Storm was releasing her fury to the sky, lightning forming as she barreled into the flock of Peryton that had surrounded Yvonne and me. The Peryton was a strange cross of stag and bird and was as capable on the ground as they were in the air. My father and I had tried our best to avoid them whenever we went hunting. The group that was attacking us shouldn't have.

With our perception we had easily avoided where they were hunting, we knew they were there. It was just bad luck that a fawn had wandered off in the direction we had flown. A bleat of fear from the young animal was all it took to gain the attention of the Peryton adults. The pack was led by a buck with an impressive rack of antlers. Antlers it could wield like a weapon, as effective as any cultivator armed with spear or sword.

The Alpha Peryton would have been dangerous enough on its own, but it wasn't alone. It had gathered and was leading a small harem of does. Does that were just as furious as the buck. The only reason for them to attack like they were meant that there was more than that single fawn we had stumbled across. Peryton herds were only this aggressive when they were protecting their young, those not capable of flight yet.

"Don't destroy their pelts," Yvonne yelled as she flickered from place to place. She was using a pair of daggers as she dodged and struck. Each of her attacks targeting the neck and carotid arteries of the animal she was fighting.

I wasn't sure if her martial style had been created to target the most vulnerable parts of an animal, those vulnerable areas that wouldn't ruin the hide she planned to use as armor, or if she had adopted the style she was using as she became more proficient as an armorer. Either way, her attacks were precise. She would often abort an attack rather than risk ruining the leather she hoped to harvest.

This wasn't our first battle. We had attacked, been attacked, and killed a few beasts as we flew southwest, more to learn how to work together than for any other reason. We could have avoided each of those fights, but there was no faster means to understand her fighting style and strategies, and for her to understand mine than to engage in battle.

This was the first time we were attacked without agreeing and discussing our plans ahead of the fight beforehand. Because we didn't have the luxury of surprise, this entire battle had been one of reaction. One we were both well prepared for. Yvonne was as talented with her martial technique as she was as an armorer.

Storm ignored Yvonne's concerns about pelt and quality of the hide, releasing the lightning barrage that she had summoned. Her attack killing the Peryton she had targeted, leaving a smoking ruin and scorch marks that would certainly affect the value or usefulness of anything that might have been harvested. I thought Storm had the right of it. I wouldn't risk allowing any of us to be hurt for the sake of a pristine hide.

We could always gather other hides. And if these were more dangerous than they were, I would have changed my attack method. But even though they had the numbers, they were only tier-one beasts and were of no real concern.

That didn't mean they were totally inconsequential, but I was using my Spirit Bow, so I was never in range of their deadly antlers. So, I made the concession to aim for the animal's eyes instead of hearts. I also swapped out the exploding arrows I was fond of for ice, my [Water Pierce] reverting to the structure and rules of the base technique I had first learned before I began adapting and creating my own variant of the attack.

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The Bow was becoming more responsive, more a part of me each time I used it. As I injected my Qi into the weapon, the spirit stones that had gone into creating it began to harmonize and take on the features of my Qi signature.

Life had been kindled, it had been since Blacksmith Davis had created it, but it was beginning to take on a personality and the very early signs of awakening. I could feel emotion returned when I held it now. Satisfaction as I buffed it, an almost kitten-like purr when I injected it with Qi. It was on the cusp of evolving into a Named weapon.

One of the advantages of the weapon was that the bowstring was a Qi construct. The weapon converted the energy I fed it to spool out a bowstring that was the perfect draw for my strength, a bowstring that could not be broken and retracted after the fight was over. It saved time and wear on the bow as it automatically defaulted to unstrung when not in use.

I left the buck to Yvonne. If she was so worried about collecting a pristine hide, she could find a way to kill it. For the most part, I was able to one-shot the does. The herd wasn't so large that we couldn't deal with them, a dozen at most, so there was no point in trying to escape.

Storm content that we had matters under control, left combat when I sent her a request to fly look-out. We were certain to have gained the attention of other animals in the area, the Peryton bleating and screaming in pain and anger. Any other predators we attracted would remain hidden, waiting patiently for the fight to be over and the winner to leave before scavenging for scraps. But there was a chance that something powerful or stupid enough would see our fight as an opportunity.

Storm was amazingly well suited as a lookout. Her keen vision augmented by her blossoming perception abilities made it unlikely that anything could sneak past her. Our abilities in this area complimented each other. She could extend her perception in a much larger area than I could, and I could piggyback on that extended perception to give clarity and precision to the smaller details.

I wasn't sure the care we had taken when killing them made a difference, the damage to each animal's hide as they fell from the sky, their bodies battered and torn by the branches of trees was just as ruinous as any attack I might have made.

Once I had killed the last doe, I began focusing my perception below, using myself as the center, I began questing, searching for the fawns I knew had to be near. It took a bit, but I finally found them hidden in a hollowed-out section of a downed tree.

There were four of them, two sets of twins, and I considered them my share of the spoils. Yvonne could have all the hides, organs, and bones from the animals we had just killed, but the young would make a nice addition to the wildlife I was gathering to add to Storm's Aerie.

I had discovered almost from the first, that animals I wasn't bonded with, could only be transferred to the torc by touch. For some of the larger, more dangerous animals that might present a problem, for the fawn that hadn't even spouted nubs where their horns would grow, it was a simple matter to touch and transfer. I sent my Dharmic Body inside the torc once the last had been added so that I could move them to the center of the lake that Storm had discovered.

The Entelodonts that I had added were around somewhere, the ones that Storm hadn't eaten anyway, but the fawns would be savaged if they came across each other. It was safer if they were separated and contained. The lake hosted a small island that had enough vegetation to feed them until they gained enough strength to fly and was far enough from shore to keep them hidden from the Entelodonts.

Satisfied, I flew to where my perception showed Yvonne to be. Her fight with the stag over, I heard her bemoaning the unfairness of it all. I was right that the trees would do serious damage to pelts as the Peryton fell from the skies. And the care she had taken when killing had been an exercise in futility.

Still, she managed to gather enough material, organs, and bones that were stored quickly. Even large patches of most pelts were salvaged. Not as much as she'd hoped, but enough to allow her to craft a few armor pieces.

She still managed to complain, but they were more the grumbling of satisfaction than real regret.