The trees of S'warkii swayed gently as H'aanit made her way to the entrance of the town. Her honey blonde braid shifted with her every move the same way that the fur covering her body did. H'aanit's eternal companion, a snow leopard by the name of Linde remained ever at her side as she began her journey. There was a whisper in the wind that brought with it the promise of something new and beautiful with the coming dawn. H'aanit could sense that this was a sign of the world itself offering its blessing in the name of what was to come.

When H'aanit arrived at her destination, she was met with the figure of a taller man wearing the same fur that she did. His hair was gray and sharp, moving slightly with the breeze as he rustled the ears of his companion, a wolf who went by the name of Hägen. H'aanit found herself inwardly sighing with relief at the sight of him. "Good. Thou hast yet to depart," she said as she approached him, Linde's tail flicking as she followed in the footsteps of her partner.

"Waylaid by sentiment, my girl," the man responded. The man, Z'aanta, was H'aanit's mentor and master in life and its many challenges. He stopped scratching at Hägen's ears to turn and face his student. "It'd ill behooven me to leave without bidding my favorite prentice a fare-thee-well."

H'aanit's eyes narrowed in his direction. "A joke, as always," she drawled in reply. This was hardly out of the ordinary for Z'aanta; even though H'aanit was the student and he the master, it seemed as if their roles were reversed on many occasions. Z'aanta was a free spirit who followed his whims with a smile on his face while H'aanit was much more stoic. Some had called her emotionless in the past, though in H'aanit's eyes, it was simply a matter of her understanding what it meant to be oriented in business. It was due to this comprehension that she let go of her dry thoughts to focus on Z'aanta once more a moment later. "Will thy journey be long, Master?"

"Ah... A good question, that," Z'aanta answered softly. "The request cometh from none other than the Knights Ardante. The hunt will taken us to distant lands, and the beast we pursuen is a fearsome one."

"I see," H'aanit murmured simply. She had heard whispers of her master's coming journey, though the details remained elusive. It seemed as if not even Z'aanta fully understood what it was that he was set to be doing, not that this particularly surprised H'aanit. If anything, it was simply par for the course with him. Z'aanta lived life like a dandelion on the breeze, flowing with whatever life handed him for better or worse.

Z'aanta exploded in jubilant laughter when he saw how solemn H'aanit's expression had become. "Looken not so glum, girl! I'm no tyro with green arrows and bruises on his bow arm," he assured her even though she was already fully aware of such a truth. He took a step toward H'aanit and placed one hand on her shoulder. "I'll doe the deed and be back before two moons have passed." When H'aanit once again responded with silence, Z'aanta pulled away. "Still no smile? What is it, my girl?"

H'aanit crossed her arms over her chest as she examined Z'aanta from head to toe. "'Tis not the hunt that concerneth me. Thou intendest to stoppen off somewhere along the way," he told her even though this was something that he already knew was part of the plan. Once again, evidence of H'aanit being the adult in the dynamic surfaced with renewed vigor.

It wasn't until after H'aanit had been staring at Z'aanta with a critical glare for a few seconds that he yielded to her words. "Here and there, mayhap. Why dost thou ask?" he questioned as innocently as he could manage despite knowing that was bound to come next.

H'aanit sighed under her breath. "Thou forgetst or feignst ignorance, so I will reminde thee. On the last hunt, thou gambledst away thy purse and came back a poorer man than thou left," she told him, her eyes practically pinning him in place with their intensity.

Z'aanta looked as if he had been torn apart from the inside out by her words when he winced. "Poorer in coin, mayhap," he said, a pathetic attempt at deflection against someone who would never dare to fall for such tricks. "Yes, I did make a few wagers at the arena in Victors Hollow..." The sentence had a dizzying sense of inflection when he spoke it. H'aanit had gone through this song and dance with Z'aanta before, and he was bound to repeat the same phrases that he had the last few times this had come up. "And learned that while I have a keen eye for assessing the strength of beasts, I am at quite a loss with men. A valuable lesson that was cheaply bought!"

