Pathfinder || OC X Neteyam

6 - The Sturmbeast

Aha'ri made it a habit to go back to the camp and teach Lurei what she learned each day.

She taught her the tricks she learned with her bow, she taught her all she needed to know about hunting if anything were to happen, and she taught her to defend herself if she ever came across sky people—or a pack of viperwolves.

We do it together, she told her. She wasn't going to shelter her like their parents did.

Lurei was more than happy to learn alongside her sister. She still wasn't allowed many freedoms being so young, but Aha'ri knew she dreamed of having an Ikran of her own.

As Lurei was beginning her journey of becoming a future warrior, Aha'ri was finalizing hers.

"So what do you even do?" Lurei asked Aha'ri as she attached feathers to the end of a stick. She was helping Aha'ri make arrows for her big hunt.

Aha'ri sat beside her on the rock floor of their tent, tying arrowheads to the stick Lurei prepared. "Hunt sturmbeast."

Lurei furrowed her brows. "Why sturmbeast?"

Aha'ri knew she was just curious but she was not in the mood to answer her fifty questions. Her mind was already preoccupied with thinking of every possible way she could mess up during her hunt later.

"They're tough creatures—hard to kill so it can truly test a warrior's skills." Her hands began to sweat as she explained. Was she ready enough for this? What if she fails?

Lurei paused in thought for a moment before her face lit up. "Can I come? I want to watch."

Aha'ri didn't look up from her arrow. "No."

"Why?" Lurei whined.

Aha'ri took a deep breath. Dont blow up. Dont blow up.

She turned to her little sister trying to sound as calm as she could. "Because you can't fly with me and you don't know how to hunt yet."

"I do know how to hunt. Isn't that what you've been teaching me?" Lurei asked, gesturing to the finished arrows on the ground next to them.

It was more complicated than that, but that's not what Lurei wanted to hear. She was right, she could go out and hunt right now if she wanted, Aha'ri made sure of that. At the very least she knew the basics but that wasn't the point. "Well yes but-" she began.

"I want to see you in action," Lurei interrupted. "I only ever hear about your skills from gossip around the village. Whenever I ask you, you just turn it into a lesson."

Aha'ri could see the longing in Lurei's eyes. She knew how badly she wanted to go, how badly she wanted to go down with her and hunt and fight. It pained Aha'ri to keep her up in High Camp all the time, but she was just too young. She told herself there was nothing else she could do until her sister got a little older.

Aha'ri put the arrow she was working on down next to her feet and scooted closer to Lurei. She sat there with big pleading eyes as she watched her get closer. "I'm sorry, Lurei," Aha'ri said softly. "I need to have my full focus on the hunt and I can't have that with you on Kilvan with me." Lurei lowered her head and Aha'ri knew how disappointed she was. It seemed like it's become a habit. But it's for her own good. "I can hunt with you some other days but today is really important. I can't mess this up." Aha'ri paused, thinking of how quickly her little sister was growing up.

In many ways, she was still a child but ever since their parents died, Lurei has been different. The training only made her more stubborn as she gained confidence. Aha'ri admired that about her. She smiled and nudged Lurei in the arm, "Don't forget you're going to be doing it someday too...and I'll be right by your side."