Disclaimer: I do not own the Golden Sun series. If I did, we'd all be playing Golden Sun DS right now
A Note from the Author: Well it's opening day of firearm Deer season here in my home state of Michigan. I honor of the occasion I present all of you with a hunting story. I would please request that you be respectful in your reviews, even if you are opposed to hunting. The intention of this story is to illustrate the spiritual aspects of hunting, not glorifying the search for a trophy.
The Hunt: A Golden Sun Fan Fiction
"We're out of food already!" said Mia in disbelief, "but we just bought supplies in Kolima."
"It's not our fault," said Ivan.
"Yeah," said Isaac, "blame him." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to where Garet sat by their fire lay for later that evening.
"He can't have eaten that much food," scoffed Mia.
"Oh yes he could," said Ivan.
Garet, who had been oblivious to their conversation, chose that moment to ask the inevitable question,
"What's for dinner?"
Isaac had to physically restrain himself from beating Garet senseless, he ate all the food they had bought yesterday and now he had the nerve to ask if there was more? Didn't he realize there were other people in this group? There was himself, their nominally appointed leader. There was also Ivan, the wind using Jupiter Adept they had first met in Vault and then joined them at Goma Cave.
Then there was Mia, the most recent addition to there traveling party. She was a Mercury Adept, a wielder of the powers of water. She had at first thought herself to be nothing but a burden on the boys, especially after her failure to prevent the ignition of Mercury Lighthouse, but had since been proven wrong. She was by far the best healer among them, and without her knowledge of the Water of Hermes, the curse upon Kolima Village might never have been broken.
To top it off, she was the most beautiful girl Isaac had ever seen; the first time he had ever laid eyes on her he couldn't believe she was real. With her kind blue eyes, her angelic features, shapely figure and luxurious blue hair; she seemed more like an angel than a person. Unless he had something else to focus on Isaac got butterflies in his stomach just from being close to her.
"What's for dinner?" Garet asked again. It was Mia who responded,
"Well," she began, "since someone ate all our food I guess that means one of us has to go hunting."
By "one of us" she meant Isaac. After all, he was the one who had packed along a bow and arrows.
"Yep," he said, "I guess I'll go get ready."
"You can't go out in the woods by yourself," said Mia, "it's not safe."
"I'll go with him," said Garet, it was probably an attempt to apologize but unfortunately, Isaac was in a bad mood.
"Garet," he said angrily, "last time you went hunting with me, you couldn't keep your damn mouth shut and we didn't see anything. No thanks."
Ordinarily Mia would have chastised him for that remark, but they all knew better than to test Isaac's temper and truth be told, Garet deserved it.
"I'll take Ivan," said Isaac. The young Jupiter Adept looked at his new friend,
"But," he said, "I don't know anything about hunting."
"Don't worry about it," replied Isaac, "I'll teach you everything you need to know."
*
Mia watched as Ivan and Isaac got ready for their hunting trip. Isaac put on his tattered old brown cloak, strapped his quiver of arrows across his back and strung his bow. Isaac was always ready for the task at hand: be it hunting for food, chopping firewood, or tracking down Saturos and Menardi to rescue his friends. He was willing to help no matter what the job, which was how she had first met him. The three boys had followed her to Mercury Lighthouse and though she hadn't been willing to accept it at the time. Garet and Ivan were good companions to have at your back.
And then there was Isaac, he was the one who actually spoke to her at the lighthouse. His voice was so calm, even during the heat of battle. He wasn't bad looking either, those big, broad shoulders, sharply defined nose and cheekbones and his golden blonde hair that stuck up like unruly thatch of hay. But those weren't his most interesting features. Two of those were his eyes; they were a deep sapphire blue that shone with determination and resolve. His other interesting features were the muscles that bulged under his shirt; Mia had come across him training with his sword a few days ago. The sight of him shirtless and sweaty had aroused her so much that she had had to turn away and find something else to focus on. In fact just thinking about the sight was starting to have the same effect. She opened up her bag and started going through her healers supplies to keep her mind off Isaac. Out of the corner of her eye she saw he was finally ready to go,
"Ready to go Ivan?" she heard him ask.
"Yep," replied the younger boy.
"Then let's go," said Isaac.
*
Isaac and Ivan made their way through the woods, the young Jupiter Adept stuck close to his older companion. Isaac turned to look at him
"You don't have to stick that close Ivan," he said quietly.
