[Year 351, The month of Storm, day 12]

I awoke in complete silence instead of the expected sounds of metal being sharpened or the rustling of scrolls. Aiyana must have already left for her morning exercise then. After I took a moment to enjoy the rare bit of quietness I rose from my pallet, stretched a little, and dressed in some of my lighter fur leggings and an over-shirt. Once dressed, I grabbed a pair of medium sized wooden rods and picked up a small food satchel and a partially full leather canteen.

Before I left our cave, I took a quick look around. Aiyana’s workstation took up most of the back wall, surrounded by various items, such spears and fur clothing, in various states of completion. There was a small narrow passageway on the left side of the cave that led to our skinning and butchering table. Our pallets and clothes and clothes took up the majority of the cave’s central area and the right side was taken up by the surviving scrolls and extra items, like bags and the like.

This was cave was the largest one we’ve lived in yet. While the first cave had been homey, but it’d become too small as Aiyana and I began to grow and accumulated more items, so we had to move a little more than a year after we started living there. Since then we’ve moved two more times, going further and further west along the mountain range, and our current home would probably be the last one. It was spacious enough to fulfill our needs and if we went any further west this distance from the lake would become too much of a hindrance.

I nearly tripped over the alarm as I made my way outside. It was a bit of an annoyance to hop over the tripwire and push through the heavy leathers out of the way, but it beat having Aiyana forcing me awake every time she needed to relieve herself like when we used boulders to block the entrance. The sky above was covered by dark clouds, with only a few patches of blue managing to slip in here and there. The snow and ice may have vanished but they gave way to weeks of sporadic downpours. At this rate, we’d have to dig the runoff trenches around the cave if the rain keep up.

“The rainy season is always such a bother to deal with, no matter what I do it never feels like I can get all the mud off.”

After that soliloquy, I began treading down a familiar path. We’d marked the trees when we first arrived, but I’d walked this path so frequently I didn’t even need them anymore. I began eating a few pieces of salted meat and my favorite type of berries along the way. The berries I picked were apart of the first batch of the season and their bundles of droplets were rather juicy, with a slightly bitter aftertaste to them.

As I neared my destination, my ears began to pick up the distinctive sound of the air parting ways. When I finally reached the small clearing within the ring of boulders I was treated to quite the slight.

Even though her skin glistened with sweat and she’d tied her hair up, her graceful movements and the sheer beauty of her form created a truly mesmerizing effect. She’d removed her over shirt at some point, so only tightly wrapped bandages covered her top half, while her toned abdomen remained completely exposed as she swung the staff in measured arcs. The staff within her hands almost equaled her in height and obviously carried quite a bit of weight to it. Yet, she managed to thrust the end of the staff in three puts along an invisible horizontal line before she span on her heels, the staff creating a {woosh} as it followed along with her moments.

She then crouched down with her feet spread an equal distance apart from one another as she began using the staff to defend herself against unseen threats. Left, right, overhead, center mass. Her stance remained firm as she protected her vitals. After standing straight up she transitioned to another series of thrust, this time each one striking the same location above her head, but from three different angles.

No movement was wasted as she continued her violent dance. Every strike utilized her natural agility to close any gaps in between her strikes, while simultaneously chipping away at the balance and health of whatever invisible enemy she was fighting. Hers was a dance that beautiful to watch, but disorientating to take part in as her opposite number.

After a final serious of blocks and staff thrust, Aiyana allowed the staff to fall to the ground as she clenched her knees and began letting out deep rapid breaths as sweat began to pool around her feet. It was only after her breathing stabilized did she seem to notice I was there, her forest green eyes carrying a hint of playfulness in them as she looked up at me.

“You’re up earlier than usual. I didn’t even have to beat you over the head with a stick to get you up before noon. The sky isn’t gonna start falling is it?”

“The sky falling would be preferable to the rainstorms that happen every other day. If this keeps up we’re gonna have to build a ship and wait out the ensuing flood.” There was a smile on my face as I approached Aiyana and offered her some of my food. She gestured off to the left and shook her head at the offer though.

“No thanks, I brought my own. Besides, last time I had those berries I couldn’t hold anything down for three days.”

“Can’t you just accept that you got a bad batch of them and move on? These are really good and would make a pretty decent jam.”

