Luz walked around the Knee, feeling the cold air nip at her exposed skin. She wouldn't let that deter her though, she would be dead if she didn't get something to cook. She gripped the spear tightly in her hand, walking through the frozen wasteland on a mission.
"Alright, Luz, you did a report on all the known animals here, you know where and how they move." Luz told herself, noticing a tree, "String Tree? I don't think I've seen one of these in real life."
Luz remembered the String Tree from class. They are a short tree, only around six feet tall, named from their leaves resembling string rather than leaves. The black leaves catch more sunlight due to their color, which makes them living on the Knee, the most logical choice. They're higher up, which allows them get more sunlight, they would never last in the highly wooded areas with tall trees in the rest of the Isles. Luz looked at it before grabbing a large handful of its leaves and pulling them off.
"I'm going to need these." Luz said, knowing how important string can be here, "The bark of this tree has bite marks in it. There's only animal that eats that and that's the snow deer."
Luz looked in the snow, trying to find any tracks.
"It looks like there was one recently." Luz said, "Got to do this fast, if I'm out here for longer than an hour, I have a high chance of getting hypothermia."
Luz started to follow the tracks, which lead her to an old Snow Deer. Luz looked at it. It has shaggy white fur, sharp spiked antlers, and sharp fangs coming from its mouth. Luz noticed that it was moving slowly, as it was most likely an elder, probably too old to keep up with its herd. Luz tightened her grip on her spear. She's never actually killed something, but if she wanted to live, she would need to. Luz ran at it and shoved her spear into its side. The deer let out a pain filled bellow, but it was too old to run. Luz pulled out her knife and stabbed the deer's Jugular vein. The deer died and Luz used the little strength she had to pick it over her shoulders. It took her a while, and she had to stop several times, but she managed to get back to the cave. Later, after she skinned it, she was cooking it, letting the fire warm her up as well. While it was cooking, she was using the string tree leaves and pelt to make clothes that she can survive the cold with. She grabbed a spear and stabbed the cooked meat. She pulled it out and started to eat it. It wasn't much, but it would last her a couple days.
"I'm not going to let him get away with this." Luz said, "I don't know how long it will take, but I will get you back for what you did, Belos."
Luz rested against the edge of the cave. This was her new home, it's all she had left. She remembers Eda's lesson.
"Making a connection with nature. The earliest witches understood that. Human witches need to understand it too."
"I'm going to do it, Eda, I'll connect with nature and then I might be able to find a way to save you." Luz said, "I promise."
Small time skip next chapter. Follow, Favorite, and Review for more.