he continued to wonder. Scout licked his lips impatiently, watching Thorn and did not make any notice of the other dog's names. Thorn had clearly not taken as much of a liking to him as the little girl, but Scout was confident he could change that, given enough time. He simply looked over at Thorn quietly, his tongue lolling out and drooling saliva onto the snow.

Scout moved quickly to the proffered hand when the boy offered the food. The wolfhound took the organ meat cautiously from Thorn, taking care not to scare him or make it seem like he would bite. The ranger had trained him well, but he was good hearted by nature. Once taken, Scout did not hesitate to scarf down the food as if it was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten. He looked up at Thorn with his best attempt at a doggy smile and inched forward towards his hand suggesting the boy to pet him, if he wanted to.

As they moved on east towards the river, they were making reasonable time, but the snow had started again. While it wasn't heavily snowing, as it had the last night, Haldan wasn't so sure that it wouldn't do so again. If they could make it to the river, there was a ranger's hut there which they could use. He doubted anyone else would be using it, he had never run into anyone else there especially at this time of year. Bit if they didn't make it before the snow picked up, he wasn't looking forward to figuring that out...

When Fern started consistently lagging behind by more than a dozen paces or so, Scout sprinted up towards the ranger, as he had done when Fern had called out the first time. He arrived at Haldan within seconds, making an impressive pace in the snow, and the ranger, to his credit, stopped and turned immediately. Before walking back towards, Fern, he rearranged some of the furs on Willow's back to make space in the 'saddle' although it was still covered by some of the fur.

"Have you ridden a horse before, Fern?" the ranger asked, as he walked towards the child so that they would meet half-way.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Thorn had merely wiped his hands in the snow to clean them, rather than petting the dog. He was still not sure he wanted to, even though Fern had begun petting him and all seemed fine. Thorn had had a few frightful experiences with the other dogs, in his past, and while he could see that Scout was nothing like them, he still wasn't eager to push his luck.

As they traveled, Thorn kept his arms wrapped around himself, holding the wolf pelt around him the best he could, which helped somewhat to keep his hands from getting too cold. Occasionally he brought them up to press to his ears, which were getting cold through the thin fabric of his hood, but it seemed like it wasn't doing much good for his ears, and only made his hands colder, and made it more difficult to keep the pelt on his shoulders.

If they had not been traveling through snow and freezing temperatures, he thought that he probably would have certainly gotten very hot and tired by now. But the wolf pelt only did so much to keep him warm, and after a point he pulled it up higher around his ears, hoping to keep them a bit warmer. He couldn't do much about his face though, and he could feel the snowflakes brushing on his forehead and cheeks, as if they were trying to attack him with their coldth. He kept quiet, figuring that complaining about being cold would not be very useful, and besides, they'd reach a place to make a fire sooner without having to pause to deal with any complaints he might have. As long as Fern was fine...

Just as he thought of glancing back to check on his sister, Scout bounded past him, and Thorn stopped and glanced back to see that she had begun lagging behind further than he liked. He frowned a bit in concern.. how would they keep going if she was too tired to keep up the pace, or too cold. He wasn't sure which, or it might be both. Thankfully, Haldan had a good solution.

Fern had rearranged the 'scarf' to wrap partially around her nose and mouth, another part crossing over her forehead. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it kept most of the wind and snow out of her face, except her eyes. She had hardly noticed she had fallen behind until she caught up more with the others, and saw that they seemed to be waiting for her. "Sorry," She spoke through the layer of blanket, which muffled her words a little bit not too bad. She looked up at Haldan when he came, asking if she'd ridden a horse before. She nodded. "Plenty of times, sure." She answered, glancing toward Willow. "Do you want me to ride?" She couldn't think of any other reason he would have asked her that.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

“That will make it easier then” he said. While they wouldn’t be moving fast, it would be easier going if Fern was a comfortable rider.

As they walked closer to Willow, the ranger looked at Thorn’s face which was beginning to look quite red from the cold. He has forgotten they had not worn any head gear and were unused to the cold. Haldan had his fur lined hood and had grown up in this environment.

Before letting Fern mount Willow, Haldan dug around the furs and retrieved two mostly finished fur hats. The threads were largely complete but not cut off and tied at the ends yet, clearly works in progress although structurally sound.

“This should help for the cold” he said, offering them each one.

“I apologize that I had not finished them. Nor thought of this earlier” truth be told, Haldan was unused to traveling with company and especially ones which were neither well equipped nor terribly adept at taking care of themselves in such a climate. It had simply not crossed his mind until he had seen Thorn. He felt some guilt about that, wondering if perhaps it was best he had not become a father.

“Fern, I can lift you up onto Willow. She may be too large for you to get on by yourself”. Haldan offered. Willow was not an unusually large horse, but she was a full sized horse and not a pony or a particularly small horse and Haldan was unsure how experienced Fern was.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Both Thorn and Fern were surprised to be handed furry hats to wear. Fern smiled when he handed it to her, and pulled the blanket/scarf down, then stuck it on her head. She wrapped the blanket around her like a shawl.