"Sorry," replied Ivan in a whisper.
"Don't worry about it," Isaac whispered, "just keep an eye on what I do."
The younger boy nodded silently and watched Isaac as they continued. Isaac had a particular way of walking when he went hunted. He moved each foot slowly and carefully, taking great care to make as little noise as possible. First he set down his heel and then slowly shifted his weight forward. When Ivan gave it a try he had trouble balancing and occasionally had to grab hold of tree branches to keep from falling over. He was in the process of doing this when Isaac suddenly grabbed his wrist,
"Don't touch that," he said softly.
"Why?" asked Ivan.
The Venus Adept pointed to a thin vine that was growing on the tree, it seemed harmless enough. It had three jagged edged leaves that were a slightly reddish color,
"See that," said Isaac, "that's called fireweed. If you touch it you'll get a rash that itches so much you'll scratch it 'til you start bleeding. Not fun."
Ivan immediately recoiled his hand and made a mental note to watch what he put his hand on from now on.
The young Jupiter Adept continued to follow Isaac wherever he was going. Isaac was a superb tracker; he could look at a bent blade of grass or a snapped twig and not only tell you what made the sign but which direction it was traveling and how long ago it had passed. Ivan unfortunately, had no such talent and soon had no idea where they were.
"Where are we?" the boy asked.
"You can't tell?" Isaac asked in return. Ivan shook his head,
"No," he said, "I don't even know which direction we're going."
"North," said Isaac.
"How do you know that?" asked Ivan.
Isaac pointed to the base of a nearby tree,
"See there," he said, "moss always grows on the north side of trees. We're on the same side, so that means we're heading north."
"Why does moss only grow on one side?" asked the younger boy.
"It has to do with the position of the sun," answered the older hunter, "If you notice, the sun is in the southern part of the sky as it passes. That means that the shadows point north and moss only grows in the shade."
"Okay," said Ivan, "I get it now."
"Good," said Isaac.
*
After a short while longer of walking through the woods, Isaac suddenly froze and raised his fist up to eye level. Ivan knew what that gesture meant, "Stop and be quiet." Isaac leaned up against a tree and laid a hand on one of his arrows. Ivan also leaned up against a tree and got a good look at their quarry: a magnificent looking stag standing in a small clearing. The young Jupiter Adept counted the points on his antlers, ten of them.
Isaac pulled an arrow from his quiver slowly, making as little noise as possible. He nocked the arrow on his bowstring and drew the string back to his face, his fingers resting just under his eye. He peered down the shaft of the arrow, sighting in on the animal's heart and opened his fingers. With a soft twang the arrow was sent on its way, it struck the stag straight through his heart. The animal dropped on the spot.
"Whoa," said Ivan his voice now back to a normal volume, "good shot."
"I got lucky," said Isaac, "normally he'd have time to run off a ways before going down."
Isaac knelt down beside the deer and put his hand on its flank. He murmured quietly to himself, Ivan realized after a moment that he was praying. When he had completed his ritual, Isaac stood up and looked around for something. That something turned out to be his arrow, which was stuck into a nearby tree. He pulled it out and wiped the blood off on the grass. He slid the arrow back into his quiver, picked up the fallen animal and slung it over his shoulder.
"Come on Ivan," he said, "Let's head back to camp."
The two boys started walking back in the direction they came from,
"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" asked Ivan.
"Back home in Vale," answered Isaac, "actually, this bow's too small. I'd much prefer my longbow."
"Longbow?" asked Ivan.
"Yeah," replied Isaac, "it's as tall as I am and the draw weight is probably heavier than you are." Isaac was about six feet tall, which meant his longbow was just as big. Ivan was a bit skeptical,
"Come on," he said, "it couldn't really be that big."
"Oh yes it is," replied Isaac, he paused a moment and lifted Ivan up off the ground with one hand.
"Whoa!" said the understandably surprised Jupiter Adept, "What did you do that for?" he asked as Isaac set him back down.
"Just checking," answered the Venus Adept, "the pull on my longbow is definitely heavier than you."
Ivan started believing his companion at this point, after all, if Isaac was strong enough to pick up a fourteen year old boy with one hand. He could probably use a bow as tall as himself.
"How could you possibly use something that big?" asked Ivan.
"Pretty easily actually," answered Isaac, "I've been practicing archery since I was five. The only awkward part about using a longbow is how far you have to draw back the string."
