Partners

Though light, the snow had drifted slowly to the ground for the past several days, and had left the landscape cloaked in thick white. The trees were barren, their leaves long since fallen to the ground and disappeared under the falling snow. It was in this time, when most animals were hidden away from the cold and sleeping, when most people wished to be nowhere but in their homes, relatively safe and warm, that Mirana and her partner could hunt at their peak potential.

Mirana crouched low to the ground, watching the snow for movement or disparity, while her beast friend sniffed for trails. Mirana had a longbow strapped across her back, and a single arrow resting at her side, ready to be drawn and shot at a moment's notice. She knew that she would have not need of another arrow - their sight was greater than their foes, and she could launch a single arrow with precision at more than fifty paces. Their hunt could not anticipate them, nor get out of the way quickly enough.

Born without vision, it was a miracle that Mirana had met her beast friend, who had declined to offer a name. The two had bonded - traded blood - and through their bond, Mirana was able to use her friend's eyes to see. His instincts joined with hers, and together they had learned to hunt. They were creatures of the wild, untamable by man, and they survived off of the meat which they killed themselves.

They spotted it in the distance. A white bear in the snow, its black nose and eyes covered by the snow, just barely standing out thanks to the very slight steam coming from its breath. In an instant, Mirana's bow was in her hands, the arrow notched and launched through the air. Her partner surged through the snow after it, his teeth gnashing as his powerful legs launched him through the air. The bear barely had time to look up before the arrow pierced its eye, half blinding it and making it howl and pain. In the next moment, the beast snapped its teeth around the bear's throat, spilling its blood into the snow.

By the time Mirana arrived at the spot, her partner had already used its teeth to tear the bear's meat into manageable chunks, removing its fur and discarding the bones. Mirana tore her arrow out of the bear's skull and cleaned it in the snow before slipping it back into its small quiver. She pet her partner's blood soaked fur, and he nuzzled her hand, then they got to work preparing and storing the meat that they could take. What was left over, the beast consumed, and the things they could not use they left behind.

It was a good life for the two of them. Mirana frequently added onto her cloak in the winter time with the furs they collected from their fallen prey, so she was never uncomfortable. The blood did not frighten nor disgust her - it was a sign of their success. It had long since stained her partner's fur, and she could always find him by the red stripe along his back. Together they were survivors. Together they thrived.