Her mind felt numb from boredom. She quietly planned her escape to meet Fox for her hunting lesson. Dastar looked better. She felt bad to leave him again, but also strangely excited to be meeting her hunter again.  Wait. Her hunter? Where had that come from? When had he been her hunter? The hunter. Yes. That was safe. Plus, the hunter had literally no emotions. There was no way that there could be anything between them. Anyway, her heart belonged to Dastar. This whole discussion was ridiculous.

She slipped out of bed as the moon slid down from the sky. It was 2 in the morning, she had two hours two escape the manor and get to the ruin. She slipped over to the window, only to find it locked. He'd locked the windows? Man was overreacting. She slipped off her shoes, easing open the bedroom door. The guard was standing a twenty paces down the hallway, not alert but unfortunately not asleep either. Every footstep sounded louder than a gunshot, the tiniest scrape of the door opening like a dagger to her heart. But the guard appeared oblivious, never turning away from staring out away from her and Dastar's room.

She hid in a secretive alcove partially hidden by a tapestry, now only 10 metres from the guard. She stood, mostly hidden in the shadows, until her muscles began to cramp and it felt like every breath she took must surely alert him to her presence. She had no idea how much time passed, but eventually he looked around him, not spotting her, and set off down the passageway. She shadowed him on cat-light feet, the noise she made masked by the soft clanking of his armour.

He reached the guard-post, where an older man was strapping his sword on. They exchanged a few words before the younger guard headed off towards the barracks, and the older one came towards Mycena, with the intention of going to the lookout spot she and the young guard had just vacated. She had a sudden panicked moment, as he turned out of the guard room and straight along the corridor towards her, but his sword fell from its scabbard (He'd strapped it on upside down, to be honest it was 2am) and in the confusion she managed to slip behind another tapestry, Thank the gods Dastar favoured them so much. The guard passed with heavy footfalls and she held her breath, biting her lip. It was bleeding lightly and the taste of iron filled her mouth. She shivered softly and slipped out into the hallway as the guard reached his position and stopped. She moved down the corridor, light as a ghost, down the servant's staircase and out into the wide open night.

Stars glowed above her. An owl hooted. She stood for a few minutes, looking up, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The heavens were strung with fairy lights and she remembered her past days, remembered how the stars had lit her path as she had run and danced and battled her way across the moon-dark world. She set off, stepping lightly through the grasses, holding her arm across her face to deflect branches. The night clung to her hair and clothes, softer than daylight.

The sky was slightly lighter as she reached the ruin, Fox was already up and strapping on his bow, checking arrows in his quiver. She gave Ebony a quick bucket of oats, pulling her bow and quiver from the shelf nearby. She belted on her knife and slipped the remaining arrows in her quiver, settling it slung onto her back.

She followed Fox through the dark woods, wondering where on earth they were going. It was still too dark to see properly, but the hunter lead her with unerring ease. She tried not to trip over branches. Finally he gave an explanation, "We're going to a lake a few miles from here. The waterfowl will give you good shooting practice. They will all be on the water early in the day, that's why I got you up so early. Then, if there's time, we'll practice some tracking some deer in the woods." She nodded gratefully. 

When they reached the lake the sun was almost peeping over the land. The sky was infused with pomegranate juice and mist coiled over the lake, creating an ethereal scene. Fox stopped her with an outstretched arm, and they knelt to observe the geese. They were straggling out across the lake, some in small bunches, others alone. They were beautiful animals, with strong necks and shining feathers, she felt almost bad to be killing them. But needs must be met, and she'd eaten goose all her life. Eating it was no different from killing it, and if you can't bring yourself to kill an animal, you shouldn't really be eating it.

Fox pointed one out to her. "Go for that one." The female was plump and healthy, set a little way off from the rest. She unslung her bow, bringing it up to the correct height. They were a long way away, but she supposed that was what Fox wanted. She drew back the string, until her fingers brushed her cheek. Sighting along the arrow, she let the string go. The arrow whistled away, but splashed into the water a few metres from the goose, which belatedly began to paddle away. With a few beats of its enormous wings, it heaved itself from the lake and into the air. A few others nearby followed, but most were still concentrating on finding their breakfast.

"What did you do wrong," said Fox.

She couldn't think. Had she been holding the bow wrong? Had she pulled the string too far back? She thought she was a decent shot, but...

"I've never really managed to shoot from that far before.."

