sixthiterationlogs | "Under the Dappled Sunlight"

WHO: Lyanna Stark
WHERE: Around the village, the Woods
WHEN: Early June
OPEN TO: OTA, Jon Snow
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Open

Village

After a week's recuperation, Lyanna was back on her feet, energized and ready to explore. Her arrival had been during a hail storm, forcing her inside, along with the need to recover. Now that the weather had cleared and she could stand upright again, she wanted to see everything. There were a number of buildings that had been converted for different uses, like the police station. They received a passing glance. Instead, she headed towars the destroyed bungalows

There would be a number of things to take and claim, it just meant having to find her way inside. Carefully stepping over some of the debris, she peered into the broken windows. There was someone else passing by, someone that was out enjoying the day as well.

"Has anyone tried to go into these houses before?" She looked back. "What happened to them? They look like they collapsed."

The Woods

There were at least weapons available for use, including a bow. Gathering a handful of arrows, Lyanna headed into the woods. There was apparently good game, given what Jon brought back to the bungalow every day. It wouldn't be the same without a horse and hounds, but she would make do.

There were a few climbable trees, a place where she could sit and wait for the game to come out into the open. She hoisted herself up and perched herself on a large branch. Apparently others passed by often, as she would hear the brush being disturbed. Just as she took aim, she'd have to lower her bow at the sight of another person.

"You're scaring the rabbits."

The Woods - Closed to Jon

It was a strange thing to sit on a secret of this magnitude. Ned had told her the truth about Jon when she first arrived, but health and surroundings took her attention. There was so much else to process before she digested that her newly born son had grown into a man. She had lost so much time, surrendering him into the care of the man she trusted more than anyone. It didn't change the longing she had in her heart to know him better, to talk with him and learn about the man he had become.

But how to even approach it. Each time she tried to tell him she knew, she found the words wouldn't come. So instead, she fell back and retreated from the topic. She would ask other questions, but none of what she really wanted to know.

Having enough, she followed him out to the woods, making mention before that she wanted to hunt with him. She wasn't ever good with delicacy. So instead of easing into the topic, she simply blurted out, "I know you're my son."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I've had a few people mention snares to me. I suppose that shows me to choose a tree on an active path." She would need to remember the way everyone came to and from the village. "Did you capture the rabbits to raise or did they come to you in one of those strange boxes?" She saw a few of them on the front step of other houses, but had yet to get one of her own.

"Arrows? I will have to make more. I'm not an expert in fletching, but someone could teach me."

"No, I captured," he says, because he had spent a long time finding the right rabbits for his project. "I do some fletching, but only taught myself," he admits, which means that there could be something far better in technique and he doesn't know about it, but he also taught himself all the specifics he needs to know about shooting, so maybe he's not so bad.

He gives her an up-and-down look, trying to figure out how long she's been there. "How often do you hunt?"

"You know how fletch?" Her eyes widened, excitement clear across her face. "Would you teach me? I always wanted to learn, but my father had a limit to what he was willing to let me do." It wasn't proper. Thank the gods he never knew about her sparring with her brothers. "It would let me be of some use here."

She shrugged her shoulders, twirling the arrow between her fingers again. "Not that often. Sometimes my brothers would let me come along. I practiced archery alongside them though. Are you collecting more rabbits?"

"Not perfect, but yes," Cougar agrees, a serious look on his face. He gives her a curious look, wondering why the father would not teach that, especially since she seems to know enough about hunting and snares to have some teaching, but not specifically to fletch. "Some rabbits are to eat, some to raise," he says. "Have to be careful."

"If we hunt too much, then, no rabbits," he says, which had been a big concern for Cougar in the early days, when there were growing numbers and limited animals.

She was fortunate to grow up with three brothers, two old enough to teach her what they had learned, but only if she pestered them enough. For the rest, she watched and learned on her own. "This isn't the place to have a pet. You're right, if we hunt too much, we lose the meat we need to survive."

And stag seemed to be rare in the woods. "The village is large. How are we going to manage if more people arrive?"

"We plan," is Cougar's serious response, because he's been working at it with the chickens and rabbits to the point that he feels secure so long as the numbers don't go above a hundred. If they do, then there will be a problem. "I have chickens and a rooster. I have eggs, but also little chickalings," he explains. "Enough to feed. Then, I raise rabbits for the same."

It has none of the thrill and the joy of hunting, but it's steady, dependable food. It keeps them alive.

There at least seemed to be an equal exchange to those being brought in and those that were taken away. The village didn't seem to have an issue in all the time they had been here, which was nearing a year, according to some. Perhaps there was little reason to be concerned about running low on food?

"Would you be willing to help me trap a rabbit or two of my own?" She could at least contribute by tending to a pair of rabbits herself.

He nods his head, seeing as it would be easy to help her with this and Cougar doesn't mind at all, seeing as he could use the practice. "Yes," he agrees, though he's searching her over already. "Do you have hutches?" If she wants to raise them to the point that she'll get to eat them, he needs to make sure they prepare before they start trapping the animals.

Though, he wouldn't let them go, not totally. They would serve a purpose, either with him or with her.

"Under the Dappled Sunlight"

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