Thorn took a moment to glance at the hat, then up at Haldan before putting it on his head. "Better late than never, right?" He smiled faintly, in answer to the ranger's apology for not thinking of it sooner. "It's alright," he added, in case that wasn't clear. He nodded toward Fern. "She just needs a foothold," He mentioned, on her behalf. He would have offered to lace his hands together and give her a step up, but his hands were so cold he didn't want her stepping in them with her snow-caked boots.

In fact, she could probably have gotten onto the horse on her own without any trouble if it had had a regular saddle with a stirrup, but since she didn't see one of those, Fern would have needed to climb onto something in order to reach high enough to get a good hold and pull herself up. She took off her bow from where she had it across her torso and passed it to Thorn to hold for her while she was getting up onto the horse.

Before she went to get on the horse, Fern took a moment to pet Scout, then turned to let Haldan know she was ready to get up. Once she was up onto Willow, however it was done, Thorn passed the bow back to her, and she held it in her lap, because it would have probably been in the way, the way she'd been 'wearing' it. She made sure her quiver wasn't rubbing or bouncing against Willow's side, then nodded to Haldan to let him know that she was all set.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

"I suppose they do say that" the ranger agreed at the remark that it was better late than never. It was a small thing, but he felt a little better.

When Fern was ready, Haldan simply lifted her, just above the waist, from the ground onto Willow in a single, but controlled, motion. The girl was light, considerably lighter than many of the things he hunted. With the three of them ready to go and Scout and Willow as ready as ever, Haldan turned around on their trail.

"I'd say a couple more hours of this until we get there. There is a ranger's hut near the river that we should be able to use and will save us having to worry about putting together a shelter for the night." he explained, realizing that the children might want to have some sort of update on where they were going and for how much longer.

"Maybe sooner, if we can pick up the pace a bit" he said, looking over to Thorn, he worried the boy might insist he was comfortable no matter how he felt, but Haldan would not pick up the pace that much more than they had already traveled. That being said, Haldan had already proven his inability to estimate the pace which Fern could keep.

The ranger pulled up the hood of his cloak finally, the snow beginning to settle into a reasonable but consistent pace. It was a few hours shy of midday and by the time they got to the hut, should everything go reasonably well, Haldan guessed they might still have an hour or so of sunlight left before dark. He hoped still to catch a fish, although the grouse would make for at least some food, though hardly much for three.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Once Fern was situated on the horse, Thorn felt a bit better about her, at least. He had worried about her, following behind the rest. And it had been difficult for Thorn to trust that Scout would let his master know if she began to lag. But clearly, he had done his job quite well. Even when Thorn forgot to check back on her. He looked toward the dog as that thought came to him, and tentatively put his hand out to let him sniff it, and then gave him a brief rub around the ears, in thanks.

Looking up when Haldan mentioned a ranger hut, he fought his first instinctive reaction, and forced himself to remain calm about the idea. He nodded slowly as the man explained about having shelter for the night. So, they had a goal in mind beyond just 'the river'. That was comforting, at least. When he mentioned picking up the pace, Thorn nodded again, pressing his hands to the sides of his head, to hold the furry hat against his ears. Hopefully, his ears and head would warm up a bit.

Fern lightly patted Willow's neck, glad that she was spared from having to trudge through the snow now. It was much deeper snow than she'd ever seen before, and even though Haldan, Willow, and Thorn had forged a path for her, it had still been a bit difficult, being smaller than any of them. Now that she was sitting on the horse, surrounded by all the furs, she was much more comfortable. She looked around from atop the horse, taking it upon herself to act as a lookout of sorts as they traveled. Not having to walk also freed her up to be able to ask questions. "How big is the hut?" She wondered, curious. "Is there a fireplace? Will there be beds, or will we sleep on the floor again? Is there a barn for Willow?"

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Finally, Thorn seemed to be becoming more comfortable around Scout. The wolfhound smelled his proffered hand and accepted the scratches that came along with it. Having three humans to give him attention was far better than one, Scout deemed. The wolfhound seemed to cheerfully follow close behind Thorn, now that Fern was mounted on Willow as they made their way.

“It’s not very big” Haldan said in response. “In truth it’s a little more than a hunter’s cabin used mostly by rangers, and largely me to be honest, hunting in these woods” he continued. “There is a fireplace and a couple of raised platforms for beds, though we will have to make do with the furs and blankets we have.” In truth the hut wasn’t much more than a crudely built log cabin but it was fully enclosed and would protect them from both wind and snow and not require building and therefore dramatically superior to the alternative. “Oh there’s a small stall for Willow” he added finally in response to the question.

Haldan picked up the pace but only slightly and he made sure to keep and eye on how Thorn was doing. On the one hand he wanted to make a good time as they could but if Thorn tired out or started to sweat that would be a bigger problem in the long run. Willow did not seem to mind the additional burden of Fern, feeling far more comfortable with a small child than a large ranger riding her.

