It took Maura most of an hour to find exactly what she had been looking for and make her way back towards the siblings.

A mid-tier earth aspect great cat of some kind ‘donated’ sixteen claws that were just right. The earth mana would keep the claws super sharp as long as they were only used for light work like eating. They would be possible to sharpen, but it would take some of the finish off. Unless they used a nice leather strop? She would have to provide one with the gift. She had taken its four largest teeth and a large part of it’s pelt as well, as they were all nice things.

A large rabbit-wolf thing had a horn large enough to make at least one comb out of, but it would probably be better for hair sticks as it was straight but had a small diameter. She was pondering all of the strange mutations that monsters had and keeping track of her surroundings when she found the siblings and paused.

They weren’t alone.

Maura placed her bundle and spear down and crept closer to listen to what was being said. The person’s back was to her but they were wearing a cloak so she couldn’t make out who it was. It was still snowing, so their voices were muffled and they were harder to make out than usual.

When she was in range she listened to Eric say, “... the skilled hunter. Makes sense, I suppose, as she’s been out in the wilderness for a while. Tracked down the better game easily enough at any rate!”

Maura had moved around to get a better angle and saw that it was Sergeant Eileen that was standing with them. None of them had any tension in their bodies or looked like they were being aggressive, so Maura decided to make herself known. She stood up a bit straighter and allowed her cloak to fall open. Amber saw her first, followed closely by Eileen who jumped a little at how close she was.

Eric snorted in his amused way and continued, “There she is. Find what you were looking for, Maura? It’s getting late and I’d like to get back.”

Sgt Eileen studied Maura with a suspicious squint, but Maura decided to pretend like everything was fine and said, “Yes, I’ll go get it and we can return now.”

Before Maura could move away Sgt Eileen cleared her throat and said, “Maura, I’d like to take some time to talk to you, if that’s alright. I think that your skills could do a lot of good in the army, even if you just passed along a few lessons.” She gestured at the sled and continued, “If this is anything to go by, you have excellent hunting and tracking skills. I’m what’s known as a forward scout, and it’s my job to do what it seems like you are quite skilled in already doing. It’s a position that you could do well in, if you had a mind to. Think about it. I’ll talk to you later.”

Maura slipped to the side further from Sgt Eileen as she turned and walked back into camp. She studied the soldier and had worried thoughts. Did they do too much? Would this be another issue?

Eric broke her out of her thoughts by picking up the rope to the sled while he began to pull and said, “Well, let’s get back. I could use something warm.”

Amber was studying Maura’s reaction with a bit of suspicion but then said, “Wait, Maura needs to uh… check the sled.”

Maura blushed a bit because she had almost forgotten. The ward was under a pile of monsters, but someone with sharp enough senses might be able to see past the overlapping magical energies in the bodies and notice it. She quickly slid over to the sled and reached underneath it to where her ward was and quickly removed it. She nodded at Eric and he began to move towards the camp. Maura quickly retrieved her bundle and spear then followed them.

They were heading towards a wagon that Maura hadn’t seen before, but Amber began to head to Amelia’s wagon after saying she was going to get her parents so they could see the haul.

Maura hopped close to Eric and said, “Can I take the things I want to make into gifts before anyone else sees them? They will be more of a surprise that way, I can put them in this hide here.”

Eric chuckled at her obvious nervousness and stopped the sled so Maura could grab the few things she needed. She had already rolled up the hide for the boots, though had forced herself to leave it untreated, so it was easy enough to retrieve. She had used her knife and a mumbled cantrip to cleanly cut off the antlers when they were processing the kills earlier, so she picked them from their spot and then hid everything in the somewhat suspiciously bulging hide she was carrying that was making soft clinking noises.

When they arrived at the new tent, Eric called up to the sentry on the back of it and said, “Sarah, got a great haul! Let Leto know, please!”

Sarah nodded and hopped along some boxes down to the front of the large wagon and called into the tent. A few people made some grumbling noises and by the time Eric and she had made it around the wagon there were three people standing out front.

This wagon was much different than most of the other ones. It had boxes of goods around the outside so that it could still be used as an impromptu wall, but the inside was all open and filled with piles of different monster parts. The tent itself had a distinct smell to it of processed meat.

One of the people walked towards them and said, “Ah, a great haul, you say. I’ll believe it when I see it, says I!” Maura was happy to notice that this was one of the Guri that she had seen around camp. He had tiny little feathers along his neck and on the sides of his face and his eyes were very large and golden. His clothing was lighter than others and his long and agile fingers weren’t covered by gloves.

