Willows

Cairo grinned with approval her first two cuts. Heavens knew he hadn’t been very good at slicing when he’d first started using the bracers as cooking knives himself.

He nodded slightly when she remarked that it was easier to face things when you weren’t afraid, though he chuckled and added, “Though, for the record, if the odds are not in your favor, and there’s no one to protect, running isn’t a crime.”

Ohhhh, if he could have read her mind and realized she thought he meant mountain lions. If only it was that easy. He did laugh and admit, “I’m glad I lived to tell the tale, too. And yeah… although they’re a strange sight to see at all on Boreas. They’re more of an Austerian predator. Mountain lions are more common in Boreas. I’d rather fight one of them…”

His words and voice were genuine, honest. He grinned then added, “With Aurielle, it’s like bears and tigers hate her in particular.”

He stuck the first of the frames into the ground by the fire, tipped so that the heat would reach the venison. It took little time for one side to be slightly dry, and he nodded to himself, pleased, before feeding the fire and rearing up on his back legs, stretching his neck out to capture more willow fronds, using his remaining bracer to help cut the branch as he balanced and tiptoed on his back paws.

He hadn’t noticed that she’d dozed while he’d battled with the fire, but when her eye popped open she got a good view of his ridiculous two-legger impression as he wrenched another branch free before dropping back to his fours and sitting to repeat the process of stripping the willow fronds, spearing the meat, and setting up the rack to dry.

The process was repeated several times, until all the meat from his portion of the kill had been set up. At that point, he grinned at the girl and trotted to the stream for his own face wash, though he was careful not to accidentally wash off the paste on his injury.

He sprawled, damp-furred and clean-faced, near the fire with a contented huff, scanning the surroundings briefly before stripping off his remaining bracer and tossing it with a flip of his head to the pile of armor nearby.

“That meat being dried should be a lot easier to carry home.”

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think