On the Hunt

The sand didn’t chafe Petra; her skin and scales were weathered from life in the Sandfall, leaving her to enjoy the wind and the rapid descent. She hefted the spear in her hand, the weight of it welcome and familiar. There wasn’t anything to hunt in sight — yet — and she chanced a look to the side. She just wanted to check on the Nimare girl she met recently. They’d been exchanging knowledge, although most of this was about Saurians. Nanshe wanted to know about them and their way of life and Petra was more than willing to share in exchange for knowledge about the Nimare. It was too bad that all of Petra’s comprehension about the other species was purely theoretical, but Nanshe seemed determined to drag her to the shallows at least.

Petra still hadn’t told her she was afraid of water.

“You have to prove yourself as a hunter,” Petra had told her the night before, “That’s the way of the Saurians, you know?” And it was. Nanshe had taken it in a stride, though from what Petra could understand, she was already an accomplished hunter among her own kind. She was an alpha, she said, and when Petra hadn’t understood what that meant, she spilt a long tirade about providing, protection and pet peeves. Petra suspected pet peeves were something she added on her own.

And now, come morning, they’ve ventured out into the desert so Petra could show Nanshe how Saurians hunted. Nanshe was confident that she’d be able to do it right on her first try as well, but Nanshe was confident about everything. It was hard for Petra to tell whether the confidence was warranted, but she was glad that it was her showing Nanshe the ropes of everything. She felt a little bit like a child who was happy about one person being friends with them. Her heart did a little proud lurch when Nanshe looked to her for advice.

Speaking of her, Petra thought as she turned around, the wind whipping around her, Nanshe seemed to be doing just fine. Usually, she struggled in the sand and she was only comfortable on solid soil. Even then, she’d complain about how water allowed for more freedom of movement. Petra could understand, but just the thought of the ocean made her shudder in fear of the unknown. Desert, at least, was safe, if not friendly.

Now, Nanshe sailed past her on a piece of wood, using it like a board that allowed her to slither down the dune.

“What are you doing?!” Petra asked, bending her knees so she’d slide down easier as well, letting her tail dictate the direction of her movement.

(“So, like a rudder?” Nanshe had asked when Petra showed her this trick for the first time, and Petra had no slightest idea what she was talking about. And so, she asked: “What in the fresh oasis was a rudder?” It was, apparently, what boats used for navigation. Nanshe was adamant it wasn’t the boat’s tail, but Petra couldn’t imagine it as anything else. She only knew what the boats looked like above the water.

“Don’t you use your tail for navigation?” She asked instead.

“Of course,” Nanshe said, “Sometimes. Mostly I just skewer things on the pike.”

That made sense. Sure.)

“I’m sailing,” Nanshe said, sliding down the slope at the same pace as Petra did, something that never really happened within the desert, given how impaired her movement usually was. “I found this piece of driftwood and it made things easier, no?”

“That’s not driftwood,” Petra corrected her on technicality. “But that’s good thinking. Now raise your spear.”

Nanshe did, although she nearly slowed to a stop. She peered at Petra with squinted eyes. She hated her sun, and during their talks, Petra had come to find that she rarely ever saw the surface of the Grand Lake. This was one of her first forays out from the Lake. Nanshe didn’t seem like someone too fond of adventure, but she did seem like someone who couldn’t say no to a challenge.

“Like this?” Nanshe asked, and Petra nodded. She realized that the pink-haired woman was mimicking her pose and that giddiness she often felt returned. She’d miss her when she was gone back to the Grand Lake, she realized, and the prospect immediately made her grouchy. “What am I aiming at?”

“In a moment,” Petra promised. “Let’s stop here. Don’t talk. And don’t move.”

Out in the desert, when nothing moved, patience was the key to everything. Despite it being the morning, the sun kept beating down upon them as they stood there motionless. The only movement was the slight shift of sand among the dunes. Petra thought Nanshe would be more impatient, but when she turned towards her, the woman didn’t even have a questioning look on her face like she usually would. No, it seemed like she was trying to follow Petra’s line of sight. Good.

Finally, after a while, something shifted in the sand — a small, moving mound. Petra moved in a flash, shoulders tensing as she threw her spear while attempting to not move her legs. Her spear missed just an inch next to the mound. The unseen critter tried to avoid the damage — or maybe even burrow further — when a different spear lodged itself into its body, skewering it in place. The hit had to be fatal. With nothing to pin it down to in the desert sand, it would just keep running if it was alive, even with the spear lodged in its body. It took Petra a moment to realise that Nanshe had hit it.

“Oh!” She said then, turning around and hugging the other woman in congratulations due to surprise. If she stopped to think about it, she would’ve probably been at least a little nervous. “Oh, you did it on the first try!” And then, just to sound a little less impressed, she added: “But that’s just beginner luck!”

Nanshe rolled her eyes, returning the hug loosely.

“Told you I could provide,” she said cockily while moving down the sand pit to retrieve their spears.

“Huh!” Petra scoffed, “Yeah, yeah. Provide, and protect, and you have pet peeves. I remember. Let’s go find more!”

It was Nanshe’s turn to snort at her big bad description of the Nimare, and them she threw Petra’s spear back to her. In one hand she was holding her own, leg already sat down on the piece of wood she used for ‘sailing’ across the desert. In the other, she held a crab-like creature she had killed beneath the sand.

“Come on, let’s find more of these. This is fun!” Nanshe said, and Petra followed without question. That fond, proud feeling just kept growing.