Eric threw the rope he had been using to drag the sled down dramatically as he posed with his nose in the air and said, “Someone grab a chair for poor Leto. I wouldn’t want him to fall on the cold snow in his shock!”

There were a few chuckles at the little theatre, but Maura had to wonder if Eric wasn’t actually at least a little serious. From what the siblings had said earlier, this sled was probably worth the rest of their hunted merchandise several times over. Maura was feeling a little exposed as she scanned the skies. There were too many new strangers here and she was being studied by all of them.

She tried to hide the conspicuous sack behind her, but it clearly wasn’t working. Right as Leto came down the steps in front and she was considering bolting she heard footsteps behind her and she turned to look.

Her body relaxed as she saw Amelia, Amber and the Chieftain walking up to them all wrapped in warm cloaks against the snow. Amelia turned a little and headed her way while Amber led Chief Carter to the sled. Maura’s quick glance revealed Eric almost bursting with pride and amusement which made her smile a little as she shuffled closer to Amelia.

Leto said, “Ah! It seems that we shall have an audience!” with a twilling chuckle.

Chief Stephens responded, “Indeed! I hear from my daughter that we have a great deal to thank our newest clan member for!”

He sent Maura a wink as the blood drained from her face and she tried to make herself small when all of the attention shifted to her. She awkwardly shuffled to hide behind Amelia but was once again waylaid by an arm around her shoulders.

Amelia whispered, “You’re safe here, and it’s time more people got to meet you. Hat off, please.”

Maura winced as she did as she was told. She scanned the skies really fast before attempting to meet anyone’s eyes, but most had already turned back to the sled as the raw hides began being taken from the top.

Eric was taking one hide at a time off of the sled, obviously showing off, when finally the pile of mostly intact beasts were revealed. Leto had been making appreciative noises at the hides but he froze as the whole bounty was shown. He squawked and then called to his helpers, “Git your butts down here, we have lots of work to do! Heavens, I haven’t seen such a haul in a decade, if I were to guess!”

Amber chimed in with, “It was almost all thanks to Maura, here. She also skinned those hides off like an expert, so we could leave some of the less useful carcasses behind that didn’t have decent meat or bones.”

Maura instinctively tried to shuffle behind Amelia again, but her arm didn’t let her. Leto looked at Maura with his giant eyes wide open before he just laughed a little and started to direct people to begin moving things to specific places.

Chief Carter and he began discussing how they wanted everything prepared so as to get the most out of everything for resale, or what would be good to keep for the tribe to either work themselves or commission some work done. Things like the Steel Gundercraw, Maura had learned, could almost be entirely re-forged or used as an additive along with other metals to create some amazing things.

Amelia chuckled a little and said, “Well done, Maura. Now, what are you trying to hide so poorly?”

Maura flinched and looked up into her face with a worried expression and said, “I wanted to… It’s a secret! I um… if that’s okay? I wanted to make some things…”

Amelia’s face went from mischievous to happily amused and said, “Of course, dear. Don’t worry. You hunted most of this, right? Did you manage to teach Amber or Eric anything? I know it was a little short notice, but if we could teach our hunters even a little of what you know, it would help out the tribe a great deal.”

Maura winced a little and said, “Uh, no… not really. It wasn’t until we were actually hunting that it occured to me that we probably should have learned a bit more about each other before we started, but you said this would be the last good chance at hunting? So I just did the best I could. I… I did mess up a little, though.”

Amelia shook her shoulder and said, “Amber told me. It’s not as big of a mistake as it could have been, but we’ll talk more about it later, alright?”

As Maura was nodding and feeling terrible she heard Eric loudly exclaim, “My love! Oh how I have missed you!”

She turned to look and saw a pretty woman who was all bundled in warm clothes give Eric a large mug with steam pouring from it. He took a large drink dramatically and then said, “Ah yes, hello to you as well, Shannon.”

Shannon punched Eric almost hard enough for his drink to spill with a smile on her face. She said, “And you better enjoy it, ya brute! It’ll be the only warmth you get this evening!”

They both laughed merrily before he stooped down and planted a kiss on her lips. Maura was stunned by how much joy she could sense from the couple. What might have seemed awful was in fact an even larger display of affection. Shannon had obviously been waiting with a heated mug for her husband, and he was just as happy to see her when she arrived. She had stories in her mind that talked about love, but this was the first time she had seen it. It was pouring off of the happy couple and it was beautiful.

They turned towards her and she found herself tensing again. She became frustrated with herself for her reaction but was distracted as Eric said, “Maura, meet my lovely wife, Shannon. Shannon, this here is the newest member of the tribe; the master hunter Maura!”

