Avril's Hunting Expenditure

Avril rubbed black seed oil on her already healed wounds as she always does every morning. Dakar had said it was to get rid of scars that might want to stay. She was already dressed up for their hunting expenditure even though she didn't want to go. She wanted to go sit by the mountain and watched birds flying with bowls of fruits in front of her. But she needed to put her lessons to practice and she missed wild goat meat.

“You ready?”, Dakar's voice rang.

“Yes. I'm coming!”, Avril answered and stepped out of her room. Dakar was standing in front of her door, holding her bow and arrow-basket.

“Do we really have to do this?”, she asked as she collected her things from him.

“No, we don't. I'm not even in the mood to run or anything. But you're the one who wants to eat a different kind of meat”. She scoffed and hung her bow.

“Don't try to pin this on me, Wolfie”.

“I'm starting to think you're the wolf here. I haven't eaten meat for awhile and I feel normal. But you haven't eaten meat for a week and you've been threatening to eat me instead”.

“I wish I could. I bet you're tasty”.

“My lady once told me that one night. Too bad, her wish was not granted”.

Avril paused from arranging her arrows into the basket properly. She looked up at his smug face with a frown.

“You were married?”, she asked.

“She was not my wife”, Dakar answered.

“A girlfriend”.

“I don't think I will refer Nyiraka as a girlfriend, the way you people do. But, she was more like a bethrothed. I don't even know what to refer her as”.

Avril swallowed a lump and began to move out. Dakar followed her.

“I never knew you had a love life”, she stated as they walked down the stairs.

“What about you? Did you love anyone?”, he asked. She shook her head.

“I liked one boy. He saw it as an insult and made jest of me publicly with his friends.”

“You were hurt, right?”.

“Yes. I was. Now tell me about this Nyiraka. You loved her, right?”.

“She was mostly to warm my bed. Never loved her”.

''Warm your bed. Warm your bed. Which means you always slept with her. Disgusting", Avril's thought rang in her head.

They finally made it out of the mountain and Avril climbed Dakar's back. He raced East of the island and when they reached the spot, she jumped down.

“Now don't forget to be stealthy. If you scare off the animals, no meat for you”, Dakar advised.

“I got this. Don't worry”.

“All right. I'll be watching you from up there. Be careful”, he nodded towards a tall and wide tree. Avril grinned and stationed her bow and arrow. She walked into the woods and Dakar climbed the tree. She strolled slowly but firmly, looking around and listening for sounds. She had been to that place before, but she wasn't the one hunting.

Suddenly, she sighted a grey figure between bushes. She moved further and saw the goat grazing. She aimed the arrow at it and was going to fire a shot but something cold fell on her arm. She was thought by Dakar to keep her cool at all times when she's aiming so she didn't bother to check what fell on her. It might be bird poo or so she thought.

She fired her shot but unfortunately, it passed under the goat's belly and dug into the earth, right under the goat. It got frightened and took off.

“Oh no, you don't!”, Avril gritted and took off after it. She aimed and fired but missed. She repeated the process but missed again. It went out of sight and she groaned and sat on the ground angrily. She was panting and looking around for any sign of the goat.

“It's gone. Never coming back”, Dakar's voice sounded and she groaned more and laid on the ground.

“You were too impatient, Avril. Archery doesn't only need focus but also patience and peace. If you're too hasty, you won't get your results.”

“Skip the lecture and go get me that meat”, she mumbled.

“My bow is not here. So we're going fishing. Also, a tree snake fell on you”.

She screamed and sat up with leaves in her hair and on her woolly sweater.

“I thought it was bird poo.” She looked at Dakar's figure and shuddered, “Your face has changed again. Dakar, you're freaking me out!”, Avril jerked off the ground and moved far from him. He sighed and looked behind him.

“Let's go home. I'll make you some grilled fish.”

***

They were sitting on the starry night sky right in front of the huge statue. The bamboo table was in between them and only one plate of grilled fish was untouched out of about seven plates.

“So, you're leaving tomorrow morning?”, she asked with crossed arms.

“I'm sorry, Avril. I don't want to but you know I have to”.

“I understand. You have to go. I'll be fine”.

“Are you sure? It's 28 whole days”.

“I know my way around the island. I've been here for four months. I'm good”.

“All right. Thank God your arm is already healed. You don't have any excuse to not clean and to not take care of our livestock”.

“I also don't have any excuse to not have chicken for all my dinner till you're back”. Dakar glared and she chuckled. “Just joking. I won't touch the chickens”, she said.

They soon got sleepy and retired into their rooms. Avril slept almost immediately her skin made contact with the bed but Dakar, in his room, was getting ready for his journey to the North side of the island.