If I was proud of my hut before, now I realized how solely fit for one it was. Here, Esther and I had no room to sleep, not that we wished to be apart, only that we wished for more comfort. And where I had been content to survive, having the essentials, Esther added to my to-do list considerably.
She always wanted to venture further than I did. Even recounting the story of my arm and the piranha did not frighten her, but only made her more resolved in my strength; leaving the purpose of me telling her about it, lost.
She forever toiled with the quality of my tools. She had sharpened my axe, replaced and strengthened the handle on my pickaxe, and turned what she called my “pointy stick” into a real spear, complete with a stone blade, far sharper than anything I had found so far. I was only surprised and impressed until one day, I sat upon a rock outside of the small hut, and was interrupted while cleaning my fingernails, as an arrow came flying low past my legs and slid through the side of the hut.
“Drat! Ash, I need you to show me how to shoot this thing!” she called to me some distance behind, brandishing a bow.
“Where did you get that?” I asked, jumping to my feet.
“Get?! I made it! I can’t believe you hadn’t tried to make one beforehand!” she retorted hottly.
“I can’t either!” I moved towards her.
“Its wood from the elm tree down the way, a somewhat young branch,” she handed me the bow, “and its just the fiber, twisted into string and-” I cut her off.
“It’s very good,” I said, testing the string, “It’s pretty tight.”
“Well keep it, I’m working on a better one,” she said finally, “I’m not sure how long that will really last though, it’s just a branch, and that’s not how bows are really made.”
“How are you making arrows?” I inquired.
“They’re miniature pointy sticks,” she jeered.
“Ha ha,” I smirked back. And with an air of victory announced, “Then I have the better of you,”
“How so?” she said puzzled.
“I know how to make arrows,” I said retrieving the arrow from the hut wall.
“Well show me then,” she stated.
I grabbed a small piece of flint, sharp and as close to arrow-head shaped as I could find, and I grabbed some fiber. I took the axe and made small notches on each side of the shaft of her arrow and lobbed off the sharp end. I placed the flint on the end, then took the fiber and lashed it around the flint, alternating between the flint, crossing to the notches I made until it was sturdy. Then I nocked the arrow, drew and released across to the beam support on the hut.
It’s fairly accurate. That, or I am.
“See, that’s what I want to do! Show me!” she insisted, and her first lesson began.
In my experience, women were generally much better at aiming; more-so the muscle memory and body mechanics, but not always in judging distance. She was very quick to learn a proper form for shooting, and I had no doubt she would be a great asset on hunts when, if ever, the time came we must move together.
Today, she became restless, aiming to stake out further away from camp, to explore. No words could make her understand the danger the unknown here possesses.
“This place is not big enough, and we’ll need stronger trees. Are you so content here?”
“Why not expand here?” I argued.
“The bushes here do not grow back overnight, and every time you’ve went out to hunt, do you not have to venture further out?” her irritation rising, “What are you so afraid of?”
“Here, I can protect you!” I begged, “Out there, I am not sure I can! We don’t know what’s out there!”
“Then let us find out! Together.” she affirmed.
“You want to see? You want to see what’s out there? Why do you not understand that I worry about your safety?”
“I want to see for myself!” she exclaimed, “I’m not afraid if I’m with you.”
My compromise was to go hunting together. We encountered yet another cowled venom spewing dino, and before it could spit anything, it was overcome with arrows. It;s body lay practically undamaged, fore it had arrows laid unto its skull, 5 of them. The last two that brought it down were luck, really, as we loosed them while it coiled and violently writhed from the first three. We ate well, and my confidence grew, but the successful hunt did not make things easier.
“See?! We don’t need to be afraid together. We weren’t even in danger. Let’s find a better spot!” she seemed to revel.
Explorer's Wrotes 