* 44 * 7/19/12

Bishop didn't think Lily would last. Being cooped up in a kennel under the disguise of a fortress had made her grow soft, he thought, and a few hours in the woods wouldn't toughen her up after all that crap.

But she was surprising him at every step.

Lily marched forward, determination stricken on her face. Maybe she didn't have the survival instincts of a ranger or druid, but at the very least, she was trying.

They often stopped when they heard a loud noise, not out of fear, but curiosity. This particular time, the offending animal was a wolf.

"What kind of wolf is that?" she asked, pointing to a flicker behind the trees far off in the distance.

Huh. So she was interested in actual names instead of indiscriminately calling all of these wild dogs "wolves".

"That's a red wolf. Smaller than gray wolves like Karnwyr. They're easily frightened, so if you ever get attacked, you could just throw something at them, or yell." Bishop looked around idly. "Probably has some friends in the area."

Lily followed his eyes. He was looking everywhere, perhaps without even noticing it. Scanning his surroundings in that moment, Bishop appeared perfectly at home. He really did belong out here.

Just then, Lily's stomach growled. Bishop chuckled.

"I didn't have breakfast," the elf explained.

"Well then, maybe we should head on back so your pretty little head can have a meal prepared by your myriad of loyal servants." He looked disappointed.

"I was thinking we could have something from out here instead," Lily suggested.

Bishop halted. He wondered how genuine she was being, considering that, in his opinion, she had been used to having cooks make her anything at her beck and call for far too long to appreciate the less modified tastes of nature. "Sure you can rough it for a meal? Wouldn't want you getting sick or grossed out over the sight of raw meat."

"I'm not that pathetic," she objected.

Bishop wasn't entirely convinced, but he gave her the benefit of the doubt. After all, she had shown promise. "All right. But not a wolf," stated he. It was a condition. "We don't need that much meat."

"Mm, that's fine. I'm not that picky."

"Good, 'cause you can't be out here."

They continued walking deeper into the trees, and slowly, ever so slowly, the biome was shifting from simple forest to rainforest.

"Wouldn't want you getting sick or grossed out over the sight of raw meat," Lily mocked, breaking the silence as she stepped over a log.

The ranger looked over at her, his nose in the air. "Yeah. What of it?"

"Have you even been paying attention during our quests? We see blood and guts spilled everywhere all the time. Usually, we're the ones causing it."

Bishop tsked. "Seeing it right before you eat it is a whole other feeling. Scared off many people before. Still does. Some stuck up nobles would rather starve than do what humans have done for thousands of years and work for their meal." He scoffed.

"Makes me laugh," Lily said suddenly, throwing him off guard. She'd taken the words right out of his mouth. "That kind of refusal," she went on, "is one of the silliest things I've ever heard of. A choice between life or death, and they choose death because their feeling disgusted or unsatisfied is apparently far worse."

Bishop's lips were pressed in a line as he thought. "Just one of the many things I despise about 'civilization'. It's an excuse to not have to be self-sufficient, and to bury others beneath your boot."

The ranger stopped his stride. "That's a vanilla vine. We can start with that."

"Which parts are edible?" the curious elf inquired.

"Almost all of it." Bishop approached it, reached up, and folded the delicate parts of the orchid down. He picked a few leaves and passed them to his smaller companion. "Here."

Lily smelled them to commit their scent to memory, then took a bite of one.

When she was done chewing, she asked, "How much does a human eat per day in weight? It's easy to regulate when you're indoors, but outside, I'm not sure."

"Two kilograms is a good amount to go by. That'd be a lot of leaves, though, so we'll get some meat further down the line." Bishop was about to continue down their chosen path, but he caught sight of a single opened flower. A vanilla flower. He hesitated for a moment, then eyed the surroundings.

"The berries from that bush over there are edible," he said, turning Lily's attention away as he fiddled with something.

"These ones?" She crouched down. They were bright red, with the occasional green one interspersed between. She picked a few and added them to her small handful of leaves.

Bishop joined her. "Yeah. They grow all year round in this area."

Lily squeezed one lightly, testing its durability. "Hm." She bit into it, and it burst open on her tongue, spilling flavor over her taste buds. "Mm! These are lovely," she said with a smile.

"Those are coffee berries. You'll be feeling them in a bit," he added.

Then, he chuckled. "Looks like our meat came to us."

"Huh?" Lily flipped around and saw a medium-sized rabbit sniffing the area. It took one look at the confident Bishop and stopped progressing toward them, its nose still twitching.

"They eat from vanilla vines," Bishop explained, standing up and drawing his bow slowly.

Lily matched his cool speed, taking her time in straightening. "Let me do it," she whispered.

He gave her a look. "Have you ever used a bow before?" the ranger inquired incredulously.

"Nope." She smiled. She was more than willing to learn.

Bishop glanced at their prey. "There are probably more of them scattered all around here. I suppose if you miss and scare it off we could just find another one." Satisfied with this logic, he handed over his bow and an arrow. It was a bit large for her, but not so much that she couldn't get it in the right position.

For not having shot a bow before, she was holding it pretty adeptly. Not perfectly, though. She was obviously right-handed, so he moved to her left side.

"Keep a light but firm grip on the bow and point it toward the ground so you can nock the arrow." Lily obeyed.

"This part," he started, pointing to a valley on the bow, "is the arrow rest. Put the shaft of the arrow there."

"Now put the back of the arrow up against the nock, that little bead you see back here," he continued, indicating a small point on the string of the bow.

"Before you set the arrow, move your bracer down more toward your wrist. Left forearm. That's what this is for," demonstrated Bishop, referring to the large, rather elaborate bracer present on his left, but not right, side. "When you let go of the arrow and are just starting out, the string might snap against your arm. Doesn't feel too good, so try not to forget to keep the bracer there."

"Your aim will probably be pretty bad, so let's not make that any worse by the position you hold that thing in. You're going to hold the arrow with one finger above it and two below." She did.

"Raise and draw it now." Lily tried, but drew too slowly, causing the arrow to fall out of place a little. She caught the back of it with her thumb and tried again, this time getting it right.

"Good. Keep the arrow drawn back to the same area of your face when you do this. It can be your chin, cheek, ear, anything, so long as it's the same point of reference every time. Else, your aim will never improve."

Lily nodded, but began getting a little nervous.

"When you're ready to shoot, just relax the back of your string hand. And try to get somewhere within a meter of the rabbit," the ranger joked.

Lily held the bow drawn and aimed at the animal for many seconds, all the while chiding herself for over-thinking the process and doubting herself. She steeled her nerves and took a deep breath. Finally, she relaxed her right hand, and the arrow went sailing through the air.

Right into the stunned rabbit, albeit a bit off into its hindquarters. The shot wasn't clean, but she had killed it. The arrow visibly claimed the meal as their own: each of Bishop's arrows had a greenish tint on their feather.

Bishop was impressed. The distance between the elf and the rabbit had only been about three meters, but he wasn't expecting her to be able to properly aim even from that close on her first try.

Lily couldn't stop grinning. When Bishop looked into her face, he saw a joy that he hadn't witnessed from her before, an excitement that was so pure and fiery...that it made his heart skip a beat.

The ranger cleared his throat. He went over to the shot carcass and picked it up, extracting the arrow in one swift motion and handing it back to Lily. "Time to find someplace to make a fire and eat." Lily nodded vehemently, overjoyed.

They walked on in silence, but nothing short of sheer jubilation could be felt in the air, and Lily smiled at the sky.