Maturing Slowly

The body of the dead wolf was carried back to the colony and it was retrieved by the worker harpies and stored for the coming winter.

Mey and the other harpies went to rest. There were about a hundred hunting groups for the harpies and Mey's group was just one of them.

Now that they got their prey they have a week to relax. Sky also went back to his assigned tree nest and slept for a week.

He joined Mey's group to hunt again when they were about leave to a different wolf's den.

Mey did not think much of his actions and let him tag along, the hunt itself went smooth without any variables.

Carnage slashed the wolf's head off as soon as the wolf fell down and it ended with that one slash again.

But the third time of their hunt was not so smooth, Carnage missed the head and the enraged wolf took out two harpies with it.

For the first time in his life, Sky felt pity, he now knew how important Carnage's first strike was for the hunt.

He was little saddened by the fact that they had sacrificed two harpies for just a meal.

But if he knew the real troubles caused by hunger he might have not felt so sad.

After all his immortal arm did not just grant him immortality it also granted him a body which will never feel hunger.

Seeing Sky sad for the first time in her life, Carnage patted his head, Sky felt shy to be patted by a girl, after all he was still a four year old kid, even though he looked about ten due to his arm's nutrition.

That day Carnage accompanied him to his tree nest and slept there. She demanded to be with him so that she could console him. This warmed Sky's heart.

On the third day after their third hunt, Carnage dragged him out of his nest along with her. He was surprised when Carnage told him that they were going to hunt with another hunting party.

It seemed like Carnage was part of multiple hunting teams and Mey's team was just one of them.

It made sense when he thought of how talented Carnage was. If only one team monopolised her, that team would be the beast hunting team.

She dragged him to their hunting party's leader and introduced him to her, the new leader was called Myr and she was a middle aged harpy.

Looking at how close Carnage was to Sky, Myr agreed to let Sky join the hunt immediately even though she felt taking Sky with them was just extra baggage.

As Carnage was close to Sky, it was obvious to allow Sky to come along. If Myr refused to let Sky go with them, Carnage's battle output might drop down. This old harpy knew better than saying no to Carnage.

Since Carnage was happy with Myr's reaction, her control over her knife was smooth and she killed the wolf with a clean sweep.

But instead of returning to the colony with the dead wolf's body, Myr sent it back with few of her harpies while she took the remaining to a different wolf's den.

But being their second prey of the day, by the time the second wolf was brought out to the designated place it was already night.

Carnage missed the head due to poor light and in the cover of the night the wolf managed to kill three harpies before it was taken down.

Sky once again felt pity. But when he looked at Myr all he saw was a emotionless face. He shook when he saw her expressionless.

[ What was happening? Why is she not sad when she lost three of her hunting squad? Did all that happen now, a illusion? ]

Sky looked at Myr's face a second time only to find it expressionless. He felt cold seeing her. This was a dangerous lady, he thought involuntarily.

This was not the first time Myr had lost her team members and she did not feel any pity for those who lost their lives, after all the fewer the lives the more the food they save for others.

Carnage patted his head the same way as before but now she also had a sad expression. She felt it was her fault that the three died, they died because she missed her target.

That day Sky and Carnage fell asleep in each other arms, they felt the warmness from each other's body which shook away their distractive thoughts. This way they forgot the sadness.