Chapter 03: Hunting Fundamentals

At least the sand didn’t move.

Aiy, it did, but predictably, shifting under each step, rather than rocking with the whims of the mad sea.

It was too hot, still; the sun bore down stronger than Depsan ever endured. The heat clung to the skin, hung in the air with the salt and the sweat.

And the sand.

One osa who’d flown to the Isles of Afthis recounted that beaches were covered in a crystal snow that held its shape through the seasons.

Now Jhun had found the truth-- to melt was to wash away. Sand remained, long after its welcome had run dry.

He tried to ignore the grit on his neck, like Rowan did so effortlessly. The Mithran rookie glided along the shifting sands, twirling and gesturing and dancing for the world to see. His smile never wavered, even for the brief moment that he matched eyes with Jhun.

Rowan capped his performance with a deep bow for a crowd of classmates, and it suddenly seemed time for Jhun to actually make a second friend.

The first had been nervewracking enough, Yoza shoving Jhun to pierce a rowdy gathering of rookies. His tumble through broached a gap in the crowd and its laughter, and without warning Jhun had been seized-- by two strong hands about his shoulders, by the attention of his peers, most singularly by those dark brown eyes that pulled on Jhun’s own, raising his chin uncomfortably high. The stranger didn’t stand more than a head taller, but he towered over Jhun, this close.

Jhun had recognized Rowan instantly as the only Mithran of their rookie class, yet siloed in his own social class as bona fide royalty. There was no obvious tell. He was certainly handsome, though Jhun had no keen eye for judgment there. He’d smelled of hazel-- the wood itself, like Jhun had imagined a brown dryad should. But perhaps it was not the way Rowan looked, rather the way everybody looked to Rowan, leaning on him as a lightrunner in the crowd, that distinguished the prince from the rest.

And though he’d let go of Jhun with a pat on the back and a cheery “Edennight, friend?”, Rowan never evicted Jhun from under his sweeping wing. Yoza had no chance to bother Jhun the rest of the night, as Rowan led his new friend from one meeting to the next, demanding only the faintest of inputs from Jhun himself. The rest of the night had unfolded smoothly, including a much-anticipated befrontal of Zingiber-- he was a typical cat, in all his splendor.

It wasn’t clear why Rowan continued to drag him along on his escapades through Sudalijhe’Yi after that night. At first, Jhun thought himself a replacement for a palatial servant, but he quickly learned how little purpose he served-- Rowan deftly weaved through every conversation, bantering with seasoned rangers like old barnmates as Jhun gawked and tried to remember what details he could. Rowan had found them seats among friendly faces along the pine benches for meals, established Jhun’s braid on the guildwide credit web, and negotiated a bed next to his for Jhun in the “best guest longhouse of the three”. With Rowan’s help, Jhun found it easy to relax and settle in, as harrowing as this move had been otherwise.

But today, on the windy beach of Komo Island, Rowan had taken it one leap further, shouldering alone the monumental burden of mustering a squad for their first sanctioned hunt. Bless the prince, without a word, he had executed the full sunshoot dance by himself. And with so many eyes on him now, Rowan clearly couldn’t serve as Jhun’s personal lightrunner for much longer-- Jhun would need other friends to fall back on when the paths of the duo diverged.

One of the rangers in audience stepped forward and returned Rowan’s bow. “Alex,” the whispers had called her. “We walk together,” she said, seemingly speaking on behalf of the others, as leader.

“Until the hunt has closed,” Rowan responded, and so they concluded stage two of six of the hunt, if Jhun remembered correctly: assembly.

Several of his new squadmates stepped forward to embrace Rowan, cheering and whooping. Theirs was the largest squad on the island-- so it sounded, anyway.

The loudest one, a red-headed Kyeri, stopped abruptly. “Are we ready to go, then? Or do you have more rituals to perform?”

“Wasn’t the sunshoot dance required for assembly?” Rowan said. His grin barely faltered as he shuffled back to join Jhun at his side.

“Nominally required,” an older boy responded. This one was named Solomon, one of Tals’Iolani’s many course assistants tasked with herding the rookies along their assignments today. He was still a sayamak, still waiting for his Ranger’s Trial like the rest of them, but his badge meant one thing: a rookie he was not.

“If I’m going to do it, I’ll do it right,” Rowan said simply. Jhun shrunk back to avoid the gazes of his new squadmates.