"Not so cheap in the end," H'aanit frowned. She had heard that same excuse from Z'aanta in the past on many different occasions, but it never did anything to change her mind or sway her opinion in the slightest. "Eliza had to payen thy debts, and thou only finishedst paying her back this last moon. Promisen me, Master: no more foolish gambling."

Z'aanta's lips were once again claimed by laughter at her words, and he shook his head grandly. "But what of the old hunter's saying? 'If the first arrow faileth, nock a second and tryen again!'"

H'aanit sighed in exasperation. "Thou just madest that up," she replied dryly, not one to be fooled by Z'aanta's confidence and jubilant demeanor. She was fully aware of his tricks and how to get around them, and this was hardly an exception.

"Comen now, girl! Thou art too young by half for such world-weary sighs. Must thou makest our parting so gloomy?" Z'aanta questioned.

Instead of responding to Z'aanta, H'aanit walked past him and toward his wolf companion. Hägen's tail was flicking back and forth, and he perked up when he noticed H'aanit approaching. "I turn to thee, Hägen. Looken after Master, for he can rarely be bothered to look after himself," H'aanit told the wolf. Even if the creature had no ways of understanding the human tongue, H'aanit still held faith that the sentiment was understood in some way or another.

Hägen responded with a bark, and H'aanit smiled to herself as she rubbed a stroke around the wolf's ears. Z'aanta, meanwhile, was left appalled. "Even thou takest her side against me, old friend?" he asked of the wolf.

"He knoweth good sense when he heareth it," H'aanit told Z'aanta, offering one last stroke at Hägen's head before pulling her hand away. Hägen barked a moment later to show his agreement.

"Growlest thou not at me, thou faithless turncoat!" Z'aanta exclaimed dramatically. Hägen simply stared at his master with a glare that he seemingly had learned to emulate from H'aanit. Linde sat by passively, though Z'aanta already knew just as well as anyone else what side the snow leopard would take in this argument.

Before Z'aanta could say much more to protest H'aanit's stern lecturing, a door to a nearby house opened. Eliza Woodward appeared in the entryway, her red hair swaying in the breeze. Freckles splattered themselves across the bridge of her nose in a way that seemed almost effortless in its perfection. Her eyes glittered in the dawning daylight the same way that her silvery armor sparkled. She was the leader of the Knights Ardante and had been a close companion of the hunters of S'warkii for quite some time. "Hail, H'aanit. Have you come to see us off?" Eliza questioned with a bright and knowing smile.

H'aanit nodded. "I have comen to warn Master about straying from the path," she said simply, not bothering with a barbed look in Z'aanta's direction. He already understood what she meant regardless.

Z'aanta looked to the ground quietly as Eliza replied with a sigh. "And I thank you for it. I do not have the leaves to repay another debt like that..."

"Have I not a single ally in this infernal village?" Z'aanta cried out dramatically as he took a few steps away from the conversation. Linde tilted her head in his direction quietly.

Eliza followed in his footsteps a moment later. "I am your friend, but I am also a Knight Ardante... And your client. You would do well not to forget this," she reminded him.

"Not for a moment, Most Honorable Eliza of the illustrious Knights Ardante," Z'aanta promised her as he turned in her direction once more.

Eliza nodded with a chuckle. "That's more like it." She turned in H'aanit's direction a moment later. "Fear not. I'll keep him out of trouble. I'll have him fill his evenings penning a detailed account of our adventures on the hunt."

H'aanit bowed her head deeply to Eliza. "Taken care, and may thine arrows strike true. I shall looke after the forest till the day of thy return," she promised.

"Thankenee, my girl," Z'aanta told her with a nod. "And farewell." Hägen moved to his master's side as Z'aanta started to walk out of the village. After a few moments of silence, Eliza trailed after him, and soon enough, they were gone, mere memories of silhouettes between the Woodlands trees.

A year had passed since the day that Z'aanta departed, and H'aanit found herself in much the same place that she had been before. She stared out at the woods with Linde at her side. Everything was the same as it had been the day that Z'aanta left with Hägen and Eliza all that time ago, except none of them had returned to the village since then. The hunt had gone on longer than the two simple moons that Z'aanta had initially promised.

