Fetch! Yes, Warlord!

The evidence of the turning season of fall was all around them. Mushrooms sprouted in the damp places and berries weighed the branches of the smaller trees and bushes around them. The great redwoods weren't going to lose their needles though.

His rough voice cut through the quiet stillness of the wood. He looked like he fought a bear because he had fought a bear! She perked her ears at the implications of his reason. She was going to have her own bear pelt! Why didn't he call on an other hunter like Tethys to help though? Oh, right, he hated to show them when he was wounded.

She glanced up again as they passed through two trees, a squirrel chittering away as it feasted on pinecones. She had never been to such a beautiful place as this. So lush and different than the desert she had known.

Ignita heard his directional command as the scent of fresh death started to overwhelm the pine and sap smells. She let the danger fall to the ground before she picked it up, knowing she would have fumbled if she tried to catch it then approached the large carcass. She had never cut into a bear before. Rabbits, voles, road runners, lizards, and the like, but never bear. It was so big it almost looked like it was about to get up. But it was thoroughly dead. She never skinned anything either.

She steeled herself for the grueling work and set about doing her best. Blade to meat it cut a lot easier than tearing it with her teeth.

She heard a shifting weight and a faint rustle of branches behind them. She glanced at Bas to see if he heard it too. She pressed into his leg to get his attention. They weren't alone.

"Ignita"