As the day wore on the snow continued to come down at a relatively constant pace. The temperature started to drop as it got closer to dusk, but not too far below freezing. Haldan guessed it would get colder over the night. The sun was still out and it provided some warmth in compensation. There was little evidence that they made much progress towards the river. The land seemed essentially the same now that they had come down from the mountain side itself. The forest was neither dense nor sparse. Sparse enough for them the walk comfortably in a line, and for Willow, but dense enough that they couldn’t walk more than two abreast. The snow covered much of the trees by this point giving the otherwise brown and green forest a white appearance. The crystals snowflakes caught the sunlight and glittered like tiny gemstones. Haldan, Scout, and Willow seemed completely at ease in the situation as if this were an ordinary occasion for them. Other than the presence of Fern and Thorn, it was.

Eventually, just under two hours later, the sound of the rushing river could be heard in the distance. The flow was still fast having only recently, in geographic terms, come from the steep flows and waterfalls in the mountains. Further south the river would widen and slow its relentless pace.

“We are nearly there” Haldan concluded by the time the sound of the rushing river could barely be heard. The ranger began to pay more specific attention to the terrain and landmarks. They walked past a particularly large tree, easily three or four times larger than the nearby evergreens.

“Remember this tree” he said “the ranger hut is a furlong east towards the river and a furlong south, hidden among the trees.” He explained, should they ever need to return here or if they got lost in the snow.

They followed the rangers own directions and sure enough found a small wooden log cabin tucked away in between a group of tall evergreen trees. With the snow and tree cover the hut would have been easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. It was not much larger than the wickiup in which they had stayed the previous night although considerably more durably made and of a more regular rectangular shape.

“Depending on the weather it may make sense to wait out the storm here.” He said, half thinking out loud.

“Help me take the furs and bags inside, if you would” he asked, helping Fern get down from Willow as they stopped outside the cabin. “Then I will see about catching some fish before dark and we can cook up some dinner.” Truthfully he was getting hungry. He had had reasonable luck with fishing in this area before.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
A pair of runaways
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

As the journey continued, Fern occasionally asked more questions, but after a while she had run out of things to ask, and was more interested in looking around as they traveled. She started to look out for animals, like rabbits or more grouse, to see if she might be able to add to their supper, but there weren't really any animals out and about, and what very few there were, they took off in fright when the travelers drew near enough to be heard. She knew she had not the skill to try and shoot a rabbit that was running away, especially as it drew near to dusk. And the snowflakes falling down all around her made it more difficult, too.

After a while she put her head back and looked up at the snow as it came down, and giggled softly as the softly falling flakes tickled what little of her face was exposed. But she soon straightened up again, deciding it was too cold and wet to let the snow accumulate on her face like that.

Thorn walked along behind them steadily, but he was not very talkative. It was too difficult to try and call up ahead to Haldan or Fern, and his face was cold, so he was mostly focused on trying to keep his head down to keep the snow from flying into his face as much. The hat helped his ears tremendously, and also helped keep his head much warmer, but he didn't have much to shield his face.

He couldn't help thinking about how much better it would have been for them if he had found a way for them to leave before their group set off for the Lindon area. In fact, he wasn't even certain that he had managed to go back toward where they had left. He and Fern might have gotten very lost, for all he knew. But, hopefully, Haldan knew where to go to get them there. He would just have to rely on the ranger to get them there.

At last, the sound of rushing water was audible, and Thorn glanced up and looked around slightly. What river was that? He wondered if it was one he might be familiar with. But he got distracted from that, when Haldan said to 'remember this tree'. He looked at it, wondering.. why? They were only passing through, right? But he didn't verbally question it, only made a small nod.

Fern, however, looked with more curiosity at it. "Why's it so huge?" She asked, tilting her head curiously at it. "Is there a secret hideout inside?" She had to ask with a little laugh. "Seems like the sort of thing.." She glanced toward Thorn, then shrugged. "Well, I don't know." She concluded. "I can't say I know much about rangers." Both siblings nodded when he explained where the hut was located from here. When they actually did arrive at the hut, at first, Fern was confused, and didn't see it at all until she looked a bit closer. "Oh! Wow, it's so well hidden!" She declared, impressed. "Do you think anyone else might be there?" She suddenly wondered, curious if any other rangers besides Haldan might be taking shelter inside. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of sharing such a tiny space with more strangers. And she didn't know if other rangers would be as nice as him.

Thorn's attention was caught more by the words that Haldan had said. "Storm?" He repeated, catching up. He looked at the tiny cabin, then up at the sky briefly. "Is it going to storm?" He wondered, thinking of the more typical 'thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and strong wind' type of storm. He wondered if the small hut would stand up to a strong wind, or if lightning hit it.. would it burn?

Reaching up to help unload the furs, he placed a smaller bundle into Fern's arms before taking another for himself, and then started for the door. He paused then, realizing he had not left himself a spare hand to open the door with. "Should anyone check inside the cabin before we go in?" He wondered, almost as an afterthought, and looked to see if there were any windows that they could peek into, to make sure there were no unpleasant surprises waiting inside. Like a wild animal that had somehow gotten inside and taken refuge, or whatever.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

"It's so big because it's so old" he explained simply.