Maura blushed furiously at the attention and the compliment but managed to almost audibly mumble a, “Nice to meet you”

Shannon extended her hand and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Maura. I’ve heard a few things, and I can tell by that bounty there that you will be very welcome here with us. You should stop by tomorrow and meet the kids. They’d love all of those pretty trinkets you have!”

Maura had to quickly place her sack between her feet as she returned the handshake. It almost came undone and she quickly scooped down to secure it, blushing harder. She also added a few more presents to her plans, though she would have to meet the children first to get a feel for what they might like.

Amelia chuckled a little and said, “That sounds like a great idea, perhaps for breakfast tomorrow? Now, we should leave all the men to properly grunt and such at the spoils. Why don’t we all come back to the wagon for something warm?”

Eric let out an expert grunt before finishing his mug and handing it back to Shannon with a, “Thank you, love. I’ll get back to it for now. See you in a bit!”

Shannon giggled at his antics before taking the mug and they all began to walk back towards the main wagon. Maura scooped up her things and scampered after them. When they entered the tent, Maura quickly placed her spear and sack on the ground before removing her gloves and changing her spear back to it’s smaller size. She dashed behind her little curtain and placed her spear in the corner, her sack on the ground next to it, and then placed her cloak on a hook before coming back out.

The table was folded into the wall, but there was enough room for the four women to sit on the comfy chairs in the middle of the room near the warm fire. Both Shannon and Amber had made some noise when she adjusted her spear, but were now sitting in the chairs and chatting about the hunt while Amelia ladled some warm liquid from a pot over the stove into cups and handed them out.

Maura took her own cup with a mumbled, “thank you.” and then sat down on the couch. Her gloves and headdress were still dangling from their straps, as she didn’t want to take the time to remove them. The cup was warm and whatever was in it smelled sweet and nice. She took a little sip and felt the heat flowing into her chest. It was a nice feeling. The liquid was thick but tasted sweet in a mellow way and Maura loved it. She really wished she had thought of trying to make tea before, but was happy to experience new things.

Amelia sat down next to her and said, “Well. I’m not as knowledgeable on monster parts as perhaps I could be, but it seemed that you had quite some success tonight?”

Amber immediately gushed, “Oh my gods yes, mother. That one sled is probably worth more than some wagons and their goods all by itself. Maura managed to bring a truly remarkable variety of beasts to us. I thought a few were apex beasts, but Maura was very adamant that they were not. Regardless, if I can't tell the difference, most others won’t either!”

Maura hid behind her cup with another blush as Shannon said, “Truly? Oh, that’s marvelous news. We might be able to bring some new wagonmasters to the tribe with a haul like that! I was talking to April and she said that there should be at least one or possibly two of the larger tribes at the city when we arrive. They always have too many people!”

Amelia hummed and said, “Yes, I expect the Black Peak and possibly Deep Wood tribes to be near Torrine either when we arrive or within the month or so we will be there. There is also a great deal of maintenance that has been put off that we should be able to afford now.”

Shannon made an agreeable noise and the women talked a little bit more about what they expected to see at the city and what it could mean. Most of the conversation was lost to Maura, but she paid attention as something might be important later. Really, she wanted to go hide behind her curtain and begin to work on her presents, but assumed that would be rude.

About fifteen minutes later Shannon was yawning and Amber said that she should really go back and finish her watch. After some goodbyes they left the tent and Maura relaxed as the silence came back.

Amelia said, “I know you have some things that you want to do with what was in that sack, but we should talk quickly and then you can only fiddle with it for an hour before going to bed. We need to get you on a good sleep schedule.”

Maura nodded and sat back down as Amelia took the other side of the couch.

She said, “Now Maura, I understand you slipped up, and I want you to explain it to me. Then we can talk about how to make sure it doesn’t happen again until we tell you it is safe.”

Maura looked at her hands and said, “Sorry… I, well… we were getting ready and I was having trouble with how loud and smelly everything was, so I started thinking about wards that might help. Eventually I placed one on the sled to help with the smells, but I didn’t really think about it until I was already done, and then I realized I messed up and asked them to keep it a secret. Sorry. I’ll do better, promise!”

Amelia sighed and said, “Maura, I expect you to make some mistakes. This is all very new to you and you are doing an amazing job adapting so far. You don’t need to be sorry, you just have to learn from your mistake and try to do better. Now, why don’t you get out of those clothes and call me when you are done. I had Celia bring some of her older clothing by earlier and I need to show you how it all works so you can join Shannon tomorrow for breakfast.”

Maura nodded, still feeling awful, and moved behind the curtain to remove her gear. She was half way done when what Amelia said finally percolated through her thoughts.

Clothing?

Maura sensed she was not going to enjoy what came next.