Our conversation continued as Aiyana picked up her staff and made her way over to her food and shirt, with me following behind her. When we reached the small flat boulder she’d placed her things on, Aiyana sat down and took a long drink from her own canteen, droplets of water falling to her chest and her exposed abdomen.

“Something wrong?”

“Not really, it's just that your bandages are starting to come undone. You need some help fixing them?”

“Thanks.”

There was no hesitation from either of us, but my hands still tumbled a little once I finished tying her bandages up. I’d been staring again. It wasn’t so bad when it started, but as the year dragged on, it became a bad habit that I needed to break before it caused any problems. If I turned her away I would lose everything. Again.

“Geisai are you alright?”

I could see worry in Aiyana’s eyes, my thoughts must have been showing on my face again. Even when I tried to hide it, she seemed to know have some idea of what was on my mind. Outright lying wouldn’t accomplish anything, so I had to do that again.

“Remember, that dead bear we came across a few days ago? The one with the broken limbs and burns. Well, I did a little poking around the area we found it last night, and retraced its steps.”

While Aiyana could tell when something was bothering me, she couldn’t read my mind. Since lying was out of the question misdirection was my only option. Some things were best left unspoken, and what I told her was the true, even if it wasn’t the truth that she was asking for. Besides the condition of the bear's body had been so terrible, it had warranted a casual looking into at least.

“What did you find?”

Aiyana’s stare had turned cold, any concerns she had for me had become secondary issues as she sought out any information on a potential danger. It was this nature of hers that had kept us safe over the years and it was the reaction that I’d wanted to bring out of her.

“There were remnants of a small camp about a half a night’s walk away. A trial of footprints entered the camp grounds from the south and left towards the north. There were a few shallow graves dug beside the camp as well. From what I can tell, there were at least a dozen or so people in their group. They’re experienced enough to fend off a wild animal with minimal losses, but not much else. Whatever brought them out here was important enough that they would carry on their task despite having to leave some of their own behind.”

Aiyana placed her hand under her chin and began to process everything I’d told her. There were a few details left out but nothing so important that it would make a difference in her decision. After a few moments, Aiyana spoke up again.

“It’s my understanding that my former village had been the only one this far out in the forest, but it's possible another one could have popped up while we’ve been living on our own. Are you positive that they were heading north?”

“I’m positive, I tracked their footsteps in that direction just to make sure they hadn't circled around.

“That’s a bit troubling. The forest should start to thin out in the direction they’re heading in… Even if they’re on a training excuse, there would be no point in venturing out that far. Also, they should have returned their died to the village instead of just leaving them in shallow graves. Something is just off about all of this.”

“Maybe, their village suffered a similar fate as yours or a mudslide forced them to leave.”

“... Maybe, but with their numbers, someone should have realized they were heading in the wrong direction. If they’re seeking shelter, they should be heading deeper into the forest instead of leaving it. Of course, this is all speculation at this point.”

“How about we just follow after them for a while and see what they're up to?” I already knew the answer to the question, but I asked anyway.

“That’s too much of a risk. Even the losses they suffered could have been due to them being caught off guard more than anything else. There are too many unknowns involved with that group of people. The smarter thing to do is pull back from that area for the next few weeks. If they’re still using traversing that it after that point, it may be necessary to look into it a bit further.”

Though she stopped after that and resumed eating her share of food, Aiyana’s mind was only half with me now. The other part of her mind was already scoping out the area in question, finding the ideal location to scope out the small group of people without being seen, and determining what tools we might need if things became violent.

Though I’d only brought up the issue to dodge some unwanted questions, I’d planned to tell her about what I found tomorrow, after I dug up the graves to examine the bodies naturally. All evidence pointed to the bear killing them, but it never hurt to be sure. Either way, there wasn’t else I could do at this point but wait and prepare for what is to come.

The scars on my face suddenly began to itch, but I refused to scratch them. Aiyana would frown if I drew attention to them. Instead, I sat most of my things down, removed my shirt, and readied one of the staffs I’d brought along with me.

“Since we’re here, want to get a match in once I’m done warming up?”

Aiyana’s head snapped up when I asked her that question. It seems that she had returned to the present. With a slight grin on her face, she said “Sure”, before she looked away again.

It’d been a while since the last time we sparred with one another, and I’d like to see how much I’d improved since my defeat. With that in mind, I walked to the center of the clearing and began my warm-up exercises.