"Why it is so much older than the other trees is hard to say, exactly, but probably because it survived some sort of fire or other disaster when its comrades did not" Haldan conjectured.

"But no, there are no secret hideouts inside, other than for squirrels." the ranger concluded smiling somewhat at the end, not that it was likely that either of them saw.

Having never ran into anyone actually staying in the hut before, he hadn't really considered if someone had been inside, mostly he would have noticed if the door had been barred when he tried to enter, or more likely the ranger inside would have called out to them.

"I think it unlikely" he conceded, eventually.

"A snow storm seems quite possible" he said, looking up again. The snow seemed to be just as consistent as it had all day, the ranger just had a bad feeling, there was no way to describe it other than he had felt this way before other snow storms.

When Thorn and Fern were as loaded as they could carry, Haldan left Willow and walked calmly towards the door of the hut. It was wooden and well constructed, with no gaps or open spaces. The ranger turned back briefly to Fern and smiled, before returning his gaze to the door and knocking. He waited a moment but no reply came. Haldan first pressed his head up to the door to listen, he might as well proceed with more caution than he usually would have, if only to give Fern some comfort. He heard nothing.

The ranger opened the door to the hut, it pulled outwards. Inside was largely as described. A large black wood burning stove dominated the back wall of the hut, with raised platform-like beds on both sides. Lifting the beds off the ground would help let the heat of the fire warm them from under. Stacks of wood were maintained on either side of the stove. It didn't look like anyone had been here since Haldan several months earlier. Satisfied, Haldan left the door open and returned to Willow to continue unpacking.

The remaining contents on Willow was reasonable enough for Haldan to bring inside himself. He did so, placing the contents down just inside before returning outside to take care of Willow. The ranger cleaned out the little horse-stall and then led Willow into it. He fed her with some of the feed in one of the saddle bags and made sure she was covered with a wool blanket and furs before returning back inside. The last thing Haldan picked up was the grouse which he hung inside, just by the door, on a hook.

"Thorn, if I leave my knife and tinderbox here do you think you can get a fire going while I go fish?" he asked.

"And Fern, perhaps you can pluck the grouse?" he continued, in his best attempt to sound like a request rather than an instruction.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
Thorn and Fern
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Though the ranger thought it unlikely that there would be anyone inside, Fern still wasn't quite sure she believed him. Especially after Thorn making a big deal about the cave where they had taken shelter, making sure it was empty before letting her go inside. She was relieved when no one answered Haldan's knock, and he put his ear to the door and listened, thus proving the place was empty before he opened the door.

They went inside with their loads, and waited to see where Haldan put his bundle, before adding theirs to the top of the pile. Fern looked around a bit more once her arms were free. Her exploration was quite short, since there was very little to see inside.

Thorn glanced around without moving, thinking about the storm Haldan had mentioned. A snow storm didn't sound so bad. He'd never heard of thunder happening during snow, right? Nor lightning. He was not eager to have to endure that sort of storm. Snow though.. that couldn't be all that bad. It was only cold. The flakes were pretty and drifted softly and covered the ground in near silence. Sure, it might make their traveling more difficult later, but at least it wasn't loud.

He turned around as Haldan came back in from tending to Willow, and asked Thorn about getting a fire started. He blinked, caught by surprise at the request. He had actually been thinking about asking, when Haldan went to start a fire next, if he might be willing to teach Thorn how he did it. Now, put on the spot and being asked if he could do it, the young man felt reluctant to admit that he did not know if he could or not. "Sure," he answered with a nod.

Fern gave him a skeptical look, but she turned to Haldan instead of calling her brother out on his doubtful claim. "Yeah, I can do that." She agreed. That was something she had at least some experience doing. "Are we keeping the feathers for anything?" She asked as she went and grabbed the bird from the hook and went to sit down on one of the beds, with the grouse in her lap.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

Haldan looked over Thorn as he responded. While the boy had indicated in the affirmative, the look that his sister gave him made him wonder how confident Thorn truly was.

“Take some of the char cloth from the tin and put it on some kindling in the stove. Strike the back side of my knife with the flint, aiming the knife down towards the charcloth like you saw me do last night. It may take a few tries for the sparks to land. Gently blow on the flame until it catches more.” Haldan finished his instructions. That should be enough he thought for now.

“That’s a good question” he said, in response to Fern. “The wing feathers can be kept for fletching arrows, some of the other feathers can be used for tying onto fishing hooks to imitate bate. The rest can also be used to stuff to make pillows, although I doubt you’ll get enough.” Fern was an inquisitive child, but perceptive and surprisingly skilled at archery as well.

“Well, I should be back in a couple of hours. If I’m not back by morning time, wait out any snow storm here and then continue south when it clears, staying close to the river Lune. Keep the fire going.” Haldan didn’t want to be ominous, but he also felt compelled to give them some sort of instruction.

