A pleasant outing

Kemuri and his young apprentices had been travelling for much of the day before the big, slender cat finally called for a halt, unaware they'd passed into a wolf pack's territory. The territorial disputes of wolves was, after all, not usually a concern of cats, so the territorial markers went unnoticed.

He slipped his packs off with a relieved sigh, stretched and arched his back. Cats were not built for long distance travel, but his studies were not easily pursued without it so, as needs must, he travelled. "Come now, on your paws, kittens," he chided the two bobtailed siblings gently, nudging them up from where they'd dropped when he stopped. "You do not wish for your muscles to stiffen so you must stretch them, and you are surely hungry?" Trusting their bottomless stomachs to keep them moving enough to not stiffen up - and they were already popping back to their feet to fall to digging into their packs for the packed away lunches with a will - he went to his own packs to remove the lacquered writing box and his reading lenses.

Part of his apprentices' duties were to set up the writing box, but he didn't wish to saddle them with onerous chores when they were so tired, and interrupt their lunch. Instead he did it himself, setting out the paper and the brushes, carefully pouring the water from his water bag, grinding the ink sticks against the stone to make the ink. It was meditative in its own way, and gave him the time to set it straight in his mind before he began.

Perching the round lenses on the bridge of his nose, he settled himself and closed his eyes a moment, settling himself, before he picked up a brush and began to carefully write a description of the land they'd been passing through since their last stop, taking careful note of features like natural springs and creeks and potential shelters for travelers, and distances. He set the page aside to dry and set up another one to do a quick sketch of a map of what he'd just written a description of, and set that one aside as well - he'd go back to add detail in a short time once the initial sketch had dried.

By that time, the kittens had finished their lunch and to his approval were quietly talking together over a book they'd been assigned. Smiling towards them, he began work on a third sheet of paper, a journal page this time where he spoke in a more casual tone of all they'd seen, this time focused more on the beautiful vistas and natural wonders - and the various species of birds, of course.