Songs of the Reamere: Preparations

The Reamere was dark.

Dark and swelling. There weren’t waves, not really, just the swells that never broke, churning the water. Youji shivered and pulled his coat more tightly around himself, clutching his bag closer to his side. Maybe he shouldn’t have agreed to help with this, maybe he was getting in over his head. It would help if the locals could… would, talk about anything besides the lack of fish. They refused, even, to talk about the obvious storm brewing on the horizon. Oh certainly, the sky was a pale blue that would make a snow jay jealous, with fluffy wisps of white cloud that floated cheerfully inland, but dark waters churned and over the horizon, a wall of clouds stretched from sea to sun like a grey curtain.

The docs creaked under the swells of dark water, and Youji took a breath, flicking his ears back. It was going to be a rough trip. He had his coat, but that was all he could figure out.

The wind Shifted behind him, a heavy THUMP and the ruffling of feathers, and he turned, reaching out blindly to touch the mass of browns and pinks, the remaining pink leg, that had Appeared behind him. “Hey Nat.” He looked up (and up and up) to Natasha’s head. To her beak.

To the rather large staff in her beak. For a long moment, he and Nat stared at each other. Unblinking. His breath caught in his throat, Nat as calm and prim as she ever was. The staff was a beautiful braided wood, inlaid with gemstones. Likely an incredibly powerful magical tool. “Is… that what you’re bringing?” He asked.

The stryx blinked. Stooped. Dropped the staff at his feet.

No. That’s what You’re bringing. The meaning was clear, and he bent to pick up the staff. Its magic hummed in his hands.

“Nat I don’t--” he tried to protest. Natasha squawked, irritation flashing across her face. He was keeping the staff, it seemed. He wasn’t certain what good it would do but if Natasha insisted, he wasn’t going to pick a fight with a stryx who could in fact eat him in one gulp if she chose. “We need more than just this, you know.” he spoke. “The locals won’t talk about anything but the monster--” she knew this, he knew she did, and she clicked her beak disapprovingly to remind him, shoving her beak against his chest with a huff. He laughed and dug a claw into her feathers between her eyes, scratching fondly. “I don’t suppose you’ve thought of anything? Besides the staff I mean?” He continued to scritch her feather, lifting the staff to indicate it. Nat watched it move. Stared at him. And spun, screeching, to display her back to him.

It was as clear a signal as he was going to get. Youji grinned and leaped up, clambering up to hook his legs in front of her wings, and with a rush of vertigo they were in the air. “Lead the way, Nat!” he called, laying along her neck. The docks fell away below them, wind nipping at Youji’s ears and rushing through Nat’s feathers until she turned back away from the Reamere.

Youji coud guess where the harpia was headed--hunting, they would need food for the search if there were no fish. It was an excellent idea, really. Unusual for her to think of, but excellent.

==

In an idyllic clearing, surrounded by tall grasses and flowers, encircled by trees that grew nearly as tall as Natasha, Youji and Natasha had gathered three elk. Two beautiful does, and an elk nearly as large as a moose. Three Wonderful sources of jerky and sausage for the trip.

A fire blazed, glittering and unnatural, not even threatening the grasses around it, while smoking and cooking all of the edible parts of one of the does. Youji spread a tarp out before himself, which now lay soaked in blood, various bits of metal, piles of meat, and bones.

Perched on a fallen tree, overlooking all of the bloody work, was Nat.

Nat?

Nat screamed.

It was the fifth time in as many minutes. The deep, yet shrill -screeeeEEEE- of a petulant harpia, followed by two thumping Hops on the felled tree, and her massive body bobbed to bring her face closer to one of the corpses she had created. For the fift time, Youji waved his hand, blocking her beak from the elk she was determined to feast on. “You need to wait.” he pressed his palm against her beak. She rumbled against him, a subsonic noise below even his hearing, that vibrated to his core and forced his hair to stand on end. “If you eat it all now, you won’t have enough to eat while we’re at sea.”

Another shreik. In his ear. His vision swam and his gut churned. Groaning, he scowled up at her, his ears ringing. “We’re making rations.”

A massive foot stomped on the felled tree and she huffed, straightening herself back, violet eyes gleaming with indignation! She was a Good stryx! How dare he deny her her dues! She’d hunted excellently and three elk was certainly plenty, wasn’t it?

“I know, I know.” he sighed, and turned back to butchering the meat. His arms were soaked in elk blook, his butchering tarp filthy. His fire roared behind him, sparking with the scent of cinnamon, edged with more felled trees. Nat swivled herself and sniffed at it, beak parted as if to bite at the spit that he’d placed over the flames, the first of the three elk happily smoking over the magical flames, soaked in salt and spices. “If you’re actually hungry, you could go hunt another one.” Youji suggested.

Nat glared, hissing her frustration and rearing back again. Pointedly, she extended a wing and shoved her beak into the vivid purple flight feathers. No, no thank you. She’d hunted Enough. “Then you’re going to have to wait, these are rations. We’re smoking them, so that we can eat them on the trip.” he explained. Violet eyes narrowed, and she shook her upper tail. Unacceptable. Don’t want to go. Natasha lifted her head from her feathers, huffed, a in a flash she swooped to peck at the leg of the elk that had yet to be moved to the butchering tarp.

He understood, really. The cooking meat made his mouth water, and his stomach grumbled. Pity…

“There aren’t any fish in the water.” He said. “You won’t be able to just grab a shark out of the ocean like we usually do. That’s why we’re making so many rations, because that’s the only food we’re going to have. We can eat in the morning, before we leave.”

Natasha pecked again, rumbling once more. Her beak was sharp, and still bloody from when she’d stabbed it into her prey’s back when her weight wasn’t enough to kill it. The same bull that she was pecking at now.

Maybe… maybe he should just let her have the leg. Surely just being short the haunch wouldn’t cause them to starve, and it would be a few pounds less for her to carry…

“Okay, okay, you can have the le-” Youji didn’t even finish the sentence before she was off the fallen tree, planting her foot against the elk’s side, and with a twist and snap of her beak, the haunch was just. Gone.

A good reminder he supposed, to never actually anger his birds. Nat could swallow him in one gulp if she so chose.

At least, he hoped, this would satisfy her long enough that he could butcher and cook the rest of the meat. He’d have to get the bones to Anubi somehow, but that was something he could figure out later.

Later, after he finished the butchering.