The ranger shuffled through his bags until he retrieved a medium sized tin which he used as tacklebox and, throwing his hood back over his head, departed the cabin, closing the door behind him.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
Thorn and Fern
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

While he tried to act like he could totally manage this task without any trouble, Thorn was inwardly very glad to hear some instructions on what to do. Because, while he had watched Haldan start the fire before, the ranger had managed to light it so quickly, that Thorn had hardly had a chance to see what he actually did to make the sparks. He nodded once to show he had heard and understood the instructions, and then Fern's question drew Haldan's attention away.

While Thorn looked curiously at the items he had been entrusted with, Fern smiled to hear that her question was a good one. "Do you make your own arrows?" She wondered, when he mentioned using the feathers. The idea of making pillows made her smile slightly, thinking of the idea of having a nice, soft pillow to sleep on. But there wouldn't be enough here with this single grouse, so she didn't get her hopes up too high.

She got to work on picking feathers out of the dead bird while Haldan spoke again to give them instructions on what to do.. if he was not back by morning. Thorn frowned and nodded slowly after looking up from the fire making stuff, and remained quiet while Haldan went to his bags and dug something out.

Before he went for the door, Fern set aside the bird, taking a few of the feathers she'd just plucked. "Wait," She requested, going to the door after him. "If you're going fishing, and these can be used for bait.. then take some with you?" She suggested with a smile as she held a few feathers out to him.

---

After the ranger had gone, and the door was closed after him to shut out the cold, Fern returned to her task, while Thorn went to the wood stove. He had to get a fire started before he could keep one going, and he hoped it wouldn't be too difficult. Going over in his head the instructions Haldan had said, Thorn put the cloth down on some of the smaller pieces of wood, then held the knife pointed toward the cloth. He muttered quietly under his breath, repeating the steps to himself so not to forget anything that might be important, and hit the knife with the stone. Which, he noted mentally, was in fact, a special sort of stone. Not the sort of thing you just pick up in a random cave. He'd make sure to remember that.

He hit it a few times without much success, and then after a few tries, a tiny spark appeared. His heart leapt with hope, delighted to see some sign of success, but it didn't catch on the cloth, and just sort of disappeared in the air before it could do anything. He frowned as he tried to focus on repeating the same motion that had caused it. But it took him several tries to find the right angle again.

When a few of the sparks finally fell on the cloth, he smiled happily. He did it! Only.. it didn't do anything. Belatedly, he realized he'd forgotten to blow on it, and now the sparks had sort of fizzled out. His smile faded to a frown, and he was back to trying again. Next time, he told himself, he'd remember to blow on it to help the flames grow.

The first time, he blew too hard and ended up blowing it out. Trying not to get frustrated, he continued his efforts until, at last, he saw a flame flickering. Now trying not to get his hopes up too high, he gently breathed on it, and carefully coaxed the little flame to grow bigger. His smile grew a bit, along with the flame, and when it had finally taken hold on the piece of wood, he sat back with a grin. "I did it!" He announced happily, glancing toward Fern. "I actually did it!"

"Yay! So, we won't freeze?" She smiled happily. She had plucked a lot of feathers out of the bird by now. "What now?" She wondered, looking toward the woodstove.

"Uh." Thorn paused, thinking back to what he had seen Haldan do, the night before at the wickiup shelter. "I think.. I need to add a bit more fuel." He decided, glancing to see how well the fire was going, now. He added another piece of wood, watching to make sure it took hold. Then he added another and decided to hold off on adding anymore. He was already beginning to feel the warmth emanating from the stove, and hoped that soon, the whole hut would be nice and toasty.

Now, taking a seat on one of the bed platforms, he laid the fire making supplies down and looked toward the door. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like ages already. Fern wasn't even done plucking the bird yet, so it couldn't have been all that long.

More time passed, and the hut began to feel warm enough not to need so many wraps. He pulled the wolf pelt from around his shoulders, putting it down on the bed instead. There was not much to do, now that his task was completed, and he ended up idly watching Fern work on her own. Now that he had nothing to keep him occupied, his thoughts were all over the place.

After a while, Fern spoke up quietly, without looking up. "Thorn.. what do you think he meant?"

"Hm?" He blinked out of a daze, and looked at her. He noticed that by now, he was feeling much less cold, so he took off the hat and put it down, feeling his ears carefully to check that they felt alright.

"When he said, 'if I'm not back by morning'." Fern explained, looking up at him. "What do you think he meant?"

Frowning, Thorn hesitated. In fact, he had wondered about that, himself. "I.. dunno." He answered, shrugging. He glanced toward the door, but it was surely too soon to expect Haldan to return. "Don't worry about it, Fern." He told her, trying not to worry about it, himself. He got up and checked on the fire, carefully adding another small piece of wood.

"But," Fern frowned. "I mean, you don't think.. he wouldn't just..?" She trailed off, looking toward the door.

