PARADOX

Chapter Three: Spirit of the Hunt

I struggled to pull the freshly killed tiger-seal to the village almost a mile away. I was dressed as a huntress. My hair which had grown from neck length down to the middle of my back was braided and held back by a thin strip of brown leather. I had used red paint to disguise my face by adding a wolves paw print right above my right eyebrow and three thin fox whiskers on each cheek. I had think fur pants, with a knee length skirt over it, and a fur coat that was left open revealing a skin tight, brown shirt.

Kovu had grown in the last two years he now reached my elbow and was big enough for me to ride if need be. He had helped me hunt, it was thanks to him that I had enough food to go around for me to be able to drop off a whole animal for the village. The last hunt had been very successful, we had caught two seals instead of just one so we decided to share our spoils with the near-by village. I knew they had been having some trouble since nearly all their men had went off to war.

There was one male left in the village and he hasn't even reached the age of sixteen yet so he couldn't even be considered a man. He was a good hunter but he was one kid trying to feed twenty some people. The seal I was carrying (dragging), would probably feed the village for ten or so meals.

I stopped for a quick rest just on the hill right before the village, adjusting my bow over my shoulder farther as I waited. I was a novice archer but a wounded animal left a clearer trail than a healthy one. My dad wouldn't agree of course. He would always call arrows "fester sticks" and always said they just let the animal get away to get infected and die. He preferred the clean kill of a gun. Of course I don't blame him. I wouldn't mind a gun right now either.

If the seal was received well I would begin bringing more food to the village. With the lack of help they could use all the help they could get. Fish were easy to catch with my waterbending and I could herd the Carribou-goats like I usually did. Cages to box in fox-hens and tiger seals and zebra seals wouldn't be hard to do either.

A full moon illuminated the sleeping villages as I snuck into the center. I unloaded the tiger seal and left it there. I used a palm sweep to make the snow erase the sled tracks and my foot prints. I made a small ice statue of my persona and then wrote underneath it ARTEMIS. Artemis had been one of my favorite mythological gods. The goddess of the hunt and was also known as the virgin goddess. She was also the goddess of nature, and ironically enough childbirth and fertility. Although she devoted herself to an eternity of celibacy she was said to give guidance over the process of childbirth and releasing mothers from their pain. She wouldn't mind me using her name as an alias, at least I didn't think she would.

I retreated to the hill I had rested on just earlier that night and waited for the reactions.

And react they did. The first person to come out was a girl about a year older than me. She had her hair in a braid and had weird hair-loopy things on either side of her head. 'Katara' my mind whispered to me, a half forgotten memory. I blinked. I had nearly forgotten how I got here and where here was. The survival needed for day to day had nearly driven anything non-important to survival out of my head. She stared at the seal in shock for several moments before yelling for "Gran-Gran" and "Sokka". An old woman and the oldest male stumbled out of the same tent she had just come from at her yell. The old woman muttered something under her breath, then spoke louder.

The rest of the village had gathered around the dead seal at the girl's yell. "This spirit, Artemis, has blessed us with a fresh hunt. She must have noticed Kita's pregnancy and our men leaving. And has decided to bless us with her support." She announced to the village.

A grand cheer rose up from the rest of the village.

Gran-Gran ordered Sokka to get to work butchering the seal and he immediately set to work so he could get back to his usual schedule.

I watched happy to know "Artemis" was appreciated.

I returned the next day with a bucket made of ice filled with a half dozen large fish. I didn't leave a name this time.

Soon I set a pattern coming every other day. I started creating a mist to walk in the village with as a cover because some of the women had taken to staying up late to try to catch Artemis at work.

Some of the younger village children built me a shrine of snow. And I started leaving the food there to show my appreciation. Kovu enjoyed the extra hunting and I enjoyed helping the struggling little village.