"Exactly." Fox looked every bit the hunter, only his lack of stubble belying the fact he wasn't out of his teens. "You never shoot until you're certain you'll hit something. That was a test. You get closer, then you shoot."

He moved almost silently through the scrubby bushes and long grass, staying low to the ground. "Place your feet carefully. Geese don't have good hearing, but deer do. This is good practice." She followed him, her breathing light and muscles tense. "Geese can't hear very well, but they have good sight. They will have a lookout posted, stay low to the ground." She hunched over, trying to copy his movements. He seemed to float between the grasses, low and quiet as mist. I stumbled after him on hands and feet, trying not to let the grasses and dry leaves rustle. He stopped behind a bush and motioned for me to take my bow out again. This time I took longer, breathing in and out, before I released. The arrow sang away, and this time there was a reaction from the lake. An almighty flapping and honking, spray flying everywhere, as all but one of the geese rose into the air. Fox pulled out his bow in one fluid movement, nocking an arrow and releasing in a blink. Another goose fell to the surface of the lake, then one more. To hit a flying goose at several hundred yards? That was insane.

"Wait..." she said, "how will we get the geese back? Will we have to swim?"

He smiled at her. "Nah, I'll call in a friend of mine."

He pointed out to the edge of the woodland, and she almost screamed. A wolf with coal black fur flowed away from the trees and down towards the lake. It hit the water in a spray of silver water, and paddled swiftly toward the carcasses of the geese. Grabbing the first in it's jaws, it headed back towards us. When it pulled itself from the water, showing its full massive size, she was a little intimidated, but Fox knelt to ruffle its ears. "Mycena, meet Selaphiel, or Sephy for short. Sephy, meet Mycena. Hold out your hand, Mycena. For Sephs to smell you, then she'll trust you." She did so, trying not to think of the gleaming teeth hidden beneath the soft furry muzzle. Sephy had a white patch under one eye, and greyish eyebrows with a slightly speckled face. The wolf nuzzled her softly, gave her hand a lick, and turned away, running back to the lake and remaining geese.

"Wow." she said, "That is seriously cool." She couldn't be sure, but she thought his lips twitched slightly into a smile. It was probably a good thing that he didn't smile, she thought. He probably had dimples or something else that would kill poor innocent girls from sheer knockoutness. Yeah. Definitely shouldn't be doing any smiling.

Sephy loped back up to them, and she noticed for the first time that she was only a pup. Maybe a year old at most, she still had the gambolling gait of a young dog, her ears still slightly floppy. The grey on her face must be genetic then, rather than from age. "How old is she?" She knew questions didn't work with Fox, but maybe this one was harmless enough.

"I found her when I was fifteen. She was very young, eyes not open yet. That was a year ago now." Huh. She'd reckoned he was younger than he pretended to be. Now she had an actual age. 1 point, Mycena. Now only what his actual name was, where he was from, why he was living in a ruin in the woods, where he'd learnt to hunt, and about a million other things.....

They tracked deer through the woods until the sun was properly up, Sephy sometimes accompanying them, sometimes leaving and running alone. Fox had given her one of the geese, and tied the last two to his belt. They tracked and stalked several deer, but didn't kill them, Fox pointing out a tree for her to hit instead. Her aim was getting better and she managed to hit all the trees, earning a terse nod from him.

They were just heading back when he pointed out an otter, lying on the rocks beside a river. They sat and watched, as a tiny otter cub scrambled out of a burrow in the river bank, then another, then another. The three cubs played, gambolling about and climbing on top of their mother, playing king-of-the-castle. Then the whole family leapt up and slithered into the river, swimming round and round and chasing each other. It made her heart feel so full of love and joy it might burst, and she glanced over to see Fox smiling, dimples on full display. He caught her looking and returned his face to its normal stony expression, making her smirk, but then one of the baby otters fell off a rock backwards with a small splash and the most adorable surprised expression, and he couldn't stop his smile from growing again. Mycena laughed, and the mother picked the cub with a disapproving look, and then they were both laughing so hard they couldn't stop.

They were just wandering back through the woods when something occurred to her. "Wait, what day is it?"

"Sunday," said Fox, looking at her quizzically.

"Damn, I was supposed to meet Bethany today to see the Snowbound. What time is it?"

"It's only actually about 8 in the morning, that's the good thing about getting up at four."

"I'd better shoot then," she dashed off in the direction of the ruin, glancing back to see him looking slightly wistful.