“Solomon,” the loud one interjected, her voice ironic. “Make sure Tals’Iolani gets every detail.”

“That actually may be wise, Ty,” said Alex. Every word this one spoke, she delivered with certainty. “Our teacher is yet an unknown-- perhaps she values such adherence to tradition. Kayin, be sure to include the dance in the hunting report, lest we waste Rowan’s efforts.”

Kayin looked at Jhun, her dark eyes piercing him. He leaned ever so slightly against Rowan to steady himself. His blood flushed into his cheeks to meet the sunshine.

“If I can find an example from a redbook, sure.” Kayin said. Jhun dipped his head, halfway in response. He had already volunteered to help with the report, to no enthusiasm from the Ibasi mystic; perhaps on the weekend, he would prove his worth in the library.

“Very well, let us depart!” Alex took the pack’s van, leading them inland towards the heart of the forest. “Stay vigilant, all, for the bounties that await us. First, the komodo dragons, then the rest.”

Rowan yelped in excitement as he ran after Alex. “Cluster coconuts! We must find some!”

“If you can outrace the crabs, Rowan.” Ty responded with a laugh, leaving Jhun to ponder her meaning.

Jhun found it hard to enjoy stage three, the game, on the unforgiving playing field of Komo Island. The brush was woody, dense, unforgiving of dulling blades and poorly wrapped leggings. The trees offered little shade, their canopies already lost to the forest floor as leaf litter. The air itself weighed heavy on them, filled with the unending symphony of buzzing, chirping, and birdsong that dogged the party as they trekked south. Jhun loosed his thoughts, working only to make it through the withered brush, through the hot sun.

“It’s a shame your friend Onawa didn’t want to join us.” Rowan walked alongside Alex, thirty paces ahead.

Jhun stopped to watch Luna, who lagged far behind the rest of the group. She weaved her own path through the forest, occasionally checking for a sightline to the rest of the squad. She was wholly focused on something that eluded her pursuit through the brush. Suddenly, she was at Jhun’s side.

“Thanks.”

Jhun nodded. “What did you seek?”

She opened her mouth as if to respond, but then resumed her pursuit, blazing a side trail parallel to the group’s.

Jhun nodded again.

He couldn’t be sure what Luna was doing, but it was surely well-reasoned, and Jhun knew he needed to follow suit. Oma would panic if she learned how much debt Jhun had already taken on, but perhaps Komo Island could provide a bounty worth a young ranger’s salvation. The Island rarely saw visitors, even from Sudalijhe’Yi. There had to be treasures hiding under every bush.

Jhun could grok the trade value of an item in demand, even if he didn’t quite understand the intricacies of Hayuwasi’s qipu system yet. The entire credit web was hidden from the public, accessible only through the weavers who asked too many questions and tsked too often at his answers. One week in, he couldn’t piece it all together-- his contributions, his equipment usage, even his rent and board.

He kept his eyes open and his mind clear, even as all of his surroundings blurred into a tapestry of green and brown. Spotting was far more difficult in the wild than in the books. Where were the clean illustrations of Tals’Hayun, who could capture the essential details of a specimen with seven brushstrokes? Out here, Jhun could hardly tell an ovate shape from a cordate, or distinguish one blur of pastel flowers from the next. In fact, from a single tree, Jhun could find several unique shriveled leaves that each resembled nothing from his notes, these tantic, taunting things.

So, after much listening, watching, and walking, Jhun found no treasure. But at the very least, he did take the time to learn something of his companions; he didn’t know how Kayin would classify them at the end, as it seemed too trivial to discuss aloud, but he considered them each in turn.

Solomon was a malcontent, a vilibrand barely worth a second thought. He seemed here only to puff his chest, not to teach or guide. Jhun couldn’t exactly blame him-- he was grateful to share a seat on the wagon pulled by Rowan, Alex, Kayin, and Dayo. But Jhun was already sick of the sneer that coated every complaint Solomon gave.

And yet Rowan handled the older boy with grace, an unstoppable force of patience. He knew how to warm up the frostiest of elders, disarm the surliest of groundskeepers, and befriend the shyest of rookies. His was the one voice that refused to be silenced, neither by the toil of their trek nor the ire of Solomon. These two would act as hammers, enforcing the will of the group.

