A Bird in the Hand

In the sunny woods, a young woman in a purple and red shirt kneels on the forest floor with a hand full of seeds. Her whistling echoes through the trees as squirrels and birds run around doing their daily routines. The lady sits there calmly like a rock, blending in with her surroundings as she waits to make a friend. A bird soon swoops down, landing on the tips of her fingers and chirps at her.

"Hey, there," She says with delight, "Aren't you just a cutie,"

The bird chirps as if responding before it starts to snack on the seeds. In the distance, a figure slowly rises from behind a bush, bow in hand. With a deep breath they put the arrow to the string and begin to aim. Every stands still as the person holds the string, the tension growing. After an eternity, the bird becomes satisfied and flies off to the woman's dismay.

"Gosh darn it," She says as she pours the leftover seed into a small leather pouch and tightens it shut. The person behind the bush walks up to the lady, putting away the arrow.

"I'm sorry Shu," The person says.

"Rachel, you can't keep saying sorry every time you miss an opportunity," Shu replies as she brushes some of her light blue hair to the side, "You're gonna have to be able to kill birds and rabbits and squirrels if you want to eat when we're travelling. There isn't going to always be a town we can just go to," As the two head out of the woods into a nearby field she pulls out a map.

"I'm too much of an animal person," Rachel replies, "I've spent my whole life befriending them, not hunting them,"

"Well...you are a Warrior of Hope, " She looks away from the map, "So it's not like I should expect you to be some kind of crazy fighter person, but we need to be able to hunt if we want to make it to the fort. Your bow is our best shot at getting food and I have no idea how to use them," She looks back at the map and stops walking, "The nearest town is off that way," She says pointing towards some mountains off in the distance, "Which means there's no chance of us making it there before sunset," She takes her backpack off her back and looks inside.

"How much food do you got in your's?" She asks Rachel.

"Um...not much,"

"That makes two of us. Ugh, I knew we should have taken Aim with us,"

"What? You're the one who said no,"

"Yeah well...he was annoying at the time," She says defensively, "And I didn't think it'd be this hard to hunt, I mean, if there were like deer or pigs, or even bears we'd be fine on food but it's been nothing but birds, squirrels, and rabbits who are too fast for me," Before the two can further think about their current predicament they hear a voice from off in the woods.

"Stay back!" There's a sudden burst of flames in the distance making the them jump. The two glance at each other with concerned looks before running off in the direction of the sounds, Shu drawing her sword and Rachel pulling an arrow from her quiver. There's more shouting and bursts of flames slowly growing closer as the two dash through the trees.

"What on earth is causing those?!" Rachel asks.

"I have no idea, let's just hope it's not some kid who just learned fire magic!"

As they approach the source the roar of a bear is heard. They come to a large clearing where a young man with burnt clothing and glowing red markings is holding out hands engulfed in flames trying to keep an angry bear at bay.

"Try not to shoot us!" Shu exclaims as she runs towards the bear.

"Will do!" Rachel replies as she draws her bow. The bear quickly notices the two, getting up on its hind legs as it readies a swing. As the bear swings at Shu she jumps to the side, narrowly avoiding it, and Rachel takes her shot. An arrow lands directly between its eyes, causing it to back up and get down on all fours. It shakes its head before letting out a roar of anger.

Shu takes the chance to cut into its side, only pissing it off more. Before the bear can swipe at her a ball of flame hits in in the back, singing its fur. The bear turns once more to the guy. With its back turned to her, Shu gets on top of it and plunges her sword into its head, sending it to the floor with a loud thud.

"You alright?" Shu asks as she struggles slightly to pull her sword out.

"For the most part," The man says, running a blazing hand through his glowing orange hair as he tries to calm himself, his hair somehow not catching fire. As Shu wipes the blood off her blade she finally realizes something.

"Are you from the Nar tribe of Sahir?" She asks with a surprised look.

"W-What?!" The guy holds up his arms defensively, "No, I'm just someone who knows fire magic,"

"What's with the markings and hair than? I've heard descriptions of Nar, and you seem to fit it pretty well,"

"What markings?" He asks as the markings on him fade away and his hair becomes a medium grey color, "I-I don't have any markings,"

"We clearly saw them," Rachel says, "And also, what's the Nar tribe?"

"It's a magic tribe that lives in the deserts of Sahir, it's said they were given a page from the tome used by the royal family of Sahir giving them special magic no one else knows," Shu explains as she puts her sword away.

"Wow, really? That sounds cool," The guy says unconvincingly as he tries to slowly walk away, " Too bad I'm not from there I bet that stuffs really cool and-"

"Where do you think you're going?" Shu says grabbing him by the arm, "We just saved you and you're already trying to run away?" She let's go, "We're not some bandits who are going to rob you, and though I may, hate, the other kingdoms, I'm not just going to kill someone because they're from one of them," This doesn't help the man calm down at all.

"What my friend Shu is trying to say is," Rachel butts in, "We're not going to hurt you, so why don't you stay and enjoy some bear, the nearest town is more than a day's journey anyways,"

"...Sure...and thanks for saving me..." He replies nervously. As the sun starts to set below the mountains, the three sit down by a fire eating cooked meat.

"Sooo, are you really from the Nar tribe?" Shu asks before taking another bite.

"...Yeah...but, can we keep that a secret?"

"Why? Are you a spy trying to get intel on our kingdom?"

"What?! No! I uh, I...ran from home...and I don't want them finding me..." He says looking down at the fire with guilt. Rachel and Shu glance at each other, both agreeing that it's best to not ask why.

"...Oh," Rachel says, "So, are you in need of a place to stay?"

"Uh...yeah..." He says avoiding eye contact.

"Well, how good are you at hunting?"

"...Pretty good I guess, I've spent the past couple of weeks hunting, foraging, and going to towns to survive,"

"Hmmm..." She says glancing over at Shu whose giving her a skeptical look. The two have a silent conversation with nothing but their expressions and mouth movements before Rachel speaks again.

"We could really use someone like you," She says, "We're travelling to a fort way down south and we're already living off of scraps, what do you say?"

"..." The man looks very hesitant.

"You're welcome to stay with us afterwards, we're going to be heading right back to Petra,"

"Petra, the capital of, Qanas?" The man asks completely perplexed.

"Yup, we live in the castle,"

"Wouldn't that make you...I-I'm so sorry, I don't know any royalty other than Sahir's!" He exclaims as he quickly bows.

"You don't need to do that," Rachel quickly states with a light laugh, "The name's Rachel by the way, I completely forgot to tell you that,"

"My name's Ivory," He says as he sits back up, his face red with embarrassment.

"So, is that a yes?"

"...Yeah,"