Niall looked at Gwen in confusion. “Teach me real Skills? Isn’t that what you were doing.”

“It was a base, but you wanted to be Hunter, not just someone who knows how to catch animals. Follow me.”

Gwen started to walk away and, in the few moments it took for Niall to get his things together, Gwen had put a tree between him and her. He hurried after her then stopped. She had disappeared. Looking about him, he tried to catch a glimpse of her but there was no trace.

“Disconcerting, isn’t it?” Niall started and spun around as Gwen whispered in his ear.

“How did you do that?” he said.

“More than one Skill as it happens, but the only one that you’re ready to learn is Soft Step.”

“Go on.”

“It’s easy. You gather your Spirit and push it just outside your feet. As you feel what’s beneath you, you adjust your footsteps so you avoid stepping on anything that might make a sound.”

Niall tried and, beyond his Spirit draining away, nothing happened.

“Easy, she says.”

“You’re too impatient. All it takes is practice and hard work.”

***

And so, Niall’s life started to fall into a new regular pattern. Six days a week he would be working in the forge with Devon. Then, several times a week, both during his day off and also during the night, he would go out with Gwen into the woods. As before, Simone would occasionally join them, she had an innate sense of when to appear and when to hide. As the nights drew in it was increasingly dark when they set out and Simone’s feathers would let off a glow when there was a hint of moonlight. However, whenever they were near an animal they were tracking she would blend, without trace, into the night.

It took weeks for him to acquire the initial level of Soft Step. Even after he had worked out how to sense the ground beneath his feet, it took all of his Agility to be able to move in a way that avoided making a sound.

The first time he managed it was incredible. For a few moments he floated through the woods, his passing barely left a dent in the loam. He felt as if he were a breath of air floating through the trees. The sensation ended as quickly as it started, his lack of experience leading him to spot a pile of leaves just a moment too late for him to avoid crunching into it.

However, that start gave him a taste for more. Even if he had not wanted to, Gwen insisted he practice Soft Step until it became instinctive, not only when he was out in the woods, but also around the smallholding. It was deeply frustrating, but with Gwen’s teaching, he slowly improved. The conscious thought he needed in order to move Spirit to his feet, replenish it using Flow, and then avoid making a sound reduced, and the Skill incrementally started to feel instinctive

Despite a disastrous start, archery quickly became Niall’s favourite activity. Most evenings he would go out to the back of the house for an hour or so where the targets were set up to practice shooting. It was winter so he would often be firing under the light of the moons. As happened so often now, he would slip into a state of Flow, firing arrow after arrow at the ghostly targets until, finally, it would be time to head back indoors.

It was several weeks later and Niall was standing motionless next to a tree. It was dusk and he had moved there using Soft Step as the light faded around him. A flicker of movement in the grass caught his eye, but he forced himself to remain still. Eventually, more flickers appeared. Niall slowly moved his bow into position, the arrow already nocked.

After several weeks of practice on targets Gwen had eventually deemed Niall ready to go hunting with her. She had first graduated him from static targets to small bags stuffed with rags that she would toss into the air for him to shoot at. Only when he could hit those consistently had she agreed to allow him to try on a live animal today. This was a big day. He did not want to fail and have to spend further months training on targets before he was allowed to try again.

In front of him rabbits gamboled in the grass. He had long reconciled himself with the idea that if he was going to eat meat it would be hypocritical for him not to kill it himself. He just had to make sure he would strike true and not cause the creatures any pain.

From the corner of his eye, he could just make out Gwen’s outline against the trees. He knew he could only see her because she was allowing it. She wanted him to know she was ready to step in if he missed, but he was determined not to let it happen. Slowly he inched the arrow back. The tension strained his muscles. A rabbit paused and ducked its head to nibble at something on the ground. He lined up and let fly.

As the arrow struck, the rest of the rabbits scattered. The arrow was jammed into the ground but Niall could not tell if he had hit. As he ran over, he was rewarded by the sight of the dead rabbit. He punched the air in triumph then paused as a wave of sadness swept over him.

While he had caught animals in traps before, this was the first life he had taken in quite such a violent way. He had always understood that hunting required him to kill, but facing the reality of the situation was different.

Gwen walked over and bent down. “Good job,” she said. She dipped her thumb into the wound in the rabbit’s side and then drew a triangle in blood on Niall’s forehead. “Your first kill. Now you’re a hunter. Let’s get it cleaned and then find a few more.”

Niall put the sadness to one side. He had promised Devon and Alana a rabbit pie and one rabbit was not going to feed a hungry family.

***

Over the following weeks, Gwen kept Niall at hunting rabbits until she was confident he was proficient. Then it was time for him to graduate to more dangerous game.

It was early evening but it was already fully dark. Niall and Gwen had been tracking for a couple of hours already and they were deep in the woods. The two of them drifted through the night forest as ghosts. Niall now used Soft Step continuously, the outflow of Spirit being matched by the inflow through his Flow and the placement of his feel to avoid noise no longer taking a significant amount of his attention.

While Niall had his bow in his hand, Gwen’s bow was slung over her shoulder and instead she carried a large spear that was taller than she was. After a long chase. their prey was in front of them. His bristly head reached to Niall’s waist and large tusks curved upwards. Long-healed scars on his shoulders spoke of the challengers to his rule he had fought off. Magnificent as he was, the boar had seen his final dawn this morning, it was his time.

Niall drew his bow. Even though was hidden deep in the shadows, something about the movement caught the wily, old boar’s eye and Niall froze. The night forest was still as prey and predator stood motionless.