Leadership would come from the supposed heroes of Kyerejhee, if Rowan was to be believed. Jhun wasn’t so sure. Alex certainly fit the legends, given her strength, her self-assuredness; everything from her poise to her confidence at the head of the squad indicated her natural fit as pointlead. The other two? Yes, Ty spoke boldly, and Felix loomed large, but Ty had yet to prove actual strength, and Felix was liable to completely fall behind without Alex helping him through the underbrush. Perhaps Ty would act as second point and Felix would play drummer. Jhun didn’t quite understand what either of those two roles were responsible for, but from the few redbooks he’d studied, both would have fit right in with their role-peers.

Jhun saw two natural sentries in Kayin and Dayo, mystics raised in Ibasi temple in the tradition of Ahraqimasu. They were obviously western, their skin as dark as Rowan’s and their voices like strange instruments playing a familiar song. Jhun couldn’t quite get a read on either– though they never hesitated to ask questions, usually about Kyeri custom, language, or food, they largely stayed aloof, watching quietly. A peel of laughter chimed through the air-- evidently Rowan had already cracked through Kayin’s shell.

That left only Luna, who was friendly, despite the frown she wore even now. They shared all three courses together, during each of which she stayed on the periphery of the crowds. On these outskirts, the two exchanged familiar glances often, but rarely a word.

“Did you find what you were chasing?” Jhun asked. She was a natural hound.

Luna’s eyes widened even further with surprise. “Earlier? It was a turkey, as Jay showed us. Beautiful plumage.”

Jhun blinked. Were turkey feathers more valuable in the south than in Depsan? Or was there some other underlying motivation for Luna’s hunt?

A scream from ahead tore through Jhun’s thoughts.

Rowan.

Luna ran forward, and Jhun chased her through the claws of the thicket.

They cleared the forest for another beach, this one much rockier, beat down by an angry tide. Between the crashing waves and the wind whipping past his ears, Jhun could hardly track down his companions.

“Jhun!”

From the left, there, Rowan yelled and waved-- not in panic or fear, but in excitement. And as Jhun coolly strode over, he realized they had found a giant burrow in the hillside, a den large enough to hold a Komodo dragon, once upon a time.

But only the one.

“Where are the others?”

“What others?” Rowan asked.

“Komodo dragons live in colonies…” The wind carried the rest of Jhun’s sentence away.

The others kept their distance as they opened their sketchbooks. Rowan awaited Jhun’s thoughts with a smile, but none came forth.

Luna approached the den, closer still than Jhun, and by instinct the Kyeri followed gingerly behind. As the two breached the opening of the den, Jhun realized his fears had been misplaced. He took in the salty breeze and shivered.

“It’s cold in here,” Jhun said.

“No dragon to warm it,” Luna responded.

Jhun scrunched his nose in thought. “I’m not sure that’s. . . and aren’t Komodo dragons cold-blooded? No wonder they’ve gone.” The den was barren, but hadn’t the almanac said the mound would create heat?

“Gone to where?”

Jhun shrugged.

The two found the rest of their squad packing to resume their trek, not a soul concerned with what they’d found.

Jhun turned to Luna, who had already left to study Ty’s sketch.

Aiya, so it goes.

“Anything interesting?” Rowan asked. He’d snuck up on Jhun to nudge him with a sharp elbow.

\ Jhun shuffled to keep his balance, his heart thumping. Maybe it didn’t matter. Rowan didn’t look up, his eyes fixed on his sketchbook.

After an eternity, Rowan put down his pencil and stared at Jhun. “Well?”

So he actually expected an answer.

“I- I think it’s a decoy,” Jhun stammered.

“A decoy?” Rowan’s face furrowed into thrilled curiosity.

“Yes.” Jhun struggled to summarize the hours of research he’d gathered the night prior. “The Komodo dragons are supposed to take the nests of the blue-beaked scrubfowls in the late summer. Those birds spend all spring building massive mounds from twigs, grass, straw, whatever they can find. The mounds smoulder from the inside out, which is perfect for the dragons, who need heat to incubate their eggs--”

Jhun stopped-- the enthusiasm had faded from Rowan’s eyes, though the smile persisted.

He tried again. “It should be a huge mound. Ten meters wide. And it shouldn’t be right on the coast. It’s too exposed here.”

“Hm.” Rowan considered it deeply, scrutinizing Jhun’s face far more closely than appreciated. “How sure are you?”