"What do you mean?" asked Ivan.
"You saw me pull my arrow back to my face right?" said the older boy.
"Yes," replied the younger.
"With my longbow the arrows are as long as my arm, I have to pull all the way back to my neck."
That was a big arrow, thought Ivan,
"You must be able to shoot pretty far then," he said.
"Yep," said Isaac, "about three hundred yards."
Three hundred yards, thought Ivan, that's the length of three football fields,
"Wow!" was all he could say to that. There was just one more thing he was curious about,
"What was that prayer you said back there?" he asked.
"Oh," said Isaac, "you saw that huh. It's just something my father taught me."
The older boy shrugged sadly, he didn't talk about his father very much.
"Oh," said Ivan, "okay."
That was all that was said on the topic. The rest of the walk back to camp was spent in silence.
*
"Well," said Garet when he saw the deer Isaac and Ivan had brought back, "that ought to feed us for a while."
Isaac set the animal down by the fire and looked at his friend,
"Yeah," he said, "but he won't feed us just yet. We have to field dress him first."
Garet visibly paled at the notion,
"What, now?" he asked.
"Yes now," answered Isaac, "we don't want the meat to spoil."
"Uh uh," said Garet, "I'm not doing it."
"It's a two man job Garet," said Isaac, "now get over here so we can get to work."
Garet didn't move. Isaac was just about to walk over and drag the stubborn red head over to the fire when Mia spoke up,
"I'll help you," she said.
Isaac's head snapped around so fast you could hear a faint crack sound,
"Have you done this before?" he asked.
"Once or twice," said Mia, "the hunting is a very important part of life in Imil."
"Okay then," said Isaac handing her his extra pair of leather gloves, "You might want to put these on and roll up your sleeves."
After Mia was ready to go she and Isaac turned the animal onto his back. Isaac reached down to his belt and unsheathed his hunting knife. As he held it ready to cut the deer open he looked at Ivan,
"Ivan," he said, "you might not want to watch this."
"Oh crap," said Garet.
With long practiced efficiency, Isaac cut the animal open from legs to ribs in one smooth motion. There was a lot of blood and the most horrendous smell, Garet ran off a ways into the woods and threw up, Isaac shook his head amusedly,
"He does that every time," he said, "you'd think after seventeen years he'd get used to it."
Isaac and Mia set to work removing the animal's innards, Isaac with his big hunting knife and Mia with a smaller pruning knife she used when collecting plants and herbs for healing. Ivan watched his two older companions with morbid fascination.
"Hey," said Isaac suddenly, "don't get rid of the heart and liver. Those are the best parts."
"They're also the least healthy," said Mia, "Do you know how much fat is in liver?"
"That's what makes it taste so good," answered Isaac. Mia just rolled her eyes and continued working.
In no time at all Isaac and Mia had stripped the carcass of everything edible. The meat was covered in salt and wrapped in canvas. The innards besides the heart and liver were buried out in the woods away from the camp along with the bones and everything left on them.
The two young adults washed the blood off their arms and hands in a small creek that flowed nearby before sitting down around the fire.
"Well," said Isaac, "job well done. That should give us enough food to last until the next town."
The Adepts sat back around the warm fire to before turning in for the night. It was Ivan's turn to take first watch. As every one else headed off to bed Ivan turned around to face them,
"Isaac," he said, "can I ask you a question?"
Garet and Mia headed into their tents while Isaac walked back to Ivan,
"What do you want to ask?" he said.
"I was wondering," began the Jupiter Adept, "why did you say that prayer back in the woods?"
"Because it's respectful," answered Isaac.
"What do you mean?" asked Ivan.
"That animal died so that we could continue to live," said Isaac, "So it's only fair that we honor the animal's spirit in the afterlife. It was a living creature just like us, part of an entire system of living things. We need to respect that, or we'll only bring ourselves to ruin. You city folks tend to forget that, you look at the fields outside your town and think only of what you can build there. You never stop to think about what's already there: plants and animals that have just as much right to be there as you. They're just as important to the world as people, we need to respect that and act accordingly to preserve the natural world around us. Otherwise it could be gone forever."
"Wow," said Ivan, "I never thought of it like that. I never realized how much people affect the world around them."
"Most people don't," said Isaac, "Good night Ivan."
"Good night Isaac," replied the younger boy. Isaac walked into the tent he shared with Mia and left Ivan to think about how he himself could show respect to nature.