I want one

♁.•°°•.•⭒•.•°˙°•.✧{22}✧.•°˙°•.•⭒•.•°°•.♁

Kaily looked around the forest, Jeongin had brought her out of the crater and to the north. He said they were going to work on tracking. Which was a bit odd considering they never touched on it in training. That may have something to do with Mae and Sebastian just struggling to get the knives to move in anything close to a useful direction. 

"So you guys haven't actually had any tracking training so just bear with me, I'm bad at teaching the basics"

Jeongin mumbled, he was staring off into the distance, fiddling with the bow that was hooked over his shoulder. 

"Here how about this."

The boy started walking to the edge of the clearing, Kaily scurried after him, there was short frosted grass around the clearing and a small winding pathway with small paw prints was worn into the grass.

"Okay so basics, this little trail is an animal trail. It looks like an erae uses it. Now, first lesson of the forest. Know your tracks."

Jeongin started walking down the pathway explaining things like how to tell animals apart, how to read if the prints are more or less recent, and how to effectively anticipate where an animal will go. 

Eventually the two stopped. Trees and bushes surrounded them and the wind whistled over the frosted flora.

"Notice anything special?"

Kaily jumped slightly at his words, not expecting his sudden question. 

She gazed around the forest, nothing much seemed to be happening. She could faintly hear an animal far away in the trees between the sound of leaves and wind. The sun dappled through the leaves, leaving a pattern on the forest floor and there was frosted grass fluffed up around her..

"No…?"

"You seem uncertain"

"Would you ask me if there truly wasn't something I was supposed to see?"

Jeongin shook his head, looking at the ground with a smile. Pointing at the sun dappled ground.

"Am I supposed to be seeing something?"

"Why else would i point"

You know the sass is fair considering he was handed some just seconds ago. 

Kaily squinted at the ground. The grass was undisturbed other than the sun spots so what on earth is Jeongin talking about. Kailey crouched down, squatting and staring at the grass trying to force her eyes to see something. 

"Those dark spots look a little too consistent to be shadows don't you think"

The girl twisted around to see Jeongin still standing to her left but looking at her with a knowing smirk. 

She shifted her focus to one of the many dark spots on the ground they were about half the size of her hand and much to her surprise when she held her hand over it her hand casted a shadow yet the dark spot was still darker than the surrounding grass. She examined them closer; the oval shape was wider at one end and more narrow at the other; there was also a line down the center where the grass isn't flattened as much. She glanced at another and noticed the same thing. Then she looked up realizing the spots followed each other in long lines leading into the distance. What was this?

"Their tracks"

"Tracks?"

"Yep, dozens of naepa, they are gathering for migration season. This set of tracks is small, during migration season it will be as wide as the crater."

Kaily gaped at the thought. This set of tracks was about ten feet wide and went far off into the distance. It was hard to imagine not being able to see the end of the tracks. 

"Now let's find my personal favorite animal tracks. Follow me"

With a wave of his hand Jeongin started off in a seemingly random direction. 

˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳ 

Kaily and Jeongin walked through the forest in silence. Kaily was staring at her feet. Counting steps was how she passed the time when he wasn't talking. He hasn't spoken since the two had walked away from the naepa tracks. She had counted up to 1304. Previously the most she had made it to was 346. It was sunset, the beams of light were a burnt orange. 

With no warning Kaily was yanked behind a tree, a hand clamped over her mouth. She looked up at the owner of the hand; Jeongin. When had he stopped? He raised a finger to his lips and removed his hand. 

She watched him inch over so he could peek around the tree on her left side. Curious, she turned around and shuffled to the other side of the tree to peak around. A Naepa was grazing on some unfrosted grass that was hidden under a bush.

Leaning back to glance at Jeongin she saw him pull off his bow and silently notching an arrow. 

Her heart squeezed a little as she turned to look at the naepa again. She heard Jeongin let out a small breath and in the same second an arrow flew through the air piercing the naepas heart.

Immediately the animal crumbled. Falling limp onto its side. 

"Was starting to think i would be going back empty handed"

Jeongin huffed as he slung his bow over his shoulder and made his way over to the animal. Kaily following close behind.

When he reached the animal he gently patted its head mumbling 'sweet dreams' under his breath. 

"Here take these"

Jeongin grumbled as he fought to undo the strap holding his quiver. Eventually he managed and handed Kaily the quiver and the boy instructing her to put them on. 

"How am I supposed to put this on? Why on earth does your quiver have a belt buckle nobody else's does."

Jeongin huffed at her before explaining.

"Because I don't bow hunt, I prefer to spear hunt but spears are bigger and leave big holes. With you guys being new and with there being so many of you rescues-"

"Rescues, do you guys really call us that?"

"Yes, everyone in the village does, they call your friend group the escapes to this day so get used to it. Anyway because there's so many of you we had to scrape enough clothing to give you all just four outfits each. But with it getting colder you're gonna need more than just sweatshirts and jeans."

"Fair enough I'm getting tired of washing clothes every other day"

Kaily huffed as she managed to buckle the quiver across her chest, meanwhile Jeongin crouched down to the naepa and somehow maneuvered the animal so that it laid across his shoulders. Grabbing both the front legs in his right hand and the back legs in his left hand he stood up and faced Kaily. 

"We should head back, the forest floor is not a fun place to be at night"

The girl nodded in response and followed behind Jeongin. Slinging the much too large bow over her shoulder to free up her hands.

˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳૰ꔷ°ꔷ૰˳ 

"Wait, wait, be quiet"

Jeongin held out his hand to prevent Kaily from walking past him. She shot him a questioning look. Having learned earlier that he would clamp a hand over her mouth if he judged it needed. 

Wordlessly he pointed forward. The two were in the middle of a clearing so hiding from the animal was futile. The animal was odd to say the least. It was small, about the size of a small cat. It was sitting on its haunches, they looked strong and like the animal used them for jumping. 

Its little front paws were reaching up into a nearby bush and grabbing some small berries that it would bring to its mouth and munch down. It had two long ears flopped down on either side of its head and a long thin tail that ended in a large ploof of white fur. 

Most of the animal was a mix of brown taffy, carmel, and espresso all mixing together. The few spots that weren't brown were white. 

"I want one"

Kaily muttered under her breath.

"Don't even get me started, everyone does, but they are impossible to catch."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. You see that fluffy tail. It uses it to brush away its tracks. The little buggers are too smart for traps and it's practically impossible to even see one in the wild. I have zero clue how this is even happening."

As Jeongin finished his sentence the little mammal's ear shot up, pointing straight in the direction of the two hunters. 

The two held their breath in the dying light of the sunset hoping the little animal would go back to munching on berries. 

The hope was short lived however when the animal dropped its ear and its little button nose started going. Suddenly the animal whipped its head around to stare at the pair, its large chocolate eyes blinking at them for a moment before its legs kicked into action.

The mammal hopped away, its tail sweeping away all evidence of its presence as it went.

"Well that was short lived, but hey now we can tell the group we saw one when we get back."

Jeongin chuckled as he started forward, jumping a bit to adjust the naepa on his back.

"What are they?"

"oh , I guess nobody would have told you yet. They are super rare to see so it makes sense. Those my friend are called imaks"

"They are cute, and they look super soft"

"Oh believe me they are both of those things, when i was little elder maya had one, she let the little kids come over and play with it. It was named Jackx. Apparently he was one of only ten that have ever been tamed."