H'aanit had done a strong job of holding up her end of the bargain. S'warkii was under her constant surveillance. The village was small, and there were few left who spoke the S'warkii dialect and understood the town's methods of hunting that had been passed down for generations. Their population had dwindled from the populous tribe they once had been, leaving behind only a dozen houses hidden amongst the trees for all of the legends that had been shared so long ago.

H'aanit sighed as she stared out into the trees. "A year hath passed since that day," she commented to Linde. The snow leopard's tail flicked back and forth to show that she was listening. H'aanit reached into her pocket and unfolded a single piece of parchment. "In all that time, Master could only be bothered to senden a single letter." H'aanit had read it a thousand times, and yet, she found herself absorbing the words once more, her mind parroting them in Z'aanta's familiar voice.

"H'aanit! 'Tis me, thy revered Master. Missest me? I won't bore thee with any blather about the weather or the season. Who knoweth when this will even arrive, after all. For three months now, I have pursuede the trail of the beast soughten by the Knights Ardante. A beast by the name of 'Redeye.' That's their name for it, leastwise. As for its true name-if it even hath one-none can say. But on my father's bow, I sweare 'tis the most vexing quarry I've ever hadde the misfortune to hunten. It eludeth mine every trap, and-though thou may thinketh me mad for saying this-I sweare it can even senseth every move I make. I knowe not if it is human intelligence or pure animal instinct, but... Either way, it refuseth to be caught. Still, we appear to have annoyeden it sufficiently that it is moving on to new pastures. Judging from its behavior, I believe it meaneth to make for the lands around Stonegard. I will be frank with thee, my girl, for thou'st always been able to seen through my pretenses. The chase will be hard, and the hunt will not endeth soon. But fear not, for endeth it shall. Hast thou ever known your master to failen in a hunt? And so I aske thee, my dear prentice. Pray look after the village until I returne. Oh, and be not a worrywart. Always thy friend and teacher, Z'aanta."

H'aanit was still looking down at the letter when she next spoke. "Never heard Master admitteth that any hunt would be difficult," she told Linde in a quiet murmur. "Either this 'Redeye' is truly the most formidable of beasts... Or he stoppeth in every gambler's den from here to Stonegard." H'aanit shook her head as soon as she spoke the words. She knew better than that. For all of Z'aanta's foolish behavior, he never even dared to slack off when it came to the hunt. He was a professional at what he did, and that was why he had come to be employed by the Knights Ardante to begin with. It was uncommon for the primary knight force of Orsterra to turn to any outside assistance, but this must have been a special case. Redeye truly must have been something unexpected, and H'aanit could only pray that the beast was not quite as powerful as she feared.

H'aanit must have allowed her stoic mask to slip briefly, because before she knew it, Linde was nuzzling against the hand that was not grasping at the letter from Z'aanta. The leopard purred gently, and H'aanit folded the page before putting it back in her pocket. She stroked at Linde's head gently, already feeling her woes start to wash away. Linde was nothing if not calming outside the context of combat. She was a fearsome battler during a hunt, but outside of those circumstances, she was H'aanit's companion first and foremost, and Linde intended to make such a fact known.

"Yes, Linde. I knowe," H'aanit whispered to her feline companion. "Master entrusted the safety of the village to me. My duty now is to the villagers." She pulled her hand away from Linde and started down the few steps that led to the rest of S'warkii from the town's entrance. "Comen. Leten us visit the headman and see if anyone hath need of my bow."

Linde didn't hesitate to trail after H'aanit in the moments that followed. S'warkii was much the same way that it had been throughout all of H'aanit's childhood. The people there were small in number, but since everyone knew one another, there was an unparalleled sense of companionship and familiarity amongst the people. H'aanit gave nods in the direction of the other people as she passed by. The headman was undoubtedly in his regular position at the center of town, but that didn't mean that she had to stay away from the concept of kindness along the way. Many had called her stoic before, but H'aanit simply showed her affection in other ways. Silence spoke much louder than words ever could when the moment was right.

