Solitaire Shuffle

Rain poured in sheets outside his den. It had been a surprise, a blessing even that rain had decided to fall in Abaven which had been having one of its driest years ever. The rain came suddenly and now fell in sheets so thick it made it difficult to look out of the den opening. Brandr hoped the rain would refresh the grasses and lure prey back into Abaven's usual hunting grounds. The spring had been rich with multitudes of prey passing through the wolves' territory or even deciding that the risk of predators was worth the nutritious grasses of the plains and the thicket. Summer brought with it hot temperatures and a lack of precipitation. One by one the prey moved on and it had made hunting difficult. A fact that worried Brandr. Abaven continued to grow and there were young that needed to be fed to grow up big and strong. The hunters had to work overtime to make sure prey was stock piled.

He stretched out on a bed of grasses in the den. Corentine and Lucine weren't there at the moment and he assumed they'd taken shelter elsewhere, either in one of the healing dens or the den of another Abaven member. He had no desire to go out in the rain and he imagined most of the prey he'd hunt were taking shelter as well. So what could he do to pass the time? Sitting up he ambled over to a folded piece of deer hide that held a number of objects from his time as a nomad with his mother's group. They had a number of games they'd play when they stopped to rest. Most of them required another player but there was one that didn't. There was a game he could play by himself to occupy his time until the rain stopped.

Brandr carefully opened the deer hide and rooted around until he found piles of square scraps of hide. Gently picking these up in his mouth he set them down on the dirt floor then returned for the next bundle. The dried scraps were blank and thus could not be used in the game, not yet at least. He continued to dig around until he found a few bundles of raspberries and elderberries that had been gathered earlier in the week. Gently opening the bundles and setting them next to the cards he reached out and mashed a few of the berries until the juice was useable. Reaching out a single claw he dipped it in the raspberry juice and dotted a single dot in the middle of the first slice of the skin. Spreading the scraps of skin out he got to his feet and began to mark the cards. He marked half of them with the raspberry juice and half of them with the darker elderberry juice. Each chard had a number of dots from one to ten.

Satisfied, he cleaned up the berry juice and wrapped up the good berries while he waited for his cards to dry. In the mean time he picked up the hide with the berries and put them back. They'd need to be used up eventually. He knew from his wife that elderberries were useful in fortifying the immune system though he didn't know if there was any benefit to consuming the raspberries. He'd have to ask Corentine when she had a moment. Brandr needed to compliment her on her skills. Her knowledge with healing herbs had always impressed him. He had no idea how she managed to keep all that knowledge in her head.

The rain kept falling. Brandr walked to the mouth of his den and examined the entrance. It was growing muddy but the angle of the mouth of the den slopped slightly downward. Brandr had folded reeds in such a way as to help direct the rain downward to help prevent flooding. Even so he hoped such heavy rains would not last long. As parched as the ground was he doubted the ground could keep up with the torrential rainfall.

Returning to his game Brandr inspected the cards. Satisfied that they were dry he shuffled the cards and flipped them over so that he could not see what card he would draw. placing them in a pile he gently flipped the first card over and then then next. He laid them out in a row of seven, then a row of six just on top of the last of the seven and then five on the last of the six until the last row had seven cards on it. He examined them carefully. The goal was to use all the cards in alternating sequence from ten down to one. Taking a red 8 he set it down on the black seven. Back and forth he worked until he found himself in a stalemate. Sighing he shuffled the cards and started again, on and on until at last the rain had stopped.