Jhun hesitated. He could visualize the almanac pages like they were before him.

Rowan’s black eyes bore into him.

“I could be mistaken. . .”

“Ah, well, this is our first ranger assignment, after all. We should do this right!”

Rowan clapped his hands. “Everybody!”

He captured the attention of everybody indeed. Alex and Solomon stopped their arguing to heed the Mithran’s words.

“Our hunt may not be over.” Rowan looked to Jhun.

Jhun stared back.

With the slightest pause, Rowan continued. “We should consider the possibility this is a decoy.”

WIth a groan, Solomon called to Kayin. “What was our task, mystic? To follow this predesigned hunt, correct? Written by the Sumei herself?”

“Yes. We must track the Komodo dragons to their dens and sketch our observations,” Kayin answered.

“Seems like we’ve accomplished our goal,” Solomon said, as a matter of fact.

Rowan threw Jhun a look of irritation.

Alex responded first.

“Rowan speaks truly: This nest does not match the sketches of Sumei. Full diligence would demand we investigate this further.” She pressed on before either of Rowan or Solomon could interject. “But we have not the time to spare. We have other bounties to hunt, and we must return to the port before sundown.”

She smiled kindly at Rowan.

“And of course, this is merely a formality of a hunt. Nobody expects perfection.”

“But Tals’Iolani is different!” Rowan said, eliciting murmurs from Ty and Luna. “She’s traditionalist through and through-- has any other Fundamentals teacher ever required a full field report for a first hunt?”

“You are just repeating caravan rumors, the lowest of part-truths and hyperbole,” Solomon said. “She may have veered away once, but we should expect a traditionalist Talsichke to respect precedent, should we not? Tals’Iolani chose me as assistant for my wisdom and perspective. Remember, rookies, one thing matters this cycle, as in all your courses: the final hunt.”

Alex stepped forward and grabbed Rowan’s hand. “Rowan, do you disagree? Successful hunts demand supplies and resources. This is where we strike out-- not just to pass the cycle, as that is all but guaranteed. But here we begin to build our lead in Funds, to surpass our classmates and secure the Huntress’s Blessing. Here begins our path to the Council of Twelve.”

“But. . .”

Rowan could craft no response as she walked away; their squad might have left even if he had. Several conversations rippled out at once around them, and all of Rowan’s momentum was lost.

“Don’t lag too far behind, you two!” Ty called. “We need to report back as a group to finish the hunt.”

Jhun smiled meekly at Rowan, hoping the Mithran would feel his gratitude for the fight he’d shown.

“Wait!”

The fool wasn’t done yet. Seven faces turned, their collective patience plainly running thin.

“Can we at least make sure our theory is in the report?” Rowan asked.

They looked to Kayin, who nodded thoughtfully.

“Of course. I know of several field reports from Hine that include a speculation section, although I would need to narrow it down…”

“I’ll help you,” Jhun declared. He ignored the gazes of the others.

Kayin smiled and uttered the softest, “Thank you,” barely audible under the crashing tides.

Jhun let out a deep sigh as he took the pack’s rear with Rowan.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t convince Alex,” Rowan said. “But she’s the leader. Not much to be done.”

Jhun shook his head. “It’s not your fault. You were… great.”

“Not enough to make a difference, unfortunately.”

“Aiya, that’s my fault. I assumed the others would see the signs before I did.”

Rowan chuckled. “Not everybody has your eye, Jhun, or your knowledge.”

“I didn’t either, until last night.”

“Or the discipline to fully prepare.” Rowan remained undaunted. “Come, now. What else did you read about this island? Alex was right; this is our chance to forge ahead with bounties.”

Jhun hesitated. He recalled vining fruits that had certainly withered already in this heat, coastal shellfish too deep to gather, bulbs too hidden in the forest to find. Suddenly he understood why a thousand rangers left this island untouched.

But Rowan’s eyes were expectant, wide with adventure, and he was right-- a successful hunt or two could begin to lift Jhun out of the mires of qipu debt. Besides, there was nothing left to do but the finish, ironically stage four of six for the hunt, while stages five and six awaited them back at basecamp. What could Jhun say?

“I believe the palm trees may be fruiting. . .”

Rowan excitement exploded into delight. He grabbed Jhun’s hand and pulled, hard.

“Coconuts?! Yes, you brilliant ranger, ONWARD!”