Realizing she was apparently having the same sort of thoughts that had come to his own mind, Thorn drew in a slow breath, trying to think of how he could reassure his sister, when he didn't even know how to reassure himself of the concern he was entertaining at the moment. His eyes scanned the room, and landed on the pelts that they had all carried in. "He'll come back." He told her softly, somehow sounding more certain than he felt.

Fern looked where he was looking. She was quiet for a moment, thinking. "How much do you think all those are worth?" She wondered, trying to decide how likely the ranger might be to just leave them behind.

"I don't know." Thorn answered. "Probably a lot, I guess?"

"Then.. he wouldn't just leave them. Right?" She asked quietly, looking at him hopefully.

"I don't know, Fern!" Thorn said, trying not to snap at her, but her questions were not making it any easier for him to not think the same sort of thing. "Just.. shut up, alright? Stop asking me this stuff. I don't know, and no matter how many different ways you ask, I still won't know, until you do." He folded his arms and frowned at her.

Fern looked at him quietly, then nodded slowly and went back to plucking. She was nearly done now. "At least we've got something to eat, just in case." She mentioned quietly.

Thorn bit his upper lip lightly and focused his gaze on the woodstove for the moment. He tried to think if Haldan had shown any signs of wanting to be rid of them, while fighting the worry gnawing at him inside. Plenty of the people they'd grown up with would absolutely do a thing like that. But he shook his head slightly, trying to tell himself that Haldan was not like those guys. He walked up and down the small length of the floor a few times before making himself go sit down again. "I'm sure it was only a.. precaution thing." He told her in a gentler tone. "You know, like a 'Just in case of.. something going wrong, here's what you should do' sort of thing. You know?" He mentioned quietly.

"So.." She frowned, tilting her head curiously. "How much time's passed? And how much longer do we wait before we cook this thing? I'm really hungry." She frowned.

Thorn sighed and lay back on the wolf pelt that was spread out on the 'bed'. "I don't know. We'll give it a while longer. Do you have anything to put the feathers in?"

"Uh.. no." She looked at her neatly separated piles of feathers and frowned. She realized that if the door opened, and the wind blew in, it would scatter them all like crazy. And they could hear wind blowing outside. She thought for a moment, then went to get one of the pelts from the pile and very slowly and gently, laid it on top of all three piles to hold the feathers down and protect them from getting blown around in case the door opened. Then she went over to where Haldan had left some things and began searching around for some better way to store the feathers.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

"I am no expert fletcher but I often must repair arrows or make new ones when they break, so I make do" Haldan explained in answer to her question. In truth, he was rather good at making arrows as he had made quite a few in his time, but Haldan was modest and it was unlikely even he believed as much.

When Fern offered him some feathers to use as lures he smiled at the thoughtfulness. Of course, the tackle-box he had retrieved already had such lure which he had put toget ehr, but he didn't feel the need to break that to her. The ranger reached out and took the feathers in his now gloved hands, "thanks." he said, before leaving.

---

Before making his way to the river, Haldan stopped to retrieve his bow and quiver and quickly strung the bow. While he didn't expect to see anything, since he was going to be out it was worth a shot he deemed. Scout had decided to accompany Haldan rather than staying with the children, a decision that had somewhat surprised Haldan, though he supposed Scout felt some obligation to the hunt. As the two of them made their way towards the river, they moved quietly, not wishing to disturb any animals or fish.

The winter also coincided with some of the fish moving south and Haldan hoped that the sudden cold weather had caught the fish by just as much surprise as it had caught them, and that some would still be around. He could see animal tracks that likely would not have been around when it was deep enough into the winter for the snow to be like this. The cold weather had caught them all it seemed. Perhaps there was a chance that he would catch something after all.

It only took another fifteen or so minutes for Scout and Haldan to arrive at the river. Without the snow, it would have been ten. Along the way, Haldan had found a suitable branch from a tree to act as a rod for fishing and cut it down with his small axe. He had a reel in the tackle box with some lures. Hoping to find a worm or small insect with all the snow seemed unlikely, so the lures would have to do.

Once Haldan and Scout arrived at the river, Haldan tied the line he had at two places on the makeshift rod: the tip and below his hand, with the reel between. Some feathers and shiny, colorful, beads acted as the lure which Haldan attached to one of the hooks in the tin tackle-box. For a few minutes, Haldan and Scout paced up and down the bank of the river, looking in to for signs of fish. To Haldan's great relief he had spotted some bubbles indicating the fish and even seen one or two move about. They found a suitable spot, and Haldan cast his line. Meanwhile, Scout looked about for any other signs of potential dinner.

One or two birds fluttered in the distance, but too far for Haldan to reasonable shoot and Scout retrieve and they had left without enough time for Haldan to drop the line and grab his bow anyway. The fish on the other hand, seemed to be biting. The sudden cold had surprised them and it was likely they were feeling more concerned about food and their own survival to take such simple bait. After only ten or twenty minutes, Haldan had a bite. The ranger hooked and reeled in the fish, it was a reasonable size, over a foot in length, a trout by the look of it. Acting quickly, so as not to let the fish go, Haldan reeled him close and then pulled him up with his hand, careful not to let him go. With the knife in his boot, Haldan quickly killed and gutted the fish, laying it nearby in the snow which would keep it sufficiently cold.