The headman was standing in the same position that H'aanit had come to expect from him. She didn't mince words as she approached him. "Headman. How might my bow serveth ye today?" she questioned.

The headman chuckled as soon as he heard the familiar phrase from her. "Every day thou comst here seeking work. Sometimes I wondere if thou art truly thy master's prentice!" H'aanit didn't respond with humor in the slightest to the headman's words, prompting him to clear his throat and get down to business immediately afterward. "But jesting aside, no, there is no hunt today."

The weight of the letter was stifling in H'aanit's pocket, and she frowned to herself. The anniversary of her master's departure had arrived, and she didn't want to think about all that entailed if possible. The idea of thinking about Z'aanta's lack of presence made her want to be nauseous, and she frowned. "Is there aught else I might doe?" H'aanit asked, praying inwardly that there would be a job to occupy her waking thoughts at the reminder of Z'aanta's continued business with the hunt of Redeye.

The headman paused thoughtfully, either unaware of her desperation or choosing to not acknowledge it. "Well... The youngsters are always in need of lessons," he told her. "Thou couldst give them a lesson or two in bowmanship. The clan of the Darkwood inherited the lore of the beasts and the trees... Yet today, only thou and Z'aanta can truly useth that lore. Why, when I was a mere stripling..."

H'aanit already knew exactly what the headman was going to say. He was going to discuss the fact that there had once been many others who were capable of utilizing the Darkwood techniques. H'aanit's parents had once been among those were able to use the full strength of S'warkii's occupants, but they had passed years prior before they were able to pass on their key knowledge. As such, H'aan't had learned the truth of the past from Z'aanta. The reminder as to her master's disappearance was far from being what she needed. A distraction was her first priority, and that was exactly why she held up one hand to stop the headman in his tracks.

"Yes, yes. I have hearde your stories before, and I knowe how long they aren," H'aanit told him. She had to get on with teaching the younger members of the S'warkii village the way of the bow. It would keep her from having to think about the past, and she was certainly looking for a chance to escape such a thing.

The headman didn't take offense at all to H'aanit's bluntness, instead simply shaking his head with a chuckle. He had grown used to H'aanit's demeanor after being around her for so many years. "Long-winded tales are the vice of many an old man. My apologies, child," he said kindly. "But if thou couldst showen the youngsters the way of the hunt, I would be most grateful. I saw two of them waiting eagerly in the square. Perhaps thou couldst starten with them."

H'aanit simply nodded. "It will be done," she assured him before pivoting on her heel to walk away, Linde ever at her heels. She was relieved for the chance to get out of her own head. This was exactly what she needed, and she was going to take advantage of it while she had the chance.

It didn't take long for H'aanit to find who she was looking for. There were two younger hunters chatting amongst themselves, their voices an excited buzz above the rest of the village. H'aanit had seen them around the area a few times, though she hadn't spoken to them much. Her job within the village had her occupied a strong majority of the time, and that left little time for formalities unrelated to hunting. That didn't mean that she was going to pass up on this opportunity though.

The lore of the Darkwood clan was something that H'aanit knew well. Many generations prior, the Darkwood clan had thrived in the forests around S'warkii, and they were known for being able to tame any beast to their wishes. They passed down such techniques to their children, and eventually, it reached H'aanit and Z'aanta. The number of fighters in the Darkwood clan had diminished as the years went by, but there were still a few people capable of upholding the ancient traditions. H'aanit and Z'aanta were the only ones who had finished their training in full, though they were trying to spread the truth of their teachings down to future generations. Of course, that was much easier said than done as long as H'aanit was the only one present to teach the youths with Z'aanta's absence.

Taming beasts had come to be easy for her, and as long as her foe was weakened enough, she was able to bring the beast to her side to do as she so pleased. The best way to show off the extent of the Darkwood teachings to the youths was to utilize the assistance of the creatures that H'aanit had tamed in the past. Experience spoke miles more than any verbal conversation could ever hope to, after all.

