And she loosed her arrow.

Its mark made true, piercing it in the side, up the center of the side of its front leg and just behind the shoulder bone, right around where the lungs would be situated. If the arrow did pierce the lungs, then it would be dead in minutes.

But until then - the bear lifted its head from the stream, tilted its nose upward, sniffed a few sniffs, and jerked its head, toward us. And it began; it charged at us, and I charged right back.

The moment, it seemed slow, almost sluggish, everything stopped. But in the very next moment, it was upon me, and I it. The beast was lunging at me; its canines bared in full force; its jaw opened tall enough to fit an entire head, my head, and the black abyss that was the other end of its mouth, terrifying.

The beast's face was snarled. Its eyes vengeful. And I was afraid, but more than that, I was sad. No, that is what it means to kill. To feel all of these things, and then nothing. I choose to do this, I choose to kill.

As its weight was about to overtake mine, I leaped and rolled to the right. The beast wouldn't be able to make a quick turn at its speed. And as the beast lunged through the air where I had been, I slashed at its side. Got to keep its attention while it's in its death throes.

Right when it landed, the beast jerked its head, and lunged at me while swiping with its right paw. The arc of the swing was too wide, and the speed, too fast. I wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. But I did have enough time for one thing, I could take the hit. My elbows were already close to my sides. I was ready for this. Spread my stance, lower my center of gravity. I held my sword in front of me, one hand on the hilt, the other on the blade, in front of where the paw would hit me, spread out the force of impact. And breathe out.

It hit my blade, flinging my body backward, slamming my back into a tree trunk. Oh god, it - it didn't hurt. Right, of course.

I lifted my head to see the beast turning away from me. Did it think I was dead? I lunged back at it!

This continued on for a few minutes, until the bear suddenly slowed and slumped down on the ground. Its massive body lay motionless; it was dead.

Everyone gathered around it, except Margaret, who came running at me, looking me up and down, and even climbing up my back. I heard a sigh of relief from somewhere above my shoulders. There's no need to worry. I took the hit well and my sword and armor are as tough as can be. They were specially made.

Serena went closer; she laid her ear against the bear's body, then raised its eyelid, revealing a lifeless eye. After a satisfied look, she told us we needed to drag it to the stream to clean it. After we did, we turned the bear on its backside. She leaned over it and reached for something that was behind her back, but only grabbed at air.

"I need my skinning knife, and paper to wrap the meat."

We went back to the camp for the supplies and returned. Serena carved open its belly and legs and arms, then removed the gallbladder - a pouch of bile and stink that would ruin the meat if cut while still in the carcass - and the other organs. Now that those were out of her way, she could start removing the actual meat. After 30 minutes of cutting, sawing, lifting (with the help of Soren), and wrapping the meat, Serena finished up the skinning, removing the fat that connected the skin to the carcass.

The skin was rolled up, and the packets of meat were all put in a sack. Serena was saying something about having Soren and I carry it together by tying it in the middle of a stick, but when I casually slung it behind my back, she said, "Uh, never mind." and focused her attention on the next task, "Let's pack up camp and head back to the road. We should be able to make good progress before nightfall."

And so we walked. Soren and Perrin were ahead, talking about what they would do with the reward money. Soren would buy more pieces of armor, and Perrin would visit an expensive restaurant. Serena was beside Margret, I was on the opposite side.

Margaret said to Serena, "Your cloak is so pretty!" It was teal, and had gold-colored designs embroidered around the edges. "It's much better than my ugly cloak." I didn't think there was anything ugly about it. It was just black. Was it too plain?

She replied, "I think your cloak suits you so well though! If you'd like, I could teach you how to put some designs on yours later."

"I'd love it!"

I was glad she had a positive female role model. God knows I could never do that.

After about an hour more of walking, a caravan appeared over the horizon of the road, from behind us. They were towing three wagons with arching white covers over them; two horses and one coachman per wagon. A man who sat beside the front coachman yelled and waved for us. "Well met, fellow travelers!" He wore a colorful and fanciful in design robe, and a matching hat. Everyone other than me turned to Serena. It was silently agreed on that she was the face of the party. As they approached nearer, the merchant yelled some orders to the other two wagons, and the caravan stopped completely, beside us who had moved to the side of the road. Strangely enough, he didn't seem to have any guards, unless they were in one of the wagons.

The man hurriedly stepped down from his coachman's seat, where he sat on the right side, and rounded two horses to reach us, who had been on the left side of the wagon. Yes, now he stood in front of us, looking us up and down, and after a satisfied look, he introduced himself as, "Dietrix the third of house Thornberry." He gave a light bow and said, "You seem to be just the people I am in need of. I had put up a notice of need, that I required a few guards for my journey, at the last city I was in, but no one showed. I have this deal lined up. And this is nearly the peak season for my goods, you see. I couldn't wait another day for the hope that some may show." He talked quickly and politely, no doubt the speed a necessity for his line of work, and his style a product of his upbringing. Or perhaps he was simply born a quick talker, and that was a reason why he favored the merchant's trade.

"So will you help me?" he concluded while gripping his fists pleadingly and shaking them ever so slightly in front of his stomach. "Of course I'll pay you for your services!"

Again, everyone other than me turned to Serena. With almost zero hesitation, she said, "Sounds like a good deal. We'll help you. But I do think we'll need to discuss the pay first."

And so, after Serena and Dietrix had finagled around a fair price, with Serena solemnly mentioning my numerous and gloriously exploits, that I'm almost certain she could not have known, and Dietrix finally ascenting to the increase, the party was now seated in the back of the third wagon.

Soren was berating Serena over why she so easily agreed before even asking the others what they thought, though mostly himself. She whispered back, "There's a well-known den of bandits near the mountainside, down the road. There's no way we would be able take them all on. And we definitely don't have enough coin for their toll either. This is the best option. We should count ourselves lucky!"

Soren and Serena were now marching with the caravan, on lookout duty. Perrin was snoozing about rather relaxedly, a hat covering the top of his face, and his hands over his stomach as it gradually rose and sank. He seemed liked a go with the flow fellow, the sort that knew what he wanted and didn't care for much else. Margaret sat beside me, reading her father's book.

When night came, with shifts exchanged multiple times in between, Margaret kept on reading that book. All until she fell asleep. I wasn't sure if there was any other way for her to fall asleep now.