Since it had only been less than an hour since they had left, Haldan decided to go for another fish. The second one came even faster than the first, though it was not quite as large. A third try, however, was not so lucky. After forty minutes of nothing, Haldan decided to call it. The sun was about to go down and by his estimation he had been nearly two hours. Before leaving, however, with some spare hooks and lines, Haldan set up some traps for the fish by dangling lured hooks from branches balanced and staked to overhang into the water. With some luck, they might find a fish or two hooked by the morning.

---

The return journey took about as long as the journey there; the two fish Haldan had in hand did not slow him down. It was getting colder now, as the sun went down, and by Haldan's estimation the snow was beginning to pick up again. It seemed likely they were in for a reasonably large snow storm that night. Haldan was glad they had made it to the hut. The ranger kept some root vegetables in a bag, currently outside with Willow which he grabbed before going in, patting Willow on the side and checking on her. As he walked towards the door, Haldan cleared his throat loudly.

"Fern, Thorn, it's me, Haldan" he called out loud enough for them to hear inside the hut, he did not want to startle them or have them think it was someone else as he entered the hut. He had given them enough time to gather themselves before opening the door, fish in hand and Scout close at his heels.

The fire in the stove was already going and the hut felt warm, evidence that the fire had been going for some time. Haldan smiled, glad that Thorn had been successful and hopeful the young lad would feel some pride in his handiwork. Fern had completely plucked the grouse, from what he could tell. They were good children, he wondered what had caused them to be in such a situation in the first place.

"I hope you're hungry" he said, holding up the two fish.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
Thorn and Fern
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

After noticing the room had been mostly quiet for a few minutes, Thorn looked up and frowned to see Fern poking around in the ranger's bags. Another thing he had not thought about, actually.. the ranger surely wouldn't go off without his bag, right? He hoped not. But at the moment he had another concern. "Fern!" He sat up, frowning. "Stop snooping in his stuff." He told her, worried that he might be upset if he came in and found her looking through his belongings.

"I'm just looking for something to hold the feathers." She replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm not taking anything."

"Well, don't even look, alright? You don't like it when people mess with your stuff," he reminded her.

"So?"

"So, he might not like it, either."

"Then he shouldn't have left it here." She gave her brother a somewhat confused look, not sure what the big deal was. "I mean, maybe he left the stuff here because he figured we might need something in there. Look at this," She pulled out a bottle of some sort of liquid, which had no label. "What do you think it is?"

"Fern," Thorn frowned. "I don't know. Put it back!"

"You used to be more fun." She stuck out her tongue at him, then put the bottle back in. But then she caught sight of some sort of book. "Hey, look, Thorn." She pulled out the book curiously. "What's this?"

"Fern! Leave his stuff alone! Wait 'til he gets back, and then ask him for something, alright? No one likes to have people snooping into their stuff." Thorn hopped up and went toward her, figuring he might have to physically take the stuff, put it back, and then pull her away from the stuff. When she ducked away from his out-stretched hand, he sighed and folded his arms. "Put it back. Now."

After frowning at him for a long moment, she sighed and gave up arguing with him. "Finnne." She put the book back and went back to where she had been sitting, and made sure the feathers were all secure in their separated piles. "What if he doesn't, though?" She asked quietly, a tiny bit sulkily.

Thorn let out a little sigh as he made sure the flap on the pack was closed, and hoped that the stuff did not look disturbed. "Let's not do that again, please..?" He asked quietly, then went to check on the fire. After adding one more, small piece of wood, he paced around a bit before sitting again, back where he had been. How much longer, he wondered?

It wasn't actually much longer before they heard the ranger's voice, calling their names. Thorn breathed out a silent sigh of relief and glanced toward Fern with a small smile. "See, I told you he'd be back." He said, more relieved to be proven right than he wanted to let on.

Fern brightened in relief when she heard, and saw, the ranger return. "We're starving!" She declared in answer to his question, and hopped down from where she had been. She smiled and went to pet Scout.

"Wow, those are big," Thorn widened his eyes in surprise at the size of the fish Haldan held up. "Do you need any help..?" He wasn't very used to helping with food preparation, but didn't mind offering, if there was any way that he could be helpful.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

The warmth of the hut was a welcome relief to the cold outside, Scout agreed and promptly sat himself down near the warm stove. Haldan removed his outer cloak and slung it over a hook by the wall, the same one he had hung the grouse on earlier. He dropped the bag of root vegetables which hit the floor with a thud and took off his gloves and placed them nearby on a small table by the bed. The ranger rubbed his hands warming them in the heat.