H'aanit smiled as she set her sights on the youths. This was exactly what she needed to get her mind off Z'aanta's absence. She scratched the fur behind Linde's ear gently, and the leopard purred as she leaned into H'aanit's grasp, seemingly knowing what was to come next. It was time for the dynamic duo to take care of their duties within the village, and they were going to give it their all.

Primrose didn't know what she was meant to think of Ophilia, if she was being honest.

In the beginning, she had thought of the cleric as being painfully open and earnest, unyielding in her attempts to reach out to and help everyone that she just so happened to cross paths with. Such honesty had led to Primrose joining the party in the first place, and that seemed to apply to other members of the team as well. Primrose was good at reading people given that it came with the territory of her occupation. Being a dancer in Sunshade for so many years had left her with no choice but to learn how to glean information from a simple glance. It was necessary to her survival, though some people were easier to understand than others. She had expected Ophilia to be one of these cases in the beginning.

However, recent events had showed Primrose just how wrong she was capable of being. Ophilia was nowhere near as straightforward as she had seemed, and the fact that Therion was with the group at all should have been more than evidence enough of that. Therion hadn't said a word since they left behind Bolderfall with chances of arriving at the small Woodlands town of S'warkii by sunset. Ophilia kept on glancing down at the Ember where it was resting in its Lanthorn. She hadn't said a word about what she had seemingly seen in the Ember to prompt her to change their course from Saintsbridge to Bolderfall in the first place. Ophilia barely even seemed to notice the fact that the rest of the group was staring at her because of her odd behavior.

Primrose resisted the urge to let out a sigh, desperately trying to not attract any unnecessary attention. Presumably, the group was going to S'warkii for much the same reason that they had gone to Bolderfall. Ophilia had seen something in the Ember that had told her that this was the path that they were meant to be traveling on. Ophilia had mentioned searching for a young man with white-hair while they were in Bolderfall, and then, Therion had appeared. It was too much of a coincidence for Primrose to simply believe it without hesitation, and so, she chose to doubt the facts that she had been given. There was something more going on to cause Ophilia to act so strangely. Primrose simply had to figure out what it was.

"So... S'warkii, huh?" Alfyn asked, breaking through the silence that had covered the group ever since their departure from Bolderfall. Primrose knew exactly why they were quiet as well, and she had to admit that she was impressed with Alfyn for having the confidence to pierce the quiet. The other members of the group didn't want to disturb Therion while he was moping around the way that he was, though Alfyn didn't seem as if he was going to let that stop him from making the journey to S'warkii as enjoyable as possible.

"I've never heard of it," Alfyn continued, seemingly apathetic to the thoughts running through Primrose's mind. "What is this place going to be like? I've never left Clearbrook before coming with you all, so my experience here is a bit limited." He punctuated the sentence with a light chuckle, though he didn't seem to be nervous at all. Primrose concluded that he was either a great actor or legitimately oblivious to Therion's stony demeanor. Both of them seemed possible given Alfyn's endless supply of smiles and his bright outlook on life.

"S'warkii is a small village hidden deep in the trees of the Woodlands," Olberic explained. "It houses the remnants of the Darkwood clan, a tribe of ancient fighters known for having a special connection with the land itself. Some have rumored that they learned their techniques of hunting and fighting from the goddess Draefendi herself, though there is no solid evidence to back up such a theory."

"The village is easy to miss if you don't know what you are meant to be searching for. Many travelers have gotten lost trying to find its entrance as a result," Cyrus chimed in. He was the one at the front of the party with the map in hand. He was able to see it at all thanks to the light that was filtering its way between the tree leaves overhead.

"Great. And we're supposed to trust a single piece of paper to take us there?" Therion asked, his voice dry and grating. It seemed as if he had not yet recovered from the blow to his pride that he had suffered from that morning, and Primrose resisted a cringe at how irritated his voice sounded. There was an impatient quality to it as well, and Primrose suspected that he wanted nothing more than to go to Noblecourt and get the theft of the dragonstones over with sooner rather than later. Primrose, personally, was glad that they were avoiding Noblecourt for the time being. She wanted to stay as far away from the place as possible for just a while longer. It would only provide her with painful memories that she wished to avoid, so she was beyond grateful for their stop in S'warkii at Ophilia's suggestion.

