One would think that a hunter, any hunter, much less this hunter would be bored with farming. And, at first, they would be proven right, for Shade was a restless soul. Even picking up a hoe and trying to wield it proved challenging at first, as her fingers honed to the finer art of stringing a bow and calloused beneath mail armor from hours of practicing her art of killing.
And yet, after her experiences with the Sha, having one come out of her, had left her shaken down to her very core. Though she hid it well, the seeds of doubt had been planted within her and swelled like a tumorous growth, slowly feeding off of her fiery spirit. Returning to more simple things that had never interested her before now proved a source of newly found comfort, and as such, she began to take time each day to tend to a patch of dirt just off of a beaten road.
Each morning, she checked the crops, harvested the abundance of food which had grown, and began anew with cleaning the soil of rocks, tilling it to keep the ground breathing. She made certain that no virmen were lurking beneath the earth, hungry for food they couldn't create but only steal, pulled weeds until her filthy bare hands ached along with her lower back. And in the end, the scent of freshly turned earth renewed her spirit and gave her hope in the rest of the day to come.
At first, her white tiger took no interest in this new activity of hers. What fun was there in tending to the earth and growing food which he could not eat? Tempest lazed around the farm, taking to sniffing at virmen holes or lazing in the fields with an ear turned towards his hunter's labors, waiting for the moment that they would be off on their next great adventure. Though he knew that this work gave her a foundation, his attention span and cravings for the hunting she had promised when they had first formed a bond didn't allow him the leisure to enjoy another's pleasure.
It was around the second or third day of the harvest that his sapphire blue eyes caught movement within the earth. Shade's back was turned at that point in time, trying to scrub her hands clean with fresh well water. Drawing himself up silently, the great tiger, born in the Jade Forest and elusive enough to evade all but the most keen-eyed of beings, stalked slowly towards these boring crops of inedible plant material. The soil nearly boiled as one of fruits of Shade's harvest began to wriggle and writhe with a newly found life. Instinctively, he reached out to tap his paw pads against this orange growth. And still, it shivered.
A low, thunderous growl escaped the feline. With starved instincts, he sank great fangs into the fruit, hoping for a mouthful of meat and blood, but none was to come. But it still fought, and too stubborn to let go, Tempest fought back. What Shade saw next was her great white tiger playing tug of war, and winning, against a virmen, which was slowly pulled out of the earth as Tempest easily overpowered the over-sized rat.
Once unearthed, the virmen quickly let go, but it was too late. Tempest lunged and had his breakfast.
Disturbed and amused at the same time, Shade forced the tiger's maw open and away from the kill, something only one of her kind could ever get away with against such a creature. Even she ran the risk of losing her hand, but it had to be done. Grabbing the thing by its tail, she gave a great swing and tossed it over the road and into a far field, away from her crops.
That day, Tempest became a great asset to guarding Shade's crops against overly large rodent men, for he was no longer left bored and wanting. Though he was given a bath more often than he would have liked, for after each lucky daily harvest, Shade would bring slightly chewed vegetables to market and didn't want to have to explain the blood stains on her white tiger.
No comments:
Post a Comment