"Well," he started, still rubbing his hands together "Stew is probably the easiest thing to make and we can keep it frozen out in the snow over night and eat it again tomorrow." he pointed out. "We need to peel and chop some of these vegetables" he continued, motioning to the bag of root vegetables he had dropped.

"We need to get some snow to boil for water. We to debone and cut up both the grouse and the fish." The ranger concluded, laying out all of the tasks for preparing. "Once that's done we can get to work cooking." Haldan was hungry, although always felt that the effort put in to make good food was always worth it.

"I have a few spare smaller knives in the pack bags that were on Willow which are now inside." he said pointing to where they had placed them just inside the door. "Are there any particular tasks either of you feel comfortable doing? Or with some instruction?" Haldan didn't want to tell them on what to do, if perhaps they had a particular skill or interest in one area and decided as such to let them choose for themselves.

"In any case, there is a pot over on the other side of the stove and we should first get the water boiling while preparing the meat and vegetables."

The ranger looked between Thorn and Fern and held his hands out with palms up and slightly open as if to say 'so who's doing what?'

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
Thorn and Fern
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

After hearing all of the tasks needing to be done, Fern and Thorn paused as they considered the different tasks.

"I'll get the snow!" Fern decided after a moment, thinking it might be fun to play in the snow a little, while she was at it.

Thorn hesitated slightly. "I can do the vegetables. I.. don't know how to "debone" anything," He admitted, hoping maybe Haldan might take that task for himself. Or, if he wanted one of them to do it, Thorn would try, but at least the ranger would know he'd have to show him what to do.

Fern started putting on her wraps again to go outside, and grabbed the pot that Haldan had mentioned. "Can Scout come with me?" She asked hopefully, thinking he might enjoy the snowball game now that she could play it better. Without having to worry about her hands getting too cold.. since she could just come inside where it was warm if they got cold.. she was hoping to have much more fun than before.

Thorn went to where Haldan had pointed to the packs, and found a knife to use for the vegetables, while wondering what sort of vegetables they had and how he'd managed to get any vegetables way out here. And also, did they have these yesterday? He picked up the bag that Haldan had dropped, and took a look inside to see what they had.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
@Rillewen

“I guess that leaves me to the meat” he said, with no great surprise.

“I think taking Scout with you outside is a fine idea” he agreed. Not only would Scout likely enjoy it but the wolfhound could keep an eye on Fern while he was at it. “Why don’t you take that pot over there” he said, pointing to a pot that had been sitting on one side of the stove by the stacks of wood.

“Scout, go follow Fern” the ranger instructed the wolfhound. Scout looked up immediately from where he sat by the warm stove as soon as Haldan spoke. He got up and skipped towards Fern as the ranger finished his instructions. Scout went to the young girl and nuzzled his head against her hand trying to coax her into petting him.

“I’m afraid there’s not much in there” Haldan said to Thorn as he went to look for the vegetables. “Some wild potatoes, turnips, and onions that I collected earlier this season.” Haldan explained. “All that’s left now.” The ranger added in a more downcast manner.

“I had been trying to conserve it, but it’s been a long and difficult trek today so some good food for today and tomorrow would be good.” Haldan tried to sound glad of their hard work and the food they were about to eat, despite the low level of his remaining stores.

With that, Haldan sat down to skin, debone, and cut up the fish and grouse. Before he began, Haldan retrieved a pair of small chopping boards from a hidden drawer under one of the raised ‘beds’. He handed one of them to Thorn. The ranger sat cross legged on the floor with the chopping board resting on one of the raised beds making a sort of table. He deftly carved up the fish and bird, cutting and removing the skin and bones. The skin he put aside, Scout would enjoy those. The bones he would keep to make a stock for the stew. Neither fish nor grouse bones were safe for Scout anyway. The rest of the meat he cut up into bite size but relatively large chunks.

[Rillewen]

@Romeran

|
Thorn and Fern
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains

Fern grinned, happy to get a chance to go out and play in the snow. There was more here than she'd ever seen before! She briefly petted Scout when he came over, then waved to the guys. "We'll be back," She called, before hurrying to the door. She held it open long enough for Scout to go out, then followed and ensured that the door closed behind her, to shut out the cold. "Look at all this snow!" She said happily to the dog, and laughed as she gathered up a couple of handfuls. "Go get it, Scout!" She threw a snowball, curious to see if the dog would actually manage to catch it before it hit the ground.

Back inside the hut, Thorn shook his head slightly in amusement. He was glad though, that Fern still had some childishness about her. His smile faded slightly as he thought of how glad he was that they'd managed to get away before anyone stole that from her. He felt renewed determination to keep her away from those people.

After seeing what vegetables were available, Thorn nodded and was preparing to start peeling, when he was surprised to be handed a chopping board, but accepted it with a nod of thanks. While Haldan worked on the bird and fish, Thorn kept busy with the vegetables. He thought about what the ranger said, about trying to conserve the food, and realized that with himself and Fern there, he was having to share his food with them. "Too bad I couldn't have brought some food with us," he mentioned quietly, regretful not to have anything to add to their supply of food.