Niall’s shoulders started to ache from the tension of the bow. Not only was the arrow he had nocked heavier and longer than the one he had used on rabbits, but the bow itself was larger than the one he was used to. Gwen had insisted he train with it on his makeshift range until he was as proficient with it as he was with the lighter bow.

The boar still did not move and Niall arms started to tremble. Long moments later it turned back to snuffle at the ground.

As the boar turned to present an opportunity for a clear shot, Niall trained his arrow at its flank. Second nature to him by now, Niall paused and let fly. The heavy arrow flew true and punched through the side of the boar piercing both of its lungs. The boar fell with a soft huff then did not move.

Niall ran over to the boar and relaxed when he confirmed the clean kill. Gwen emerged from the shadows. “Terrible start, good finish. You need a lot more practice but you might actually have some talent at this.”

Gwen showed him how to skin and clean the boar. As he made the last cut Niall let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. It would take practice on a good many more boar before he would be confident that he would not end up with the contents of the boar’s stomach all over him. By contrast, jointing and wrapping the rest of the boar into pieces that they could carry back seemed trivial. It was time-consuming work though and it took until it was fully dark to dress the meat.

“Looks like we’re camping out for the night” Gwen said. “You find some water. I’ll scout a good campsite.”

That evening the two of them sat around the fire. Simone had joined them and was contentedly curled up on the branch of a tree, chewing on the boar’s heart. They had set up camp around a mile away from where they had butchered the boar. It was going to be a cold night and they had chopped a significant amount of wood using the hatchet Niall now carried as a matter of course whenever there was a chance he would have to stay out in the woods for any length of time.

Despite not seeing the signs of any carnivores, there was no point in tempting fate and the wrapped meat was safely stashed up a tree. The liver and kidneys from the boar sizzled over the fire. They would not survive the journey back, so the two of them were going to enjoy them while they could. Together with the potatoes they had brought with them and the wild greens they had collected, Niall was looking forward to his dinner immensely.

Niall looked over at Gwen. “I realised that we’ve spent all of this time together but I know almost nothing about you.”

She glanced back before returning her attention to the cooking meat. “What do you want to know?”

Niall thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Have you always lived in Raintor?”

Gwen gave a small smile. “No. Not at all.”

“Did you grow up with the Fae then?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, I guess it’s not normal to be able to travel to the L’Fae lands. How come you can?”

“And how do you know it’s not the same reason as the two of you?”

Excitement trickled into Niall and he sat up. “You mean you’re from Earth?”

Gwen raised an eyebrow. “And that, my over-eager friend, is how you end up giving away secrets you aren’t meant to.”

Niall turned red. “I mean...I’m not...”

Gwen waved him to silence without taking her eyes of the roasting boar. “Oh stop. You shouldn’t have told me about your background, but I already knew about this Earth place. Why do you think I was out with Devon hunting the Bulvine when we found you? Until you came along, we were the only two people for miles around to have contact with the Fae. You don’t think we discussed it once or twice?”

“You were aware I had no experience of Spirit then before we met?”

“Yup.”

“So, when you were busting my chops about not knowing how to use Spirit, you knew I had no clue.”

“Yes I did. If I’m honest you learnt all that much faster than I expected. Well done.”

Niall spluttered in indignation for a moment before he managed to regain his composure. “Moving on. If you aren’t from Earth, then how do you have contact with the L’Fae?”

“A long time ago, I did a favour for someone in the L’Fae empire. A very significant favour. And, no, I’m not going to tell you what it is. Suffice it to say the L’Fae felt obliged to repay me. For the Fae, obligation isn’t like it is for us. Until they discharge their obligation it gnaws at them. It is a physical thing. It’s not even as if I can tell them it doesn’t matter anymore. The obligation has to be properly discharged. Each time I go to the Fae they pay down their debt a little more. But it will still be a long time before it is paid off fully.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“That’s all you’re going to tell me?”

“Yes.”

“You realise you’ve raised far more questions than you have answered?”

“Yes, yes I do.”

“That is incredibly annoying.”

“Yes, I believe it is.”

Niall looked at the smirk on Gwen’s face and gave up. He rested his head on his pack and shut his eyes. “Wake me up when dinner’s ready.”

***

In a similar fashion, the weeks passed. The days grew shorter and the snow fell both more frequently and more heavily. It did not lead to a let up in the work though. In fact, clearing the smallholding of snow was added to Niall’s list of chores after each snowfall. His days were full from his jobs around the smallholding in the morning, to working in the forge during the day. Several nights, and all of his days off, he would be out in the woods with Gwen, hunting not only boar and rabbits, but also deer, wood pigeons and all manner of other tasty creatures for the pot.

The near dark made longbow practice in the evenings more difficult but Niall relished the challenge and the restorative relaxation from the mindless state of Flow. After the day’s jobs were done, he would join the family around the fire, each of them working on some craft tasks as they gently chatted in the warmth, while Silas dozed on the hearth.

Despite all the progress that he was making in his Classes and Skills when, in times to come, Niall looked back on his first winter in Gwilliant, it was those quiet times that he would remember. The sense of belonging to a family and a community.

On occasion, Niall would stop and think about how different his life was from before. He could see how Devon had decided he would live his life this way. Compared to his office job, all of the work he did here felt clean and productive. However, he was also aware his family would continue to be at risk if he did not try to return. That seemed to be a square that he could not circle.

But time does not stop for anyone. The deep chill from the depths of winter warmed and the days started to slowly grow longer. Winter was coming to its end. His time in Arcadia could not continue forever.