"I can feel something calling me there," Ophilia suddenly said, her voice almost dreamlike in its haziness. She was no longer staring at the Ember as she had been previously, and her shoulders were set in something determined and confident, as if nothing in the world was going to be able to stop her from reaching S'warkii and finding what it was that was searching for her.

"What in the world is going on?" Tressa asked of Ophilia, her hands pressed against her hips. "You've been acting kind of weird ever since we left Clearbrook. It's like you've been taken over by some kind of spirit!"

Ophilia shook her head, though the glassy texture to her eyes refused to leave. "That isn't it at all... I simply know that there's something in S'warkii that is seeking my attention. I... I think it's a woman. I don't remember the details of her face, but... I believe that she was wearing the fur that people in S'warkii traditionally use," she replied.

"How do you know so much about S'warkii, Phili?" Alfyn questioned of her. "Have you been there before or something?"

Ophilia grew tense at the nickname, though she didn't explain why it bothered her. Instead, she simply shook her head. "No... But Flamesgrace is close to here. We had people come by from S'warkii every once in a while to visit the cathedral. I started to recognize their clothing after a while," she explained. The dazed quality of her voice was starting to dissipate, though Primrose didn't think that it was going to be fading entirely until after they found the woman that Ophilia was speaking about. Once again, Primrose was left to wonder the full extent of what was taking place inside of Ophilia's head, though she doubted that the answer would be a simple one to find.

"It seems as if we're approaching the town's entrance," Cyrus suddenly declared. His eyes went wide a moment later, and he turned to face a nearby bush before snapping his fingers. A quick flash of fire slammed into a monster that was on the verge of lashing out. The flames were self-contained on the surface of the beast's body, and after a moment, the creature started to wail in pain. Therion didn't even hesitate to finish the creature off, and all it took was a flash of his sword for their assailant to fall still. The flames sputtered out of existence at Cyrus' request, though Primrose continued to stare at the creature for a few beats even after the beast was defeated.

"Good," was all Therion said in response to Cyrus' words. He returned his sword to its sheath a moment later before starting to walk faster. He appeared to be on the verge of taking the map from Cyrus to figure out where they were meant to be going, and his impatience only grew more prominent. While Primrose could sympathize because of the nature of her own goal, she hoped that Therion stopped being quite so on edge sooner rather than later. It was already starting to stress Tressa out, and it was only a matter of time before such a fear spread.

Cyrus rolled the map up a moment later, and the group followed after him through a final cluster of trees. Primrose could smell something like a bonfire, and she recognized that they were almost upon their destination. There was something about S'warkii that was admittedly picturesque, and she was almost looking forward to seeing a place so far off the beaten path. Simultaneously, she hoped that the group didn't find any trouble while they were there. It seemed as if they had encountered more than enough danger in all of their past villages as it was, and Primrose didn't want to experience a close brush with grief or pain. She had seen more than enough of that to last a lifetime.

But for the time being, all she could do was hope. Only time would be able to tell what unfolded once they arrived.

And so arrives the first chapter of H'aanit's chapter one!

I will say that H'aanit's chapter one ending is going to be the end of the daily update schedule that I've been following. Well, I say update schedule, but it's more accurate of me to say that I've been typing this story daily. Either way, I'm not going to be typing this story as often as Alternative once again appears in my typing rotation with daily typing. This story is going to return to what it once was with updates at least once per week on an unspecified day. I wanted everyone to know that this was coming in advance, so here's your official announcement about it.

I'm excited that the full group is finally almost together. I'm looking forward to having everybody together in one place, especially as we shift into the chapter twos. It's going to be tons of fun, I'm sure. There isn't all that much else to say about this chapter though since it primarily speaks for itself. I do really enjoy writing for H'aanit though. She's a really great character, and I like having her perspective in this story after how long she's had to wait to get to this point.

I'm going to leave things off here since I'm once again typing ridiculously late at night, so it's time for me to crash for the night. Next week, we'll continue with H'aanit's first chapter. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed. Feedback is always appreciated. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital